My 9/28/25 sermon, Christ’s First Principles (Colossians 2:1-4:6), is online. In this sermon, I tried to unpack how Christ’s first princples impact our lives. I hope it helps you see not only that Christ has simple basic, elementary principles He operates out of and that it has practical applications in our lives.
My 9/22/25 sermon at Crestview, The World’s First Principles (Colossians 2:1-3:4, 9-11), is now online. There are so many things that came out of this sermon for me personally. The notion that the world system offers reasonable arguments, philosophies, traditions, and elementary principles that may drag us away from Christ provokes actions that center us in Christ. The calling to put on our new selves in Christ and not give in to the religious, political, and cultural ways that culture influences us matter.
I hope this sermon helped guide you into a deeper love and desire to make your life all about Jesus.
Our 2025 series on Paul’s Middle Letters (at Crestview), turned the corner from Ephesians to Colossians this past Sunday. I preached Colossians 1:1-2:5 in my sermon “Walking in God’s Plan.” Not only did this sermon serve to introduce us to the book, but it’s an amazing section of Scripture demanding that we give our lives wholly to Jesus. Ironically, the timing of this sermon came as I was reading “plausible arguments” online about what this past Sunday should emphasize. I think most of us walked away encouraged by centering our morning and attempting to reposition our lives on Jesus. I hope it encourages you.
In my sermon today (8/31), I had a part where I spoke of the need to apply truths to our lives. I suggested that there is no cruise control in the Christian life. We love cruise because we can relax and not focus like we might when we are more engaged. But in a passage like I had this morning, telling us to fight against evil forces of wickedness in this world, dress ourselves in the truths of God’s plan, and pray/unite for the sake of the mission. We would prefer an easy option but being a part of God’s plan positions us to do difficult things. A quote I’ve been enjoying from Taylor Bauman lately is “It’s simple, but it’s not easy.” Living for Christ has this flavor to it.
After the service, someone said it reminded them of the “Handle Hard Better” speech from Kara Lawson:
At any rate, I hope all of this encourages you to step into God’s plan. It’s totally worth it.
I returned from my study leave in June and began a new series of sermons, which started in July. I wanted to link to them from here, so that the appropriate links are seen.
God’s plan relates to His people being on mission – the Church being on mission.
Here are some sermons that dug into this:
7/6/25 – Building Our Lives on God’s Plan (Ephesians 3:8-10)
7/13/25 – God’s Plan Arrives (Acts 18:18-19:20)
7/20/25 – God’s Plan Provokes (Acts 19:21-20:1)
7/27/25 – God’s Plan Encourages (Acts 20:17-38)
There are more sermons to come in this series, but I wanted to share these here as we continue to make progress.
Over on the Facebook, I posted three different posts recently all around a different kind of Sunday morning experience. Crestview was wrapping up an 8 week series on the Upper Room Discourse and how that related to our practice. When John is recounting Jesus in the Upper Room, he’s providing readers some unique information compared to the other Gospel writers and helping them see what kind of life they would be characterized by. Themes like loving one another, abiding in Jesus and what He was teaching, the Spirit teaching them and bringing to mind what Jesus taught, as well as the glorifying of Jesus were some of the big themes that came out of this section.
My first post related toward applying God’s Word related to Cal Newport’s work, Deep Work. Michael Vos summarized a part of Newport’s research in this way:
Unfortunately, Deep Work is consistently elusive in the world we’re in…but there is hope (based on what Newport is finding), you can train your brain to focus (or set up blockers on your phone). The appeal I made at Crestview on that Sunday related to more “deep work” as we consider what God is saying in His Word, but there are applications galore for those of us seeking to give thought to serious things. I eneded asking, “How do you pursue deep work in the things you most deeply care about?” If we really believe that Jesus Himself is shaping us as His people, for me, this requires a commitment to engage my mind fully to not only achieve understanding of what He’s saying, but also to put implement that into life.
Post two related to Bloom’s taxonomy, which is consistently found in the fields of education.
On this particular Sunday morning, I pointed out that most of what we aim for a Sunday morning in typical church gatherings is the bottom two parts of this triange. We’d be shooting for the moon if someone actually applied what we said and used that information in their lives. And, what I’m dreaming of is that I would be so affected by the truth of God’s Wod that I would be able to move to those top rungs of Bloom’s taxonomy. The content is not recalled or understood, but I’m making connections between what else I’ve seen to what new moves need to be made for lasting life-change.
Finally, I connected to Scripture itself. As I mentioned that morning, Jesus encouraged us to follow Deuteronomy 6 and love the Lord our God with all our heart, MIND, soul, and strength (I’m emphasizing mind for these purposes). Romans 12:1-2 fleshes out the idea of lives distinct from the world that are given to worship, including people like us, who are “being transformed by the renewal of our mind, that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” And, on study leave, my friend Randy challenged me with 1 Peter 4:1, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…” We know the mind of Christ leads us to live differently. This word, translated as “same way of thinking,” captures a complex state of mind, intention, or purpose (see my screenshot of the word study below). And, like we saw with Deep Work or the Taxonomy, we are being invited to have our minds shaped to live in very distinct ways. So, how is your mind growing to live in light of the things you would give the highest value to?
I take all this to be pointing me to understand that our problem is doing what the Bible is teaching isn’t that we need more information or that we’re mentally incompetent. The issue seems to be around taking time to consider what this means in the deepest parts of our lives. There’s often a disconnect between who I am in church gatherings and who I am out there. And, for me at least, I want to lead by shortening that gap, with the life-changing truths of the Bible affecting everything that I am.
How do you think about Biblical application? What might it look like for you to more deeply consider God’s truth so that your life is changed?
This weekend, I continued Crestview’s series on Jesus’s seven sayings on the cross by focusing on The Word of Victory (John 19:30). I love this word of victory that Jesus announced when He said, “It is finished.” So many ramifications for our lives emerge from this, and I tried to tease some out in the sermon. I hope you are encouraged by this message. Have a great Holy Week.
I was back in the pulpit after an eventful few weeks dealing with some medical needs. I’m grateful for those gifted to teach our body and keep us moving forward. My sermon was on Jesus saying, “I thirst,” from John 19:28-29. I tried to connect these words to our worship and adoration of Jesus as we continue to explore Jesus’s final words leading up to Easter. I hope the sermon encouraged you.
After some time in the hospital, recovery, and more time off, I was happy to be back preaching at Crestview on March 16, 2025. This sermon continued in a series of sermons we’re giving during the season of Lent so that all our focus as a church is on Jesus. This series considers the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. My sermon, The Word of Affection, looked at Jesus speaking to His mother and the disciple He loved in John 19. This call to love draws us from ourselves into the kind of living and power only Jesus can give. I hope this sermon encourages you.
My 2/23/25 sermon at Crestview, God Builds Confidence through Suffering (Haggai 2:1-23), wrapped up a short series on our experience of suffering. Now, I would venture to guess that universally, it is true that confidence usually isn’t our experience in suffering. Whether an athlete wonders if she’ll be able to return to form after a recent setback or simply a challenging sickness that has thrown us off our game, suffering brings unsettledness.
But God. God steps into people’s lives (like He did in Haggai 2) to reassure us. Specifically, in Haggai, God worked to deal with many things that throw us off our game, and at the center of His confidence-building activity is Jesus, the Messiah.
I hope this sermon helps you move forward in confidence.
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