Dear Redeeming Grace, In reflecting on the sermon from Sunday, I'm thankful again for the reminder from His word that God is indeed in control, for His glory and His people's good. The theological word, that Jon helpfully highlighted, was: Sovereign. God is the king over all. He rules and reigns, directing all of history's details, even the minutiae and intimately persona...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Sometimes we need to freshly marvel at the person of Jesus. And God, in his wisdom, has given us verses in his word that help us to do that. One of those verses is Colossians 1:15-16. Speaking of Jesus, God's word says: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, v...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, As we concluded Paul's first missionary journey last week, one thing Jason pointed out continues to encourage me. Even though we encounter many tribulations through this life, we will enter the kingdom of God. The destination often gives strength for the journey. Hasn't this been true for Christians for centuries? Our ultimate hope in the midst of ...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, In his most famous sermon, Jesus said this: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16 ESV) Good works give glory. That's an amazing and humbling thought when you let it sink in. Jesus calls us to be like a city on a hill, or a light on a ...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, I've been continuing to think about Dave's message this last Sunday and the encouragement that God always accomplishes his purposes, whether we engage or disengage opposition, as the Lord leads. Thinking on this brought to mind a familiar verse from the Psalms, one that we often only focus on the first half of. The verse is Psalm 46:10. The first pa...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, This week we wanted to pass along a helpful tool in approaching God's Word. In his concise and very helpful book, "Before You Open Your Bible", Matt Smethurst writes this: "I am convinced that a prayerless approach to God's Word is a major reason for the low-level dissatisfaction that hums beneath the surface of our lives. We rob ourselves of joy an...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, "...what we do on Sunday morning when the church gathers is far more extraordinary, far more astonishing, than anything else we participate in." Devon Kauflin (Lead Pastor, Grace Church) One of the many reasons we love our partnership in Sovereign Grace Churches is the mutual care and equipping we receive regularly, and in many forms. One such resou...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, Living in America in the year 2023, I would suspect most of us are unfamiliar with what it means to tend sheep as a shepherd. And because of this, we may not marvel as fully at the wonderful reality that God is our shepherd. Caleb pointed us to this so well last week as he preached from Ezekiel 34. We have a heavenly Father who doesn't outsource his...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace,We hope this week finds you continuing to marvel and rejoice that our risen savior is ruling this world--and our lives--from his heavenly throne. As I was thinking back to Dave's message this past Sunday, one sentence kept resounding: "God wants us to be filled with faith in a world filled with trouble." Faith and fear are both responses to the unkno...
Keep ReadingDear Redeeming Grace, On this Good Friday, we rightly remember the death of our savior. Hebrews 2:8b-9 helps us reflect on some spiritual realities. The writer of Hebrews is speaking of the relationship of the Father and the Son when writing this: "Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everythin...
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