audio by artist dan teefey
Teacher, King, or God? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 10th, 200829:56 minutes (10.28 MB)
What do you remember? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 2nd, 200829:40 minutes (10.19 MB)
The Last Supper
7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."
9"Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
Who is the greatest? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 9th, 200827:41 minutes (9.51 MB)
Luke 22:24-30 NIV
Stay With Us - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 30th, 200831:10 minutes (10.7 MB)
Luke 24:13-35 NIV
Dead Faith - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 27th, 200839:22 minutes (13.52 MB)
James 2:14-26 NIV
Arrogant Mist - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 25th, 200832:51 minutes (11.28 MB)
James 4:13 - 5:6
The Voice - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 15th, 200836:17 minutes (16.62 MB)
Jonah 3
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
Who\What\Where\Why is Church? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 6th, 200831:40 minutes (14.5 MB)
Colossians 3:5-17
5Put to death,
therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality,
I Love You, You Love Me - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 20th, 200833:16 minutes (15.23 MB)
The Fellowship of the Believers
Heads Up - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 3rd, 200828:52 minutes (13.21 MB)
Deuteronomy 12: 1-7
The One Place of Worship
Get Real - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 17th, 200835:56 minutes (16.46 MB)
Corinthians 6:1-13
1As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2For he says,
"In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
Hosea: Marry Who? Name our Kids What? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 21st, 200842:34 minutes (19.51 MB)
Hosea 1
1 The word
of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign
of Jeroboam son of Jehoash [a] king of Israel:
What Does the Lord Require? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 26th, 200835:22 minutes (16.19 MB)
Small Things Make Disciples - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 16th, 200834:03 minutes (15.59 MB)
Zechariah 4:1-14
God's Treasured Possession - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 23rd, 200833:06 minutes (15.16 MB)
Malachi 3:13 - 4:3
Hope: The Days Are Coming - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 30th, 200832:13 minutes (14.75 MB)
Jeremiah 33: 14-16
Hope: Prepare the Way - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 7th, 200832:58 minutes (15.09 MB)
Mark 1: 1-8
Hope: A Witness to Light - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 14th, 200829:49 minutes (13.65 MB)
John 1: 1-18
Hope: Good News of Great Joy - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Wednesday, December 24th, 200817:13 minutes (7.88 MB)
Luke 2: 1-20
Commit To Grow in God's Word and Relationships - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 28th, 200835:11 minutes (16.11 MB)
Commit to Grow in Obediant Living and Worship - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 4th, 200931:22 minutes (14.36 MB)
Connect to God: Silence & Listening - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 11th, 200930:08 minutes (13.8 MB)
1 Kings 19:9-18
Connect to God: Prayer and Meditation - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Friday, January 18th, 200842:03 minutes (19.25 MB)
Matthew 6: 5-15
1 Kings 18: 26-29
A Adoration
C Confession
T Thanksgiving
S Supplication
Repentance and Submission (Phil 2:1-11) - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 25th, 200940:41 minutes (18.63 MB)
Service and Witness (Acts 8:26-40) - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 1st, 200941:05 minutes (18.81 MB)
Less Leaders, More Followers - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 15th, 200937:32 minutes (17.19 MB)
2 John 1:1-13
Where Are Your Children? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 22nd, 200934:43 minutes (15.89 MB)
What Is With the Old Testament Rituals? (Hebrews 9:1-10) - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 1st, 200936:30 minutes (16.71 MB)
Divine Access - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 8th, 200931:44 minutes (14.53 MB)
Hebrews 9:11-15
Not Guilty - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009Where Do We Go from Here? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 29th, 2009Not What We Bargained For - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 5th, 200939:36 minutes (18.13 MB)
Sermon text: Mark 11:1-11
The men at Riverside have been studying the book of Mark in our bible study this year and we have walked through the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. While Jesus began his ministry with healings and broad calls for people to repent and follow him, in the chapters right before our passage this morning, Jesus has begun to ramp up his language. He has talked about the sacrifices that the disciples must make to truly be his disciples. He is also talking about what is ultimately going to happen to him.
Big Rocks - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 12th, 2009Foundations, Not Decorations - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Wednesday, December 31st, 1969Debt Free - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 3rd, 200934:04 minutes (15.6 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 7: 41-43
Download Sermon: pdf / doc / ppt / ppt as pdf
Last week I discussed how when I was in law school things were pretty strict and tough. 1 test for each class at the end of the semester which was worth 100% of my grade. Well by my third year in law school we had classes that did not have final exams or at least had other coursework throughout the semester that was a percentage of my final grade. But it was still strict. When we were told to turn something in it had to be time stamped by a secretary for the time it was turned in. And if it was a minute late, then it was a 0 on the assignment. Well, I got used to that system and made sure I never missed the deadline.
Miracle Grow - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 10th, 200939:16 minutes (17.98 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 8:5-15
Today we are going to talk about growing. How do we grow in our faith? Perhaps many of you have been planting gardens in the last few weeks or at least planting flowers. Or maybe in the past month you have planted grass seed. You understand that to make something grow you need to combine good seed with good soil. And then you just water and feed and water and feed. But the jumping off point is always good seed combined with good soil.
Is Anybody Home? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 24th, 200933:48 minutes (15.47 MB)
Luke 11:5-8
Bling, Bling - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 31st, 200935:36 minutes (16.3 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 12:16-21
A few years ago a man from West Virginia won the Powerball lottery jackpot. His friends had always described him as a boisterous, generous and happy-go-lucky guy until he won the $315 million prize. To most of us that would seem like such a blessing, but with money comes great temptations and complications. Whittaker’s winnings were the richest undivided jackpot in U.S. history at the time. Although he quickly gave millions away to his church and other charities, his money eventually brought him problems and difficulties that he had never experienced before. He became a slave to his wealth and it led him down paths where he never thought he would find himself. Since winning the jackpot in 2002, Whittaker has been arrested twice for drunken driving and has been ordered into rehab. He eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge for attacking a bar manager, and was accused in two lawsuits of causing trouble at a nightclub and a racetrack. His wife, understanding the effects that the money had on her husband, was quoted as saying, “I wish all of this would have never happened, I wish I would have torn that ticket up.”
Be Fruity - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Wednesday, December 31st, 196932:29 minutes (14.87 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 13:6-9
As we have done with the other parables that we have looked at, the first thing we want to do here is look at the context. In what context is Jesus telling us this parable. At the beginning of chapter 13, it says that some came to Jesus and told him about some Galileans who Pilate had killed and then mixed their blood with the sacrifices that were being made. It is not entirely clear why they bring this up to Jesus, but they wanted some sort of reaction from him. Historians don’t know exactly what incidents are being discussed here, but the atrocities of Pilate during this time were very well known. The point though, is that these folk wanted some reaction or opinion from Jesus.
The Power of the Kingdom - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 14th, 2009Are You Coming to the Party? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 21st, 200926:03 minutes (11.93 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 14:15-24
Jesus' approach always surprises me. Picture that I am telling someone about an awesome party that Jesus is throwing. And I say, this will be a great party, after all this is the guy that turns water into wine. And I say, blessed are those folks that get to go to his house and party with Jesus. And Jesus is there and he hears my excitement.
But instead of responding directly or even acknowledging what I just said, he simply starts telling a story.
Leave the Flock - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 5th, 200931:38 minutes (14.48 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 15:1-7
This morning I want us to wrestle with three things as we study our passage from Luke 15. First, who are the tax collectors and sinners in our world or community today? Second, what does it mean for us to welcome and eat with them? And third, why is that God seeks the lost and we don’t?
My Two Sons - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 12th, 200936:28 minutes (16.7 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 15:11-23
When we think of this parable, we generally think of it as the story of one son. And we know that he took his dad's inheritance and he went off and foolishly spent it all and then came back. But this is really the story of two sons. While it is true that the one son goes off and spends everything, there is his brother too. And he seemingly does everything right. He stays at home and tends the farm while is younger brother is out living wildly. And he does the chores and obeys his dad. He is productive and the good son. He is rightfully frustrated when his brother comes back and seems to get all of his father's praises.
Eternal Life Insurance - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 19th, 200931:57 minutes (14.63 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 16:1-13
My insurance agent is a part of Riverside. And I actually got a new life insurance policy this year to protect my family if something were to happen to me. And if you have life insurance you know that the company sends a nurse to you and they draw blood and take your blood pressure and a whole host of other tests to determine your risk of dying. Before they insure my life, they want to know the odds that I will die. And I obviously am hoping that those odds are fairly long. I try to eat healthy, exercise when I am able, avoid drugs, etc. I try to ensure my health as well. We all do this. We want to build up some security on earth.
Good Things - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 26th, 200931:26 minutes (14.39 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 16:19-31
Albert Schweitzer was a German/French theologian, musician, and philosopher who was born in the late 1800's. He won the Noble Peace Prize in 1952, but well before that was a renowned musician and teacher. He was a genius and destined for European fame, when he dropped it all, went to medical school, became a medical missionary and started a medical clinic in West Central Africa. When people wondered why he did this, he answered their questions by pointing them to the parable we are going to read this morning.
So let's read it. Read Luke 16:19-31.
Last week we mentioned that Jesus has big concerns with money. And this parable in Luke again speaks of the temptations and struggles that arise with money. Again, Jesus' point is exceptionally clear. Do not become too comfortable in riches in this lifetime.
The Pain of Waiting - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 2nd, 200932:04 minutes (14.68 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 18:1-8
I hate to wait. Waiting can be excruciating.
That is one of the most ridiculous things about law school. You would think after you get a law degree that you would be ready to practice law, but nope. You have to pay a couple thousand dollars to take a class that prepares you for the bar exam. So you spend the entire summer after law school graduation preparing for the bar exam and then you take the exam over 2 days in July. But the worst part is that you don't get the results of the bar exam until October. So you start working, or in my case, I started seminary, which is not so common. And you just wait. When you sign up for the exam, they give you an identification number and then they tell you that there will be a two week time period in July where the exam results will be posted online. If you number is on the website, you pass. If your number is not on the website then you did not pass. Luckily my number was on the website and I passed, but the wait was awful. I actually checked the website every day for weeks to make sure my number was still up there and I actually printed the screen a few times just to be able to prove that it was on there in case they tried to take my number off or something. The waiting is excruciating and what are we to do when we are waiting.
I Rule - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 9th, 200927:14 minutes (12.47 MB)
Sermon text: Luke19:9-14
There is an effect called the overconfidence effect. It is a bias in which people are correct in their judgments far less often than they think they are. For example, for certain types of questions, answers that people rate as “99% certain” turn out to be wrong 40% of the time.
Put it to Work - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 16th, 200931:55 minutes (14.61 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 19:11-27
When I turned 16, my parents bought me a car. It was a red 1989 Chrysler Lebaron convertible. It was awesome. It was turbo charged and had a black vinyl top. I have so many great stories with that car.
One time a bunch of my friends and I were swimming at my hometown public pool in the evening when it was closed. I should have probably had the sound booth stop the tape during that admission. Well when we were done swimming we were going to jump in my car and drive around town for a while with the top down. My friend Brian jumped into the back seat and someone else jumped into the passenger seat. They pull the door shut and I hear Brian say, “open the door. Open the door. Open the door!!!!!!.” It turns out when my friend pull the door shut from the passenger seat, Brian had his hand on the frame of the car right where the door latches. His hand was shut in the door when it latched. I will never forget his reaction when I think of that car.
Landlord Tenant - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 23rd, 200934:36 minutes (15.84 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 20:9-19
I want to use this morning to not only take a look at our passage in Luke, but to pull Jesus’ parables together for a common theme. The parables are wildly diverse in their characters and subject matter, but they do have a thread of similarity too. I believe if you had to pick one component that is present in every aspect of the Gospel, including every parable, it is response. There is a lot of information in the Bible and it is all important for us to know, but its point is not simply for us to know it, but to prompt some sort of response to it. It is given to us as revelation, God telling us about himself and ourselves, so that we will do something with it.
Worry Wart - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 30th, 200926:26 minutes (12.1 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 6:25-34
Acouple of months ago I told you a joke about a patient in a mental hospital who spent every day with his ear against his hospital room wall, listening intently. One day the patient called for one of the nurses to come into his room to listen too. The nurse came in and pressed his ear against the wall for several minutes and finally said, "I don't hear anything." "I know," replied the patient, "it's been like that every day!" So it is with us at times. We cling to an invisible wall waiting for something drastic to happen and it never does. We spend much of our time worrying ourselves into another world.
Spiritual Generations - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 13th, 200935:31 minutes (16.26 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 18:1-6
Riverside believes that the spiritual development of children is one of the most sacred tasks of a church. And we thus invest a great deal of resources in the development of children. Promiseland advertises that it wants to be the best time of your child’s week and we take this seriously. From intentional teaching to brightly colored classrooms and teaching aids we want to communicate the Gospel in clear and age appropriate ways. (check out the hallways downstairs that continue to be transformed) And we purchased the white house (or as the LT likes to refer to it following the Riverside theme – the boat house) to free up more space for our growing Children’s Ministry.
If you don’t know how our Children’s Ministry is structured, we have two hours that they kids meet. Obviously, right now the kids are downstairs in what we call Promiseland Children’s Church. During this time kids sing songs, watch a video, do crafts, and play games, all with Christian messages. And actually starting next Sunday, Children’s Church will begin at 10:15am rather than after the offering. While we are singing up here, the kids will sing downstairs. This will help to ensure that we have enough seats for everyone. If you really value worshipping as a family during that time in the sanctuary though, please feel free to have your kids stay with you. You don’t have to take them downstairs, it is just an option.
God Grows Things - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 20th, 200932:37 minutes (14.93 MB)

Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-5
Last summer I gave a sermon entitled, “Who is Riverside?” We introduced several things. One was intentional discipleship, another was Discovery Hour, and a third was a full-time Youth Director. All of these things have become increasingly developed this past year. Though we chose not to institute a discipleship program, we did encourage you to enter into discipleship relationships with one another. Many are doing this. And some disciples have begun discipling others. Discovery Hour has grown. Though not everyone is taking advantage of this opportunity, those that are taking part have consistently reported that it is making a difference in their lives. Finally, we hired Becky Wellner as our first full-time Youth Director. Her dedication and ministry to our Jr. and Sr. High students has helped to solidify our priority of helping our children to mature into faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
This year we will have 5 sermons on Riverside and particularly who we want to try to be as a people of God. Visioning is extremely important for any group of people, but it is particularly important for a church because it is our communal discernment of what God wants to do with us. Proverbs 29:18 says, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” The word “vision” there is not just some goal, but it is revelation. Where there is not foundation upon God and his revelation, Word to us, we will perish.
Seed Germination - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 27th, 200927:09 minutes (12.43 MB)

Sermon text: Luke 8:4-15
Last week I introduced you to the starting point for this series of sermons on our vision for Riverside. I shared that I believe that visions that we set and decisions that we make must come out of our relation to revelation, the biblical story. We say that we are a biblical church. Our denominational history started with a bunch of people asking repeatedly, “where is it written” in the Bible before making choices. So last week I shared that my jumping off point for us was taking our name Riverside and the rich agricultural language of the Bible and asking what does it teach us about what kind of church and people God has called us to be. Our conclusion last week is that the discussion must begin with God. That God grows things. That God not only grows our personal faiths, but He grows our fellowship, and our impact on our community. We cannot manufacture these things, but will be successful or faithful to the extent that we let God be God. To the extent that we participate, or become co-workers in what He wants to do.
Mature Followers - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 4th, 200935:17 minutes (16.15 MB)
Sermon text: Philippians 3:12-21
Download Visual Aid: pdf / ppt
Dana told me she is tired of hearing about plants and I promise I won't have another botany lesson, but this morning we are moving forward in our imagery. God grows things. At some point, whether in an instant or gradually, a seed is planted and is germinated in our lives. It's growth potential is unleashed. The Holy Spirit enters us and we begin to be recreated into something new. A sprout springs forth, but there must be more.
I was in optimist club speaking contests when I was a kid and I will never forget the ending for my 8th grade speech. I paraphrased someone who I can’t remember and said, “it only takes a spark to start a fire . . . and I have the rest of my life to kindle it.”
When we come to know Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes upon us. The Spirit dwells in us and guides us. In the New Testament the Spirit is associated with fire. It desires to burn through us.
Fruit Producers - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 11th, 200931:03 minutes (14.22 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 7:15-23
Thus far in recent weeks we have started to progress through the primary themes or vision that should guide how our church discerns through the decisions that we make. Our starting point is the power of God. Nothing we do has any merit unless its source and its power is God himself. Next we discussed what it means to be a church that God uses to plant seeds that germinate. We can acknowledge God's growth potential all we want, but ultimately we must unleash it in our lives. We must step back and allow the Word of God to sprout in us. We must run towards new life in Christ. But that is not enough either. A sprout is just a beginning. We must also grow, develop and mature into Christian disciples . . . followers of Jesus Christ that pick up our cross and go after him each day. We study God's Word, we communicate with God through prayer, we spend time with other believers and we share our story with others through evangelism. But what is the result of all this? What do we become or what do we produce? The Bible says that we become mature plants that produce fruit. But what is the fruit that we produce?
Lets read our passage this morning to get us going. Matthew 7:15-23.
Where do we go from here - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 18th, 200920:02 minutes (9.18 MB)
Sermon text: Ephesian 4:1-16
October 18, 2009
Today we are wrapping up our sermon series on the church and the vision that God has called Riverside to have. This is really a jumping off point for us to think about our collective identity. What we have been doing is taking the themes that God has given us through his Word and discussing how they apply to what we want to do both in our individual lives and in our church.
We have pointed out three movements: planting seeds or allowing the Holy Spirit to get going in us, developing into mature plants or disciples that follow after Christ, and finally producing fruit or producing life change in ourselves and other people. These are the three movements that make up the Christian’s faith walk and they are the movements that we want to emphasize when we think about what it means to be Riverside.
The Father, Son, and Who? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 1st, 200935:11 minutes (16.11 MB)
Sermon text: John 16:5-15
Today we begin 4 weeks dealing with several of the questions that you put in the sermon suggestion box over the past several weeks. There is no way we can get to all of the questions, but where possible I have combined the topics to cover most of them in one of these 4 sermons. The reality is that some of the questions or suggested topics are so large that it would be impossible to address them adequately in 30 minutes, so for the next 4 weeks each sermon will be 3 hours long. Just kidding. We simply won’t be able to get into the deep details of some of the topics, but I keep all the suggestions and hopefully we will use them as a basis for choosing sermon series and Discovery Hour classes in the future.
This week we are going to discuss the Holy Spirit. There were several questions in the suggestion box concerning the Holy Spirit and then Dave Timmerman’s small group stuffed the box full of questions about the Trinity. No big deal, in 30 minutes or so I am going to rehash 2,000 years of discussion.
Shhh! - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 8th, 200940:04 minutes (18.35 MB)
Sermon text: 1 Timothy 2:11-15 & Galatians 3:26-29
Today we are going to discuss a controversial topic, but one that is very important for us to address. The question that was placed in the sermon suggestion box was “why does the Evangelical Covenant Church ordain women?” That is a great question and one that I want to answer.
I want to say right off the bat, though, that there may be things that I say today that you disagree with and that is fine . . . some of the issues that we are going to discuss have been sources of disagreement for thousands of years. What I want us to be clear about, though, is that these issues do not arise because someone is reading the Bible and someone is not. Too often we are quick to say that the particular position that we adopt on a topic is “biblical” while the other side’s argument is “not biblical.” There are indeed debates where this is the case, but many debates happen within the church between two groups of people that are each honestly studying and wrestling with their Bibles, trying to understand what they teach.
As we discuss gender in the Bible, know that I am not claiming that one side is trying to follow the Bible and the other is not . . . all sides of the issues, at least within the church, are trying to understand what the biblical texts are telling us. I have my opinions, but disagreement is o.k. While the God we worship is perfect, we are not, and anyone that claims to have a perfect understanding of Him is probably in the deepest error.
RRRrrrr! - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 15th, 200927:34 minutes (12.63 MB)
Sermon text: Ephesians 4:25-32 & James 1:19-21
When I was in high school I had a dirt bike that I used to ride around our horse farm. It couldn't be licensed for the road, but it was great. I would just ride around the farm and try to jump things and run through the creek. Well one evening the motorcycle was not running well so myself and some friends pulled it down the street behind the three-wheeler to a friend's house. We worked on it for a couple hours, got it back going, and then decided after dark, to ride it back to the farm. I rode the three-wheeler and went directly back to the farm which was less than a mile from my friend's house. One of my friends rode the motorcycle and instead of going straight back to the farm decided that it would be a good idea to race up and down the road to make sure everything was running fine. That's when things began to go badly.
My friend did not know that down the street was the local chief of police's house. And as anyone that has spent time with motorcycle's knows, there is a very different sound that a dirt bike makes than a regular motorcycle that is licensed to be ridden on the road. And so that night the chief of police was watching television and heard a dirt bike in the neighborhood and called into the police station to report it.
Them Fightin' Words - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 22nd, 200929:05 minutes (13.31 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 18:15-22
So this week has been an interesting week. I believe that God changes us. And when I say that - I don't just mean that one day we are doing drugs, drinking beer by the gallons, lying, cheating, stealing, worshiping movie stars, our wallets . . . and everything else . . . and then we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior . . . and bam, life is perfect. We stop all of that and now sit in our houses for hours reading the Bible, praying and sipping decaffeinated coffee.
No, when I say that I believe that God changes us . . . I mean that God never stops changing us. I really mean this. You should know what God is working on inside of you right now. No one is there. We don't figure it all out at some point. I don't care if you are at the beginning of your spiritual journey or the end . . . God is still trying to change you. To mold you more and more into who he created you to be.
Advent Conspiracy - Worship Fully - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 29th, 200936:10 minutes (16.56 MB)
Sermon text: Psalm 25:1-10
This year for Advent our sermon series is Advent Conspiracy. At some point in our culture we have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
And I know that many people probably discuss this every year. We mention our consumerist culture and how it distracts us and in a way sucks us into thinking that we need more and more stuff. My goal is not to get us all not to celebrate Christmas . . . to give up buying gifts for each other and to stop spending time with family and traveling . . . that is not the goal. The goal is to help us to find some ways to reprogram our Christmas traditions around the reason for the season.
Advent Conspiracy: Spend Less - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 6th, 200929:34 minutes (13.54 MB)
Sermon text: John 10:1-10
I think we are lied to consistently. We have thieves and robbers that are lying to us about what is important and essential in our lives and that we are being deceived into buying things that we do not need with money that we either do not have or could be better used elsewhere.
We are being sold a very simple message by our culture . . . I want to show you some of what I mean. Show Pics. 1) competition. 2) happing shopping (4).
This . . . will give you life.
A marketing expert on a blog I read this week said this, “As early as two-years old a child can sit in a shopping cart and point to what they want. Companies need to capture that child as early as possible to get a sale today and retain that customer for the future.”
According to the 2001 marketing industry book Kidfluence, the very effective marketing strategy of pestering or nagging can be divided into two categories—"persistence" and "importance." Persistence nagging (a plea, that is repeated over and over again) is not as effective as the more sophisticated "importance nagging." This latter method appeals to parents' desire to provide the best for their children, and plays on any guilt they may have about not having enough time for their kids.
Advent Conspiracy: Give More - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 13th, 200929:56 minutes (13.71 MB)

Sermon text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Last week we discussed how the messages that our culture has been giving us are lies. Our joy is not dependent upon our stuff. And we have to be vigilant, especially during the Christmas season, to identify the consumerist thieves and robbers around us and to run towards the true shepherd, who is the source of eternal and abundant life.
Last we talked about spending less and that is good . . . but not enough. So you spend less and less and your income keeps coming and sometimes gets larger and larger . . . does your bank account, and your retirement, and your standard of living just get bigger and bigger too . . . or is there something more we are called to.
We are called to be people that give. When you hear this passage and think through what we are called to, you are probably always going to think about money . . . and that indeed a part of how we demonstrate our generosity . . . but it is not all of it. We want to also think about how God is calling us to be generous with our time, with our presence, and with our talents.
Love All - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 20th, 200933:54 minutes (15.52 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 5:1-12
Today we are going to finish our Advent Conspiracy series and as I mentioned earlier, the topic is “Love All.”
I hope you have followed the progression we have tried to make here. Our theme has been an attempt to return Christmas to its rightful place as a remembrance and celebration of Jesus' birth. We began by saying that no matter what our culture has turned Christmas into, for us to take it back we must begin with worship. Every movement of our being must be oriented towards the worship of Jesus. And when it is, and we faithfully assess our culture, we find some alarming things.
In the Advent Conspiracy we discover that Americans spend billions and billions of dollars more on stuff during Christmas than would be needed to provide clean drinking water for the world. And these stats could go on and on. So we discussed the importance of spending less and spending wisely. That our culture has robbed us and tricked us into believing that we would find joy in consumption.
Once we spend less, we are urged to give more. The Creator of the World, God, is a giver. He gave us Himself. And we are told repeatedly throughout the Bible that we are to be people of deep generosity too.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Thursday, December 24th, 200917:30 minutes (8.01 MB)
Luke 2:1-20
B-I-B-L-E - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 27th, 200938:48 minutes (17.76 MB)
2 Timothy 3:10-17
Tower of Babel - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 10th, 201030:38 minutes (14.03 MB)
Sermon text: Genesis 11:1-9
I have often imagined a world where everything and everyone were exactly alike. I have thought to myself I wish that everyone thought exactly like I do and that they had the same interests and the same desires. At the very least, I have thought, things would be perfect in my marriage. If only Dana wanted to watch all sports on television, if only the girls loved putting their seat belts on, if only I did not have to guess what other people were thinking, but they thought just like I do.
I have imagined this world where if everyone just had the exact same language, looked exactly alike and so on everything would be better . . .
This is pretty much the situation that the world had arrived at by Chapter 11 in Genesis.
What is Your Name? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 17th, 201033:23 minutes (15.28 MB)

Genesis 32:22-32
The Reveal - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 24th, 201032:19 minutes (14.8 MB)

Sermon text: Genesis 45: 1-28
This week we finished the book of Genesis in the E100 Bible reading plan. And I think it is important that we understand where we have gone thus far. Genesis answers for us several questions. It tells us how we got here and who created us. It tells us about when sin entered the world. And it tells us about how God began to communicate with us.
One of those primary ways of communicating that is very clear early in the story of God in Genesis, is that God intends to reveal himself uniquely to a line of people and he begins in a sense with Abraham. And Abraham becomes the first of the 3 biblical patriarchs. Isaac, Abraham's son is the second. The third is Isaac's son, Jacob. The God of Abraham becomes the God of Isaac and then the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This provides a theme that became crucial in God's revelation to the Hebrews in Egypt, on their journey to the promise land, and is often repeated in the rest of the Old Testament.
Now this is important as we get to our passage this morning concerning Joseph because though it seems that these chapters are just about Joseph, they are in reality about Jacob and how Jacob ends up in Egypt. These chapters are designed to bring the details of Jacob's life, the third of the great patriarchs, to its conclusion. Throughout the story there is an underlying emphasis on matters relative to Jacob's approaching death and events related to it. Details about the death and burial of both Jacob and Joseph, together with their requests to carry their remains back to Canaan, eventually provide closure to the narrative.
Divine Shockwave - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 7th, 201037:51 minutes (17.33 MB)
Sermon text: Joshua 6:12-21
- Prepare/Enrich discount this week, brochures in the back.
- Paint a picture of where we are right now in the story of God
- Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
- Promised to be the ancestors of a favored people/nation and given a special land for settlement
- Jacob and his family went to Egypt during the famine when Joseph was in power . . . and the people had babies and more babies
- End of Genesis and beginning of Exodus – Jacob dies and so does Joseph and his generation
- new ruler that knew nothing of Joseph comes to power in Egypt and makes the Israelites Egyptian slaves
- Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
- Moses is born and in a God-controlled series of events he ends up being raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter
- Moses grows up and has a run-in with a burning bush
- God says, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10
- Exodus then is about the plagues, then what John discussed last week, the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and into the desert
- Israelites make their way through the desert under Moses’ guidance and God gives them the law starting with the 10 Commandments in Exodus all the way through Leviticus
- In Numbers, we hear more about the Israelites’ journey through the desert – moving towards the Promised Land ever so slowly
- The same throughout Deuteronomy
- Moses leads the Israelites across the dessert and to the banks of the Jordan; After 40 years, he is a river away from the land that God has promised for generations and God tells him, “You shall not cross the Jordan.” Deuteronomy 31:2
- Moses sees the land from the top of Mount Nebo and then he dies at the very end of Deuteronomy
- Moses grows up and has a run-in with a burning bush
Ruth - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 14th, 201036:59 minutes (16.93 MB)
Sermon text: Ruth 1:1-22
- Celebration of Matt Muehlhausen.
- Elimelek and Naomi move from Bethlehem to Moab because of a famine
- Two sons
- In Moab, Elimelek dies
- Two sons marry local Moabite women (Orpah and Ruth)
- Two sons die 10 years later
- Just Naomi, Orpah and Ruth left
- Naomi hears from folks back in Bethlehem that God has now provided food
- Naomi is going to go back
- she must feel “about time” or “too late”
- As the 3 are on their way back Naomi tells the women to stay
- because they deserve kindness as they have been kind (selfless)
- they will be provided for (their benefit/gracious)
- both women WANT to stay with Naomi (attractive)
- Tell bad mother-in-law joke
- both women WANT to stay with Naomi (attractive)
- Naomi can’t provide for them
- Naomi feels “bitter” (her world had turned on her in Moab)
- Orpah stays in Moab, but “Ruth clung to her.” (1:14)
- Ruth was DETERMINED (READ 1:16-18)
- If I am hot, I keep shooting, if I am not hot, I shoot until I am hot
- The town is pumped to see Naomi
- They know her as “pleasant”
- Naomi not the same woman, now “bitter” (Mara)
- Naomi is going to go back
Stop: God Time - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 21st, 201023:56 minutes (10.96 MB)
Sermon text: 2 Samuel 7:1-17
- Family Fun night
- E100 Timeline – Becky and youth
- Read 2 Samuel 7:1-17
- Inspiration for sermons can come from some pretty odd places
- MC Hammer – You Can't Touch This
- Starts - “My, my, my music hits me so hard – makes me say, 'O, my Lord' – Thank you for blessing me – with a mind to rhyme and two hype feet.”
- Goes on to say, “you can't touch this” a hundred times
- My favorite line of the song is when MC Hammer even advertised the weight loss advantages to his awesome music, “this is it, for a winner, dance to this, and you're gonna get thinner.”
- And then at a couple of points after telling us how awesome he is, MC Hammer just says, “Stop, Hammer time.”
- This is where he busts out his best dance moves and shows everyone how awesome he is.
- I don't know why, but this is where my mind went to when reading our text this week.
- Story about David
- David was a righteous King of Israel and a biblical giant
- In our passage it appears that God shows up to tell David, “Stop: God time”
- And then this is the heretical part – I picture God doing an awesome dance – saying look how awesome I am
- The difference is that God really is awesome and MC Hammer isn't so much
- Before you think I am too heretical for talking about MC Hammer, don't forget another one of his hits, Pray – he says, “we got to pray, just to make it today.”
- Story about David
- Starts - “My, my, my music hits me so hard – makes me say, 'O, my Lord' – Thank you for blessing me – with a mind to rhyme and two hype feet.”
- MC Hammer – You Can't Touch This
Orphaned - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 28th, 201026:25 minutes (12.09 MB)
Sermon text: 2 Kings 25:8-21
In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel shares a vision that he had where God set him in a valley full of dry bones. And as Ezekiel is standing in this vast world of deadness, God asks him, “can these bones live?’
“Can these bones live?”
There are times in life when we stand in the despair of our lives with our hopes and dreams mocked and destroyed and dead dry around us. And life has been sucked from our very existence. The air feels stale and we are cold not only to ourselves but others as well.
Wise or Foolish - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 7th, 201030:10 minutes (13.82 MB)

Sermon text:
This morning we are going to look at the book of Proverbs and particularly 4 proverbs scattered out amongst Chapters 16, 17, and 18, which were our E100 reading this past Friday.
I love the book of Proverbs and prefer to refer to it as the Fortune Cookie Book.
The book of Proverbs has been traditionally attributed to Solomon, who as we read earlier in the E100 (1 Kings 3) is the son of David and the man that was told by God that he could have anything he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom or a “discerning heart to govern [God’s] people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” Most scholars don’t think it is likely that Solomon wrote the entire book, but he definitely at least wrote part of it and may have had a lot to do with most of it.
I call the book of Proverbs the Fortune Cookie Book because it is really just a bunch of short sayings that may or may not be connected to the others around them. But although they may not be connected to the other Proverbs around them, they are all tied together as a whole with a united purpose.
The Proverbs cite both positive and negative rules of life. They clarify right and wrong conduct in a whole host of different situations. But their ultimate aim is to apply the principles of Israel’s covenant faith to everyday attitudes, activities, and relationships.
I Dare You - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 21st, 201034:34 minutes (15.83 MB)
Sermon text: Matthew 4:1-11
One of the great discussions of Christian history has always been the question of how Jesus could be both fully human and fully God. And we have always believed that in order for Jesus’ death and resurrection to be of affect that it must have been fully God that did it. But also that for us to believe that death was truly defeated on our behalf, through our means, that Jesus must have been fully human.
This morning we read a wonderful passage that fits right on the line of Jesus full humanity and full divinity. In this passage we see a man that we can fully relate to in temptation and a man that we strive to be like in his perfect overcoming of it.
In Hebrews 4:15, Paul says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.”
The Lost - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 28th, 201035:20 minutes (16.18 MB)

Sermon text: Luke 15:1-32
This past week I had a chance to go work on a farm in rural northern Indiana. I received a grant this year to spend one day a month at a farm in North Manchester, Indiana. In the morning, myself and 5 other pastors work on the farm feeding livestock, planting crops and various other farm-related tasks. Then we eat a lunch prepared from ingredients off of the farm. In the afternoon we sit around a table and discuss theology. It has been great.
I went this past week on Thursday and one of the first jobs I had in the morning was pulling fresh eggs from the hen coop. The whole day it was rainy and cold. And as we were feeding the chickens, there was this one chicken sitting outside the coop sop and wet and covered with scratches and just looking awful.
All chicken flocks have a well-defined pecking order. It's their way of preventing mayhem. The lucky chicken at the top of the pecking order basically gets to push everyone around. She gets first access to food, water, prime roosting spots and so on. If she doesn't like what anyone else is doing she has full pecking rights. She gets to tell any other chicken to bug off. The poor chicken at the bottom of the pecking order is in the exact opposite situation: everyone in the flock can peck her, and she has last rights to food and other resources. The other chickens in a flock fall somewhere between these two extremes. The #2 chicken can only be bullied by the #1 chicken and can bully everyone else in turn, and so on and so on. This pecking order is established at a very early age and usually remains unchallenged until death.
Raising Lazarus From the Dead - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 4th, 201026:51 minutes (12.29 MB)
Sermon text: John 11:1-57
Do you believe this? A man is dead. He is put into a tomb, wrapped in burial cloths, and his body is beginning to decay. His family is mourning his death and Jesus comes along . . . tells the guy to get up and come out of the tomb and he does. Do you believe this?
I have seen people die. There is a clear line between life and death. Skin color changes. So the does skin texture. The body loses its warmth. Muscles become rigid. In death, life is gone. It dissipates slowly until it is gone. And we understand that this is final. No one comes back from it.
In our passage from John 11 this morning, the family of Lazarus knew that Lazarus was very sick and near death and they got a hold of Jesus and asked if he could come and heal Lazarus. They believed that Jesus could heal him. They had seen and heard about Jesus approaching sick people and transforming them by the power of God and making them well.
Power - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 11th, 201033:52 minutes (15.51 MB)
Sermon text: Acts 11:1-11
Introduction:
WSJ Article about Extreme Home Makeover foreclosures
Tiger Woods
Countless Politicians
Movie stars with drug addiction and suicide
Recently I pulled out my cordless drill to do some projects in our backyard. I put the battery in the drill and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. I put the other battery in the drill, but again nothing happened. I then charged the batteries overnight again, put them in the drill, but again nothing happened.
There is not much you can do with a cordless drill without any power. I can use it like a screwdriver, but that is not very effective. A drill needs a power source to function the way that it is designed to function.
Christians need a power source to function the way we were designed to function as well. All humans have life in us, but then there is a more significant power source for those in relationship with God.
Good News For All - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 18th, 201031:44 minutes (14.53 MB)
I like to people watch. And often as I sit in some public place and just watch people I like to ask myself what Christianity has to offer various people.
So I see a guy sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. He looks pretty worn. His pants have holes in them and he is holding a brown bag with a bottle in it. Some kids walk by him and they stare, but they don’t make eye contact. Then they laugh with each other after they have passed.
Or I see a couple sitting together having dinner and by all estimates they look happy, they have nice clothes, their kids are cute and not screaming more than would be expected. I watch as they go outside and get into their nice vehicle and drive away content.
Or the other day in the bank while I was waiting to speak with someone I watched a middle-aged man in a nice suit talk with other employees of the bank. He was confident and firm, yet still kind and easy to listen to.
Kick Against the Goads - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 25th, 201033:45 minutes (15.45 MB)
Sermon text: Acts 26:9-18
Our passage this morning is about Paul and particularly what happened to him when he was arrested for preaching about the resurrection of Jesus and that Jesus was the Messiah that the Jewish people had been waiting for.
Paul has really upset the Jewish authorities of his day and they are doing whatever they can do to stop him from talking about Jesus. In Acts 21 a mob of people attempted to lynch Paul. They were responding to suggestions that Paul was attacking the fundamental symbols of Jewish national solidarity, the people, the law and the temple. One follower of Christ, Stephen, has already been stoned to death in Acts 7 . . . and Paul is now being treated the same way.
The mob is particularly upset that Paul may have brought Gentiles (non-Jews) into the temple, thereby making it unclean according to their laws. They were looking for reasons to accuse him because they did not like a lot he was saying. In Acts 21, it says that some Jews had seen had seen Paul hanging out with a guy named Trophimus and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. And for the Jews, the temple rules were a big deal and there were certain parts of the temple that only Jews were to have access to.
The Idol of Safety - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 9th, 201030:45 minutes (14.1 MB)

Sermon text: I Thessalonians 5:1-11
This morning we are going to take a look at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We will look at the beginning of chapter 5, which is primarily about the end of the world, particularly when Jesus will return again.
In the Bible we have two of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. They are written to a predominantly Gentile church of new converts. Part of the purpose of 1 Thessalonians is to comfort and motivate the believers there with the truth of the Lord's sure return. So the primary issue that Paul emphasis throughout is that of the second coming of Christ.
The city of Thessaloniki still exists today. In fact it is one of the few cities from the New Testament times that still exists. Thessalonica was a very important city in biblical times. Its main street was a part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. Trade poured into the city from east and west. It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was established there, it was bound to spread east along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered, and west until it stormed even the city of Rome.
How Do We Know It's God? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 16th, 201034:53 minutes (16 MB)
Sermon text: I John 4:1-6
I believe one of the most difficult aspects of our Christian journeys is determining the difference between things of God and things of the world. When I have a decision to make in my life, how do I determine what God wants me to do? Better said perhaps, how do I know which voice in my head to listen to. (you all hear voices too, right?) How do I know which person amongst my friends to trust and believe have the best advice in a given situation? And as you will see in our passage this morning, John describes this as discerning between the spirits. And John urges us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
Let’s go ahead and read this passage. Read 1 John 4:1-6.
From Perfection to Perfection - Revelation 21:1-8
Recorded on Sunday, May 23rd, 201038:35 minutes (17.67 MB)
Sermon text: Revelation 21:1-8
This is our final Sunday in the E100 and next week we will be beginning a new sermon series from the book of Galatians. You are probably familiar with the “fruit of the spirit” in Galatians 5. There is a whole list of wonderful characteristics that the Holy Spirit enables Jesus followers to have. But that is not what our sermon series is going to be on. Immediately before all those good things there is a list of 12 things that Paul calls, “the acts of the sinful nature.” This is what our next sermon series is going to be on. Those particular sins that are difficult for us to overcome.
And I want to give you a heads up because the first sin on this list is “sexual immorality.” Next week we are going to be talking about sexual immorality and some parts of the sermon might not be appropriate for your kids depending on their age. I am going to call the sermon PG-13. We are going to talk about sex frankly, so if you think that might not be appropriate for your kids and they are usually in the service with you . . . then please plan to have them downstairs for Children's Church. If you are unsure or have other questions, please feel free to talk to me.
Repetitive, Loveless, Cheap Sex - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 30th, 201041:24 minutes (18.96 MB)
Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
It has been an interesting week after people have heard the sermon topic for this week. There have been some questions and someone last week asked if there were going to be any pictures.
One of our goals at Riverside is to be real and authentic with each other and that also means that we want to be real and authentic with the Bible. This morning we begin a summer sermon series on a passage in Galatians 5 that lists 12 “acts of the sinful nature.”
Stinking Accumulation of Mental & Emotional Garbage - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 6th, 201036:09 minutes (16.55 MB)

Sermon text: Ephesians 4:17-24
This week we arrive at a sin in Galatians 5 that is translated in several different ways. The original Greek word is “aselgeia.” The King James Version uses the word, “lasciviousness.” Then that gets defined as “filthy or wantonness.” We get other uses too. Our NIV translation uses “debauchery.” The same Greek word is then translated “sensuality” in the passage in Ephesians we are going to examine this morning. Then Eugene Peterson's Message takes the meaning of the word further by calling it a “stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage.” That is definitely a stretch from the literal meaning of the word, but it does get at the heart of it. I perhaps most prefer translating the term “outrageousness.”
Now just to be clear, there is clearly a sexual nature to this sin carried out in the outrageous nature of sexuality gone wrong. We talked about this last week when we discussed sexual immorality, but this outrageousness does not just take sexual forms in our hearts and minds. As Peterson's translation makes evident, it also includes a whole host of other mental and emotional garbage.
This morning then I want us to look at a passage from Ephesians 4 that I think illustrates the effect and pervasiveness of this sin. I want to call our problem foolish thinking and shallow emotions. Let's begin though by looking at God's word on this.
Hate - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 20th, 201038:46 minutes (17.75 MB)
Sermon text: James 4:1-20
I heard a story this week. During one of our wars a military unit hired a local boy to cook and clean for them. Being a bunch of jokesters and not liking the boy much, they quickly took advantage of the boy’s seeming naiveté. They smeared Vaseline on the stove handles so it would get all over his hands. They put buckets of water over the door so he’d get soaked when he opened it. They even nailed his shoes to the floor during the night. Day after day the young boy took the brunt of their practical jokes without saying anything. Finally the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they met with him and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny for you, and we’re sorry. We’re never going to take advantage of you again.”
The boy smiled and then asked, “No more sticky stuff on stove?” The guys responded, “Nope.” “No more water on the door?” They answered, “No more water on the door.” “No more nailing shoes to floor?” “Nope, we’ll stop that, too.” “Okay” the boy said with a wide grin, “I won’t spit in your soup anymore.”
Galatians 5 lists “hatred” as the next sin on the list.
The word “hate” just has an edge to it. It points to a deep deep disgust with something that gets out heart pumping and our emotions boiling.
There is a physical response to anger and hate. At the same time your heart rate accelerates, your blood pressure rises, and your rate of breathing increases. Your face may flush as increased blood flow enters your limbs and extremities in preparation for physical action. Your attention narrows and becomes locked onto the target of your anger. Soon you can pay attention to nothing else. In quick succession, additional brain neurotransmitters and hormones are released which trigger a lasting state of arousal. You're now ready to fight.
The word “hate” appears in the Bible quite a lot and in a bunch of different ways. So it is really quite an adventure figuring out not only what “hate” is, but what we are to do with it.
Sometimes “hate” is really just preferential. For instance, Jesus says that we are to hate our mother and father, but what he means is that our love for God is to be so great that it is as if we hate our mother and father. He does not literally mean that we are to have deep disgust for our parents.
Most of the time the word “hate” is used to refer to how people feel about God or God’s followers. And then also as how we are to treat bad things like evil, wickedness or idol worship. We are to hate these things or have deep disgust for them.
The passage we are going to focus on regarding hatred this morning comes from the book of James. James 4:1-12.
So let's just begin by reading this passage.
Read James 4:1-12.
Discord - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 27th, 201032:20 minutes (14.8 MB)
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Unity is one of the recurring themes of the Bible. But the Bible and our lives are also jammed packed full of disunity. And this is the way that the Bible works. The Bible paints a picture of how we are supposed to live . . . what we were created to do and be. Our lives then are movements towards that ideal.
True unity and the avoidance of divisions seems like such an impossible ideal for us as humans in relationship with one another, though. It is hard enough for Dana and me to agree on a place to eat sometimes . . . so when the Bible calls us to perfect unity, that can seem a little crazy and impossible.
The passage we are going to examine this morning comes from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. The sin from Galatians 5 that we are looking at is “discord.” Some translations have “contention” or “strife.” But the basic problem is that humans sinfully struggle to get along, even in the church.
Let’s begin by reading this passage. Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.
Fits of Rage - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 11th, 201026:39 minutes (12.2 MB)
Sermon text: Mark 3: 1-6
Download Sermon: pdf / doc
Last night was playing around with my sermon on our laptop and I had just added a few thoughts that I thought might be helpful. I reached over for my glass of water and somehow I hit my wrist on the power button of the computer and off it went. Awesome. I had not saved my notes since I added the new stuff, so I waited for the computer to reboot to see if the content was there and sure enough it was gone.
So today’s sermon is about anger.
I know that not everyone here this morning is a sports fan, but this week has been really wild in terms of NBA basketball. One of the best players in the league, Lebron James, recently became a free agent and entered into potential negotiations with several NBA teams. There has been a ton of speculation about his decision and which choice he would make. He has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers his entire career, but decided on Thursday via primetime hour special on ESPN that he is now going to play for the Miami Heat with a couple of his friends. The media hype and the 1 hour decision special was a little over the top, but what has really made this a spectacle is the reaction to Lebron James’ decision.
The anger has been amazing, especially from people in Cleveland that believe that James has betrayed them. There are photos of people weeping and screaming at their televisions. There are photos of people burning Lebron James jerseys. And then I could not help but be a little shocked when I saw the anger of the Cleveland Cavaliers owner in an open letter that he wrote to Cleveland Cavalier fans and posted on the team’s website. See if you can sense a tone to this letter:
Selfish Ambition - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 18th, 201030:40 minutes (14.04 MB)
Phillippians 2:1-13
Dissensions - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 25th, 201030:46 minutes (14.09 MB)

Sermon text: Romans 16:17-20
Download Sermon Text: pdf / doc
Download Sermon Visual Resources: pdf / ppt
Wow! What a busy week. Friday was a real pain because I got stranded in London. You probably saw the email . . . Thanks for all your help via Western Union.
Let me give you a real quick update on where we are at in this series. We have been going through the various “acts of the sinful nature” in Galatians 5. We only have a few weeks left. This Sunday we are talking about “dissensions” . . . next week Todd will be giving the sermon on “factions,” then I will be doing “addictions” on the 8th, then on the 15th Dave Timmerman will finish the series with a sermon I know you have all been waiting for on “orgies.”
I was having lunch with someone from Riverside this week and we were talking about the sermon series and the Timmerman's last Sunday, which is the 15th. And the waitress was listening to us. I said that Dave was giving the sermon on the 15th, but that I had not pointed out yet to him what the last sin in the “acts of the sinful nature” was. When I said “orgies,” the waitress’s eyes got really big. Then I told her that she should come and check it out. I am not sure, but I think she may have went into the back of the restaurant and called the police.
I am not sure if Dave will call the sermon, “orgies.” In all seriousness, though the word is translated as “orgies” in the NIV and probably includes what immediately comes to mind, but it also includes all forms of disfunctional, abusive and perverted community. That, I imagine is what Dave will focus on.
This week we are discussing dissensions in the Christian community.
Lose the Weight - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 8th, 201034:55 minutes (15.99 MB)
Sermon Text: Luke 21:25-38
Surrender - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 22nd, 201035:26 minutes (16.23 MB)
Sermon text: Romans 12:1-2 and Mark 8:34-38
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Link to Drama Video
This morning we are going to begin a series of sermons on transformation. Transformation or change is a fundamental element of the Christian life. The phrase, “I will never change” has no place in the life of a Christian. We cannot be faithful people if we do not constantly change.
There are two fundamental changes that should occur in the Christian life. The first is the moment that we change our lives from being self-directed to directed by God. We step over the line and admit that we are sinful and in need of a savior.
The next level of change, however, is not so clear. It is the continual churning of our souls by which we constantly change into people that are more Christ-like. It is a churning in the sense that as we see a clearer picture of Jesus, we recognize how far from that picture we are and how much in need of transformation we really are.
Those Rocks Are Not for Skippin - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 29th, 201036:39 minutes (16.78 MB)
Sermon text: 1 Samuel 17:1-51
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It is always a humbling task to give a sermon on a story that everyone has heard so many times. Even non-Christians and the average person in our world – if we were to ask about Bible stories that they know would name this story of a small shepherd boy, David and the enormous giant of a man, Goliath.
What is it about this story that so captivates us as people and draws us in? It is not exactly a pleasant story. Goliath gets his head cut off at the end . . . it is about war, but we love the story because it is about an underdog that prevails.
It is the same reason that we got really excited about Butler in the NCAA basketball tournament earlier this year. It was reported that Duke spends $394,068 per player on their basketball roster. Butler spends $347,108 on the entire team. Duke’s coach had 76 NCAA tournament victories. Butler’s coach was mistaken for a player buy Lucas Oil Stadium security before the championship game. Duke had 6 McDonald’s All-Americans and Butler had a bunch of guys from Indiana.
The story line was fantastic and anyone that did not have pre-existing loyalties rooted for Butler because we like underdogs. And we like underdogs because there is a part of us all that believe we are underdogs at something. Perhaps no one thought we would amount to much. Maybe we are from a small town or didn’t do well in school. Maybe we have had a lot of tragedy in our life. For whatever reason when we hear stories of underdogs prevailing, it gives us hope that we can too.
Circumcised Heart - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 5th, 201037:45 minutes (17.28 MB)
Sermon text: Acts 9:1-9
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This morning we are going to talk about one of the most radical and perhaps important transformations in the history of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the conversion of Paul to Christianity. Paul wrote 13 of the 27 books that we have in our New Testament. Paul was God’s chief instrument in delivering the story of Jesus Christ to the non-Jewish world. He went all over telling people about Jesus. Much of what we know about the early church and what they believed came from Paul's understanding of Jesus and the events surrounding his life, death and resurrection.
Inside Out - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 12th, 201037:23 minutes (17.11 MB)
Sermon text: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
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This morning we are going to continue our theme of change. We have been talking about several different aspects of change. This morning we are going to look at the passage that the closing blessings I have been using comes from. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old is gone, the new is here.”
This morning we are simply going to march through this passage and talk about what Paul is doing with it. So let's read it. Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.
Be - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 19th, 201037:58 minutes (17.38 MB)
Sermon Text: Romans 12: 9021
I. Read Romans 12:9-21
II. Wrapping up sermon series on change and transformation
Does Prayer Make a Difference? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 26th, 201031:12 minutes (14.29 MB)
Sermon Text: Matthew 11:25-30
In theory prayer is essential to the Christian life, as we have talked about, it is one of the first things that we would tell a new believer that they ought to do, but for most of us it is not very satisfying. It is probably a chore, or a routine, or a ritual, or something you have to do before a meal because it looks good to your guests or will magically transform your kids into good kids or makes you feel more Christian.
But in practice, it is empty. We use the same phrases over and over again and it seems more rote than relationship.
Does Prayer Make a Difference? - The Mystery of Prayer - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 3rd, 201034:33 minutes (15.82 MB)
Sermon Text: Philippians 4:4-7
Does Prayer Make a Difference? - What to Say - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 10th, 201043:44 minutes (20.03 MB)
Sermon Text:
- Paslm 22: 1, 2, 6-8, 12-18
- Psalm 23: 1-6
Listen to a previous Sermon here for more details on ACTS prayer technique.
I Prayed for Sun, You Prayed for Rain - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 17th, 201043:04 minutes (19.72 MB)
Sermon Text
Mark 14:32-42
What Did You Say? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 24th, 201040:58 minutes (18.76 MB)
Sermon Text: John 14:15-21
We have now spent 4 weeks talking about prayer and whether it makes a difference and we have spent a fair amount of time discussing the mystery of prayer and how it is often difficult for us to understand what is happening in prayer. We have talked about unanswered prayer and healing and lots and lots of aspects of prayer that hopefully make it less confusing. This morning I want to end our series by discussing what I believe to be the simplest and most important aspect of prayer . . . yet the most difficult for us to do.
What is Truth? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 31st, 201033:41 minutes (15.42 MB)
Sermon Text: John 8:31-41
What Do You Keep? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 7th, 201043:58 minutes (20.13 MB)
Sermon text: Deuteronomy 8:6-20.
This morning we are going to talk about one of the big 3 discussion no-no’s. Sex, politics, and money. Earlier this year we talked about sex. And you have gotten plenty of politics since we just finished an election season. So that leaves money.
We hate to talk about money. It makes a queasy and uncomfortable. This morning I want to make it worse. I don’t want to manufacture false guilt, but holy unrest.
Let me start off by saying that I realize when God calls us to share our resources that we are talking about more than just our money, but God is talking about our money too. And He talks regularly about our money and what we ought to be doing with it. So no matter how much we want to push biblical language about sharing our resources into just talking about our time or our talents or some other aspect of our lives . . . we cannot ignore God’s very clear mandate to be stewards of our money.
One very clear reason why is that Jesus talks about only one thing more than money and that is the Kingdom of God . . . of all the things Jesus discusses, money is #2. He talked about it a ton! And he offered a lot of warnings.
Listen to just some of what Jesus says. “Woe to you that are rich” (Luke 6:24). “You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13). “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matt 6:19). “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness” (Luke 12:15). “Sell your possessions, and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33). “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (Luke 6:30).
Jesus does not hold back.
God Must Be Lazy - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 14th, 201035:01 minutes (16.03 MB)
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Scared to Death - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 21st, 201034:34 minutes (15.83 MB)
Psalm 46
Babies and Cobras - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 5th, 201031:15 minutes (14.31 MB)
Sermon Text: Isaiah 11:1-10
From Holey to Holy - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 12th, 201038:56 minutes (17.82 MB)
Sermon Text: Isaiah 35:1-10
Do What? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 19th, 201039:53 minutes (18.26 MB)
Sermon Text: Matthew 1:18-25
How We Fall - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 9th, 201137:02 minutes (16.96 MB)
Genesis 3:1-13
Get a Hammer - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 23rd, 201136:42 minutes (16.81 MB)
Genesis 6:9-22
Look At All The Pretty Colors - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 30th, 201130:48 minutes (14.11 MB)
Genesis 9:8-17
Where Did You Come From? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 13th, 201139:26 minutes (18.06 MB)
Sermon Text: Genesis 28:10-22
Video from Sermon
Surprise - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, February 20th, 201137:30 minutes (17.17 MB)
Sermon Text: Genesis 29:15-28
Forgiveness - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 6th, 201137:49 minutes (17.32 MB)
Genesis 50:15-21
Small Church - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 13th, 201135:11 minutes (16.11 MB)
Hebrews 10:19-25
Can I Have Some Privacy, Please! - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, March 20th, 201136:08 minutes (16.55 MB)
James 5:13-20
Sinful Reflexes - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 10th, 201141:21 minutes (18.93 MB)
Sermon Text: Luke 22:54-62
Does It Make a Difference? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, April 24th, 201139:42 minutes (18.18 MB)
Sermon Text: Luke 24:1-12
Preach It, Peter! - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 22nd, 201145:21 minutes (31.15 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 2:14-41
Sharing Oneness - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, May 29th, 201139:03 minutes (17.88 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 2:42-47
I'm Not Stubborn - My Way Is Just Better - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 12th, 201150:37 minutes (23.17 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 4:1-31
Seriously, Where Are the Other M&M's? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, June 19th, 201132:33 minutes (14.9 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 4:32-5:11
Loving the Unrepentant - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 10th, 201142:26 minutes (19.43 MB)
Acts 7:54-60
Lend Them Your Glasses - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, July 24th, 201146:46 minutes (18.74 MB)
Acts 8:26-40
"Christ-ians" - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 7th, 201123:26 minutes (16.09 MB)
Acts 11:19-30
Jailbreak - Escaping Self-Reliance - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 21st, 201143:06 minutes (29.59 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 12:1-19
gods are dead - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, August 28th, 201132:56 minutes (22.61 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 14:8-20

Batmanning - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 18th, 201139:42 minutes (18.17 MB)
Acts 17:1-15
Cultural Archeology - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, September 25th, 201122:57 minutes (15.76 MB)
Acts 17:16-34
Green Power - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 2nd, 201130:15 minutes (20.78 MB)
Acts 19:23-41
Slave to Everyone - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 9th, 201142:49 minutes (24.5 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 21:17-36

We Are Living Acts 987:13-35 - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, October 30th, 201136:17 minutes (20.77 MB)
Sermon Text: Acts 27-28

Mission of Riverside - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 6th, 20118:18 minutes (7.8 MB)
Message recorded during the worship service at our 10th Anniversary Celebration.
Frantic Despair - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 13th, 201140:17 minutes (16.14 MB)
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I'm In A Hurry - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 20th, 201141:50 minutes (19.15 MB)
Jeremiah 2:23-28
Stop, Celebrate & Listen - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, November 27th, 201140:18 minutes (18.45 MB)
Psalm 27:13-14; Psalm 130:5-6
Time Hoarding - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 4th, 201131:51 minutes (14.58 MB)
Sermon Text: Luke 12:16-21
Life By Number - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 11th, 201141:18 minutes (18.91 MB)
Sermon Text: Psalm 90:12-17
Whose Time is It? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, December 18th, 201126:39 minutes (12.2 MB)
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Blue Christmas Service - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Wednesday, December 21st, 201112:44 minutes (5.83 MB)
Sermon Text: Luke 2
King - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Saturday, December 24th, 201120:27 minutes (9.37 MB)
Sermon Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Am I Saved? - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 8th, 201236:49 minutes (16.85 MB)
1 John 5:1-21
God Wants You To Die - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 15th, 201251:03 minutes (23.37 MB)
Sermon Text: John 12:20-28
God's Breath - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 22nd, 201237:30 minutes (17.17 MB)
Sermon Text: Romans 8:5-17
Share Your Sin - Dan Teefey
Recorded on Sunday, January 29th, 201235:05 minutes (16.07 MB)
1 John 1:5-10


