http://www.riverchristianchurch.net/

River Christian Church, 252 Roosevelt Street, Stevenson, WA (2026)

02/24/2026

The Greatest Hope in a Time of Darkness
Jeremiah 31-25
“Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
The heart of Jeremiah appears dark and foreboding as he pronounces judgment upon Israel. Yet within the book that seems to focus on judgment, we find one of the greatest statements of hope in Scripture. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, gives a message that becomes the foundation for the entire New Testament. In chapter 31, we find the connecting link between the Old and New Testaments, a link we still regularly celebrate today. It is so central that it forms the basis for the title, “New Testament”.
When Jeremiah arrived on the scene, Israel was in shambles. They had completely forsaken the Law and were facing the certainty of judgment. The Mosaic Covenant was given to Israel as its foundation, enabling them to realize God's blessing. In the Mosaic covenant, God had promised to be their God, and the Law was given to set the requirements that a holy God demanded of those He blessed. It was a promise of untold blessings. The only requirement was that they obey His commands. However, before the dust had settled from God chiseling the Law into the stone tablets, the people were already breaking the Law by turning to idolatry. While Israel experienced periods of revival during the times of the Judges and Kings, by the time Jeremiah came on the scene, the nation was in spiritual and political disarray. The Mosaic Covenant was broken beyond repair because of the sin of the people.
Even as Jeremiah pronounced judgment on Israel in chapter 31, God gives a new promise and new hope to the people. The discipline would be corrective rather than punitive. God would not completely abandon His people. In an incredible act of grace, God promises a New Covenant that will be fundamentally different from the Old Covenant. In Jeremiah 31:27-40, God outlines and contrasts the new covenant with the old covenant. In this passage, we discover seven critical elements of the new covenant. 1/ God promises that the new covenant will bring reconciliation between God and the people of Israel (32-32). Even though the people broke the Mosaic covenant with God, He will not abandon them but will restore their relationship with Him. 2/ Unlike the Old Covenant, in which the Law was written on stone, in the new covenant the Law will be written within them and on their hearts. In other words, the New Covenant will accomplish what the Old could not — the complete transformation of the people. The problem was not with the Mosaic covenant but with the people who refused to live by it. Thus, God will bring about a complete inward transformation so that they will now know Him completely. 3/ The covenant will result in the sanctification and salvation of the people. This will lead to the universal knowledge of God (vs 34), so that all will know Him and experience universal peace and prosperity. Lastly, this covenant will be eternal, for God will dwell with the people (Jeremiah 31:35-37). In the Old Testament, the covenant was ratified by the sacrifice of an animal to atone for the people's sins and enable them to enter into a relationship with God. But what sacrifice ratified the new covenant? How would the sins of the people be atoned so that they could enter into a permanent relationship with God? This brings us to the New Testament. When Christ died on the cross, he not only paid the penalty for our sins, but he also, through his blood, ratified the New Covenant, and it is this event that we affirm and celebrate when we take communion (1 Cor. 11:23-34; Hebrews 8-10). Christ's death not only established the new covenant for Israel but also secured our salvation, as we are grafted into it (Romans 11:17-24). The hope of Israel becomes our hope as well, and the transformation that God promised Israel, he also promises us. As Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser points out, “The seventh century was the greatest moment of impending destruction for the nation; yet in the midst of the faithful warnings of God’s servants came one of the most spectacular series of promises of hope.” These promises are what we enjoy and celebrate every time we partake of communion.

02/23/2026

Hope in a Dark Period
Jeremiah 26-31
“’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”
Jeremiah was not called the weeping prophet without reason. As we journey through the book, the central theme repeated is the certainty of God's judgment for their rebellion against Him. While false prophets were proclaiming peace and victory over Babylon, Jeremiah consistently emphasizes the certainty of judgment. Because Israel had abandoned their covenant with God, God was using Nebuchadnezzar as His instrument to discipline Israel for their sin. Their only hope for survival was to capitulate to Nebuchadnezzar's demands and accept their fate of being taken into captivity and transported back to Babylon. This required them to admit their sin and accept God's discipline. Yet, just like today, some denied God's justice and only proclaimed peace and prosperity. But they would be judged severely by God for they “have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them” (29:13).
However, even as God pronounces judgment upon the people for their sin, He also offers the hope of salvation. While God will discipline Israel, He will not fully abandon them. For 70 years, they will be in exile in Babylon, but God remains faithful to His promises to Abraham. Throughout the judgment, the promise of deliverance is woven in. In 29:10, God reminds Israel that He is still faithful to His promises and will bring them back to the land He promised to Abraham. In verse 11, we see the heart of God’s compassion as He affirms that His desire is for their well-being and for their future and hope. Despite their sin and rebellion, when they call upon God and seek Him, God will reveal Himself and be with them. He will restore them completely to the land.
This is the same message that God gives us today. When we reject Him, when we abandon the truth of His word and reject His moral law, when we embrace the moral mantra of our culture, we will face the certainty of judgment. God is righteous and does not tolerate sin or any distortion of His word. If God judged Israel for their sin, He certainly will judge us for our sins. However, the offer of salvation and restoration that God gave Israel is also available to us today. If we confess our sins and acknowledge our guilt, God will forgive us our sins and restore us to a favorable relationship with Him (1 John 1:9). He not only forgives us of our past, but He complete changes our future. The promise that He gave Israel in verses 11-14 of forgiveness and restoration of their relationship with Him is the same promise He gives us as well. 1 2 Corinthains 5:17, he assures us, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; and behold, new things have come.” When we seek Christ, He completely restores us to a favorable relationship with Him, no matter what our sins might have been. When we surrender our lives to him, He erases the guilt of the past and gives us a whole new future, a future that is one of hope and blessing.

02/19/2026

Following the Right Leaders
Jeremiah 21-25
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.” (23:16).
We live in the age of noise. Not physical noise, but spiritual and moral noise. The radio and TV fill the airwaves with talk shows where celebrities and news commentators give us their opinions on every moral, cultural, and political issue we can think of. We turn to the internet, and “social influencers” clamor for our clicks to push their profits. Surveys indicate that 51% of Americans follow macro-influencers (those with 100,000 to 1 million followers). 25% of people listen to mega influencers (1 million+ followers). They influence people in many ways, from the food we eat to the political and social views we embrace. The tragedy is that even those who claim to be Christians are more influenced by the world we live in than by the teachings of scripture itself. Barna research reveals that only 17% of those who consider their faith important and attend church regularly actually have a biblical worldview, one that is grounded in scripture.
Yet, the misguided deception of false teachers is not new. From the very beginning of time, when Eve listened to the whispering of Satan in the form of a serpent, we have turned to false teachers for our instruction. This was also true during the time of Jeremiah. In chapter 23, Jeremiah again confronts the people with the danger of false prophets who would proclaim what the people wanted to hear rather than the biblical truth they needed to hear. In this chapter, we again find characteristics of false teachers. False teachers are more concerned about their own success than they are about communicating the truth (vs 1-2). What drives the social influencer is not the desire to share the truth, but the desire for clicks on their site, so they say what we want to hear. This was also true of the false teachers during the time of Jeremiah. While they claim to speak a prophecy from God, in reality, they were only proclaiming visions of their own imagination. Instead of warning of sin and calling people to repentance, they promised peace and prosperity (23:16-17). Instead of confronting sexual immorality, they promoted it (vs 10). Tragically, we see this in many churches today. Instead of teaching the truth of God’s Word, their message focuses on why we should not believe it. They conform the message to their own opinions.
However, we are not without hope. In chapter 23, we find Jeremiah not only warning of false shepherds but also providing the assurance that God remains vigilant in protecting His people. When we trust God and listen to His word, He will shield us from the deception of our world. He takes personal responsibility for us. Furthermore, He promises that a time will come when He will raise up a new shepherd, one who will “reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land” (5-6). This points us forward to the coming of Christ, who will come proclaiming God’s message and leading us in righteousness.
So, how do we have discernment in the age of misinformation? In this passage, we find a two-fold answer. First, a genuine shepherd will be grounded in the teachings of scripture and will call us to a life of purity and holiness. Instead of justifying sin, he will challenge us to turn from sin by warning of its consequences and calling us to repentance (vs 22). Second, a genuine shepherd will point us back to the true shepherd of Israel (vs 4). Their message will be centered on Christ, grounded in his teachings, and will direct us to the salvation he brings. In our age of information, political pundits, and social commentators, we need to ensure we are listening to the right voice: Are they calling us to a life of holiness? Are they pointing us to Christ? If not, there is only one thing left to do: hit the off button.

02/18/2026

The Challenge of Self-Assessment
Jeremiah 16-20
“The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according tohis ways, According to the results of his deeds.”
The threat to our spiritual life is not the world we live in or the evil that seems to grip society. The greatest threat to us is ourselves. It is much easier to spot the sin in others than to be honest about the sins in our own lives. We are masters of self-deception. John Calvin writes, “The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.” Stephen Charnock points out that “self is the great anti-Christ and anti-god in the world, that sets up itself above all else.” There are several ways our heart deceives us. First, it deceives us into denying the presence of sin. We easily see the faults in others and condemn them for their weaknesses, but remain blind to our own failures and struggles. While we easily see the faults in others, we turn a blind eye to our own self-examination. Second, it deceives us by denying the severity of sin. We condemn others for their sin but minimize the severity of sin in our own lives. Lastly, it deceives us by denying the judgment of sin. Whenever we minimize sin, we also minimize God's judgment. We make sin palatable and acceptable before God, reaffirming in our self-righteousness that we are free from its corrupting presence. Others may sin, but we remain righteous. Sin is the ultimate huckster promising us pleasure without consequences and sin without punishment.
However, as we turn to the pages of Jeremiah, we discover a different perspective. After pronouncing judgment upon Judah for their sin, God reminds the people that in our sin, we are self-deluded. Being deceived means believing a lie and following a myth. The lie is that we are untouched by sin, and the myth is that there are no consequences for sin. We easily see (and condemn) the wrongs of others but remain ignorant and in denial about the sins that control and dominate our own lives. We are desperately sick. The word refers to a disease, pain, or illness that is incurable. Sin hides behind the veil of self-righteousness and self-delusion. However, we are not completely without hope. Our hope does not come from ourselves, for we are deceived. Our hope comes from God, for He knows the heart and can pe*****te every nook and cranny and reveal the sins our heart desperately wants to control and govern. He is the only one who can pull back the screen behind which we hide our sin. He brings us hope by revealing sin’s presence so that we might obtain His forgiveness. He is able to search and investigate our entire being to discover the areas where we are steeped in sin. Not only can He search our heart, but He can do the one thing we cannot—change our heart so that we rediscover the joy of righteousness and obedience to Him. To trust in Him is not only to trust and obey His laws, but also to trust Him to reveal our hearts so that He might change us to conform to Him. The paradox of our self-deception is that the more we believe we are righteous before God, the more self-deceived we become. The starting point of transformation is self-surrender and allowing God to inventory our lives and change us. The first step in salvation is to allow God to examine our spiritual health and reveal our sin. Then we can turn to the only one who can not only avert its consequences but also change our hearts, so that we might seek the righteousness of Christ. Today, ask God to do a self-examination of our lives to reveal the areas that we are blind to. The greatest prayer in the Bible is not the pray of Jabez to receive God’s blessing, but the prayer of David to receive God’s transformation. “Search me, O God, and know my heart…and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24). This is the prayer God delights in answering.

02/17/2026

Listening to the Right Message
Jeremiah 11-15
“The Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and deception of their own minds.” (14:14).
In our age of information, we are flooded with people telling us right from wrong. Thus, we can easily find a preacher who tells us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. The age of information has become the age of misinformation, and the age of misinformation has become the age of self-deception. Today, we are not just faced with false teaching; we are faced with the greatest deceiver of all—ourselves. We no longer seek the truth; we only seek what agrees with what we want to believe. We now live in an age of confirmation bias, where we search for information that confirms what we want to believe rather than challenging us to change our beliefs and actions.
The problem with confirmation bias is not new; it exists among the people of Israel. Jeremiah delivered an unpopular message, warning of imminent judgment because of Judah's sins. Like the northern tribes of Israel, Judah had turned away from God. Instead of remaining faithful and obedient to His word, they relied on false prophets. As we read the description of these false prophets we discover they still exist today. The first trait of a false teacher is promising only peace and prosperity while ignoring the need to warn about judgment. Although the Bible highlights God's grace and salvation, it also warns that those who reject this message and continue in sin will face judgment. Judgment and grace go together. Without the reality of judgment, grace loses its meaning. Grace and mercy are central to salvation, but if there is no sin or judgment, salvation becomes unnecessary, and grace seems meaningless. Conversely, judgment without grace leaves us hopeless because we are still trapped by sin and its consequences. A true messenger from God condemns sin and warns of judgment, but also offers hope through salvation. While confronting sin, they direct us to the cross.
The second characteristic of a false teacher is that they adapt the message of God to fit our thoughts and perspectives. When we read something in the Bible that we do not agree with, instead of adjusting our beliefs to align with its message, we change the Bible to match what we want to believe. We become like these false teachers in that we follow "the deception of our own minds (vs 14)." They did not denounce sin nor warn of its consequences. A genuine spokesperson for God is one who communicates the entirety of God’s word. They challenge us to likewise conform our beliefs and conduct to scripture. The third characteristic of a false teacher is that they claim there are no consequences for sin. Their mantra becomes, “There is no judgment, and all people will go to heaven.” However, this denies the holiness and righteousness of God. To leave sin unpunished is to accept sin. The mark of a false teacher is that they deny the justice and holiness of God. They justify and redefine sin rather than call people to repentance, and in so doing, they reject the message of Christ. A true spokesperson from God is one who confronts sin to point us to the necessity of salvation. Who then should we listen to? Do we gather teachers and preachers who say what we want to hear, or do we listen to those who challenge us to change in conformity to God’s word?

02/11/2026

Where do we turn for truth?
Jeremiah 6-10
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”
Where do we turn to discover truth in a confused culture? The age of information has become the age of deception, in which the greatest deceiver is ourselves, as we find the information that supports and affirms what we want to believe. But this is not a new phenomenon. In the time of Jeremiah, the people were still giving lip service to God, but they were redefining God and his law to fit their own sinful desires. When we read through the prophets in general and Jeremiah in particular, we are struck by the depressing nature of their prophecies. Jeremiah is often referred to as the “weeping prophet” for his message is one of impending judgment. The people of Judah continued their descent into sin while giving lip service to God. They would go to the temple to make sacrifices while continuing to worship Baal. In 7:23-24, God confronts Israel with their hypocrisy. Throughout the Mosaic law, God called Israel to worship him exclusively and to obey his commandments. If they were faithful to the covenant, God promised blessings, security, and prosperity. However, instead of listening to God and seeking his counsel, they turned inward to themselves and lived according to their own wisdom (7:24). When God sent prophets to warn them and call them back to obedience, they refused. Instead of turning back to God, they continued headlong in the pursuit of their own wisdom (8:6).
While we look back and condemn the folly of Judah and Israel for embracing the empty worship of idols (chapter 10), we follow the same practice. We read the Bible but pick and choose what we want to obey and what fits our “modern morality,” while rejecting the instructions we find “offensive.” We affirm the love of God, but deny his justice and righteousness. Idolatry is not the complete abandonment of God, but the recreation of God in our image. While we condemn Israel for the folly of their worship of idols of wood and stone, we embrace the worship of the gods of our imagination and reason. Idolatry is not just the abandonment of the God of the Bible to worship another religion; it is the distortion of God to recreate him into the God of our reason. When the Bible confronts us with our sin, we attribute it to the cultural biases of the past. In our modern morality, we are more enlightened, and in so doing, we boast of our wisdom and might. The greatest threat to us is not the deception of false religions, but the deception of our own hearts and the deception of our own pride.
In response, Jeremiah challenges us to abandon our own wisdom and counsel of our own heart, but instead focus on the wisdom and counsel of God. Instead of conforming God to our perspective, we are to conform our understanding of God to his law, in which he has revealed himself. The measure of success is not in our wisdom, accomplishments, or wealth; the measure of success is our understand of God and living according to his law (9:23-24). How do we avoid the deception of today as well as the deception of the past? We do so humbly and completely obeying the voice of God and living according to his commands and moral law (7:23). Which voice are we going to listen to: the voice of our own reason, or the voice of God?

02/10/2026

An Accident or Divine Design
Jeremiah 1-5
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Are we the product of chance or the work of a divine designer? This is the question our culture wrestles with. For many, we are the product of change, the result of a chance evolutionary process, and so an unborn baby is nothing more than a blob of tissue that forms by chance. Because we are the product of evolution, there is no guarantee that we will be formed correctly in the womb. If we are nothing more than the product of chance, then our physical bodies may not align with our true identity. Mother Nature is fickle and arbitrary, and the development of our bodies may not be in line with our internal identity. In a natural world governed by chance, mistakes happen. As a result, the unborn are devalued, and life itself is meaningless. In the opening words of Jeremiah, we not only discover Jeremiah’s call to ministry, but we also find the nature and value of life.
While we do not know the exact age of Jeremiah, scholars universally agree that Jeremiah was in his late teens to early 20s when he was confronted with the call of God. In these words, we not only see the purpose God had for Jeremiah, but also gain insight into the purpose and work of God in our lives. In verse 5, we discover two important truths that serve as the foundation for our understanding of God’s design for us. First, we discover that we are not the product of chance and the mechanics of nature. Each one of us is purposefully designed and formed by God himself. From the moment of conception, God is actively engaged in our lives, forming our physical, emotional, and spiritual identity so that we might be the person God designed us to be. The language is important: God does not say, “before you were formed,” but rather, “before I formed you!” This theme is repeated in the Bible. Psalm 71:6, “Upon you I have learned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13, “For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb.” Isaiah 44:2, “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you. (see also verse 44). The reason people struggle with their identity today is not because of a mistake of nature, but because they are not living aligned with God’s purpose and design.

Not only did God design our physical, emotional, and spiritual identity, but he also created us for a purpose. Not only did God purposely form Jeremiah’s identity, personality, and attributes, but he also designed Jeremiah for a purpose to serve him. “Before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Paul affirms this in Galatians 1:15 when he states, “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace.” When we recognize that God designed us for a purpose, to live in a relationship with him and serve him, then we discover the joy and meaning of life. The reason people struggle to understand their identity and are inwardly dissatisfied with life is not that they were a mistake of nature, but because they are not living according to God’s purpose and design. If we are dissatisfied with life, if there is something deep within us that seems disjointed and broken, if life seems to be the product of chance rather than design, the solution is to surrender to God and ask Him to set the course of our lives. We are not the product of chance; we are not a mistake that must be corrected, our lives are not without purpose. A personal God created you perfectly in all aspects for the purpose of serving him, so that your identity is found in him and his eternal design for you.

02/09/2026

When God is Afflicted
Isaiah 61-66
“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.”
The statement seems unbelievable. We see God as an infinitely powerful being who is so far exalted above the earth that He is beyond our understanding. He is the mighty God who controls the universe and encompasses the totality of infinity. There is no limit to His being, His presence, and His power. It is both shocking and wonderful that He would look upon the affairs of man and notice what happens on this tiny speck in the vastness of the heavens. As we reach the end of the book of Isaiah, in 61:1-9, we find Isaiah empowered to proclaim good news to the afflicted and to bring healing to those with broken hearts. In verse 1, we see that the Holy Spirit has come upon Isaiah. Throughout scripture, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is given with a purpose to accomplish. In verses 1-3, Isaiah is tasked with six responsibilities: 1/ To bring good news to the afflicted; 2/ to bind up the brokenhearted; 3/ to proclaim liberty to captives; 4/ to declare the day of salvation and God’s judgment; 5/ to comfort those who mourn; and 6/ to bring gladness to the mourners. These verses not only describe Isaiah’s ministry but also point us toward the future ministry of Christ. The word “anointed” in verse 1 is the verb form of “Messiah,” signaling that we are to look beyond Isaiah to the coming Messiah. Christ read these words in the synagogue on the Sabbath and then announced that His mission was to bring them to fulfillment (Luke 4:4-21). While Israel had experienced God's judgment, God was now proclaiming a new message: that He would bring salvation and restoration to Israel and all sinners through the New Covenant. This New Covenant was inaugurated at the death of Christ and is currently being fulfilled in the present expansion of Christ’s kingdom. The full reality of its fulfillment will be realized when Christ returns to create a new heaven and a new earth and establish His kingdom forever (65:17-66:24). This brings us to the great mystery of Scripture: Why would an infinitely powerful God care about us? Why would he stoop from heaven to pay attention to this small speck in space and bring salvation to the very people who have rejected Him? The answer to that question is found in Isaiah 63:9, and it is in this verse that we find a statement that seems mysterious to us. In verse 9, we read, “In all their afflictions He was afflicted.” How could a God who is infinite in power and unsurpassed in authority be affected because of our circumstances? The word “affliction” refers to a strong emotional response that one experiences when facing adversity and suffering. In Jer 48:41, it is used to describe the pain of a woman in labor. God so deeply cares about us that He feels the pain of suffering when we suffer because of our sin. He so deeply cares for us that He feels our pain and sorrow deeply within Him. This stems from His infinite love for us, and it moves Him to bring salvation to us, “In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them” (vs 9b). That the God of the universe would experience the same hurt that we feel internally because of the affliction we face is beyond our ability to grasp. All we can do is read the words on the page and find comfort in the fact that, in all circumstances in which life seems to be crushing our souls, God also experiences our pain and is moved to bring salvation to us. In the struggles we face, especially in the face of the devastation of sin, God is not silent, and He is not indifferent. He cares enough to send His son to die for us that we might have salvation. This is our hope and our confidence in the struggles and pain of a fallen world.

River Christian Church

02/24/2026

02/23/2026

02/19/2026

02/18/2026

02/17/2026

02/11/2026

02/10/2026

02/09/2026

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Place Of Worship

Shortcuts

Share

Category