Redstone Church

We all wonder. When we fix our eyes somewhere other than on God, wonder leads to wander. If you’ve wandered from the faith or are looking for the door, it’s not because of Jesus. You may think Christianity requires mind-numbing, experience-denying faith, but what if that’s not true?

We wonder because our frame of reference doesn’t provide us with all of the answers. Every version of religion works for children. But then life happens. We experience challenging circumstances that sow doubt in our childhood faith. Tragedy causes us to question if God is good and loving. Sin leads to guilt and shame. We wonder if God can really love us. Is there such a thing as a frame of reference that can accomodate a grown-up faith?

We wonder because our frame of reference doesn’t provide us with all of the answers. As our frame of reference changes or expands, some mysteries are solved. Some remain mysterious. So what do you do with the big mysteries in life—the mysteries that won't resolve no matter how much we explore them? What do you do with your unanswered questions?

Dissatisfaction with what we have and what we can afford can lead to discontentment. We live in a culture that tells us newer and shinier is better. So, what do you do when you're no longer content with what you wear, drive, or live in?

A message from Russell Flynt on Love - a part of the Redstone Church Be Rich series.

When the church does good, God’s name is made great. This year, we want to continue the wave of Be Rich good deeds we’ve experienced over the past decade. We want to show people in our communities that God loves them. And we don’t want you to miss this opportunity to be extraordinarily generous.

At the heart of the Christian faith is this idea: in Jesus, God became one of us and dwelt among us. When it comes to those around us who are hurting and in need, the God who dwelt among us calls his followers to be hands on.

Happy couples decide they owe each other everything but are owed nothing in return. But that requires effort. Every married person makes a choice every day. That choice feels more like a reaction, so most people don’t think they have a choice at all. But they do. Happy couples make the happy choice.

As long as you think your spouse owes you, your marriage will be all about keeping score. That destroys intimacy. It destroys love. But what are we supposed to do about our hopes, dreams, and desires?

We all enter into marriage with hopes, dreams, and desires. They create expectations. But when you put those expectations onto your spouse, it turns your marriage into a debt/debtor relationship. Your relationship becomes marked by the belief that your spouse owes you something. So, how do you keep your hopes, dreams, and desires from becoming expectations?

A great marriage doesn’t happen by accident. It requires care and regular maintenance. But sometimes we don’t want to make the effort. As long as it’s not broken, do we really need to talk about it?

Your past is a problem when it creates fear for your future. It limits your potential and gets in the way of a deeper relationship with God.

As a society, we have more anxiety now than we ever have before. We carry it around like a software virus. It slows us down and quietly keeps us from operating at our full potential.

Fear is an emotion caused by belief in a looming potential loss. It’s based in the future. The source of our fears is usually something we’re going to lose or we’re afraid we won’t have in the future. Since we can never really know what’s the around the corner, is it even possible to live without fear?

It’s vital to erect guardrails around our hearts becuase an unguarded heart can overpower our most guarded behavior.

When it comes to our finances, it’s easy to cross the line into the danger zone. That’s why it’s essential to establish guardrails against greed.

Guardrails keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off limit areas. We need personal guardrails so we don’t stray into areas of life that can harm us or the people we love. If there’s one area in which personal guardrails are most needed but also most resisted, it’s in our relationships.

Have you ever met someone that later you wish you’d never met? Is there a person you wish your husband, wife, son, or daughter had never met? Sometimes people are our greatest regrets because they influence us to ignore our guardrails and step into the danger zone.

Guardrails are designed to keep vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limit areas. They minimize damage by keeping us in the safety zone. But the highway isn’t the only place we need guardrails.

We all want to be known for something. But what do you do when you don't measure up . . . even to your own standards? You’ll never become who you want to be until you are willing to face up to who you actually are. And the only way to do that is to stop worrying about being known for something, and allow yourself to be known by a group of someones.

What would God think about that? We all do things from time to time we know displease God. And our disobedience leads to discipline from God. But why does he discipline us at all? Why can’t he just look the other way?

A hero sees what everyone sees, but is not content to do what everyone does. Nobody ever feels like a hero. But what separates heroes from the rest of us is choice. Heroes don’t accept the status quo. Heroes take action . . . even when the problem is too big for one person to solve. Heroes leverage what they have and who they are on behalf of other people.

A hero sees what everyone sees, but is not content to do what everyone does. A hero doesn’t let his or her fear stand in the way of saving the day. One of the things we most admire about heroes is their willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others. But that’s also one of the biggest things that gets in the way of us seizing opportunities to be heroes.

“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It’s Superman!” A hero sees what everyone sees, but is not content to do what everyone does. A hero saves the day. Even though that may sound lofty and unattainable, hero status is accessible to all of us. But just like Superman is vulnerable to Kryptonite, there’s a common weakness we must overcome if we’re going to be heroes.

A hero saves the day. If you believe Hollywood, a hero saves the planet. That makes heroism seem inaccessible to most of us. But with a single question, Jesus made hero status available to us all. He also took away our excuses for not accessing our heroic potential.

Faster than an speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! There’s something about hero blockbusters in the summertime. We can’t get enough of them. Saving the world and rescuing the weak resonates with us. But what does it look like to be a hero in real life? Maybe we need a new definition of what it means to be a hero.

Too often, we play mind games in relationships. We assume the worst of others, and try to manipulate them in order to get the upper hand. Check out this simple approach to ending The Mind Game in your relationships.

When we're guilty, it's tempting to blame others for our choices. But putting the blame on others is toxic to relationships. Check out this secret to quitting The Blame Game.

There’s nothing more toxic to a relationship than secretly trying to change the other person. It feels awful. It doesn’t work. And it will eventually destroy the relationship. The good news is you can quit The Change Game and find a better way.

Sometimes you know what’s coming next—graduation, wedding, new baby, new job, retirement. But there’s no correlation between knowing what’s next and being prepared for what’s next. So, how do you prepare for the next season when you can't see what’s coming?

We’re all headed somewhere. We’re all moving toward a new season. And none of us has been where we’re going. Yet it’s up to us to figure out what we need to pack in our bags so that we’re prepared for that coming season. But how can you know what you’ll need when the coming season is a mystery? How can you know what you don’t know?

We’re all headed somewhere. Arriving at our new destinations requires change. For most of us, change creates stress. Just like when we travel on a boat, plane, or in a car, traveling through life can give us motion sickness. We’re knocked off balance. The ground beneath our feet doesn’t feel solid. So how do you prepare for what’s next when the anxiety of transition has you fighting motion sickness?

Life is full of change. Transitions can be both exciting and stressful. That’s because we can’t see into the future. We can’t tell what comes next. But what if there was a way to prepare for the next season? What if you could do something now to influence where you end up then?

Do you sometimes wonder how anyone could believe Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose from the dead, and was seen? It was enough then. Maybe it’s still enough today. 

Plans are great. Reality is greater. Reality wins. Things don’t always go as planned. Some dreams don’t come true. So what do you do when you discover your dream can’t come true?

Few things are as repulsive as a leader, parent, boss, or politician who leverages influence for his or her benefit to the neglect of those he or she is responsible for. Few things are as inspiring as a leader who says no to himself or herself in order to say yes to those for whom he or she is responsible. So how can we lead well when authority is placed in our hands?

The way of God isn't appealing when we have been wronged by someone else. Our natural urge is to try to get even. We want to wrong the people who wrong us as a way of getting payback. That seems just. It seems fair. But does it solve anything? Maybe there’s a better way.

The way of God is most unappealing when we are angry, isolated, or afraid. That’s when we consider things we would never otherwise consider. It's when we feel compelled to do something . . . anything. But maybe there's a better way.

David went from humble shepherd to national hero to great king. But he wasn't great because of his reputation or military prowess. He was great because of where he'd learned to place his hope.

Inadequacy whispers into every quiet moment of the soul. We think, "I don't have what it takes." For so many, inadequacy drives the pursuit of power, prestige, and possessions. If we never deal directly with our inadequacy, the white noise will keep us dissatisfied.

Loneliness is one of the most common ailments of the modern age. Because of the stigma attached with it, most people never deal with it. Instead of resorting to the white noise we use to mask loneliness, what if we dealt with it directly?

Life is full of noise. It’s everywhere, all the time. Sometimes we just want to escape, to control the noise by drowning it out with other distractions. But too often, the noise you control is masking the noise that is controlling you. If you’re willing to turn down the white noise, you might be surprised what you’ll hear.

What you naturally want is often in conflict with what you ultimately value. But your heavenly Father knows what you need. He wants for you what you really want. So, how do you put aside those natural wants and pursue what you ultimately value?

What do you want? What do you really want? We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. And what we naturally want is often in conflict with what we ultimately value. So, in order to figure out what you really want, you have to figure out what you value.

We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. But choosing what’s valuable isn’t natural. We’ve all had the experience of getting what we naturally want, only to discover it's not what is most valuable—it’s not what we ultimately want. But how do we avoid being deceived by our short-term desires?

We all have wants. But actually getting what we want can be tricky . . . and even dangerous. It usually leaves us wanting more. If what we want leads to a cycle of wanting more and more, maybe we want the wrong things.