In this sermon from Sept 2024, we presented the vision for building our own facility in Riverside. This message was immediately followed by an exercise with our architect/designer, so there are references to that exercise throughout.
The Jerusalem council writes a letter to send back to the Gentile believers in Antioch, and send it by the hands of Paul, Barnabas, Judas, and Silas. The Gentile believers were overjoyed when they received the letter, because it welcomed them as brothers and sisters in Christ!
Vision Sunday Fall 2024 – What is the mission statement of the Church? What even IS the Church? River City belongs to a long line of people who gathered in local churches around the world, united by the Spirit of Jesus.
Jesus utters these words from the cross: “My God, my God; Why have you abandoned me?” First of all, is that even possible? Can God the Father actually abandon God the Son? No. Is Jesus asking a question looking for answers? No. He knows exactly what is happening. So if it’s not a question, and it’s not even possible - what is Jesus saying and why is he saying it? What if he is pointing to Psalm 22 from the cross?
As the church spreads out due to persecution, Antioch becomes one of the primary hubs for this new faith. In fact, it’s here that Jesus followers are first called Christians. Barnabas encourages the burgeoning church in Antioch, who in turn encourages the believers in Judea with famine relief.
Peter is sitting down to eat lunch one day, when he falls into a trance and sees a heavenly vision about eating unclean animals. After the vision, some unclean men arrive at the door asking him to come with them. The Lord instructs Peter to go with them “with no doubts.” And he ends up in the home of a Romans centurion. The “bridge” that is the church of God is starting to come together in Christ!
The church in Acts is taking off like a roller coaster, picking up speed as the number of disciples continues to grow. But not everything is going perfectly smoothly. As numbers rapidly increase, so does the opportunity for conflict. Sure enough, what started out as a good benevolence program has now become a place where certain people are getting overlooked. The apostles have a choice to make.
Peter’s message presents the gospel, and God opens the eyes of 3000 people to repent of their sin and turn to Jesus. Now, those 3000 are looking to live out this new identity in Christ as this gospel begins to bear fruit in their lives.
How should the church be governed and led? What kind of person should be the leader? Where does their authority begin and end? In this message Pastor Rodney walks us through the role of an elder in the church.
The Doctrine of The Church Matthew 16:13-20; Ephesians 5:25-27 INTRO If you are new to River City, or visiting with us today, we are right at the end of our…