Sep 18, 2022
Live Stream
September 18, 2022
Thanks for joining us today at Riv! Check out the links above to stay connected with what’s going on.
Holt Venue
That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
Jesus.
But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
We are invited into a family that is beyond our physical families; we are invited into a spiritual family.
Our family of origin stories; the healthy, the unhealthy, and the Gospel.
“‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The Church is to be the redemptive family; stumbling together toward Jesus.
But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head — Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.
We are all recovering kids, looking for healing that is found in Christ Jesus.
Holt Venue
REO Town Venue
For freedom, Christ set us free.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
Freedom that fills and satisfies your heart is never found in setting yourself up as your own authority. True freedom is not found in doing whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. True Freedom is never found in putting yourself in the middle of your world and making it all about you. True freedom is not found in resisting the call to submit to any authority but your
own. True freedom is not found in writing your own moral code. True freedom is not the result of finally getting your own way. When you attempt to do these things, you never enjoy freedom; you can only end in another form of bondage. – Paul David Tripp
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you.
Freedom that fills and satisfies your heart is never found in setting yourself up as your own authority. True freedom is not found in doing whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. True Freedom is never found in putting yourself in the middle of your world and making it all about you. True freedom is not found in resisting the call to submit to any authority but your own. True freedom is not found in writing your own moral code. True freedom is not the result of finally getting your own way. When you attempt to do these things, you never enjoy freedom; you can only end in another form of bondage. – Paul David Tripp
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon
their own appetites… Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be
placed somewhere… It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate
minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. – Edmund Burke
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon
their own appetites… Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be
placed somewhere… It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate
minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. – Edmund Burke
I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.
Self-determining freedom ultimately gives way either to a higher form of freedom—the freedom to be creatures whose love defines them—or the lowest form of bondage—the inability to participate in love. We become beings who are irrevocably open or irrevocably closed to God’s love. The former is eternal life; the latter is eternal death. – Greg Boyd
Freedom not just to be able to choose, but to choose the good over the bad… freedom isn’t about autonomy from authority but about liberating loving relationships from sin [to] overcome strong desires for self-gratification and fulfill our deeper desires of self-giving love. – John Mark Comer
Does this view of ‘freedom’ jive with Jesus?
It’s all about what makes you feel good.
Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
Does this view of ‘freedom’ jive with Jesus?
‘My body, my choice’
Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said, “See — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, God.”
Does this view of ‘freedom’ jive with Jesus?
‘Don’t tread on me’
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.
REO Town VenueWestside Venue
The American Way of life is individualistic, dynamic, and pragmatic. It affirms the supreme value and dignity of the individual; it stresses incessant activity on his part, for he is never to rest but is always to be striving to “get ahead”; it defines an ethic of self-reliance, merit, and character, and judges by achievement: “deeds, not creeds” are what count.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. So the LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Arrogance leads to nothing but strife, but wisdom is gained by those who take advice.
Anyone who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever listens to correction acquires good sense.
Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Researchers have described shame as a feeling that is deeply associated with a person’s sense of self, apart from any interactions with others; guilt, on the other hand, emerges as a result of something I have done that negatively affects someone else. Guilt is something I feel because I have done something bad. Shame is something I feel because I am bad. – Curt Thompson
“Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus said. “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Westside VenueWhether you’re a singer, an instrumentalist, or are interested in producing, we’d love for you to audition for one of our Riv bands! Once you’ve filled out the application, we’ll reach out to schedule an in-person audition.
sign up sign up sign up