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Weekend Preview – The Witness of John

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This coming Lord’s Day, we’ll be continuing our work in the Gospel of John looking at John 1:19-34 (we will also have Small Groups and I’ve written small group questions for this passage here).  The big idea will be what we learn from John the Baptist’s witness to Jesus.  Our witness is bigger than us and it’s about Him.  So, I’m hoping this coming Sunday helps encourage people with how they can bear witness to Jesus in more skillful ways.  I hope you’ll join us.

Weekend Preview – The Word

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This Sunday, Lord willing, we will start our study of the Gospel of John.  We will be looking at John 1:1-18.  I mentioned this past Sunday that I try to read the Gospel of John each week reading 3 chapters a day.  At the very least, open to John 1 and dig into this amazing opening.  How would you introduce Jesus?  John begins here…

Weekend Preview – Ordinances and John

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This weekend we are anticipating a full day at Crestview on 2/28.  We will be opening our service with some baptisms.  We’ll also sing, hear some insight for our upcoming study of John’s Gospel and come to the Lord’s Supper table together.  I hope it’s a rich time of fellowship and worship for you.  Plan to join us as 10:15AM or by our live stream.

Weekend Preview – Week of Prayer 2016

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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.

Weekend Preview – 3 John

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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.

Weekend Preview – 2 John

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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:

The focus of 2 John is living in the love of God in accordance with the truth of Jesus Christ. This love extends not only to God but to other people. It is also discerning; it does not “go on ahead” of biblical revelation (v. 9), and it does not lend aid to enemies of the gospel message (vv. 10–11). Instead, Christ’s followers “walk according to his commandments” (v. 6) and through faith “win a full reward” (v. 8).

I hope you come expecting great things from God in this book this Sunday.  

Weekend Preview – Finishing 1 John

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This coming Lord’s Day (1/31/16), I hope to wrap up expositions through the book of 1 John.  We’ll be honing in on 1 John 5:18-21.  Notice this emphasis:

18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
While there’s much I hope to say in this “big finish,” I think this summary from Curtis Vaughan gets at where we’ll be Sunday: In this passage, we have “a resume of the chief facts relating to the believer’s new life. Most of it has to do with his union with God and the holiness that union involves.”

Weekend Preview – God’s Character and the Gospel

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This coming Lord’s Day (1/24/16), we are privileged to have Kole Farney serving in the pulpit.  Here’s some background on Kole:

Kole Farney is a writer, speaker and assistant to Jim Elliff. He enjoys preaching and teaching the Bible to all ages. He is originally from Sterling, KS, and grew up on a farm with plenty of sunshine and sprawling wheat fields. Kole is interested in how the Bible fits together and how different books of the Bible serve the greater narrative of Scripture.

In 2009 Kole graduated with a degree in Agricultural Communications from Kansas State University and went on to graduate with a Masters of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2013. In addition to ministry with CCW, Kole serves as the pastor of one of six home congregations that make up Christ Fellowship of Kansas City.

Kole is married with 2 children.
I asked Kole what he would be preaching on and he said it would be from Isaiah 43 on God’s character or Romans 15 and the implications of the Gospel on church life.  In prepping for Sunday, then, it may be very helpful for you to connect with these passages and see how God might lead us.  Hope you have a great week.

Weekend Preview – This Coming Sunday, 1/17/16

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This coming Sunday, 1/17, we will be working our way through 1 John 5:13-17.  Many writers believe that in these final verses of 1 John, as a way of offering a conclusion to the book as a whole, John is rehearsing some of the big themes he’s been after through the book.  So, what would you expect to be there?  

Also, this coming Sunday evening, we will have our church’s Men and Boys Chili Supper, so if you’d like to join us for a good time around good food, plan to be there at 6PM Sunday night. 

Weekend Preview – The Testimony…

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This coming Sunday, 1/10/16, we will be digging in to 1 John 5:6-12.  After studying through this passage, I tweeted out: “1 John 5:6-12 in a sentence – “Testimony (about Jesus) with implications that may lead to life.” #believeinHim

So, what I hope we see this coming Sunday is a clear picture of Jesus and we’d respond accordingly.  It’s going to be a great weekend studying this passage and considering it in our small groups, as well. I hope to see you there.