The River Church Sermons

I love trees. On one of our first dates, Cynthia and I spent it talking and enjoying an evening up in a tall tree on the campus of U. C. Davis. I knew that if a girl could climb a tree better than me, and wanted to share laughter from the top branches, it might be smart on my part to pursue her more. We still like climbing trees. God loves trees too, and uses them to teach me all kinds of life-sha...

It's something Tom Nelson said that has stuck with me, pulled at me, challenged me, and changed the way I think. "In the church, we often spend the majority of our time teaching people how to live the minority of their lives." What does he mean and why is that even significant? I think it gets at what we do most of our days. What do we do? We work, we spend time with family and friends, we fix thi...

Our 21st century U.S. historical moment serenades us with two unmistakable songs. One is named "Division," and the other, "Superficial Spectacle." These songs have been playing on repeat in human communities for millennia, but in the last decade a confluence of complicated and not-so-complicated realities have colluded to crank up the volume. Today we hear their chorus echoing in everything from o...

Have you ever thought about what happens and where you go after you die? If you've buried a loved one you probably have. Older people do; youngsters often don't bother. The popular belief includes: death is a wrap, done, end of you; or a kind of ethereal disembodied eternity in a faraway heaven up there. Stephen Colbert quipped he was planning on "a harp, a mint Julep, and asking Ronald Reagan que...

"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" Do you know this quote? George and I were in Las Vegas this weekend for a wedding and that was the messaging all around us. "LIVE IT UP! Don't give any thought to tomorrow-what do you want RIGHT NOW? What do you feel like IN THIS MOMENT? Let's eat and drink for tomorrow we DIE!" Believe it or not, this is a quote from the passage we're going to be studyi...

Go for broke! Terrible advice in personal finance, exactly the point of 1 Corinthians 11-14. Denise (one of my ministry and life heroes) absolutely nailed it two weeks ago in her sermon on love in 1 Cor. 13. In it, she reminded us of a C.S. Lewis quote that I can't stop thinking about: "Nothing you have not given away will ever really be yours." It sounds so contradictory, so paradoxical, and for...

It's wedding season and this weekend I get to attend the wedding of a dear couple from our River community! Weddings bring out all the "feels" for me. The beautiful couple standing up in front, surrounded by people they love, dreaming about a life full of love and happiness. This Sunday we are going to look at I Corinthians 13, traditionally known as the LOVE chapter, often read at weddings descri...

I was hanging with a group of guys that meet on Friday mornings for a little connection time and a short reflection on God's word. We have several of these kinds of groups and need more to be started. Back to my point. We were talking about accountability for men. My first thought was about my message this weekend from I Cor. 12 - Spiritual Gifts. I thought, oh my, how many things are we missing o...

If only we could go back and redo some things.... key words- "some things". Yeah, some times I cringe at the poor choices of my past. However, I also could have avoided some of them had I simply learned from the mistakes of others before me. Now, the best thing I can do is grow from my mistakes and others and ask the lord to help me respond differently when faced with the situation in the future....

During his sermon on 1 Corinthians 8 a few weeks ago, Todd mentioned 'planned obsolescence'. What is this, you ask? According to a 2009 article in The Economist, "Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete-that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. This is done so that in th...

During his sermon on 1 Corinthians 8 a few weeks ago, Todd mentioned 'planned obsolescence'. What is this, you ask? According to a 2009 article in The Economist, "Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete-that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. This is done so that in th...

This has been a horrific week for our church family and community. So much pain and hardship. Life altering events. How do we, as the church family in the South Bay, respond? What can we do for those who have and are suffering greatly? How far should we go to help those suffering greatly? Paul says in I Cor. 9:19-27 that he was willing to go all the way. All the way. Care without limits. This mess...

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Rudy, the story that documents the dream of a boy to play football for Notre Dame. The scene comes right after Rudy, the main character, did not make the dress roster for the final game of the season thus failing to achieve his dream of getting to play for the Fighting Irish. The scene unfolds as the team captain walks into the head coach's office and lays h...

I heard a story this week about a Christian man, Mark Uptain, father of 5 and husband who last September led a guided elk hunt. His hunter/client shot an elk. The next day they returned for the elk to clean it and prepare the meat and trophy for transport on horses. That's when two grizzly bears appeared out of the covering charging with full force. Mark had a choice. Run for his life or lead the...

It is difficult to underestimate the enormous influence that Disney Princess films have had in shaping our imaginations and longings for marriage in our current culture. Ultimate fulfillment and meaning are typically portrayed in finding the love of one's life and living happily ever after. As a result, we often struggle to make sense of the adult single life, without adding pressure and expectati...

Church is a family. A family is made up of parents, kids, grandparents, pet dogs, rats, and chinchillas, stray cats, aunts and uncles, and long lost relatives. The church is a lot like a family. You don't get to pick who's in it. And that can be exciting and it can also be a real challenge. I always felt bad for a distant relative that always seemed lost to the rest of our family. Maybe due to lif...

Looking back over my life, now 58, I would never have imagined all the downright difficulty life would bring. In High School, I never thought life could be so challenging. So here's what I have learned. Darkness has become my friend. I don't look forward to it. I don't invite it. But at times, I live in it. And in it God is most clearly visible. Gregory of Nyssa was a bishop in Cappadocia (Modern...

Remember when you were little and afraid of the dark? It's ok to admit you were convinced of monsters under your bed and boogey-men in your closet. Petrified and unable to move or sleep you called out for help. The mere presence of a parent or older sibling lying next to you on your bed brought calm and assurance of companionship. Even with the lights out, the monsters seemed manageable. Though a...

Ready for another dousing of darkness? This weekend I plan to bring Part II of a message I started last weekend entitled, "Getting Comforatble with Darkness" from the life of Moses. Moses met God on Mt. Sinai in darkness. Several things from his life and experience parallel our lives as Christ followers. For one, it’s often confusing why we have to go through darkness to find God. For another, it...

I hope you are not afraid of the dark because we are going to be talking about darkness for the next several weeks in our new series: Walking With God In The Dark. The subtitle of the series is, Just because the lights are out doesn’t mean God is not present or something like that. Every single one of us will go through a period of darkness at some point in our lives. When I was in High School, I...

Christians: You've seen them on TV (think Ned Flanders or Angela from 'The Office'), you've heard about them in politics (not going there!), and you've probably got a few of them in your life (hence why you're at church today). Join us this Sunday for a special message: "What a Christian Isn't." If you are curious about Christianity or have been a follower of Jesus for decades, join us as we squas...

Easter service with James.

Sunrise service with Bill.

April 19 Good Friday Service - Stations of the Cross by The River Church of the South Bay

Hi friends, Brooke Andrews here. I want to take you back to 2008 to give you a glimpse into the heart and vision of our guest speaker, a friend of mine. In 2008, Kevin Palau, the president of the Luis Palau Association (LPA), reached out to Sam Adams, one of the first openly gay mayors in the United States. Kevin showed up to ask how LPA might come alongside Sam to address critical needs in the co...