The Redemption Blog

 

The holiday season is a common time to run on empty.

Between the time with extended family, holiday parties, financial stress, and just the overall busyness this time of year it is easy to wake up and find yourself burned out, worn down, and fed up.  The irony of this, is that for Christians this is the time of year we remember and celebrate the birth of God's great gift to the world in Jesus.  

So, before you go from loving Jesus to losing your mind, let me offer you a few suggestions as we seek Jesus above all else this holiday season:

1. Pick a time

We all have to choose HOW we will spend the time we have. My encouragement to you would be to pick a specific and consistent time to be alone with Jesus each day. Could be 15 minutes, could be an hour. The most important thing is to choose a time that you can focus and refuel each day and you devote time to pursuing Jesus.  

2. Pick a place

Things like your kids running around, roommates doing God-only knows in your dorm room, or coworkers demanding your attention do not lend themselves to conducive environments for meditating on Scripture, praying, confessing sin, and repenting.  Find a quite place you can get away and be ALONE with Jesus each day. This might mean getting up earlier, or staying up later, but in these quite spaces we find rest and restoration. 

3. Pick a plan

What will your time look like? There are countless options, but I recommend picking a book of the Bible, spending some time reading slowly and then praying and maybe even journaling about what God is teaching you if that works for you.  

As the year winds down, often times so does our energy. Let's respond to the grace of God by pursuing Him first this season. 

Posted by Ryan Huguley

Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vison 

 

Sunday @ Redemption...

 

No one likes bad news.

But, have you ever stopped to realize that it is really the bad news that makes the good news truly good. Apart from bad news, news is simply news. It is neither good, nor bad.

It just simply IS.

The same is true of the Gospel.

It is the bad news about our human condition that makes the good news of the Gospel truly good.

Join us this weekend for week 2 of "But God" as we unpack Ephesians 2:1-10 and find the beauty of good news in the midst of bad news. 

As a reminder, being the first Sunday of the month, this week is Family Sunday.  In order to worship together as one large family, there will be no childcare provided. 

Posted by Ryan Huguley

Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision  

 

 

Hey Friends!

With all the craziness of the holidays in full swing we are doing our best to scale back what we have going on at Redemption throughout the month of December. Instead of you being at number of "church" events we would rather see you all be good missionaries and spend time with friends, family, and co-workers who don't know Jesus. 

So that we can all plan accordingly I wanted to give you the basic Redemption calendar for the rest of this year. Here's what's coming up:

Community Groups

Community Groups will only be meeting the first and third weeks of December. 

Christmas Party

Join us Friday, December 11 from 7-9PM at Ashley and Jill Herr's house in Crystal Lake. Our core group began there just 10 months ago and we want to go back to the living room and celebrate all God has done this year. Bring your kids and an appetizer to share. (MAP)

Christmas Eve Service

Thursday, December 24 from 4-5PM we will be having our first Christmas Eve service at Cutting Hall. This is a great opportunity to invite friends, family, and co-workers to celebrate the greatest gift God has ever given the world.  

Let's make this a great holiday season and remember that it's Jesus we celebrate! 

Posted by Ryan Huguley

Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision 

Sunday @ Redemption...

 

Join us this Sunday at Redemption as we begin a 4-part series titled, "But God: Defining the Gospel in Two Words".  

All of us have walked through seasons of life that did not make sense. 

Seasons of pain. Seasons of struggle. Seasons of loss.

You find yourself wondering how a loving God could allow such pain in the world and in your life.

You find yourself wondering if God is really there. 

You find yourself wondering how there could possibly be meaning in your pain.

Join us this weekend as we look to the life of a guy named Joseph in the book of Genesis and how he asked some of these same questions, had the same doubts, and walked through the same seasons...

Join us for "But God"...

9:45 @ Cutting Hall

150 E. Wood St. in Downtown Palatine

(MAP) 

 "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"

-1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV)

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, it is a great time to stop and recognize the evidence of God's grace in our lives. Here are 8 things I'm thankful for right now:

1. The Gospel

I'm thankful Jesus gave His perfect life in my place.

2. My Wife

I'm thankful God has blessed me with Tami who fills my life with joy and makes me a better Christian, husband, daddy and pastor.

3. My Kids

I'm thankful for how Ava has blessed and stretched us and ultimately taught me far more about God. I also can't wait to meet my new baby in May!

4. RBC Leaders

I'm thankful I get to serve in the mission of Jesus with some of my closest friends and so many people who make my job a joy.

5. Growth at Redemption

We have seen tremendous growth in both health and numbers at Redemption and I continue to be amazed at God's work here.

6. Gospel Transformation

It seems that each week I have a front row seat from which to watch the Gospel drop in people's hearts

7. Acts 29

This network has served us well and been a source of great brotherhood, encouragement and challenge.

8. RBC Volunteers

We have an amazing group of people who serve faithfully each week in various ways and we couldn't do this without them.

My list could go on and on, but I would really like to hear what your thankful for.  Where do you see evidence of God's grace in your life?

Click here to join the conversation...

Preaching Resources

As I was trying to figure out what books to recommend to everyone this week, I was struck by how many authors are attempting to deal with the issue of money and possessions. In the taglines for many of the books I read, something like the following was affirmed again and again: “We live in the most prosperous society in the history of the world.” Many people realize the crisis of wealth in which we find ourselves, as living conditions between the rich and the poor are perhaps as polarized as ever. Because of the confusion surrounding how we ought to view our possessions, I want to recommend to you just one book this week: Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions (IVP 2001). We are all incredibly skeptical of what various authors have to say when it comes in money, because we think they just somehow want a piece of the change. However, this book, written by Craig Blomberg, looks at how the theme of possessions develops throughout Scripture, giving us a complete picture of how we ought to view or things in relation to God.

A note from Ryan...

Greetings Friends!

It's been a crazy few weeks, but things are settling down just in time to get crazy again for the holidays.  I can hardly believe we are 10 weeks in to the life of our young church and that the holidays are around the corner.  

The holidays present us with some great Gospel-mission opportunities I wanted to draw your attention to.

1. Missional Prayer

While the holidays are a time of celebration for many of us, they are a time of darkness and depression for many. This gives us great opportunity to lift up friends and loved ones in prayer. Let's pray that the Light would shine in their darkness this season and ask God how we can be a light and a source of Gospel-hope in their lives.

2. Missional Partying

For many of us, the holidays are a time of one party after another. We will be surrounded by friends, family, neighbors and co-workers, many of which do not know Jesus. We have an opportunity to continue to build relationships and love people well. Let's bring the best food, bring the best wine, and be a source of blessing for the sake of the Gospel.

3. Missional Partnership

At Redemption we are taking the first step in partnering with local community organizations to serve our city well.  This Sunday we are starting a children's coat drive with PHD, a local non-profit that seeks to counsel, educate, and love young mom's in need.  We want each of you to bring or buy at least one coat for a child anywhere from birth to six years of age.

We will also be hosting a Christmas Eve service on Thursday, December 24 from 4-5PM at Cutting Hall. This is a great opportunity to invite friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate the life of Christ with us.

Let's seize the opportunities God puts before us this holiday season and pray God would work amazing things in each of our hearts and the hearts of those we love and who do not know Jesus.  

I love you guys and I continue to thank God for your Gospel-partnership!

Posted by Ryan Huguley

Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision

Sunday @Redemption...

If you are normal, your first response to the word "discipline" in general and "church discipline" in particular, is probably not positive.

We hear that word and our thoughts harken back to childhood. We think of things like...

The many times we were forced to sit in the corner...

The hours we spent grounded in our rooms...

The bars of soap used to wash the profanity from our mouths...

For some of us it brings to mind dark memories of abuse, or severe and over harsh punishments we both did not deserve and did not understand.

Needless to say, it is a loaded word for each of us.  

Join us this Sunday at Redemption as we work to both unpack this word from God's perspective and discuss how we work it out as a church family. My promise to you is that it will be a time of healing, challenge, conviction, and encouragement.  

You won't want to miss it!

Map and Service time here...

Preaching Resources

 

Here are a list of resources to supplement further study based on Sunday's sermon on Redeeming Church: Sacraments.  Enjoy!

Introductory

• John H. Armstrong, ed., Understanding Four Views on Baptism (Zondervan, 2007), 224 pages.
• David F. Wright, ed., Baptism: Three Views (IVP, 2009), 200 pages.
• Gordon T. Smith, ed., The Lord’s Supper: Five Views (IVP, 2007), 157 pages.

Intermediate

• Thomas Schreiner, ed., Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ (B & H Academic, 2007), 364 pages.
• Leonard J. Vander Zee, Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship (IVP 2004), 249 pages.
• John H. Armstrong, ed., Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper (Zondervan, 2007), 224 pages.

Advanced

• Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Eerdmans, 2009), 912 pages.

Sunday @Redemption...

Since I was a kid I have wanted to be many of the characters I have seen on the big screen.  

I know this will not win me any cool points, but I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones, Robin Hood, King Arthur, and a host of other strong characters that were involved in something bigger than themselves.  I know this makes me a geek, but unfortunately it has not gone away.

Before you are too quick to judge and find a church with a pastor who does not want to be Harry Potter, be honest about the fact that I all of do this to some degree.  

How does a good movie do this?  Why is it that we connect so deeply and get lost in these stories?

I think it is because we identify with what we SEE happening.  

In a sense we are there.  

We are not simply reading what happened, or hearing what happened, we are getting a chance to see it for ourselves and experience it.  

While all metaphors are limited, in the church, sacraments act much the same way films do.  Through communion and baptism we are not simply remembering Christ's life, death, and resurrection, we are identifying with it.   

Join us this weekend at Redemption as we seek to not just remember, but actually climb inside of and identify with the great Gospel story as we explore redeeming Church sacraments...

Redemption Bible Church

Weekly Worship Gatherings: 9:45 @Cutting Hall

150 E Wood St in Downtown Palatine (MAP)