My church family has honored me in my 20 years of service at the church for the past four weeks by having four of my friends in to preach for me. On August 9, 2020, the guest was Jared Wilson. He preached on 1 John 1:5-7 a sermon entitled Hope For Those Who Hide. This sermon dug into all the ways we tend to hide and encouraged us to come to the light and find the liberation and freedom the Gospel provides for us. I hope it encourages you.
This weekend was the 2nd of 4 weeks of guest speakers at Crestview Bible Church to celebrate my 20 years of service at the church. The thought was that I’d get time out of the pulpit and good time with friends of mine. On Sunday, July 26, we showed a sermon that Ray Ortlund recorded for us, as he was unable to travel due to COVID concerns. The sermon was Joy of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13), which Ray described as… “the sacred joy that sets a church apart as truly Christian, the spiritual joy that the gospel itself continually inspires.”
Also, this weekend the church continued working through 10 Days of Praise to God for me and my family. I don’t have the words to say what these devotionals mean to me and us. I link to them here in this place so that I can have a record of these gracious encouragements.
Have a good week wrapping up July. We have every reason to be encouraged these days because of God’s love for us.
This weekend, Crestview began celebrating my 20 years of serving here as a pastor. I was grateful to get some time with Dale Baker, a former student of mine, who currently pastors in Maryville, MO. Dale gave our body a great charge to be Investing (2 Timothy 2:1-2) in the lives of others.
It’s very humbling to see how God’s allowed me to be here for 20 years. And, the celebration has just begun as this will continue for a few weeks. Hope you’ve had a great weekend and ready for this Monday.
My 7/12/20 sermon at Crestview, Out of the Depths (Psalm 130), is now online. This was my first sermon in a few weeks. And, it was an encouraging word to my heart: that God is the One who can bring us out of the depths into a relationship with Him, which gives us rest in this world. I hope it encourages you.
So, where have I been? I had a major rotator cuff tear repair and shoulder surgery about 4 weeks ago. We threw in some family vacation (meeting my brother and sister) and now are prepping for a few weeks celebrating 20 years at Crestview. I hope you’re doing well.
My 6/7/2020 sermon at Crestview (in the Psalms of Ascent series) is now online. The sermon was from Psalm 125, entitled Trusting in Our Surrounding God. The sermon got at how those who trust in the Lord have all kinds of security from Him and pointed to relying on Him. These chapters have been timely for our body and we continue to find encouragement in them. I hope this sermon encourages you.
My 5/31/2020 sermon at Crestview entitled Our Blessed, Helping God from Psalm 124 is now online. It was a big day for us as we re-opened after the COVID closings. I was happy to continue our series in the Psalms of Ascent and preach on Psalm 124 and how God helps His people. Specifically, my outline asked us to suppose if God didn’t help His people, and then to answer the call to praise God He did. I did try to bring an application to all the goings-on in our world these days. I hope the sermon encourages you.
My 5/3/2020 sermon, Direction for Life’s Frustrations (Psalm 120), which also served to introduce Crestview’s new series on the Psalms of Ascent, is now online. Many of us are looking for hope in the midst of these frustrating days. God’s Word is up to the challenge of giving us a firm footing these days. Specifically, this sermon dealt with how we can have direction when life is overwhelming to us. I hope this sermon encourages you.
My 4/26/2020 sermon at Crestview, Heart Stirrings (2 Samuel 23-24), is now online. This sermon was the final sermon of 48 covering the 55 chapters of 1 and 2 Samuel. I began this series in January of 2019 and while taking a few breaks here and there, this was the regular preaching rhythm for me on Sunday mornings.
This final sermon was entitled heart stirrings because I had hopes that studying these books left our people like the Emmaus Road disciples whose hearts burned as Jesus was consistently seen in the pages of the OT. And, I also believe that the writer, in these final two chapters, was trying to move us, that our hearts might be drawn out in worship to God.
There were amazing things that we saw in this passage and I hope it encourages you.
And, if you’re looking for other sermons in the series, they’re archived over at Crestview.
My 4/19/2020 sermon at Crestview Bible Church, The Lord Is My Rock (2 Samuel 22), is now online. This sermon dug into David’s long prayer of thanksgiving (which you can also read in Psalm 18) to show how God gives us stability. He’s repeatedly called our “Rock” in this passage.
You may feel very unstable these days wondering what God is up to, whether or not He cares, if He’s able to help, or a host of other things. This sermon might help point you to some of the answers to those musings. I hope it’s profitable for you.
My 4/12/2020 (Easter) sermon, My Redeemer Lives (Job 19:25-27), is now online. I think my fascination with this as an Easter text was first born through listening to Handel’s Messiah as I grew up. Here’s Christopher Ask giving some of the back story on using this text on Easter:
“George Frederick Handel’s librettist (Charles Jennens) was absolutely right when he set Job 19:25-26 alongside the words “Now is Christ risen from the dead…” in that great aria in The Messiah. It is precisely the bodily resurrection of Christ that gives us the assurance that Job’s confidence was not wishful make-believe but sure and certain hope. The Father stood upon Christ’s tomb and acted as His Redeemer, to vindicate him by resurrection. This same God will stand upon the grave of every man or woman in Christ, to act as our Redeemer. And on the last day, we will stand justified and vindicated before Him by grace”
Christopher Ash in Job: The Wisdom of the Cross, p.217
So, I thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of preaching the greatest event in the history of the world: Jesus’s resurrection through the eyes of Job. I hope the sermon encourages you.
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