River of Life Church Long Prairie (Audio)

This week in our series, The Beginning of the End, we take a look at Matthew 21. Pastor Josiah walks us through 3 "scenes" that will give us a better understanding of what Jesus was doing, or what He was trying to teach. What was He warning them of? What important questions should we be asking ourselves as we look at this passage of Scripture?

In our second week of the series, "The Beginning of the End," we take a look at familiar story in the book of Luke. We look at Zaccheaus's story. We look Zaccheaus's eagerness to see Jesus, and see an immediate change and response from him after experiencing Jesus. We also see the response of those watching this happen. There are some powerful lessons for us each to take and respond to from this short but powerful story.

This week we begin a new series, “The Beginning of the End” following some of the events that lead up to the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This week we look at what in story structure would be the Inciting Incident, the story of the raising of Lazarus.  As we walk through this story we can begin to understand the tension, the intentionality of how Jesus taught, how he did things and what that can mean for us.  

River of Life Church is committed to being an outward focused church. What does that mean or look like? We look at the parables found in Luke chapter 15. Understanding how important it is to be reaching the lost. Pastor Josiah talks about the vision of River of Life church, and explains how we can accomplish being outward focused through Kingdom Builders.

Last week we looked at the passage from John 15, where Jesus uses the visual of the vine and the branches. We looked at the word used over and over again of abide and what that means. But there is more that Jesus talked about, he spoke about pruning. What is pruning? We all have experienced some type of pruning in our lives, but how did we view that season of our lives? Who and what are we allowing to shape our lives?

Starting off 2024 we probably all have some things we want to do different this year than we did last year. We want to start this year with the idea of Abiding. It's not something to add to your schedule but more of a posture to adopt. What does that mean, and how do we begin to live this out?

Headed into the new year, we all may have some resolutions, or maybe even expectations for the year to come. We have expectations for our jobs, our families those around us, and honestly we have expectations of God. We all want God to move in our lives, but what do we do when those expectations aren't met?

The Christmas Story, no not the movie, but the incredible story of how God chose to save the world. As we walk through this familiar story, we stop and think about how and who God chose to use in His plan. The trust he showed in Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the trust that He has in us to continue his mission so that all will know Him.

Jesus saw children as valuable and as the greatest. We look at 2 interactions in the book of Matthew of Jesus interaction when it comes to children. What was it about children that Jesus wanted his disciples and us to learn? With what Jesus saw as valuable traits in children, how should this change how we approach Christmas?

This week we want to take some time to just focus in on Christmas, to get the correct mindset, so that we are able to connect with God in this busy season. We may have all sorts of emotions attached to this season, but are we slowing down enough to connect to the roots of waiting on a promise?