My 3/17/19AM sermon, Hand of Providence, from 1 Samuel 9, is now online. In this sermon, I was curious about all the ordinary things, the perfect coordinated timing, and simplicity of a meal as they related to Saul’s connection with Samuel. And, this served to be a good example of God’s providence, His ordering of ordinary things to accomplish His will. I hope the sermon encourages you. Further, I hope the reality of God’s providence causes you to trust Him in deeper ways. Have a great week.

My 3/10/19AM sermon, Like All The Nations, unpacked 1 Samuel 8 with a view toward how it relates to us today. And, quite simply, as the nation of Israel is crying out for a king (and rejecting God as their King and Protector), we see how we tend to do the same things they did. Specifically, sometimes we don’t believe God is enough, we ignore God’s clear wisdom because we want something, and we think that holiness isn’t worth living. I hope this sermon encourages you.

My 3/3/19AM sermon, Responding to a Glorious God, unpacked the progression of people coming close to God in 1 Samuel 6-7. You could almost call this a revival, God slowly moving to bring His people back to Himself. He’s working. He’s helping. And, in the midst of this, we see people choose to walk in His ways, not their own. I hope this sermon encourages you.

My 2/24/19AM sermon, God’s Heaviness from 1 Samuel 4-5, is now online. These are some infamous chapters of OT narrative (with lots of death, Ichabod, and Yahweh putting the thump on the Philistine god, Dagon) but they move nonetheless to show God’s glory. God’s glory can easily be something we lose sight of, so I crafted this sermon around the notion of God’s heaviness (from the language at the end of chapter 5 that the hand of the Lord was heavy among the Philistines). We need a fresh glimpse of God’s heaviness in these days. I hope this sermon encourages you with a view to who God is and what He does.

My 2/17/19AM sermon, God Brings His Word (1 Samuel 3), unpacked how God acts to shape His people by His Word. Specifically, in this passage, God raises Himself a prophet (in this case an 8-11 year old boy) who will faithfully relay His Word to the people. I hope this sermon encourages you.

My 2/10/19AM sermon, God Cares (1 Samuel 1-2), is now online. Last week, I did an overview of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel and this sermon got us in to the actual text. The sermon was challenging with their being so many verses to deal with, the reality of Hannah’s hurt, and the outrageous abuses of power by Hophni and Phinehas. But, it was an encouraging sermon to see how God cares, what He’s up to, and how we can draw near to Him. I hope it encourages you.

My 2/3/19AM sermon, Overview of 1 and 2 Samuel, is now online.  This sermon kicked off a lot of work I’ve done for months.  In the Fall of 2018, I determined that I’d be preaching in these books.  After a couple of study breaks, work to gather the big picture, and working to break it down, I was glad for Sunday to finally get here.  So, this sermon is my attempt to introduce the people of Crestview to the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.  I hope it encourages you.

My 1/27/19AM sermon, Wisely Living in Life’s Brevity from Psalm 90, is now online.  I’ve wanted to preach on this Psalm for some time.  I also was reminded of its message when preaching through Ecclesiastes this past Fall.  To put it simply, this psalm (of Moses), shows how God is eternal, what that means for us, and how we live in light of these things.

I really hope you can find some encouragement in these ancient words.

My 1/20/19AM sermon, Loving Our Neighbors (Social Justice) – James 2:1-13, is now online.  The sermon really got a progression when we seek to live out our faith (and follow a Biblical paradigm like not showing partiality to others).  As we hold firm in our faith, we’re able to love our neighbors (as ourselves), and it’s then that we’re able to speak and act in mercy.  This weekend, many churches across the country we’re thinking about the sanctity of human life as well as racial reconciliation.  This sermon was my attempt to envision how the Bible might propel our thinking forward in these areas.  I hope it serves you.

I’ve enjoyed a great start to 2019 by being helped by fellow elders at Crestview.

On Sunday, January 6, Tom Dixon preached on Prayer: Simple, Difficult, Complex to kick off Crestview’s 2019 Week of Prayer.  This past year was one of pretty amazing growth for Tom in this area.  I asked him to share this with the congregation and there were many points of help he gave.  We spent a good part of the week coming together in prayer.

On Sunday, January 13, Bob Guthrie preached on being With the Word in the Word.  Simply put, Bob was sharing wisdom with the body about how having a daily quiet time is helpful for our long term growth.

I know many at Crestview have communicated with me about how meaningful these talks were.  I hope they’re encouraging to you, too.