The Calling of the Disciples - The River Church of the South Bay

Love Where You Live

November 24, 2024 • Brooke Andrews • Luke 10:17–35

Can I just say... last weekend was POWERFUL! To get to know, to share, and to pray with each other was meaningful, encouraging, and holy. This week we'll continue talking about how this love of God in us overflows from the church to our neighborhoods, the South Bay, and beyond. It's another weekend you won't want to miss!

Get Out Of The Boat if You Want To Walk On Water

November 10, 2024 • Mark 6:45–52

Graham Vermooten has been in missions for over 40 years. He speaks at conferences and travels consulting non profit mission start ups, to level up and become sustainable where possible. He has inspiring stories and will share from a passage out of the gospels that reveals to us what it takes to walk on water. Peter wanted to be like Jesus. Little did he know it would require him to take the next step. This story is so famous it is repeated by three of the four gospel writers. (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:16-21)

Formed Into Love

November 3, 2024 • Luke Schroeder • 1 Corinthians 13:4–7

We are all being formed into something. Spiritual formation is not a choice, it is a reality. We are all becoming someone through the sources we expose ourselves to, the people we are around, and the goals we direct our lives towards. So, if we are all being formed, the question then becomes who we are formed into? Executive coaches and psychologists have helpfully noted that we become the summation of the 5 people closest to us. The five people in our inner circle, who we surround ourselves with day in and day out, affect our behaviors and character, or goals and dreams - it shapes who we are. This all changes when Jesus enters the scene. It surely changed for the disciples when they started following Jesus. They were becoming more like him the more time they spent with him. And so too with us. When we are with Jesus, the more we become like him. The more we become what Jesus was defined by - LOVE.

The Secret of the Easy Yoke

October 27, 2024 • Taylor Jones • Matthew 11:25–30

A recent New York Times piece detailed the goals and game plan of one young professional pursuing self improvement. It was the sort of immaculately strategized daily schedule that would make the most goal oriented among us giddy with excitement, the sort of thing one would assume to produce dazzling results. Except, the culminating line of a detailed list of personal goals, strategic planning, and productivity hacks reads like this: "So far, she admitted, “none of this has stuck.”" This experience--one that many of us can relate to through the lens of religious burn out, anxious striving, and moralistic pressure--begs an important question for life following Jesus: How can we actually become like Jesus? Join us as we look at Matthew 11:25-30, continuing our look at the call to discipleship by seeing how the invitation to life with Jesus is simultaneously the path to becoming like him.

Abide in Me

October 20, 2024 • Todd Wendorff • John 15

We will look at one of the most famous passages of gospel Scripture ever spoken by Jesus to his disciples. "Abide in me. Apart from me you can do nothing". John 15. Read it. It’s good. Now you might be asking, why are we still talking about being with Jesus? Haven’t we beaten this with a stick? Can’t we please move on to becoming like Jesus, or doing as Jesus did? Let’s get practical. Let’s get after it. There’s so much we need to be doing and so much we need to learn from the Bible. Yes, that’s true if you are just a brain on a stick, filling your head with more truth. Do you know you die of over drinking water? Over hydration? Well I suggest this: How about getting priority one clear first? How about doing what Jesus said? Abide in me for apart from me, no matter how many verse by verse bible sermons you hear, how many books you read, you will do nothing. Oh, and Jesus said, you won’t bear any fruit. That’s a dismal outcome. No fruit. A fruitless Christian life. But hey, you’re smart and very wise and have heard a lot of good sermons. Sorry for being so crass. The point is this: to abide is everything. How to stay connected to Jesus is the whole thing. Fruitfulness comes from this abiding. I once read a book because of its title. It was something like, “It is impossible to live the Christian life.” Or at least that was the point. You can’t live the Christian life. I was intrigued by that statement. Are you not having a very fruitful Christian life experience? Are you finding the Christian life impossible to live? Let’s find how to change that. It’s about following Jesus as a way of life. It starts with getting abiding right.

I'm Not Scared, Just Changing

October 13, 2024 • Bill MacPhee • Hebrews 1:1–3, Acts 2:42–47, Romans 8:1, John 17:17–19

Greetings River Church, my brothers and sisters! On Monday I turn 70. This number is daunting to me; I’m certain that the whole Y2K computer challenge mysteriously added 10 years to my life. But a number of years ago, Cynthia and I decided that 70 would be an appropriate date to “retire.” Can a pastor every really retire? We can change our position, but we don’t give up our calling. I am called to be a pastor for the rest of my life. But now is a necessary time for transition. I have been honored to be one of your pastors, and to partner with Todd and Denise and our whole team these last 10 years. But, it is time to pass on my part of the leadership of our church to a younger generation. The future is bright for the River; her best days are likely ahead, and we have so many gifted young leaders here! I am going to attempt to share with you three big macro changes that Jesus is gently, but relentlessly, bringing about in my discipleship and pastoral calling. These have also turned into passions I have for the church, for our church. They will be framed as correctives to mostly unintentional swings in the broader evangelical church, but also in the specific ways we as individuals follow the way of Jesus. My hopeful prayer is that this will bring you encouragement and prompt questions and excitement about the future.

Are We Ready for the Cost of Being a Disciple?

October 6, 2024 • Bill MacPhee • Galatians 6:2, Luke 14:27–30, Luke 14:33

Our community of curious and committed, and maybe even confused, people of faith are in the midst of a Fall exploration of the trails and tributaries Jesus leads us on as we choose to follow him. On a personal note, I am speaking the next two Sunday’s as I turn 70 and make a big transition from full-time pastoral ministry into a part-time role at The River. I intend to attempt to bring attention to two parts of my own discipleship: the cost of following Jesus and how that cost has shaped my pastoral ministry over the last five decades. I am going to tell a story about a trip when I was 27 years old, leading a public-school mountaineering class near Big Sur, and had a tragic accident. Every day since, this experience has shaped my understanding of what it means to pay a price for choosing to follow Jesus, including as a pastor in the local church. I share my story with the hopes that you will discover that even though following Jesus does not exempt us from pain, it does bring hope that Jesus is right with us in the midst of this journey. Every step of the way.

The Secret Life

September 29, 2024 • Brooke Andrews • Nehemiah 2:1–5

This is the sermon for the overworked business person, the exhausted parent, the anxious student, the frustrated, discouraged, and hopeless. Have you ever felt stuck in your spiritual growth? Or how about in life in general? Life is busy. All my time and money and energy is accounted for. I want to grow and I want to love God and make changes but where do I even begin? I can’t add one. more. thing. If you’ve felt or thought this before, this Sunday is for you.

Following Jesus - Two Truths and a Lie

September 22, 2024 • James Petitfils • Acts 16:22–25, Mark 3:13–19, Mark 3:31–35, Luke 8:1–3, Mark 10:28–31

When it comes to the Jesus-following life, there are centuries of opinions, ideas, rumors, party lines, and long-held assumptions about what it looks like to apprentice Jesus of Nazareth. I want to preach a sermon I’ve entitled “Following Jesus: Two Truths and a Lie.” Join us as we ask those ancients who knew him best for their help in sorting out fact from fiction!

The Way Forward is Following Jesus

September 15, 2024 • Todd Wendorff • John 1:35–50

Vision Sunday. When the people have no vision they perish. I doubt they actually perish. But it most certainly leads to mass confusion as to the direction to go. We plan to present to you a well thought through path to take forward from here, meaning you, and us together as attenders of the River church. I have been leading this church now for over 17 years. We’ve had great vision. We’ve seen God change hearts, heal, comfort, reach, and exhort people to action. If I were to take a step back and take a good look at our fantastic community, it’s filled with amazing memories of life altering moments. Kids, families, new comers, neighbors, and people around the world have been impacted by our willingness to be used by our Lord, Jesus. Well done church community, friends. Well done. Now onward. An exciting future of following Jesus and becoming like Him awaits us if we decide together to give it all we got. Not lean back and coast but charge forward. Jesus in John 1:35-50 meets young people seeking God. They were hungry for real answers, truth that changes lives, for something more than the status quo. Jesus invited them to follow Him. They didn’t know, couldn’t have known where that might lead, but it was a good choice. The best decision of their lives. Let’s listen in and learn and do the same for the rest of our years on this earth. It worked then.

The Calling of the Disciples Part 2

September 8, 2024 • Todd Wendorff • Matthew 4

Join us for part two as we continue our discussion on Matthew 4. Believing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world should not be any different than coming to the conclusion that Jesus is your Savior. And, can I add, making a firm commitment to follow this Savior Jesus throughout the rest of this life and into the next. In other words, believing it is the same as living it. When Jesus walked along that shore in Galilee and saw those young men fishing with their fathers and called them to come and follow him, he was essentially saying, “You believe I’m the messiah, the Savior of the world don’t you? Then let’s go!” These young men didn’t ask where, how, or why. The when was now. The rest would be answered in time. If you claim to know Jesus as your Savior, then the when is now. I will continue to explain what that looks like.

The Calling of the Disciples Part 1

September 1, 2024 • Todd Wendorff • Matthew 4

Believing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world should not be any different than coming to the conclusion that Jesus is your Savior. And, can I add, making a firm commitment to follow this Savior, Jesus throughout the rest of this life and into the next. In other words, believing it is the same as living it. When Jesus walked along that shore in Galilee and saw those young men fishing with their fathers and called them to come and follow him, he was essentially saying, “You believe I’m the Messiah, the Savior of the world don’t you? Then let’s go!” These young men didn’t ask where, how, or why. The when was now. The rest would be answered in time. If you claim to know Jesus as your Savior, then the when is now. I plan to explain what that looks like.