Redeemer West Side

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi. 

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Acts 10

Acts 10 records a kind of conversion story, but not in the way you expect. Peter, who was an apostle and the leader of the church, experiences a kind of conversion when he experiences that the good news of Jesus really is for all peoples. Peter understands the gospel in a new and deeper way as he begins to grasp that the same gospel which reconciles people to God also reconciles those people to other people, across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines.

Given by Rev. Andrew Field.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Acts 6:1-7

As we saw last week, the first Christians were committed to serving their city in word and deed ministry. In Acts 6, God invites his people to serve one another practically inside the church. The revolutionary idea of spiritual gifts releases every Christian to serve in God-designed and God-empowered ways.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi. 

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Acts 3:1-16 

While Peter and John were making their way to the temple to pray, they encountered a man with tremendous physical need. Instead of offering a smile and walking by, Peter and John stop, engage the man, and pronounce healing in the name of Jesus. Here, we see a sign of the church alive: Christians being used by God to relieve suffering in their city. After the healing, Peter explains to the crowd how this happened: By faith in the name of Jesus. Here in Acts 3, we see the gospel in the city, the gospel as both word and deed that changes lives and changes the city.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Jeremiah 29:4-14  

For the people of God, “exile” is their current but not their ultimate status. While they are to seek the shalom of their cities (be it Babylon or NYC), they must not forget that their “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3v20). God promises his people in exile that he won’t forget about them, and that he will bring them home. Only when we live with hope in our true home, God’s future city, can we live faithfully as exiles in our current cities.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Jeremiah 29:1-9 

God tells his people in Babylon to seek the shalom of their city (29v7). One of our values at RWS is pursuing and promoting a flourishing city. This sermon explores not only what shalom is, but some of the ways that God calls us, his people, to pursue shalom.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Jeremiah 29:1-9 

An “exile” is someone who’s been displaced from their homeland, having undergone an experience of disruption/disorientation. The theme of “exile” runs throughout the Bible. The apostle Peter describes the church as “foreigners and exiles” (1 Pet 2v18). Here in Jeremiah 29, we see God’s people in exile, and God reminds them that he is the one who sent them there (v4). This sermon will explore exile as a part of the human condition and how understanding “exile” can help God’s people rightly relate to their earthly city as they look forward to the heavenly city.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:19-28 

What does it mean to live in light of Christmas? Christians, like John the Baptist, are called to use their “voice” to proclaim the “Word”. Jesus must increase, we must decrease.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:14-18  

In our polarized and polarizing society, people who live with both grace and truth are rare and beautiful. As FD Bruner points out, at Christmas, we celebrate the incarnation of deep grace and deep truth — the very glory of the eternal God, now clothed in flesh. The more we’re shaped by the reality of Christmas, the more we’ll be able to embody grace and truth in our city. 

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:14  

In Eugene Peterson’s The Message, he paraphrased this verse by saying, “The word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” The more the message of Christmas grabs our hearts and changes our life, the more we’ll move into our neighborhood as representatives of Jesus’ kingdom.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:6-13  

The Advent season is a remarkable promise: Jesus was born of Mary so that all who receive him can be born of God—can become part of God’s family. This sermon can explore the reality of what the new birth is, as well as how those who experience the new birth invite others into it, too.