In recent days, I’ve been so helped by seeJesus’s tools related to prayer. In this video and document, we learn to pray from Jesus Himself. The pattern He had to show compassion, to be brutally honest, and to yield His will to the Father’s inform our interactions with others. I’d love for you to engage in this content and pray accordingly.
It’s a rare and joyous moment when a text of the Bible hits all the proverbial buttons in my life. So when I preached Titus 2:11-15 on May 7, 2023, at Crestview, I think all my life and ministry passions converged. The sermon, A Jesus Church, is online. I hope it encourages you.
We’re already halfway through a short series on the book of Titus at Crestview. My 4/30/23 sermon, An Adorning Church (Titus 2:1-10), is online. I had plenty to deal with and many things that could easily distract us from the point of this passage. I’m hoping the overall thrust (that God’s heart for churches is that they would be ordered into a new life in Jesus) would emerge week in and week out. I hope this encourages you.
My 4/16/23 sermon at Crestview, Ordered in the Truth (Titus 1:1-5), launched a new series. In many ways, I feel this sermon series is propelling forward a direction we’ve been exploring for a while: what does it look like for us to be knowing Jesus and making Him known to our community? This series digs into what it looks like for a corporate people to do this. So, I’m hoping it’s really encouraging to our faith community as it clarifies what we’re about. Give it a listen and see how it might inspire you.
What a weekend! It’s Tuesday, and I still feel like I can barely catch my breath. Holy Week is hopping for pastors. But, what a joy to come together and celebrate the vast realities we are focused on.
For Good Friday 2023 at Crestview, I spoke on Psalm 22. It was a short homily/sermon/teaching that dug into how Jesus gets all the dark emotions we think don’t belong in church settings (at least, that’s the traditional stereotype). Jesus is way better at redeeming, though, than we are at hiding. And my talk, Why Has God Forsaken Us? dug into this.
On Easter 2023, my sermon was on Resurrection Power from Philippians 3:8-11. Most people understand that resurrection affects something when we physically die. In this sermon, I was trying to show the relevance of the resurrection in how we live in the here and now.
I hope you had a grand celebration of Jesus this past week. Blessings.
Recently at Crestview, we did a sermon series on Sunday mornings through the book of Job. So I thought I’d compile all the sermons here. People continue to communicate to me what help this was for them, and I’m humbled to play a part in God’s Work in the life of His people.
Introducing Job – An introduction to the book from James 5:11
Job’s Journey Begins – unpacking all that Job went through in Job 1-2
A Pain Expressed – Luke preached Job 3 to get us into Job’s lament
Problems In Suffering – Job 9 provides a guide for us to address some issues we face in suffering
Suffering and the Wicked – the speech in Job 18 gave us a sense of Job’s friends and their “comfort”
Questions in Suffering – Job’s response in Job 19 provides more questions we have
Trusting Jesus in Our Sufferings – Luke preached Job 29-31 to direct us to Jesus
An Effective and Gracious Counselor – Luke preached on Elihu from Job 33 to chart a way forward as we help others
God’s Gracious Response to Sufferers – Job 38:1-40:5 was God’s first speech to Job
God’s Gracious Promises to Sufferers – Job 40:6-42:17 was God’s second speech to Job and the conclusion to the book
I hope this book continues to impact you as you battle through difficulties in your life, try to make sense of them, and look for answers. In the book of Job, God proves that He’s a refuge worth running towards. I hope this series helps you look to Jesus in your hurt.
On 3/19/23, I preached the final sermon in our Job series at Crestview – God’s Gracious Promises to Sufferers (Job 40:6-42:17). This passage of Scripture is “infamous” for mentioning Behemoth and Leviathan. So, I tried to deal with these descriptions and connect them to Job’s experience at the end of the book. I hope it encourages you.
I was blessed to be able to get some time off last week. I tried to follow the Parks and Rec advice and “Treat Yourself” so you can see all the various coffee shops and other fun places. On Tuesday night, I went with my Mom to see the Collingsworth Family in concert. On Thursday, I took in a Cardinals spring training game. So there was lots of slow time to read and unplug. Meg made this possible, in many ways, by holding down the home front and our busy lives with kids. And I’m grateful to my brother, his wife, and Mom for their hospitality on the Orlando front.
This weekend, my sermon at Crestview was from Job 19, Questions in Suffering. Job 19 is best known for its “I know that my Redeemer lives” section. I tried to show how Job’s answer to Bildad’s accusation in chapter 18 opened the door for some questions we face in suffering. We dug into many applications related to suffering, the church, and Jesus. I hope it encourages you.
My 2/5/23 sermon, Problems in Suffering (Job 9), is online. It got into some hairy parts of the question of suffering, like God being in control, ways we try to escape, and even ways we fail to understand what God might be up to. But, as always, I hope it exudes mercy and serves to encourage you.
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