The River Church Sermons

It is enjoyable going to see a film with drama, conflict, and a nice resolution that helps us leave the theatre with a sense that our lives are going to work out all right. But if the story of Jonah were put to film, it ends with no such resolution. In fact, it doesn’t really end, and if you read it, you’ll find the last punctuation is a question mark. It is possible that the whole narrative leads...

The saga of Jonah continues. He’s a wee little man that discovered you can’t run from God. How about this? Once there was a man named Jonah... you are wondering what rhymes with Jonah. On a beach without a Corona? From a small town near Pamona? Or something like that. In all seriousness, I do plan to share a clean limerick that I wrote about Jonah. It tells the story of his apprehension and God’s...

We’ve read the story of Jonah before. We know he disobeys God, gets thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish, and ultimately ends up in the place he was avoiding. But what is God's part in this story? Let’s look at the story of Jonah with eyes fixed on Him as we discover a relentless love that won’t let Jonah go (or stay!).

I've quoted it before and I'll quote it again, but it was the Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre who said, “I can only answer the question 'What am I to do? ' if I can answer the prior question 'Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?'” We can only navigate the ups and downs of life with resilient meaning if we understand what story we're a part of. For followers of Jesus, understan...

I am going to lay it all out on the table. I hope it’s not your first time at The River. I’ve been at this thing called ministry now for about thirty years. I’m going to say what I’ve been thinking but have been afraid to say about where I feel the church is at today and our spiritual maturity. I’m using the story of the widow who gave her only two lepton, mites, and threw them into the temple tre...

Speaking of being a generous person, I often hear, I’ll be generous when. I actually don’t really hear that but I can honestly say, I know that’s what a lot of people think even if they don’t say it. It’s written all over their lives. I’ll be more generous when I get a little more ahead. Next year. But next year never seems to arrive. What if I told you that the Bible makes a case for those of us...

You know the story (or at least you can imagine it). Someone teaches on how Scripture calls us to be generous, an urgent financial need is presented--the "Big Ask"--a certain percentage of the group contributes financially to the cause, a need is met and everyone walks away unchanged, no more filled with love for God or others from having given. While it's certainly appropriate for followers of Je...

I want you to do something radically different than maybe you were raised to do or heard you should do. Think of all that you have that God has given you to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17b). Your time, your health, and your wealth. Now think about the rest of your life. What is your best guess how long you will live? The American average is 77 years of age. I’m planning to 80. After that is gravy. Now that...

Let's take a step back from our 4-month series on spiritual disciplines and talk about why we are focusing on the disciplines in the first place. Why are we giving so much attention to the practices of prayer, scripture, simplicity, and generosity? The answer to this question lies in one of Jesus' most famous teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. In this magnificent sermon, Jesus gathers his disci...

Ok, so we have reached the end of our Simplicity series. Simplicity is a practice that makes you more spiritually mature, just as spending time in the Word of God, praying, and being generous (that’s our next series). As we conclude this practice, we decided to talk about the simple church. Simple doesn’t just apply to the Christian, it applies to us as a whole. And what do we mean by simple churc...

For many in the South Bay, the default pace of life is frenetic--work hard, play hard, family life, the list goes on. In other words, the default pace of life for many of us is at odds with the kind of simplicity that is at the sweet spot of following Jesus. For others in the South Bay, life no longer moves so fast--some are in a season of life with more freedom of time. But even for those among u...

Will the robots take over? When should I expect hoverboards? What is crypto and can I get my money back? How do I unmute myself? Can they tell if I’m “sharing” a Netflix account? If you’re like me, you have questions about technology. Here at the River Church of the South Bay, we have answers. OK, so we might not discuss the above inquiries, but join us as we adventure further into our “Simplicit...

If your heart is beating in 2023, your body and mind can give testimony that we live in an increasingly complex and crowded world. There are more beautiful opportunities and rushing demands than our bodies and calendars can manage. Yet, we keep on drinking from the fire hose of information, social media, schedules, hurry, excursions, demands, and temptations [tell your shame-gremlins to shut up; t...

One of the best parts of camp were our conversations around the book of Daniel. We studied the book of Daniel and asked the question: how do we live faithfully in a culture that is against our beliefs? What does faithfulness look like in exile? This fits perfectly into our sermon series on Scripture. We are using Scripture to ground our lives in learning how to act in this cultural moment. We need...

If you received a text with each thought that passed through your mind today, what would you see? Would you say that your mind is a place the Lord rules or does it feel like a free-for-all up there? The last few months I’ve been inviting the Lord to do some housekeeping and it’s kind of changing my life. The truth is, if I keep what’s in my heart and mind to myself and don’t trust the Lord with it...

The end of this movie, Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR, 1973 VERSION, which was first a play back in the middle of hippy world, is how the disciples felt in Luke 24:13-35. Jesus died and he wasn’t coming back. The show’s over. They were all getting back on the bus. But there, Jesus was in their midst. And here’s the point. They lost their entire perspective until Jesus explained the Bible to them. Then the...

Psalm 19 crescendos with a surprising statement--the poet declares Scripture to be more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey. Now, those of us who are Christians know and believe that Scripture is important, but it’s something else entirely to say that it’s more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. If we’re being honest, many of us think of and experience Scripture more like a child th...

I am intrigued and fascinated by stories of wagon trains crossing the country and the Rockies, in order to get to California to find a new home. Some stopped in Nevada, and that’s their bad. Their journey usually took months or longer, and included babies born and family members dying. Contrast that with the ease of jumping on a plane and in a few hours flying to New York City, with nothing but a...

There is something about music that captures us. We all can think of that one song that brings us back to a favorite childhood memory, or the song that got us through a break up, or perhaps "Leaning on the Lord's Side" is on repeat in your house all day long. Music plays a central role in our lives, and I think it should. Music has a powerful way to help form us into the people we want to be, or s...

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He gave them what we now call, The Lord’s Prayer, but then invited them to pray to their Heavenly Father with “shameless audacity” [Luke 11:8 NIV]. That phrase has ignited my imagination, but also challenged my practice of praying… feeble, inconsistent, unworthy, and on it goes. By the way, there is almost no one I talk with who feels like their “pr...

How would you start a teaching on prayer? Don't worry--I have a plan for how to start off the teaching. But, where would you start? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn't begin his teaching on prayer with a definition of prayer, a guide for how to pray, or instructions for what a praying life should look like. Instead, Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by teaching us how to relate to God. So...

We begin a four month journey studying and experimenting together, four primary new spiritual practices the help us be more successful in achieving our goals as Christians - practices that shape us. We all want to mature in Christ, but how? By doing something regularly over a long period of time until it becomes who you are. That’s a spiritual practice, or spiritual discipline. James Clear says in...

Last week, James and Brae brought us an exposition of Psalm 23, God is our shepherd. God is inviting us to sit quietly with him as He fills us up. The future of you is that of growing majestically like a tree in the forest or in a meadow. They gave us ways to connect personally with God. This week, I want to look at not you, but us, the church. We are not one, but many. We are not a single tree in...

Let’s talk about the future. Your future. Are you thinking through a transition in life, work, health, finances, family, ministry? This can be as small as making summer plans or changing up your fitness routine or as massive as a huge career change or entering into a new stage of life and family. How do you walk boldly and beautifully into that sometimes-scary thing we call the future? How do you...

It’s Mother’s Day and we are going to land our series exploring “transformation” by soaking in the first Psalm that my mom taught me when I was a little kid. I also want to ask a question: What do you think truly good moms want from their kids? Let’s ask a few and find out. It just might be the case that pondering this question will teach us something about the mother heart of God! This will also...