Redeemer OC Podcast

Hungry? We celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week at Redeemer, but have you ever paused to reflect on what it is and why we do it? In Luke 22 we find that the Lord’s Supper, also called Communion or the Eucharist, was given to the church by Jesus himself (see also Matthew 26, Mark 14 and 1Corinthians 11), but why? They may be familiar words to some of us, but it is quite odd to talk of eating some...

Sunday and Monday of Jesus’ last week proved to be quite dramatic. Entrance into the city with rejoicing crowds, weeping over a city whose eyes were closed, then rage in the temple. Surely the powers that be in Jerusalem are trying to get their bearings after such an entrance, weighing their options. What would they do with Jesus the rabble-rouser, the instigator, the charismatic rebel leader? Who...

Was Jesus an emotional wreck or what? This Sunday marks the first Sunday in Lent. Starting on Ash Wednesday, which was last Wednesday, Lent is a season of 46 days, 40 days not including Sundays. It is a season of repentance and preparation as the church journeys together toward the cross of Christ on Good Friday and the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. During the six Sundays of Lent this y...

Do you feel like you might be on the road to a burnout? Do you find yourself searching for something bigger and better that might give value to your life? This Sunday we have the privilege of hearing from Rev. Matthew Trexler, the RUF Campus Minister at UCLA, as he preaches from 1 Kings 19 and focuses on life lessons we can learn from the prophet Elijah on the topic of burnout. Take a few minutes...

Jesus came eating and drinking. Most of Jesus’ ministry was done around tables and in homes. Tables and shared meals are powerful settings and Jesus clearly takes advantage of them as a venue to do some teaching. In Luke 14 Jesus is in the home of a Pharisee enjoying a meal, and then he begins to stir the pot by giving the host and other guests some lessons in table etiquette. It is fascinating to...

Surprise! Imagine it. There is a celebration and all the rejoicing is over you. Some of us may hate the idea of a surprise party, but try to remember a moment when you felt genuinely and deeply celebrated. Even if specific memories don’t come to mind I think we can all imagine what that feels like. Life-giving. Beautiful. Powerful. Last week I asked all of us to get honest about the ways we are tr...

There are no good options here. None. Read this parable from Jesus in Luke 18:9-14. Pick a character to identify with. Let’s set aside our pious right answers. Who do you want to be? Let’s just say that we want the right thing. That deep within us we have at least a vague notion of the good and the beautiful, of what will bring us the lives we long for. However, the way we go about trying to get i...

Our time is ours, right? This Sunday we will continue walking with Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem as he gives instructions to his closest followers regarding what they do with their time. In the Gospel of Luke 12:35-48, Jesus tells two parables on the topics of time and faithfulness. Read, meditate, pray, and listen to God speak to you in these parables prior to Sunday morning. Let Jesus’...

Money speaks, but we give it the script. What words have you given your money to whisper back into your ears? We are walking with Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem. We are listening in to his instructions given to his closest followers who will continue his movement after he wins the victory on the cross that defines it. Throughout the many illustrations and instructions in this section of Lu...

The new year is underway. What have you declared? Any new commitments? Have you asserted or announced anything about how 2017 will be different? This Sunday the sermon will focus on a passage from the Gospel of Luke in which Jesus is calling for a declaration and a new commitment, a declaration of dependence. What we depend on forms the foundation upon which our day-to-day experience is built. No...

Happy Epiphany! In Advent we waited. In Christmas we celebrated. Today is now Epiphany, the day and season we remember the revelation of Jesus our Savior, as the light of the world. For Epiphany, as the singular day, some of you might enjoy King’s Cake for dessert as you read and remember the story from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 when the Magi (Three Kings) followed the bright star to bring g...

Time flies. It is almost 2017! As we approach 2017 and our calendars change, we are reminded of how our time flies. Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses which helps us begin our year on the right foot and in the proper mindset. As we ring in the New Year, this Sunday we are honored to have Rev. Dr. Dennis Johnson, Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California and Associate Pastor of...

Gifts are wonderful! Imagine someone loving us enough to truly know who we are and what we long for. Then at great cost to themselves giving us what we want the most as a gift. This is of course what we remember and celebrate during Christmas. God loves us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we long for the most, under and behind and deeper than the longing we can actually ve...

Join us for our annual Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve service. We will sing the great Christmas songs interspersed with readings from Scripture, and a short Christmas message. Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, first created the Nine Lessons and Carols service in 1880. The service, which has its focal point the coming of Christ, is characterized by a very simple pattern. It is ordere...

“I didn’t want that.” It is tough enough when God answers our prays by saying, “no.” That was the focus of last week’s sermon. What about when God actually gives us things, circumstances, even relationships that we really don’t want? What is the return policy on God’s providence? If you have ever felt like God gave you something you did not want, even something you absolutely dreaded, well, you ar...

If we want the right thing then why won’t God give it to us? We all know that we often want the wrong things. We all know that we can often be consumed by what we want. Of course we should avoid these dangers of wanting. However, if we want something that is good and right, if we want to be free from something that is clearly no good at all, why would God not provide what we are asking for? On thi...

A funny thing happens when we want something really bad. When we want something really bad we often become consumed and even defined by our wanting. In those moments it is very hard for us to think of other things. Wanting things can be sneaky. They can slowly creep up on us and then before we know it we have a hard time differentiating ourselves from what we want. This upcoming Sunday is the Seco...

Go buy your Christmas tree. Start decorating your homes. Turn up those speakers and begin listening to your favorite Christmas carols. This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, a season of four weeks leading up to Christmas. A season which prepares us for the great joy we will experience on Christmas. This Advent we will prepare for Christmas by studying the themes of Wanting and Waiting in four...

Prayer can seem impossible. Most struggle with deepening, or even beginning, their life of prayer. There are of course many reasons for this. However, Paul Miller, in his book The Praying Life shines a spotlight on what he sees as one of our chief obstacles to prayer: “One of the subtlest hindrances to prayer is probably the most pervasive. In the broader culture and in our churches, we prize inte...

Prayer can seem impossible. Most struggle with deepening, or even beginning, their life of prayer. There are of course many reasons for this. However, Paul Miller, in his book The Praying Life shines a spotlight on what he sees as one of our chief obstacles to prayer: “One of the subtlest hindrances to prayer is probably the most pervasive. In the broader culture and in our churches, we prize inte...

Why does God require us to persist in prayer? If you are like me, you often struggle with praying on a semi-regular basis. How then are we to always pray, and why should we even persist in prayer if God knows all things and appoints all things? Jesus in Luke 18:1-8 tells a parable of a persistent widow which teaches us about the beauty (and hardship) of persistent prayer. One of the treasures that...

Why does God require us to persist in prayer? If you are like me, you often struggle with praying on a semi-regular basis. How then are we to always pray, and why should we even persist in prayer if God knows all things and appoints all things? Jesus in Luke 18:1-8 tells a parable of a persistent widow which teaches us about the beauty (and hardship) of persistent prayer. One of the treasures that...

Sometimes when I pray it just seems broken, like it’s not working or I am doing something wrong. Do you know what I am talking about? Jesus wants to help. He wants to teach us to pray, to train us in a life of prayer so that we can experience life giving communion with God. Jesus wants us to know it is possible for all of us, and he wants to show us the way. Over the weekend read slowly and medita...

Sometimes when I pray it just seems broken, like it’s not working or I am doing something wrong. Do you know what I am talking about? Jesus wants to help. He wants to teach us to pray, to train us in a life of prayer so that we can experience life giving communion with God. Jesus wants us to know it is possible for all of us, and he wants to show us the way. Over the weekend read slowly and medita...

This Sunday we will continue in our study of Luke with a mini-series on the Lord’s prayer. In our passage the disciples are watching Jesus pray and then one of them says, “Teach us to pray.” The disciples, those who walked with Jesus, needed to learn how to pray and so do we. We will take a closer look at how Jesus answered this request over the next few weeks. To prepare for this Sunday, read and...