The River Church Sermons

I have heard this phrase thrown around for years, “We are to serve the Lord.” What in the heck does that mean? Psalm 100 says to do it with gladness. Joshua said, "As for he and his house, they will serve the Lord." OK. But what does that mean? Elijah is called to serve the Lord in I Kings 17-19 by confronting a wayward king and an idolatrous nation. You also see him serving Obadiah, and the widow...

Here are a couple big, fat biblical-theological ideas of which I am convinced: 1) God is an expert teacher and 2) the Bible is repetitive. If you spend any time listening to the tales and teachings of scripture, you quickly discover that a handful of very basic themes reappear again and again. I do not think this repetition is a failure of literary beauty; I think it is a mark of pedagogical brill...

The reluctant prophet. That is the story of most of the prophets, except eager Isaiah who said, “Here I am, Lord, Send me!” I hate to say it, but I kinda think he’s a bit too happy for me. Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, I can relate to these guys. Jonah got spit up on the shore of Nineveh. He tried running. Jeremiah needed convincing. Before you were born, I appointed you. How dramatic. Elijah,...

Elijah is the story of every one of us, if we desire more. Do you want more? Contentment is often the product of choosing compromise over commitment. But it’s momentary. You can be content for awhile, but you will yearn for more. Holding on to what you have does not lead to lasting contentment. Elijah challenges us to seek more in our lives. But it comes at a cost. All good things do. Do you want...

Watch our River Kids as they share with us the Christmas Story with us. Then, I'll put forth my best effort to follow their dazzle with a message about a handful of shepherds who leave the nighttime darkness of their fields to find the light emanating from the manger bed of Jesus. They heard the good news from an angel, they took the initiative, they got up, and they went to see. At this stage of...

Jesus came into a world of darkness to save us from our darkness. Think about that. The world is a dark place. But so also are our hearts. That is why Jesus himself was born into such a broken and vulnerable set of circumstances to a poor family. He became human to absorb our fallen humanness, to heal, not destroy. We deserve death. We get life because in his humanness, he sacrificed himself on ou...

We live in a world that often feels make believe. The line between fantasy and truth has been blurred. We are told one thing, but we know it's not true. We refuse to believe what we know is true because it's inconvenient. We cover up some, bury others, and believe what is most convenient whether it’s true or not. Yet, in the midst of this fantastical haze we live in, the Christmas story breaks thr...

Whether you are snuggling up to the season or sketching out a survival strategy, join us for some connection, worship, and a simple sermon in that space between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’re going to re-experience an often-overlooked slice of the Christmas story and learn something about the beauty of living in response. In the meantime, may God smile richly on your celebrations!

Acts of the Holy Spirit by The River Church of the South Bay

At the heart of life with Jesus is a paradox. On the one hand life with Jesus is, to reference the late pastor-theologian Eugene Peterson, “a long obedience in the same direction.” On the other hand, Scripture shows us that one of the greatest threats to our individual joy in God and the forward advance of God’s mission is settling for business as usual. So what does it look like to live with sett...

Ask any young person entering the workforce what they hope for in their career and you'll hear (among other things) a consistent theme: purpose. Ours is a cultural moment especially shaped by a fundamental desire of the human heart--we want not only a desirable lifestyle, but also a desirable purpose to give our lives to. All of which brings to light the beauty of life with Jesus. Jesus invites us...

This week I want to tell you two stories and intertwine them together. The first is of a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb. The author of this story, CS Lewis, said Eustace was so annoying he almost deserved his name, and it's a bad name. I want to tell you how this annoying boy became a dragon, and then how he turned back into a boy. It's a beautiful story! The second story is of the young church...

America is divided today. Is that a fair statement [or understatement]? Increasingly, our churches are also becoming split up into tribes. More than half of American Evangelicals would prefer attending churches of politically like-minded people. Consider the implications of that posture—it certainly is not all bad, but may not be that good either. Do not worry… the sermon will definitely not be ab...

I love how the Spirit moves in Acts! It is so cool to see and I deeply want that same movement in my own life! While there is no quick fix solution to this, one aspect of the early Christian community is that its Spiritual fire was kindled by the prayers of its people. Meaning, they were people of prayer! Through the book of Acts, there is a complementary nature to the Spirit's moving and people p...

Who exactly runs this church? Who is really in charge? Who is the grand visionary, strategic thinker, master motivator, and deal closer? If the scriptural narrative of Acts gets a voice (which it certainly will in this series), its answer is unanimous: The Holy Spirit of God. Let’s open Acts again and gain both a birds-eye-view and a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the Spirit’s leadership style. Sp...

The South Bay is starving for something real. Something that looks more like the Jesus who captivated our hearts and imaginations. Something that looks less like an organization drooling after money, blind loyalty, or behavior modification. In this adventure, we will embark on a guided tour through the picturesque narrative landscape of Acts, before refreshing in the relational day spa that is Act...

Does it seem like the world around us is changing faster than our minds can process? World events, cultural shifts, tragedy and evil attacks here and across the seas, familiar norms upended, disunity and disparagement, all this may bring confusion, anxiety, and even a feeling of being unmoored from anything solid and reliable. Our teaching team and staff at The River believe strongly that the Holy...

Happy Birthday to THE CHURCH! Not the River Church - we celebrate that in February… but the first Christian church, EVER! I want to CELEBRATE together as we look at Acts 2 and the day we refer to as Pentecost. What happens on Pentecost? The Holy Spirit comes! And why is it referred to as the birthday of the church? Not just because we all receive a gift. But because, as the church, we are continui...

It’s no exaggeration to say that we are living through one of the periods of greatest change in living memory. Smart phones, a global pandemic, remote work, and a slue of hot-button issues are ushering in massive cultural shifts in ways both good and bad. And all this on top of the normal stuff of day-to-day life. The question for followers of Jesus (and those interested in exploring life with Jes...

Stay hydrated; get your heart rate up 3-5 times each week; eat more vegetables. You don’t really need your coach, or mom, or doctor to teach you about this. You know the drill, you have heard it for a long time, now just do this more and more. There are basics in life that are so fundamental, vital for our own health and for the good of the world around us. Once in a while I come to my senses and...

We end our series on the Parables of Jesus with the most difficult of all. It’s in Luke 16:1-15. There’s this unscrupulous, irresponsible steward who makes bad investments on behalf of his master. And upon being fired, he quickly scrambles, acts shrewdly and settles the debts, recovering half of what was lost for his master. His master praises his actions and Jesus tells us to be like this steward...

In a culture that is driven by a victim mentality, our identities often become wrapped up in the wrongs we have endured. So busy nursing our wounds, we become blind to ways that we wound. It’s the longing to place ourselves on the right side of our individual histories. It is the primordial word from the garden, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Gen...

I love so much about Jesus. Ask him about your favorite hot-button issue, he tells you a story. Seek his take on someone else, he answers with a mirror. Look for a loophole, encounter impermeable love. Let’s sit at Jesus’s feet and listen with our ears and hearts as he replies to one of the most popular questions of our age with a worldview-reframing parable.

"Reality is our friend." It's almost comical how frequently a former boss and mentor of mine would say those words. What he meant was this: there are few things more helpful when making a plan for the future, few things more instructive in knowing what to do today, than having an accurate picture of our true situation. When it comes to navigating our lives, then, there's an obvious question: What...

"Reality is our friend." It's almost comical how frequently a former boss and mentor of mine would say those words. What he meant was this: there are few things more helpful when making a plan for the future, few things more instructive in knowing what to do today, than having an accurate picture of our true situation. When it comes to navigating our lives, then, there's an obvious question: What...