Dear Redeeming Grace, Over the last few months we've looked at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in our series "Building Toward a Better Future". We've highlighted many aspects of pressing into the Lord as we seek to build our own lives into Jesus. And we've considered what that means for us as a church as well. Along the way we've reflected on God's faithfulness to us and ...

Dear Redeeming Grace, Because we are all naturally great worshippers, Jason reminded us so helpfully last week that what matters most is WHO we worship. In worship, we are ascribing worth as a response to what we value most. A passage that always challenges me in this aspect is Jeremiah 9:23-24. "Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the...

Dear Redeeming Grace, In Dave's message from Nehemiah last week we were encouraged to forsake the ways of the world and give ourselves fully to the things of God. These two patterns of living reminded me of Paul's commitment in Philippians. He says this: "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal f...

Dear Redeeming Grace, Psalm 9 calls us to a grateful remembrance with these words: "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds." (Psalm 9:1 ESV) As we began our Family Meeting last Sunday morning, we were reminded of God's faithfulness, recounting the wonderful deeds of how the Lord has been building and strengthening ...

Dear Redeeming Grace, What can revive your soul, make you wise, cause your heart to burst with joy and help you see clearly? What is everlasting, unchanging, righteous, more desirable than wealth and sweeter than honey? David tells us clearly in Psalm 19 that it is the Word of God. Last week, looking at Nehemiah 8, we saw these effects of God's Word on God's people. They...

Dear Redeeming Grace, As we continued our series in Nehemiah last week, we thought about ways to exercise faith over fear. I would suspect you've had some times this week where fear tempted or affected you. I'm led to think that because fear is such a common emotion. In fact it's so common that the most often repeated command in all of scripture is some form of "Fear not...

Dear Redeeming Grace, I wonder if your thoughts have turned to heaven a little more this week in light of the message from Colossians to seek and set our minds on the things above. Often times in our fast paced world, we miss out on the gift of just sitting and thinking about heaven. I'm often challenged by the Psalmists when I read of their desire for the presence of th...

Dear Redeeming Grace, We hope this week has found you savoring grace and finding it sweeter than usual. We thought last weekend of how bitter and serious our sin really is and how we need God's help to see it in light of the cross that we might have an appropriate sorrow. But thank God that sorrow isn't the end of the road. An appropriate sorrow will lead us to repentanc...

Dear Redeeming Grace, We've been thinking together for the last couple months about building our lives around the Lord. We've looked at God's working in and through the people of Israel in the book of Ezra and have considered the necessity of building our own lives with things like perseverance, joy, courage and devotion. As we focused in last week on devotion, I was dra...

Dear Redeeming Grace, We hope this week you've experienced God's grace in ways that reminded you of what we looked at this past Sunday; the reality that God is sovereignly in control of our lives, provides for all we need and is faithful to every promise. Because these things are true we have reason to build our lives on him with joy! But what is it about all of these th...