How do you talk about kindness? Depending on the context, the Greek word can be translated as fitting, pleasing, honest, or compassionate. How do you talk about a word with that kind of lexical range?

The answer is you can’t do it abstractly. You have to look at a kind of relationship that combines all those traits. The kind of relationship that combines them is friendship. And nothing is more humanizing and life-changing than friendship.

John 15 is a unique passage about friendship. It tells us 1) the character or nature of friendship, 2) how you forge friendship, and 3) where you get the power for friendship.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 9, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: John 15:6-15.

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If you’ve ever read a translation like the King James Version, you know when you get to the word “patience,” the older English translation will use the word “longsuffering.” This is because the Greek word for patience literally means to suffer a long time, which doesn’t sound very promising.

What it’s saying is that patience is the trait by which you are able to bear up under difficulty without giving up or giving in to bitterness. There are two kinds of patience: there’s patience under difficult circumstances and there’s patience with people. And Romans 12 is a remarkable passage about how to be patient and gracious to people who are opposing you.

This passage gives us 1) a principle of showing patience, 2) some ideas on how to practice it, and 3) how to get the power to do it.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 2, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 12:9-21.

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There’s a difference between controlling or suppressing the natural self-centeredness and insecurity of the heart through willpower and seeing it permanently changed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Galatians 5, there’s a list of the traits or characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. They’re called the fruit of the Spirit. We’re in a series trying to understand how we can have more of that supernaturally changed heart in our own lives. Today we look at peace.

We’re going to learn three things from this classic passage in Philippians 4: 1) the character of peace, 2) the three disciplines of getting peace, and 3) the secret of peace.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 25, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 4:4-12.

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.

How do you know whether you’re just trying to be good, or whether the Holy Spirit has really brought transformation into your life?

The way to know is to look at what’s called the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. There’s a whole set of characteristics of a supernaturally changed heart. We’re looking now at the first of these: joy.

Romans 5 tells us three things about joy. It tells us 1) joy is important, 2) Christian joy is unique, and 3) where Christian joy comes from.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: Romans 5:1-11.

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.

Almost all of us have parts of our lives we really want to see changed, but change is really hard. And it’s very possible to mistake a morally restrained heart for a supernaturally changed heart.

If you squeeze a rubber ball and then take your hand away, it snaps right back to where it was. You restrained the rubber ball temporarily, but you didn’t really change it. Almost all of us have that rubber ball experience. We try to change parts of our lives, and we put a lot of willpower behind it. Then as soon as circumstances change, it snaps right back.

1 Corinthians 13 tells us that a supernaturally changed heart 1) is not the same as a busy life in service of others, 2) is not the same as a morally committed life, but 3) is meeting love as a power and as a person.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 11, 2010. Series: The Real Signs of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

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This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 14, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 49:8-21.

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We’ve lost connection with part of what the Bible teaches about sin: that God gets angry at sin. And I’m here to tell you that losing that is a bad thing.

In fact, I’ll go this far: you need an angry God. If you don’t believe in an angry God, a really angry God who hates sin and is going to punish it, you’re impoverishing yourself. You’re taking away all sorts of hope and humility and love.

Isaiah 64 and 65 show us 1) God’s anger is not like our anger usually is, 2) you need an angry God if you’re going to live in hope, 3) you need an angry God if you’re going to live in humility, and 4) you need an angry God if you’re going to understand how loved you are.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 7, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9, 65:17-18.

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When people in the West were faced with the atrocities of World War II, the culture’s prevailing optimistic views of human nature were devastated. Two questions kept coming up: what’s wrong with us that we’re capable of this, and what are we going to do about it?

Isaiah 52 to 53 was written to answer those same two questions. It was written to a nation facing exile, to people who were about to face captivity, atrocities, and prison. And it has maybe the most well-known answer in the Bible to the question about human evil: God is sending somebody, the servant of the Lord.

In this passage, we learn 1) who he is, 2) why he came, and 3) what he did.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 28, 1999. Series: What’s Really Wrong with the World. Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

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.