Church of The Redeemer - Sermons

If the multi-million dollar industry of self-help experts tells us anything, it's that people are looking for wisdom. We want to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. But when suffering hits, instead of turning to God for wisdom, we turn to the world and our experience. As we'll see from Bildad's dialogue with Job, true wisdom isn't found there, but in resting in God's redemption...

When we see others suffering around us, our natural impulse is to try and answer why something has happened. But in the case of Eliphaz, we often get it quite wrong. In Job 4-6 and 23, we'll see that believers walk with each other in suffering and point to the Lord for restoration.

No one likes talking about suffering, but it is a common human experience. It's so common that an entire book of the Bible is dedicated to one man's suffering. Job is a long and often confusing book, but it reveals the perspective we need to have in the midst of our suffering: all things happen for God's sovereign glory in the context of his glorious goodness. Job 1-3 reminds us that God uses suff...

One of the most famous parables Jesus tells is the parable of the wheat and weeds. Jesus tells his followers the story in Matthew 13:24-30 and explains it to his disciples in 13:36-43. In it, Jesus tells us that even though final judgment is coming, Jesus, the farmer in the parable, is patient. He is awaiting the full harvest of righteousness from the wheat, but that is not an excuse for us to wai...

Everyone loves a good story, especially stories that grip our hearts and minds. As a master storyteller, Jesus utilized parables (stories illustrated with earthly things to reveal heavenly realities) all throughout his ministry. They all have one aim: to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to take heed for the Kingdom of Heaven comes by hearing and sowing.

Whether we like it or not, we think our agenda is best. From the small things to the big things, we seek to exert our control by following our agenda or making others do the same. But that idol of control is restless because it will never be enough. Because our hearts are restless, we need the rebuke, revelation, and rest of Jesus we see in Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.

Having just described the persecution Christians will face as they go out on mission, we are left asking the question: will it be worth it? Jesus lays out for us in Matthew 10:40-42 just what awaits those who faithfully obey Him: we will see people be saved.

Being a Christian is an invitation to persecution and suffering. As Jesus explains this to His disciples in Matthew 10:24-39, He wants them to know the suffering and sacrifice of their mission and what submission to their Savior really looks like.

When Jesus tells us what to do, He always gives us everything we need to do it. But it's still difficult for us because the things Jesus asks us to do are costly. In our helplessness of heart, we feel unequipped. In our hardness of heart, we feel attacked. But the beautiful truth from Matthew 9:35-10:23 is that Jesus gives us everything we need to reach the lost and endure persecution.

Many of us love the idea of restoration, like watching videos of people restoring old rugs. But when it comes to restoration in our own lives, we can be resistant. In the stories from Matthew 9:9-13 and 9:18-26, we see that Jesus has come to restore what is broken by setting us free from sin, suffering, and death.

As humans, we are hardwired for uncertainty and doubt. Even if we saw something miraculous, something inside us wants to question its validity. This is the exact position the eleven remaining disciples find themselves in. They are instructed to meet Jesus on a mountain and when they do, some doubt. But what we see in Matthew 28:16-20 is that the authority and presence of Jesus sets us free for His...

Waiting can be hard. No one understood this idea more than the disciples as they waited for the promised Holy Spirit to descend upon them. In Acts 2:1-2, we see the beginning of a new church age, one marked by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. And when we trust in Jesus' promises to us, we live a new life in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus was preparing to leave, the disciples needed to be reminded of where they can pursue peace, especially as they passed the faith on to the next generation. But like the disciples, we falter in our pursuit of peace because we forget Jesus is ruling and reigning at the Father's right hand. In Luke 24:44-53, we are reminded that we can live at peace knowing Jesus has left us with all we need...

This world is filled with trouble. We are troubled by things like global security threats to things like interpersonal conflicts. Unfortunately, our hearts can be too troubled to love and obey Jesus. In John 14, we are given a glimpse into an intimate conversation with Jesus and the disciples on the eve of His betrayal and arrest. He tells them to not let their hearts be troubled. It's in these ve...

Our world is filled with troubles. If anyone had any reason to be troubled in this life it was Jesus on the night of His betrayal and crucifixion. Yet, in John 14 He tells His disciples to not be troubled or afraid. How can He say this? It's because, through His death on the cross, Jesus makes a way for us to dwell with the Father.

When we come to Jesus, we sometimes think we get to define the terms of the relationship. But that's not what Jesus tells us in John 10. It's there we discover that we have a Good Shepherd who we desperately need and who makes His voice clear to us.

Everyone in this life faces disappointment. From small things like failed Amazon deliveries to massive trials and sufferings. No one felt this disappointment more than the disciples on the Emmaus Road. They expected the Messiah to come and conquer the Roman empire, yet Jesus meets them to rebuke how they are not trusting in God's promises. In sum, the revelation of Jesus brings peace in disappoint...

When we allow chaos to invade and reign over our hearts instead of peace, sin creates patterns of unhealthy fear and unbelief in our lives. Because of this, we need someone or something to calm the storms in our hearts. In His resurrection, Jesus does just that by bringing peace to us amid the chaos in our lives.

While many start the Christian story in Genesis 3, we must begin in Genesis 1-2 where God dwelled in perfect shalom (peace) and fellowship with humanity. Yet, when sin entered the world, it caused us to become confused, fearful, and worried. Even more tragically, it kept us from seeing Jesus clearly. But in His resurrection, Jesus has come to bring us perfect peace and to help us see Him for who H...

Much like the humble hobbit named Frodo Baggins, Jesus is the hero we did not expect, but the one we truly needed. In this account of Jesus entering the holy city of Jerusalem in Matthew 21, we see He is a promised and humble king, but He is also a confrontational and compassionate king.

It seems as if our world is afraid of one thing: death. Because of this, we can have many false and faulty ideas about death. Yet we see in John 11 that Christians can live with hope in the face of death because Jesus is the resurrection and life.

In this stunning chapter, Jesus heals a physically blind man and exposes the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. Yet because of our first parents Adam and Eve, we have all inherited this same spiritual blindness. The good news of John 9 is that Jesus has come to bring salvation to the humble and expose the prideful.

What do we think the fundamental needs in life are? Does it look like mere surviving or mere thriving on the temporary things of this world? It's true, there are things we need to survive like air, water, and food, but we need Someone else in order to fully survive and thrive in this world. Like the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, our greatest need this morning is to find our satisfaction a...

How does one enter the kingdom of God? According to Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus, you will not enter the kingdom unless you are born again. Jesus shows us in John 3:1-21 our great need for a new birth, that it only comes through the Spirit, and is only made possible through His sacrificial death.

We begin this season of Lent by reflecting on Jesus' temptation in the wilderness by Satan in Matthew 4. In His temptations and victory over them, Jesus becomes our example and hope when we are tempted.