If you know Christ, trusting Him as your Lord and Savior, then you are not separated from Him, but you are a dearly loved son or daughter. Today, then, call out to Him with confidence…
[6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
(Galatians 4:6-7 ESV)
There are all kinds of myths when it comes to the cross-cultural work that the church has been called to engage in. One of these has to do with the “native missionary” (or a missionary who grew up in the culture and Western church can support at a much cheaper rate than sending our own). Yes, Gospel partnerships need to be formed for the good of the global work. But, this kind of thinking and the practice that emerges from this kind of thinking can easily be abused as this story shows.
Here’s an episode from last year’s Mission Table that discusses To Send or Not To Send.
Engage with this content and consider what God might do through you. Or, as the Scriptures say, come, let us reason together…
This coming Sunday at Crestview, we will kick off our Week of Prayer. I plan to preach on persistence in prayer from Luke 18:1-8. We will be distributing a Week of Prayer devotional, giving you many ways to connect together in prayer this week, as well as, tools that will help you pray for our body in the coming year. I hope you plan to join us. It’s going to be an amazing week, begging God to move among us.
My 2/14/16AM sermon, Imitate Good from 3 John is now online. I had a blast as this sermon wrapped up a long series on John’s letters as well as gave me a chance to preach with my friend Matthew Ellison. The sermon looked at the book of 3 John and its call for us to imitate good. We met three characters:
Gaius – a fellow worker
Diotrephes – a major problem
Demetrius – a fine example
After I unpacked this letter and the way it compels us to imitate good, Matthew came and fleshed out how we can apply this when it comes to serving those who have gone out for the sake of the name. I hope this sermon encourages you, too.
It’s Friday…everybody’s working for the weekend. But, I want to encourage you to seek the Lord. Here’s some great encouragement from Psalm 70:
Hope this comes out of your heart this weekend.
Was explaining Ash Wednesday to the boys on the way to school. I kept circling back to being aware that I’m a sinner and that Christ has come. Then, I opened up Psalm 130 this morning:
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:3-4 ESV)
Rest there…
This coming Sunday, Lord willing, we’ll be exploring the tiny New Testament book of 3 John. We meet 2 characters in this short book: Diotrephes and Gaius. I think the way Mark Dever concludes this book (from his book The Message of the New Testament helps us):
“There are Diotrepheses in the church and there will always be. It has been so since the beginning. But there are also Gaiuses. They are the ones who leave vivid, lasting, and inspiring examples for us. And by his love, God keeps those examples fresh in our minds’ eyes. The Gaiuses are the ones who fire up and propel us forward by the example of their love for Christ. In his grace, God gives us Gaiuses.
“Now I ask you, why go to all the trouble of being in a church? For God and his gospel, or for yourself? Dear friend, I give you the warning of the elder: ‘Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God’.
(taken from p.511)
Hope to see you this coming Lord’s Day as Matthew Ellison and I unpack this amazingly powerful book.
My 2/7/16AM sermon, Watch Yourself from 2 John 1:1-13, is now online. As one who grew up in church, I honestly don’t remember taking a look at the book of 2 John. In this sermon, which continues looking at John’s letters, we looked at 2 John. I grabbed my sermon title and outline using 2 John 1:8’s command to watch ourselves. My outline was fleshed out showing how we watch ourselves when it comes to love, Jesus and abiding. I hope it encouraged you.
I’m privileged to be invited to Sixteen:Fifteen and participate in the “moving conversations” initiative they have. It’s called the Mission Table. Pray that Biblical wisdom would characterize my involvement.
This coming Lord’s Day (2/7/16), we’ll be journeying into the book of 2 John. Here’s a good intro from the ESV Study Bible on the themes found in this book: