Do you have time to quiet the busyness of the world? Do you ever just go for a walk and stop to smells the spring flowers? Well if you don’t you should! The Bible gives us a guide of how to quiet our souls and rest. Psalm 131 is one of these guides to quiet ourselves and rest in the hope God gives.

We live in a crazy and worried world. In this context, where can we go for help? To the doctor? To the therapist? To the bottle? Psalm 121 tells us that we can “lift our eyes and look to the Lord”…Why?…Because He is our helper and our shepherd.

What is your vision of God? It’s really important. Because what you conceive Him to be, will shape your understand of His character and how you relate to Him. This is why its so important to read and worship the Psalms. In them, we find the richest and most multi-facets images of God in the entire Bible. And of all the Psalms, none is better than Psalm 18.

Have you ever struggled in your Christian faith? When things didn’t go the way you expected? Perhaps you wished that you could be like your family and friends who don’t know God. At times, their lives may seem to be going well even though they don’t have a relationship with Christ. Asaph, a worship leader also felt the same way.

We will be looking at Psalm 90. This Psalm is attributed to Moses, it is the oldest psalm in the Psalms and most theologians believe it was written at Moses’ later stage of life. So Moses through the pain and his many life experiences wanted us to learn some great truths that could transform our lives and living. Psalm 90 was his guiding legacy for us. The truth he wrote can transform us, but that depends on how we respond to these truths.

This Sunday we kick off a brand new series at The River entitled, “A Summer of Psalms”. It’s also Father’s Day this Sunday, so we’ll be looking at Psalm 127 and 128 and what it takes to live a blessed life.

A recovering alcoholic will tell you that the 12 steps are not an event, but a lifestyle. You must continuing repeat the steps in order to stay sober. It’s the same for someone who has experience the power of RE; that is, repenting, receiving, renewing, reconciling, and so on. Until we get to heaven, we continue to work the steps. What’s more, God invites us to help other people receive the gift that we have received; to share how we’ve found life in Jesus and mentor other people along the same path.

The Power of RE is a series in which we’re looking at some wonderful words that begin with prefix RE. This week the word is REST. One of Jesus’ defining characteristics is that he was never hurried or worried. This is an important character trait that God wants to cultivate in His sons and daughters. It begins by resting in the reality that we are NOT God and that, despite evil in the world, He is firmly in control. It continues to flow as we take adequate time to rest our bodies and spend time with the Lord and those we love.

The Bible is clear. We cannot pay for our salvation. We can only receive it. But after we have received it, it’s important to REpay the loving kindness of God by living a life of gratitude. However, gratitude is not merely a feeling. It is a way of life.