Go Public Baptism   Go public. We are in a series of messages about going public with our faith in Jesus Christ.   Romans 1:16 (NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.   Go public that …

Go Public Give / Invest   Mark 12:41  And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said t …

Go Public Easter 2024   Our Vision; Let’s see what God can do   Acts 2:23 With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.   Acts 3:13 This is the same …

Go Public Go Tell Go public. We are in a series of messages about going public with our faith in Jesus Christ. Everybody else is going public. Everyone else is stepping out of a closet and demanding validation and respect for who they are and what they do no matter how crazy it is. And in a culture …

Go Public Not Ashamed of the Gospel   Today we are beginning a new series of messages that will take us into the month of May. It’s called go public.   I want to transport you back to the world in which the New Testament was written. We are talking about living in the Roman Empire in A.D. 60. T …

Username and Password: Effectual Fervent Prayer    Today we finish this series called username and password. We have been exploring prayer using the template Jesus left us called “the Lord’s prayer.”  Prayer seems ridiculous!  Do you believe that you can say words to an unseen being that can ac …

Username and Password: Lead us not into temptation. Let’s see what God can do – RiverRocks It’s happened to all of us. We are trying to get into a webpage and put in our username and our password and the website will not recognize it. They keep giving you the same response; username or password are …

Username and Password: Forgive us as we forgive them. This series helps us to return to the simplicity of prayer using the Lord’s prayer is a template. Prayer was vital in the life of Jesus and it vital to the life of Riverside. It is the war room of our faith. Prayer is the sacred act of humbly con …

Username and Password: Give Us This Day This series helps us to return to the simplicity of prayer using the Lord’s prayer is a template. Prayer was vital in the life of Jesus and it vital to the life of Riverside and you!. It is the war room of our faith. Prayer is the sacred act of humbly connecti …

Username and Password: Kingdom Come It’s happened to all of us. We are trying to get into a webpage and put in our username and our password and the website will not recognize it. For some of us here today, this is exactly what prayer feels like. This series is all about getting back to the simplici …

Username and Password: Our Father   It’s happened to all of us. We are trying to get into a webpage and we are entering our username and our password and the website will not recognize it. They keep giving you the same response; username or password are incorrect.   For some of us here today, this i …

Above and Beyond – Psalm 145   Throughout the Old Testament we find passages of Scripture where God actually become sarcastic and pokes fun at those who want to substitute his glory for some kind of a lesser idol.   Psalm 115, Psalm 135, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 44 and Isaiah 46 are all places where you wi …

Above and Beyond – Above All One of our reoccurring themes this year will be “above and beyond.” The God who is above and beyond. In this series we are focused on scriptures in Ephesians.   Let’s look at another scripture in Ephesians that points to the above and beyond authority of Jesus. The above …

Above and Beyond – Immeasurable Grace and Kindness Our mighty God lives in the realm of the above and beyond. His thoughts are above and beyond our thoughts. His ways are above and beyond our ways. His words and the wisdom and knowledge they convey are above and beyond any human words. His creation …

Above and Beyond – More than we ask or think.   One of our recurring themes this year will be “above and beyond.” The God who is above and beyond.  Our mighty king lives in the realm of the above and beyond. His thoughts are above and beyond our thoughts. His ways are above and beyond our ways. His …

Refuge Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength,     always ready to help in times of trouble. 2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come     and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam.     Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! 4 A river brings joy to the city …

Christmas Eve John 1:4 The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.   Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kin …

Joy Here we are in the third week of Advent – the 30 days leading up to Christmas. In these 30 days, we explore the four great themes that exploded onto the earth with the coming of Jesus. Last week we looked at love. We looked at hope. Next week we will look at peace. But today, we focus in on joy. …

Advent – Love  This morning I want to talk to you about an incomprehensible subject. It is a subject that the apostle Paul said surpasses knowledge. The second Sunday of Advent we are talking about love.   John 15:9  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.   Abide and live …

Hope The first week of Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Jesus, we celebrate hope. The greatest hope of the world is Jesus Christ. We are told that Jesus in us is the hope of glory.   Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness     have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep da …

2023 Thanksgiving   In Luke 17 we are going to meet 10 men who have been thrown together in life. They are not friends because they want to be friends, they are friends because nobody else would ever be their friend. They’re not hanging around because they have some purpose and passion to do somethi …

Uncontainable God The main theme of this message is simply this; the uncontainable God has power over what has power over you. If you read Scripture you cannot help but see this uncontainable God emerge again and again and again. From the pages of Scripture we begin to see the uncontainable God. Sta …

The thing in the room  Let’s talk about the “elephant in the room.”  The elephant in the room – it’s something that we don’t want to talk about. It’s the thing that everybody knows is there, but we just pretend it’s not there. It’s the problem nobody acknowledges. It’s the thing that we dance around …

Do It Again   Lord, Do it again!   Listen to how John the Baptist talked about Jesus at the very beginning of His emerging ministry.   John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After …

Mission Statement For the last 1 ½ years there has been a team of people in this church working on a new church governance structure, which we will vote on in November. One of the pieces of the puzzle was to have a very clear and concise mission statement.   Here is the mission statement;   Riversid …

2023 Capitol Campaign. 5000 fed.   Jesus was already in the place, before you ever got to the place, and had a plan in place, for that place.   What place do you find yourself today? Before you got to the place you are today, Jesus was already in that place, and he has a plan in place, for this …

2023 Capitol Campaign. The Word and The River Welcome to Riverside Rocks.   The messages that I’ve been bringing to encourage you, to inspire you to help you see the big vision have come from God’s commission to the Old Testament man named Joshua who succeeded Moses and was the catalyst to bringing …

We’re going to be talking about Riverside rocks until everyone of these rocks on this platform is taken indicating that you have made a pledge toward our future.   More about that as we talk this morning.   One of the things that I hear most often from people is, “what am I here for?” I es …

2023 Riverside Rocks Campaign. Joshua 1:1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 2 “Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place t …

Social Media / discipleship   My challenge to you today is… When it comes to your media consumption – who are the voices that you are listening to? What is forming your mind? What is informing your mind? Should those things be forming you? In my media consumption, what are they asking me to lov …

Prayer license – Rooty Tooty fresh and fruity praying On the night before Jesus died he had gathered his disciples in a room and told them to use his name, the name of Jesus, in prayer. He says this four times;   John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glo …

Pray – Resurrection/Joy Praying   On the night before Jesus died he had gathered his disciples in a room. During this time he spoke some of the most incredible words that have ever been written in the Bible. You can find these words in John 13 – 17. In these words that Jesus spoke, which covere …

Pray – praying glory prayers For the next four weeks we are going to take some time to look at prayer especially in John 14, 15 and 16. In these passages it’s almost as if Jesus is tossing the keys of prayer to the disciples and telling them to use the power of his name to ask for things to happen. …

Crash Helmet – Psalm 51 David barely survives   Today were going to see one of the most violent head-on crashes in all the Bible. You will find the story in 2 Samuel 11 – 12. Is an all-too-familiar story that has happened too many times. David and Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 12:7 Nathan said to David, …

Crash Helmet – Persecution Ahead.  When I first started out following Jesus I thought, “who couldn’t love Jesus? Who doesn’t want Jesus?” I was unaware that there was a declared war from the very pits of hell to tarnish the name of Jesus and his followers.   Jesus is in the upper room with his disci …

Crash Helmet – Pride Luke 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I …

Crash Helmet; Rich. Young Ruler.   It should be mandatory to wear a crash helmet in church. The greeters should be handing them out at the door. Why? Because following Jesus is not safe.   Sometimes when you follow Jesus you’re going to need a crash helmet to survive the experience!   Mark …

Questions Jesus asked; What is your name?   Mark 5:1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.   3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bin …

Questions; Will he find faith?   Luke 18:1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying …

Questions; Why Call me Lord?   Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep Scott when a flood arose, the stream broke aga …

Questions; Bind the strong man Questions that Jesus asked. Today were going to wade into the deep weeds. We are going to be taking a look at the spiritual world and how it intersects with this world; the conflict that is going on with Satan and his demons against humanity and against you, and the re …

Questions Jesus Asked. Who is the greater? We started the series last week with the most important question; “Who do you say I am?” How you answer that question will determine the ultimate destiny of your life. Mark 10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teac …

Who do you say that I am? The most important question. Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the oth …

A kingdom that cannot be shaken   Every time we face hardships our faith in Jesus is tested. When suffering, we are always asking ourselves the question, “Do I really believe this? Can I stand upon the solid rock of Jesus and his word? Or do I go out seeking something else?”   This letter …

Let Us – Let us use them Let’s see what God can do We have been looking at statements in the Bible that use the words “let us.” Psalm 95 –  let us come and kneel before the Lord our maker. Let us hold fast our confession of faith. Let us come boldly before the throne of grace. Hebrews 4. Let us not …

Let Us – Let us not grow weary   Let’s see what God can do   Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.   …

Let Us – Come Boldly and Hold Fast the Confession   There is a particular phrase in the Bible that gets our attention: It is the two words let us.  Let us. It means that there is an open invitation- an invitation to believe something, or to receive something, or to do something or to stand for …

Let Us – Kneel Psalm 95  Let us. It means that there is an open invitation. It means that there’s a move that we can make to get closer to God. It means that we’re invited to do something or to believe something in response to the greatness of God.   In this very first message in this series we …

OUTPOURED and OVERFLOWING – The Table   When I think about love I think about a table. Think about your family table.   Family bonds are forged around the table. Laughter was learned at the table. Manners were learned at this table. Conversation happened at this table.   We all need a …

OUTPOURED and OVERFLOWING – The Spirit poured out In John 7 a ritual with water was being observed during the last day of a great feast when Jesus spoke up; John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,  “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. …

OUTPOURED and OVERFLOWING – A revival in Kentucky and Ephesus   Last week we started the series by talking about the revival at Asbury seminary in Kentucky and other revivals. The one common thread was this; God comes where he is wanted.   The outpouring of the Spirit breaks and smashes an …

FIRST – First Step – Trust    What is your plan to seek the king first this year?  What is you plan for leading your family?  What is your plan for the first day of the week?  What is your plan to experience God thru your giving this year?    To wrap up the series I want to talk to you about the fir …

FIRST – First 10 This first month’s series of talks are called “first.” We are talking about priorities; things we should put first in our lives.   What is your plan to seek the king first this year? What is you plan for leading your family? What is your plan for the first day of the week? …

FIRST – Gathering. First Day Let’s see what God can do  Here we are, the 3rd Sunday of 2023. This first month this series of talks are called “first.” We are talking about priorities; things we should put first in our lives. Today I want to talk to you about giving God the first day of your week. We …

FIRST – Family First This first month this series of talks are called “first.” We are talking about priorities, things that we should put first.   Last week the question to you was; what is your plan to get closer to God this year? The Scripture was Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of Go …

Let’s see what God can do   Because this is the first day of the year, I want to talk to you about a very specific challenge. It’s one that we find in the sermon on the Mount.   Matthew 6:25  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor …

Advent – Joy “I’ve got the joy!” We need joy but we seek after happiness. The world is selling happiness. Happiness is an emotion in response to the current outcome. Jesus offers something better than happiness. Jesus offers joy. Joy is spoken of many times in the New Testament and the common link i …

Advent – Love In our world the powerful are insulated from the peons like us. But how does the all-powerful, all wise, all knowing, creator God relate to us sinners? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life …

7 Letters – The church at Laodicea – The Lukewarm Church We are finishing a seven-week series where we are focused on seven letters that were written to seven churches and are all recorded in the book of Revelation. These letters originated from Jesus but they were written by the hand of the apostle …

7 Letters – The Faithful church in Philadelphia The Old Testament story of Hagar is pertinent to our Scriptures today.   Genesis 16:13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” El Roi (Hebrew na …

7 Letters – The dead church at Sardis   Part of the culture of Sardis was overconfidence and smugness. This plays into the letter sent to this church.   Revelation 3:1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ …

I am who you say I am – Adopted and Beloved.   I am what you say I am and I am your beloved.” Romans 5:5 …God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will sc …

We are in a series of messages looking at the seven letters in revelation 2–3. Seven letters written to seven different churches sent through the apostle John from Jesus himself.   The church at Ephesus had lost his first love even though they were doing great things. The church at Smyrna was u …

We are in a series of talks called “7 letters.” These letters are found in revelation 2-3. They are letters written by the apostle John but they come from Jesus himself. When these letters were delivered to 7 churches and contained information to encourage them but it also contained instructions on …

Dear John 1 – Smyrna – A suffering church – Revelation 2:1 Let’s see what God can do The pastor of this congregation was most likely a discouraged man and was fighting for the life of his church and his people as he unwrapped this letter and read it. This church was suffering. Here is what he read; …

Seven Letters. Dear Ephesus – A loveless church – Revelation 2:1 Do any of you remember the joy of actually getting real mail? Paul in Ephesus Acts 19. It is now 95 A.D. – 43 years after the beginning of this mighty church and John sends the church a letter and has these words to say;  Revelation 2: …

Trash Talk: Sometimes we just need to stand up and talk to our enemies, our problems and our situations in the name of Jesus. This morning we’re going to travel about 580 years before the birth of Christ. I think that you’re going to see that what was going on then is not so different then what is g …

Trash Talk – There is a Higher Authority.   Isaiah 54:17 …no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”   Weapo …

Trash Talk – A House of Prayer. Flipping Tables. “Don’t make yourself comfortable at a table Jesus would have flipped over.”   Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple…   Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those w …

Let’s see what God can do   In this series we’ve gone back to the beginning, to creation. We’ve also gone back to Jesus and looked at what he had to say. Jesus was the counterculture, he was a dissenter to the marriage and sexual practices of his day. For all who are interested in God’s original des …

In our first week the main challenge was simply this; do you believe that in the beginning God created… created everything. That he is the creator of relationship and he is the creator of sex? That he designed it for a purpose and that when we violate his purpose, it is hurtful, it is sinful. As w …

Sexual Discipleship – In the beginning Here is our foundational understanding that we’re going to start with; that God created sex and he created it to be a good gift. We should never be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create.   We want to talk about the truth of Jesus and we wan …

Termites in the church walls – Love grown cold – separation of church and hate Today we are going to look at the termite that begins with a heart that grows cold and shuts everyone else out and can eventually be a heart that harms other people.  1 John 3:11  For this is the message that you have hea …

Termites in the church walls – The AntiChrist 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.  1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see wheth …

Termites in the church walls – Gideon and Idols Termites. Those sneaky bugs who we usually can’t detect until some really bad damage has been done. We are talking about termites in the church walls, pesky critters eating away at our faith in Jesus. We started the series last week by looking at the t …

Termites in the church walls – The Bible Let’s see what God can do Have you ever had to deal with termites? They do more than $5 billion a year worth of damage to homes. They can also be in the church! At least a couple of times in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses a potential termite; that G …

The Real Real – lead, follow or find a new way…Bold Pray-ers One of the big ideas during this series of sermons has been that before you ever got here somebody was here preparing for you. And now it’s your turn – since you’re here – to prepare for the next person that is coming.   We need seed …

God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called. And every one of us who follow Jesus are called to be about our father’s business.  It was Jesus who once said; Matthew 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lor …

Here life principle that you will never escape; Jesus came and you got blessed. Jesus died and you got blessed. Jesus sacrificed and you got blessed. Jesus suffered and you got blessed. The real, real is this; now it’s our turn to sacrifice so someone else may be blessed. Genesis 12:2 And I will mak …

This month of June I want to talk to you about the real hopes and dreams and fears we have as a church that wants to change the world. Here is a spiritual and real life principle that you will never escape; Jesus died and you got blessed. The real, real is this; now it’s our turn to sacrifice to som …

EL-Roi – the Lord is my shepherd. This is one of the most tenderest verses of Scripture written in the Bible. Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2     He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3     He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righte …

The names of God; EL-Olam Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God (El Olam),     the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary;     his understanding is unsearchable.  Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all genera …

The Name – Jesus God has a name and his name isn’t God. Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he …

The Name – YAHWEH Let’s see what God can do! Have you ever been involved in picking out a name for a baby? Coming up with the right name is important; it’s like you’re writing your kids’ future. God has a name and his name isn’t God! Exodus 3:7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction …

2022 Easter This morning I want to take you to Peter’s first sermon. He begins with the bad news. This is bad news that they all knew about because they were there to see it.  Acts 2:22 (NIV) “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonder …

2022 Go! The missing chapter: Acts 27 This generation of believers is responsible for this generation of unbelievers. What is your strategy to reach those who do not know Jesus Christ? Is your strategy effective? Do the demons tremble when you get up in the morning because you are dangerous to their …

I Surrender All Romans 8 statements … All Things Work Together  In Romans 12 Paul gives what might be the first altar call aimed at surrendering all. Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, whic …

In Romans 12 Paul gives what might be the first altar call. Listen to what he says.… Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. When we surrender to Jesus we gain b …

In Romans 12 Paul gives what might be the first altar call. Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Paul is asking for a surrender. Todays Point: we’re not just …

Mark 5:25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. The problem with this woman is not just limited to something physical. In the time of the Ne …

John 6 He knew what He would do. Jesus got to the place, before you got to the place, and has a plan in place, for that place. If you wondered what kind of church you are in today…it is a Jesus church John 3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and spe …

27 February 2022 Walk to the mess – The Safest and Most Dangerous Place in the World  John 8:2-11 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placin …

Walk to the Mess Personal Failure.  Peter and Forgiveness. Let’s take a walk to the mess of personal failure. Disappointment in ourselves. Let’s bravely and resolutely walk to the sin that we have committed and let’s deal with it.  On the last night before the crucifixion, Jesus gathered all of his …

Dear Jesus follower… Dear dyed in the wool church people… The message today is for you. If you don’t follow Jesus, you get a pass today!   Today we walk toward the mess of the empty chair, that empty space that is beside you every Sunday. There are 300,000 people in our immediate area that migh …

Dio sus pies para caminar hacia el desorden. Dio sus manos para servir en el lío. Dio su corazón para amar a la gente desordenada. Y nuestra generosidad nos escribe en la historia de lo que Dios está haciendo en este mundo. La generosidad es absurda porque se basa en una promesa sobrenatural de Dios …