The River Church Sermons

Voltaire once said that if God didn’t exist, we would’ve invented him. There’s something deep within the human psyche that needs to follow after something. We crave it. Yet, we need to be careful that what we invent or what we follow after does not destroy us. The world is full of idols. A world that God created. They compete for allegiance. Our job is to pick our alliance well. It determines the...

Have you ever driven somewhere and arrived with no memory of the trip, answered “good” when someone asked how you’re doing (without thinking), or wondered how it’s already that time of year? You’re not alone. We all go into autopilot through the seeming monotony of life. Sometimes we can go through seasons of life where it feels that way - busy, distracted, tired, and running on autopilot - even i...

From the garden to the manger, God’s heart has always been to dwell with His people. Christmas isn’t the start of that story—it’s the center of it. Let’s celebrate the gift of Immanuel - God with us, now and forever!

What is the difference between a good story and good news? What is the difference between a good true story and good news? Stories are wonderful. Stories inspire us. Stories shape our imagination. Yet, in the famous angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, the angel did not claim to come with a good story; the angel claimed to come with good news. Join us as we continue...

Christmas is a time for tradition. It’s a season wherein we are careful to do those special things that we’ve always done in the ways we’ve always done them. We throw the customary parties, invite the regular folks, eat the expected foods, sing the songs, drink the drinks, watch the movies, give the gifts. Christmas is that one time of year in which we can count on things running more or less as t...

Jesus is born. Wonder, peace and joy accompany. Mom and dad present their first born son as a servant to the Lord, a dedication of sorts at the temple. A sacrifice. What we see is generosity is a sacrifice. Then we meet some seekers. Simeon and Ana, and they see with their own eyes what they had been searching for their whole lives. A lifetime of seeking. What we also see is what you seek sets the...

Generosity takes a miracle. You don’t just become a generous person unless you have been moved by the hand of God. In Philippians 4:10-23, Paul comes to a crescendo finish to his epic letter to the Philippian church on the source of scandalous joy. A joy that is produced not by man made efforts, but the act of a supreme God working in the life of an ordinary believer. Through trials, through humil...

The normal stressors of adult life, ever increasing cultural and political division, a rapidly increasing pace of life for families and working people, increasing costs of living, pressures to keep up with the lifestyles of our neighbors or favorite influencers--all of these and more combine to form the potent cocktail of our cultural moment and one word could be used to describe the experience: a...

We’re exploring what it really means to know Christ from Philippians 3:10–21. Isn’t it incredible that we are invited into a deep friendship with Jesus? I am shocked by this and encouraged by Paul’s words for what it looks like to press on, to shape our lives around Christ’s story of humility and self-emptying love. In a world full of competing stories and endless distractions, we’ll be reminded t...

One of the most beautiful things about the gospel is the way God levels the playing field. It does not matter how much money you have, how many bad choices you have made in the past, where you go to school, or what your reputation is like. Jesus came that each of us might know and be found in him. You probably know this already. But shoot. It is soooo easy for us to slip back into believing that G...

What if I told you that the measure of your life is not what you accomplish, but what you give away to others? How would that reshape your life? How would you reprioritize your life? We are one of the most misguided cultures in all the world. We think little about legacy and focus most of our energy on accomplishment and consumption. Let’s take Jesus for example. Jesus gave His life away. Literall...

Our cultural moment is one of political tension, algorithm-driven echo chambers, ideological violence, and rapid cultural and technological change. Yet against this backdrop, there is evidence of surging interest in Christian faith—Bible sales and online searches have increased dramatically and church attendance among Gen Z has increased every year since 2022. In our own church we’ve seen people c...

Churches today (including the River Church) are facing the greatest possible threat. This Sunday we are going to talk about it. As it turns out, the antidote to this pervasive and corrosive epidemic shows up right smack in the middle of our Philippians passage this week. Join us on Sunday to take an honest look at both the nature of this threat, as well as our only protection against it. (This sou...

In this cultural moment, we sense a growing clarity about what God is doing. He continues His unchanging mission — seeking and saving the lost — but now, His people are becoming aware and ready to join Him. Let’s lean in with open hands and willing hearts, praying for where He might lead us next. When we say yes to the Great Commission, we step into the greatest adventure — following the greatest...

Jesus shares the gospel, good news of a new king who saved not politically, but spiritually in a time of great diversity and divide. I personally like his approach. He is willing to, as they say, “mix it up” with this woman. He draws her in to the real issue and goes after what’s holding her back. Her response is astounding. She’s all in. This is the River Church. Mix it up, listen, talk, show res...

So Paul is actually going to say, "For me to live is Christ and die is gain." I wonder if we actually believe that. If we understand that. If we did, would we have the courage to put our faith on the line as we know Charlie Kirk, fellow believer and young man that shared Jesus with college students did? I mean, to question if we think this passage was written to you as well as others, like Charlie...

George and I are coaching August's soccer team this season. We've been playing for all of one week and it is absolute chaos. But there is hope for a great season, we have a plan! What makes a great, effective team? What does it take to (dare I say) win? Let’s look at what Paul (an absolutely legendary coach) has to say to his partners, his friends, his team.

Each of us is searching for joy and peace. Or put another way, none of us woke up this morning and thought to ourselves, "Do you know what I don't want to experience today? Joy and peace." Yet even though we all experience profoundly happy moments, lasting, joyful, peaceful contentment can often feel out of reach. Join us for the next two months as we learn together from the book of Philippians, s...

I want to believe that God's faithfulness means He will keep me from pain and loss and trials of any kind. But I have experienced pain and loss and trials. So what is true? This weekend I want to look at God's promise to be faithful and what that means/looks like/feels like in the middle of a storm.

Life gets hard. We know that - we have lived it! We are familiar with the afflictions of life, and are intimately aware of the pain and sorrow that come with it. But, what do you do in those times? Do you complain to the nearest person to you? Do you buckle in and bear it, making sure no one else knows about it? Or, do you take your situation to God in prayer? This week we explored how the art of...

This last six months I have spent most of my work life hanging out with dead people. That is, my research thrusts me into the strange and fascinating ocean of ancient Roman, Jewish, and early Christian literature. I’ve been reading heaps of their poems, novels, essays, philosophic treatises, scandalous narratives, visionary descriptions, moral rants, speeches, and surviving letters. My favorite pa...

In a fallen world, the question isn't whether or not we will experience heartache and pain. The question is what we will do with it. We all know the common ways we might respond to heartache in a place like the South Bay--distract ourselves with fun experiences or new purchases, busy ourselves in our responsibilities at work or with our families, deny the pain with religious platitudes and fake ch...

God, where are you? Why is this happening to me? Do you even care? You know these questions. You’ve asked them. Many of you are living in the midst of these questions right now. This is what our students explored at Hume Lake Christian Camps. We are looking at the story of Joseph to discover how God works all things according to his plan and purpose. What people have intended for evil, God works f...

How important is seeing through the right lens? Ask anyone who's had to make do without their glasses or been living with the wrong prescription and they'll tell you--it makes a whole world of difference. And seeing through the right lens isn't just a matter of reading a traffic sign or further into the distance or making out details that would otherwise be fuzzy; it's a matter of navigating the w...

As we continue our sermon series, Words to Live By, I want to draw our attention to two surprisingly powerful prepositions: “with” and “in.” Though small in size, these words carry enormous theological weight. They’re easy to overlook, yet they reveal a profound mystery—through faith, we are united with Christ and now live our lives in God. Simple words. Eternal truth. Mysterious, beautiful, and a...