Redemption Hill Church

As we continue to see the supremacy of Christ over all things, we now turn to the blood of the sacrifices. We have already seen that Jesus is the better High Priest and the better Tabernacle. One of the unique duties of the High Priest was to enter into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle (later the Temple) once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice o...

Ben Bechtel is the Pastor of Preaching at Midtown Community Church in Harrisburg, PA, a church Redemption Hill supports. He and his wife Whitley met in college and live in Midtown with their two daughters, Piper and Georgia, and two Labrador Retrievers. He preached out of Psalm 13 and showed us how David cried out to God in the midst of suffering as an example to us when we are wrestling through t...

Every one of us wonders at times if God sees us, hears us, or is at all present with us. Even in our Bibles there are times that God’s presence and direction are very clear, and other times when He seems to be silent, at least from the perspective of those on earth. As we continue to see how Jesus is the true and greater fulfillment of the Old Covenant, we will turn our attention to the Tabernacle...

We will take a look at the concept of covenant. The Bible’s storyline is made up of a series of covenants that God made with His people. The Law is part of the covenant God made through Moses at Mount Sinai, and the author of Hebrews argued that it has been superseded by the ultimate covenant promise in Jesus Christ. That raises a couple of important issues for us. First, how do we know that we ca...

This Sunday we will take a brief break from Hebrews and hear from one of our Elders, Joel Kornegay. Joel is a military chaplain who is ordained in the EFCA. I’m excited to hear him preach from 2 Timothy 4:1-5.  It is a charge to remain steadfastly focused on the clear, authoritative, inerrant Word in the midst of unsound teaching and unhealthy echo chambers that surround us. As we continue to head...

We have heard the name Melchizedek over and over during the past few weeks. The preacher in Hebrews even paused to give some warnings in case we weren’t ready to go so deep as the theology was about to get. This week we get to it. We will see what made this mysterious figure Melchizedek so great. He only appears in one place in the whole Bible, Genesis 14. The passage shows us that Jesus is greate...

After a hard warning at the start of the chapter, the author of Hebrews turns to an example of patience in waiting for God’s promises. While there are plenty of examples throughout Scripture, there may be none better than Abraham. If you were with us at RHC this past fall, this will be familiar because we spent a few months studying Abraham’s life together. We will see how Abraham gives us an exam...

This Sunday we will take a look at Hebrews 5:11-6:12, which brings us to one of the most frightening warnings in the book of Hebrews, and maybe in the all of the New Testament. We will have the chance to explore what it means to mature in faith and godliness in our pursuit of Christ, and to move beyond the elementary aspects of our faith. We will see a strong warning against complacency or driftin...

Jesus has been identified as a High Priest a few times already in Hebrews. Our text for Sunday digs into that theme more fully. In it we see the continuity and discontinuity Jesus has with the Old Covenant High Priest. It shows continuity, meaning that there are clear ties and parallels; discontinuity, meaning that Jesus breaks the mold as the true and better High Priest. Ultimately, we will see t...

Chapters 3-4 are part of one larger point to show the superiority of Jesus over Moses and the Law. If Hebrews is a sermon, then these two chapters are an exposition of Psalm 95, and an extension of the warning not to harden our hearts and fail to enter into the rest that God has promised us. This week expands the discussion from Moses and the Psalm to include Joshua as well. Joshua was Moses’ succ...

We have already seen Jesus’ superiority to the prophets, angels, and the ultimate mediator for all of humanity. As we continue this week we will see the first part of a longer argument through chapters 3-4 that Jesus is the greater Moses, offering the ultimate Sabbath rest. Chapter 3 helps give a strong warning against hardening our hearts like God’s people did in the time of Moses. We will take t...

On Sunday we will step back into our series in Hebrews with Hebrews 2:5-18. This is a beautiful passage that emphasizes the reality and truth that God came near to us in the incarnation of Jesus. The incarnation is foundational to our faith. Jesus became our brother so that we could be brought into the family of God. I can’t wait to dig into the text with you on Sunday. 

This passage continues where last week left off, that Jesus is superior to the angels. Angels are a fascinating topic to study, and there are all kinds of ideas about who and what they are, why they exist, and what they do. Why would the author of Hebrews have such an extended section about angels? Most importantly, what do we learn about Jesus from this passage?

This Sunday we begin at the beginning, with Hebrews 1:1-4. It is profound that we worship a God who speaks. God has spoken, continued to speak now, and will speak into eternity, and God’s Word has power. We will take a look at the context for the book of Hebrews, the major themes throughout, and we will look into the different ways that God speaks. Ultimately, God has spoken in and through Jesus C...

This Sunday we will bring our series, Ecclesiastes: Life is a Vapor, to a close. As we look into Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8 gives us the final teachings of Qoheleth that bring a kind of summary to the entire book. 12:9-14 bring back the voice of our narrator. Ecclesiastes closes with an evaluation of Qoheleth’s teaching, a final word on the fullness of human knowledge and wisdom under the sun. The goa...

This is the penultimate sermon in our series. So, our journey with Qoheleth comes to a close next week. This Sunday we will cover Ecclesiastes 9:18-11:6. It’s an extended section that includes a lot of practical wisdom and proverbs to help us better work, speak, lead, invest, and live life. We will work our way through the  Preacher’s  advice as we consider what it is to live this life under the s...

We celebrated Easter Sunday in the book of Mark this year. Pastor Bill walked us through the historicity, significance, and response of the resurrection and how we are invited to live in the newness of life. 

This Sunday we will continue our series with Ecclesiastes 9. This chapter challenges us to consider whose glory we are seeking in our lives. We rely on building our own reputations and listing our accomplishments as the pathways to glory and leaving our mark on this world. Qoheleth has challenging truths to confront us. We will see on Sunday, though, that our pursuit of glory ought not be limited...

On Sunday we will dig into Ecclesiastes 8:1-15 where we see the Preacher’s roaming path touch on our approach to kings and rulers, teaching on government and power. In this sermon I will work to accomplish the following: provide a theological foundation for understanding the varying roles and responsibilities of the Church and the State get underneath current partisan narratives and to expose deep...

Chapter 7 is a curious one. The first half is a series of proverbs that seem upside down from the reason or wisdom we might typically have – a funeral is better than a party?! The second half of the chapter is widely regarded as the most difficult section to interpret in Ecclesiastes, one of the most difficult books of the Bible to interpret. So, this will be fun! In our exploration of the text we...

This Sunday is Commitment Sunday for the Dwell Midpoint Refresh. I hope you have been prayerfully considering what God asking you to commit to in the year ahead. We’re all in this together and I’m excited to see what God has for us as we all commit to join Him in His good work as we Dwell: An Enduring & Faithful Presence.  Over the past two months, we have asked you to prayerfully consider  tw...

This chapter starts the third major section and a shifting focus to life under the sun in light of God’s sovereignty over all things. Our time in chapter 6 will be specifically spent looking into the issue of money, how we use it and how it uses us. Why is it so often the case that when we get exactly what we want, the joy from it fades quickly? We will see on Sunday that there is hope for true jo...

This Sunday we resume our study in Ecclesiastes together. Among the topics raised in Ecclesiastes 5, we will focus our attention on the cautions about how we approach God. The Preacher, Qoheleth, warns us to guard our steps before God. Sunday will provide us the opportunity to explore true and false religiosity. Why is it that our approach to God and our spiritual lives can feel like a drag? Many...

One year ago, we started a journey together to pursue God’s call to us as a church to Dwell as An Enduring & Faithful Presence in DC. The Dwell initiative is really an extension of what we have always wanted to be about – joining God in His good work in our city and throughout the DMV. We are in the midst of a Midpoint Refresh of that journey. Here's what we covered on Sunday: - The chance...

This Sunday we continue our series with Ecclesiastes 4:4-16. This chapter raises the problem of loneliness and the importance of companionship. We are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic in our nation. The Surgeon General has issued warnings, HHS is doing studies, and it’s all being reported across news outlets. Loneliness is crushing and can become legitimately life-threatening.  As we have see...