Redemption Hill Church

This Sunday, Pastor Rich will show the importance of keeping the gospel of Jesus Christ at the center of our worship in our church and in our lives. Using Hebrews 10:19-25, he will cast a vision for the importance of the church gathering together each week and the shaping effect it has on our lives and on our souls.

This Sunday I will introduce the series, preaching on the theme of Roots & Fruit that can be traced as a thread through the entire biblical storyline. I will also introduce the preachers we can look forward to hearing this summer. I will start with 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 and we will touch down in a number of passages along the way.

It’s bittersweet for me to say that this is my last Sunday with our church before I head out on a sabbatical. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of our church in pursuing this opportunity and the grant that we received to make it possible. It is a great opportunity for me and my whole family to be refreshed and to make memories to last a lifetime as we get extra time together. After the past few years, the timing could not be better. I hope to return in August rested, with renewed energy and vision for the days ahead. We will be with our Redemption Hill Church family in spirit throughout, and by the time August rolls around, I’m sure we will be eager to get back with you all. - Pastor Bill

This will be our third week in the story about Lazarus. In the first, we saw Jesus interact with Martha, and claim to be the resurrection and the life. In the second, we saw Jesus interact with Mary, and Jesus wept. This week we will see the power of life conquer the grave, as Lazarus is raised from the dead. As Lazarus emerged from the tomb, Jesus called the others there, “Unbind him, and let him go.” From this point in John’s Gospel, the story takes a direct line to the cross.

Last week we introduced the story of Lazarus’ death. Jesus met Martha along the road and asked her if she believed it when He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” This week we are going to zero in on one key verse, the shortest verse in your Bible – Jesus wept. What a profound statement! This shows something of Jesus’ humanity, anger, sorrow, compassion, and care for His friend Lazarus and the others who mourned his death. We are going to explore the reasons that Jesus wept, what He was weeping over, and what it means for us as we encounter our own suffering.

Some close friends of Jesus lost their brother, Lazarus, who had died. By the time Jesus got to them, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Martha went out to meet Jesus, and she was confident that if Jesus had been there, Lazarus could have been healed, but now it seemed to late. Jesus reassures us all that He is the resurrection and the life. This Sunday we get to dig into this passage and see that in the midst of our own sorrow and uncertainty, Jesus can bring our future hopes into present reality.

Jesus continues the imagery of shepherding and sheep. The people who heard Him teach still could not grasp the things He said with clarity and precision. This passage exposes the difficult reality that the same group of people, with the same background, culture, and lens for the world, still can land in opposite places when it comes to Jesus. Some people will never believe because they have misplaced expectations and misguided interpretations. If we are sheep that belong to Jesus, though, we will hear and follow His voice.

Jesus used three metaphors to continue to tell the people in Jerusalem who He is and what He came to do. All three in this passage center around shepherding and sheep. Most of us didn’t grow up around sheep, and probably don’t know the first thing about shepherding life and work. Even still, the passage is very clear on teasing this out for us as we look to Jesus. Understanding the shepherding motif is important because it pops up throughout the New Testament as we consider a life following Jesus and a life in the Church, the flock of the Good Shepherd.

As Jesus called His first disciples, He called them to leave everything to follow Him. He gave a glimpse of the reality of Christian discipleship. Pastor Eric will help us to see that Jesus calls us not just to an individual pursuit, but to join Him in transcendent Kingdom work.

This shows us the 6th of 7 signs of Jesus through John’s Gospel. While leaving the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus and His disciples came across a man who had been blind from birth. That led to some theological debates and assumptions, trying to decide and determine the cause-effect relationship of sin to his blindness. As He does throughout the Gospels, Jesus confronted the assumptions, did the unexpected, brought healing and light, and caused some good trouble with the religious leaders of the time.

This brings the time Jesus spent at the Feast of Tabernacles to a close. After making some fiery statements to people in the Temple courts, that their father was the Devil, the conversation got increasingly heated. By the end of it, people were picking up rocks and getting ready to throw them at Jesus. This week we will explore what made them so angry and try to look at our own hearts. I am excited to walk through this passage together. It is so rich, and it ties some sweeping themes that carry through the whole Bible together, showing how it all points to Jesus.