Jesus We Love You by Sue Stahl

Jesus we love You…oh how we love You. You are the one that our hearts adore…

Last night was a praise and worship night where we joined together with another church. 

It was wonderful. 

From the beginning the Spirit’s presence was manifested. You know those chills you get, the smile that comes across your face, the joy, the victory, the hope we receive as we corporately gather together to recognize and praise our God.

Yet towards the end of the night and in the midst of telling Jesus how much I love and adore Him, I was drawn back to my own reality and the question that seems to steal away my intimacy with God. 

Do I really know the love of God? 

Meditating on this and seeking His word brought up two distinctions regarding God’s love.

The first belief without a doubt is that God is love.

His mercy, grace, forgiveness, and our very breath of life is because of His love.

Unchanging and steadfast, a love that nothing can separate us from!

A love that brought redemption and reconciliation and allows us the blessing of knowing Elohim, God Almighty as our Abba Father. Yes, I believe this!

Knowing that truth then lead me to then ask what I am looking for to determine if I know ‘the love of God’.

Many like myself, have grown up with brokenness in our families. Absent or unloving parents, mistakes made, and wounds unhealed have left a ‘longing for love’. In the flesh, my defensive responses of pride and entitlement or hurt and anger can even now arise as idols that compete and rob me of relational intimacy with God and others. 

God has been continual healing me and I am grateful to say that the break in that moment of worship was by His grace. I knew to go to His word to allow Him to give the answers that I could now receive in His timing. 

1 John 4 brought me to the truths that set captives free. Please walk with me through my thoughts as the Spirit did His transforming work:

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Woah, that was right to the point and my first response was this doesn’t sound like the unconditional love I expect from God. God is telling me I need to do something to know Him and His love.

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

‘If we love another’, there it was again, a condition and one that I don’t do well with. Is God then not abiding in me? Would not this thinking cause me to question God’s love for me?

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 

Wait, that is me, I have made that confession and God is abiding in me and I in Him. 

And there it was that God’s living, acting, mighty and powerful word spoke to me. 

It was no longer about what I needed to do, but what God has already done. We love because He first loved us. (v19) and He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. (v4)

These truths about love were not warnings and condemnation for my failure to love but instead a reminder that I am born again by His Spirit to love as He does(v7) and that as He is, so also are we in this world. (V17)

He reminds me His love will be perfected in me, (v12 and V17) and His love will cast out fears that are against His love. (v18) 

His grace and faithfulness revealing His love as His prophetic word now answers my longing soul:

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Thank you Jesus that You are Love. May we continue to abide in love, love as You loved, and know and believe the love God has for us. Amen

Celebrating and Supporting Proclaim Church

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At Redemption Church, we are consistently looking for ways to share the love of Jesus with our community. One way we have had the privilege of participating in God's work here in Palm Beach County has been through our relationship with Will and Kristan Torres as they have been preparing to launch Proclaim Church in Boynton Beach this Fall. We are excited for the vision God has given them to bring the hope and love of Jesus to the lost.

Will and Kristan have completed a year-long church planting residency at Redemption Church, and we are honored to be supporting and celebrating them as they launch Proclaim Church.

In June, Proclaim Church launched their weekly Sunday gatherings at the Torres's home where Will has been sharing the vision and mission of this new work. In the Fall, they plan to launch publicly with Sunday services. Join us in praying for this season as they seek God's direction and guidance in reaching the lost in Boynton Beach.

You can also pray for and/or attend GOD & ANXIETY, an event hosted by Kristan and Hope Christian Counseling. This is a unique opportunity for Will and Kristan to serve and love people in a practical way. God has used Kristan's background as a mental health therapist to open doors to share the gospel, and we are praying God uses this event to bring people to Jesus!

It is a joy to see Jesus at work in our area, and we are praying He continues to send more laborers to share the gospel here in Palm Beach County. As a church, we are praying for more opportunities to raise up and support church planters whose heart is to bring the good news of Jesus to the lost. I pray you are encouraged to continue to pray for Proclaim Church, Redemption Church, and all those who are seeking to pursue and proclaim Jesus in our area!

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel

A Spirit Filled Life | Mike's Testimony

“My name is Mike Fricano, I am 62 years of age. I was raised in the Catholic faith and have always considered myself a Christian. My core values were instilled at an early age in my life: work hard and you will prosper, success will follow. The harder I worked, the job promotions came quickly, as did the rewards. Finance wise, I have lived a comfortable life, good health, and a stress free life, married over 40 years to my wife, Janet, admitting that I was fine without God. I happened to be channel surfing one day, and ran across an evangelist preaching about what happens after you die, and eternity. I spent some time and did some serious soul searching. That night, I prayed to God and ask the Holy Spirit to come in my heart and to change my life. My prayer was answered. I never read or understood the Bible, until now! I have a clear vision on God’s plan for me. Before, there was considerable doubt in my mind about where I was going to spend eternity. There is no doubt in my mind now, because I trust Jesus. I believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross for our sins and rose again. I believe that we will have everlasting life if we believe and trust in him. It’s simple, ask yourself where do you want to spend eternity? I found Redemption church by doing research about a Christian-based church here in Delray Beach Florida. What a blessing it has been. I really enjoy the church members and the teachings that Pastor Daniel shares on Sundays.”       

A Spirit Filled Life | Bryan's Testimony

A Spirit Filled Life | Sue's Testimony

You Must Be Born Again

The Holy Spirit was there in the beginning hovering over the waters ready to bring life: on earth, in Adam, in Mary’s womb, in our resurrected Lord to ultimately culminate in God’s redemptive work in us, His creation so that we may cry out Abba Father.

How does that look to me personally? Let me share some recent circumstances that would point to what only the Holy Spirit could accomplish as His teaching, His conviction, His revelations were given so that God could continue His refining work to make me into His image.

Here is part of that journey…

A series of events in the past few months had paved the pathway for me to be able to hear God speak. Having a past in legalism, God clearly put me in circumstances that made me acutely aware of my sensitivities to ‘hurts’ that occurred in the ‘church’. One of those areas of concern arises whenever there is a conversation regarding the ‘born again’ experience. Long story, but in my past ‘church’ history it has been a topic where I felt I had to vehemently defend my position in Christ.

I thought I was ‘healed’ of this but when this recently came up, I noticed a strong but silent response. I felt my heart shut down towards instruction, towards church authority, towards being able to yield to the working of His Spirit in me.

I knew I needed healing in this area and repented before God and a sister in Christ.

Shortly after this, I met one of those Christians. The ones where you immediately sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Sprit didn’t just show up when the conversation was about God, but it was there from ‘hello’ to ‘goodbye’. The Sprit’s manifestation brought chills to my being. I knew I needed to ask some questions and hear their testimony.

This individual had a past where the enemies plotting brought destructive bondage and the resulting consequences. (drug addiction and incarceration) Yet in this man, I saw joy, freedom, and contentment, not someone in a state of still working through things or battling demons of the past.

I knew this victory came from Jesus but wanted to know how God brought him to this place of freedom; was it immediate, was there a ‘pathway’ or program or something I wondered?  With unfeigned emotion he recalled the moment he cried out to God. His cry came from a heart that wanted to know and love and serve Jesus more than anything. ‘More than anything’…that statement struck me in the heart. 

God brought me to this point and to this moment that I would hear the convicting work of the Spirit providing the opportunity to grow, to be changed, to die to self.

How do I do this God? I fail so many times. I want to want You more than the end results, more than anything Lord. 

You must be born again.

Now hearing this for the first time again, it didn’t matter the time, the place, the experience, the prayer. It was the heart.

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." - Jhn 3:8 ESV

I never really understood this scripture. Now I could hear.

Like a leaf on a tree, the leaf’s movement is according to the direction of the wind that touches it…so it is for those born of the Spirit. God does in me what only He can do, by His Spirit in me. Born again.

That simple yet that profound.

This is the Holy Spirit! 

Aligning circumstances, aligning my heart, reminding me of truth that transforms me. 

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." - Rom 8:12-15 NKJV

A Spirit Filled Life | Robyn's Testimony

Vlog | Easter Festival Booth

Come along as we go behind the scenes with Redemption Church's team while we put together a booth at Delray Beach's Easter festival. We had a lot of fun and no one fainted from dehydration! It's just one of the ways we are keeping a faithful presence in our community. Take a look.

A Spirit Filled Life | Jenelle's Testimony

A Spirit Filled Life | Kristan's Testimony

“So this happened to me during a therapy session a few months back - my own therapy session; I was the client, not the counselor. I was feeling downcast and discouraged and it became clear it was frustration about myself and the way I was handling things, thinking about things, responding to things etc. I was explaining to the therapist how discouraged I felt and overwhelmed. I was going back over how I was feeling and explaining to her that the worst part of the discouragement was that I didn’t like who I was, which felt even more discouraging. But the Holy Spirt then said to me that I needed to yield to Him. It’s as if the Gospel became real again, front and center, in that moment. It’s quite true - I don’t like who I am in my flesh; in fact there’s nothing good there, but I do like the new creation Christ has made me to be, which is reflected most clearly when I am yielded and obedient to Him.”

Fellowship In The Church by Andre Amirato

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” -Acts 2:42

The early church saw many signs and wonders, as are recounted to us in the Bible. They worked in unison lifted one another up when necessary. The book of Acts shows not only a history of the church’s first steps, but it also provides an outline of behaviors, followed by the results of these behaviors. Those who accepted the word of God as truth came together and, as the above verse states, devoted themselves to 1) the apostles’ teaching, 2) fellowship, 3) breaking of bread, and 4) prayers.

I would like to consider one of these behaviors in this space: fellowship. 

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fellowship as “a community of interest.” Acts chapter 2:44 states, “all who believed were together and had all things in common.” The early church consisted of a group of individuals who came to Christ, advanced in like-minded behaviors, as outlined in verse 42, which resulted in great blessings and, as verse 44 shows us, they were together and had all things in common. They were successful in creating a “community of interest” and benefitted greatly from their fellowship. Through their behavior, they lifted each other up in the name of Christ as we are called to encourage one another. 

This passage demonstrates one of the most obvious reasons why fellowship in our lives is so important. Fellowship; or the pursuit of community with a common goal (which in this case is worshipping Jesus) provides us with encouragement and support. Without living in communion with fellow believers, we remove the opportunity to provide for each other’s physical needs and encourage one another in prayer or reading of the scriptures as we are also called to do in the same verse we’re called to live in fellowship.

Earlier in chapter two we see a great miracle where the Lord’s disciples speak in different languages, and this resonated with countless individuals from faraway lands as they recognized their own languages. This shows us that God’s power is awesome and transcends any kind of barrier. We also see that God’s church has always consisted of those from incredibly diverse backgrounds. If we look closely, we will find countless verses with God’s people worshipping him “… from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…”  (Revelation 7:9). God made us different from one another, and intends to see us all worshipping him together.

In our natural lives, we know that when we interact with those from different backgrounds, we tend to be more productive and profitable (Weiner 2014). This is attributed to a multitude of factors including the fact that we expect to be challenged differently from those of dissimilar backgrounds as we are unsure what to expect (Phillips 2014). Those who gathered at the time of Pentecost are connected in the sense that they happened to be in the same place at the same time and that many of them gave their lives to Christ, but we have no real evidence of much anything else to unite these individuals other than their common belief in Jesus Christ. 

If we are God’s creation, we must accept that we are all his creation, those who are similar, and those who are dissimilar. This passage clearly shows that the only similarity needed to form a community and benefit from one another’s company is a common belief in Jesus Christ, followed by engaging in the behaviors we are commanded to follow: read his Word, share with one another in communion, share with one another to provide for physical needs, and to pray. As we share in communion, we are met with the realization that God’s word is for everyone and that God has built every one of these distinct cultures and languages, giving us the opportunity to challenge ourselves to be better. Let us then encourage one another to share and learn from all indiscriminately as the Lord has called us to share to all “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation.’ ” (Mark 16:15).

Fellowship isn’t just about sharing with those who already believe. Fellowship is about building a community of interest centered around the worship of Jesus Christ. We were commanded to pursue this community and our command holds true to this day. Building our community requires the extension of a relationship to those around us, and those further away and the encouragement to all to seek the Lord. I want to encourage you to embrace the diversity of our planet as an opportunity bring a diversity of laborers into our fellowship and creating Christ centered communities out of those from every nation and peoples. Let us pursue fellowship both within our more natural communities and without, to include all of creation.