River of Life Church - St Joseph

Who We Are - Week 1

This week we begin a new series called Who We Are looking at the character and values of our church. We recently passed the two-year mark for our church being in existence! Now is the time to evaluate remind ourselves of who we are as a church and highlight where we are going. The topic for this week is that we absolutely need to be people of God's presence. His presence is what sets the church apart from being another social club. 

On The Road - Week 3 (Easter)

Happy Easter! This week we round out our On The Road series by celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and covering the story of him walking on the Road to Emmaus with two of his disciples. Jesus interrupts their story and brings new life and redemption to them in their place of difficulty. If the grave is empty, then we always have hope!

On The Road - Week 2 (Family Service)

This week we look at the Triumphant Entry of Jesus.** In that story, people celebrate Jesus and his next three major actions are to cry, curse a tree, and flip tables in the Temple. What caused Jesus to have that reaction? We look to answer that question and figure out how we can apply the truths of these scriptures to our lives. (Hint: Jesus cares more about our hearts than our outward actions.) 
**This is a Family Service for us, meaning the kids were included in the service. The sermon is geared towards BOTH kids and adults, switching back and forth between the two focuses. Also, there are a few visual illustrations that we used that might not translate as well to podcasting. 

On The Road - Week 1

This week we start a new series called On The Road with Jesus where we will take a few stories of Jesus traveling on different roads and what we can learn from them. This first sermon keys in on a man named Jairus who desperately needed a miracle from Jesus, but who also found himself seeing his faith tested on the road to his miracle. This story is a strong reminder that sometimes there are miracles you can only learn on the road to the miracle. 

Fighter - Week 5

This week we round out our Fighter series talking about the story of the Good Samaritan and how this highlights what we should do to fight for the Kingdom of God. This is a powerful story that highlights that God often uses "neighbors" to change the world rather than those who are powerful or influential. That's great news for us because all of us are neighbors already! We all have the opportunity to love people, show compassion, and spread the light of Christ everywhere we go. 

Fighter - Week 4

This week we have a guest speaker, Tim Bueckers, who is an awesome member of our church! Tim talks about what it means to truly trust God in the world that we are faced with today. How do we trust God in all things, even when the world is going crazy? It starts with us truly leaning on God rather than leaning on our own strength, skills, understanding, or perspectives. When we understand that, it doesn't matter what the world throws at us. We can stand firm trusting in Christ!

Fighter - Week 3

This week we continue our Fighter series talking about the idea of not using Jesus as a tool or weapon to push our own agendas forward. Both in Bible times and in our world today, people will often try to use Jesus as a means to their end. Jesus always resisted this. The call of Christianity has always been for us to follow Jesus rather than trying to get Jesus to follow our ways. As we look at John 6 in this sermon, we discuss how to avoid the mistakes of using Jesus as a tool/weapon and following our expectations of Jesus rather than Jesus himself. 

Fighter - Week 2

This week we continue our Fighter series by talking about the idea that we cannot put non-biblical prerequisites or expectations on what it means to be a Christian. In the time of the early church, they struggled with a controversy over this same type of idea. There was a group going around saying that people had to do extra things in order to be able to accept Christ or to be a "real" Christian. While we have different issues in our world today, this idea is still prevalent. We talk here about how to avoid the lie of adding extra requirements to what Christ calls us to do and how to keep our Christianity focused on the primary issues before we deal with secondary issues. 

Fighter - Week 1

This week we begin a new series talking about how Christians should engage with the culture around us. We aim to answer the question: How should Christians act in a world that is so divisive, politically charged, and filled with conflict? Too often the reactions of Christians seem to add fuel to the fires of culture rather than speaking hope to it. In this sermon, we look at the fight that God had called us to take part in and how we can fight that fight the right way. (Spoiler: we act like Christ did using the tools he used.) 

For - Week 2

This week we wrap up our mini-series, For, by talking about the fact that every one of us is saved for the Great Commission. As a part of us accepting Jesus and joining the Body of Christ, God has called each of us to reach both our neighbors and the nations. This sermon discusses that point and then moves to how we can practically live out the Great Commission by praying, giving, and going.