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River Valley Church Podcast
Welcome to the River Valley Church Podcast!
Each week, you’ll hear biblical teaching, practical insight, and honest conversations designed to help you grow in your faith and live with purpose. Whether you're new to church, exploring Christianity, or have been walking with Jesus for years, our hope is that these messages meet you right where you are.
At River Valley Church, our mission is simple: Practicing the Way of Jesus Together. This podcast is an extension of that mission ... helping people discover the teachings of Jesus, adopt His rhythms, and become more like Him in every area of life.
Subscribe and join us as we go on this journey together!
Episodes
110 episodes
ALL IN: GIVE
What does it mean to be meaningfully connected to a local church? In our All In series, we’ve talked about belonging, gathering, and growing. This week, we turn to another essential part of following Jesus together: GIVEIn ...
ALL IN: GROW
What does it actually mean to grow spiritually? In Ephesians 4:11–16, Paul shows us that becoming more like Jesus was never meant to happen in isolation. God uses His people to shape, challenge, encourage, and mature one another.In this...
ALL IN: GATHER
“What does it actually mean to belong to a local church?” This is the big question we're asking in our 5-week series, ALL IN: A Sermon Series on Belonging to the Body of Christ. In Hebrews 10:19–25, w...
The Art of Neighboring | Better Together
Jesus never intended us to follow Him—or love our neighbors—alone. In John 17, Jesus prays that His followers would be united so that the world might see and believe. Our unity isn’t just good for the church; it’s part of our witness.In ...
The Art of Neighboring | When Neighboring Gets Messy
Neighboring can get messy.Loving our neighbors sounds simple - until our neighbors frustrate us, disappoint us, or hurt us. Jesus calls His followers not merely to desire peace, but to become peacemakers.In this me...
The Art of Neighboring | The Art of Receiving
We often think loving our neighbors means looking for ways to serve, help, and give. But healthy relationships require something else too: the humility to receive.In John 13, Peter is eager to follow Jesus, but uncomfortable allowing Jes...
The Art of Neighboring | Motives Matter
What motivates the way we love our neighbors? In Week 4 of The Art of Neighboring, we explore the difference between having an ulterior motive and an ultimate motive. As followers of Jesus, we genuinely desire for others ...
The Art of Neighboring | The Fear Factor
In Week 3 of our The Art of Neighboring series, we explore one of the biggest barriers to loving our neighbors well: Fear. Most of us aren't afraid to wave or learn a name... we're afraid of what comes next. What if the simple a...
The Art of Neighboring | The Time Barrier
Why is it so hard to know our neighbors? For many of us, the biggest obstacle isn't a lack of desire - it's a lack of margin.In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus' interaction with Mary and Martha reminds us that hurry and distraction can crowd out wh...
The Art of Neighboring | You Can't Love God Without This
What if one of the greatest opportunities to follow Jesus is waiting just outside your front door?In the opening message of our new series, The Art of Neighboring, we explore Jesus' words in Luke 10 and discover that loving our ne...
The Invitation
What does it mean to be invited into the Kingdom of God?In this guest message, Steve Aldrich unpacks Jesus' parable of the Great Feast from Luke 14, revealing the incredible invitation God extends to all who will come. Through this power...
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A Different Way | Which Will You Choose?
After twenty weeks in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus leaves us with one final question: What will you do with His words? In the closing message of A Different Way, we explore Jesus' powerful illustration of the wise and foolish ...
A Different Way | Unsaved Christians
This week in A Different Way, we come to one of the most unsettling passages in the entire Sermon on the Mount.Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven..." These are peopl...
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A Different Way | Two Paths
Not every road leads to the same destination.As Jesus brings the Sermon on the Mount toward its conclusion, He presents a series of stark contrasts: two gates, two roads, two kinds of prophets, two kinds of trees, and two kinds of fruit....
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A Different Way | The Golden Rule
In this message from our A Different Way series, we explore the meaning of the Golden Rule and discover how Jesus takes an ancient principle and turns it into a radical call to active love. Rather than simply avoiding harm, followers o...
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A Different Way | Ask, Seek, Knock
In this message from A Different Way, we explore Jesus’ invitation to persistent prayer in Gospel of Matthew 7:7–11. What does it really mean to ask, seek, and knock—and why doesn’t God always answer prayer the way we expect? Together,...
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A Different Way | No Judgment?
What did Jesus actually mean when He said, “Judge not”?In a culture where “no judgment” is seen as the ultimate virtue, many assume Jesus was calling us to never challenge, confront, or speak truth into someone’s life. But is that really...
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A Different Way | Jesus + Anxiety
We live in an anxious world—and many of us feel it daily. In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus speaks directly into our worry, not with quick fixes, but with an invitation to trust our Heavenly Father.Continuing our series A Different Way,...
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A Different Way | Where's Your Treasure?
Guest speaker Jeff Ebert unpacks Jesus’ teaching on money, priorities, and the heart in Matthew 6:19–24. In a culture chasing more, Jesus calls us to something better—eternal treasure over temporary gain.Through the themes of security, f...
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A Different Way | How to Fast
Fasting is more than a health trend—it’s a spiritual practice that Jesus assumed His followers would embrace.In this message from Matthew 6:16–18, we look at how fasting reveals what’s going on in our hearts and helps us refocus on what ...
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A Different Way | How To Pray
In this message from Matthew 6:5–15, we take a fresh look at the Lord’s Prayer—one of the most familiar teachings of Jesus—and rediscover its power to shape our lives. Rather than a prayer to simply recite, Jesus gives us a pattern that forms h...
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A Different Way | How To Give
What does Jesus say about giving, generosity, and our motives? In this message from Matthew 6:1–4, we explore Jesus’ warning against performative faith—doing good deeds to be seen by others rather than for the glory of God.As we continue...
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Easter Sunday | Did It Really Happen?
Most people today are skeptical of the resurrection - like it sounds too good to be true. But what if the offer of Jesus isn’t a scam… but the greatest reality in history? In this Easter message from Matthew 28:1–10, we explore how the resurrec...
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