Redwood Church Preaching

Psalm 137 expresses Israel’s grief in exile and longing for true worship. Though contextually bound to Babylon, the psalm applies to the church today as we seek worship that pleases God, mourn sin, trust in divine justice, and anticipate the perfect worship of heaven. 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

Worship should shape us—not be reshaped to our comfort. Psalm 137 calls believers to unashamedly embrace God’s justice, long for His kingdom, and trust His sovereignty in judgment. 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 132. 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

IVF violates three different biblical laws: (1) gross negligence, as many embryos die; (2) adultery, by introducing a third party into the sex act; (3) presumption, by creating life without the certainty of birth. 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

As with all sanctification, the pursuit of happiness is already and not yet. It is a forward-looking anticipation of the perfection we already have in Christ, which will become ours when we are glorified. By faith, we anticipate the perfect bliss of eternal union with God, but we also know we already are united to him in Christ. And so we seek to participate in that union now, as practice for what will become fully ours then. 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 original X thread referenced in this video: https://x.com/holzenkrieger/status/1857422361256989157 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

As Western civilization collapses, Western Christians are struggling for identity. For some, the pendulum is swinging from woke radical individualism to ethnic allegiances. But without recovering these natural bonds as covenantal categories, we are trading one form of identity politics for another. To rightly order the bonds of blood and soil, they must ultimately be fitted together under the covenantal arche of Christ. 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

Cretans are liars, sluggards and gluttons—and from this, Paul infers that they will desire to go after fables and myths. Why? Because they want to waste themselves on consumption, without care for whether it is false. Unfortunately, social media algorithms and on-demand entertainment is now shaping us all into Cretans. 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 consumerism of our age shapes our souls, by instant gratification, to covetousness and impatience. These are antithetical to contentment and faith, and leave us numb. The biblical remedy is not to ascetically resist the urge to indulge—but rather to reorder our desires toward God. Fasting teaches us how to do this. 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 has much to say about the happiness of those who consume God’s word. But how should we understand this, when antidepressant usage is common among Christians and non-Christians alike? Part of the answer is that biblical happiness is not a feeling, but an action of faith ordering the affections. 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

To consume God via his word, he tells us to be speaking the scriptures to ourselves, singing the scriptures to ourselves, and dialoging the scriptures between ourselves. 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

Hospitality is a natural function of bodies. Giving the best of yourself for others works out not just at the personal level of individuals or families, but also in churches and even nations. What are some ways that New Zealand is hospitable, what does this hospitality reveal about its religion — and how should we then live? 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 become like God by consuming him. But this pattern does not originate with us. To understand what it means to eat God — and how to do it — we must first know what it means that he eats us. 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

Our nation, and everything that makes it unique, is Christ’s own inheritance. We therefore cannot despise it, ignore it, or reject it—but rather love it and build it up for him. An exposition and application of Deuteronomy 21:1–9. 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 132. 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

Even more elemental than light and eyes are food and mouth. Scripture teaches us that we are always consuming something, and that the first sin was a sin of consumption. In the modern day, we are especially tempted by the unearned wisdom, and unearned glory, of the tree of knowledge. But we must learn first to feed upon the tree of life. 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

Rejecting the creator/creature distinction logically and naturally leads to rejecting the male/female distinction. This follows necessarily from the biblical logic of “you become what you worship.” 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 124. 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

All of life is worship, and we become what we worship; therefore, we are continually being conformed to the image of whatever it is we serve. Let us make sure that this is God, and not a black mirror. 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 Romans 1:14-32. 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