Redeemer Church of Waterford

God does indeed have a plan for ethnic Israel, both in this present church age and at the end of history.  But "they are not all Israel which are of Israel." Before considering what God the plan of God is for Israel is, we must first define who Israel is.

Who has the better claim on St. Patrick, Catholics or Protestants? Given that St. Patrick was NOT canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, this message examines the life and theology of Patrick to make the case that the man we have come to celebrate on March 17 is not the man as he actually was in history. He was in actuality the "proto" Protestant.

What the Apostle Paul is concerned to demonstrate in Ephesians 5:3-7 is that vileness, uncleanness, or any sordid behavior has no place in the life of the Christian at all. The person who behaves in the way which Paul describes as a pattern of his or her life has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

What are the heart and spirit as the Bible defines them? The heart is the mind, the control center of my entire being. The spirit is the will, the thing that causes me to do that which the mind dictates, to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind that has set us in opposition to God. Man does not need to be improved. He does not need to be reformed. He does not need to be made better. Man...

Revelation 3:20 is one of the most familiar verses in all of the Bible, often used as an evangelism text purporting to portray Christ knocking at the door of an unbelieving sinner's heart. While that may be a legitimate interpretation of the text, it is more than likely that the door Jesus is knocking on is the door to the church, and it isn't the sinner He is seeking, but dinner with His own peop...

The gospel is bad news before it is good news. The bad news is we are defiled, unclean, and polluted because we have profaned God's holy name by our own way and our own doings. Is there any hope that we can be made clean? Yes! The very holy God whose name we have profaned has himself made a way for our cleansing. But the cleansing he offers is not merely a sprinkling of water. It is nothing less t...

Because of the indictment of "lukewarmness" which the Lord Jesus passes upon the Church at Laodicea, we imagine them in dystopia terms. Yet the reality is, the ancient city of Laodicea was one of the wealthiest in all of the Roman Empire. The Church at Laodicea had acquiesced to this superiority complex, itself proclaiming that it was "rich, increased with goods, in need of nothing," an attitude w...

The gospel is not a remediation program. It is not a program of moral reform. The gospel is nothing less than a radical transformation of the entire being through the sovereign work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. And what is the evidence that this regeneration has taken place? The Lord God has sanctified me in such a way that I am a man in Christ - a completely new creation - showing forth th...

Click "View Item" to listen. Jesus's indictment of the Church at Laodicea was, "You are neither cold nor hot." The condition of coldness is not deadness, but refreshment. The state of hotness is fervency of spirit in serving God and others. This church was neither. It was lukewarm, which is not a mixture of cold and hot, but rather a state separate from cold and hot, in a class of its own. It is a...

The message of the Bible is that God in eternal counsel has devised a plan to reconcile his fallen creatures to himself. This plan is the gospel, and it is on every page of holy Scripture. All of the essential elements of the gospel are contained in Ezekiel 36:16-38. God is holy, Because God is holy, he hates sin. And because God hates sin, he punishes sin. What does it look like for God to pour h...

What does Jesus mean when he says, "I would that you were either cold or hot"? He most definitely is not using "cold" as a negative category and "hot" as a positive category and "lukewarm" as a mixture of the two. Jesus wants us to be cold or hot. But what does that mean?

What is the message of the Bible? The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:16-38 is the message of the whole Bible in miniature. You will find this message either implicitly or explicitly on every page of the Bible. What is it? The message of the Bible is the revelation of God to man, and the revelation of God's eternal plan to rescue man from his sin and misery. In a wo...

We do not, we cannot, we must not judge the success or failure of a church by its size. Spiritually unhealthy churches come in all sizes, but the overwhelming argument from Scripture is that it is the small church that is most conducive to vibrant spiritual community.

This is the first in a series of messages titled "The Gospel According to Ezekiel: Salvation by Grace in Ezekiel 36." From the beginning of human history, two voices have competed for the minds, hearts, and wills of human beings: the voice of God in Genesis 1:3 "And God said..." the voice of the Devil in Genesis 3:1 "Yea, hath God said...?" The way you view the world depends entirely upon which of...

The world pays a great deal of attention to the passing of one year into the next. It becomes the occasion for gatherings and celebrations, the dropping of a ball, the blowing of party favors. We do all of this because we have it in our minds that the change from an old year to a new year offers us hope that our lives and our world will somehow be different in the new year than they were in the ol...

The story of the people of God is marked by periods of rebellion against God, then exile from God, and then return to God. In chapters 9 and 10 of Isaiah, God is angry with His people. This anger has come in four waves, with each wave ending with the refrain, "For all this His anger is not turned away." But in Isaiah 12, the prophet gives the people of God hope for a coming day when God will once...

Our text tells us that "Jesus grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man." Since Jesus is God in human flesh, why would it be said of him that he "grew in wisdom and favor with God?" What are the means which God used in the life of Jesus to cause him to grow in wisdom and favor with God?

The Shoot is an insignificant twig which Isaiah prophesies will cut down the mighty trees of the woods - the nations of the world who are in rebellion against God and and oppress the people of God. How will we recognize this insignificant twig since the world considers him unworthy of their attention? Isaiah says we will recognize him by his righteousness and faithfulness. But what does that mean?

We consider three vignettes from Mary's relationship with Jesus as described by Luke to discover lessons for developing holiness in our own lives.

In a blessing that is also a prophecy, Balaam sees, in the latter days, "a Star coming out of Jacob" who will "crush the foreheads" of Moab. It is clear that this Star is a majestic ruler, but not an ordinary majestic ruler. Balaam sees the One who presently exists (because He has always existed) but is not presently present.

What is God doing in Joseph? What is God making him to be? For the sake of His Son, Jesus, God is making Joseph "a walking, living, breathing model of what it means to live as a friend of God." Part One in the 2025 Family Advent Sermon Series.

We learn from Jacob's blessing on Judah in Genesis 49 that the seed of the Woman in Genesis 3:15 is a royal seed. Underlying the conflict between nations, between husbands and wives, between employer and employees is the question: "Who will rule?" God's royal Scepter belongs to only one individual - Shiloh - who has routed the Serpent and alone has the right to reign.

The first half of Genesis 3:15 tells us why there is trouble, and turmoil, and despair in the world. The second half of Genesis 3:15 is the first gospel promise that God has a plan to do something about the way the world is and to restore it to how He meant it to be. The story of history and of the Bible is the story of two seeds in conflict.