Redemption Hill Church

This week we continue in our study with Romans 14:1-12. This chapter takes the foundation of the letter as a whole and applies it to some divisions within the church in Rome. The divisions are not over biblical truth, or what is clearly laid out in God’s Word. The Christians in Rome were dividing over gray areas, disputable issues, matters of conscience. This is, once again, a timely text for us. We will take the chapter in two parts, to address the weak and the strong in turn. So, this week we will see what it means to be spiritually weak as Romans 14 defines it, what the challenges are, and how to live together in unity with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Ultimately, we are all weak in some areas and stronger in others.

This passage is quite literally a wake up call. It’s a call to understand the times we are living in, and to understand how following Jesus changes us right now. Too often, Christians are very comfortable in trusting God with our eternity while not trusting Christ’s sovereignty in our lives this week. This may be especially true in the stretch we find ourselves in now. This is a timely and important passage for us to walk through together as we work to walk in the light side-by-side.

This week we turn from looking at a foundational level to get a bit more practical on an individual level. While part 1 focused on the Church gathered, this week we will focus on the Church scattered, and the role and calling of individual Christians in political engagement. We will again focus on Romans 13:1-10.

Over the next two weeks, Pastor Bill will preach on Christians and Politics. This isn’t chasing a news cycle, this is the next part of our series in Romans as we begin chapter 13. This Sunday we will begin with a foundation of understanding the differentiated roles of the church and the state, and a biblical view of government. Next week we will focus more explicitly on how Christians can engage in life in the public square as individuals. Through it all, we won’t leave the theological foundation we have worked to build through the past nine months of studying Romans together. These are important Sundays for all of us.

This final section of Romans shows The Power of the Gospel to transform us. This week we see that the defining mark of every Christian is love. The love that Scripture talks about goes far beyond the warm fuzzies we might think of, though. And our passage for this Sunday gives a realistic look at what we are called to.

In this sermon, Pastor Chuy unpacks statement 8 from our doctrinal statement of faith: "God's gospel compels us to Christ-like living and witness in the world: We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed."

This week we start a new section of the book of Romans, the final section of the letter. This is the point in Romans that things get practical. Chapters 12-16 show us that the reality of the gospel transforms our lives as we follow Jesus. This week we start it off with Romans 12:1-8, which gives us an overview of what is to come and focuses on the importance of every member of the body of Christ, the church.

This passage closes out this section of Romans with a strong push toward a vision of the unity of God’s people in Jesus Christ. Before heading into the final, most practical section on the letter, Paul closes this theologically dense section with an explosion of praise and worship for our God. Robust theology ought to lead us to worship.

At our 2020 Leadership Retreat, Michael Wear gives encouragement to those who are leading a church. How do we fulfill a calling to be a prophetic voice while also fighting for the unity of the church? What are pitfalls that our leaders ought to be aware of?

At our 2020 Leadership Retreat, Michael Wear gives an objective, broad outline of the challenges for Christians engaged in the political world at this moment.