Welcome to the weekly podcast of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Austin, Texas. To learn more visit our website at https://redeemerpres.org.
Reading the feed…
As Christians, we have much to learn from criminals as we are all guilty before God of breaking his law. As a result, we face three challenges: the condemnation of the law, the corruption of our past lifestyles, and the relational alienation that comes from sin. Yet God, in his mercy, has given us his spirit that liberates us from condemnation (8:1), enables us to live Spirit-led lives (8:5-11), and assures us of our adoption and union with Christ (8:12-16), that we might share the glory of Christ and abide in eternal fellowship with him (8:17). This Sunday we will explore the spirit's work in
Romans 7 is one of those chapters that will either make or break your Christian life. Depending on your interpretation, it is either an extremely encouraging chapter because you can see your own life mirrored in the life of the Apostle Paul or it is a discouraging chapter that leads you to question whether you have been saved at all. In some of the most personal language he uses in his letters, Paul describes the normal Christian life. It’s not always pretty or victorious, but it is always centered on the person and work of Jesus for us.
At the end of Romans 5, Paul said something that probably infuriated his Jewish readers and confounds religious people to this day: where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Many people think the main benefit of religion (any religion) is to make bad people better, but Paul says Christianity is ultimately about bad people getting what they don’t deserve: grace! So, now in chapter 6, Paul addresses two potential points of confusion. As we saw last week, he first addressed the absurd conclusion that some people had about his teaching about grace and the gospel. This week, we’re continuing
As humans, we cannot help but make excuses for ourselves. After all, we’re only human, right? This Sunday we will examine the first of two excuses Paul addresses in Romans 6: “Should we sin so that grace may abound all the more?” The immediate answer is absolutely not, but the reason Paul provides is far deeper than we would expect: if you’re making excuses for sin, you have forgotten your union in Christ. This Sunday we will explore three pictures Paul uses to describe our union with Christ as we remember and savor our identity in him.
In this profound passage, the Apostle Paul answers one of life's most important questions: What is wrong with us and the world we live in? Paul's answer is both sobering and hopeful. Our problem is found in Adam, but our solution is found in Jesus Christ. Join us as we consider our miserable condition in Adam and the superabundant grace that is ours through union with Christ.
Does God’s justification of sinners make any practical difference to daily life? Is it simply a doctrine to be believed or is it a doctrine that makes a difference—both to our status and in our experience of God? This week, we turn to the first half of Romans 5 and see the difference justification makes. In some of the most joy-filled verses of Paul’s letter, he lays out several ways that justification matters in the life of a Christian today, demonstrating that sound doctrine makes a difference in real life.
This week we continue our series in the book of Romans and examine Paul's discussion of Abraham's faith. For any group, the values of our forebears informs our collective identity. Paul targets Abraham's faith (Gen. 15:6), as the example of justification, to remind the church at Rome that justification by faith is not a new idea; rather, it has been the foundation of salvation from the earliest stages of the Lord's salvific ministry. In focusing on verses 17-25, we will examine the nature of Abraham's faith, and seek to understand how justification by faith functions throughout the covenant of
The power of the Apostle Paul’s rhetoric and logic is on clear display in the second half of Romans 3. After definitively proving that all humanity is unrighteous, under sin, and subject to God’s wrath, he turns the tables and announces the good news: righteousness can only come through faith in Jesus Christ! With this set of verses, he concludes his long and devastating indictment of Jews and Gentiles alike. And with this set of verses, he begins what Martin Luther called, "the chief point, and the very central place of the epistle, and of the whole Bible.” Join us this Sunday in our continui
After showing the Gentiles their need for God's righteousness, Paul turns to his fellow Jews. Because the Jews were boasting in their outward conformity to God's will, Paul reminds them of their failure to obey the law and corrects their misunderstanding about circumcision. Paul wants the Jews to recognize they need God's righteousness just like the Gentiles. Although Paul's critiques target first-century Jews in this passage, we must recognize that we too are prone to boast in outward conformity to God's will without inward obedience. But, as we will see, our hope is not in what we do, but in
Paul’s great thesis in this letter is found in Romans 1:16-17. He confidently declares that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed and by that same gospel, the righteous shall live by faith. But who are the righteous? Last week, we saw how all of us are guilty of the various sins against which God’s wrath is being and will be revealed. In this week’s text, we are confronted with a confusing and potentially contradictory underlying theological principle: God judges according to works and on the last day, we
On June 26, 2003, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that criminalized same-sex intimacy. That decision set the stage for another decision 12 years later that legalized gay marriage. These legal decisions merely codified what a majority of Americans still today accept and celebrate. But at the end of Romans 1, Paul uses same sex intimacy as an example of the whole hearted rebellion against God that takes root in the human heart. Christians may be tempted to stand in judgment of people that sin differently than we do. In our text this week, Paul doesn’t stop with same sex sin, he also in
This week, we begin a new sermon series in Paul’s epistle to the Romans. He’s writing to a church he’s never visited but his letter will become one of the most important books in the New Testament, helping us understand early Christian doctrine, conflict between Jews and Gentiles, and the life that God calls us to lead as his disciples. We’ll begin with a discussion of Paul’s understanding of the gospel, righteousness, and faith. These foundational terms are necessary to understand for the rest of the letter to make any sense. As we begin grappling with the important ideas Paul shares, we will
In the church calendar the first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday, a day set aside to remember and reflect upon the nature and character of God. This Sunday we will explore the privilege of knowing God as a tri-une being, and discuss three implications of God's nature for his followers today.
Message from Rev. Titus Bagby on May 24, 2026
As we conclude our celebration of Easter, we turn our attention to the ascension of Christ to the Father’s right hand in glory. Our text this Sundays tells us that Jesus, as the victorious King who is enthroned in power and majesty, gives gifts to his church. What are the gifts? The better question is, who are the gifts and why does our King give them to us? When we grasp that, we’ll better understand Jesus’ heart for his church and the purpose each one of us is given as members of Christ’s body.
When we confess our belief using the Apostles’ Creed, we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Is that reality purely future? Or is it closer than we think? This Sunday, we’ll hear from the Apostle Paul about resurrection in the present tense from 1 Corinthians 15: what does it look like for us to live “in Christ,” the one who was dead but now is alive and at work renewing all things?
Every soldier or statesman knows that after a hard fought victory, the real work begins. Whether you are rebuilding a nation after war or forming a more perfect union, the battle gives way to construction. What is God constructing after his victorious battle against sin and death? What does the new creation look like? The first step in any rebuilding process is to lay a cornerstone. Join us this Sunday as we see how Jesus is the cornerstone of the new creation—a work that includes even you and me.
Message from Rev. Danny Morgan on April 26, 2026
As we continue our celebration of Easter, we turn to the well-known story of Jesus’ appearance to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Along the way, Jesus leads them through a survey of the Old Testament showing how all of Scripture points to him! By the end of the journey, the disciples have been moved from sadness to joy. This Sunday, we’ll listen in on the greatest small group Bible study ever, praying that God will also teach us and encourage our hearts with the story of Jesus’ suffering and glory.
What happened to the disciples after Jesus was raised from the dead? We continue the story of the first Easter this week and find the disciples hiding in a locked room, afraid—afraid of the Jews but even more unsettled by the news of Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples’ reaction (especially Thomas’s reaction) is illustrative for you and me: what will it take for us to believe God’s promises, to trust God’s Word, to follow Jesus as his disciples? Join us this week as we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
This Sunday is Easter and we will finally conclude our study in the Gospel of Mark with Mark's account of the Resurrection of our Lord. We began our study on January 8, 2023, and have returned to it each spring. I trust that these four years of study about the life and work of Jesus have not just informed your mind but have also enlarged your heart, helping you worship and follow Jesus as his disciple. In our last sermon of the series, we’ll see that the earliest disciples found faith as hard as we sometimes do. But Jesus went before them, preparing them for their sacred calling to be his witn
In the church calendar, today is both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday, a day where we remember both Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and his redeeming suffering on the cross. The tension between these two images of Jesus—hailed as King by the crowds but mocked as King by Pilate and others—is instructive for us. It makes us confront our own expectations of King Jesus: what does he look like? What does his kingdom look like?
The pace of Mark’s storytelling—already fast compared to the other Gospel writers—spicing up. Jesus is taken from the Garden of Gethsemane to the home of the High Priest for a hasty trial before the Jewish religious leaders. Peter, meanwhile, has followed at a distance and is trapped by accusations that he was one of Jesus’ disciples. Both Jesus and Peter undergo a trial of sorts, both are condemned, but only one is innocent. Join us this Sunday as we study Mark 14:53-72 and draw closer and closer to the cross.
In January 2020, a small group from Redeemer visited Israel. One of the most moving places for me to visit was the Garden of Gethsemane. The area lies at the foot of the Mount of Olives. You can look across a small valley to the ancient city of Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is clearly visible. It was there on the night before Jesus died that his disciples heard something extraordinary: they heard Jesus ask to be relieved of his divine mission. I say they heard because it was customary then to pray out loud. The reports of Jesus’ prayer that are passed down to us in the Gospels are eye witness ac
On the night Jesus was betrayed, he established the Lord's Supper (communion) as a sign of the New Covenant for his people. He intended his church to celebrate this meal until he partakes of it with us after his return. This Sunday we will explore our theology of the table, focusing on its background, the nature of its gift, and the calling of its participants.
