River Oaks Church: Live - Connect - Engage

Discovering and engaging in the God-given purposes for your life. This includes understanding gifts, understanding passions, recognizing needs, and engaging in ministry purposefully based on these foundations.  So, how does James 4:11-12 inform us as it relates to engaging the world? As followers of Jesus, we have a clear mandate - Love God, Love Others! Let's read James 4:11-12 again. 11 Do not criticize one another, my brothers and sisters. If you criticize fellow-Christians or judge them, you criticize the Law and judge it. If you judge the Law, then you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it. 12God is the only lawgiver and judge. He alone can save and destroy. Who do you think you are, to judge someone else?  Carey Nieuwhof recently posted the following recently: And that about sums it up. Let's take a close look at our own attitudes and ask God to show us where we need His grace to love more freely and extend grace more fully. His lo...

Why is it so hard to talk about God? What keeps us from naturally sharing what is most important to us in our lives?  One of the most significant problems we have is that we haven't embraced the truism that people don't care to hear what we have to say until they know we care about them. In other words, most Christians became Christians through existing relationships, friendships, and connections. Therefore, it is imperative that we embrace our purpose of connecting with others in a loving and caring and genuine way.  On Sunday we looked at three areas of life we can work on allow room for talking about God naturally with others. You can watch the message online here. Three challenges received from Colossians 4:2-6 are: Begin with Prayer Be aware of our Conduct Make sure our Speech (conversations) are helpful How is it with you in these areas? Here are our "Taking it Home" points we can be working on this week: How can I engage more in...