Redemption Community Church

Almost everybody likes #Jesus. But they don’t all mean the same “Jesus.”In week two of our series Our Family Crest, Pastor Cory takes us back to AD 325, when one persuasive priest named Arius used all the right Bible words to describe a Jesus who was less than God, and nearly split the church in half. What came out of the fight was the #NiceneCreed, the confession Christians have been standing up and saying together for 1,700 years.This is the story of bishops with scars from persecution, a fight over a single Greek letter, a legend about Saint Nicholas, and a young man named Athanasius who spent 17 years on the run because he refused to let anyone make Jesus smaller. Most importantly, it’s about why it matters for you today: a Jesus small enough to manage is too small to save.In this message:✅ Why “same words, different Jesus” is the oldest counterfeit in the book✅ What happened at the Council of Nicaea, and what didn’t (no, Constantine didn’t invent Jesus)✅ Homoousios vs. homoiousios: how one letter separates a Savior from a creature✅ What John 1 shows us about Jesus being “begotten, not made”✅ Athanasius contra mundum: standing against the world when the world stands against God✅ Why if Jesus is less than God, the cross is less than enough📖 Scripture: John 1:1–18 · John 10:33 · John 20:28 · Psalm 49:7 · Isaiah 43:11🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#WhoIsJesus #ChurchHistory #Athanasius #Kirkwood #StLouisChurch #RedemptionKirkwood #OurFamilyCrestNicene Creed, Who is Jesus, Is Jesus God, Council of Nicaea, Arius, Athanasius, homoousios, deity of Christ, Trinity, John 1, begotten not made, Christian creeds, church history, Apostles Creed, Mere Christianity, Saint Nicholas, Our Family Crest, sermon, Redemption Community Church, Redemption Kirkwood, Cory Ball, Kirkwood church, St Louis church, Kirkwood MO

Millions of people have mailed off a DNA kit to find out where they came from. But most of us know more about our ancestry results than our spiritual family history.In Week 1 of Our Family Crest, Pastor Cory takes us back nearly 2,000 years to the first spiritual family crest: the Apostles’ Creed. We look at where it really came from (hint: not a Pentecost group project), why it was born in the baptism waters of second-century Rome, and why Paul handed down a creed inside the Bible itself in 1 Corinthians 15. Along the way, we’ll see why the strangest name in the creed might be the most important one, and why Christianity stands or falls on a single event.In this message:✅ Why “no creed but the Bible” is itself a creed✅ The creed inside the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15:3–8✅ Why the early church needed a creed at all, and the counterfeits it guarded against✅ Pontius Pilate, the Pilate Stone, and why the creed is a timestamp rather than a myth✅ Why Christianity can be disproven, and why that’s good news✅ Why homemade creeds collapse at graveside moments✅ The difference between agreeing with the resurrection and staking your life on it“You didn’t invent your faith. You inherited it, and it was handed down by people who bled out to keep it true.”📖 Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1–8, 14, 17 | Matthew 28:19 | 2 Timothy 1:13–14 | 1 John 4:2–3 | 1 Timothy 6:13🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#ApostlesCreed #OurFamilyCrest #RedemptionKirkwood #ChurchHistory #1Corinthians15 #StLouisChurch #KirkwoodMO #ResurrectionApostles Creed, Apostles Creed explained, Our Family Crest, Redemption Church, Redemption Kirkwood, Kirkwood church, St Louis church, Kirkwood MO, Pastor Cory Ball, 1 Corinthians 15, Christian creeds, church history, early church, what Christians believe, resurrection of Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Pilate Stone, Polycarp, Marcion, Gnosticism, chronological snobbery, CS Lewis, creedal church, no creed but the Bible, Christian apologetics, is the resurrection real, sermon, Nicene Creed

What if Jesus isn’t offering you a better route through the #RatRace, but a completely different road?In the final week of our series Rat Race: I Want It All, Pastor Cory walks through Matthew 6:19–34, where Jesus takes the whole wheel apart piece by piece in about sixteen verses. We are the most well-directed people who have ever lived, and somehow we’re still lost. Every app will tell you how to get somewhere. Not one of them will ask you if you should be going there.Jesus names the three parts of the machine that keep us running, and then He shows us the exit.✅ Treasure: What you chase ends up holding your heart. Jesus didn’t say your treasure follows your heart; He said your heart follows your treasure. Move your treasure, and your heart will follow.✅ Masters: Something will be in the driver’s seat. Whoever wins the argument when God and your fear disagree is the one driving. You don’t have a resource problem; you have a master problem.✅ Worry: Anxiety is the fuel that keeps the wheel spinning. Most of us don’t run because we’re greedy. We run because we’re scared.✅ The Exit: “Seek first the Kingdom.” Jesus doesn’t tell you to stop running. He tells you to change what you’re running after.✅ The Father Who Already Knows: A rat runs because it thinks no one is coming. A child rests because they know their Father already has it handled.Jesus doesn’t help you win the race. He breaks the wheel and walks you to a different path. #BreakTheWheel #SeekFirstTheKingdom📖 Scripture: Matthew 6:19–34 | Romans 8:32 | Colossians 3:5🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.Break The Wheel, Rat Race sermon series, Matthew 6 sermon, Matthew 6:33, seek first the kingdom, do not worry, sermon on worry, sermon on anxiety, treasure in heaven, cannot serve two masters, God and money, Sermon on the Mount, trusting God, faith over fear, Pastor Cory Ball, Redemption Church Kirkwood, Redemption Community Church, Kirkwood church, St. Louis church, Kirkwood MO, Christian sermon

What if the thing you keep reaching for is the very thing that’s slowly hurting you? 🐀Rat poison doesn’t work fast. It works slow, so the rat never connects the sickness to the bait it loves. And saltwater looks like exactly what a thirsty sailor needs, but every drink only makes the thirst worse. In week three of Rat Race: I Want It All, Pastor Cory Ball walks through Luke 12 and Jesus’ parable of the fool to expose what greed really does to us once it has a hold on us, and where to find the only water that actually satisfies.In this message:✅ Why “more” never quenches the thirst; it creates it✅ The three things greed does: it divides, it isolates, and it kills✅ Why success is not the sin, but forgetting God in it is✅ What the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea teach us about a life that flows vs. a life that hoards✅ How Jesus offers living water that becomes a spring inside you“You can fill the barns and still lose your soul.” 🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#RatRace #RedemptionChurch #KirkwoodMO #StLouisChurch #Greed #LivingWater #Luke12 #Sermon #Jesus #Faith #RedemptionChurch #KirkwoodMO #StLouisChurch #LivingWater #Jesus #Faith #ChurchFamily #SermonRat Race sermon series, Rat Poison sermon, Redemption Church Kirkwood, Redemption Community Church, Cory Ball, Pastor Cory Ball, Kirkwood MO church, St Louis church, church in Kirkwood, Luke 12 sermon, rich fool parable, parable of the rich fool, sermon on greed, greed Bible, living water, John 4, Jeremiah 2:13, bigger barns, Dead Sea Sea of Galilee sermon, contentment sermon, Christian sermon, sermon 2026

Nobody signs up for a rat race. So how did we end up in one?In week two of #RatRace, Pastor Cory opens 1 Timothy 6:6-10 and shows how the trap actually works: the bait, the snap, and the grip. No mouse has ever walked up to a mousetrap and seen a trap. It sees dinner. And most of what catches us never looked dangerous. It looked like something we'd earned.If you're tired, still stuck, and can't figure out why, this message is for you. Real #contentment isn't a personality type. It's something you can learn, and it starts with an open hand.Bottom line: Whatever you can't let go of already has a hold on you.Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19 | Philippians 4:11-13 | Hebrews 13:5 | Matthew 4:8-10 | Isaiah 53:5 | 2 Corinthians 8:9🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#RatRace #RedemptionKirkwood #TheTrap #Contentment #OpenHands #LetGo #1Timothy6 #GodlinessWithContentment #SermonSeries #SundaySermon #ChurchOnline #FaithOverFear #JesusFollower #BibleTeaching #ChristianLiving #KirkwoodMO #STLChurch #StLouisChurch #StLouisMO #STLRedemption Church Kirkwood, Redemption Kirkwood, Cory Ball, Pastor Cory Ball, Rat Race sermon series, Rat Race I Want It All, The Trap sermon, 1 Timothy 6 sermon, godliness with contentment, contentment in Christ, how to be content, sermon on contentment, always wanting more, letting go, monkey trap illustration, Christian sermon 2026, church in Kirkwood MO, St. Louis church, churches in St. Louis, Kirkwood Missouri church, online church, love of money

"If you do get the cheese… you're still the rat."Long week. Full calendar. Running hard. A lot of us are on a wheel we don't know how to get off: chasing the next raise, the next upgrade, the next thing that's finally supposed to feel like enough. In Week 1 of our new series #RatRace, Pastor Cory opens Ecclesiastes 5, where the richest man of his day says plainly what the wheel never tells you.✅ The cheese never satisfies. Enough keeps moving. That's the #HedonicTreadmill.✅ The cheese never sleeps. What keeps you up at 2 a.m. often shows what has your heart.✅ The cheese never stays. You came in with nothing, and everything in between is on loan.✅ You were never meant to be a rat. In the kingdom of God, you're a son or daughter of the King, invited to His table.Whether you're a student chasing the GPA, a parent trying to give your kids everything, or someone watching the number in the nest egg, this one's for you. Different wheels. Same race. And Jesus offers a way off. #Ecclesiastes #Contentment #Jesus📖 Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:10–16 (NIV)📅 Rat Race runs every Sunday in October. Next week: The Trap.🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#RedemptionKirkwood #Ecclesiastes #Contentment #HedonicTreadmill #Jesus #KirkwoodMO #StLouisChurchRat Race, The Wheel, Rat Race sermon, Ecclesiastes 5, Ecclesiastes 5:10, sermon on contentment, contentment, hedonic treadmill, never enough, burnout, rat race of life, ambition, chasing more, meaningless, under the sun, Solomon, Cory Ball, Pastor Cory Ball, Redemption Community Church, Redemption Kirkwood, Kirkwood MO, Kirkwood church, St. Louis church, church in St. Louis, Christian sermon, Jesus, sermon 2026

What if the most courageous thing you ever do looks like just another ordinary Tuesday?In the final week of our Backbone series, Pastor Cory takes us into Daniel 6, the most famous chapter in the book of Daniel. It turns out the lions' den isn't a story about a new act of heroism. It's about an old man, in his 80s, who refused to change his habits, even when those habits could cost him his life.When the law was signed, Daniel went home and prayed "as usual," windows open, just as he had always done. He didn't know how the story would end. He stayed faithful anyway.In this message, we explore:🔥 Why your habits shape who you become🦁 How Daniel's enemies built a trap around his predictable faith🍳 What a cast iron skillet teaches us about seasoned, everyday faith🙏 Why faithfulness is the point, and rescue is grace on top of it📖 The habit you may have let slide, and how to pick it back upHabits are what you do when no one's watching. Backbone is what shows up when everyone is.🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#Backbone #Daniel6 #LionsDen #UsualOrdinaryFaith #Faith #Prayer #SpiritualHabits #ChristianLiving #Sermon #BibleTeaching #StLouisChurch #KirkwoodMO #RedemptionCommunityChurchDaniel and the lions den, Daniel 6 sermon, lions den sermon, Backbone sermon series, book of Daniel sermon, Usual Ordinary Faith, faithfulness sermon, prayer sermon, spiritual habits, Christian habits, Atomic Habits Christian, daily prayer, consistent faith, sermon on habits, Christian sermon 2026, Redemption Community Church, Cory Ball, St Louis church, Kirkwood church, church online, Bible teaching

Belshazzar had a front-row seat to his predecessor's downfall — pride, arrogance, judgment — and reached for the same sin anyway. He wasn't ignorant. He knew all this.In this message from Daniel 5, Pastor Cory Ball unpacks the story of the writing on the wall (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin) and asks a harder question than "do we know better?" — it's "will we still reach for it anyway?" We'll look at what real backbone costs, why Daniel refused the king's reward before he'd even spoken, and why the sin that ends you rarely shows up looking new.🏠 ABOUT REDEMPTIONRedemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#Backbone #Daniel5 #WritingOnTheWall #SameSinDifferentDecade #Integrity #Courage #RedemptionCommunityChurch #KirkwoodMO #StLouisChurch #SundaySermon #BibleTeaching #ChristianYouTube #FaithOverFear #MeneMeneTekelParsin #GenerationalSin #WalkTheTalk#Backbone #Daniel5 #SameSinDifferentDecade #Integrity #Courage #KirkwoodMO #RedemptionCC #WritingOnTheWall #SundayService #ChristianContent #FaithCommunityBackbone sermon series, Daniel 5 sermon, Same Sin Different Decade, writing on the wall Bible, Mene Mene Tekel Parsin, Belshazzar's feast, Belshazzar and Daniel, backbone and integrity sermon, courage sermon, integrity sermon, Redemption Community Church, Cory Ball pastor, Kirkwood Missouri church, St Louis church, Christian sermon 2026, Old Testament sermon, Daniel Bible study, generational sin, character over comfort, biblical courage, church in Kirkwood MO, NLT Bible study, Sunday sermon online, faith and integrity

Daniel and his friends had already stood firm three times — over food, over prayer, over a fiery furnace. But this week, backbone means something different: telling the truth to the one person who could end his life with a single word.In this message from Daniel 4, we watch Daniel deliver hard news to King Nebuchadnezzar — and we ask a harder question of ourselves: who's the person in YOUR life you've been avoiding an honest conversation with? Your kid? Your boss? Your parent? Your spouse?We talk about the difference between cowardice disguised as wisdom, love that avoids conflict, and the kind of truth-telling that's actually generous — a "velvet hammer" that's soft in delivery but unmistakably firm in content.Because the truth that costs you something now might be the very thing that saves someone you love later.🎬 A new movie on Daniel releases in theaters September 18th — more info on our group outing coming soon!Redemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#Backbone #SayItScared #BookOfDaniel #Nebuchadnezzar #RedemptionCommunityChurch #KirkwoodMO #SundaySermon #ChristianYouTube #BibleTeaching #FaithOverFear #TruthTelling #VelvetHammer #ChurchOnline #StLouisChurch #WeeklySermon #BibleStudy #DanielBibleStudy #Courage #ChristianContent #SundayMessageBackbone sermon, Daniel Bible study, Book of Daniel sermon, Nebuchadnezzar, Say It Scared, Redemption Community Church, Kirkwood MO church, St Louis church, Christian sermon, Sunday sermon, telling the truth, hard conversations, velvet hammer, biblical courage, cowardice sin, truth and love, Daniel 4, Christian YouTube, weekly sermon, church in Kirkwood, Cory Ball pastor, backbone not wishbone, risk the relationship, generosity and honesty, faith and courage

A 90-foot gold statue. A command to bow. And three men who won't.Weeks one and two of Backbone: A Study in Daniel both ended well — nobody lost their life, everybody went home safe. This week, that pattern breaks. King Nebuchadnezzar orders his entire empire to bow to a golden statue of himself or be thrown into a blazing furnace. And this time, there's no guarantee it ends okay.Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse — not because they know how it'll end, but because they've decided who they answer to. Their answer to the king contains five words that may be the theological center of the whole book of Daniel: "but even if He doesn't."In this message, Pastor Cory unpacks:✅ Why real backbone is tested by uncertainty, not by guaranteed outcomes✅ How to hold conviction without losing Christlikeness✅ Why the miracle in the furnace isn't rescue — it's presence✅ What your kids actually inherit from you (hint: it's not your convictions)Backbone doesn't need a guaranteed rescue.📖 Scripture: Daniel 3:1-25, Proverbs 15:24, Romans 8:38-39🎬 A new movie on Daniel releases in theaters September 18th — more info on our group outing coming soon!Redemption Church is a community in Kirkwood, MO, helping people meet, know, and live for Jesus. We'd love to have you join us in person or online.🌐 Website: redemptionstl.com📍 820 Lockett Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122📱 Follow us: @redemptionstl💛 Give: redemptionstl.com/give 💬 Questions about faith? Reply in the comments — we'd love to talk.👉New here? We'd love to connect with you — visit redemptionstl.com to plan your visit or find a small group.#BowOrBurn #Backbone #StudyInDaniel #RedemptionChurch #RedemptionKirkwood #KirkwoodMO #StLouisChurch #DanielBibleStudy #SundaySermon #EvenIfHeDoesnt #Faith #ChristianContent #BibleTeaching #ExpositoryPreaching #ChurchOfStLouisBackbone sermon series, Study in Daniel, Bow or Burn, Daniel 3 sermon, fiery furnace sermon, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, even if he doesn't sermon, Nebuchadnezzar gold statue, Redemption Church Kirkwood, Redemption Kirkwood, St Louis church, Kirkwood Missouri church, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace movie, Daniel Bible study, Pastor Cory sermon, backbone sermon series, faith under pressure, covenantal faith vs transactional faith, standing firm in faith, fiery furnace Bible study, faith without guarantees, biblical courage sermon, small group Bible study, Christian sermon 2026, expository preaching, backbone not wishbone