Redemption Church Sermons: Recent Episodes
Josh Tovey
The mission of Redemption Church is to Connect People To Jesus For Life Change. Jesus changes everything and because of that strong belief, our sermons intentionally point people to the gospel and the hero of the gospel, Jesus, each and every week.
We understand that “what goes in, always comes out.” In today’s passage we will see that the Gospel thats worked in you (saved you) will be a Gospel that’s working through you (loving others). It is the life-changing truth of the Gospel that ignites a love for God and fuels our love for others. Be encouraged today to “love (sacrificially) one another (selflessly) earnestly (stretching to the limit) from a pure heart (sincerely).” (I Peter 1:22b)
Today we closed out our Christmas series "Star of Wonder". We were reminded through the testimony of the shepherds that Jesus is the star of the show. We spent our time talking about what the shepherds heard, what the shepherds saw and what they were told. What they experienced was the gracious pursuit of Jesus in the lives. They left Jesus presence glorifying and praising God. What is your response to Jesus?
In week three of our series "Star of Wonder" we look at the wise men coming to see Jesus. Jesus is not always the star I want but the only star I need. When they saw the star they worshipped Him. What will your response be to Jesus?
In week two of our series called "Star Of Wonder", we unpacked Mary's song in Luke 1. Her response to the reality of Jesus is that she will magnify the Lord! This is the only response when you have an accurate view of who Jesus is. May we be encouraged to strive to magnify the Lord with our whole lives!
Over this Christmas series the goal is to be reminded that Jesus is the star of the show! We will see this reality as the angel Gabriel shares this truth with Mary. It's an amazing story of a girl trusting in God’s plan for her life as she gets to be part of the impossible! The virgin birth is central to the Gospel because without the virgin birth there is no salvation! We trust you will be reminded that Jesus should be central in everything.
The apostle John wrote to the believers of his day as well as to us so that our joy might be made complete and that we know for sure that we can have eternal life. He challenges them and us with three questions. Do I obey? Do I love? Do I believe? In this teaching we look at the first four verses of this short book where John focuses our attention on what's most important - the gospel of Jesus!
The prodigal son is a story of the fathers heart for all people! Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son because it relates to the sinners and tax collectors... Jesus then tells the story about the older brother who relates to the pharisees! Both sides are messed up! Both sides desperately need the grace that only the father can provide. The father’s invading grace changes everything!
In these verses we'll take a closer look at the older brother and see that grace must invade his performance. Where the younger brother's sin led him to self-ruin, the older brother's sin will lead him to self-righteousness. These verses show us a picture of the religious elite that needed grace to invade their public perfection, their private rebellion, and their prideful delusion. At the end of it all we see that the younger brother and the older brother both needed invading grace... and so do we!
All of us mess up. All of us have lived for the glory of ourselves, seeking our own agenda at one point or another. In this message we unpack a familiar story of a son who chose his own way above all else. In his greatest moments of defeat though, we see that there's rescue in the ruin. Have you made a mess of your life? Do you find yourself struggling to walk with Jesus instead of away from Jesus? This message will clearly point to the pride that could be at work in your life but also give you a clear plan of coming back to the Lord. Jesus loves you. Jesus will meet you in the ruin...and rescue.
In these verses we are exposed to Jonas' heart and to his constant running to comfort, to control, and to creation. God is really exposing our own hearts to show us that He is the solution we desperately need! It's also in these final verses of Jonah that we see an unlikely ending to this probing book. Ultimately it leaves us recognizing that One greater than Jonah is needed... and His name is Jesus!
God's grace is greater than our sin. God's grace invades the great city of Nineveh and the result is clear repentance from the people. The king responds by getting off his throne and turning to the Lord. As you listen to this message, as the Lord to reveal to you what needs to be removed from the throne of your life so that Jesus can take His rightful place in your life.
God brings us down to break us down. Have you experienced the results of God bringing you below the surface? This is the place where God can get after our true heart condition. This is the place where we learn to be honest about who we are. This is the place where we confess who He is. This is the place where we learn to be thankful for all that He has done.
God gets the glory even when we run for our own glory. We know this to be true all over the scripture; that when we run from Him, He moves and directs to use it for His own glory. This week we pick up the story with Jonah in the boat going through the storm. God uses Jonah’s rebellion to reach and save those around him. When we run from God, we will eventually run into God.
Today is our 3rd baptism service. Our big idea is Jesus said it, Jesus did it. We asked three questions: What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? What will you do? We saw that Jesus gave the command of baptism and Jesus was baptized. Baptism is disciples of Jesus being immersed under the water which identifies them with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism taking your faith public! Have you followed Jesus command to be baptized?
The storms of life uncover who is in control of your life. We all face different kinds of storms but what have you learned through the storms you face? How does the cross of Jesus impact your view of the storm you're in? In the story of Jonah we see God graciously pursuing Jonah through a storm. The storm makes it abundantly clear that although Jonah has quit on God, God has not quit on Jonah.
The Lord of your life determines the direction of your life. The question to consider is who is the one calling the shots in your life? You or God? Jonah is the story of God’s gracious pursuit of runners. Are you running with God or running from God? Your life choices make known which direction you are running.
Today we celebrate all that God has done in our short history at Redemption. We saw when God speaks the results are alway life changing. When God speaks God acts. God speaks from awareness, God speaks with a vision, when God speaks He provides the strategy and when God speaks He gives courage. We find our courage in Jesus to do whatever He asks us to do!
This single verse is encouraging us to join in with all creation and to proclaim the greatest truth that has ever been told… That Jesus Christ saves and is Lord Lord over all!! May our life's anthem be to continually proclaim Jesus as Lord!
We are so excited to close out our month of guest preachers with pastor Curtis Allen from Maryland. Pastor Curtis was part of the church planting network, Fellowship Associates, along with Pastor Josh this past year. This was such a timely and convicting message on what real faith looks like...a faithful faith. We know you'll be challenged not only by Pastor Curtis' testimony but also his challenge from the Word. Share with friends and family this powerful message on what genuine biblical faith should look like.
We were so thrilled and blessed to have our friend, Pastor Mike Dsane, from The Village Church, with us this past weekend at Redemption. What a great reminder of what it looks like to have a proper vision of the Lord which will in turn give us a proper vision for our church. Mike's heart for Jesus and his gift in passionately proclaiming God's Word is sure to bring encouragement to you as you listen. Share with others this great message from Isaiah 6.
A God-Sized Calling Requires God-Given Courage. When God calls you to something, and He may be calling you to something today, it will always require courage. Will we follow and go where God asks us to go? In this message, we pray you'll be encouraged by the tools from God's Word that remind you of why we can trust our amazing God.
On this special day when we installed our first elder board, it's important to remember that our elders will be keeping the main thing the main thing here at Redemption. The hope of the gospel is where our eyes should always be fixed.
The final message in our Stand Strong series. We trust you've been encouraged and equipped throughout this series to put on the whole armor of God in your fight against the enemy. You're not alone in the battle. You are loved.
The armor of God is a call to submission. God is not requesting that we wear his armor but He is commanding us to wear his armor. Submission is active surrender to the greatness of Jesus, for the glory of Jesus, to experience the joy of Jesus.
We need to be reminded that grace is not of us. God’s powerful grace enables a powerful faith. Grace makes faith possible but faith makes victory possible. A strong faith is proof of a strong understanding of grace. We need the shield of faith to believe the promises of God and embrace the protection that comes from Jesus vs our enemy.
To take the Gospel with you requires you to have the Gospel in you...
What does it mean to have the Gospel in you? It means that you have a position of peace that has been provided freely to you by the death and resurrection of Jesus. What does it mean to take the Gospel with you? It means you are a proclaimer of the peace that God has given you. You cannot proclaim the Gospel if you don’t have peace with God!
In Rom 1:16-17 Paul challenges believers with sharing boldly the gospel of Jesus Christ. He recognized that days would come when this could be an extremely difficult task for believers. In an effort to encourage believers hearts until Christ' return, he lays out three reasons that all believers, including himself, can hold firm the message they have been given and truly live unashamed.
The Gospel enables you to stand strong in righteousness! What does this mean? We know it is not referring to manufactured righteousness. The scriptures makes it clear that even our good deeds are like filthy rags to the Lord. It also doesn’t mean positional righteousness. Positional righteousness is the act of God justifying sinners. To stand strong in righteousness refers to practical righteousness. Practical righteousness is all about obedience. We can stand strong in the position that Jesus provides by being obedience to who He is and embracing what He has done for us.
The Gospel enables us to stand strong in the truth. To stand strong in truth we must know the truth, believe the truth and live the truth. We must believe God’s Word to be the final authority in our lives. We must believe the truth of the Gospel and we must live what we say we believe. In our battle with the flesh and the devil, we must find the courage to celebrate our victories. We must find a way to celebrate the times that we stood strong in truth.
The Gospel enables us to stand strong in our identity! The first thing we are told in the armor of God text is to be strong in the Lord. What does it mean to be strong in the Lord? It means to stand in the Lord, stand to resist the devil and stand against our sin. We must speak the truth of who we are to the devil and our flesh. We must declare that we belong to Jesus!
These closing verses in Ephesians highlight once again the glorious truth of the gospel. We are encouraged to remember the way we now live, the gospel we daily need and the love we are to continually have. The gospel that has been REVEALED to you is a gospel that is to be REPEATED through you. As this book ends, it ends with this encouragement, “NEVER STOP LOVING JESUS…”
Right gospel relationships follow right gospel thinking. That's the big idea for this message and in we are challenged to be humble, live lives of surrender and to show the love of Jesus to others. We trust you'll be challenged to allow the gospel to reign fully in your lives...even in your relationships.
Who you work for is more important than the work you do. We get to decide who will be exalted through our work. Either we will exalt Jesus through our work or we will exalt ourselves through our work. You will work for His purpose and His glory or you will work for your purpose and your glory. One leads to joy the other leads to disappointment. So in light of these truths, who will get the glory through the way you work? Big questions pertaining to a big topic. Praying you're encouraged and challenged as you listen and watch this message from God's Word.
What does it mean to be Gospel-centered parents? You must be anchored right in your love for Jesus, in your love for your spouse and your love for your kids. We saw that being gospel- centered parents has everything to do with your relationship with Jesus. Paul writes about parenting after he establishes who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. He talks about parenting after he establishes what the church is and how its supposed to function. He talks about parenting after he has established the beauty of the marriage relationship. Gospel centered parents must have the right foundation and remembering how the marriage and the church is supposed to function will help us parent the right way.
In this message we see the amazing faith of a woman named Hannah. We saw that a faithful woman is a praying woman! How do you become a praying woman, man, student? When you trust in Jesus through faith, when you exalt Jesus in faith and when you rejoice in Jesus because of faith. Prayer is communication with God for the sake of communion with God. Prayer is a constant struggle that we as believers in Jesus battle but your prayer life reveals how dependent upon Jesus you truly are.
In our final message of our "I Do" series, we see that husbands are called to love their wives like Jesus loves the church. A heart loved is a heart that loves. You can only love your wife how God calls you to if you have embraced his love for you! Jesus gives each man the perfect pattern of how to love your wife. The love of Jesus was selfless, sacrificial and sanctifying!
From Ephesians 5 we see that a heart submitted is a heart committed! God’s strategy for a Gospel centered marriage starts with your submission to Jesus and ends with your commitment to your spouse. Every Gospel centered marriage has two great forgivers because it contains two great sinners.
In this passage we learn that God's design is always best as it related to marriage. We search the scripture to see what God's vision is for marriage and why marriage exists. Does your vision for marriage line up with God's vision for marriage?
In this text we are reminded that there is a clear way to walk with and for Jesus. We do this not out of religious duty, but rather out of a heart full of gratitude for all that Jesus has done. Our daily walk with Jesus depends on daily grace from Jesus. In light of that truth, we pray you are encouraged by this message from Ephesians 5.
It's ok to not be ok because Jesus is inviting me into God's kingdom and into a relationship with him no matter my spiritual condition or life situation.
Many people have an understanding of the cross and what it means. Many don’t understand what the resurrection means for us in the here and now. It's impossible to recognize Jesus without the resurrection! In this message we see what the resurrection rescues us from and we see what the resurrection rescues us to.
The fruit of your life reflects the one you follow. The one you follow reveals your spiritual condition. Your spiritual condition is darkness or light. Living in darkness is being spiritually blind and living in the light is all about making the truth visible according to the Gospel. In this text we are encouraged to be the light by constantly exposing what needs to go and constantly expressing what Jesus has done!
We are called to imitate Jesus in all that we do. Paul contrasts what it means to love Jesus versus what it means to lust after the world. The question to consider is do you believe Jesus is better?
Those that are greatly loved, greatly love! The Gospel shouts, "you have been greatly loved by God!" It's this reality that encourages us to love others as Jesus has loved us - with a selfless and a sacrificial love. Live out these verses this week by "walking in love" and so express the gospel to those that God has placed around you!
The behavior in our life is evidence for who is worthy of our life. After learning that we must put off sin and put on the Gospel we are given specific examples of sins to get rid of in our life. Paul wraps up Ephesians 4 with a powerful statement to forgive as your have been forgiven! This statement makes it clear that we can never abandon the Gospel!
It's in these verses that we are given our new pattern of living based on our position in Jesus. In light of all that Jesus has done for us, we are to now turn from sin, rehearse the gospel, and embrace our new identity in Jesus. These verses close out with the encouragement that we have a righteousness not of our own to pursue a holiness not on our own!
This week, as we continued in our Ephesians series, we were encouraged to grow in spiritual maturity as we press into Jesus. Spiritual maturity is a long walk in the same direction. We pray that you just don't learn a bunch of stuff about Jesus....but rather your heart is moved to greater affections for Jesus through this message. We trust you'll be encouraged by God's Word.
What does a worthy life for the Gospel look like? In Ephesians 4, we unpack this thought: from our identity flows our activity. We see that our identity refers to our position with Christ and our activity refers to our practice for Christ. We hope you are challenged to live your life based off the incredible identity that Jesus provided you.
In our last message of our membership series we continue to unpack what it means to be a member at Redemption Church. Members are owners! This week we worked through 1 Peter and saw how the elders will care for the owners of the body by shepherding the body, providing oversight to the body, and being proven examples for the body.
In week two of our "Own The Mission" series on what it means to be a church member, we unpack what it means to be an owner. An owner carries out the purposes of God for the glory of God. We looked at 1st Corinthians 12 and saw that everyone has a role and that we should all be united around what's most important: Jesus and His Gospel.
Membership at Redemption Church is all about ownership. What does it mean to be an owner? It starts with owning the vision and the mission that God has so clearly laid out in his Word. In this message from Matthew 28 we answer the question of why Redemption Church exists. Ownership is not just coming and seeing what's happening at Redemption, but being willing to come and die for the mission of Connecting people to Jesus for life change!
What legacy will your life leave? These verses teach us that it is consistent gospel living that leads to a continual gospel legacy. This gospel legacy continues as we daily encounter God (vs 27a), embrace others (vs 27b) and engage the world (vs 28) with the good news of Jesus!
As we leave one year behind and press onto a new year, we stop to adjust our thinking of how we trust our Lord. In this message we cover a list of reasons why we can trust our unwavering Savior, while at the same time being given some very practical tools to apply to your life to help you in your walk with Jesus. We pray that as you begin this new year, that you will be challenged by this message to cling to Jesus more than ever before.
The final message in our GIVEN series. On this Christmas Eve night, pastor Josh challenges us to think about whether we have only embrace Jesus as Savior and not as Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. The question is whether we will bow our hearts to Him. Allow the greatest gift this Christmastime to be Jesus coming into your life as Savior and Lord.
We face problem after problem in our lives. Jesus was born to solve your problem. Jesus can solve any problem because of who He is and because of what He's done. Christmas is a time to celebrate Jesus as the problem solver because He is not only the Word but also the creator, the life, the light, and the Son.
God's grace is always perfectly timed isn't it? When the fullness of time had come, God sent His only Son. In this gift we see grace fully on display. We learn from this text that Jesus removes what we deserve and He gives what only He deserves. We pray you're challenged by this second message in our GIVEN Christmas Series. Please feel free to share and spread the word through all social media outlets so that people will be connected to Jesus for life change.
This is the first message in our Christmas series at Redemption called, "Given". Jesus is the greatest gift ever given to humanity. In Him, our hope, joy, faith, peace and the grace we live in are found. In this gift given, both grace and peace are accomplished. In this opening message, you'll be encouraged as always with the awesomeness of Jesus but you'll also be challenged with this question: What will you do with this gift of Jesus?
Maybe you need to surrender your life to Jesus for the first time and be saved. Embrace the gift of Jesus and experience life anew. Maybe you need to return to your Lord. The gift of Jesus shouts that there is grace for the lost and the returning sinner.
Psalm 113 is a song that was sung while celebrating God's gracious, redemptive work for His people. This Psalm is a great reminder for God's servants to praise the name of the Lord at all times and in all places, because of His infinite greatness and His intimate graciousness!
In this final message of our REVEALED series and also the message that was preached before our first ever baptism service, we are reminded of how awesome and able our God is. He can do anything. He has shown Himself to be so powerful through these first 3 chapters of Ephesians and as we celebrated testimonies of how Jesus has changed people's lives, we were reminded that God truly is able to do far more than we could possibly imagine.
Growing in Jesus demands our surrender to Jesus... If we desire to grow in Jesus it means we must abandon all that we were. We must leave behind all that we were and submit to all that we have in Him. When we surrender we experience the riches of all that God has for us...
As we are introduced to the church in these verses, we see that Paul, a humble servant of the gospel, is boldly announcing the glorious truth of the gospel, and gladly suffering for the sake of the gospel! These verses unpack many of the incredible riches that we have in Christ and in the Church.
To live a cross-centered life ultimately is a Christ-Centered life. In this message, we unpack what it looks like to have a Christ-centered view of suffering, grace and the Church. Which means that the gospel is not about me but what the gospel can do through me. We encourage you as you listen to this to evaluate whether you are just a "Sunday morning taker" of the gospel of a giver of the gospel to those you are in contact every day.
The gospel reveals bad news but rescues with good news. The Gospel requires us to embrace the bad news...that we are strangers, aliens, etc. to all that God is. But the Gospel rescues with the best news. We can now be saved, have peace and reconciliation and more. We pray you are encouraged by this text from Ephesians 2.
Who we are determines what we do... Ever part of our being says what we do determines who we are... This road always leads to an identity crisis because we forget the freedom of finding our identity in the work of Jesus on our behalf and privilege we have to live from the position that he so graciously provides us.
It's in these final verses of Ephesians 1 that we are encouraged to pray the great gospel truths of verses 3-14 over the lives of those around us! This section of verses specifically challenges us in this way: that the gospel would grow a prayerful pleading for the gospel to be embraced and celebrated!
Knowing what you are worth influences what you value. In Ephesians 1:11-14 we unpacked that we are worth creating, worth redeeming and worth indwelling. God the Father has chosen you, God the Son has redeemed you and God the Spirit has assured you... What are you worth? You are worth what someone is willing to pay. Its through the Gospel we find our worth!
Before we can "do" anything for Jesus, we must be grounded and rooted in what has already been "done" by Jesus. Our identity is no longer determined by what we do, what we've done, how we fall short, how we fail....but our identity, if we've surrendered to Christ, is firmly rooted in our Savior. It's because of all that HE has done that we now have a new identity. Be encouraged as you listen to this. Share it with your friends and those who need to be reminded of all that Jesus is and all that He has done. We pray this message stirs your heart and your affections for Jesus.
Unpacking the gospel that changed Paul's life! Without the Gospel nothing changes. Grace is the root of change and every changed life experiences the peace that only the Gospel can provide....
In this first message of our fall series in Ephesians, we get a glimpse of how the work of the Gospel started in Ephesus. We see that those who exalt Jesus love Jesus. We finished in Revelation 2 as Jesus challenged the church in Ephesus to get back to there first love. Jesus called them out and told them to get back to what they were first about when they embraced the truth of the Gospel.
As Redemption Church goes into our very first fall kick off to a new ministry year, Lead Pastor, Josh Tovey, takes us into Romans 1. This passages reminds us as to why we will never stop proclaiming the gospel in every gathering at Redemption. It's because we are not ashamed of the Gospel. To truly embrace Jesus and the good news, means that we will in turn go deep into our walks with Him and wide in how we spread the gospel to others. Share this message and we pray you are encouraged by it.
These verses unpack our three main values at Redemption Church. Encountering God, Embracing Others and Engaging the World. These are the characteristics that we believe every disciple of Jesus should be experiencing and growing in. Take a listen as we are challenged from God's Word and motivated by the truths of the Gospel to get after these values together!
Justin Kemmerer, a leader at Redemption Church, brings a powerful and heartfelt message from Romans 8. In this message, Justin shares how the Gospel has implications for all of life and that the death of Jesus brings us life anew every single day. We pray this message stirs your affections for Jesus as you listen. Feel free to share this with friends and family.
Steve Busch, worship pastor at Redemption, opens up a powerful, gospel-saturated text from Lamentations 3. Steve unpacks for us how God's Word clearly shows that when sin is paramount in our life, we are setting up roadblocks that keep God's mercy at bay. But Jesus is paramount, mercy flows freely. What's paramount in your life....will change your life.
Joel Schenk, a leader at Redemption Church, brings the familiar teaching of Jesus calming the storm to life as he teaches from Mark 4. God is sovereign in all things. He's sovereign in community, chaos and the calm of life. We are all challenged to stand in great awe of Jesus, our sovereign King. We pray you are encouraged as you listen to this message and it stirs your heart toward Jesus. Please feel free to share with your friends and family.
Scott Lehr, Senior Pastor from our sending church in Raleigh, North Carolina, was such a blessing to us as he brought a powerful message to our church. In this message, pastor Scott challenges us to ask: "For what or whom are you willing to lose it all...?" The answer should be Jesus. He's worth losing it all for. But to live that out is much easier said than done. We're praying for you as you listen to this message from pastor Scott Lehr. Follow pastor Scott on twitter @PastorScottLehr
This is the message from our very first "public" service. What an exciting day this was to officially launch Redemption Church on Easter Sunday. Lead pastor, Josh Tovey, unpacks and familiar verse in a fresh, passionate way and draws the listener back to the wonder of the gospel of Jesus!