With all the busyness of youth camp (maybe I’ll write up some reflections on that later), I didn’t post links to my sermons on 7/11 and 7/18, so here goes…

On 7/11/21, we continued our series in 1 Corinthians by Assessing Maturity (1 Corinthians 2:6-10). In that particular passage, there is a contrast between human wisdom and godly wisdom. And, this all gets at how the Corinthians were positioning themselves as “mature.” This sermon, then, sought to dig into these ideas so that God’s Word can rightly read us.

On 7/18/21, we wrapped up chapter 2 with a sermon entitled, The Spiritual Person (1 Corinthians 2:11-16). Again, Paul is after the Corinthians and their boasting as “spiritual people.” So, he highlights some of the work of the Holy Spirit and how we must depend on Him, get understanding from Him, so that we may find truth in Jesus.

I hope these sermons encourage you in your walk with Jesus.

My 7/4/21 sermon at Crestview, Boasting in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5), is now online. Continuing our church’s series in 1 Corinthians, this sermon dug into 2 questions for God’s people: will we boast in the Lord? and will we rest in God’s power? The boasting question flows out of the Corinthians to remember their calling and how God worked in their heart. The power question relates to Paul’s view of ministry and how we served the Corinthians.

I think this passage is readily applicable to our lives. I hope it encourages you.

I was able to be back in the pulpit at Crestview on Sunday, June 20 and my sermon, Appeal To Unity (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), is now online. There are so many types of unity we have in the world we live in. By and large, though, we can easily miss the power behind what sustains the unity of God’s people: the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. This sermon sought to unpack this issue in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. I hope it encourages you.

My 6/6/21 sermon at Crestview, Greeting Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:1-3), launched a new series for our church and dug us into the some of the realities of this important letter Paul wrote the church at Corinth. And, what was remarkable at the outset of this letter is that Paul greets them as sanctified saints (1 Corinthians 1:2) in spite of all the issues he will address in this book. I don’t know about you, but that sure encourages someone like me who doesn’t always get it right. I hope the sermon encourages you and provokes a diving into the book of 1 Corinthians.

My 5/10/21 sermon at Crestview, YOUR (Luke 15:8-10), is now online. This is part of the ongoing series of Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, helping people to understand God’s heart for people who don’t have a relationship with Him. And, what’s prompting the parables of Luke 15 are religious people who are grumbling that Jesus is spending too much time with people unlike them. So, I hope this series is helping you and encouraging you to have a heart like Him.

My 5/2/21 sermon at Crestview Bible Church, LOVE (Luke 15:1-7), is now online. The sermon launched a series for our church in the month of May encouraging us to love your neighbor as yourself. The hope is that our people would loving others in both word and deed. And, Luke 15 helps us see that religious people don’t do this well and need help from Jesus Himself to get there. I hope this sermon encourages you.

My sermon at Crestview on 4/25/21, Our Struck-Shepherd King (Zechariah 13-14), is now online. This sermon wrapped up a short series in the book of Zechariah (which began on Palm Sunday, continued through Good Friday and Easter, concluding yesterday). This particular sermon dug into the Shepherd King being struck for God’s people, which was fulfilled in Jesus according to Mark 14. We also dug into some of the already-not yet fulfillment at play in the final chapter of Zechariah. I hope this sermon and this series is an encouragement to you.

My 4/18/21 sermon at Crestview Bible Church, Unfaithful Shepherds, was an unpacking of the hard truth in Zechariah 10:1-11:3. The gist is this, the people have gone after unfaithful shepherds at the expense of their King. So, God helps people see their need, promises a King, and assures that the unfaithful shepherds will be met with His judgment. I hope the sermon encourages you and helps you to seek Christ above all.

I’m in the middle of a short series on the OT book of Zechariah. Yesterday, I dug into Zechariah 12:10, which tells us of the miraculous way God will come through to save His people. It involved Him getting pierced. We fast forwarded to the New Testament fulfillment of this and saw that Jesus, God in the flesh, was the one pierced, fulfilling this, and, as Revelation 1:7, will be eternally recognizable as the one pierced. This also led to an implication for our having hearts characterized by repentance before God. I hope the sermon, and this series, are encouraging you.

Check out my 4/11/21 sermon at Crestview Bible Church: Looking on the One We Pierced (Zechariah 12:10)

What a great weekend at Crestview. For Good Friday, we served a modest meal and enjoyed communion as part of that meal. My Good Friday devotional was from Zechariah 11:12-13 on Thirty Pieces of Silver. The idea was that Jesus’s betrayal was predicted by the prophet years before and gives us clues what to expect when the Messiah came.

On Easter, my sermon was Hope In Our King from Zechariah 6:12-13. This passage highlighted who the Branch that would branch out would be and what He would do. I made some connections to Jesus.

I hope these talks encouraged the people of Crestview. If you’ve never studied Zechariah, I wrote a devotional that dug into the book of Zechariah and helped our people meditate on Holy Week. It’s available for free online.

Hope you’re energized after the amazing weekend we’ve celebrated. Have a good week.