Dear RiverTown Friends,

Why would the first Sunday of the year be the best Sunday? Simply put, when I worship first I worship best!

This Sunday starts a brand new sermon series from the book of Nehemiah entitled “HOME.” Nehemiah had a huge heart for the city of Jerusalem. It was his ancestral home. When he found out that it was in great physical and spiritual distress, he did three things. He sat down to weep, knelt down to pray, and stood up to act!

Our Jerusalem is Columbus and the surrounding areas that make up our RIVERTOWN. Come this Sunday and learn how you can be a Nehemiah for your City!

All for Jesus,

Pastor David Rathel

Building Makeover Update:
Our first financial goal of 40K for our Building Makeover fund was reached on Christmas Eve. Praise God! If you gave to this effort, then I know you feel so good to be part of this great success. We will now be able to sign the building contract and begin phase one of construction and repairs.  This will encompass the building of a beautiful and strong new wall on the front of our worship center.  

Our next goal is 60K. Twenty more thousand is needed to finish remodeling the foyer, bathrooms, kitchen, nurseries and create a hallway path through building to the Children and student buildings.

RiverTown Building Makeover “BIG REVEAL”  Sunday, November 23

Dear RiverTown Friends And Family,

There has been a lot of excitement building lately about the “Big Reveal” this Sunday Morning! God gave us a blessing in the form of a wall in our worship center that was damaged and needed replacing. Out of this came a lot of prayer and a desire to re-focus our hearts and minds on the only reason for His church to exist – to REVEAL CHRIST!

The focus of these plans have been to lift up the CROSS of JESUS in our city, to access the power of PRAYER, and to open up a greater DOOR to the Gospel. Starting this Sunday, you’ll be able to see our plans for how all three of these priorities will be built into our facilities makeover.  

Our hope is that this BUILDING REVEAL is a CHRIST REVEAL!

We are already more than half of the way to our end of year financial goal to make this new vision possible. An incredibly generous donor has offered to MATCH the next $5,000 given. If you prayerfully decide to give now, your donation will effectively be doubled!  That will bring us all the way to $35,000.  

It has been inspiring to see how God has moved on the hearts of His people to give, even out of their need, because they have a personal stake in His Church.  Maybe this Sunday we’ll make it all the way to our first goal of $40,000.

All for Jesus,

Pastor David Rathel

Our Performance Or Christ’s Pleasure?

Dear RiverTown Family,

My heart was stirred this week with a message from Christ.  He first pointed it at me!  My pure-hearted service for Christ’s pleasure can easily turn into something ugly and strange if I begin to focus instead on my performance for other people.  This happens when my selfish nature draws my attention to what I’m receiving from people when I should be only thinking about God’s purposes.  It’s wrong.  Plain and simple!  The message this week is entitled Why We Serve!

I’ve found that this sickness of serve-us through service is a common ailment.  I’ll share all the symptoms on Sunday but suffice it to say that they all revolve around getting instead of giving.  This is a perfect message for the series Hands and Feet because we all need to make sure our motives are pure.

I praise God that almost 50 people are traveling to serve this week on our second summer mission trip to Century, Florida.  We are all leaving this Sunday after the 11am worship service.  Please pray for us as we attempt to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus in this impoverished town.  This is a tremendous opportunity to grow as a disciple of Christ through lasting and loving service and evangelism.  Please pray that we will lead many to the feet of Jesus and that they will accept Him as Savior.

Please don’t forget to come during the week next week on Wednesday night at 7pm.  Ken Heald was a long term pastor in our community before joining RiverTown.  He will be leading our Church family in a worshipful Lord’s Supper service in Columbus.  At the same, I will be leading our mission team in the same service on the beach near our mission point in Florida.

I want to thank you again for the opportunity to be your Pastor.  I am missing many of you who are traveling throughout the summer.  Don’t miss the chance to view RiverTown’s Sunday Services on my YouTube Channel.  You can also Tithe Online through our paypal account so that our ministry stays fully funded.  The blessings of complete obedience are immeasurable!

All For Jesus,

Pastor David Rathel

Last Sunday’s Message:

When Church Becomes Family!

This week at RiverTown’s LIVING INSIDE OUT Vacation Bible School I bent down and picked up a little girl I thought I knew.  Her name is Sophia!  This time she was different.  I see her and her family often and I knew that she was growing up, but she surprised me!  I didn’t really have words for what I felt.  You might know the feeling.

I thought she was smaller.  I thought she was lighter.  I remembered her younger and more of a toddler than a talkative little girl.  She could clearly tell me and her mom all about her day and the fun she was having at VBS.  I’ve not been able to get that moment out of my head.

Here’s why.  I love being a Pastor!  I love really getting to know families and keeping up with them.  I love seeing people grow. Their prayers, needs, and victories, all mean so much to me.  The love I felt in that moment for Sophia just represents the kind of Godly love that is the power of a Church family.

Sophia’s growth as a little girl reminded me that my favorite thing about God’s Church is seeing people grow up in their relationship with Christ and with each other.

CHURCH BECOMES FAMILY simply by showing up, growing in Christ, and loving each other.

This Sunday morning you’ll get a taste of that family feeling that only a child like Sophia can give.  RiverTown’s Sunday Morning Family Experience will take the best of our VBS week and put it on display with new songs from our worship band, children’s songs and skits, as well as teaching for adults in a fun and interactive environment.

Before Sunday rolls around this week you’ll have a chance to connect and serve together with your family and the RiverTown family this Saturday at THE BIG SERVE!

BIG SERVE Opportunities:

10AM – Nursing Home – RiverTowne Center on Schomburg Rd.

Address: 5131 Warm Springs Rd, Columbus, GA 31909

Phone:(706) 332-2305  Penny Carter, POC

11AM – Homeless Ministry – Highland Community Church.

Address: 3400 5th Ave, Columbus, GA 31904

Phone:(706) 330-4297  Ryan Ratliff, POC

2PM – Block Party In The Projects – Wilson Apartments off South Veterans Parkway.

Address: 107 Clinton Place,  Columbus, GA

Phone:(706) 269-2634  Renee Johnson, POC

Show Up At One, Two, or All of the BIG SERVE Locations On Saturday.  No childcare necessary.  All of these opportunities are kid friendly environments.  

ALL FOR JESUS,

Pastor David Rathel

Gambling With Jesus?  Sunday, June 22

Dear RiverTown Family,

As many of you know I had surgery on my foot a few weeks ago and have been kept from speaking for the last two Sundays.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  Royce and Matt both did incredible jobs introducing our Summer Message Series – His Hands And Feet!

You can imagine how impassioned I am to open God’s word this Sunday with you!  In Fact, this particular message has been on my mind for a long time and is coming up at just the perfect time.  It’s called – THE GREAT GAMBLE!

Jesus is NOT a gamble!  But, without a doubt, at crucial points in following Him there are moments when taking the next step of faith feels like risking the hard earned treasure of our lives on the chance that faith becomes sight!

When it comes to actually becoming a daily servant of Jesus according to His plan to sacrifice our own will and way of doing things, then the risk really becomes real!

This Sunday, we’ll see how Jesus chose the towel and basin of service to wash His followers’ feet and invited them to do the same.

This is also the last Sunday morning to sign up for our 2014 VBS LIVING INSIDE OUT and our huge yearly community missions day THE BIG SERVE next Saturday – June 28th.   This year we are also introducing our first adult VBS parents forum.  I’m really looking forward to it!

My prayer for all of us is that this Summer we will become big hearted servants who are willing to “take up the towel” and serve as Jesus did.

With prayers for a summer souls being served in Jesus Name!

Pastor David

P.S. Our BIG SERVE Opportunities:

10AM – Nursing Home – RiverTowne Center on Schomburg Rd.

11AM – Homeless Ministry – Highland Community Church.

2PM – Block Party In The Projects – Wilson Apartments off South Veterans Parkway.

Dear RiverTown Family,  

It’s Saturday night and I’m thinking about you.  It’s always fun for me on Saturday night as I begin getting my faith up in excitement for Sunday morning.  The message tomorrow morning will be a continuation of last week’s message “Praying For Reign.”  It will be my finale Sunday Morning message in the HEAVEN Series and will be all about how Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer as Earthy Training for Heavenly Reigning. Our HomeTeams will continue studying and learning all the details God gave us in His Word about Heaven through the middle of June.  I’m praying for you tonight and I have my faith up for you.  

I love you church family.  I miss each of you when you are not with us. God is seeking you and wants to give you his very best.  I believe in you and your family. I know that the Father in Heaven wants to be in your presence in and wants you to be in His in worship tomorrow morning.  

All For Jesus, 

Pastor David Rathel

Check Out The Message Outline And Below The YouTube Video From Last Sunday:

[divider]

PRAYING FOR REIGN, Week 6 – HEAVEN SERIES!  6.1.14

GOD WANTS TO REIGN IN ME, BUT HE ALSO WANTS TO REIGN THROUGH ME.

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.  Romans 5:17

THE LORD’S PRAYER IS EARTHLY TRAINING FOR HEAVENLY REIGNING.  Matthew 6 (NASB)

9Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

10‘Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

11‘Give us this day our daily bread.

12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

[divider]

Check Out Last Week’s Message.  Part 1 of “Praying For Reign”

“MY MAMA ALWAYS TOLD ME!” – Mothers Day, 2014

There are so many things that a faithful mother says to her Children to keep them safe and prepare them for a blessed life:

“Wash your hands before dinner”

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!”

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get!”

“Just in case you get in an accident never forget to put on clean underwear!”

Well, maybe you never had to hear that last one…  But, I’d bet there’s something your mom made sure that you’d never forget.  Along with some of the ones above, my mom had one that always stuck with me and gave me direction.

She would always tell me: “Remember Who You Are, David, Remember Who You Are!”

She could tell me to remember who I was when I got off track because she was the one who taught me who I was from the beginning.  She was then and is now a dynamic woman of God!  She taught me that I was a Son of my Father in Heaven, that she had dedicated me to Him, and that I had a calling on my life.  For that lesson and so much more I could never thank her enough.  I’m sure most of you know the feeling.  Words or actions could never be enough to even begin to describe our gratitude on Mothers Day!

This Sunday at RiverTown we’re Honoring the God who gave us MOMS!  Our Family Minister Casey Valencia and I have joined forces to create a mothers day event with songs, video messages, illustrations, and demonstrations all about Moms!  We’re also celebrating some family milestones at RiverTown with Child Dedication and Baptism.  Casey will start off the message time with some new insights God has given her from His word and I will finish with a talk on Family Legacy.  I pray these truths will become part of your family’s life message for generations to come!  1 Corinthians 3:10-15 teaches us about building our foundation on Christ alone and this message titled “Playing For Keeps” from that passage will inspire us all to build a family legacy on the foundation of Christ Himself.

“My Legacy Is Measured By What I Do Today That Builds A Family Of Love For Tomorrow!”

I’m asking everyone to bring your mom and whole family with you for a day of worshiping the “God who gave us Family!”  They’ll never forget it!  And neither will you!

All For Jesus,

Pastor David Rathel

THE PRESENT HEAVEN

Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross:  “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43

What Does The Word Paradise Mean?

A grand enclosure or park, shady and well watered and it was enclosed by walls.  [from pairi- around + daeza wall]

Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.  Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land… We regard paradise as our native land.  – Cyprian

But What Will It Really be Like In The Paradise Of Present Heaven?

Revelation 6:9 – 11 (NASB)  “9And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;”

We Are Able To Express Ourselves And Be Heard By Others – “and they cried out with a loud voice”  Verse 10

We Are Aware Of Time – “Saying, ‘How long…?’”  Verse 10

We Have An Audience With God – “…O Lord, holy and true…”  Verse 10

We Have A Deep Concern For Justice – “…wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Verse 10

We Have Memories Healed Of Our Lives On Earth – “…and avenge our blood..” Verse 10

We Have Our Individuality – “And there was given to each of them a white robe;”  Verse 11

We Have Some Sort Of Physical Form – “…a white robe;”  Verse 11

We Rest In God’s Sovereign Plan – “and they were told that they should rest for a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.” Verse 11

What Does This Mean For Us Now?

“Soon you will read in the paper that I am dead.  Don’t believe it for a moment.  I will be more alive than ever before…. Earth recedes…. Heaven opens before me!”  – D.L. Moody, On His Deathbed

“Oh, God, this is the end; but for me it is the beginning.”  – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, just before his death at the hands of the Nazi’s

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”  –  Missionary, Jim Elliott, killed for the Gospel by south American Indians.

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.  2 Corinthians 5:11 (NLT)

YOUTUBE from Last Sunday: