On Monday, January 21, 2025, our nation, and the world, witnessed the peaceful transfer of power as President Trump took the oath of office. This week we’ve witnessed a flurry of political and governmental “shake-ups” that once again reveal the great rift of brokenness in our country. Throughout His Holy Word, GOD makes many “If/Then” declarations, none more renowned than 2nd Chronicles 7:14. Here GOD declares the path His people must walk if they want Him to intervene to bring healing in the la...
Feb 03, 2025•55 min
Our culture assigns the title “Religion” to groups of people that adhere to the same beliefs, most often derived from written “sacred scriptures”. The Holy Scriptures of two of the world’s “great religions” begin with the same declaration: “IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.” (Genesis 1:1) In both Judaism and Christianity, human life, is seen as different from every other form of life on this planet. It is highly valued because our Holy Scriptures inform us that, every singl...
Jan 26, 2025•50 min
Last year one of the many blessings GOD brought into my life was the introduction to a new scripture translation. It is entitled THE PASSION TRANSLATION. I have enjoyed both reading and listening to it. For the last two weeks, I have been meditating on Luke 10:17-20. Here is how the PASSION TRANSLATION reads: 17 When the seventy missionaries returned to Jesus, they were ecstatic with joy, telling him, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we commanded them in your name!” 18 Jesus replied, “While...
Jan 13, 2025•57 min
At the ripe age of 62 there are a lot of things that I remember. I remember playing outside until it was dark. My mom would call us in for dinner and we would beg to play another “kick-the-can” game until we had to come in for the night. I remember our only TV was a console TV with 3 channels and an antenna that was attached to our house. My job was to change the channel – the original remote control! We had one rotary dial phone but it had a cord that could stretch into 2 rooms. When our neighb...
Jan 07, 2025•45 min
Christmas Eve 2024 - full length service
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 14 min
In this message, we continue our Advent journey together and light the fourth Advent candle, the candle representing Love. Fortunately, this coincides with our study of Isaiah 9:6, as we turn our attention this Sunday to another name for JESUS, “EVERLASTING FATHER”! These two biblical truths intersect at JESUS! At first glance, it may seem a bit confusing to call GOD-the Son, the “Everlasting Father”. It feels like it somehow creates conflict in our understanding of the Three Persons of our Triu...
Dec 30, 2024•54 min
A baby changes everything...I am quite certain many parents would attest to this fact! I can recall many things that changed during the early days after having my own children. They certainly rocked my world in many wonderful ways and continue to do so each day! But the birth of Jesus, well, that was a baby that would change the world for all time! Now, the world would have you believe that Christmas is an ending. The gifts have been given...the celebrations have been had. It is time to move on....
Dec 29, 2024•55 min
I pray that like me, your 2024 Advent celebration is increasing your joy in our LORD, and raising your anticipation of HIS certain 2nd Coming. Just thinking about that washes the heaviness in my heart away and resets my mind to a place of great peace. I hope you’re having similar experiences. This Sunday, in our Christmas Teaching series entitled NO OTHER NAME, we look at the next name that Isaiah 9:6 says, JESUS shall be called. That name is MIGHTY GOD! Part of the “Good News for all people” th...
Dec 18, 2024•54 min
Names matter! Based on information gathered from the Social Security Administration, the “Top Baby Names for 2023” were: For Boys For Girls 1. Liam Olivia 2. Noah Emma 3. Oliver Charlotte Because names matter, I actually work hard at trying to remember names. I wish I were better at it. It is something for which I regularly ask GOD’s help. While names in our culture sometimes have some importance attached to them, names in the culture into which JESUS came were of utmost importance! In the Bible...
Dec 10, 2024•58 min
I love that our country devoted a “national holiday” to give thanks to GOD for HIS blessings on us. I pray that on the day of “Giving Thanks”, you were able to take a few moments to reflect on the goodness of GOD in your life and thank HIM for all that HE has done! If for nothing else, I pray you thanked HIM for sending HIS One and only SON, through whom we might have Eternal Life. If you didn’t, each of the next 27 days, between now and Christmas, will be an opportunity to do just that. As a ch...
Dec 05, 2024•52 min
I don’t know about you, but when I look at the culture around me, here in the country that I love, I don’t see very many people talking, or tweeting, or posting thankful thoughts. In fact, just the opposite seems to be true. About all I see and hear, is griping and grumbling. When JESUS walked among us, He called those who would follow Him to join Him in creating a new culture, the culture of the Kingdom of GOD among us! GOD’s Kingdom Culture is to be a “counter-culture” to the culture of this b...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 17 min
We are in a difficult season for many in our nation, and in our church. We’re still coming through an extremely contentious election season and entering a transition of leadership at the highest levels of government. We’re also entering the holiday season, which for many becomes a time of heavy-heartedness due to loss. All of this brings unique triggers for depression. Just the sheer brokenness of this world keeps some among us stuck in a state of depression. In this message, Pastor Joe Still lo...
Nov 19, 2024•53 min
Like many, I am grateful that this election season is almost in our rearview mirrors. While I would never diminish the importance of any election, and hold with conviction that participation is a high privilege and the significant responsibility of every citizen, not every election can be the “most consequential election of our lifetime”! All too often media personalities, political pundits, social media influencers, and the candidates themselves promote the narrative that “human existence hangs...
Nov 12, 2024•53 min
Every person has some desire to see their life, and the lives of people they love, flourish! GOD’s Word tells us that our lives will flourish as we are “planted in the House of the LORD” (see Psalm 92:12-13). In this message, Pastor Joe Still explores how to best be “planted in the HOUSE OF THE LORD”!
Oct 29, 2024•49 min
I remember having a conversation with a farmer about ripe fruit. The farmer told me that when you pick fruit that is not ripe, that it can be very difficult. He mentioned that you could hit the fruit with a baseball bat and not dislodge it from the tree. However, when the fruit is ripe you can just brush it with your fingertips and it will fall into your hand. Has someone brushed up against you this week? Have you been bumped into? If so, what kind of fruit did you display? This Sunday we will l...
Oct 23, 2024•40 min
I believe it was Theologian Dale Bruner who first called the HOLY SPIRIT, the “shy member of the Trinity,” because He doesn't like to draw attention on Himself and He is always gentle. While I have personally found those attributes to be true, the scriptures also point out that the HOLY SPIRIT desires to be very active in our lives, especially helping us guard our minds! In a day when our minds are bombarded with input from all directions, having the “filtering help” of the HOLY SPIRIT is essent...
Oct 16, 2024•56 min
GOD’ Word is replete with accounts of GOD’s people marking HIS goodness with great celebrations and construction of memorial markers! This message will be such a celebration and it will become part of our “Memorial Wall to GOD’s Goodness” in our main hallway. We have so much to celebrate - our 82nd anniversary of GOD planting our church, the provision of a new home and new name 22 years ago, and now the “Burning of our Mortgage” on this property, just to name a few! So you’ll definitely want to ...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 33 min
One of the realities of storms is they churn up insecurity when they blow into town. Our hearts and minds can be flooded and blown about with all kinds of concerning thoughts. One of the insecurities that Satan repeatedly tries to churn up in us relates to our “Eternal Security”. But, GOD has given us an assurance of our Salvation’s Security in the Person of the HOLY SPIRIT! In this message, Pastor Joe Still shares how we discover how the HOLY SPIRIT SEALS Humanity’s Greatest DEAL!
Oct 09, 2024•48 min
Many of us were taught to avoid conversational topics like Politics and Religion. I fear that teaching has played a significant role in bringing us to where we are in our culture today; the boiling point! Maybe instead of being taught to “avoid”, we should have been taught “how to”; how to have conversations about such topics, granting respect and honor to those with whom we might disagree. And though, I know I enter “shark infested waters”; I believe the LORD has led me to talk about both Polit...
Sep 25, 2024•47 min
Pentecost - Let the HOLY SPIRIT be Your WORSHIP LEADER - September 15, 2024 by Riverbluff Church
Sep 18, 2024•58 min
In Matthew Chapter 24, the Gospel writer records JESUS teaching His disciples about the global conditions before His 2nd Coming. There, JESUS tells them (and us), that before His Great Return, “There will be more and more evil in the world…” v12 (NCV). This week’s school shooting in Winder, Georgia, is but one example of the growth of “more and more evil in our world”. How are we as followers of JESUS, called to respond to this rapid intensification of evil all around us? GOD inspired the Apostl...
Sep 11, 2024•50 min
If you have ever seen a fish out of water, you know that it just flops around, wiggling and jumping all over the place. If it's out of water, it's out of its intended environment. The fish is trying to move but it can't go anywhere because it's not in the environment it was made to be in. So it flops and twists and flips, absolutely going nowhere. Why? Because it's trying to be “fishy” in a non-water environment and it wasn't created for that. So no matter how much flipping and flopping it does,...
Sep 11, 2024•51 min
After my message two weeks ago (August 11, 2024) on the armor of God, the question came, “can we pray the armor onto someone else?” While the answer is, “not exactly”, the heart of that question is “can our prayers help others against the spiritual attacks of our great enemy and his minions?” The answer to that question is absolutely yes! While each of us needs to welcome the reign of Jesus personally in our lives and then keep giving Him more and more room to vanquish the darkness in us where h...
Aug 28, 2024•56 min
I’ve talked often about growing up in the home of a Residential Home Builder. It gave me the skills to actually build the house Kathy and I have lived in since we married in 1983. One of the skills my dad taught me was how to spot good quality building materials, which is quite important, because all construction products are not created equally. Plywood is one such product! Plywood’s name tells us much about that product! It consists of thin layers of milled wood that have been glued together. ...
Aug 21, 2024•48 min
In this message, Pastor Joe Still continues our journey through the Bible, growing to know the Person and Power of the Holy Spirit! Join us as we celebrate the Goodness of our GOD!
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Believed to be written in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu’s, THE ART OF WAR is a military classic. I’ve read that it is still required reading for certain Marine programs, for Navy SEALs, and for Officer Training. It may seem “non-pastoral” to reference this, or to even admit that I’ve read it and it’s in my Kindle library; but it has actually become a popular resource for business leaders in our generation. Principle 18 from Tzu’s ancient war manual instructs student, that for any hope of success i...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 2 min
THE PARABLE OF THE NEW CAR A man who had never driven or even ridden in a car, was given the gift of a brand new car. He was so very happy with his new car. He invites his friend over to show them his new car. He shows them the beautiful paint job. He shows them the soft upholstery. He has them sit in it. He points out all the amenities like the stereo system and other optional equipment. But, there's one thing he doesn't understand about his new car; he doesn't understand that it has an engine ...
Jul 31, 2024•59 min
While every week I look forward to the time we gather together to celebrate JESUS and fellowship with one another, I am especially eager for this week’s gathering. This Sunday we have the special blessing of Students leading us in worship and sharing what the LORD has done in them, around them, and through them, at FUGE Camp this Summer! I am also looking forward to our continued journey in our study of the PERSON & POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT. I’m praying you’ll join me as we study what Ephesi...
Jul 24, 2024•56 min
Staying Calm When a Crisis Comes A message from Acts 27:9-29 by Pastor Joe Still
Jul 17, 2024•51 min
I pray your celebration of being blessed to live in a nation filled with so many freedoms was filled with joy this Fourth of July. Our national freedom is a remarkable thing to be deeply treasured! So too, is our “Freedom in Christ”! Luke 22 records several discussions Jesus had with His disciples. In verse 35, we read Jesus asking them an interesting question. He told them to think back to the times He sent them out to towns and villages to proclaim the Good News, and He asked them, “Did you la...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr
