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.  Wow! Today's Day by Day for Emotionally Healthy Relationships is spot on and uncovers cringe-worthy areas in my life - areas where I've slipped into the "elder son" area of the prodigal son story. The elder son is literally a picture of the Pharisees in many ways. Nenri Nouwen describes it this way: "I recognize the elder son in me. Often I catch myself complaining about little rejections, little impolitenesses, little negligences. Time and again I discover within me that murmering, whining, grumbling, lamenting, and griping that go on and on even against my will." How can we engage the world with purpose when we are struggling with our own sin and pharisaical attitudes? The answer is … by God's grace, and by more and more self-...

LIVE IN JESUS FULLY - James 4:11-12 One of the characteristics of a mature follower of Jesus is that he/she is regularly praying for others. Caring for, and looking out for others, loving them as we love ourselves is the second of the "greatest commandments" mentioned by Jesus. And, as we pray, we want our prayers to be a blessing and to make a difference! Praying for others, however, may not be effective in many cases. What do I mean by that? The Bible is clear that our attitudes and awareness has much to do with our productive prayer life. In other words, how am I viewing the one for whom I am praying? Have I turned to judgment? Am I judging where only God truly has the right to decide? On Sunday, Pastor Tim Martin turned our attention to James 4:11-12: 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...

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...