The Road to Redemption: How to Recenter Your Heart in Hard Times (Psalm 111)

Life can feel overwhelming, uncertain, and out of control—but Psalm 111 offers a better way forward. The Road to Redemption is paved with praise, anchored in God’s faithfulness, and strengthened by His unchanging character. In this message, Pastor Chris Teien shows how recentering your heart on God’s works and promises can renew your strength, reshape your perspective, and restore your joy—even in hard times.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/17457266

Key Points:

1. God’s Redemption Flows from His Character – Psalm 111:9 reminds us that redemption begins with who God is—gracious, faithful, and just. (Exodus 6:6; Hebrews 9:15)
2. Redemption is a Gift, Not an Achievement – Salvation isn’t earned but received through Christ’s finished work on the cross. (Titus 3:4–7; Ephesians 2:8–9)
3. Redemption Results in Transformation – Psalm 112 shows how the redeemed live differently—with purpose, generosity, and stability. (1 Peter 1:18–19)
4. Praise Re-centers Our Perspective – When life unravels, choosing to praise helps re-align our hearts with truth and reminds us of God's ongoing faithfulness.

Personal Stories:
Pastor Chris shares a personal reflection on 29 years of ministry and how God has faithfully provided through both challenges and seasons of joy. He also draws a practical illustration from pawning a wedding ring to explain redemption—and offers examples of how acrostics like “ACTS” and “GRACE” can help us stay spiritually grounded.

Notable Quotes:

• “Redemption is a gift, not an achievement.”
• “Praise helps re-center your heart when everything else feels off balance.”
• “Jesus didn’t just free us—He gave us a new life with eternal purpose.”

Actionable Takeaways:

• Heart-level reflection: Where in your life do you need to remember what God has already done?
• Daily-life application: Begin each day this week by thanking God for one specific way He has been faithful.
• Spiritual step or challenge: Recenter your heart by meditating on Psalm 111 and praying it back to God.
• Practical next step: Commit to one act of praise or generosity this week as a response to God's redemption.

Scripture References:

• Psalm 111 & 112 – God's works, covenant, and the response of the redeemed
• Exodus 6:6 – God’s promise to redeem His people from slavery
• Hebrews 9:15 – Christ as mediator of the new covenant
• Titus 3:4–7 – Salvation by grace through rebirth
• Ephesians 2:8–9 – Not by works, but by grace
• 1 Peter 1:18–19 – Redeemed by the blood of Christ
• Luke 22:20 – The new covenant in Christ's blood

Keywords:
Redemption, Psalm 111, praise, hard times, God’s faithfulness, spiritual renewal, covenant, worship, grace, transformation

Challenge:
Recenter your heart this week by praising God out loud, reflecting on His faithful works, and taking one step of bold trust—because the road to redemption is paved with worship and hope.

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

Today I want to talk about Psalm 111 and maybe Psalm 112. So summertime is a good time to go through the Psalms. Obviously, we're not going to go through all 150 of them. I'm going to pick a few that are relevant for today. Interesting ones, ones that will help us to grow in the Christian life, ones that may become dear to us if they are not already. Some I have picked are ones that are often overlooked. Some are very interesting that people don't really think about. So Psalm 111 and Psalm 112. It's interesting in this Psalm, in verse 9, but in verse 9 it talks about being redeemed, redemption. And so in Old Testament, the principle of redemption was God redeeming his people from the Egyptians, from slavery, redeeming God's people from the Babylonian captivity, redeeming God's people and putting them back in the promised land. And in the New Testament, it goes a step further, because Jesus came to redeem us from sin and eternal death. So by the blood of the Lamb we have been redeemed. And I think that is an interesting concept to think about on this Sunday, redemption. And think about what your life was like before you came to Christ and how you came to Christ. And then what your life has been like since. And the process that Jesus used to help you find salvation so that you could be redeemed. Redeemed from the chains of sin. Redeemed from being a child of Satan instead of a child of God. Redeemed so that you could be used for God's great purposes. And we should celebrate that. And as we gather together, communion Sundays, which are usually the first Sunday of the month, we remember that, what Jesus did to redeem us, to make that possible. There are times in our life as Christians that things are really hard. So not all goes well when you become a Christ follower. Some people think that when you give your life to Jesus, that everything is going to be blessed, that you will be the head and not the tail, that you'll never have another financial worry or care, and that everything will be easy. And that isn't really the way that it works. You do get Jesus' help and the Holy Spirit's help when you go through difficult times, but there are difficulties, there are tragedies. People we care about die, sometimes parents, sometimes spouses, sometimes kids. Sometimes we go through trials, sometimes the job situation is very uncertain, or our health falls apart, or there's way more bills than we have financial resources to pay during the month. And it can be difficult, and we need to have some ways to kind of re-center ourselves on the things of God and know that even though things may fall apart around us, that we can still worship and serve God. And I think that's what Psalm 111 was designed for. Nobody knows exactly when it was written or exactly who written it. It sounds like it came from David, something he would write. So maybe David wrote it. Probably was written after the Babylonian captivity when they were trying to rebuild the wall when they were all discouraged and everything. If you read in Nehemiah, there was a lot of opposition to them rebuilding that wall. And Nehemiah at one point had the guys building with one hand and holding their swords ready for battle with the other hand. And so sometimes maybe you feel like that too. But Psalm 111 through 113, I'll begin basically in Hebrew with the word hallelujah, and they are hallelujah Psalms. One reason that I found Psalm 111 and 112 interesting is because they follow like the acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet. But in Psalm 111 and Psalm 112, each one of the phrases, so each half of a verse, represents a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and it made it easier for them to recite when they would memorize it. So maybe you've had to use some form of acrostic to remember something. Like in science, maybe you were desperate to get an A on the test, and you were asked what color is the spectrum? What is the color spectrum? And you said, I know a guy, his name is Roy G. Biv. So red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. So you all probably knew that. And it's helpful when you know those things. So in the Christian life, we have many. So I've mentioned in the series on grace recently that grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Or pray. P praise are repent, a ask, why yield. That's a good one. Or another one that I like is the Acts, ACTS of prayer, where you adore Christ, so adoration, confession, so confess any known sins. Thanksgiving, thank the Lord for what he's done and what he's doing and what he's provided. And then supplication, where you pray for other people's needs first and then your own. ACTS, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Think about how God's redemption flows from his character. That the character of God, the unchanging character of God, the reliable character of God, the righteous character of God is the foundation of our redemption. Now, when we think about being redeemed, some people think that, oh, Jesus had to pay a ransom to Satan, and that is not it at all. So that's bad theology if you think that. We needed to be redeemed for the penalty of our sin. We all sin, but it was fulfilling God's righteous standards, that the by the blood of the Lamb, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. And Jesus' blood was shed once and for all time, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be made right with God to be redeemed. So Psalm 111 starts out, Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the counsel of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord. They are pondered by all who delight in him. So these psalms start out not with a problem, but with a praising of the Lord to put him first. And I would encourage you through the difficulties in life and the things that are going tough, things that aren't going right, to start by praising the Lord. Thank you, Lord. You are so wonderful. You are in the Psalms actually give us so many different ways we can praise the Lord and be thankful. We can literally take certain psalms and pray it back, praise it back to the Lord. So the Hebrew call to worship means praise Yahweh. And that sets the tone of Psalms. To extol means to lift up or celebrate wholehearted praise as we praise the Lord, as we lift him up. And we should do that in with our friends. We should do that in our prayer time at home. We can do that in the car as we go along the road. Sometimes when you praise the Lord out loud, it seems to be a lot more effective than when you just do it quietly. I know that we are a very reserved people, so not many people feel free to raise their hands in this church, though it would be totally fine. But we want you to worship in spirit and in truth, and that means to praise the Lord. Many of the Psalms focus on praising the Lord. The Lord created people because he wants to be worshiped, because he wants to have relationship, because he loves stories. When we praise the Lord, it helps us to get re-centered on the validity of our faith, on the character of God and who he is. And those are great things. So here it talks about in the council of the upright and in the assembly. So when you're surrounded by your good Christian friends, and when you're in the church in the assembly, those are times to praise the Lord. Maybe you were praising the Lord this morning as we were singing those good songs together to praise the Lord. And then it says that great are the works of the Lord, so his mighty acts in creative works, from the creation of the world to the deliverance of his people in times of trial, remembering what God has already done, and trusting him for what's ahead. Remembering what God has already done. It is important to stop, take inventory of what's going on in your life, look back and see how God has brought you through, how God has provided, how God has helped you in the hard times, how God has answered prayer. Sometimes the prayers took longer than you thought. Sometimes the prayers weren't answered exactly as you thought. And sometimes the prayers were answered in such a way that you were just amazed at how much more God did than you ever asked or imagined. And we need to take inventory. We need to ponder the things of the Lord. We need to think about what God has done in history, what God is doing now, what God has done in people's lives, what God is doing in your life. So this week, actually, I am remembering that this is now 29 years of Christian ministry that God has allowed my wife and I to serve in full-time ministry. So actually, I've been serving in full-time ministry, and so this is actually the first job my wife has had working for the church and actually getting a check for it. She always helped me with other ministry stuff, but before that, she was a stay-at-home mom and raising the kids and stuff like that. But to just think about those years of God's faithfulness and what God has done and the people's lives who may have been changed because we answered the call and showed up, and we think about how much God did and how much more God maybe could have done if we would have done this or that. But to just be thankful how he's gotten us through the lean times, how he's gotten us through the sad times, how he's gotten us through the exciting times, and the people he's brought into our life along the way. The friends that he sends along on the journey to help you accomplish his purposes in life. Those are all things to ponder, to think about. And when we ponder, we want to ask questions. We want to read through the things of God. We want to learn more about the things of God. We want to learn how to rightly apply the Bible. We want to learn how what promises we can claim for ourselves and what promises were just for those people in that time. And how does it all work together? It is interesting how many times God chose to repeat things in his word and how much we can gain from it. Even the gospels are repeated repeatedly for different audiences so that we can truly get the message. And there's so much to study, there's so much to ponder, so much to think, and to delight in the Lord. My favorite Bible verse, delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart. Do you ponder on the things of God? Do you delight in the Lord? Those are all good things to do. Verse 3 glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. So again, we have learned the things of God from God's word and what other Christ followers have taught us. We look in the Old Testament and we see all of the mighty things that God has done, especially when he has shown love on his basically wicked, rebellious chosen people, the Israelites, how they would pursue God and then they'd wander off and chase after false gods, and God would judge them, bring them back, they would repent and then they'd continue on, and it's just the stroller coaster of these rebellious people. And I think if you look at your life, you would probably realize that we are like that too. So we are all for Jesus, and then we get distracted. Sometimes it's a problem, sometimes it's an opportunity, sometimes we are distracted because we just don't have enough. And other times we're distracted because we just have too much. And so to be able to live in a way that we put God first in the things that we do in the way that we live, and we trust God that we're quick to return to the Lord. That's why we have communion the first Sunday of every month, also, is because it's a good time for us to stop and to take inventory of what's going on in our life. A good time for us to stop and see have we fallen away from the Lord? Have we drifted off the narrow way? Are we still 100% seeking the Lord or is something else? Got our attention, has our love grown cold for the Lord? Maybe we need to recommit. Maybe today is a day to recommit. But his righteousness, his perfection, his doing things right, his doing things in a trustworthy way. His righteousness endures not just for a season, but forever. And we trust Jesus is going to bring us into eternity with him for all time, beyond time, that we will be with the Lord. And he has caused his wonders to be remembered. There are many celebrations that were put into place, many remembrances as you read through the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we have communion. We often remember different things. We just this weekend remembered the birth of our nation, the independence of our nation, and to put that into perspective and to remember all that happened to bring us to this point. And now we need to think about and pray about what do we need to do to stay on course so this nation doesn't self-destruct. But this is repeated in the New Testament in Titus chapter 3, verse 4. When the kindness and love of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. And that's how we are redeemed. That is the wonders of the Christian experience. What did we do to deserve this? What did we do to have this opportunity? I know my grandparents prayed for me all the time that I would come to Christ, but just the fact that we have had the opportunity as this world spins around, the opportunity to hear the gospel, the opportunity to respond to the gospel, the opportunity to have unlimited opportunities to spend time in God's Word and spend time learning about God's Word. There are so many good teachers and so many resources and so many things out there that you can learn from. And then there's the women's Bible study and the men's Bible study. And so we'd like to start some other Bible studies, a group study at a at Dave and Nancy's house. They're interested in offering that. If you're interested, let me know. Maybe starting something for men, all of those different things. But to live that out, and then to be, like it said in the video we watched, to be an ambassador of Christ and to tell others about that, to bring other people into the experience that we have, to introduce other people to the Lord and Savior that we follow. Those are pretty awesome things because he saved us not because of things that we deserve, not because of things that we did to earn it, not because we deserved it or paid for it or all of that, but he poured out his love generously on us. And when we look at the cross, we remember what Jesus did. When we look at our life, we remember that it wasn't our own efforts, but it was Jesus working in our lives. And what a great thing, what a great opportunity. Number two, redemption is a gift, not an achievement. Redemption is a gift, not an achievement. So again, being redeemed by Christ isn't something that we earned. We didn't take a class and then get a certification and then earn our way. We didn't do a bunch of things, we didn't pay a bunch of things. I was talking to a couple people about citizenship in the United States and how they have to take a test and the difficulties they go through and to get become to get your citizenship to become a citizen of the United States really is an achievement. It really is a work that you have to do. So Jesus does not make you do all that work to become a citizen of heaven, but once he redeems you, then he gives you great opportunities and the Holy Spirit's power to grow in your faith, to serve in a way that makes an eternal difference, and to invest in impact the lives of others, to invest in the local church and its ministry, to invest in people's lives, and hopefully, as you grow older, you'll be able to look back and see the fruits of your labor, the fruits of the way that you served in the things that you did. So, verse 5 He provides food for those who fear him. So he had provided manna for the Israelites in the wilderness. He had provided in many ways. He provides for us in amazing ways. So many times I didn't know how God was going to provide, and then he did in amazing ways. And we trust that he will continue to provide for us as we move forward. We should be wise in the way we use our resources, but on the other hand, we should pray for our daily bread. We should seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and be faithful to give back to him. But we should also, as we pray for our daily bread, as we pray for those daily needs, to be thankful and to thank him for what he has done and what he is doing. So he has shown his people the power of his works. In the Old Testament, the people saw what God had done, the amazing ways that he had rescued them. He parted the Red Sea, He provided manna, He provided healing, He provided victory over enemies, He did so many things. And for the New Testament and Christian, we see so many answers to prayer, we see so many amazing things happen. We see so many wonderful things happen. Again, not everything is perfect, not everything is easy, but if you look carefully, you'll see God is actively involved in your life, especially if you are praying specifically. God can then answer in a specific way, and you'll know that when he chooses to answer, that it was him. Not just Locke, not just because you worked so hard for it, but because God has answered your prayer verse 7. The works of his hands are faithful and just. All his precepts are trustworthy, they are established forever and ever, and acted in faithfulness and uprightness. So again, this is talking about the works of the Lord and the things that he has done, and even the creation and all of the things that he has created and all of the things he has done in his word and his precepts and the things that he has shared, the things that he has told us, the things that he has made available to us through the written word of God are amazing and wonderful. And that should center us on the things of God. That should help us to stay focused on what really matters when it comes to the Christian life. They are established forever and ever. God is working out an eternal plan, not just a temporary plan. And again, through Christ, we have eternal life. And so he is working out that plan, and we will be part of it. And acted in faithfulness and uprightness. That is the way the Lord is. And then the redemption. Verse 9, he provided redemption for his people. He ordained his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. So you remember the covenants of God as you read through the Bible. Noahic covenant in Genesis 9, God promises never to destroy the earth by a flood again. The Abrahamic covenant, God promises land, offspring, and blessings to the nation. The Mosaic covenant, God gives the law to shape Israel into a holy nation. In the Davidic covenant, God promises a throne that will be established forever. And then the new covenant comes through Jesus that is ordained forever. Luke 22, 20, Jesus said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you. In Hebrews 9:15, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant now that he has died as a ransom to set them free. He died and he rose again. But this redemption, okay, think about redemption for a minute. Just a real simple concept of redemption. Say I'm in need of money to pay my rent, and I have something that I value a lot. Or say my wife and I have something that we value a lot. So her ring is worth more than mine. So say, because we need to pay the rent, we go and we pawn her wedding ring, and then we get the money we need to pay the rent. So that ring is there, and we have a certain amount of time to redeem it. So now we need to come up with the money to go back to the pawn shop to pay for the ring so that we can get it back, so that we can redeem it. So redemption is that Jesus paid for our sin, covered the cost of our sin, so that we could be made right with God. Or imagine someone is stuck in prison and they can't escape and they can't get out. And somebody comes along and pays their fine, pays their penalty so that they can be rescued and restored from prison. But even better than that, even better than just getting them out of prison, these people. Not only pay for their redemption, but also then give them a new life, a new opportunity, a job, a place to live, an opportunity to move forward and have a worth worthwhile life because they care so much, and that's what Jesus has done for us. He didn't just redeem us to set us free, he redeemed us to make us right with God, so that we can live a new life, so that we can do the things of God, so that we can be used for eternal purposes. 1 Peter 1, 18, for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish. So Jesus has redeemed us. We have been redeemed. And then moving on, number three, redemption results in transformation. Redemption results in transformation. So that's the difference between Psalm 111 and Psalm 112. So Psalm 111 focuses on the great things of God and the great works of God and the things that God has done to make it possible for us to be redeemed. And then Psalm 112 is like a parallel song, Psalm, also following the acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet. And it talks about how the believer, how God's people act, how they live and the results of it. Because they have been redeemed, this is the way that they live. Psalm 122, one, praise again, it starts out with Praise the Lord, hallelujah, praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. I'll talk about fear in a minute, but those who find great delight in doing the things of God, to come to God's word and say, okay, what does it say? What does it say for me? What does God want me to do? Is there something that I should stop doing? Is there something I should start doing? Is there a promise that I can claim? Is there a prompt promise that I can share with others? What can I learn from it? I want to know God's commands, I want to know God's word. And then it talks about things that are not guarantees, but conditional, usually the way that it is. So as a result of these people living in the Lord, their children will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever. So this doesn't mean that everybody that is in Christ is going to be rich, but a general principle is Christ's followers who are faithful to do the things of God usually are more successful in business, more successful in education, more successful with their homes, have more successful children. Overall, when you are living the things of the Lord, you have a blessed life, and that often leads to you having more resources and having children that grow up to be a blessing to others and a blessing to society, and people will often look back and say, Wow, God has done so many things for you. You seem really successful. What is it? And you might be able to point them to the things of God. So Psalm 112, even in darkness, light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Surely the righteousness, righteous will never be shaken, they will be remembered forever. And as you ponder that, as you think about that, you think about okay, if I am living my life the way that God wants me to live, that even when things seem dark, God will light stuff up around us. When we are full of graciousness and compassion and righteousness, we will be blessed and be a blessing to others, so much so that people will remember us and God will remember what we do. He even rewards our works. In verse 7, they will have no fear of bad news. Their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear. In the end, they will look in triumph on their foes. They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever, their horn will be lifted high in honor. Again, it's pretty much parallel to Psalm 111, talking about all of the great things that God did and how righteous and perfect he was. And here it's saying, if the follower of God lives out their life in this way, that they will find security, that they will, when they have a fear of bad news, that they will turn to the Lord and say, Lord, I need your help. I don't know how we're gonna get through this. And I do that often. So there's all sorts of things. It's like, I don't know how we're gonna get through this, but we pray about it and to be generous. God bless us, generosity. And that's prayer, is that is also shown in Titus 2.14. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. So God wants us in relationship. God wants us to live out the Christ's life, God wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, God wants us to experience the things of God and to be able to enter into praise and worship and thanksgiving and to have this knowledge of the things of God, and all of it comes so that we can do God's will. So eager to do good works. And then point number four, redemption that honors God leads to wisdom. This is a great verse here. This is a great verse in the end of Psalm 111. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. And that's the end of the song. But the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord isn't you being so terrified that you don't want anything to do with God. The fear of the Lord is knowing that God is so holy and powerful and wonderful that you have great respect and you respect the things of God, you want to do his will, you know that because he loves us as his children, he'll discipline us when we fall into sin that you want to do the things of God. I fear electricity. When I had to put my electricity in my house, I wired everything in my basement, I got it all done, I had some people check and make sure it was right. But when it came time to hook in those final wires to the box, I'm like, I'm gonna get a professional. They can make sure everything's right, and then they can hook that final wire to the electrical panel. And but I know that you should only work with one hand with electrical wiring, and I respect it, but I love what it does for me. I love electricity, and I bet you do too. I love that God works in our life. I love what God does, I love everything that God is, and I have a fearful respect and honoring, honoring reverence for the things of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is being able to rightly apply knowledge, wisdom is being given godly principles to apply as a strategy to our life, to live out. And those are really good things, a great way to live, and wisdom is Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 30. God has united you with Christ, Jesus. For our benefit, God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God, he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin to be able to live in that way. There's many more things that I could say about this, but I do know that James, it says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. If you're watching or listening or here and you've never realized that we are sinners, separated from God because of our unredeemed sin, that we need to be forgiven, that we need to be made right with God by believing in Jesus, by believing that Jesus came and lived among us, that he died on the cross, that he rose again, and that he died for our sin and ascended into heaven. By placing our faith in Christ, we can become born again, we can become new, we can become redeemed. And maybe a good way to enter into that is to pray something like, Lord Jesus, I understand that you are my Savior and I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin. I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose again, and that by repenting, by turning from my sinful ways and running towards you, by asking you to forgive me and come into my life and save me, that I can become a child of God. Or maybe you are a child of God and you've drifted away, and maybe you need to pray, Lord, I've I've slipped away. Please forgive me. Help me to get back on track, help me to follow you. I want to recommit my life to you in Jesus' name. Amen.