Dear Redeeming Grace, Last week Dave helped us see more clearly that if we are to show mercy, our compassion and empathy has to give birth to action. Mercy involves both our hearts and our hands. As we considered what it looks like to be merciful because God has been merciful to us, I was reminded of a simple and very helpful verse from Ephesians 5. "Therefore be imitato...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, In his sermon on fellowship, Jason shared this great quote from J.I. Packer: "A body in which the blood does not circulate well is always below par, and fellowship corresponds to the circulation of the blood in the body of Christ. The church gains strength through fellowship, and loses strength without it." - J.I. Packer By God's grace we always wa...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Last week we thought about putting on gospel hope. As I've continued to meditate on this, I'm seeing more that hope grows out of what we set our mind and heart on. If we tend to a tree and what it needs, the fruit will grow. And hope is like a fruit that gets sweeter as it's nurtured. If we are to have this joyful anticipation of hope, we have to ke...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Last week Jason taught on discipleship from Matthew 28:18-20. Two words continue to resound from Jesus' command, "make disciples". Which leads to an important question; what is a disciple? A helpful way to think about this is the picture of a lifelong apprentice. One who comes to learn under a master. One who devotes themselves to becoming like the ...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, In Jason's message on serving last week, we thought of a helpful image. Just like a young child learns to write his or her letters by tracing, we can trace our lives onto Jesus' life. I think we see a great example of Jesus teaching this during the last supper He had with his disciples in John 13. "When he had washed their feet and put on his outer ...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, It has been a real joy these many months getting to consider all that God spoke through Luke's gospel. I believe God has shaped us through his Word that we would be certain of who Jesus is and how we are to live in light of all He's done. As we move into 2022, we will spend the next couple months in a new sermon series titled Adorn: Putting On Our G...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Christmas is full of grace. In Jason's sermon last week he shared this quote from C.S. Lewis: "The Son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God." As I thought about that quote this week, I realized how well it sums up a passage about the incarnation we may overlook because it's not found in the Christmas narratives. The verses are Gala...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Do you remember that sage advice you always heard when you were first learning to cross the street? Look. Both. Ways. This week we find ourselves in the middle of the advent season. Advent is a unique time of year as it allows us the opportunity to look both ways, back and forward. We look back as we remember that the eternal Son of God, the Word, ...
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