River City Vineyard - Sunday Teachings

We want everyone to know who we are not and who we are. Our identity as a community of ordinary people following Jesus has been tested for several years.  Here is a summary of what we have shared so far. Hope each listener enjoys getting to know us.

How much are we willing to give as a community? As much as Jesus was willing to give to us.

The Body of Christ must exercise if it is to remain healthy. It will grow and mature through exercise. But what exercise?Liturgy is the “work of the people.” What work do the people do to build up the Body of Christ in love?

Can evangelism be something different than saving people from an impending future disaster?Yes, it can!

What does it mean to care? How willing are we to enter into the pain of others? Caring goes much deeper than an occasional prayer or two.

The Father delivers his promise. The first followers are baptized with the Holy Spirit. That initial indwelling comes with noise and supernatural phenomena. A bigger crows assemblies and the Spirit-empowered followers of Jesus give their first witness to their peers in Jerusalem. Is it possible that their witness was two-fold? The first is the supernatural phenomena which gathers the crowd and allows the multilingual crowd to hear a witness about God’s deeds of power in their own native language spoken by others who are not speakers of their language. That first witness climaxes in a question, “what does all this mean?”The second witness is Peter standing up and speaking to the crowd helped by the Holy Spirit to answer their question.  We can imagine Peter starting his witness with words like these: “This does not mean this, but it does mean this...”May the Holy Spirit empower the witness of the Church in 2021. In particular may the Holy Spirit help the Church answer the many questions coming from 2020 and su

Jesus’ last exchange of instructions with his remaining followers is charged with emotion. From terror to great joy and all in between. There is even a range in faith expressed from belief to some belief to no belief. Into this cauldron of swirling emotions and variegated belief Jesus pours the seasoning of his last words. “Wait.” I don’t know anyone that likes to wait during amped up times. “Receive Power.” What I am asking you to do you cannot do without help. “Be my Witnesses.” I am checking out but I am sending you to every nation so that all humanity hears about me. See you later. “I will be with you all.”

Women were essential to the mission of Jesus. Among the women traveling from Galilee to Judea were at least two Moms. The sons of these Moms include the sons of Zebedee. The Mom of James and John, plus the Mom of two followers of Jesus are recorded by Matthew in his Gospel Story. These Moms and other women were present at the cross, the burial, and some were the fist witnesses of the resurrection. They were tasked by an Angel and Jesus himself to compel the Eleven out of hiding after the death of Jesus so that they could see him. These women who saw Jesus first helped the disciples including their sons to see Jesus.

Are you looking for Jesus? You are not alone. We read about people  looking for Jesus this morning in Matthew’s story. They found him. He wants to be found. Keep looking and I am sure you will find him.

Exploring the theological necessity, historical reliability, and transformative power of the Resurrection. 

It takes time and repetition of the story year after year to believe the resurrection. It is so unfamiliar to us that a body that died and was put in a tomb would be raised to life again. And yet that is our faith. We believe Jesus died and rose again. Coming to fully embrace that faith is a process not a singular “ah ha” moment.

Paul in writing the Corinthians determined to keep his message plain and simple. “First Jesus__who he is, and second Jesus__what he did, Jesus crucified.” These two questions are foundational for following Jesus. We must know who he is and what he has done for us. What did Jesus do for us on the cross?

The crowds welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with shouts of praise. In the praise there are several titles attributed to Jesus. What do these titles mean? How does the meaning of these titles help us answer the question of Jesus’ identity? Who is Jesus?

Is Culture war real or imagined? What if Culture War is a political device used to manipulate people? What if fighting in the Culture War is undermining the Church’s witness to Jesus?

We lament the loss of life for so many from the Covid pandemic. We confess the sin of tribalism dividing so many in the Body of Christ. Lament prepares us for the hope we will find in the empty tomb of Jesus. Confess leads to the cross of Jesus where we receive forgiveness.

If those of us following Jesus stop loving...

We want to engage with the world around us and rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us to walk like Jesus; one aspect of our world right now is the rise of conspiracy theories in the American church. Listen in as we seek wisdom and discuss Qanon, a popular conspiracy theory that led to the insurrection on the US Capitol on January 6th.

We live in an enchanted world and we can enjoy that enchantment as long as our worldview allows us to see the mystery. 

Something has gone horribly wrong in the evangelical church. We have in general failed in our spiritual formation growing less like Jesus rather than more like him. We have become bad news for many in our generation. Some estimate that 25 million or so have left the evangelical church since the first decade of the 21st century.  What are we to do?We want to figure out what has happened so we stop making the same mistakes over and over again. And we want to reorient our faith and practice so that we get back on track with spiritual formation and with God’s mission in our world.

A New Year has begun in a not so happy way. The global pandemic is worse than when it first began. An insurgency at the National Capital. A President impeached for the second time in a four year term with the most serious charge in impeachment history: inciting an insurrection.What do we do now?