Welcome to Rice Christian Fellowship Church
Find hope, purpose, and community at Rice Christian Fellowship Church. Transforming lives through FAITH.
Affiliate of EFCA
Life in his name
Welcome! Join us for Sunday Service
We welcome you to our Sunday service, where we come together to worship
FELLOWSHIP TIME: 10am enjoy a cup of coffee and visit with others
MORNING WORSHIP: 10:30am
CHILDRENS CHURCH: Please feel free to utilize our childrens church
*We would love to have you join us for a Sunday service or one of our events. Our staff is dedicated to serving our congregation and community.*
"Life in His Name" cont.
Speaker: Int. Pastor Ben Anderson
VIDEO SERMON BELOW
DATE: Sunday October 4th,2026
Verse(s) of The Week:
John 11:47-12:11
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47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for[a] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound[b] of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii[c] and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it[d] for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
The Plot to Kill Lazarus
9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus[e] was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
TAKEAWAYS:
** The Father and Jesus both desired to be sacrificed for us.
** Loving Jesus more causes us to worship with extravagance and be carried through trials.
**Loving money more than Jesus causes us to betray Him and destroy ourselves.
The word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4
Interim Pastor: Ben Anderson
Todays Sacred Reading & Words of Encouragement
Todays Sacred Reading
Words of Encouragement
Words of Encouragement
3 Tips for Discerning God’s Will
1. Discerning God’s Will: Ask What You Know to Be True
I would begin with a realization that in those desperate moments of seeking God’s will, the question to ask is, “Right now, when it comes to what I am trying to discern, what do I know to be true?”
Let’s use a relationship as an example. Perhaps you are sincerely seeking God’s face, eager to discern if this person is the one you should date, or even marry. Pause and ask what you know to be true in that situation. Let’s say you get along well and are attracted to each other. You often laugh together. But if you’re honest, you don’t really see evidence of the person walking with God. Maybe a couple people have expressed concern about the relationship. You probably get the general idea.
When we can name the truth of our circumstances, it helps clarify what's in front of us.
Most of us will struggle to do this on our own because of the emotions that can cloud our ability to be logical. It’s usually helpful to invite another person into this step of the discernment process. Had I done this at the start, I might have seen just how much our family was thriving in that season of our lives.
The remainder of my learnings are along the lines of what I know to be true about God. If I had the ability to go back, there are two major truths about God I would prompt myself to remember.
2. Discerning God’s Will: Remember God Is in Control
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
I wasn’t aware of my own desire to feel as though I was in control. It turns out, I made the decision that was the easiest for me, not considering God’s ability to carry out his purposes through role changes at the job I had. From my viewpoint, I had to take control, which I could only do if I resigned and focused my efforts on a new job.
The actual truth is no decision I made was going to disorient God or mess with the things he had purposed. He never lost control, and was always fully able to execute his purposes through any circumstances. God didn’t need me to try and hold things together, as he was doing that just fine all by himself.
3. Discerning God’s Will: God Is for Me
“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).
He is the only true God, and nobody has seen another God who acts on behalf of his people. In any circumstance, I still belong to Jesus. By his incredible grace, he is for me. The implications of God being for me are incomprehensible.
“If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31b)?
I wonder what could have happened had I sat with those verses for a while. I wish I had challenged myself to consider what God being “for me” meant in my current circumstances. I was hurt by the role change, which led me to quickly assume I no longer had a future in that place, despite leadership saying the opposite. I acted when I should have waited. I aggressively moved forward instead of patiently following.
The Answer to Discerning God’s Will
In those times when I have stressed over what God wanted me to do, the answer was always in the Bible. He wants to change me, to make me more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). He invites me toward a deeper devotion to him, by experiencing changes inside of me that produce new things in my life (1 Peter 1:15-16).
I wonder: what if God’s will isn’t about making “the” decision, but making “a” decision and taking steps forward with Jesus?
Is it possible God is more interested in who we are becoming instead of where we are going?
Could the answer to knowing God’s will be found in clinging to what we know to be true while stepping out in a faith that flows from knowing Jesus?
I did not want to leave our season in Florida. My family was thriving. We found rhythms and joys we had never experienced. While we didn’t want to stay there forever, I forced our departure more out of fear than faith.
There was no wrong choice. He was going to walk with me either way. I chose what I thought was best while missing what he truly wanted. He wanted me. His desire was to bring greater transformation in my life. He was calling me to a deeper knowledge of him, an increased faith and greater obedience. He didn’t need me to be in the Midwest for this to happen.
Today, I have a greater understanding of the bigness of God. My choices aren’t going to disorient him. He invites me to make decisions while walking with him each step of the way. He’s working in me, and that’s where my primary focus should remain.
I am grateful God has taught me these things, though I wish I had learned them sooner. I moved from Florida to Indiana, and three years later moved to Iowa. My family and I are in our fifth year in Iowa, still carrying scars from the choices I have made.
Often, I need to step back and see the ways God has worked things for our good. Each day he invites me to be with him, become more like him, and learn from him. When I can cling to what is true, I can fix my eyes forward, knowing he is for me. I have been freed from the burden of carrying my future, embracing the freedom to walk with Jesus one decision at a time.
I walk with a newfound confidence when it comes to discerning God’s will. I still find myself uncertain what’s next in my life, and won’t even try to predict where I will be in five years. The confidence comes from knowing God invites me to walk with him while embracing the things he wants to do in my heart.
I can’t say where God is going to direct me in the days ahead, but I am stoked to walk with him on that journey. After all, maybe discerning God’s will isn’t as complicated as I once thought.
**COURTESY OF: Our Daily Bread Ministries** To see MORE like this go to https://www.odbm.org/en
Words of Encouragement
Words of Encouragement
Words of Encouragement
THE LIFE OF TRUST:
BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE LORD’S DEALINGS
WITH GEORGE MÜLLER
May 7, 1840. It has recently pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now, while preparing the fifth edition for the press, more than fourteen years have since passed away. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit. Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing to give myself to prayer, after having dressed myself in the morning. Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.
I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon his precious word, was, to begin to meditate on the word of God, searching as it were into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer. When thus I have been for a while making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner
man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, either very soon after or at a later time, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.
With this mode I have likewise combined the being out in the open air for an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, before breakfast, walking about in the fields, and in the summer sitting for a little on the stiles, if I find it too much to walk all the time. I find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and am now so in the habit of using the time for that purpose, that when I get into the open air I generally take out a New Testament of good-sized type, which I carry with me for that purpose, besides my Bible; and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air, which formerly was not the case, for want of habit. I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul. The walking out before breakfast is of course not necessarily connected with this matter, and every one has to judge according to his strength and other circumstances.
The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is this: Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer, except when I felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer. But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour, on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that he has brought before me in his precious word. It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is, to obtain food for his inner man. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time except we take food, and
as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. When we pray, we speak to God. Now, prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us. We may therefore profitably meditate, with God’s blessing, though we are ever so weak spiritually; nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for the strengthening of our inner man. There is thus far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had previously time for meditation. I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I had ever had before; and after having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. In addition to this I generally read, after family prayer, larger portions of the word of God, when I still pursue my practice of reading regularly onward in the Holy Scriptures, sometimes in the New Testament and sometimes in the Old, and for more than twenty-six years I have proved the blessedness of it. I take, also, either then or at other parts of the day, time more especially for prayer.
How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!
Statement of Faith
We Believe:
1. WE BELIEVE The scripture of the Holy Bible, both old and new testaments, to be the inspired Word of GOD, without error in the original autographs, the complete revelation of his will for the salvation of all persons and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and life.
2. We BELIEVE In one GOD of all things seen and unseen, Divine originator of all principalities, powers and authorities, infinitely perfect and eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. WE BELIEVE That Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, Fully God and Fully Man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life and was crucified to death on a Roman Cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, fulfilling the prophecies concerning the messiah in the scriptures. Further, He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven where at the right hand of God He is now our High Priest and Advocate.
4. WE BELIEVE That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and during this age, to convict man, regenerate the living sinner, and indwell, instruct and empower the believer for Godly living and service, guiding all believers to walk in Truth, Love, and Obedience.
5. WE BELIEVE That man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore separated from God and lost, and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be restored.
6. WE BELIEVE That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection provide the ONLY grounds for salvation and justification for all who believe, and only those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Sovereign Lord are born of the Holy Spirit, thus becoming children of God, which is a permanent condition.
7. WE BELIEVE That water baptism and the Lord's Supper (Communion) are sacraments to be observed and commemorated collectively be the church during the present age of grace. They are not, however, to be regarded as a means of salvation.
8. WE BELIEVE That the true church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the Body of Christ, His bride preserved for Him at his second coming, which is His Church of which He is the Head.
9. WE BELIEVE That only those who are members of that true church are eligible for membership in this local church body.
10. WE BELIEVE That Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of this church body and every local church has the responsibility and right, under Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, to make decisions governing it's own affairs without interference.
11. WE BELIEVE In the imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This hope has a vital bearing on every aspect of the lives of each believer that should bear fruit worthy of their calling, abilities, and spiritual gifts.
12. WE BELIEVE In the bodily resurrection of believers from the grave, of the believer's everlasting and permanent joy in the presence of God; of the unbeliever's
Missionary Work in Kenya, Vanuatu and many other countries
News & Events
**WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY SCHEDULE TO BE POSTED SOON
**FRIDAY BOOK STUDY: The book is called, GOOD & ANGRY
The Study Location will be @ Dave & Patty's home, The time will be 7-8 pm
⭐️ CHANGE ON CALENDAR: TUESDAY PRAYER WILL BE HELD AT RCF CHURCH TILL FURTHER NOTICE .. AND .. TUESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY 6-7pm ... currently in the Book of Ephesians
**CONGRATULTIONS TO DON LEHMEN AS OUR NEW DEACON**
Calendar Spring to Summer Events
*WEEKLY HAPPENINGS 2026*
*Sunday Bible Study @ 9am All Welcome
*Sunday Worship @ 10:30 .. Children’s Sunday School
*COMMUNION Second Sunday
*Crafts @ 10 am Every 1st Sat. Of Month & 3rd Wed of month
*Tuesdays 9am morning prayer ... Bible Study 6-7pm
*Thursday Women’s Bible study 11am, Praise Practice 1:00pm
*Last Sunday of month: POTLUCK
Online Tithes/Offering
The ministries of RCF are financed by those who give their tithes to the Lord as taught by the Bible (Malachi 3:10, Hebrews 7:5) As we honor God with our tithes and offerings, we are personally blessed by God (Proverbs 3:9-10) Tithe and offering box located in back of church or donate online.
John 12:9-11
The Plot to Kill Lazarus
9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus[a] was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.