The First Church
April 12, 2021
Our passage from Acts 2 is about the birth of the Christian church. We’re going to look at how the birth of the church is intimately related to the birth of Christ: Christmas. In many ways, what happened at Christmas explains what happens in the early church; and what happens in the early church explains what Christmas is about. When the early Christians began to understand the reality of Christmas, they began to practice Christmas. They brought ideals into the world that no one had ever thought of, because it was based on their new idea of ultimate reality.
First of all, we’re going to see what made the earliest Christian community so different from the culture surrounding them and secondly, what the source of that difference was.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 9, 2012. Series "Acts: The Gospel in the City". Scripture: Acts 2:40-47.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
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How to navigate life’s biggest milestones
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Our passage is the first Christian sermon given by Peter on the day of Pentecost. It’s important that we consider the entire sermon for the context, but we’re going to focus our time on the last four verses (36–39) and what it means to be a Christian.
How do you become a Christian? In a sense, when you get to the end of the sermon, you have a little compendium on how to do this, but there are four things that come into play. In verse 36 we learn about mind and grace, in verse 37 about heart, and in verses 38–39 we’ll learn about life.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 12, 2012. Series "Acts: The Gospel in the City". Scripture: Acts 2:12-39.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
April 9, 2021
We’re going to look at a very famous episode in the book of Acts today, the day of Pentecost. What makes this unique is the descent of the Holy Spirit. There’s a sense in which the Old Testament people of God became the New Testament people of God because the Holy Spirit came down with a transforming power that had never been known heretofore. In a certain sense, the people of God are getting rebooted, relaunched — it’s the fullness of the Spirit.
We need to ask the same question the crowd asked: “What does this mean?” It will take several sermons to answer this question, but today we’re going to cover four things that being filled with the Spirit means: outside power, inner wonder, a universal message, and a new man on the mountain.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 25, 2012. Series "Acts: The Gospel in the City". Scripture: Acts 2:1-13.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
April 7, 2021
The book of Acts is about how the earliest church was essentially launched into a cosmopolitan and urban setting just like ours today. Our church has never been here just for convinced, believing Christians, but it’s also here for New Yorkers who aren’t sure what they believe (or who don’t believe in Christianity). Acts is one of a few books in the New Testament that is pretty specifically written for skeptical people.
There are images the Bible gives us to get across a fundamental change in our relationship with God that has come because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — they are irreplaceable and nonnegotiable images. Here’s what they are. We are told that when Jesus Christ ascended, he didn’t just go up, but he ascended to the throne — the throne of the universe, and that means three things: 1) relational intimacy, 2) historical strategy, and 3) transforming advocacy.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 18, 2012. Series "Acts: The Gospel in the City". Scripture: Acts 1:1-11.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
April 5, 2021
Today’s passage comes from the Passion narrative found in the book of Matthew. Matthew is not just a reporter; he’s a teacher. He doesn’t just tell us that Jesus died, but he always builds the narratives around certain statements and sayings that interpret why Jesus died. It’s very typical today for people to say, “Well, the cross might mean something for you. You interpret it your way. I interpret it my way.” But the gospel writers don’t leave that as an option; they are very clear to let Jesus interpret the events that are happening.
In the last moment of Jesus’ life, there are three cries in the dark, and each tells us something about the meaning of the cross (vv.46, 50, 54). The first cry solves our modern dilemma; the second solves a human dilemma; and the third solves a personal dilemma.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 16, 2000. Series "St. Matthew's Passion; The World's Last Night". Scripture: Matthew 27:45-56.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
April 2, 2021
We’ve been going through the book of Matthew looking at the big blocks of teaching Jesus gives his disciples for how he wants his followers to live. While the Sermon on the Mount was mainly about how Christian disciples would relate to each other, starting with this passage, Jesus turns around and says, “But now here’s how I want my disciples to relate to the world.”
This passage was Jesus teaching on how to move into a new town or a new neighborhood or a new city as Christian disciples and begin to do mission, begin to do Christian ministry. The whole passage is about, first of all, how we are to share the compassion of Jesus (verses 5–15); secondly, how we are to share the offense of Jesus (verses 16–23); and thirdly, where we are to get the power to do that (verses 24 and 25).
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on July 1, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 10:5-25.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 31, 2021
We’ve come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount. It would be very profitable if we went through and took each of these metaphors Jesus ends the sermon with. You notice there are always two. There are two gates. There are two roads. There are two trees. There are two homes built on two different foundations.
How many ways are there to live? Are there two ways to live, two paths, two trees, two gates? Yes and no. This is one of the most hard-hitting parts of the Bible. It is pretty astonishing. In fact, let’s get right to it. There’s a call to discernment, a call to narrow spaciousness, and a call to action, to decision.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 24, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 7:13-27.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 29, 2021
When you get to Matthew 7, which is the last chapter in the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon in history, there is a lot of intriguing stuff. There are ludicrous things in there. There are strange things in here. This isn’t so much inspiring as it is a convicting and brilliant piece of teaching.
Verses 1–6 are talking about relationships, the kinds of relationships Jesus Christ wants us to have in the Christian community. Let’s look at the first six verses and see the kind of relationships Jesus Christ wants us to have, the kind of heart you need in order to conduct those relationships, and where to get that heart.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 17, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 7:1-11.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 26, 2021
We continue to look at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ outline of what he wants his people to live like in the world. Put another way, Jesus says here that if we take the essential message of the Christian faith, the gospel, and actually live it out, it will not only make us different individuals, radically different people, but it’ll turn us into a counterculture. It’ll turn us into a completely new kind of human society.
He’s now talking about money. Let’s notice three things about money from his teaching. He’s going to tell us here how money can blind us, how money can reveal what controls us, and then he shows us how to break the power of money in our lives.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 3, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 24, 2021
We’re going through the Sermon on the Mount each week, and now we come to the most famous part of the most famous sermon in history, which is the Lord’s Prayer. The thing we have working against us with the Lord’s Prayer is the familiarity. We know it too well.
Let’s see what Jesus tells us here about the foundation for prayer, the substance of prayer, and then the key to having a rightly founded, substantial, effective prayer life. The foundation for it, the substance of it, and the key to it.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 27, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 6:1-15.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 22, 2021
We’re going through the Sermon on the Mount and we have Jesus Christ telling us how he wants us to live. He has dealt with the commandment on murder and adultery, and now he’s dealing with the commandment on lying. He’s going to talk to us about integrity, truth, and honesty.
We have as big a problem in our culture with this. Therefore, let’s take a look and see what Jesus says about integrity. He gives us the principle behind integrity and tells us something about the practice of integrity. And finally, he hints at a problem we all have with integrity, and how to solve it.
This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 13, 2012. Series "Savior and Teacher - A Study of Matthew
". Scripture: Matthew 5:33-37.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
March 19, 2021
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Featured Offer
How to navigate life’s biggest milestones
In How to Find God, Tim Keller shows us how we can face the key milestones of Birth, Marriage, and Death with God’s help. When you give to Gospel in Life this month, we’ll send you this collection of three short books as our thanks for helping us share the Gospel with more people.