Rio Vista Church Sermons

David found himself in a situation where it seemed that the stars had aligned to deliver Saul into his hands, giving David the chance to bring Saul's pursuit of him to an end. Yet David chose to find God's will in God's word, not in circumstances.

Before he was Israel’s greatest king, David was living in the desert, hiding in caves. During this time David wrote some of his most peaceful psalms. Saul had no peace, but David--who Saul was trying to kill--did. How? Where did it come from?

David was arguably King Saul’s most loyal subject. He’d saved all of Israel from the Philistines by killing Goliath. Yet still Saul tried to kill him. How did David react to this incredibly unfair set of circumstances? What can we learn from that today?

The privilege of addressing God as Father was given to the king in the Old Testament, only he and his family were permitted to do so. King David is succeeded by the true King, Jesus, and we are his sons and daughters. Thus we too may call God our Father.

In the book of Judges, the mother of Samson is never referred to by name--she is simply called the wife of Manoah. Yet the Angel of the Lord, likely God himself, appeared to her not once, but twice. Pastor Tom Hendrikse explores her remarkable story.

This week, Saul jealously tries to kill David, while Saul’s son Jonathon sees in David a spirit that reminds him of himself, and Jonathon loves David and commits himself to him. An encounter with the king, you see, will reveal what is truly in your heart.

God, who is the perfectly righteous, holy, and flawless creator and judge of the universe, will judge us all by his own perfect standard. That's a huge, Goliath-sized problem for us! We need a champion, like David, to stand up for us. We need Jesus!

Despite seeing clearly absolutely everything we do and THINK, when God looks at us, what He sees is our heart. That should prompt you to desire the purification of your heart, which should lead you to Christ because only He can give us a heart like God.

The King expects, and deserves, our trust. Trust in the king can be measured by obedience. Do you obey him completely? This week, we see that Saul did not obey the LORD completely. That lack of trust would cost Saul dearly. Are we any different, though?

The story of the king continues with Israel and Saul, their king, hiding from an enemy they could not hope to overcome. The son of the king gives himself up to certain death and the LORD not only preserves him but vanquishes the unbeatable enemy.

The Story of the King Part 11. From March 23rd. Pastor Tom Hendrikse.

The Story of the King Part 10. From March 16th. Pastor Tom Hendrikse.

The Story of the King Part 9. From March 9th. Pastor Carter Brown.

As the people searched for a king, God brought them Saul, the tall, handsome son of a wealthy family who certainly looked the part. But God isn’t looking for the tall or the handsome, God is looking for those who obey His word in the power of His spirit.

When you live for King Jesus, your life looks very different from those who don’t. We must examine our lives to make sure they ARE different and if they aren’t, to remove via repentance the gods we’ve placed on the throne, so Jesus can reign as king.

It's a natural desire of fallen human beings to want to dethrone God and bring him down to our level, even as we elevate ourselves to his. Israel went through a long period of rejecting God, but the faithfulness of one man was used to restore them all.

The story of how the Ark of God returns from exile shows us that we serve a King who is in control of absolutely everything. That fact should give us peace and make us thankful. It also should never make us doubt. Pastor Tom Hendrikse explains why.

The story of the King continues with the Ark of God, his physical manifestation in the world, captured by the Philistines and taken into exile, a symbol of death. Its return, its resurrection, began on the third day. Our King brings us life out of death!

Samuel heard the voice of the Lord telling him what he should do, and then he obeyed that voice. Seems simple enough, right? The king speaks, you do what he says. We also serve a King who speaks. This week we study how to recognize his voice.

When you have a king, you serve the king. The story continues with the sons of Eli, who the scriptures tell us were worthless men. They stole from the Lord and committed sins in his temple. Have you brought your sins to King Jesus? Do you serve him?

At the time of Samuel's birth, there was no king in Israel and "everyone did what was right in their own eyes" (the last verse in Judges tells us). We need King Jesus not only to save us from our sins, but to save us from ourselves.

We conclude our series examining the mission of Jesus in his own words with the story of Jesus and a tax collector named Zacchaeus, where we see that the mission of Jesus was to seek out and to save those who are lost.

We continue our series examining the mission of Jesus in his own words with a discussion of our enslavement to the law of God, and how the death of Jesus freed us from that, so we might live as sons and daughters of God, instead.

The mission of Jesus in his own words continues with the message that he is the Light and has not come to judge the world, but to save it. Those who believe that are brought from darkness into the light. Transformed hearts leading to transformed lives.

On his way up to Jerusalem, Jesus explained to his disciples what was about to happen. He was on his way to face suffering and death. It was his mission, one we share. We don't die physically, but we die to ourselves at the foot of the cross every day.