Yes, idolatry continues to plague even believers. We discussed this at our small group this past Sunday night and I thought I’d pass on this helpful description by Tim Keller. Ask God for grace to see the idols that may exist in your heart. Fight the good fight of the faith by killing these.
Weekend Recap – 12/4/11
My sermon from 12/4/11 entitled Word in Creation from John 1:3-5 is now online. I love it when God turns the light on and I experienced a most amazing thing in delivering this sermon. It was almost as if while I was delivering it its truth became more clear and I was moved to see it in deeper and richer ways. I praise God for moments like this. It is truly very humbling to see God move in such amazing ways.
The sermon itself sought to show just how God got messy when He came to earth. Specifically, we saw that we were made by the Word (and, as a result made for Him). We also saw that He is the source of life and His life-giving work can’t be stopped.
In the evening, my small group met and we discussed the Respectable Sin of Anger. Very convicting and helpful discussion. What a full Lord’s Day. I trust and hope that yours was a blessing as well.
Weekend Recap – Heaven Is For Real
Yes, my sermon from 9/25/11AM entitled In Heaven from Hebrews 8:1-5 is now online and yes, it did talk about the reality of heaven. It seems the writer of Hebrews is bent on encouraging our perseverance, so he urges us to consider our present in light of eternity, or, specifically, in light of the reality wherein Christ serves. I hope the sermon was encouraging.
In the evening, my small group looked at the lack of gratitude we exhibit in the church and sought to fought that in the Gospel. I need to update my Facebook status accordingly: “God, thank you for the gift of Facebook and how it allows me to stay in touch with so many friends. Thank you also for the trials that come when they change things, knowing that you are working on my character through it.” Something like this should be our heart in everything.
Community…
…you need it…and the Gospel can help:
Weekend Recap – Pointer and Small Groups…
Happy Monday everyone. Hope you all are doing well as we get off and running on another week. I thought we had a tremendous Lord’s Day yesterday. God was so gracious to move and act in many ways and I continue to stand in awe of what we are learning about Him (and Jesus) through the book of Hebrews. Yesterday’s sermon, Pointer, from Hebrews 7:1-10 tried to hop on a trajectory or course that pointed us to Jesus as the main theme of the Bible. As I mentioned in the introduction, I wanted to dazzle everyone with Jesus’ character and superiority. I hope you found yourself delighting in Him. In the evening, we had great time in small groups, continuing to work our way through Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins. My group looked, specifically, at the chapter on Anxiety, Worry and Frustration, which proved to be very fruitful for good Gospel application. Hope you have a blessed week!
Links on How Community Can Be Build In the Local Church…
a friend recommended I look at some of these and I found others this week.
Harvest Bible Chapel’s Culture of Community
Grace Fellowship Church’s Culture of Community
Sojourn Church’s Foundations for One Anothers
Tim Brister’s Meditations on Grace Saturated Community
These are each great links over an issue that I’m thinking about a lot in these days. I hope you find them helpful.
Weekend Recap – Confidence
Another weekend is in the books and we had a great one. I was coming off a 3 day/2 night retreat with our elders. We discussed 2012, future leaders, future plans, current visions and strategies and how we can be more effective in serving Crestview. Very good stuff.
On Sunday AM, my sermon Confidence came from Hebrews 6:9-12. The writer of Hebrews wrote to encourage these he had called out as spiritually immature by encouraging them to have confidence for the future based on how they lived today, not based on something in the past. Hope would be found as they rested in God’s promises and continued to trust Christ. I hope the sermon was encouraging to you. It said much about encouragement, serving others and assurance of salvation.
In the evening, our church met in small groups. We continue to discuss Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins. My group discussed ungodliness. We thought about ways that we can repent of this by centering more on God throughout our daily lives.
It was a full day and weekend and we’re off on another one. Blessings to you as you seek to honor God in it.
Weekend Preview – Greater Than Angels / Small Groups
We are anticipating a great weekend at Crestview, Lord willing.
In the AM, we will continue working through Hebrews, looking at Hebrews 1:4-14 and how Jesus is superior to angels. I’m sure, like me, you’ve received all those weird forwards like “you’re an angel, forward this to 13 people and something magical will happen to you.” Honestly, though, we don’t understand a lot about angels and forget that even they are subservient to Christ. These will be the themes we’ll be engaging with on Sunday.
In the PM, we will meet in small groups and continue our discussions through Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins. This week, we are discussing chapter 3.
I hope you’ll plan to join us and pray that Jesus will be exalted in all we say and do.
Oh, and don’t forget to review our church’s Scripture memory verses from the past 4 weeks, they will help orient you to worship. (Hebrews 1:1-4)
Weekend Recap – God Speaking, Sin Disappearing…
Just finally getting around to reviewing the happenings of the weekend at Crestview. It’s always a joy to look back on Monday mornings.
In the Sunday School hour, Tom Dixon is wrapping up Marks of a Messenger by Mack Stiles and I am reviewing Paul Tripp’s Getting to the Heart of Parenting in the adult classes. In my class, we looked at parenting by Targeting the Heart.
In AM Worship, we got into Hebrews finally, noticing how God Has Spoken in Hebrews 1:1-2 (unfortunately there will be no audio available on this sermon due to a problem in the capturing process). This sermon highlighted how God has spoken conclusively and specifically in Jesus Christ.
After a restful afternoon and absorbing KU’s defeat, we gathered in small groups for the evening. We are working our way through Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins. We read chapter 2-The Disappearance of Sin.
All in all, it was a full day. Some applications for me:
— Don’t look for more of a revelation than the full and final revelation we have in Christ.
— Is sin disappearing from my life? Sure, we bemoan the lax stand of culture, but am I growing lax in my fight with sin, tolerating things God hates?
— How can I get after my children’s hearts better? By not being so driven to quick fix moments and taking time to apply the Gospel to their hearts (not merely behavior).
Hope your Lord’s Day was rich and full, as well.
Weekend Recap – Suffering & Discipline
Yesterday, because of my study leave, Graham Hill filled the pulpit here at Crestview. His sermon, Following Jesus In Suffering, from Mark 8:27-37 and further thoughts from 1 Peter 4 is online. I really appreciated this word and really felt that it challenged us to joyfully embrace all that God has for us in following Jesus as our Lord.
In the PM, we continued working through Thabiti’s book and read mark 7: A Healthy Church Member Seeks Discipline. Our group had a great discussion and really sought out some healthy application of ways we can embrace both formative and corrective discipline in the local church.
What a rich Lord’s Day…now, for grace to live it.