River Church Charlotte Podcast

Why does it seem so difficult to experience the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for in the garden? His words are still ringing out today… “I pray that they may all be one. “Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭21‬ ‭GNT. The Church doesn’t need a reformation, it needs a restoration! I believe this is happening through a greater revelation of the good Father that Jesus revealed. The Spirit is restoring the Body of Christ to be light, life, and love in a time of darkness, death, and fear. What’s our role? How do we participate? For starters, we have to shift our attention from the chaos around us to the Kingdom within us. When we do we’ll begin to see things from God's perspective and partner with ultimate restoration. Join us Saturday night for friendship, worship, and a fresh new series… Restore!

“Love God and love people” is a common mantra proclaimed in modern church culture. But when you tell religious people to love God they often don’t get on to loving people. In fact, history has proven that people claim to love God while hurting others. When violent acts against other people are justified under the banner of “loving god” you have revealed that your god is not the one Jesus revealed. He and the early church emphasized a spirituality that loves God by loving others! They caught on to the principle that our religion is relationship. This Saturday, Pastor Derek reframes the greatest commandment to show that God doesn’t demand love… He came to show us how!

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are well-known tenets of the American dream. But they remain a dream for many because humanity’s efforts can never guarantee them. Happiness is a chase. Joy is a choice. This is why God chose to become one of us and rescue all of us. You were the reason Jesus joyfully endured the cross. Only Jesus can make the dream a reality because He came to make us alive, bring us true freedom, and embed Joy deep with us. Now we can blissfully declare, “Joy to the world the Lord has come!” This third week of Advent, Pastor Derek will be reminding us Joy is a spiritual force. This Joy is the atmosphere of Heaven and it will sustain you through any trial and bring you out flourishing and focused on Jesus.

When one kingdom invades another the result is violence, pain, and death. Eventually, there comes a pseudo calm that is labeled as peace and lasts only as long as the dominant force can control things. But this is never true peace because Peace is a person and His name is Jesus. Advent is the story of a Kingdom invasion. The irony of Advent is that it came through the man of Peace who taught us how to be human and then turned himself over to violence, pain, and ultimately death. His resurrection secured peace on earth by first depositing Peace in us.

"Advent comes, relentlessly and throughout life, with its words of hope and faith - shepherds and magi, crib and star, Emmanuel and glory - and stirs our hearts to pinnacles of possibility one more time...The real Christmas gift, for which Advent is the process, is learning to hum hope, learning to dance the divine." Joan Chittister Where have you anchored your hope? Do you have hopeful expectations for this season? This first week of Advent begins with hope.

Being thankful isn’t just a response to the good things that happen in life. It’s a reorienting of your mindset so you can gracefully endure the difficult things. Grumbling and complaining are the status quo of our culture and it’s so easy to go with the flow of negativity. But gratitude is a grace that you can tap into regardless of what your circumstances are saying. It’s an atmosphere-shifting tactic from Heaven that unlocks the unstoppable freedom Jesus provides. This Saturday, Pastor Derek shares the ways you can access the Grace for Gratitude.

One of our modern-day prophets, Don Henley, profoundly sang the lyrics, “I think it's about forgiveness." And I think he's right. Jesus was all about forgiveness. His forgiveness was tied to our healing in every way. As followers of Jesus, we must be forgivers. But why is it so hard sometimes? Especially when serious abuse or assault is involved. Jesus gives us an amazing mindset to be able to forgive. At the cross, he made a statement that is so curious to me. “Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Why did Jesus say this? There’s a profound revelation in this statement that can lead us to greater freedom. Let's talk about it this Saturday night.