River of Life Church - St Joseph

The is the final week of our Who We Are series. This week our main idea is this: "We are the Church always." We focus in on Ephesians 2:19-22 where Paul presents a great description of what the church should be, and it's much more than simply meeting together for a service once a week. We are meant to embody what it means to be the Church at all times, not just on Sunday mornings. When we embrace that idea, the Church becomes the gigantic blessing that God intended it to be. 

This week we are doing part two of being Shaped by the Spirit. In scripture, there are always clear markers of the Holy Spirit moving in individuals and in the church: the Fruit of the Spirit, spiritual gifts, and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. If we are a church that is Shaped by the Spirit, then we will see all three of those things happening regularly in our congregation. We tackle each of those three markers, explain them, and talk about how to lean into what the Spirit is doing through each of those in our church. 

This week we continue our series talking about the truth that we are shaped by the Spirit as a church. Every single part of the life of faith is enabled by God's Spirit moving in us and the same is true for our church as a whole. We can only do what we do because of the Holy Spirit's work. In this sermon we discuss who the Spirit is, what he does, and our part in being shaped by the Spirit. When we realize that God's Spirit is the main character rather than us, it frees us to chase God with all that we are!

This week, Pastor Tyler was ill, so Tim Bueckers brought the word. He talks in this sermon about the love of God and how that love not only should shape our identity, but it should also empower us to be who God created us to be. With God's love serving as the foundation of who we are, how we think about ourselves, and how we live following God, we can know that we are secure in him! From that security, God empowers us to step forward into life with him and towards all that he has called us to be. 

This week we continue in our series Who We Are by highlighting the truth that we radically follow Jesus. In our society today, the word "Christian" is throw around for many things and in some cases seems to have lost all meaning; however, that's not how it should be. To be a Christian means that a person is following Jesus. We talk about what that means to actually follow Jesus and how that is lived out in a practical way in our lives today. 

This week we continue our Who We Are series talking about having generational impact as a church.* We look at the death of Moses and how God allows him to see a vision for God's people that was bigger than what Moses or his generation could accomplish in their lifetimes. God always has a plan for generational impact for his Church, and we get to be a part of it now where we are at. The Church is for us, but it is also for the future. 
*We lost the audio recording of week three, which was on the topic of being locked-in on the mission of God to seek and save the lost

This week we continue in our Who We Are series talking about the idea that we serve a God that is infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:14-21). When we grasp the power of that idea, things change--especially how we live in our day-to-day lives. These verses contain a powerful truth that God is infinitely more than anything else that we could seek, accomplish, or follow. 

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. 

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!

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.