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Faith for Finite and Focused…

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This coming Sunday, as we gather for Memorial Day weekend, we will be looking at Hebrews 11:20-22 and three patriarchs on their deathbed.  This reminds us that we are finite as well.  Further, each of these men were focused on future things they couldn’t yet see.  Most notable of these is Joseph, who moved to Egypt at the age of 17 and was so throughly acquainted with God’s promises that when he died at the age of 110 (still in Egypt) he gave instructions about his bones to be returned to the Promised Land, because he saw the reality that God’s promise was.

As people of faith who have been given a few years to live for God’s glory, does a future focus define our reality?  Are we gripped by the promises of the Gospel in such a way that they inform our living.  Come this Sunday as we seek to flesh these realities out.

Weekend Recap – 5/20/12AM

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My sermon from 5/20/12 entitled Faith Tested from Hebrews 11:17-19 is online.  The sermon examined the story of Abraham’s test to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and sought to show, first of all, that faith can be tested.  Many of us think that the Christian life is a life of ease and comfort, but the Bible never paints that kind of picture.  Even the greatest heroes of the faith were tested.  This was true of Abraham.  However, there was great hope in this text as we saw how a faith that is tested is strengthened.  Abraham emerged from the testing with a deeper, abiding trust in a good and all-wise God who had commanded him to obey and had given him promises.  This is where our faith can be strengthened as well, as we trust in God.

Hope you enjoyed a great Lord’s Day.

Weekend Recap – Faith’s Homeland

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My 5/13/12AM (Mother’s Day) sermon from Hebrews 11:13-16 is now online.  It was entitled Faith’s Homeland and dealt with faith and the future.  Specifically, faith prepares for the future by persevering in the present.  Part of this perseverance means we confess that we are strangers and exiles here.  Why?  Because faith seeks a homeland, specifically, a heavenly one.  So, we persevere in the present with our eye on eternity.  This has all kinds of applications for mothers, daughters, women, men, sons and fathers, as well as anyone else.  We shrink our lives to the here and now and put that in an ultimate category.  But, in Christ, we have reason to hope for the future.  Faith’s homeland is eternity with Christ in heaven.  Let’s live this week in light of this.

Faith’s Obedience and Look

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My sermon from 4/29/12AM was entitled Faith’s Obedience and Look and came from Hebrews 11:8-10.  This got to help in our faith from the example of Abraham.  Throughout the Bible, Abraham and faith go together, so it made sense in this chapter showcasing faith in the Bible, we would find Abraham.  Our writer wants us to learn that faith is how the righteous live, or, in this context, it is how we persevere in this world.

Abraham gave us a lot of help by showing us how an active faith is tied to immediate obedience.  Believing God is who He is should cause us to obey Him and what’s He revealed to us in His Word.  Further, faith has a look to it.  Faith is consumed with eternity.  If there’s ever anyone in the Bible who could have rested in a promise, it would have been Abraham, but Hebrews 11:9-10 showed us that Abraham lived in the promised land as a foreigner because he was looking to a future promised by God Himself.  There are many applications for us in this passage, then.  I hope you were helped by it and live this week with a faith that displays itself by obeying and looking heavenward.

Weekend Preview – Noah, Faith & Obedience

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By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)


Noah.  We don’t think of him as a man of faith.  Sure, he received grace from God.  But, our verse for this Sunday shows that he was a man who heard a clear (unseen) message from God.  And as he exhibited faith in God, it served to save and condemn.  


Come this Sunday and learn how Faith Obeys…

Weekend Recap – Faith Pleases God

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We enjoyed another great Lord’s Day at Crestview yesterday.  My sermon, Faith Pleases God, from Hebrews 11:5-6, got at Enoch’s example of faith and how faith must draw near to God, who exists and rewards those who seek Him.  Another big takeaway is that it is impossible to please God without faith.  One who draws near to God must believe.  Faith is vital.  Or, to put it another way, faith is our pathway to pleasing God.

In the PM, my small group got together and discussed faith.  All in all, it was a great day.

Weekend Recap – Abel’s Faith

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Our weekend at Crestview was filled with excitement, as always. In the AM, we took the Lord’s Supper together and looked to Abel’s Faith from Hebrews 11:4.  Abel’s example helps us see how faith is tied to worship, our righteousness and our witness.

In the evening, we met in Small Groups.  My small group discussed the respectable sins of immorality and idolatry.

Hope you had a great day.

The Dead Speak?

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Seems like a strange thing to suggest, but that is precisely what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 11:4 (our text for 3/25/12) regarding Abel.  The text says: “…And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”  What does this mean?

Well, we know from the Genesis 4:3-5 passage that after Cain murdered Abel his blood cried out from the ground.  This was reflected in this painting by William Blake entitled The Murder of Abel:

In the Genesis passage, what seems to speak through Abel’s death is his blood.  His blood is kind of crying out from the ground condemning Cain.  So, in Blake’s painting, Cain is running away with his ears covered.

But, in Hebrews 11:4, something else is speaking: Abel’s faith.  It was “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.  And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”  The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still (said Luther).  Even though Abel was slain, his faith stood firm and continued to speak.

What does your faith speak?  Does your faith reflect a heart of worship to God?  Is God commending your faith because of how you relate to Him?  These are some of the themes we will look at this coming Lord’s Day.  Join us.

Weekend Review – Faith Understands

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My AM sermon from 3/18/12 entitled Faith Understands from Hebrews 11:3 is now online.  The sermon sought to unpack some aspects of faith, but specifically helped us see that what we believe about the creation of the world is a matter of faith.  Whether we accept the Bible’s teaching on it or deny it, we are exhibiting faith in something.  For the believer, it is by faith that they understand the origin of the world, taking God at His Word.

Hope you have a great week.  I’ll have a post tomorrow summarizing our men’s ministry Collision Course.

Faith Is…

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation (Hebrews 11:1-2).  This was my text for my sermon yesterday, 3/11/12.  The sermon was entitled Faith Is.  Many misrepresent Christianity by claiming that it is just a leap into the dark unknown, but the Bible itself doesn’t allow for such a construct.  The Bible sees faith as stepping with full confidence and assurance, dare I say proof, into all that God’s promises, which is unseen to the natural eye.  This is the time-tested path for those who relate to God.  For more info, give my sermon a listen.  Hope you have a good week.