Redwood Church Preaching

Scripture views all of life as worship—it is impossible to avoid religious service to some god or other in everything we do. Although Christians think of worship exclusively in terms of the Lord’s Service, this is really the pinnacle from which weekday service to God flows. All of life is liturgical, with Sunday worship at the center. The Lord’s Service teaches us how to participate in the heavenl...

An exposition and application of Psalm 29. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

What we do with our bodies always communicates something, and so our body language in worship matters a great deal. Even the word that we translate as worship in scripture really means to prostrate or bow down, and this is an essential posture toward God that we need to recover. Similarly, men should be lifting their hands in prayer. In the same way, our singing matters also. It is through music t...

An exposition and application of Psalm 18. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Scripture models for us in many places that there is an enrollment in heaven—a book of life consisting of all the members of God’s covenant people. As in heaven, so on earth: in the New Testament, elders are required to know who is enrolled under their care, and church members are required to submit to their elders. The only way for this structure to have moral force is through membership vows. Th...

Clothing is a kind of language, and we cannot avoid speaking it. God provides careful patterns and instructions about fitting attire for worship. We must honor and revere him with our clothing, without magnifying ourselves against his own glory, or other brothers. Dressing for worship therefore requires a balance between modesty, and bringing the best of our substance before God’s throne. This is...

An exposition and application of Psalm 104. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

The Bible reveals a clear sequence to how we should worship, which has been used as a general structure for Lord’s Day services throughout the history of the church: call; cleansing; consecration; communion; commission. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

An exposition and application of Psalm 19. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Arranging our worship to mimic and echo the heavenly reality is critical, because it creates a kind of “resonance,” where by expressing and embodying spiritual patterns, we actually enter into them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

An exposition and application of Psalm 2. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

We divide history into BC and AD— Anno Domini, “in the year of the Lord.” But is Christ currently reigning—and if so, why do we mark the beginning of this “year,” this age of Christ, from his birth, rather than his resurrection or ascension? It is because his reign, carried out through his body on earth (his church), is not like the heavy-handed lording of the gentile rulers. It follows the same p...

When we come to our Father’s house, we ought to greatly fear transgressing the rules for appearing before him. Lest we worship presumptuously, we must be careful to pattern everything we do after what is laid down for our instruction in the Bible. Scripture alone must regulate our worship. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epi...

An exposition and application of Psalm 128. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Since the church is the house and temple of God, a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices, its ministry is actually the substance of the shadows modeled in the temple worship of the old covenant. The nature of Old Testament sacrifices are therefore of great importance for showing us that the very end and purpose of worship is table fellowship with God himself—fellowship that we have by ente...

There are certain fundamental elements, without which a church cannot be (or fails to properly be) a church at all. Three of these elements are: (1) Gathering together physically on the Lord’s Day; (2) Holding fast to and instructing its members in the full counsel of God; (3) Discipling its members to apply that counsel to all of life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this w...

An exposition and application of Psalm 125. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Although the church is exclusively governed by Christ, and is commissioned to disciple and train the nations in righteousness, it is not the only authority that Christ has instituted in the world. It must co-exist with, and uphold the lawful authority of, the natural institutions of household and state. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acces...

An exposition and application of Psalm 122. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

An exposition and application of Psalm 133. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

A church is a body that participates in the universal church—a body, a self-regulating nexus of powers, governed exclusively by Christ, its head. This exclusive government, and all that it implies about who does not govern us, is foundational to our existence. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.sub...

An exposition and application of Psalm 17. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

We are taught to listen to what Scripture says, but we are not generally taught to listen to how it says it. But the structure of Scripture reflects the mind of God just as much as the content, and we should be paying careful attention to both. The ending of John 3, for instance, “rhymes” or “resonates” with many themes developed in the beginning of the gospel, and teaches us how to discern patter...

An exposition and application of Psalm 14. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

An exposition and application of Psalm 13. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com