Pastor Benny began his message on Sunday by saying these are difficult verses because of how radical Paul’s message was. The Galatian churches were being affected by “men from James,” the Jerusalem church that James led. The Judaizers, whom James did not agree with, were saying, it’s fine and important to become a Christian, and yes, Jesus is the Messiah. But to be...

I watched a man die once. It was not an experience I’ve ever wanted to repeat again. He was a quiet, pleasant patient whom I had taken care of a few times since he had been placed within our unit. That day, my friend was his nurse. She called me in to come help her, stating he was having difficulty breathing. Sure enough, he was in his recliner gasping for breath. As she...

I love God's Word. I hope you do too. I love knowing that because of what Jesus accomplished for me in the gospel, earning my righteousness by living a perfect life, absorbing the penalty for my sin at the cross, and rising from the dead to secure my new life in him, I can sit at his feet and commune with the living God in a completely restored relationship. And I love tha...

Something unexpected happened to me on Sunday morning. While I was preparing to teach for our children's ministry, Truth Miners, I was struck by the profundity of the passage I was about to teach from. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how God reveals to both young and old the same truths in profound ways. I was so affected by what I studied that I want to share s...

On Sunday morning Pastor Benny reprised his excellent intro to the Book of Galatians by focusing on the Apostle Paul as a “freedom fighter for truth.” Judaizers from Jerusalem had come to the churches Paul had planted in Galatia making three accusations against Paul: 1. He was not an apostle. 2. He was not preaching the true gospel. 3. The gospel (of grace) he preac...

“Oh, great,” said everyone. “Another church railing against promiscuity, homosexuality, and how society is going to hell in a handbasket. Just what I want to read today (this is not what I want to read today).” I know there is something archaic and cliché to read a blog post about sexual ethics from an evangelical church. Having admitted that, I hope you’ll bear...

There is something that's been on my heart about the life of our church (and others) for some time. Although I've discussed it briefly in various contexts I've never really sat down to try and succinctly articulate what it is...here it goes. I hope this turns out to be helpful for you. Week in and week out, as we gather together to lift up our Savior with one voice as a ch...

When I decided to go to law school, I received many comments like “Are you going to be one of the ones who keeps the criminals off the street?” and “Nice. So you’re going to get the bad guys and make sure they pay.” At the time, I had no difficulty with these statements. Though I had no intention of pursuing a career in criminal law, I figured that if I did, it w...

Like my good friend Alex Thermenos, you may have thought that last week's post was the final post in this series on making disciples. Now this is understandable. I mean, after touching base with the lost, talking to them, enjoying meals with them at your dinner table, teaching them how the gospel relates to their lives, tying them into the fellowship of the church, and cal...

This is what making disciples of Jesus all boils down to. In fact, there is a real sense in which this is the only absolutely necessary step in the process to making disciples. Everything about this process hinges on whether or not our lost friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors, by God's sovereign grace, place their trust in Jesus, and Jesus alone, for their p...

At age 60 I remember the days when church women’s ministries were focused on Titus 2: 3-5 which in part teaches women to be “keepers at home.” In fact, I was one of those pastor’s wives who taught this passage in our own church’s women’s ministry. Honestly, I benefited from this. I gained a vision for my home as the primary focus of my gifts and ministry. I lea...

For hours our group of foreign and Chinese teachers drove south through rice paddies and terraced tea hills to the famed Yellow Mountains of east central China. My initial fascination worn thin through endless unfamiliarity, I felt I had been dropped on another planet and wished I could switch off my senses. But we kept driving and entered the town of Mt. Jihua (pronounced...

When God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush, this is a moment that affects everyone. God steps forward and speaks His name. But before God tells Moses who He is, He shows him who He is. A messenger speaks on God’s behalf. This is called a theophany, God appearing in another form. There are many in the Old Testament. This burning bush is a temple of the living...

An automated spiritual gifts test once assumed I was a man. It was a generic test, so at the end, the tally of my results indicated (to the formula of the test results) that I should serve as a teaching pastor or lead men’s ministry. I cried, and the elder leading our class had no idea how to console me. In his mumbling, he said this, “God didn’t mess up and you aren...

In reading last week's post, some of you may have wondered how by yourself you could ever teach your lost friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers "all" that Jesus has commanded us (see Matt. 28:18-20). If that was you, there's good news: you don't have to do this alone. In fact, you shouldn't. The wonderful truth about our witness to the lost is that it is a comm...

So far this series, we’ve discussed how the gospel is more than a reference point for ministry, and we have seen how that shapes our approach to preaching. This week, we discuss how that affects our approach to counseling....

A man is working hard in obscurity. His intent is to work in obscurity because any attention was bad attention (or so he thought). But he drew the attention of the Lord, who came to him and instructed him that he would be used to rescue his people from their oppressors. The Lord filled the man with strength and bravery, and miraculously everything the Lord said would happe...

This month in our cultural value series we are sharing thoughts on different issues women face. Last week, Janelle discussed the issue of women and image. This week I want to touch on the topic of women and work. When you think about women and work there is SO much that has already been said and written on the subject. I am not going to attempt to address the question on w...

Over the last few weeks, I've been painting a picture of how we can practically apply our wonderful responsibility of sharing the gospel with the lost in a simple, step-by-step approach. By following these steps I believe each of us can obey Jesus' radical call to make disciples by simply interacting with the lost people who are already in our lives in intentional, Jesus-i...

Last week, we looked at the gospel as Scripture’s paradigm for ministry in general. Today, we are looking at the gospel as Scripture’s paradigm for preaching for interpreting and applying God’s Word for God’s people on God’s terms....

Dad (Benny) continued our series "Age of Heroes" with the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the three men thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar. As Dad explained, the story is a story of faith on trial....

The issue of what it means to work, where we should work, and how the gospel applies to our work is an important issue, and one that Alex Thermenos somewhat addressed in an earlier post. We want to look at the issue more in-depth; this is Part I of a series on “Work and the Gospel,” and I want to address an issue that is relevant to whatever “work” we are doing. Wh...

Our culture gets it wrong when it comes to women and image. That is no surprise, and much has been said on the topic. Recently the Huffington Post did a piece on what tabloids would look like if they treated men the way they treated women. Westminster College has a well-researched article about beauty standards, women in the media, and how women internalize the “thin-bea...

Who would you invite into your home for dinner? Perhaps more significantly, who would you not invite over for dinner? If we're honest, most of us probably have some real restrictions on who makes it to our dinner table. It's one thing to have people come over for a large event, it's another thing to have a few people over for the game, but we tend to reserve our dinner tab...

If you've been around the church world long enough, you've probably heard someone somewhere talk about being "gospel-centered" - gospel-centered preaching, gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered counseling, gospel-centered everything. And you've probably had one of a number of reactions to these pretentious-sounding assertions of unique commitment to the gospel reactions...

“Israel and Hamas broke their ceasefire today and resumed fighting. This means the war has now gone on for…let me just check my watch here. Is it July 31st? Ok that means the war has been going on for…3000 years.” That joke (roughly) was how Stephen Colbert began his show on Friday, and it was either hilarious or insensitive. But it was also illustrative of a far m...

I forget things all the time. Just ask my husband. He has formed a habit of following behind me whenever we leave somewhere, whether it’s a restaurant or a friend’s house, to grab my phone, keys, and wallet that I left behind. My forgetfulness is my dad’s fault (right, Mom?), or so I claim. I tend to forget other things, too. I tend to look at what is going on around...

Ephesians 5:23-30 is a familiar passage to most of us. (It’s the one about husbands and wives relating to one another as Christ and the church do.) While it’s a great passage about husbands and wives, it carries far greater significance. There are many different images in the Bible to describe the church, but none more clearly communicate the way God binds Himself in l...

Last week, we discussed the importance of engaging with the lost with the intent of making disciples of Jesus. We talked about how we need to make it a priority to prayerfully and intentionally touch base with those around us, just as Jesus did. Just as Jesus "looked up" towards Zacchaeus as he passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem (see Luke 19:5) we must take the...

The gospel does two things for us when we suffer: it comforts us, and it calls us. In my last post, I surveyed the glorious hope our identity in Christ gives us in the face of suffering:...

In this, the third and final post of the series on worship, I am hoping that you have been challenged with how you prepare your heart, as well as your physical expressiveness in times of corporate worship. Today, I would like to stir up the pot a little with what is an ongoing debate amongst churches and hopefully encourage us all to use our gifts and talents for the glory...

Last week, I introduced a seven-step approach to making disciples that I believe can serve as a helpful, step-by-step way for us to follow Jesus in fulfilling his Great Commission. By way of reminder, here is the basic approach....

This past Sunday, Joey Phillips delivered the latest sermon in our Age of Heroes series, entitled David and Goliath. Joey pointed out that the story of David and Goliath is a story about the complete and utter authority of God, as well as the heroic obedience of David....

The suffering in our lives keeps us from doing and experiencing many good things, and it often teaches us bad things. Suffering has the tendency to pervert our perception of the world around us. Children who grow up abused often have uniquely distorted views of God, self, and others. Those who suffer traumatic experiences in any stage of life often have difficulty engaging...

There is a reason that the first post in this three part series was on preparing our hearts for worship and the fact that every aspect of our lives during the week is a form of worshiping the Creator. We were created to worship God and we are emotional creatures, but just as in everything else we are called to do, we are to direct those around us to God’s glory and not o...

Walking purposefully along the winding sidewalk towards the host hotel for my final day at The Gospel Coalition’s national women’s conference, I was stopped by an inquisitive taxi driver who looked at my name tag and asked me what was going on inside. As if to aid me in my answer, I held out my nametag for him to read and replied “It’s an event put on by The Gospel...

I went to the Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference on the book of Nehemiah. That still makes me laugh. Who teaches Nehemiah at a women’s conference? And beyond that, no one taught a single leadership principle! Not one. Because that isn’t the heart of Nehemiah or the overall story of the Bible: the story is God, in love, redeeming His people....

This last weekend a few ladies from Redeemer went to The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference. We heard from speakers including Don Carson, John Piper, Tim and Kathy Keller, Paige Benton Brown, and Nancy Guthrie. Those were only the plenary speakers! There were several breakouts to choose from including a list of speakers and authors who have contributed to the gospel wor...

As Christians we are tempted to push God away from the center of our lives, and to replace him with heart idols. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ helps us to identify idols, turn from them and keep God in his rightful place at the center of our lives....

Propitiation and expiation are some big words, deep truths and cause for great joy on this big day! The wrath of God has been appeased and the guilt of sin removed....

Recap of our Sunday gathering. Benny Phillips preached on our Abounding Hope from Isaiah 11:1-10, continuing our series on the Gospel According to Isaiah....

Solid Joys is a free application available from Desiring God (for iPhone and iPad) which provides a short daily devotional excerpt from the ministry of John Piper....

The following testimony was shared by Kara Sherman in September of 2011. ...

Yesterday's thoughts has me asking myself some pretty probing questions: Why should I care for my home when I know people are just going to keep messing it up? Why did I discipline my kids for arguing and being disrespectful when I knew they would do it again within days or hours or minutes? Why should I trust God to help my hurting friend when it seems my prayers...

What a joy it will be to read the Word of God together as a Church family! Throughout this journey it will be exciting to hear about what God is showing and teaching us through His Word. Please feel free to post on our Facebook Page as you are reading over the next three months to give us all updates and to share how God is speaking to you personally. ...