The Redemption Blog

Sunday @ Redemption...

 

re·solve (verb)

1.  to cause resolution of

2.  to reach a firm decision about

Have you noticed how your relationship with Jesus is a process?

No ever stepped into relationship with Him and magically desired to go God's way all the time. It is an ongoing challenge to continue to come under the loving leadership of God in His Word each day.  Spiritual growth is slow and like all relationships, our relationship with Jesus takes time to develop.

Yet, there are others of us who are simply sitting on the fence. We have things we are holding on to that we do not want to give over to Jesus. We treat church, the mission of Jesus and our relationship with Christ as if it is one of many extracurricular activities. 

My prayer for Redemption in 2010 is simple: 

I pray we would resolve to make Jesus our highest pursuit.

Join us this Sunday at Redemption as we talk about where we sense God leading us in 2010 and how we can resolve to love Him above all else in our lives.

 

A First Time For Everything...

Here at Redemption we have been meeting for just shy of a year.  We started in a house, moved to a community center, and are now meeting weekly at 945am on Sunday mornings at Cutting Hall in Palatine, IL.

This Saturday we are going to try a new tactic for the very first time--active marketing.  By God's grace up until this point, our church has grown solely via word of mouth, utilizing Facebook and Twitter, and people who have found us on the Acts 29 website. 

We decided to take this approach for a very special service. We are thrilled that we were able to reserve Cutting Hall for Christmas Eve and have a service planned from 4p-5p in which Ryan will speak on "Immanuel: Celebrating God's Gift To The World". We had 1000 postcards made that we are turning into door-hangers and will be blanketing the downtown Palatine area from 10a-1p. 

Be praying for us as we distribute these cards on Saturday.  For some of us, the Holidays are a love filled season of joy.  For many others, it is one of the darkest times of the year filled with loneliness and despair.  Our prayer is that these simple door-hangers would find their way into the hands of those people and God would bring them to Redemption on Christmas Eve to be changed by a Gospel Message. 

If you are able and willing to help out, email me and I will send the the info for Saturday. 

Please join us on Christmas Eve--we would love to celebrate with you!

Posted by Tyler Drewitz

Ministry Development

Sunday @ Redemption...

 

Have you ever experienced brokenness in a relationship?

Sin caused a fracture in our relationship with God which has caused a fracture in many of our relationships with family and friends.

What is supposed to be a source of encouragement, joy and blessing, inevitably ends up being a source of conflict, strife and stress. 

The good news is that their can be reconciliation in our relationships. First with God and then with each other. 

Join us this weekend as we continue our series, "But God" and look to Jesus the great Reconciler. 

 

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