Grace Transformation

What do you think God is holding against you? Martin Luther asked himself that question every day. He confessed for hours and tried harder, and he never found peace. Then he read Romans, and the gospel came clear: the righteousness of God isn’t a standard we have to meet. It’s a gift God gives to everyone who trusts him. In this Reformation Day message, the final episode of the Grace That Transfor...

Paul wrote "rejoice in the Lord always" from prison, after beatings, a stoning, and shipwrecks. In Philippians 4 he shows us how to press forward without being run by anxiety: rejoice, be gentle with the people around us, and bring our actual requests to God in prayer. When we do, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards our hearts and minds. This is the second message...

Paul voted to have Christians put to death, and Jesus still called him. Whatever you're carrying, regret or the trophies you lean on, Jesus frees you from your past. In this first message of our series Grace That Transforms, we look at Paul's words in Philippians 3: "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the pri...

In Ezekiel, God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone… so turn, and live." In Matthew 21, Jesus tells of two sons. One says the right words and never goes to the vineyard. The other refuses, then changes his mind and goes. In Philippians 2, Paul shows what that turning looks like: counting others as important, looking to the interests of others and not only our own, and having...

A woman begs Jesus for help. He says nothing. Then he compares her to a dog. Was Jesus being unkind — or is something else going on? In this final message from the summer series "Faith for Ordinary Days," Pastor John Rallison sits with the story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) alongside Paul's own wrestling with unanswered questions in Romans 11. When something in Scripture...

Most sermons on Peter walking on water turn it into "get out of the boat and take risks for Jesus." But that's not what the text actually says. Most of the disciples stayed in the boat, and Jesus never rebuked them for it. In this message, Pastor John Rallison of Redeemer Lutheran Church walks through Matthew 14:22-33 and asks what this story really offers ordinary Christians who nev...

We don't know what to pray for as we ought, and that's not a failure. It's the human condition the Spirit was sent to meet. A message from Redeemer Lutheran Church's summer series "Faith for Ordinary Days," on Paul's surprising claim in Romans 8: creation groans, we groan, and even the Holy Spirit groans on our behalf with groanings too deep for words. Scripture: Roma...

"Her sins, which are many, are forgiven." In this episode, Pastor John Rallison walks through Luke 7:36-50, the story of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus at a Pharisee's dinner table, and uncovers who's actually in the most danger in that room. Part of the "Faith for Ordinary Days" summer series from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Salem, Oregon, exploring what it means to...

Even the apostle Paul admits he did the very thing he hated. Was his faith failing, or is that just what it means to still be fighting sin after decades with Jesus? Pastor John Rallison looks at the freedom Christ has already won, and the rest he offers in the middle of the fight. Texts: Zechariah 9:9-12, Romans 7:14-8:2, Matthew 11:25-30 Redeemer Lutheran Church, Salem, Oregon | Faith for Ordinar...

The fire that terrified people at Sinai now rests on them at Pentecost. Same God. Completely different access. In this Pentecost Sunday message from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Salem, Oregon, we explore how the Holy Spirit equips every believer with gifts for God's kingdom — and why the tape measure matters as much as the drill driver. Week 2 of the series "Stewards of the King: Living Yo...

Most people brace when they hear the word stewardship. This message is not what you are expecting. In the first of three conversations about what it means to live as stewards of God's kingdom, we start with a simple image: a throne and a plain chair beside it. The steward's chair. And the question of which chair you are actually sitting in. From John 17, Jesus's prayer the night before...

Most of us say we want clarity. What we really want is certainty about the future. And Jesus never promised that. What he promised was his own presence, every step of the way. In this final message of the series Jesus. Right Where You Are, Pastor John Rallison explores Psalm 23 and John 10, and what it means that the Good Shepherd does not hand us a map. He walks with us. His rod and staff are wit...

What do you do when hope collapses? The disciples on the road to Emmaus know the feeling. On the evening of the first Easter, they're walking away from Jerusalem saying "we had hoped" — past tense. Their hope was real. It was just aimed at the wrong thing. This message draws a sharp distinction between optimism and Christian hope. Positive thinking is a tool for navigating the manage...

Even after the resurrection, the disciples are still afraid. In John 20, we find them behind locked doors, uncertain and trying to stay safe. The resurrection is real, but they are not yet living in it. And that’s where Jesus meets them. He doesn’t wait for their fear to go away. He stands among them and says, “Peace be with you.” In this message, we explore what that peace really means. Not just...

Easter is often about what Jesus gives—hope, life, and joy. But what if it’s also about what He takes away? In this message, we look at how the resurrection of Jesus changes three deep human burdens: fear about the future, shame that makes us hide, and regret that keeps us stuck in the past. These struggles don’t simply disappear—but because Jesus is alive, they no longer get the final word. More...

Palm Sunday begins with a crowd crying out “Hosanna”—“save us”—as Jesus enters Jerusalem. They know what they want: deliverance from Rome. But Jesus comes to confront a deeper enemy, one they cannot see. In this message, we explore how Jesus intentionally fulfills prophecy, what kind of King He truly is, and why His answer to our prayers often looks different than what we expect. The same tension...

Temptation isn’t just something out there. Temptation is only tempting because it resonates with something already inside us. That can be a hard truth to face. But the good news is this: in Jesus, you don’t have to hide. In this message on the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4)—especially the petition, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13)—we explore how t...

The petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” can sound like God’s forgiveness depends on ours. But Jesus shows us something deeper. In this message, we explore how forgiveness actually works in the kingdom of God. Not as something we earn, but as something that grows out of the mercy we have already received. When we hold onto resentme...

Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But what does that really mean? In this message from Matthew 6:11, we explore how this petition of the Lord’s Prayer reshapes our relationship with God. The word give reminds us that life is received from the Father, and the word daily calls us back from anxiety about the future to trust God for today. Part of the series The Lord’s Pray...

In this message from a Lenten series on the Lord’s Prayer, Pastor John Rallison explores what Jesus means when He teaches us to pray, “Your will be done.” If God is truly Father, praying for His will isn’t surrender to a tyrant — it’s trust. And trust takes courage. We often wonder what God’s will will cost us. We fear losing control. But when Jesus describes heaven, He speaks of wedding banquets,...

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them a direct answer. The very first word matters: “Father.” In this message from Matthew 6:9, we explore what it means to pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Before daily bread, before forgiveness, before protection, Jesus grounds prayer in identity and relationship. If God is Father, then we are children — and that...

Matthew 17:1–9 records the Transfiguration of Jesus — a moment when His glory is revealed on the mountain before Peter, James, and John. But the scene does not end in dazzling light. It ends with a touch and the words, “Do not be afraid.” In this message, we reflect on who Jesus truly is: Lord in glory and near in mercy. More powerful than we think — and kinder too. Jesus Transfiguration Matthew 1...

In this sermon from Mark 5:21–43, we watch Jesus in action rather than listening to his teaching. As Jesus responds to Jairus, stops for a suffering woman in the crowd, and speaks life in the presence of death, we begin to notice something unsettling and beautiful about him. Jesus never rushes. He is not interested in spectacle. And yet his authority over sickness, fear, and death is unmistakable....

In a world that rewards the strong, the wealthy, and the winners, Jesus opens His most famous sermon with a shock: the Kingdom of God belongs to the beggars. In this message from the series "Revealing the Real Jesus," we sit at the feet of the Rabbi to study the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12). Rather than viewing these verses as a crushing moral checklist, we discover them as an autobiograp...

Why did Jesus bypass the palaces of Tiberias and the religious schools of Jerusalem to set up his headquarters in a gritty, industrial border town? In this message, we observe Jesus as he makes his strategic move to Capernaum—the "Shadow of Death"—and completely flips the script on how a Rabbi finds his followers. We dive into the history of the 1st-Century Jewish education system (Bet S...