My 3/17/19AM sermon, Hand of Providence, from 1 Samuel 9, is now online. In this sermon, I was curious about all the ordinary things, the perfect coordinated timing, and simplicity of a meal as they related to Saul’s connection with Samuel. And, this served to be a good example of God’s providence, His ordering of ordinary things to accomplish His will. I hope the sermon encourages you. Further, I hope the reality of God’s providence causes you to trust Him in deeper ways. Have a great week.
My 3/10/19AM sermon, Like All The Nations, unpacked 1 Samuel 8 with a view toward how it relates to us today. And, quite simply, as the nation of Israel is crying out for a king (and rejecting God as their King and Protector), we see how we tend to do the same things they did. Specifically, sometimes we don’t believe God is enough, we ignore God’s clear wisdom because we want something, and we think that holiness isn’t worth living. I hope this sermon encourages you.
This month at Crestview, we’re learning the song O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer written by Nathan Stiff. CCLI: #7096627
VERSE 1
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Greatest treasure of my longing soul
My God, like You there is no other
True delight is found in You alone
Your grace, a well too deep to fathom
Your love exceeds the heavens’ reach
Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom
My highest good and my unending need
VERSE 2
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Strong defender of my weary heart
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver
And my shield against his hateful darts
My song when enemies surround me
My hope when tides of sorrow rise
My joy when trials are abounding
Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night
VERSE 3
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Gracious Savior of my ruined life
My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders
In my place You suffered bled and died
You rose, the grave and death are conquered
You broke my bonds of sin and shame
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
May all my days bring glory to Your Name
Music and Words by Nathan Stiff © 2017 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP) Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Churches. All rights reserved. Administrated worldwide at www.CapitolCMGPublishing.com, excluding the UK which is adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family. www.SovereignGraceMusic.org
My 3/3/19AM sermon, Responding to a Glorious God, unpacked the progression of people coming close to God in 1 Samuel 6-7. You could almost call this a revival, God slowly moving to bring His people back to Himself. He’s working. He’s helping. And, in the midst of this, we see people choose to walk in His ways, not their own. I hope this sermon encourages you.
This weekend, at Crestview, Lord-willing, we’ll look at 1 Samuel 6-7. In 1 Samuel 7, we’ll be honing in how God comes to help His people. Here’s the connection that Tim Chester makes:
The hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson (1735-1790) contains the lines:
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
We do not always sing these lines because most people do not know the origin of the meaning of “Ebenezer”. But this (1 Samuel 7:12) is where it comes from. For Christians our Ebenezer is the cross. At the cross, we see the seriousness of sin, the weight of glory, and God’s generous help to sinners. We raise up the cross and say: “Thus far the Lord has helped us”. And if he has helped us by giving his own Son, then surely he will bring us safely home to glory: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). When you feel overwhelmed by your problems, or when you feel God has abandoned you, or when you feel threatened by the circumstances of your life, look to the cross. The cross is our Ebenezer, the great declaration of God’s help. The way we truly take the glory of God seriously is by raising up the cross.
Many months throughout the year, we try to teach a new song to the people of Crestview. This may or may not be familiar to anyone. But, we got some great feedback for the song we chose in February, so I thought I’d put it online to remember it.
As you may have picked up reading the blog, I’m currently teaching through 1 Samuel. And, I thought it might be profitable to point out how once I land on a book, I try to get a sense of that book.
Related to tools, I try to find some good resources that help me get a sense of the structure. So, I use notes from the Simeon Trust Course, notes from seminary courses, Bible handbooks, and Bible overviews. These are big picture things that help me be aware of some parts of the book to be aware of.
So, that’s it: lots of engagement, reading, listening, and trying to get a sense of what God’s up to in this part of the Bible. I hope this helps your study of the Bible as well.
My 2/24/19AM sermon, God’s Heaviness from 1 Samuel 4-5, is now online. These are some infamous chapters of OT narrative (with lots of death, Ichabod, and Yahweh putting the thump on the Philistine god, Dagon) but they move nonetheless to show God’s glory. God’s glory can easily be something we lose sight of, so I crafted this sermon around the notion of God’s heaviness (from the language at the end of chapter 5 that the hand of the Lord was heavy among the Philistines). We need a fresh glimpse of God’s heaviness in these days. I hope this sermon encourages you with a view to who God is and what He does.
My 2/17/19AM sermon, God Brings His Word (1 Samuel 3), unpacked how God acts to shape His people by His Word. Specifically, in this passage, God raises Himself a prophet (in this case an 8-11 year old boy) who will faithfully relay His Word to the people. I hope this sermon encourages you.
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