Redemption Hill Church

This incredible passage shows the struggle within us between our desires, and the good and right things we want in life, and the sin that still lurks within us. It is a powerful look at the battle within and shows how victory is won.

As we gather from scattered places this Sunday, we will continue in our series with Romans 6:12-23. This passage is focused on our emancipation from slavery to sin. It’s a timely theme for us, having celebrated Emancipation Day in DC just Thursday. We will look together at what it means to be freed from sin and bound to Christ.

As we gather from scattered places this Easter Sunday, we will continue in our series with Romans 6:1-11. This passage gives us a clear calling with its foundations in the death and resurrection of Jesus. If we have come to God by grace through faith in Jesus, we are united with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. Our baptism joins us to Him in unity. Then we are called and freed to live...

In this section, Paul answers the question, “How can one person’s actions save us?” In doing so, he pulls way up to a view of all of human history, and with it redemptive history. For all of the ways we divide, and all the categories we create for others, the biblical perspective is that there is one human race. We are all in Adam or in Christ. This passage is timely as we look at the results of s...

As we gather from scattered places, we will continue in our series with Romans 5:6-11. Last week we saw the timely call to rejoice, even in times of suffering, knowing that God loves us. This week continues the same themes but is helpful at a more concrete level. When we don’t feel God’s love for us, how can we still know in our hearts that it is true and sure? Rest assured that our hope is not me...

This chapter starts a whole new section of the book. As I prepared to preach, I was struck again at God’s timing for us in a series that was planned out long ago. This text addresses suffering head on and calls us to rejoice even in the midst of suffering. That runs contrary to everything that we naturally turn to when things aren’t going our way. In the face of uncertainty and anxiety about livin...

This Sunday we stay in our series in Romans and close the chapter with Romans 4:16-25. It is an incredibly timely text for us. This passage takes us into a further exploration of Abraham and Sarah’s life and shows us how to respond when we are living in the gap between the hopes we have and the reality we experience. How do we respond when the promises of God feel distant? What does it mean to hav...

As we begin a new chapter in the letter to the Romans, the argument turns to the Hebrew Bible to support the idea that it is God's grace alone through faith alone that we are declared righteous in God's sight. Over the next two Sundays, we will explore the story of Abraham and see how it points ahead to what was accomplished through Christ.

Some have said that the first paragraph of this section is the most important paragraph ever written, and Luther called it the center of the whole Bible. After spending 2 1/2 chapters setting the stage with the intense need we have for a Savior, the text takes an abrupt turn to show us that there is a great hope!

This Sunday we start a new chapter in Romans and round out the argument that the Apostle Paul has been building since chapter 1. If we are ever going to hope to understand the beauty and glory of the gospel, we need to first understand the need every one of us has for a Savior. Romans 3:1-20 can serve as a diagnostic test for our own souls. It is incisive, helpful, and universal in its application...

Last week we saw that all of us will face God in the end and that all of our secrets will be revealed because God shows no partiality. This week turns squarely toward the most religious of those in the church at Rome. Paul exposes the emptiness of religious practice that misses the heart of God’s Law, over-focused on the letter of the law and missing the spirit of it. This text hits home for those...

As Paul continued to develop his eagerness to proclaim the gospel, he turned toward addressing the religious in Rome. This passage is a stark reminder to every one of us that we will one day stand before God. All that we are and all that we have done will be revealed and clarified. God is just, and all people, however religious or irreligious will stand before Him. We will be responsible for what...

We have seen a progression so far that Paul was eager to preach the gospel in Rome because it is the power of God to save, and because the wrath of God is being revealed. Last week we came to understand that God's wrath is often the opposite of the way we think about it, and that it shows up in God turning us over to our desires, giving us what we want apart from Him. This week that explanation co...

We saw last week in Romans 1 that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel but was eager to preach it in Rome, the capital city, because the gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. This week we will see that another reason for his eagerness is that the wrath of God is being revealed in the lives of people who don’t believe in Christ. All people, across all ethnicities and cultural...

As we start the new year, we also will start a new series in Romans. Martin Luther said of this book,  “This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the...

In this sermon, we close out our series in Exodus. It’s almost hard for me to believe that it’s over so soon! I have loved the chance to walk through this foundational book of the Bible together. I hope you have been able to see how Exodus sets up the broader storyline of redemption that we see carried out through the rest of Scripture. Our closing study together will focus and the Tabernacle and...

This Sunday we jump back into Exodus. When we left off, the Israelites had created a golden calf to worship. God's anger burned against these people and Moses was working to intercede for them. This week we continue with Exodus 33-34 and we will focus in on  Intercession and Covenant Renewal . We can learn a lot from Moses' approach to God in prayer. And, as one commentator put it, “In t...

Moses was gone on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and when he returned, the people had gone crazy in a festival to worship a golden calf they had constructed. We will take some time to try to understand the identity of the calf - what they were actually worshiping - and the reasons it was so offensive to God. There are revealing themes for us in the passage. It will be a fun one to get through together.&nbs...

This Sunday we get to hear from Pastor Andrew Elder, the planting pastor of Village South Belfast. Andrew was born and raised in Northern Ireland. Redemption Hill has partnered with Village Belfast from its very beginning and now there are two congregations: in East and South Belfast. Andrew will preach from 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, and help us see that as followers of Christ we must be prepared to...

We will continue our series in Exodus with a look at the Law. Last week we saw the covenant that God initiated with His people, Israel, and how that became a foundational piece of God's redemptive work, leading straight to us today. This week we will take a deeper look at the place and the role of the Law as part of that covenant, and how the Law applies to us today - what role Christ's work plays...

Over the last month as we watched the Washington Nationals' postseason run unfold, there are clear moments that stand out as pivotal, crucial to the storyline as it developed. This Sunday we come to one of those pivotal, crucial moments in the storyline of the Bible - Israel at Mount Sinai. Now that God had saved the Israelites from Egypt, and brought them out into the wilderness, He invited them...

This Sunday we will jump back into our series in Exodus with 17:8-18:26. This passage starts with an amazing story of the Israelites' first battle after leaving Egypt. As Moses held his staff aloft overlooking the battle, the Israelites would win, but when his hands dropped, they would start losing. Moses needed help to carry the burdens of the people he was leading, and that was noticed by his fa...

We left off with the dramatic crossing of the sea, as God made a way for His people and destroyed the armies of Pharaoh. This week the story continues and we see the Israelites in the wilderness. Shortly after their dramatic deliverance, the people turn to complaining again. Even still we see God’s loving kindness and care for them as He provided for them in the wilderness - sweet water, bread fro...

This Sunday we continue our series in Exodus with what is perhaps the most well-known story in the book - the crossing of the sea. After the Passover, Pharaoh finally told Moses and Aaron to take the people and go. Even that was short-lived, though, and he soon sent armies to chase the Israelites down. Faced with Pharaoh's armies behind them and the sea in front, the people had only one hope - tha...

This section is often known and thought of as the Ten Plagues. We are going to take a look at the overarching themes that emerge in Exodus 5-13 this Sunday. Last Sunday we saw that God revealed Himself personally to Moses, by name, and that God continues to reveal Himself to the brokenhearted. This week we will see Moses and Aaron walk in obedience to God's command, confronting Pharaoh and demandi...