Riverside Church - Iowa

Riverside Church - Iowa Growing God's family with overflowing good news about Jesus! www.RiversideChurchIowa.com

Worship 9:30 am Sundays, Children's Church 10 am, Bible Fellowship 10:45 am - Riverside Church - Linn Grove, Iowa - affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America - united by a mutual commitment to serve our Lord Jesus Christ with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God, the EFCA is an association of nearly 1500 autonomous churches and church plants in a growing mi

nistry that extends globally in 75 countries - to multiply healthy transformational churches among all peoples. www.EFCA.org & www.EFCAcentral.org - Sunday Worship 9:30 am, Children's Church 10 am www.RiversideChurchIowa.com

06/18/2026

The blessing of suffering

No I’m not a ma*****st nor is God. We don’t get pleasure from our suffering or others. So what in the world could this title mean? Look at 1 Samuel 30:11-17. David and his men have just lost everything; wives, children, possessions, everything. A raiding party came while they were off to war and took everything.
They go chasing after them trying to catch up and are loosing men left and right. They have gone from 600 to 400 and they will go against an army much larger than that.
Then they find this servant of an Amalekite who was left either to die or at the very least because he was slowing them down. He was sick so his master just left him behind. David takes care of this guy and he ends up leading David and his men to the army. They recover everything and everyone and wipe out most of the army. But what led to this?
They had this great victory because they found the servant. They found the servant because he was abandoned, left behind. He was left behind because he was sick and couldn’t keep up. So because of his sickness and others abandoning him and three days of hunger and thirst, while sick, David and his men had their prayer answered. Because of this man’s suffering, God’s word was fulfilled and others, also in a desperate situation, were delivered.
Suffering can be a blessing. God can and does use it. The servant could have given up and died. David could have sat in his pity and mourning and lost everything. The servant also could have said, after everything I’ve been through I’m not helping you. But they didn’t. What will we do in our suffering? Will we allow God to use it to be a blessing to others? David set the servant free from his master and helped him get better. Like the servant, we might just find that in it, we find life and freedom.

06/05/2026

In Season and Out

My wife and I have a less common anniversary, March. Try taking an anniversary trip to many northern tourist places in March and you will find that most places are closed or very limited in what they serve/provide. It’s not the right season. 2 Tim 4:2 “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
1 Samuel 23:6 Abiathar, now that is a name you probably won’t name your kid, and you probably don’t remember from Sunday school, his dad helped out David, and Saul killed him and his whole family for it. Only Abiathar escaped. When he ran to save his life he took with him an ephod. A piece of clothing they would use to communicate with God. Why? He’s running to save his own skin and he grabs this?
Imagine your house is on fire, or you hear a bomb is about to go off. What do you grab? A piece of clothing? Well this one was important. He gets to David and almost right away Abiathar, who is looking to be ministered to and who needs help/protection, is needed to minister to others what God says.
He could have said, “hey, I’m the one who needs help, I need to be ministered to” But instead, he came ready to serve. We arrived at the hospital for Chemotherapy for my daughter and in the last devotional I wrote about Rom. 8:28. The night I wrote that and it got posted, right after I’m talking with a wonderful family a little further in the same process. He asks “how do I keep my faith in the midst of all this?”
I have a choice. Don’t I? I can either share God’s Word, I can pull an Abiathar, or I can say, “I don’t know, just keep hoping” just give some christianese answer and brush it off.
No one cares how good a fire extinguisher is until there is a fire. But in that moment, everyone looks to see how it handles under pressure. Often the same is true about Christianity. It’s fine and dandy you have your christianity and maybe you shove it under the sink too. But in the fire do you actual pull it out and does it actually do anything for you? What’s more, can it help others. Can we be ready, when things aren’t going good, when everything is falling apart, to share God’s Word, in season and out of season? Or is our faith like some of those resort places my wife and I have visited in March? Closed until more favorable conditions.

06/03/2026

All things

We got the news our daughter has Leukemia. Leading up to this, we had moved to a place near the woods with lots of ticks. Some ticks can carry Lyme disease. My wife had never lived in a place that had ticks so this move and discovery of ticks was really hard. It even brought up talks of moving.
We checked the kids daily, then one day my wife’s worst nightmare happened. We found a tick that we had missed. The longer a tick is attached the more likely diseases are transmitted. For the next several weeks we watched to see if any symptoms would appear.
Then one day my wife calls saying our daughter needs to go to the ER. We rush there thinking she has Lyme. After some tests they say it’s probably not Lyme but Leukemia. Our day keeps getting worse. 24 hours later and 3 hospitals we are hearing from a doctor it is Leukemia and there was nothing to cause this. We also caught it really early on. They were kind of surprised that we noticed it. Well take a look back.
We followed God to move, and take a new ministry job and to buy the place we did. That led to being surrounded by ticks and getting bit. That led to watching her like a hawk to see what would happen. Some of the early signs of Leukemia and Lyme disease happen to be the same.
So now, because of a tick bite, we’ve discovered a horrible disease early and have a great chance of surviving and having a normal life in a few years. Of course “chance” has nothing to do with it. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 All things, means ALL things. Not most, or some, but all things.
Can we, can I trust God no matter what is going on right now? No matter how this turns out? The promise of Romans 8:28 has two stipulations. 1- Do you love God? 2- are you answering the call of God in your life and submitting to His purposes? That’s when this promise is realized in your life. Otherwise it’s worthless. You can quote it all day long, but it won’t help you. Two stipulations. How about you?

05/30/2026

A Choice
You ever had one of those moments where either you were waiting for your spouse to come home or you were the one coming home and instead of being greeted with a smile or hug, you get your head torn off? Maybe you were the one doing the tearing.
You had some expectation that wasn’t met. You were disappointed about something and instead of the happy homecoming you had “that” happen. Then you have a choice. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Rom. 8:5
You see in that moment, your flesh wants to yell, wants to defend yourself, and point out the flaws in the other person. It may want to dominate or get justice. It wants to right “wrongs” and speak it’s mind. The Spirit says, “love”. Not, forget what happened and don’t bring it up later to address. Think of the wedding verses, 1 Cor. 13: love suffers long and is kind, does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, is not provoked, thinks no evil, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
You see, in that moment is a choice. Love, or lash-out. Flesh or faith. We can give in or over come. No matter what side of the equation you are on. Check out 1 John 4:4 and the surrounding verses. How do we speak? Do we speak like the world, in the flesh, or do we speak like our Father, like the Son, who says, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Patriotic theme at Riverside Church - Iowa with flags being present to us as we were greeted, patriotic songs the prais...
05/24/2026

Patriotic theme at Riverside Church - Iowa with flags being present to us as we were greeted, patriotic songs the praise team picked out, the coffee bar was decorated with patriotic eatable goodies to indulge in and Pastor Jeremy bring us the word of God!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
05/24/2026

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

05/21/2026

I AM

It was 2010 and I was in the mountains of Peru church planting, living in a dirt home, with a sore/boil in just the right spot that I couldn’t sit, walk or sleep. With transportation what it was, the nearest doctor might as well have been thousands of miles away. I needed relief and help and didn’t know what to do. Then, one night, the day before we were given an opportunity to share the gospel with a fairly large group, it hit me. Why don’t I pray? So I did, and instant relief. Not only that but the next day we got word a U.S. medical missions team was coming to our area to help our efforts for a few days. But that night, in that moment, God became, to me, the God who heals. He had always been that, but not to me.
In Joshua chapter 5, Joshua is about to lead his first military campaign as the head honcho. Moses is dead and God has picked him. The lives of millions rest on his every decision. Then in verse 13 he sees Jesus with a sword. Joshua doesn’t realize who He is at first but eventually worships Him. No angel in the Bible ever accepts worship. They always say don’t worship us. Why does Jesus have a sword? Does He need a sword? Think about it. The God of the universe who could wipe out an entire army with a word has a sword. Why? He doesn’t need it. When Moses meets God for the first time God reveals Himself as “I AM that I AM” also translated, “The ALL becoming ONE” God is/becomes what each of us needs in that moment. The God who sees. The God who heals, The Lord our shelter. The Lord our righteousness. On and on the names go in the Bible. Joshua needed a warrior God, a commanding God to lead him in that moment, with a sword.
What is God to you? What/who has He been to you? In my moment of need He went from something I read about to someone I knew. How do you know Him?

05/14/2026

Grace

In today’s world it seems like everyone is picking and choosing. People are determining which rules/laws apply to them. “Today I’m a girl, so I can use the girls locker room.” “I feel discriminated against, so I can raid businesses and burn down police stations.” “I want to live in that country or stay past what the law says I can, so I’ll just go and they will support me.” “I don’t like how that country is run, so I’ll just remove the leadership.” Everywhere we look people seem to be picking which laws apply to them.
The other day someone asked me, “in the New Testament we are under grace, and this pastor said we don’t need to follow the sabbath. But that’s part of the ten commandments. So are we just picking and choosing which laws to follow now?” It’s a really good question. Do we get to pick and choose now? Is the law in the Old Testament still a thing?
Paul in Galatians 3 Paul explains that the law exists to show us what is right and wrong. Just like speed limit signs give us no excuse when we get pulled over. But Jesus came and fulfilled the law. Not abolished it. The law must be followed, but we never get it perfectly right. So, If I accept that Jesus fulfilled the law for me, then what? Do I still have to follow it?
No. We are saved by grace, not works, Ephesians 2:8-9. So I can just do what I want? 1 Cor. 10:23 “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful” It’s like how marriage use to be. One your wedding day you said, “till death us do part” so once you said “I do””, that was it. You couldn’t leave them and they couldn’t leave you. You didn’t have to do a thing. You had won your “prize”, so to speak. However, if you did whatever you wanted how happy would your marriage be? Pretty miserable. So you do things for your spouse, and you don’t do things to please your spouse. Not because you have to but because you love them, or at the very least want to live at peace.
With Jesus it’s the same. The christian doesn’t have to follow the law. In Christ, we are perfect. But the law is good. Now we don’t follow the law out of obligation, like a check list, but because we love Him, and want to bless God. It’s a matter of motivation.Before Christ, the law was obligation. After Christ, If He is your Lord and Savior, the law is devotion, and sanctification. Not obligation. Thank God for Grace.

Happy Mother's Day!
05/10/2026

Happy Mother's Day!

05/06/2026

Dissatisfied

I had just come off the foreign mission field. I had been gone for years following God in Africa, South America, Europe and a little bit in Asia. I had seen so much and done so much and yet I arrived back in Iowa with barely a penny to my name.
I lived out of a suit case and the most valuable thing I owned was a $120 guitar. I couldn’t buy anything because I had no credit history, no debt, and I didn’t even own a car. In that moment I complained to God. Most of my high school school classmates were through college, married and had; kids, houses, cars, garages full of junk and tools. I had a lifetime full of adventures crammed into just a few years, but nothing to show for it.
So I complained to God. I followed you and what do I have to show for it? The whole time I was on the mission field I didn’t think of that stuff or miss it. God provided. I had no needs. I was having a blast. But now I saw what others had and I compared it to what I had.
In Joshua 13, God is telling how the land was divided to the 2 1/2 tribes but twice He says, the Levites got no inheritance, but the sacrifices and God were their inheritance. Did you know the Bible calls Christians priests, just like the levites, 1 Peter 2:5. It also says we have an inheritance in Christ, Eph. 1:11, Col. 1:12. But my favorite description of our inheritance is 1 Peter 1:4 “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
Houses will fall apart. Cars will rust out. Children will, sadly, die some day. For some parents, before themselves. These things aren’t bad, but for the Christian, we have an inheritance that will last. We have a hope to look forward to, and a Lord who loves us now, comforts us, guides us, protects us. Our inheritance is God Himself. And though God may give us some or many of these things. And they are/can be good. God is far better. So what inheritance are we leaving to the next generation? A bunch of stuff, that they probably don’t want. Some money that will run out. Or an inheritance of faith, an eternal reward.

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102 W High Street
Linn Grove, IA
51033

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