Spiritual Formation. It’s one of our core values at Redeemer Rockwall.

At Redeemer our mission is to live for the glory of Christ and the life of the world. But what exactly is the glory of Christ? As we kick off this sermon series we focus on how we want the significance of Christ to be the center of everything we do at Redeemer Rockwall.

Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He came to feel the weight of our condition, and to do something about it. Now He is calling us to "go and do likewise"! Will you follow His call?

Change is hard and not easy to come by. Most often we go about change by reinventing ourselves or not thinking about change at all. But God is not interested in reinventing you or keeping you the same. He wants to remake you from the inside out.

In this passage, Isaiah prophesies to Ahaz about a virgin and a coming king. Ahaz refused to trust God and Isaiah prophesied a sign of God coming to dwell with his people.

Jesus is the God that doesn't meet our expectations, but he is doing so much more. The season of Advent addresses our expectations of Jesus and reconnects us with how God moves in our lives.

Advent reminds us of our poverty. Our spiritual condition is one that is bankrupt before God and we are helpless except for his kindness and generosity towards us. The Advent Season is the reminder that our God is generous beyond measure, he sent us a King that would take on flesh and rescue his people. Yet, we often continue to live in the poverty of our own autonomy, instead of submitting our lives to our King.

Advent is when we prepare for the coming of the Lord. It’s a season where the Church recognizes the world is not what it should be and we long for a Savior to come and make all things new. The certainty of the first coming allows us to look forward in hope to the second coming of Christ. In Advent, we cry, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

The story of Esther forces you to think that maybe Christianity is way more than you signed up for. You might have even been taught that following Jesus was supposed to make you healthier and wealthier. Or maybe that the gospel was there to make you cozy and happy on this side of heaven? But the gospel message in Esther looks less like comfort and a lot more like a cross.

The story of Esther points back to Eve and Bathsheba, but it also points forward to Mary! They were put in just the right time and place to deliver God's people!

The story of Esther is reaching a boiling point. Esther and Mordecai bide their time waiting for exactly the right time to make their moves. But the story of Esther is connected to the rest of Scripture in a unique way. The only way to understand the significance of this story is to find Jesus in this passage.

Esther 4 is one of the most epic passages in the Old Testament. We see a radical transformation in Esther as she goes from being a complicated bride to a consecrated queen. Her transformation and courage stem from her decision to consecrate and devote her life to God and God transformed her to be used in her time and her place.

In Esther 3, Haman gets the power to kill all the Jews. He sends out an edict to proclaim that every Jewish man, woman, and child, is to be killed, and everything they own is theirs for the taking. The Serpent is still at work trying to stomp out the seed of the woman before the one who will come and crush the serpents head can be born. But the Lord is at work too. And in the face of total annihilation, He is miraculously preserving them through this woman.

Esther is one of the most misunderstood characters in the Bible. Most think she is either a victim, a coward, or a sellout. The author of Esther gives us a complicated and compromised view of Esther. But those typical views of Esther look at her in isolation from the rest of the grand story of God. Maybe we should ask what does God think of Esther and what does he think of us?

As we begin a new series in the book of Esther, we consider the story in the context of the whole Bible and consider how it ultimately points to Jesus.

The kingdom of God is built with perfectly hewn stones fitting perfectly together crafted by God. And we are the stones. What does this have to do with The Lord's Prayer? The answer is... Everything!

The devil is real, and he's at work. Waiting for just the right moment to attack. He is patient, motivated, personal, and he seeks to devour you. The Lord's Prayer shows us that this life is a battle, and this prayer is how we prepare for that battle!

Jesus teaches us to pray. And He teaches us about ourselves.

Forgiveness is hard. But Jesus' teaching on forgiveness is even harder. Jesus challenges our ideas about forgiveness in these passages, but the question you have to answer is "Is hanging onto that grudge worth your relationship with God"?

The Bread Makes All The Difference