Every week between now and Easter Sunday, we are focusing on a specific way we can be involved what God wants to do in people's lives this Easter! This week our focus is SERVING! As Easter Sunday approaches, we want to encourage you to sign up as a volunteer for our Easter service. We are praying that God will bring many new people who need to hear the good news of Jesus, and we are asking you to join us in serving in some capacity that day. We will need extra greeters and Redemption Kids helpers on Easter Sunday and so there will be more volunteers needed to make that happen! We would love to have you be a part of serving those who join us on Easter Sunday, and you can e-mail us at info@redemptiondb now to let us know you will be available to serve that day. This will help us schedule ahead of time and know how many volunteers we will have. Thank you! Keep praying and inviting!

Download Easter Prayer Card

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Why should you read the Bible? Is it really relevant in today’s world? Will it make any difference in your life? Pastor Eric of Reach Jacksonville shares his passion for the Bible, the impact and influence of reading God’s word and teaching it to others. You will hear his thoughts on how and where to read the Bible, study habits for getting the most from what you read, suggestions of helpful resources and recommended podcasts to listen to while you’re out and about in life. “I fall more in love with the Lord the more I know Him.” Pastor Eric

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Every week between now and Easter Sunday, we are focusing on a specific way we can be involved what God wants to do in people's lives this Easter! This week, our focus is INVITING! Steve challenged us on Sunday morning to invite 2 people per week leading up to Easter to join us for our Easter service next month. Be praying about who the Lord might want you to invite this week! Most people who are Christians now first came to a church service because someone personally invited them, so be encouraged that God will use your willingness to step out in this way. And keep praying for the people on your prayer card from last week! If you missed it, you can download a prayer card HERE.

Download The Easter Prayer Card

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We are so grateful for all of you who serve at Redemption Church and the way God is using you to be a part of the Body and use your gifts for His glory! On Sunday, we interviewed Rosy about her experience serving as a volunteer at Redemption Church and how God has used that in her walk with Jesus. Thank you so much, Rosy, for all you do to serve Jesus here at Redemption Church!

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“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” -Hebrews 13:7

It has been 5 years next month since we had our first gathering as Redemption Church on Easter Sunday, 2012. Daniel and I had moved our family down only months before from Washington State to this unknown (to us) south Florida beach town, and here we were introducing a new church and ourselves to the community!

It. Was. Unreal.

Some of the feelings I remember vividly from that first-ever church service were excitement…for what God wanted to do, fear…that no one would come, joy…in seeing the first few strangers find their seats, insecurity that people wouldn’t connect with us, humor…knowing that only a week earlier, we didn’t even have a church, and desperation…for the Holy Spirit to come and bring power and life to our efforts in a way that only He can do.

None of those things has changed. Not one. As we have seen God come through and work in so many lives over the past several years, we remain excited knowing His ways are so much higher than ours! I still have to fight the temptation to feel afraid and insecure. We laughtogether sometimes, knowing that it is truly only the grace of God that has allowed us to be a part of this beautiful, difficult, and rewarding ministry of pastoring a church.

Pastors are real people. Hopefully you know this. And as God calls men and their families to set aside their own ambitions to pursue this unique calling, we need prayer. And not only those just starting out! Your pastor who has been serving faithfully in his church for 40 years needs your prayers too!

Pastors get to experience what I think is one of the most exhilarating and exciting lifestyles that there is. We are privileged to give God’s Word to the lost and hungry, equip disciples of Jesus to do His ministry, and see the behind-the-scenes miracle of lives being changed supernaturally by a very real and present God who lets US see Him work!

Why us?

I have no idea. I do know, though, that it is an unusual life. And people sometimes regard us differently because of the place God has chosen for us. And that’s okay. I have always had a special respect and honor for my pastors. And this is good and right because God has placed them in a position of authority over His (Jesus’s) Church! But as you regard your pastor, please remember that he needs your support! There was a time he was not a pastor and probably had no ambitions of being one, then God spoke to him and changed the course of his life. Can you think for a moment if God were to call you to do the same?

So here is what I really want you to know about your pastor (and his family). We stumble. We lack faith at times. We try to hold up our shield of faith and not rely on our own strength. We KNOW that we need the Spirit of God to not only work through us to accomplish anything worthwhile, but to sustain our faith! We are where we are because God has placed us here—and that is all. We want to please our Heavenly Father and love and shepherd HIS flock well. And we NEED HIS SPIRIT to be at work constantly in us, around us, through us, and upon us.

As the verse in Hebrews chapter 13 (see above) exhorts you to look to your pastor and imitate his faith, PRAY for his faith to be strengthened! It is perhaps the most humbling part of our life knowing that God Himself has chosen our lives to be showcased as an example to follow. And we do not take this lightly.

But we do have a huge ASK for you.

Would you pray for your pastor? And his wife? And their children? Pray as you would want to be prayed for! I have joked about the golden rule of prayer: “Pray for others as you would have them pray for you!” Remember, again, that they don’t need fancy, extra-spiritual prayers just because it’s your pastor! Pray for patience and tenderness in their marriage, for growth in their own quiet times with Jesus, pray for health and protection for their children!

And THANK YOU. Because without the prayers of so many, I know that my husband and I would not be the same. We have asked for prayer from people near and far in the time since we launched that first Easter service, and God has heard and answered! THANK YOU! Keep praying!

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Do you ever find yourself struggling to retain what you read in the Bible? Or even to remember what you learned from a Sunday sermon or message? There are so many times that I have been deeply moved by a particular message at church, and months later I’ll find my notes from that message and realize I forgot all about the special thing the Lord spoke to my heart.

It can be embarrassing sometimes to recognize my inability to recall something that sincerely spoke to my heart. It’s not that I didn’t hear God speaking to me and desire to remember and apply what I learned. It just never found solid footing in my life, and I let it sit on the back burner of my heart long enough that it was simply forgotten. Don’t you wish we could find a way to remember and retain all of the beautiful truths we learn and keep them close in our hearts?

Something that has helped me tremendously in this area is the importance of SHARING what God is teaching me with someone else. When you teach the very things you are learning and pass them along to another person, those truths sink deeper into your own heart.

If you can teach it to someone else, your own understanding of that truth grows and becomes easier to remember.

When you read your Bible and God teaches you through it, share that with someone! You will mature in your knowledge and faith when you are able to teach someone else what God has taught you!

“Teaching the Bible” is an intimidating idea for most of us. Most of us would probably never describe ourselves as Bible teachers. You may feel you don’t KNOW enough, or perhaps you might be asked a question you won’t know the answers to! It is true that you cannot teach what you do not know and understand yourself, but what is different about teaching the BIBLE, is that the Holy Spirit Himself is able to speak through you and give you words to say! And also, it is completely normal and okay not to have all the answers!

Our faith grows when we step out and put our trust in God’s ability to speak through us! And once you do this a few times, you will begin to see that it is, in fact God who does the teaching, and you are simply his vessel—his voice—to speak to others.

Don’t be afraid to share what God has been teaching you, no matter how simple you may think it sounds!

Those truths will sink themselves deeper into your own heart, and you will get to see God use you to teach others!

And this can look different for each of us. You may want to find a friend who can be that person you share with on a regular basis—maybe you both can meet up during the week and share what God is teaching you that week. Or maybe you and your spouse can make an effort to share more with each other about your personal walks with Jesus. Another way that can be very helpful in maturing us and expanding our knowledge of the Bible is through teaching children! Teaching kids causes us to study the simple and foundational truths of Scripture in order to pass them along in a clear way. Pray about how God might want to be using you to teach someone else this week!

However you feel that this applies best to you, let me encourage you to start now! Be confident that God will use your willingness to share with others for both your own good and the good of others! Preach His Word, encourage one another, and watch how Jesus uses you!

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” -2 Timothy 4:1-2

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Happy New Year!

As we enter 2017, we want to look back and celebrate all God has done this past year. Below you can see a recap of our year at Redemption Church and join with us in thanking God today for the great things He has done! We want you to know that you have been a part of this special work through your prayers and support for us. We are remembering with you so that we can look ahead to this new year with expectation and faith in who Jesus is and that He has great things in store! We pray that you are blessed this year as you pursue and proclaim Jesus in 2017!