Ever feel out of your depth? Like there is no way out of the hurt, fear, and brokenness? For many of us, it feels like the night will never turn to day and we're stuck in the situation at hand. What do we do? Join us on Sunday as we unpack a reason for hope - not just for today or tomorrow, but for eternity.…

The abundance of self-help books and life hacks in our world is a testimony to the fact our lives are not quite right and that we desire a better way forward. But like any problem, before we jump to solutions we need to understand what's gone wrong. Join us Sunday as we seek to understand the problem, and, in the process, discover a blueprint for l…

This week, we see how three great endeavors of human existence — significance, security, and restful sleep — all fall under God’s providence. No matter how diligently we work, how carefully we protect, how intensely we seek a way forward, our striving is meaningless “unless the Lord” shows up for us. But the Lord love to give to his beloved.…

Laughter is essential to Christian faith. This week, we see the importance of celebrating the goodness God brings in our lives: “the Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.” These gospel memories strengthen us for tougher times that are sure to come, and they increase our faith in God’s promise that joy has the final word in our lives.…

Where do you find confidence for your life that is lasting and strong? In contrast to our world of fickle feelings and temporary highs, God's people are confident because they are surrounded by God himself. Join us this weekend, as we learn ancient wisdom for all those who seek to walk with trust in the Lord.…

As we journey through life we will regularly encounter great difficulty, which sometimes leads us to question our faith and doubt God. In these moments we often turn away from God, but when we turn towards God in difficulty and doubt we often find fertile soil for our faith to grow. Join us Sunday as we learn from David's experience how to seek the…

In contrast to our instant-everything world, spiritual growth is a slow, winding journey on the long road to a God-given destination. Christians often use the metaphor of a journey to describe what it’s like to move toward maturity in life with God. In ancient times, the people of God would literally travel together on the road to Jerusalem for wor…

Do you believe you have a Heavenly Father who cares for you but still find yourself anxious and discontent? You're not alone. Because beliefs are important but they aren't enough to change us. As we conclude our series this Sunday, we'll consider Jesus' climatic invitation to bring all of life into alignment with his kingdom as the surprising catal…

Where do you go with your worry? Scripture tells us to go to God, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). We find freedom from our striving for significance, image, and external validation by cultivating personal, soul-strengthening life with God. This week, we will explore how we can deepen our relationship wit…

What keeps us from enjoying more contentment in our lives? When we become stuck in a mindset of comparison, criticism, or cynicism, we will find that contentment is impossible to find. In our search to be content in all circumstances, Jesus will point us to Gospel truth and confidence in the care of our Heavenly Father.…

Jesus said, “Do not be anxious about your life.” Well, that’s easier said than done! We all feel the pull toward some version of the good life—however we choose to define it. In our own way, we each want to be noticed, respected, seen, secure. Modern technology and social media exploit our impulse to perform, increasing the pressure to play the com…

Do you view all of life through the lens of grace? This week, we conclude our series looking at the end of Jacob’s life. After all the twists and turns, fits and starts, ups and downs of his life, the mature Jacob becomes a billboard for grace, recognizing God’s care through all that lies behind and rejoicing in God’s blessing for all that lies ahe…

Have you ever made such a mess in your life that you wondered if God was done with you? After a dark season of spiritual drift in Jacob’s life, God intervenes again. Over and over in Jacob’s journey, God’s relentless grace seeks Jacob out. This week, we are reminded that the Lord pursues us wherever we go, keeps his promises, and invites us to dwel…

Do you ever think that small decisions won’t lead to big trouble? It seems like Jacob’s troubles are behind him, now that Laban and Esau are out of the way. But sometimes, a place of comfort can become a place of compromise. In Genesis 34, it all takes a tragic turn as one devastation follows another. Scripture does not hide the ugly side of human …

What does it look like to have a life-changing encounter with God? It’s an important question, maybe even an intimidating question. This week’s sermon looks at one of the most famous scenes in all the Bible: Jacob wrestling with God. God engages Jacob at the point of his greatest weakness and transforms his life completely while also leaving him li…

An Easter Sunday message from Jeff Lawrence, Lead Pastor of Redemption Church.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

Does life feel like a roller coaster sometimes? Jacob's life certainly did. This week, we'll look at another twist and turn in Jacob's life as he prepares to meet his brother Esau again after 20 years. Jacob's situation will give us an honest picture of the difficulties of life in our world, but it will also point us to hope in the midst of whateve…

How do the routine frustrations of life teach us to lean on God? This week, we continue our journey with Jacob as he experiences both professional success and business corruption in his partnership with his father-in-law Laban. In our study, we will see how common conflicts of life, though annoying in the moment, can be used by God to shape our fai…

What do you want from life? We all have heart longings that demand our attention and drive our emotions. This is a normal part of life. But things get messy when we set an inordinate amount of hope on someone or something that can never fulfill us. This week, we watch Jacob’s wives seek to win affection, appreciation, and significance in all the wr…

Have you ever set your heart on some great goal only to be disappointed in the end? This week, we see Jacob’s disillusionment in the very moment he thought would be the highlight of his life. Yet even when the trickster gets tricked, God is at work to bring about his good. Join us as we see how our disappointments reveal desires that only find thei…

What kind of people does God love? It’s an important question that this passage answers for us. To this point in Genesis, we’ve not seen anything admirable about Jacob — not his character, not his morality, not his spirituality. When Jacob is on the run, unsuspecting, and fast asleep, the gate of heaven opens to reveal God’s grace. Jacob was not lo…

To be experts in grace, we must first admit we are experts in sin. Of course, none of us like to talk about our failures, but they’re still there. In some ways, things are complicated because good and evil keep showing up together, side-by-side, in our lives. So, we dress up our good intentions and do the best we can. But what if grace offered us a…

In the Age of Amazon, we've grown accustomed to having whatever we want delivered to our doorstop in two days or less. And it's not just Amazon. We can order food, stream movies, and communicate with others in an instant. But have you ever wondered what this instant, easy access to everything is doing to our spiritual lives? In week two of our seri…

Most of us believe in God’s grace—at least in theory. But we often struggle to trust it in our everyday lives, so we live with by an internal scoreboard of our successes and failures. Yet over and over again, God uses messy and sinful people (like us) to fulfill his plans. This series follows the life of Jacob as it wanders a twisted path filled wi…

We wrap up our Deep, Meaningful Life series looking at the call to expand the reach of the gospel in our city and in our world. In Jesus’ plan, each of has a role to play using our unique spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences to advance the mission of God.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

This week in our Deep, Meaningful Life series we'll look at the importance of connection to others when it comes to living a life of flourshing. Most of us know we need connection, but genuine connection is often hard to come by in our world where we often feel the need to perform and conform just to fit in. In John 13, though, we see that Jesus' v…

We kicked off our Deep, Meaningful Life series looking at our personal devotion in Jesus’ call to “follow me.” This week, we see the importance of our personal development. Devotion without development is shallow. We will dive into the ways Jesus developed his disciples to live a deep, meaningful life.…

The clean calendar of a new year invites us to renew and refocus our lives. This January, we will survey the New Testament Gospels to see how Jesus develops people to flourish as his followers. We are investing the entire month in you: your devotion, your development, your connection, and your expansion of God's love in our world. This is a great t…

A short reflection on Psalm 1 as we wind down 2023 and usher in 2024.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

Message from Jeff Lawrence on December 24, 2023By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

When you read about the birth of Christ, perhaps no one had a front row seat like the Innkeeper. He first told Mary and Joseph that there was no room at the inn, and then he showed them into the courtyard where the animals were kept. This week, we will consider the arrival of Jesus through the eyes of the Innkeeper as we consider the importance of …

Have you ever found God’s plans wild and weird and wonderful, all at the same time? This week, we will see the Christmas story from the surprising perspective of the angel Gabriel. He was the one God chose to tell an innocent teenager, Mary, that she would give birth to a Savior son. Were these words easy for an angel to speak? Were the eyes of the…

Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the virgin birth of a son to be called Immanuel (which means, "God with us"). This week will look at the story of the birth of Christ through the lens of Joseph. What can we learn about Joseph that might open our eyes to the greater wonder of this familiar Christmas stor…

Like nothing else in human history, Christmas combines the cosmic marvel of God's salvation plan unfolding in time, and at the same moment, the most intimate and personal of human interactions surrounding the birth of a little boy. Join us this Christmas season as we zoom in for a close up look at Christmas from the perspective of the wisemen, Jose…

How should Christians relate to those who are outsiders to Christian faith? This is an important question, especially in our complex and often contentious times. In these verses, Paul closes his letter with a call to be fully alive in gospel mission to the world around us as we prayerfully, wisely, and winsomely make the most of every opportunity.…

How does new life in Christ affect our relationships? This week, we explore the ways in which being made alive together in Christ works out in everyday life — in our family and in our work. When Jesus is at the center of our relational world, it transforms and reorders everything under his leadership.…

Most of us want to grow spiritually, but how exactly are we supposed to go about it? Over these four weeks, we will seek to answer this question and help you move toward spiritual maturity with Jesus. Join us this weekend as we talk about reasonable and unreasonable expectations for our spiritual growth.…

Most of us want to grow spiritually, but how exactly are we supposed to go about it? Over these four weeks, we will seek to answer this question and help you move toward spiritual maturity with Jesus. Join us this weekend as we explore how our spiritual renewal leads us to put away our old habits and patterns and put on new attitudes and actions th…

Most of us want to grow spiritually, but how exactly are we supposed to go about it? Over these four weeks, we will seek to answer this question and help you move toward spiritual maturity with Jesus. Join us this weekend as we explore how our spiritual renewal leads us to put away our old habits and patterns and put on new attitudes and actions th…

Most of us want to grow spiritually, but how exactly are we supposed to go about it? Over the next four weeks, we will seek to answer this question and help you move toward spiritual maturity with Jesus. Join us this weekend as we see how embracing our identity in Christ transforms us from the inside out.…

Humans have an innate desire to connect with the divine, and this leads people to pursue spirituality through a variety of paths. In this section of Colossians, Paul deals with missteps which lead people into false spirituality that limits the freedom and fullness of their experience of life in Christ.…

Last week in our study of Colossians we looked at one of the most Christ exalting passages in all Scripture in which Paul described Jesus as the cosmic creator who also died for you and me. It’s incredible, mind-blowing truth. But if we’re honest there’s often a disconnect between what we know intellectually about Jesus and our daily experience of …

Who is Jesus to you? Many people think of Jesus as a positive influence, a great philosopher, a wise friend, a freedom fighter, or a kind humanitarian. In this famous passage, we see Jesus the cosmic Christ who is far more than a good human — he is a divine human. We learn that we need to know who Jesus really is and what he’s done for us so that w…

Where do you seek “the good life”? Romance? Career? Kids? Sports? Money? Attention? But what if you discovered that these things only flourish fully when lived in light of the greatest thing? In Colossians, we see Jesus Christ exalted above all else. When our lives are connected to Christ, we are “made alive together” to experience new humanity, ne…

When you consider hospitality, you probably have a single event in mind — a meal, a party, a get together with friends. In the Bible, we see an invitation from God to enjoy his eternal hospitality forever. There is no invite more valuable, no provision more ready, and no celebration more extravagant — yet the consequences are great for those who re…

Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. As we follow Jesus’ example, this role shapes both our beliefs and our practices. In this sermon, we will explore how you and I can befriend those around us in deeper, more meaningful ways.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

Relationships start with a simple reality: someone has to go first. Whether it is a walk across the room, a message to get together, or asking for a person’s name, someone must initiate. This week, we watch Jesus as he initiates a new connection with Zacchaeus, a man who most considered an unlikely candidate for friendship with Jesus.…

In our busy-sick world, hurry and worry often distract us from the most important things like love of neighbor, which requires us to stop and take notice of another person’s worth. This week, we will see the power of giving our full attention to others.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK

Does this sound like you? You long for a meaningful life and deep relationships with others. You feel a little guilty about not having more time for others, but life feels too busy chasing the next thing—next text, next meeting, next sporting event, next career move.Maybe it’s time to reclaim an ancient idea. 2000 years ago, an invitation was given…

This teaching on abiding prayer was part of a special Prayer & Worship Sunday from July 30th.By Redemption Church in Edmond, OK