By Jason Wredberg One of the many blessings of my sabbatical was that my brother’s church in North Carolina granted him a sabbatical as well this summer, so we were able to meet up with my entire family for a week of fun together in the hills of Tennessee. It was not only fun to be together, but I loved seeing my dad lead a time of family devotions every night with grandkids hanging all over him. After our time in Tennessee with my whole family, we came back home and had just five days to move into a new house before we left for a lengthy trip out west. As you might have guessed, this was not ..read more

By Bryan Johnson I recently watched a gripping movie where the main character was part of a vulnerable people group who were suffering horrifically at the hands of evil perpetrators. When confronted by a friend who exhorted him to rise up and seek revenge by killing the enemies, the main character calmly refused. He claimed there was a better course of action than retribution. The movie was provocative, but it got me thinking about the topic of revenge and why it’s such a strong temptation for us in the face of evil and injustice. We’ve all been injured and maligned by someone and felt the ur ..read more

By Jeff Waldron The following post is written by one of Redeemer's elders, Jeff Waldron, in response to the Supreme Court leak. We are thankful for his careful observations and exhortations. We hope it will be encouraging to our church family. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court made a discovery that has haunted our country for nearly 50 years. In the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court found a “fundamental right” for a woman to terminate the life of her unborn child. You could read Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to search for this right for yourself, but you will not ..read more

By Bryan Johnson The local church is to be the hub of a Christian’s spiritual life and growth. However, as we redeemed sinners live and interact with one another in the body of Christ, there is bound to be some occasional friction. One common area where this can occur is in doctrinal differences and opinions. Of course, these must be handled with clarity and conviction as well as grace and peace. A familiar phrase from church history provides us with helpful counsel: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Though the original source of this mantra is unclea ..read more

By Elaine Pratt We’ve got spirit, yes, we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout YOU?! In a different lifetime, I raised red pom-poms and screamed this into the opposing team’s stand. I was filled with home-team loyalty fervor, and the other team was lobbed an unspecified expectation. They DID have spirit, but no one had given instructions on how to respond back, led the charge to do so, or even forewarned them of their obligation in this volley of home-team competitive loudness. What to do? With the announcement of my role in leading women’s ministry, I suggest a small (non-athletic, non-yelling) p ..read more

By Elaine Pratt My dad often told the story of bringing me home from the hospital with a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his face: “You were the smallest little bundle of baby, diaper rash red as a beet, and we were SO thankful. You were our precious daughter.” Not much different than how most dads might describe it (minus the diaper rash!), right? Except that my parents didn’t know they’d be bringing me home (or that I even existed!) until 24 hours earlier. Literally, the call came the day before that there was a baby, their daughter, ready to be brought home. I was adopted. In the years th ..read more

By Jeff Waldron The Prayer Lord, let this not be mere ritual. May this rehearsal of the Gospel, this tangible reminder of work done and promises begun further conform me to the image of the Lamb. The Unbelief For I have been crucified with Christ, cleansed of my transgressions. Adopted as a son, a very son of the Father, a beloved brother of the Son. Ah, but I falter. Like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, I indulge my corruption and retreat to indifference; I forget that I am loved. Simultaneously self-satisfied and self-loathing—why are you cast down, O my soul? Why this unb ..read more

By J. Aaron White Advent is a special time as we, the body of Christ, contemplate the Incarnation and eagerly await the second coming of our Lord. During our Sunday services, we will read excerpts from Scripture and light the corresponding Advent candles. In addition to this, we will send a weekly blog that unpacks the concept from Sunday's reading a little further. We pray that these blogs serve you in your personal devotions, family worship, etc. as you see God's sovereign power at work in the storyline of Christmas! Reading – Zechariah 3:1-5 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standin ..read more

By J. Aaron White Getting to Know Ol’ What’s His Name I had never heard of Friedrich Nietzsche, and I certainly had no idea how to spell his name. Yet, in an effort to bite off more than I could chew and push myself intellectually, I purchased a copy of R. C. Sproul’s classic work, The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World. Within the first ten minutes of reading it, I knew it would be a seminal book in my life. Moreover, his biographical sketch of the life and philosophy of a man born in Leipzig in 1844 arrested my attention more than the others. Though figu ..read more

By J. Aaron White Advent is a special time as we, the body of Christ, contemplate the Incarnation and eagerly await the second coming of our Lord. During our Sunday services, we will read excerpts from Scripture and light the corresponding Advent candles. In addition to this, we will send a weekly blog that unpacks the concept from Sunday's reading a little further. We pray that these blogs serve you in your personal devotions, family worship, etc. as you see God's sovereign power at work in the storyline of Christmas! Reading – Exodus 12:43-51 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is t ..read more