In Need of Rescue

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By Major Beth Desplancke

When I was a first-year student in college, I attended the local community college. On my way to school, my car got a flat tire. I was a few miles from home. Thankfully, my car got a flat across the street from a convenience store, which had a pay phone (some of you might have to Google what a pay phone is). Even better, I had a quarter – the cost to use the pay phone.

I called home, hoping that although my dad slept during the day because he worked nights, he would hear the phone ring and answer, and ultimately that he would come to my rescue. Sadly, there was no answer.

What was I to do? I opened the trunk and saw the spare tire. I did not have the skills to change it myself, so that was not an option. I did not have AAA and was a poor college student, so I did not have the money or a credit card to pay the expense of a tow truck (I also did not have another quarter to use the pay phone). I sat in my car and prayed that someone would come to my rescue. Nobody came.

Finally, I walked 1 1/2 miles back to my house, leaving my car beside the road. When I got home, I woke my dad, and he came to my rescue. He called AAA, and then drove me back to my car, and we waited for the tow truck to come. Eventually the tire got changed, and I went on about my day (obviously, I had missed most of my classes that day).

I was stuck and could not save myself. I needed to be rescued.

We are all stuck in sin. Romans 3:23 tells us that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all in need of rescue, and we can do nothing to save ourselves. Hallelujah, we have someone to turn to for rescue. Jesus is our Rescuer!

Colossians 1:13-14 says, For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We were trapped in the dominion of darkness, and we could do nothing to get out (just like my flat tire – my car was not going anywhere). But God (I love that phrase) stepped in and sent His Son Jesus to be the one who came to rescue us by dying on the cross for our sins and then defeating the power of sin and death by rising from the dead. Because of His gracious rescue, we have been brought from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son He loves. Through Jesus we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. We could never rescue ourselves – so Jesus came to do the rescuing!

I love how Timothy Keller explains it: “The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.”

I was thankful the day my dad came to my rescue when I had the flat tire, but I am even more thankful for the rescue Jesus provided for me.

It reminds of the song by Jordan St. Cyr, To Save My Life. The beginning of the song says:

I couldn’t fight to save my life 
No matter how hard I tried 
Each battle brought me to my knees
Cause I was standing in pride
Till I cried out to heaven
Threw my hands in the air
And you shouldered the burdens
I could no longer bear
Upon a cross
A cross that should’ve been mine
To save my life 
You gave up yours 
Fought my fight
And won my war 
The empty grave 
Is living proof 
There’s nothing you wouldn’t do
To save my life 
To save my life 
Gave yours for mine
To save my life

And what should our response to His rescue be. Jordan St. Cyr says it best in his song:

Hallelujah, hallelujah, Now my soul’s alive and breathing
Hallelujah, hallelujah, I owe all my life Jesus 

April 2025 Newsletter

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You are Priceless! You are Redeemed! That is the theme of this month’s newsletter.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. Luke 1:68

Included in this month’s newsletter is a devotion, prayer idea, conversation starters, and a Bible reading plan that focuses on our redemption story from the Gospel of Luke. Also included are “Identity Statements,” verses that proclaim who you are in Christ for you to memorize, meditate on, and claim in your life.

Also included in this month’s issue are highlights from our Second Annual “Women Preach Sunday” which was held on March 2nd of this year.

Download this month’s newsletter:

April 2025 NewsletterDownload

Let this song by Influence Music remind you that you are “Redeemed”

April 2025 Devotional: Redemption – What is It?

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By Lt. Andrielli Gonzalez
Hanapepe, HI Corps Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7-8

Paul, the writer of the book of Ephesians, tells us that Jesus redeems us. The Greek word for “redemption” refers to the ransom paid to free slaves; it is paying for an object or person so that it is not sold again; this payment frees a defenseless person from slavery. Jesus paid the price with His blood, giving Himself as a ransom for our forgiveness and freedom. This was made possible by God being “so rich in grace.” In Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we witness God’s generous and selfless love for us. Who can understand the infinite wisdom and endless mercy of God?

Paul says that Jesus paid our debt, Christ paid our debts, cancelling any guilt we would feel for our sins. Jesus came to earth in human form, he was tempted in all things just as we are, but he was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). By offering the perfect sacrifice, Jesus freed us from the condemnation of Hell, rescued us from the curse of death, and freed us from the prison of sin. His blood shed on the cross so long ago guaranteed our redemption today.

Because of Christ, we are clean before God, justified in his presence. When God looks at us, he sees the perfect, beautiful sacrifice of his son. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we have new life, without the weight of guilt, fear, and judgment, as we have been freed, we have passed from death to life and will no longer enter into condemnation. For we are saved by Christ’s love for us.

Paul argues that Jesus also freed us. Jesus broke the shackles of sin and freed us to be able to live for the glory of God when He died for our sins. Sin no longer has dominion over those who are in Christ.
We can only marvel at the extent of what Jesus did to redeem us. Because of him, we are saved from our sins, resurrected to be seated with Christ, given grace with free access to the Father, and counted as fellow citizens of God’s holy people.

John 1:29 tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the perfect lamb! In addition to saving us and also being redeemed by his beautiful sacrifice, from that moment on, sacrifices involving lambs, herbs, and bread would no longer be necessary. With the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of the Lord, there was no longer any need for other types of sacrifices. The replacement of the meat of the lamb, the herbs, and the bread, Jesus instituted His body, His blood, in memory of this sacrifice.

Before knowing Christ and also accepting Him as my savior, it was impossible not to sin. After conversion, it is possible not to sin. We are not talking about perfection but being able to live and experience liberation from the enslaving routine of sin. The person who stole is now able to work and help people in need. The person once enslaved to slander now possesses the power of the Holy Spirit to use his lips as instruments of grace and healing. He who was enslaved to sins of a sexual nature can now live in purity and conformity to God’s will.

Christ has the power to change our lives, but we need to want and accept the change. Most of the time the change will be radical. We can live in rest and freedom from worries that hijack our peace and want to drive us to despair. Jesus made us an inheritance from his Father. We have the guarantee of God’s presence sustaining us daily and freeing us from the evil one. Furthermore, God has guaranteed that he will bring our salvation to the end and that he has granted all of us the merits of Jesus’ work. We also have the promise that we will dwell in the new heaven and the new earth and that we will be shepherded by God for all eternity. All this if we continue following his path.

Prayer:
Father, thank you for your love for me, undeserving of the incredible work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice. Thank you, Jesus, for your perfect life and for your bloodshed to pay my debt, free me, and guarantee eternal life for me.

I praise the Lord, oh God, because sin no longer has the power to imprison me or condemn me. Today I can live to fulfill his will and live for your glory in me. Exalted be your name Lord, for Jesus guaranteed for me daily sustenance, the presence of his Holy Spirit, and deliverance in the fight against the evil one.

May my life be to the praise of your name and may the people around me see in me the virtues of a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In Christ, Amen

Enjoy this reminder from Big Daddy Weave, “I Am Redeemed:”

April 2025 Bible Study: Redemption and Forgiveness

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By Captain Raghel Santiago
Kauluwela Mission, HI Corps – Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division

Scriptures: Ephesians 1:7-8, Psalm 103:8-12

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7-8

Question: What does it mean to you to be redeemed?

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word redeemed/redemption means to buy back; repurchase or win back. Another definition from Merriam Webster Dictionary says, “To be free from what distresses or harms, such as to free from captivity by payment of ransom.”

Today’s Bible study emphasis is on the word redeemed. As a believer in Christ, we need to embrace what it means to be redeemed by Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Question: Do you remember what life was like before you put your faith in Jesus and received forgiveness from your sins?

Maybe your life was full of chaos before knowing Jesus. Maybe you felt a void in your life. Whatever your experience, may you rejoice in the knowledge of who Jesus is, and grasp the knowledge of God’s love for you. Here are two Bible verses that remind us of just how much God loves us:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

Please read Ephesians 1:7-8 again.

Focus on the two words, redemption, and forgiveness mentioned in verse 7. These two words go together like a hand and a glove. Through Jesus’s blood shed for us, our sins are forgiven.

Question: Have you ever experienced being upset and hurt by somebody who has wronged you? What did you feel towards that person after they wronged you? Has that person asked for your forgiveness? If so, was it hard to forgive that person?

Forgiving someone who has hurt us, especially if that person is a family member, a friend, co-worker, or a church member can be difficult, because it is a person that was close to us. However, the Bible teaches us that if we are to follow Jesus, we need to live our lives like Him, and that includes forgiving those who wrong us. Here are some Bible verses that teach us about forgiveness:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

These Bible verses have the same message: forgive just as the Lord forgave us. These Bible verses also apply when we need to seek forgiveness from someone we have hurt or wronged. When we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to be our savior from our sins, we can embrace being redeemed, because not only are we then freed from the bondage of our sins, but we are reminded how our redemption came at a costly price, which is our Lord’s blood that shed for us at Calvary.

Question: What do the words “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” mean to you?

When I think of the word lavished, I think of surplus. God is full of grace, and he gives it to us in abundance. When it comes to forgiving us, His grace is not skimpy. God is faithful to hear us when we confess our sins to him, and he is gracious enough to forget our transgression when we seek Him and repent with a whole heart.

When we are forgiven, we are redeemed, and God wants us to experience redemption, which is freedom of burden too. How? By freeing yourself from the burden of holding grudges, the weight of bitterness, and healing from the scars others may have caused. Christ has redeemed you from your sins, and now it is time for you to embrace redemption by forgiving others. To achieve this, we need to be more like the Lord.

To be more like the Lord, let us read Psalm 103: 8-12.

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.” Psalm 103:8-9

To be more like Jesus, we need to be compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, not always accuse, and harbor anger. If this is how we want the Lord to respond to us, we need to do this to others, especially those who upset us and seek our forgiveness.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:10

This Bible verse is the perfect example of what God’s grace looks like. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to offer His life as a living sacrifice for us and take our sins away.

We are learning that God loves us and will forgive us no matter what the measure of our sin may be. If we confess our sins wholeheartedly and fully repent to God, He is faithful to forgive us.

Question: What does the world teach us about sin?

We see this being displayed on television, in movies, and on social media. If somebody does something wrong to you, taking revenge or getting even is how the world teaches us to react. This will not allow us to experience redemption, because revenge and anger will not free us, but keep us in captivity. Only when we can forgive the person who wronged us can we experience real freedom.

Question: What should we do after we have forgiven someone?

When we confess our sins and wholeheartedly repent to God, He will forgive us, which redeems us from the bondage of our sins. The next step is to live in His redemption. The way to do that is by trusting God’s love and believing that God has truly forgiven us and will not remind us of our past mistakes.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. Psalm 103:11

The depth of God’s love for us is as high as the heavens!

Question: What does verse 11 mean when it says, “for those who fear him”?

The fear of the Lord means that we love him deeply, and because we love him deeply, we will honor him, trust him, obey him, and respect him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

When we ask God to forgive us, he will remove our sins and will forgive us. He will not remind us of that sin anymore, because God does not want us to move and live backwards, but he prefers for us to move and live forward. This is when we can say, “I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace and love of Jesus.”
In this same manner, we must do the same for those who seek forgiveness from us. When you forgive someone, do not remind that person of their past mistake. By doing this, you will fully understand and experience redemption.

Download printable version of the Bible Study:

April Bible StudyDownload

Enjoy this song from Kristian Stanfill, reminding us that “Jesus Paid it All”:

April 2025 Craft: Resurrection Easter Craft

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By Major Lynn Stewart
Kapolei Kroc, HI – Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division

This Easter craft is not only a beautiful centerpiece, but it’s also a perfect visual for devotional purposes. It’s great to know that you don’t necessarily need a Cricut machine, as lantern templates can be found online. To make the enchanting Easter Lantern, you’ll need to gather the following supplies:

Supplies List

  • You will need a Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker machine to cut the intricate designs.
  • Use a 12×24 Cricut mat with a Standard Grip to secure the materials in place during cutting.
  • It’s best to use high-quality 12×24 Olive paper, available on Amazon for the best results.
  • Purchase 12×12 Vellum sheets to create a delicate, translucent effect. (Amazon)
  • You will need a scoring tool and fine-cut blade for precise and clean cuts.

Instructions

  1. Open Cricut Design Space online and search for the “Easter Lantern” project.
  2. Gather all the necessary materials and prepare the cutting mats.
  3. Use the scoring tool to mark the designated lines on the paper. Cricut Design Space will prompt you to insert the scoring tool at the right time.
  4. Assemble the lantern by gluing the sides together and adding the optional bottom to complete the project.
    For easy and secure attachment of the pieces, I recommend having a glue gun or clear glue dots on hand. It’s also a good idea to pre-cut all lanterns prior to your women’s ministries program so that the ladies can simply assemble them.

Download printable directions:

Resurrection Easter LanternDownload

As you craft, enjoy this song by North Point Worship, “Death was Arrested”