River of Life Church - St Joseph

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. 

For - Week 1

This week we start a new mini-series called "For" where we are going to be talking about what we are saved FOR. Many Christians know and can articulate what God has saved them FROM, but sometimes Christians can struggle to understand what God has saved the FOR. For us to mature in our faith, we have to move fully into what God has saved us FOR. In this series we will get into what that means for us. 

Seeking - Week 4

This week we talk about maturing in our seeking process. Using the idea of a pyramid that we move from lower levels to higher levels, Pastor Tyler highlights that there are different levels of maturity that our seeking needs to move through. The story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10 serves as the backbone for today's message as we wrap up our series on seeking God. 

Seeking - Week 3

This week we dive into the idea of seeking God first in our lives. What does it mean to seek him first like it talks about in Matthew 6:33? We break down that idea to show that Jesus was talking both about seeking God first in priority and in the process of our lives--both of which have strong implications for how we live out our faith day to day. 

Seeking - Week 2

This week we continue our series on seeking God by talking about some characteristics of truly seeking him. There can be various aspects of our lives that can either hold us back from seeking God or that can hinder us from seeking him the right way. We dive into the story of 1 Kings 19 where Elijah seeks God after receiving some distressing news. In the middle of that mess, he is able to press through and seek God. The result is that he has an encounter with God that changes him in the exact way he truly needed. The same can happen for us!

Seeking - Week 1

What does it mean to seek God and why should we seek him? In this series, we are going to look at the answers to those questions. This week we begin by showing that we have the responsibility and joy to seek God with all our hearts, and that he shows up when we do. Then we transition to talking about a very specific way to seek God: fasting. It's a great way to kick off our new year by giving effort to growing closer to Jesus.