We are created for relationship. One of the key differences I hope to show you between the biblical idea of God and other alternative views of God is in this whole idea of relationship. Genesis 1 shows us three things: 1) why we need relationships, 2) what kind of relationships we need, and 3) the key to getting relationships. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 29, 2000. Series: Genesis – The Gospel According to God. Scripture: Genesis 1:26-...
Oct 14, 2024•42 min•Ep. 1129
The book of Acts is all about the earliest Christianity. It shows us something about the character of the earliest Christianity, especially about where the church got its power. The book of Acts, but also the Bible in general, is bound to surprise you. No matter what your culture or what your class, no matter what conceptions and categories you come to the Bible with, it will smash some of them. This story in Acts about Philip and the Ethiopian is the same way. It will show us the inclusivity of...
Oct 12, 2024•40 min•Ep. 1128
Something is going on with work in our culture. We’ve lost our rhythms of work and rest. And work is becoming a crisis issue. In Genesis 1 and 2, work and rest come up in the very beginning of creation. This tells us that understanding work and rest is at the very essence of living a human life. Let’s look at what this says about 1) what we’re called to do (which is work), 2) how we’re called to do it, and 3) what we need in order to do it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redee...
Oct 11, 2024•41 min•Ep. 1127
If you live in North America or Europe, the question almost everyone has in mind when they read Genesis 1 is “How?” They ask, “How did it happen? How long did it take?” But how questions aren’t as important as why questions. What you really need to know about this world is why did God make it? What is it for? Why do we feel the way we feel about it? How do we live in it? Let’s look at what Genesis teaches us about 1) how the world began, but most importantly, 2) why the world began. This sermon ...
Oct 09, 2024•33 min•Ep. 1126
We’re in the second of a two-part series on the devil and the conflict between supernatural forces of good and supernatural forces of evil. In Part 1, I made my case for why I think it’s immanently sensible to say there really is a devil. And we talked about Satan’s weapons and strategies. If you go through the Bible all the way back to Adam and Eve, what is Satan’s strategy? He’s not possessing them. He’s lying to them. On the basis of that understanding, we’re going to proceed and look at the ...
Oct 07, 2024•36 min•Ep. 1125
The devil. Spiritual warfare. In Africa, Latin America, Asia, most places in the world, the idea of spiritual warfare—of a conflict between spiritual good and spiritual evil—is not an unusual concept. Many people in many parts of the world think this helps make sense of reality. But here in the Western world, we find it a foreign concept. Let’s look at this passage on spiritual warfare, and let’s notice 1) whom we fight, 2) what we fight, and 3) how we fight. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timo...
Oct 04, 2024•39 min•Ep. 1124
What it means to be a Christian is to be theologically driven—it means stuff about the cross, and grace, and redemption. And all those things have an effect on how we live in every area of our practical lives. It’s helpful to look at the big picture and to see how Christ really is Lord of every area of life. In Ephesians 6, two of those areas are laid out for us: work and family. Let’s take a look at this under these three headings: 1) Jesus and your work, 2) Jesus and your family, and 3) Jesus ...
Oct 02, 2024•36 min•Ep. 1123
Ephesians 5 is like a fair number of people in New York City. It’s both rich and famous. Because it’s so rich, you could work through it word by word and get quite a bit out of it. But it’s also advantageous to do what we’re going to do, which is to fly over the whole thing. In this way, we’ll get a panoramic view of the immense biblical wisdom on this subject of marriage. What we learn about marriage here is 1) what it is, 2) what it does, 3) what it needs, and 4) what it shows. This sermon was...
Sep 30, 2024•42 min•Ep. 1122
Christianity is not just a vitamin supplement. It doesn’t just come into your life and give you a little boost to live a better form of the life you’re living. It’s a sweeping revolution that affects every part of you. In Ephesians 5, we have a long passage on what it means to live the Christian life. And it’s not that we live in a certain way and, therefore, become Christians. It’s that we become Christians and, therefore, live in a certain way—because we’re saved not by what we do but by what ...
Sep 27, 2024•39 min•Ep. 1121
We all want to change. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t say, “I really need to change.” And one of the greatest things about Christianity is Christianity gives you the resources to change. Jesus Christ was born into this world to give us second birth. The idea of being born again means radical change. Often we don’t quite know how change actually happens. But Ephesians 4 gives four concrete principles for how the gospel helps us change. What does change mean to Christians? It means you have to 1...
Sep 25, 2024•39 min•Ep. 1120
In Ephesians 4, we find a pretty remarkable argument. The argument has three parts. The flow of the argument is that even though we have the life of the trinity in us, we live in spiritual immaturity until we’re willing to do the hard work of developing and creating unity in the church. Let’s take a look at each part: 1) the life of the trinity, 2) we live in spiritual immaturity, and 3) do the hard work of developing and creating unity in the church. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Kell...
Sep 23, 2024•35 min•Ep. 1119
