River of Life Church Long Prairie (Audio)

This week, we press into another difficult topic. Gender identity is probably one of the most heated and charged conversations happening today. When someone says gender identity, what does that mean, what ancient belief parallels it, and what does the Bible have to say about it.

Last week we looked at how our culture still practices the worship of Aphrodite love. This week, we look at what it looks like to have a healthier view of sex than our world. We look at what God's design for sex actually was.

Many think that what is happening in our culture today is something new, but Ecclesiastes's author says, "history merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new." For the next few weeks, we will look at ancient beliefs and practices that are still present today. This week, we look at Aphrodite worship and how that is still being practiced today.

As we celebrate this Easter, we take a look at another resurrection story found in the book of John. When Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life", it's not just something for our future but right here in the present.

We all want to grow, but growing requires change. And honestly most of us don't like change because it's uncomfortable. So how do we grow spiritually, and what questions should we be asking ourselves when it comes to our own spiritual growth?

There are a lot of different questions about suffering. In the final week of our series we look at what scripture has to say about suffering and how we can cope with it.

We continue responding to questions from our congregation by looking at what the Bible has to say about heaven and hell. 

We take a look at what the Bible has to say about sexuality.

What does the bible say about spiritual gifts? What are those gifts? How are they different from the natural gifts that we have?

What does the bible say about spiritual beings and their power or authority?

We look at two stories found in the book of Mark that show us in a powerful way the authority of Jesus. We see how these two stories were intentionally put together by the author to see how both stories intertwine and have a powerful message for us all!

What does it look like or mean to live in freedom and walk in Gods' authority?

This week we take a look at a biblical response to questions regarding families.

So many of us have struggled to simply pray. We don't know where to start. Or we struggle to have a deep and meaningful prayer life. We also want to hear from God, but how can we go deeper in our prayer life and distinguish his thoughts from our own?

Frequently, you will hear us talk about our focus beyond the four walls of our church. Why is that such a big focus for us? We look at 2 big questions when it comes to our local and global impact and why those are so important.

This question has brought about many theological debates. But can we lose our salvation? If so, how? What does scripture say about salvation? What other questions should we be asking?

There seem to be a lot of questions revolving around the Bible. For example, who decided what books are included, what translations are good, why do different churches have additional books, etc. Pastor Josiah walks us through some of these questions and shows us how scripture even talks about itself.

We begin a new series where we want to look at a Biblical response to questions we may have. This week, we look at what the Bible has to say about art and artistic creativity.

It's a new year, it's the time when we all makes big, ambitious decisions, try to make plans to accomplish them, and hope to acheive them. What does it look like for us to grow spiritually? What does it require and what role do we play in it?

This week we take some time to hear what God has been doing in the lives of some of our church family.

The word love is used in so many ways in our world today. Because of that, it can so easily lose depth and meaning to many people. What does it mean to love, and how are we, as Jesus' followers, to love?

his week we take a look at Peace. What does the bible say about peace and how we can find peace. Is our definition and scriptures definition of peace the same?

Advent = Arrival. At some point, we may have had some sort of tradition celebrating Advent. But how do we make this year different than the rest? We begin this series by looking at the word, hope. What is hope and how is our definition different than the hope found in scripture?

In our world today we are inundated with so much information. With media, social media, podcasts, you name it there are so many voices we hear. But who do we trust? What or who has our our time and attention?

Last week we looked at how we interact with people, particularly people we disagree with. This week we continue to look at Jesus most famous sermon on how we should approach those conversations and the questions we need to ask before having those conversations.

We all have people who see things or do things differently than we do. But how do we interact with them? What does scripture say about us interacting with those we disagree with?

We all have people who see things or do things differently than we do. But how do we interact with them. What does scripture say about us interacting with those we disagree with?

This Tuesday, people all over our country will gather at the polls, cast their vote and our country will have a new leader. When we vote, we are taking part in shaping our country. Before we head to the polls, there is an important question we should be asking: Whose Kingdom are we building?

Right before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his disciples they would be his witnesses. What is a witness, and how are we to be witnesses to others around us?

This week, we look at the practice of Sabbath. What is a biblical view of work and rest? How do we do both well?

Solitude, for some, is where they are more comfortable, but what does it look like to practice spiritual solitude. What does that look like, and how do we benefit from this practice?

We continue in the series, Practicing the Way. This week looking at the idea of community and the importance of and the need for deep meaningful community in our lives.

We look at the third goal of being a disciple of Jesus. Do as He did. What does it look like to do what Jesus did?

Last week, we looked at simply being with Jesus. But how do we become like him? The truth is we have to change, but what areas do we need to change to be transformed by Him?

So many times, we say we want to be like Jesus. But how do we actually do that? We may think it is by doing what He did but so often there is a vital first step we miss.

Jesus came to give us life and life to the fullest..but why are there so many Christians who are not experiencing that? When Jesus says follow me, what does that look like, and what does following really mean?

When we have powerful moments with God, we can feel all the things, the emotions, etc. It is hard not to want to constantly experience that again, and we tend to seek out things or ways to experience them again. More often than not the danger is that soon our relationship with God is only built on those experiences.

This week we wrap up our study of the letter of Galatians by simply reading the entire letter.

Worship. So many times we may sing in a service. Maybe you have even asked why we worship. How should we worship? We take a look at one of David's psalms to understand why it is important, we also look at the different ways we can posture ourselves in worship to God.

Have you ever wanted to experience and hear from God more? What if that was possible; are you willing to make a place to stay for God?

Looking at the end of the letter of Galatians we take a look a how the apostle Paul wraps it all up by bringing it all back to what really matters.

This week we look at Galatians 6. Conflict is a part of life, it's inevitable. So how are we to handle conflict, and what does it look like to handle conflict led by the Spirit?

This week we look at the fruit of the Spirit. What was the apostle Paul wanting us to understand about the fruit of the Spirit? How can we achieve these virtues or attributes?

This week we look at Galatians chapter 5. Paul is laying out the idea of moving from the law vs. faith to the flesh vs the spirit. We look at what living in the flesh looks like and the strong message Paul has for choosing to live in this way.

This week we wrap up some of the key ideas of the first half of the letter of Galatians. Paul uses yet another analogy to help us understand that the law was temporary and why we shouldn't go back to it.

Continuing in our series of the letter of Galatians we look at chapters 3 & 4. In those chapters, the apostle Paul dives into a deep theological conversation with the Galatians. The subject of faith vs works. What is faith? What is works?

Continuing in our Galatians series, we look at Paul's frustration with the new believers in Galatia. He cannot understand why they are going back to the old ways. We have the same tendency....so how do we change that, how do we not go back?

We are continuing in our series on the letter of Galatians. We look at Galatians 2:11-14 and why Paul and Peter have a disagreement. 

We are looking at Galatians chapter 2, which is a continuation of chapter 1 and the "arguments" that Paul is making. Paul is addressing what it means to follow Jesus, who are the real followers, and how do we know they are true followers. Something we still are struggling with in the church today. So what's the answer?

Galatians 1 - Paul has 2 main focuses in this first chapter. The gospel and his apostleship. What is an apostle? As we dive in we also see that there is an encouragement and a warning not just for the church in Galatia but for us today.

Last week we talked about how we are all shaped or a a disciple of something. Pastor Josiah challenged us to give God a year, to be fully in, and committed to becoming a disciple of Him. Once we choose that, what's next? What are our next steps? How do we do it?