Roots & Fruit

Redemption Hill Church

Roots & Fruit

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

May 8, 2022 • Pastor Bill Riedel • 1 Corinthians 3:5–9

This Sunday I will introduce the series, preaching on the theme of Roots & Fruit that can be traced as a thread through the entire biblical storyline. I will also introduce the preachers we can look forward to hearing this summer. I will start with 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 and we will touch down in a number of passages along the way.

It’s bittersweet for me to say that this is my last Sunday with our church before I head out on a sabbatical. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of our church in pursuing this opportunity and the grant that we received to make it possible. It is a great opportunity for me and my whole family to be refreshed and to make memories to last a lifetime as we get extra time together. After the past few years, the timing could not be better. I hope to return in August rested, with renewed energy and vision for the days ahead. We will be with our Redemption Hill Church family in spirit throughout, and by the time August rolls around, I’m sure we will be eager to get back with you all. - Pastor Bill

Hopes for Redemption Hill Church

August 28, 2022 • Pastor Bill Riedel • Jeremiah 29:4–14

Last Sunday, Pastor Bill talked about his hopes for the church as we look ahead. Our church is heading into a new season together. Now that we are over a decade into this work, Redemption Hill is not a church plant, we are a church. Even more, Redemption Hill has had the privilege of investing into other church plants and planting efforts. Coming through a few difficult and tumultuous years together has shaped everyone of us, and our church as well. On Sunday we returned to a text that has been very familiar through the planting and establishment of Redemption Hill Church, Jeremiah 29:4-14. We saw what God's people are called to in whatever place they find themselves.

The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way

August 21, 2022 • Pastor Bill Riedel • Acts 1:9, Matthew 28:18–20

This Sunday we will continue our Roots & Fruit series as we look at what it means to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. We talk a lot about church as a family and a community. There is more to being a church, though. We are called by God to be His people, carrying the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ into this world, empowered and led by the Spirit to good witness and work. Way too often, though, serving in a church can start to lose its lustre and feel like a grind, or we feel the draw to sit back and enjoy without much personal cost. Jesus is building His Church, and we get to join Him. Let's make sure we do it His way.

The Importance of the Local Church

August 14, 2022 • Pastor Jon Parks • Titus 2:11–14

Jon Parks is a Pastor of Village Church East Belfast. Pastor Jon was involved from the very beginning of the plant, though not as its pastor. His brother Lucas was the planting pastor. Over time, though, God called Jon into pastoral ministry and the church affirmed his gifts and qualification for that ministry role. In summer 2020, Lucas moved away from Belfast and took a new role in a different church. Pastor Jon has continued as a key leader and pastor for Village. Redemption Hill has supported the work in Belfast for over a decade through financial support and many other ways that we have partnered together. It is difficult not to be consumed by ideologies and perspectives that surround us, allowing other thoughts to take precedence over the gospel in our lives. DC is our culture’s Athens, where people “spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). 90 minutes of church per Sunday, on its own, is not going to reshape our lives. And yet, the church is essential to shaping our spiritual lives and perspectives. Pastor Jon will help us see the importance of prioritizing our local church. He will highlight the difference between empty moralism and gospel transformation, setting a vision for the importance of our local church in helping us to keep Christ at the center as we stumble toward maturity together. In some ways, this sermon will serve as a capstone for all that precedes it in this series, emphasizing the rhythms of worship, community, and mission that are all centered on, shaped by, and driven by the gospel of Jesus Christ.