Redeemer OC Podcast

What is your life about? This Sunday begins the season that comes after Epiphany and before Lent. It's a two-month period for the church to focus our attention on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, before making our way to the cross and resurrection. It's a time to remind ourselves that our lives are found in Christ, so that ultimately others may see Christ in us. In an effort to ground our li...

Throughout Advent we prepare for the coming of Jesus. During Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. On Epiphany we remember the visit of the wise men and their gifts to Jesus. In the season after Epiphany we try and embody the life and ministry of Jesus. This Sunday, January 6th, is Epiphany! Come and celebrate with us. Our worship service liturgy will have a special Epiphany theme. Jesse Robi...

"What's love got to do with it, got to do with it, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken." - Tina Turner When we are hurt from another person (friend, parent, child, or spouse) we often want to remove our hearts and give up on love all together. We want to be self-protective instead of self-sacrificial in how we relate to others. This third Sunday of Advent, we are going to continue prepari...

Woman. Prostitute. Gentile. Rahab was the ultimate outsider. Join us this Sunday for the second week of our Advent series on The Mothers of Jesus. Matthew in his gospel account includes five women, five mothers, in Jesus' genealogy as a way to help his readers prepare for and anticipate the birth story of Jesus. As we too prepare for and anticipate the birth of Jesus, each Sunday during Advent and...

Advent begins this Sunday! Get ready to sing Christmas songs, light the Advent candle, start a new sermon series, and make Advent wreaths after the service. It is my favorite season of the year and I am excited to celebrate it with you as we prepare together for the joy of Christmas. Our Advent sermon series is called "The Mothers of Jesus." In the Gospel of Matthew chapter one, prior to the birth...

The Burning Bush. It is a scene that always amazes me. A bush on fire, yet not consumed, and has the voice of God coming out of it! On this final Sunday of the church calendar year, prior to entering Advent in December, we have the honor of hearing Rev. Chad Brewer, RUF Campus Minister at UCI, preach to us from the burning bush story in Exodus 3:1-15. To prepare for Sunday's sermon spend 5-10 minu...

"You do not know what you are asking?" Has someone ever said those words to you? Jesus said those words to two of his disciples, James and John, and easily would say it to us if we were to ask for the same thing. The conversation is recorded in the Gospel of Mark 10:35-45, as these two disciples want glory for themselves. Jesus reminds them that to be glorified, to be made great, first means to la...

Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, but before he did he taught them how not to pray. Last Sunday we concluded our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer. This Sunday we are taking one week to look at Jesus' prologue to the Lord's Prayer, in which he spends four verses teaching his disciples how not to pray. In preparation for Sunday, read, meditate, and pray through Mathew 6:5-8. Ask...

Life is full of temptations and trials. How are we to pray in the midst of difficult times? This Sunday we have the honor of having Rev. Chris Stratton, Academic Dean at Pacifica Christian High School, continue our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer. Rev. Stratton will unpack the sixth petition of the prayer from the Gospel of Matthew 6:13 which is, "And lead us not into temptation, b...

To forgive is to suffer. When we forgive someone we don't just forget their sins and shove them under the rug. Rather, we pay the cost for their sins and carry them ourselves. We suffer instead of trying to make them suffer for what they did. This Sunday we are continuing our fall sermon series through Praying the Lord's Prayer by looking at the fifth petition of the prayer, which is, "and forgive...

Greed or need? In your prayers of petition, are you able to identify whether your requests are based on greed or need? Reflect back over your most recent prayers of petition and ask yourself if they leaned more in the direction of greed or need. Jesus in the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer teaches his disciples to ask God to "Give us this day our daily bread." Bread is food at its most basic...

What is the point of prayer? In the the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, which is "Thy will be done," Jesus answers that question. In most of our lives, and even more specifically in our prayer lives, we desire for our will to be done. Jesus teaches the disciples, and us today, that the point of prayer is alignment. That we need to be people who learn to align our will to God's will. Alignment...

Life is precious. How do you want to use the days which you have been given? This Sunday we have the joy of hearing from Rev. Chad Brewer, RUF Campus Minister at UCI, preach to us on the topic of death and life. We will be taking a one week break from our fall sermon series on Praying the Lord's Prayer to look at Psalm 90 and reflect carefully on how we spend our days and time. To best prepare for...

I am excited to announce that Rev. Jason Polk, our global partner in Ethiopia, will be in town and preaching at Redeemer this Sunday! Jason is an ordained PCA pastor, together with his wife Liz and their three children, is one of the two families that we directly support, as he oversees the spiritual care for Ethiopia ACT and its work to grow a gospel-centered church planting movement among the po...

I often see prayer as medicine, yet Jesus sees prayer as food. (adapted from a Tim Keller quote) In my life of prayer, the first thing that I normally ask of God is a petition for him to help me in some way. The first thing that Jesus asks of God, in the Lord's Prayer, is for God's name to be hallowed, to be treated as holy and sacred, to be given glory and worship. Why? This Sunday we are continu...

Brief. Intense. Frequent. Those are the words that Martin Luther used to describe what prayer should be like. Do you think a healthy prayer life = long prayers on your knees for hours? This Sunday we are beginning a new fall sermon series on the Lord's Prayer in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6. Over the weeks we will see how Jesus offered a corrective to some of the poor prayer practices of his da...

Is it really that important? "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 and 19). All of Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. This event is the very...

Read two things: All of 1 Corinthians 14 and the below excerpt from Annie Dillard. "On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up...

How do you know that? The Corinthians prided themselves on their knowledge about spiritual things, and it made them miserable people. As they grew more knowledgeable, sophisticated, and experienced as followers of Jesus, they grew less loving, more divisive, and toxic to the people around them. This is terrifying to me. How can we avoid hurting ourselves and those we love in our pursuit of knowing...

Is this supposed to make me feel good... or bad? 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most well known passages in the Bible and for good reason. The lyrical and beautiful pronouncement of the priority of love can send the hopeful and aspirational heart soaring. Thus we hear it often at weddings. However for those struggling to love or challenged by the seemly lack of love in their lives, this passage ca...

Trick question (and the answer is not “nothing”): What do we need more than Jesus? We are back in 1Corinthians this Sunday and I am back as well. I had some great time off with the family, but we are all looking forward to being back at Redeemer. Take a few minutes this weekend and read through all of 1 Corinthians 12. Meditate on the passage. Pray through it. What do we need more than Jesus? Well...