Redemption Hill Church

Over the past year, we’ve been traveling through the life and ministry of Jesus in the book of Matthew, paying especially close attention to the inbreaking of God’s kingdom. We've been calling it the upside down kingdom. This Sunday is like Flashback Sunday, we will go back to where it all began with his disciples. I think this passage will cause you to go back to your beginning with Jesus. Ca...

The Kingdom of God is like a wedding feast. That’s right. We so often think about faith and spirituality, maybe especially in some branches of Christianity and Christian theology, as a walk through the doldrums of obedience until death. What if it’s actually celebration, freedom, and joy to live? What if what we’re called to is a feast that exceeds our every expectation and hope? What would it be...

This passage continues Jesus’ teaching and confrontation of the Pharisees and religious leaders in Jerusalem on the Tuesday after his Triumphal Entry into the city on Palm Sunday. The religious leaders confronted Jesus, asking by whose authority he taught and cleared the courts of the Temple the day before. This week we look at the second parable Jesus told in that confrontation. This week we will...

We left off with Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on the donkey. Matthew then takes us through Monday and into Tuesday of the same week. Through the entire Gospel so far, Jesus told people not to talk to others about who he is. This trip to Jerusalem starts off with a parade into the city, and then on Monday Jesus stormed the Temple courts and flipped over tables of currency exchanges and booths sellin...

Whatever you might think or want to think, we have to grapple with what Jesus said about himself, and the claims made about him to not take a text as it is intended to be understood is unjust to the author. Matthew has taken pains from the very start of his Gospel and all the way through to show us that Jesus fulfilled prophecy and he is the King. -------------------------------------------  Conne...

Our passage holds together three parts that may not seem to go together at first reading. There is a telling question that Jesus asked twice in this short section, though, “What do you want?” The responses of different people in the chapter, James and John (and their mom), two blind men, a crowd near Jericho, it all shows us something about our own hearts and how much we understand the upside-down...

Last week we saw how Jesus turns our ideas of wealth, morality, and status upside-down and that “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” As we begin chapter 20, we will see a parable that Jesus told to show exactly that principle. The parable of “The Laborers in the Vineyard” is a tellingly frustrating look at the extravagant grace of God and how our hearts tend to respond it...

Over and over again, week in and week out, we have been encountering Jesus and his teaching. Over and over again, if we really pay attention to what he said, it’s shocking to us. When we encounter the real Jesus, not a warm-fuzzy caricature of a buddy Christ, not a mystical guru or abstract teacher, not a distant, aloof deity, but when we encounter the real Jesus, it’s surprising, and it can be co...

This passage is intensely practical and important. Some of the most difficult conversations and issues of our time relate to sex, sexuality, marriage, divorce, and how and whether our identity is rooted and shaped by it all. The issues we wrestle with are not new to us. Modern Western culture and American sensibilities are not as revolutionary or novel as we might think. On Sunday we will look to...

We pick it back up with Matthew 18:15-35. You may hear people reference “Matthew 18” as a kind of catch-all for conflict and confrontation for Christians, which can be as unhelpful as it can be helpful. The truth is that the church is messy. We’re God’s people and God’s family, brothers and sisters, but brothers and sisters don’t always get along well. At times they can be outright mean to each ot...

This Sunday closes out our August celebration series, and I get to preach! We will return to our study in Matthew’s Gospel next week. This week we will focus our attention on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians. This was the focus of our Leadership Retreat last weekend, and I think it will be important for the whole church to hear what your Leaders and CG Leaders are focused on as we look to the year a...

This Sunday we get to hear from Dr. Bill Kynes. Bill was the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Annandale, VA, for nearly 40 years. He was the pastor who believed in planting Redemption Hill Church. Over the years we worked together and alongside each other, Bill became a spiritual father for me. You can read more about his impact on me and on our church in an article I wrote, “ Young Pastors Need Sp...

This Sunday we get to hear from Rev. Carlton Harris is the  Acting President of the Evangelical Free Church of America  (EFCA), our denomination. I have the privilege of serving alongside Carlton as a member of the EFCA Board of Directors. He has more than 3 decades of pastoral ministry experience and wisdom in multi-ethnic churches. I am impressed with Carlton’s character, leadership gifts, and s...

Celebration without God glorifies the creation without the creator, and it misattributes the grace of God to something else (see Golden Calf). Celebrating without God elevates the human craving for pleasure and self-gratification above the greater joy of pleasing God. However, celebrating with God is an act of remembering with gratitude what God has done. Celebrating also results in a renewed comm...

This Sunday we will take some time to stop and look around in the letter of 1 John. Specifically, we will study John's conclusion to the letter. Our intermittent study of 1 John began half a year ago, and now, we have arrived at the finish line. In his final remarks, John, the old apostle, the disciple that Jesus loved, wants the followers of Christ to be sure of who they are and of what they...

It’s a rare one-off weekend for me, not tied into a specific series that we’re walking through as a church. So, I took some time to think about what I would preach if I only had one sermon left. In some ways, that’s how I hope to preach every week, but I’m glad for the chance to search Scripture and my own heart to discern what God has for us as we open his Word together this Sunday. On Sunday, we...

This week I am going to preach through Psalm 139. Along the way, I also hope to share with you some of the highlights of the Challenge Conference and what we have learned this week in Kansas City. Psalm 139 shows us that the transcendent God and Creator of all things knows us intimately and is not distant from us. I’m excited to open it together as we gather for worship. --------------------------...

The gospel reshapes our imagination, our desires are transformed. We are now able to envision God’s best for our lives and for others. Our eyes are open to opportunities to bring greater blessings into the world. We see opportunities for decisive acts of faith, such as buying a boat and inviting neighbors and friends and pastors to enjoy a cold drink with his bare feet up on the back deck. But ser...

Why is love for one another such a high priority when there are so many lives at stake? How can we be sure that God really loves us when there are so many problems? How can we grow in our love for God and other people when we can barely make it through the week sometimes?  -------------------------------------------  Connect with us on Social Media ⁠Website⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ |...

In our summer journey through the letter of 1 John, chapter three ended with the two-part command to believe and to love one another. Chapter four is an elaboration of these two topics: the source of what we believe (1 John 4:1-6) and the source of our love for one another (1 John 4:7-21). This Sunday we will look into 1 John 4:1-6, the source of truth and falsehood.  John emphasizes the command t...

In John's Gospel, just after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered to conspire against him. They wanted a way to get rid of him. Caiaphas, the high priest, unbeknownst to himself, accidentally says something prophetic: that Jesus would die for the nation. John then adds his own inspired commentary... but not only would Jesus die for the nation but also to...

The previous chapter shows the clear contrast between the blinding glory of Jesus Christ and the helplessness and hopelessness of the crowds and disciples. And yet, as we begin chapter 18, we catch the disciples asking who will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Like everything else in Jesus’ teaching, the answer is completely different than anything we could expect. On Sunday we will see what...

As Jesus headed down the mountain with Peter, James, and John, fresh from the revelation of his glory in the Transfiguration, he came back to the wakeup call of facing a helpless boy, a helpless father, helpless crowds, and helpless disciples. Faithlessness and inability to even understand the basic foundations of who God is and who Jesus is brought a cold reality check. Our lives often feel that...

In one of the most stunning passages in the Gospels, the glory of Jesus Christ is revealed, he was changed right before the eyes of three of his disciples and had a conversation with Moses and Elijah on top of a mountain. It’s a major event in Peter, James, and John’s lives that is reflected in other places in the New Testament as well. We will take a look at why the Transfiguration matters, and w...

Where we left off in 1 John, the churches were warned of false teachers, called antichrists, who were seeking to deceive everyone about the true identity of Jesus. Now, the old apostle tells the church to become what they already are. Having already been declared a child of God by faith in Christ, now the church is to put into practice the righteousness that results from faith. Twist: practicing r...