Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 28)Romans 14:1-12// Justification is the doctrine that we have been declared righteous through faith in Christ alone. We do not earn righteousness through our good works; we are made righteous through the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Justification means that for those who have faith in Jesus, the verdict of our final judgment has already been rendered because Christ has taken all condemnation for our sin and he has given the gift of his righteou...
Oct 16, 2022•38 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (B-Side)Isaiah 45:14-25// In Romans, Paul leans heavily on the prophet Isaiah and shows how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of several different different "characters" in Isaiah. Jesus is the suffering servant; he is also the conquering king. Jesus is the mighty savior; he is also the righteous judge. How can Jesus be all of these things, especially when they seem opposed to each other? While we believe that God can be known, we also believe that he ca...
Oct 09, 2022•36 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 27)Romans 13:8-14// “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time,...
Oct 02, 2022•33 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 26)Romans 13:1-7// Christians need to see ourselves in tension between Romans 13 and Revelation 13. We are to practice godly submission alongside appropriate suspicion toward the kingdoms of men. We are to honor the authority of our governing officials. Still, we must be mindful that the government's authority is not the ultimate authority. We can seek to have a rightly ordered love for our nation in the form of a godly patriotism. But we are to ...
Sep 25, 2022•39 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 25)Romans 12:14-21// It can be easy to hear phrases like “bless those who persecute you” and pass over them without a second thought, especially if you grew up in the church or know the Bible well. But as our cultural moment actively disciples us towards towards other ethics - to hit back harder when hit, to find strength in pride and harshness, and to use ends to justify unrighteous means - Christians must re-discover the shocking truth behind t...
Sep 18, 2022•32 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 24)Romans 12:9-13// God’s love is central to the gospel, and our love is central to Christian obedience. Love is integral, not optional. Love is necessary, not a luxury. One of the greatest needs within the human soul is to be truly known and truly loved. That love is a gift that the church is meant to give to one another and to those we are inviting to be a part of our family of faith. For our love, as finite and failing as it is at times, is a ...
Sep 11, 2022•38 min
Acts 2:42-47// From the very beginning, the people of God have always been just that - a group of people. Community has always played a vital and foundational part of what it meant to worship the Lord, from the Israelites in the Old Testament all the way to the early church in the New Testament. Sharing our lives with one another can be difficult and painful, but also life-giving and transforming. We gather together to worship the Lord each week and spend time with one another throughout the wee...
Sep 04, 2022•34 min
Genesis 1:26 - 2:17// The God who worked in creation and works for our salvation will not settle for a world where work is broken. While our work has been marred by sin and selfishness, the good news is that Jesus took our sin upon himself, including our sin in work, and he returns to us his righteousness. After his death and resurrection, Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father because his work is done, will return and make all things new - including work! In the new creation, we will wo...
Aug 28, 2022•36 min
Proverbs 22:6// Proverbs are not promises. Proverbs advises the listener in ways that are most likely to lead them to desired consequences; they are not recipes we use to get the lives we want. Parents cannot give their kids the perfect program of Christian discipleship that guarantees your child never strays from the faith, but parents can be committed to giving their children Jesus first and most above everything else. For children that are young and still at home, give them Jesus. For childre...
Aug 21, 2022•37 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 23)Romans 12:1-8// Worship is not less than our singing—but it is so much more than our singing. True worship touches every component of our life, and God has gifted each member of his body with different gifts to be used to that end. These gifts are not mutually exclusive, but they are interdependent. They overlap and connect as members of the human body connect and work together. What binds all these gifts together is, of course, how they point...
Aug 14, 2022•36 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 22)Romans 11:1-31// Israel matters because Jesus matters. Through Israel, God folded himself into humanity and lived among us. However, Jesus did not only come to us through Israel. He is the embodiment of the true and better Israel. He is the true seed of Abraham through which the nations will be blessed. He is the true Isaac who was offered as a sacrifice on the mountain. He is the true Jacob who was sent to claim a bride for himself. As Moses ...
Aug 07, 2022•38 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 21)Romans 9:30-10:21// God has a mission. He has launched a rescue operation to redeem and restore all that has been fractured and broken by the powers of sin and death. The people of God declaring the gospel of God is God's sovereignly appointed means through which his mission will go forth. The people of God are not called to be mere containers of the gospel; we are called to be conduits through which the power of the gospel flows. We are calle...
Jul 31, 2022•33 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 20)Romans 9:1-2// If we read Romans 9 honestly, it is a passage that should break us. It is a passage that is mean to stretch our minds and challenge the tidy categories in which we want to organize our ideas about God. Romans 9 is a difficult passage to understand, but even more, what Romans 9 is saying is difficult for us to receive when we understand exactly what it is saying. Nevertheless, we believe with conviction that all Scripture is insp...
Jul 24, 2022•40 min
Summer of Psalms 2022 (Part 4)Psalm 51// David’s confession of his sin has driven him to ask God to deal with his sin. He asks God to be “cleansed" or "purged” of his sin, and the Hebrew word for purge literally means to “de-sin.” David doesn't want to just forget about his sin - he wants every mark of sin to be removed. He asks for his iniquity to be blotted out, as if to remove writing from a book, and he asks to be cleansed with "hyssop", the same plant the Lord prescribed for use in the Pass...
Jul 17, 2022•35 min
Summer of Psalms 2022 (Part 3)Psalm 32// The secret to a joyful life is to know the forgiveness and love of God in Jesus Christ. Our sin promises to give us life and joy, but it robs us of these blessings and replaces them with groaning and decay. Instead of ruining our fun, confession and repentance frees us to thrive and flourish in the shelter of God's forgiving love. As David says, the blessed are not those with possessions, prestige, or protection; instead, "“Blessed is the one whose transg...
Jul 10, 2022•32 min
Summer of Psalms 2022 (Part 2)Psalm 69// Psalm 69 is a psalm of shame, and freedom God gives us from our shame. David is in a difficult situation, but despite the ongoing pain, he is able to find freedom in a future hope of the goodness of God. Even in the midst of our shame, God is rescuing you and will rescue you. If you’re humble, he’ll bring you gladness. If you are a seeker, he will revive your heart. If you are needy, the Lord hears you. If you are in prison, the Lord does not despise you....
Jul 03, 2022•36 min
Summer of Psalms 2022 (Part 1)Psalm 19// There are over a billion galaxies estimated in existence, and over 400 billion stars just in our galaxy alone. There are over 352 quintillion gallons of water in the ocean. Our bodies could receive energy in any number of ways, but the same God who created those billions of galaxies, billions of stars, and quintillion gallons of water created us to receive energy through enjoying the gift of food. Psalm 19 is a text that shows us that no matter where you ...
Jun 26, 2022•41 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 19)Romans 8:31-39// Trust Jesus more than you trust your shame. Jesus died for our sin in our place. More than dying in our place, he rose from the grace, declaring victory over the powers of sin and death. More than rising from the grace, he ascended into heaven, where he rules and reigns! And there in heaven, where he is enthroned in glory and authority, stands interceding and praying for us. Allow his love to change you and wash over you. Rest...
Jun 19, 2022•34 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 18)Romans 8:18-30// Our flesh will die. We deeply feel that reality. The pain of aging, the persistent weight of chronic illness, the dreaded diagnosis that casts a dark shadow over the future—all of these speak to the truth of bodies that are yearning for redemption. But death is not the end of the story. Rather than seeing our bodily suffering as a source of persistent annoyance, anxiety, and dread, the word of God is inviting us to see our bod...
Jun 12, 2022•36 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 17)Romans 8:12-17 Our mission is to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ with our words and display the gospel of Jesus Christ with our lives to our neighbors and to the nations. Visit redeemerchristianchurch.com/give and join in our mission through your generous financial assistance - every gift and donation we receive goes to this goal!
Jun 05, 2022•34 min
Acts 1:1-9// In our moments of wondering where God is, or how much easier life would be if Jesus were physically right in front us, Jesus himself tells us that he has gone away so that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will come and bring the presence and power of God to his people. We do not have to travel across the world to encounter God, nor create the "right" conditions in our own effort to discern God's presence, because the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of every single Christian! Our missio...
May 29, 2022•36 min
Psalm 110:1-4// The ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Father can often be an overlooked “extra” of the Good News. Our salvation has been accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave - what does his ascension have to do with my salvation today? In celebrating the ascension of Jesus Christ, we are celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ is actively mediating and interceding on our behalf to God the Father every moment of every day. In this presen...
May 22, 2022•30 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 16)Romans 8:1-11// All of us feel vulnerable. All of us face crushing insecurities. All of us have felt like failures, and have felt the self-defeating power of shame. But we must never forgot that there is a crucial difference between what we feel - and what is real. When we feel like a failure, or hopeless, or that you're unworthy or unlovable, we must remember that this is only what we feel - what is real is that "there is therefore now no con...
May 15, 2022•31 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 15)Romans 7:7-25// Sin is not a friend who desires for you to have fun. Sin is a tyrant that wants to claim dominion over you and lead you into captivity and death. Sin is a judo-master and an expert in reverse psychology, seizing the law of God that was meant to protect us against evil and instead uses it to provoke us toward evil. Though the law of God is good and holy, we cannot save ourselves from sin through our imperfect obedience, but beca...
May 08, 2022•30 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 14)Romans 7:1-6// In the light of the Gospel, we understand that the law of God in the Old Testament can be a wonderful guide, but it can never be a Savior. The law expose our radical inability to merit righteousness through our good works, but it also points us to Jesus Christ, who alone is righteous and true. The law testifies to the Lamb, who was slain to take away the sins of the world, and to a true and better High Priest who intercedes for ...
May 01, 2022•29 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 13)Romans 6:12-23// A famous songwriter once wrote "Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord / But you're gonna have to serve somebody.” Two thousand years prior, the Apostle Paul asks his readers: which somebody will you serve? Will you serve sin, your former enslaver and abuser that only leads toward death and bondage? Or will you embrace true freedom and liberty by submitting to Christ's Lordship? In Part 13 of our Romans series, Pastor...
Apr 24, 2022•37 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 12)Romans 6:1-11// For Christians, baptism is not just a religious ritual. Baptism is a visible, tangible means by which we witness and experience the grace of Christ. Baptism is a gift through which the Holy Spirit ministers to us and publicly declares our participation in Christ through faith. Baptism is a sacrament that tells and retells the story of the gospel; it is a declaration of freedom that we are no longer under the dominion of sin. In...
Apr 17, 2022•31 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (B-Side)Genesis 3:8-19; 24// Adam and Jesus are contrasted in several ways in the book of Romans. For every good thing that Adam did, Jesus has done better. For every bad thing that Adam did, Jesus has done the opposite - where sin entered the world through one man's sin, grace has abounded all the more through Jesus' obedience! In this B-Side of our Romans series, Aaron Reyes explains how we do not have to hide behind the flimsy fig or palm leaves of ...
Apr 10, 2022•38 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 11)Romans 5:12-21// Romans 5 shows us how Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection are not only impactful and life-changing on an individual level. Rather, what Jesus has accomplished is cosmic in nature—it has shifted the course of human history and reshaped the very fabric of creation. In Part 11 of our Romans series, Pastor David Ritchie explains how one day the true King will return, the light of redemption will shine, and God’s blessings will f...
Apr 03, 2022•37 min
Romans: The Power & Glory of the Gospel (Part 10)Romans 5:1-11// Our lives of full of suffering and disappointment. The good news of the Gospel gives us hope in the midst of hardship and trial, but how is it that God can save us entirely by his grace? In Part 10 of our Romans series, Pastor David Ritchie explains how justification by faith alone is one of the most empowering, life-transforming truths of Scripture based entirely on the love of Christ! Our mission is to declare the gospel of J...
Mar 27, 2022•41 min
