Expect The Mess (pt2) by Daniel Williams

We all want to see God do amazing things, but we can forget about the hard work it takes to see the fruit. Hard work is just that: hard work! And it can be very easy to become uncomfortable and even overwhelmed by the mess of ministry to the lost. Remember this scripture from last time:

Prov 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. 

Ministry gets messy when there are people involved! And the gospel is always the answer. Only Jesus has the power to save and to truly change a person. 

As we continue to do ministry and reach out to the lost in our community, I have seen a few things that have become invaluable as we learn to minister to those far from God. So, here are just three things that I have found to be helpful and some practical ways to disciple people through the mess of life. 

EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE PREACHING

1 They won’t know much — We have to understand that many people have never heard the gospel and have never been to church. This may seem hard to believe in certain cultures, but in our community we are dealing with people who didn’t grow up in Christian homes and haven’t been to church much—if at all. So they don’t understand many terms that are found in the Bible because they have never read it. They don’t know what a church service is supposed to look like because they have never been. They don’t know much about Jesus; and if they do, it is usually is skewed because they learned from culture, media and friends—not from God’s Word. 

So, how have we practically dealt with this? We explain what we are preaching. I take the time to explain a lot of what I preach and don’t assume that people have heard any of it before. You would be surprised to know how often we assume that people already know the things we know. But listen, many people have never heard that God loves them and that they can have a relationship with Him. Or that they can personally know Him and have their guilt and shame forgiven. So, we tell them! We explain the uncommon words like “justification, sanctification, propitiation, atonement” etc. We explain what we are doing in the service and WHY. Things like why we sing, why we study the Bible, why we give, why we take communion, etc. We have also given hundreds of Bibles away because most people we interact with don’t own one. So we explain the story of who Paul is when referencing Him. We also put the page number of the text on the screen so people know where to find it in the Bible we gave them. We try to EXPLAIN what we are preaching and WHY and what we are doing because most people don’t understand the things we do. We want to communicate clearly.

SHARE VISION

2 Their values won’t match yours — We must understand that non-believers won’t have all the same values as a follower of Jesus because Jesus isn’t their Lord. A few examples of this could be parenting or language. It is quite common for there to be people that use inappropriate language around us. The Bible tells us that what is in our hearts will come out, so if you are ministering to non-believers you should expect that their language with represent their heart. 

Proverbs 28:19 says, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” We must preach that there is a better way in Jesus and let them know where we stand on issues. It is ok to call sin “sin” and to have requirements to serve. For example, we always have people that work with our kids go through background checks, and they must be walking with God. We understand that everyone in our church won’t fit those requirements, but to ensure safety and make sure the kids during service are being discipled, we have placed a standard there. We also take a large portion of our service to preach God’s prophetic vision from the Bible which is our primary authority and standard. We want to teach the heart of God and what He values as right and wrong. We understand that it is not about morals, but we must also understand that we can please God through obedience by the power of His Spirit. They must see that the law of God is perfect and good. And that our faith has works. We want people to observe the commandments of God; and when people become born again, they are able to be transformed and no longer slaves of sin. So, we preach though the Bible in order to help people understand the person of Jesus and His ways. 

SET AN EXAMPLE

3 They won’t be mature in the faith - It has been so amazing to see so many lives transformed by Jesus at Redemption Church. But just because you say a prayer doesn’t make you mature. People are immediately forgiven from their sin, but the consequences are still with some people. So we have seen saved people still fight addictions, still serve time in jail, still go through a divorce, still live with the sin that bought death in their lives. I have seen a heart change immediately, but understanding and maturity come more slowly. Some may not give finances immediately or sign up to serve or even be in fellowship. So, many of the people that call Redemption Church their home don’t come every week because they never grew up with that discipline. Most of them have never read through the Bible. So what are we to do about this? 

Preach to them with our lives. Set an example! We have to show them a better way. Many of us learn by example and are more visual. The Bible tells us we aren’t to merely love in word but also in action (1 John 3:16-18). It has also been said that vision is caught not taught…so we must show them what it means to walk with God with our lives. It is our responsibility to walk with others and to disciple them. This is one of the main reasons we are to have patience with others because this process takes time. So, give time to non-believers to ask questions, to pray with them, and to teach them. Include them in your life even if they aren’t “acting like Christians” yet. Include them even if they haven’t accepted Jesus into their lives yet either! 

The Bible tells us that the strong are to help the weak, and we have come to find out that many people need us to help them. They need to see what a godly marriage looks like or how a single person is to live in purity. They need to see the vision we so often preach to them so they can understand it better and follow our example. We know we are far from perfect, but this is also a good thing. People need to see imperfect people, leaning on the grace and mercy of Jesus, following after Him with their whole lives. So, we try to have people in our lives as much as possible during the week—not just on Sundays.

We are all in the business of making disciples, and we need to get messy with people right where they are in order to see the fruit of God working in them. This takes a lot of work and patience, BUT it is totally worth it. May the Lord bless our efforts in reaching people far from Him and may our church always be messy! 

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel

Have The Faith Of Jonah by Travis Sinks

It’s not often that Jonah is used as a good example for us to follow. Many of us have learned how hardheaded, unloving, and rebellious Jonah was. But have any of us taken the time to consider what an example of faith Jonah is to us?

Jonah was a man of great patriotism. He was so pro-Israel, that he didn’t want to bring the good news of a gracious God to Nineveh, a city that had brought great trouble and pain among many nations, including Israel. This patriotism ending up being Jonah's downfall. It caused Jonah to try to run away from both his calling and from God Himself. Thankfully, God didn’t let Jonah get away.

That’s how the story goes, but have you considered Jonah’s faith in God’s gracious love?

"And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah 4:2

Jonah Believed That God’s Grace, Mercy, Patience, And Love Was So Great That It Could Bring Even So Evil A City As Nineveh To Repentance.

Sadly, this led to the wrong response, since he didn’t want the Ninevites to be saved. But the point is that he believed so strongly in God's forgiveness and love that he was willing to walk away from his entire lifestyle, friends, family, and even God Himself.

What about you?

Do you believe so strongly in the grace and love of God?

I know I personally struggle with this often. I worry that the people we’ve seen come to Jesus will fade away, and that the people we’ve known for years will never come to Him. That the constant church and personal outreach to the lost will be all for nothing. But I remember the faith others, like Jonah, have had in God’s power to save, and it helps me keep a right perspective.

Unlike Jonah, this faith in God’s love should cause a different response. But our response should be just as passionate.

Jonah, a man who was willing to leave everything and even risk a dangerous ocean voyage over his strong faith should remind and encourage us that we also should be doing everything we can, even to death, so that we may share the good news of Jesus Christ, because God is working.

May you have great joy and faith in Jesus our Savior, knowing that His grace, mercy, patience, and love is greater than anything else, and that He plans to do great things in you, through you, and in your area of ministry and outreach.

Beth's Baptism (3-15-16)

Expect The Mess (pt1) by Daniel Williams

When you are a part of a church plant, having the right expectations is one of the most helpful things when it comes to overcoming discouragement and maintaining a right perspective. There is nothing so sad as seeing someone who starts out excited to go and preach the gospel give up because it was more difficult than they expected. I don’t think anyone thinks starting a church will be easy, but sometimes we can be caught off guard by exactly why it is so hard. Jesus tell us we are to count the costs and follow Him. I believe that as we have a heart to reach nonbelievers and unchurched people in our communities, we need to also consider the mess that will bring. What do I mean by that? Ministry is messy!

I want to share something with you that I have come to expect when ministering to those that aren’t following Jesus yet…they act that way! I have come to a place where this doesn’t surprise me and I am not offended by it. I have seen first hand in my own life that the only way to overcome this is to be changed from the inside out through a personal revelation of who Jesus is and then accepting His grace by faith. This is what Jesus means when He talks about being spiritually born again (John 3:3-8). I was spiritually dead before I accepted God’s grace and lost in sin (Eph 2:1-5) and so is everyone who has yet put their faith in Jesus. Paul would even tell people that if they think Jesus Christ didn’t rise from the dead, they should be sinning as much as possible because this is the only life they have! (1 Cor 15:13-19). So I have come to expect people to live what they truly believe. And for those that don’t believe in Jesus as Lord, I expect them to be living in sin. The Bible teaches us that sin brings death. And that death is messy. 

I have to remember that the mess of ministry is actually an answer to many of our prayers. We prayed for many people to get saved and find life in Jesus Christ. And God has sent us to preach the gospel to people so they would have hope. I have had to understand that we are called to love people right where they are, and they don’t need to clean up their lives before they come to Jesus. God sends us into the brokenness, hurt, pain, and mess of people’s lives to shine the light of Jesus into their darkness. The Bible warns us that if we are to make disciples, this will take work and things won’t always be neat and tidy like we tend to like. 

Prov 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

The more you serve people that are far from God, the more you will start to see that if you want to see life change around you, you are going to have to work in the messiness of people’s lives. Remember we are to love people, and that love makes a real difference in people’s lives. It was the real love of God that changed our lives when we were still in our mess of sin. The Bible tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still enemies of God, and because of that great love we are now able to know Him. God wants us to be His ambassadors not only with our words but our deeds as well. We have been given a true love that the world doesn't offer. We have the great chance to love people right in their mess of sin just as Jesus loved us. 

This is the answer for true life change. PREACHING THE GOSPEL! Paul believed this was the very power to save, so he needed to be preaching all the time! I have taken this to heart and have seen God work in people’s lives in ways I never could dream of on my own. This is one of the main reasons we have communion every week at our church.  This allows me to explain the Gospel and the implications of it every week. I believe if we can’t point people to Jesus through His Word every time we meet, we have failed. Jesus said that all scripture points to Him, so it should be very easy for us to use Scripture to bring people to Jesus and His heart. It is the only hope that truly satisfies and we need to be preaching Jesus every week as we gather as His bride. Not only is this good for our hearts as children of God, but for those that are far from God because they see it is only God’s grace that can truly change their lives. This is why we highly prioritize preaching the gospel: because only Jesus has the power to save! 

So, over time, I have come expect and the messiness and the difficulty that comes from pouring our lives into the lost and broken. And also to see that the only answer is always going to be Jesus. I hope you can join me in learning to embrace this beautiful of this side of ministry. 

In part 2 of this article, I will address 3 very practical ways I have found to love people through the messiness of life and reaching those far from God.

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel

Passing Out Door Hangers (photo essay)

Church Planting Is Not A Method by Alesha Sinks

Church planting is…

...not about the method.

...not about the plan.

...not about the systems.

...not about the schedule.

...not about the organization.

...not about the vision.

Vision and direction and methods and plans are good, valuable, important things. But I often find myself getting so caught up in the plan and the system that I miss out on the main point.

And the main point is Jesus. Always and only Jesus.

The main point is Jesus.

Seeking Him.

Knowing Him.

Loving Him.Serving Him.

Proclaiming Him.

Worshiping Him.

Glorifying Him.

And the systems and methods and schedules we use can be glorifying to God, but they cannot be God.

Methods cannot lead people to repentance. Plans cannot humble and restore us. Systems cannot produce changed lives. Schedules cannot bring us into relationship with God. Organization cannot wash away sins. Vision cannot heal the brokenness this world produces.

"There is power in the gospel, not necessarily the method."

Pastor Daniel Williams

And it is easy to get so caught up in our plans and our systems and our organizational structures that we forget these things are powerless.

They are powerless to save.

They are powerless to convict hearts.

They are powerless to bring repentance.

They are powerless to restore intimacy with God.

They are powerless to produce worship in us.

We need God's Spirit with us and the gospel flowing from our lips and through our lives in order to produce any true fruit for God's glory.

So don't ditch your systems or your vision. Maybe you even need to work harder at your plans and methods. But all of those things will be a waste unless God Spirit is behind them and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what is being taught through them.

Be blessed

The Perseverance of Prayer by Travis Sinks

We’ve all prayed those prayers that feel as if they’re hitting the ceiling. Prayers we’ve prayed for days, weeks, months, years, and with no answer. Thankfully, we have a greater hope than immediately answered prayer. Jesus has not only promised to hear every prayer, but to be constantly doing what’s best on our behalf.

So, what are we to do in times of “silence?"

Pray.
Pray.
And pray some more.

We see in God’s Word that He sometimes answers prayers with ‘yes’, other times with ‘no’, but still other times with ‘maybe/not yet’. We see plenty of ‘yes’ answers, and even a few ‘no’ answers, where we either find that something we’re praying for is against God’s Word or sometimes we just know that God has told us to stop (as He did to Paul as described in 2nd Corinthians 12:8).

Beyond the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers is the troubling answer of ‘maybe/not yet’. Most often, this answer just feels like God is silent. It’s when we have this answer that we need to persevere in our praying.

Jesus gave us a parable in Luke 18:1-8 where He tells us of a widow who went before an unrighteous judge. This judge wasn’t going to give her justice, but she continued to come before him. Day after day she would come, and it says that he feared she would exhaust him by her persistence. So he gave her justice.

Jesus ended the parable reminding us that if an unrighteous judge could be swayed, how much more would our Father in heaven desire to give justice to those who persist in prayer. He then left us with this question: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Jesus’ question should be sobering to us. He is telling us to persevere and not give up, then turns the question on us: will we?

I pray that we will, but let us be encouraged by Jesus’ parable, as it speaks volumes as to the wonderful situation we find ourselves in.

Rather than comparing us to the widow, and God to the unjust judge, Jesus is using their story to show how much better our situation is.

The widow’s situation compared to ours

The story is of a widow who has no public standing, and therefore, no hope before an unrighteous judge. She has no bribe to give, or power to sway the judge. Yet she realizes that she can wear Him down.

We, on the other hand, have as our judge One Who is fully righteous and yet fully loving. By His grace, He pays our debt Himself so that we will not be condemned before Him (since He is perfectly just). Our current standing before Him, by His grace, is one of a child to a Father. What a great position to be in when asking for justice to be done!

Why persevere?

Jesus told us to persevere in the verses leading into the parable. But why should we? If we have a perfectly just and godly Father as our judge, shouldn’t we only have to ask once? Even if, in God’s timing, it was to be fulfilled later, why should we keep asking?

I have 4 reasons for you.

We’re forgetful

The fact is that if we prayed once and left it alone, we’d forget by the time it was answered and we would not be blessed knowing that He heard us, nor would He get the glory for answering our prayer.

We’ll appreciate it more

We tend to appreciate things we anticipate. I love how Donald Whitney puts it:

"Persistent prayer tends to develop deeper gratitude as well. As the joy of a baby’s birth is greater because of the months of anticipation, so is the joy of an answer to prayer after persistent praying.” -Donald Whitney

God wants participants

God does have a plan, but He also wants us to be involved along the way. This is seen perfectly in the fact that Jesus prayed often. By Jesus praying, He was revealing God’s desire to answer prayers (as we’re told that Jesus reveals the Father’s nature), and Jesus was also demonstrating our role to go before God the Father in prayer.

It builds our faith

The last and most important of the reasons is that God has ordained not-yet-answered prayer to be a way to build our faith. Again, Donald Whitney says it really well:

"Sometimes a failure to persist in prayer proves that we were not serious about our request in the first place. At other times God wants us to persist in prayer in order to strengthen our faith in Him. Faith would never grow if all prayers were answered immediately.” -Donald Whitney

Another way to think about it is:

"As we ask, and while we wait, we learn to depend on God.” -Bruce Zachary

We gain nothing but the answered prayer when the answer is immediate. But when we have to wait and labor in prayer, we gain newfound trust, and faith, in God’s working, more than we could have in any other way.

So let us seek God in our not-yet-answered prayers. Let us persevere that we may not only gain our prayer answered, but that we may also draw even nearer to the God we’re praying to, and into deeper relationship with Him and faith in Him.

Baptism - Photo Essay

We're moving to your neighborhood

REDEMPTION CHURCH IS MOVING!

We are very excited to announce that Redemption Church is moving our Sunday location to CARVER MIDDLE SCHOOL on Barwick/Atlantic beginning EASTER SUNDAY, March 27th at 11am! God has been leading us and opened the door for meeting at Carver, and we are thrilled for all He has ahead for us in this new space. It’s an awesome set up for our service and children’s ministry, a great location for reaching our local community, and an awesome opportunity to connect with and support an amazing school and administration.

BE A PART OF OUR LAUNCH TEAM

As we prepare for our move, we need YOUR HELP! We have flyers, door hangers, and mailers ready to go out into the surrounding areas, and we’d love your help distributing them. We have a few special times where we will be doing this as a group as well as having them available for you to pass out on your own! We will also be needing all the help we can get on Sunday mornings to serve and make a service possible! We are praying that we are able to reach many new people with the love of Jesus at Carver, so we hope you will pray about committing to serving with us on Sunday mornings too!  We need about 15 people to serve with us every Sunday. There are many ways you can help on Sundays, so e-mail Pastor Daniel directly and he can find the best place for you to serve. You can also contribute toward the costs of the move as we are praying for God to provide for all the necessary needs for meeting at a new location. Click here to donate online. 

SAVE THE DATES

Here are a few DATES you can put on your calendar NOW! Even if you can't make every event, we hope you can participate in some of these with us!

Sunday, March 6

• 10am-11:30am | Last Service at Veterans Park Community Center
• 5pm-7pm | Launch Team Meeting at The Williams’ Home

Friday, March 11

• 6pm-9pm | First Friday Night Set Up Party at Carver Middle School

Saturday, March 12, 19, 26

• 9am-12pm | Passing out door hangers & invites to the community

Sunday, March 20

• 11am-12:30pm | “Preview” Service at Carver Middle School

Sunday, March 27

• 11am-12:30pm | Public Launch on Easter Sunday at Carver

Sunday, April 3

• 11am-12:30pm | Celebration Service 

*We will be continue to have our Community Group meetings on Tuesdays & Thursdays during the month of March.

PRAY WITH US

We are continuing to seek Jesus through prayer, and as we move ahead through these next few weeks, we hope you will take some extra time to lift up some of the needs and requests we are praying for!

Here is a short list of ways you can PRAY with us for the move:

• PEOPLE to be reached and saved in our new location
• FINANCES to provide for moving expenses and new costs
• VOLUNTEERS to serve with us
• HEALTH and JOY for those serving
• GOD’S GLORY to be seen in all we do

INVITE PEOPLE TO COME WITH YOU

Feel free to copy and paste this brief invite to your own social media platforms as well (Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc.):

On EASTER SUNDAY, March 27th at 11am, you are invited to Redemption Church for their first Sunday Service at their new location at Carver Middle School in Delray Beach! Come and celebrate Easter with a time of worship, teaching from God’s Word, and a chance to learn more about what God is doing at Redemption Church. There are fun and safe classes for children through 5th grade every Sunday, so bring your family and friends, and plan to attend on March 27th!

We love you, are praying for you, and are excited to continue pursuing and proclaiming Jesus together!

-Pastor Daniel & The Redemption Church Team

The Intimacy of Prayer by Alesha Sinks

“God is the most important part of the Gospel. And that is why prayer is so awesome. We get to access God, Himself.”
Pastor Daniel Williams

"God is the most important.”

And I’m stuck by how often I forget this. It becomes about the praying, the reading, the serving, the giving… It so quickly becomes about the stuff and the doing instead of the One we are giving to and doing for.

It reminds me of early on in our marriage when we were having an at-home date night. I spent all afternoon cooking a fancy meal and setting the table just right. I wanted the perfect fancy home date for my husband, but by the time we sat down to eat, I was stressed and tired. There was a still a kitchen full of dishes to take care of, and I didn't enjoy our date night or my husband.

I had made it about the stuff, about the doing for my husband instead of about my husband himself. From that time on, I've carefully considered how I spend my day before we go on a date or spend time together. I want to enjoy my husband and be enjoyable to him and connect with him personally, not waste all my energy on doing things for him.

And it’s the same in my walk with God. There are days I find myself drowning in the do more, try harder life, and when I look deep, I realize that I'm not enjoying God. In those moments, I wonder how to find release. How do I keep serving and giving and loving and reading and praying, but change the why?

Because the doing is good…so good and so important. But without the right motives, the right why, it’s meaningless in the end.

So I wonder, how do I change my why?

And I’m quickly reminded that all of this stuff and activity is about a relationship...a personal, intimate relationship with God.

“God is the most important part of the Gospel. And that is why prayer is so awesome. We get to access God, Himself.”
Pastor Daniel Williams

When I’m finding myself overwhelmed with doing for God and failing to connect with God, prayer is the first place I turn. Because usually, somewhere along the line, I’ve turned prayer into a box to check instead of a conversation with the One who loves me.

It’s a beautiful thing to realize afresh that I can pour out every thought and worry and question and joy and agony of my heart to God. He wants to hear every little thing hanging heavy on my heart and mind.

I can come to him in tears, in joys, in worries, in pain, in fear, in truth, in sin, in expectation, in suffering, in questioning, in anger…

He has born the sins of the world, so surely He can bear the weight of our worries and our fears.

But as I come to Him in truth and honesty, as I pour out my heart to Him, I need to listen to what He would say to me in return. When I do, I will find Him calming me, restoring me, loving me, and forgiving me. Though I might not feel His hand immediately, I am strengthened with the knowledge the He hears and He cares and He is good.

It is in talking with God through prayer that I find intimacy with Him renewed and restored and my faith in His care and goodness restored.

And I find myself returning again to this truth...

“God is the most important part of the Gospel. And that is why prayer is so awesome. We get to access God, Himself.”
Pastor Daniel Williams