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Weekend Recap – Benediction

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My 11/18/12AM sermon, Benediction, from Hebrews 13:20-21 is now online.  In this sermon, I sought to unpack Biblical hope.  You see, God has all the credentials in the world in His proven track record of working for peace with mankind.  He is also at work to accomplish the sanctification that Jesus’ death inaugurated.  Finally, His aim in all of this is the glory of His Son.  Therefore, much hope is ours through God and the Gospel.  Hope you find this to be true in this passage and hope your Lord’s Day equipped you to this end.

Weekend Preview – Gospel Hope

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As we near the close of the book of Hebrews on Sunday Mornings at Crestview, tomorrow we come to Hebrews 13:20-21.  It is really a prayer that the writer has for his readers.  He wants them to get the message of the Gospel and what it means for the people.  Tomorrow, as we look at this benediction, I’m hoping to inspire hope in you as we look at the hope that this writer has for the people.

So, come expecting to built up in hope…

Tweets From Revelation 19

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In late May, I began 202 days of journaling through the 404 verses of the final book of the Bible, Revelation.  To go along with my personal study and preparation to preach through this book in 2013, I’m trying to tweet something from every verse.  Today I finished chapter 19.  Here’s a compilation of my tweets followed by the reference.

Revelation 1 | Revelation 2 | Revelation 3 | Revelation 4 | Revelation 5 | Revelation 6 | Revelation 7 | Revelation 8 | Revelation 9 | Revelation 10 | Revelation 11 | Revelation 12 |Revelation 13 | Revelation 14 | Revelation 15 | Revelation 16 | Revelation 17 | Revelation 18


Praise God: real hope, lasting salvation and eternal power belong to Him. (Revelation 19:1)
What sets God apart? He judges wickedness, immorality and treating His servants with contempt. (Revelation 19:2)
God will be praised for the eternal punishment of His enemies. (Revelation 19:3)
All of heaven agrees with God’s righteous judgment and proclaim, “Let it be, Praise God!” (Revelation 19:4)
No matter who you are, you owe God your reverence. (Revelation 19:5)
The loud praise of eternity is praising God for His perfect, lasting rule. (Revelation 19:6)
Hearts rejoice to be united to Christ for eternity. (Revelation 19:7)
All the believer’s good works will one day be a demonstration of Jesus’ purifying work. (Revelation 19:8)
These are true words: it’s blessed to be united to God through Christ. (Revelation 19:9)
Don’t fall prey to worshipping ANYone other than God! (Revelation 19:10)
Jesus is a pure, holy, faithful and true, righteous Judge. (Revelation 19:11)
Jesus’ eyes see through your charades, because He’s a set-apart King. (Revelation 19:12)
Jesus is clothed with devotion to His name, which is all that He stands for: the Word of God. (Revelation 19:13)
All of heaven reflects the purity and radiance of Jesus. (Revelation 19:14)
Jesus’ mouth speaks true judgment in accordance with His Word. (Revelation 19:15)
Jesus’ clothing and tattoo: King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:16)
God calls creation to feast on His righteous judgment. (Revelation 19:17)
Creation feasts on the flesh of those under God’s judgment. (Revelation 19:18)
All anti-God resistance makes war against Jesus and His people. (Revelation 19:19)
Some anti-God resistance will be punished alive in the lake of fire. (Revelation 19:20)
Some anti-God resistance will be silenced by the Word of Jesus Himself. (Revelation 19:21)


Trifecta On Leadership

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I’ve been greatly helped in recent days by 3 books that have come out on leadership in the local church.

The first one was Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp.  Tripp goes after the heart of every pastor.  When I preached on Hebrews 13:17 recently, I was reminded, convicted afresh and challenged to be a man who is worthy of a congregation’s trust and support.  Tripp helps expose the selfish tendency pastors have in ministry and then soothes us with deep, Gospel realities.

Secondly, Dave Kraft’s Mistakes Leaders Make has been another eye opener to be aware of some common pitfalls that can come our way in pastoral leadership and to choose a better path, that glorifies God and serves the good of the people (and ministry).  I’m still in this one, but have been very encouraged so far.

Finally, Al Mohler’s Conviction to Lead has proven helpful to seeing how leadership looks from an overarching and thoroughly Christian worldview.  Mohler deals with a leadership point and fleshes that out from Scripture and experience to point us in truth.  Honestly, I’m still in this and have been using it as a springboard for prayer in devotions.

Each of these books are very helpful in their each unique way in fostering healthy leadership for pastors in local churches and I commend them each to you.

Leadership Email – Why We Misdiagnose, Part 1

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My email to leaders in Reno County from Monday, 11/12/12:

Continuing a series we began a couple of weeks ago on diagnosing the situation, remember last time we thought about the importance of diagnosing.  Today?  “Why do people misdiagnose the situation?  Two reasons stand out:

“Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something.  When a community or organization is facing a difficult issue, there is almost always tremendous pressure, especially on those in authority, to act, to do something, making it difficult to spend the time necessary to do a deep diagnosis.  In the complex economic meltdown in the fall of 2008, President George W. Bush and the Congress took unprecedented steps in a matter of days.  Inaction would not have been easily tolerated by the public.”  (Taken from The Competencies For Civic Leadership, pp.2-3)

While most of us are go-getters and recognize the need for action, we can easily rush into action plans at the neglect of diagnosis.  This may later reveal that actually we did misdiagnose the situation.  So, today, realize that part of your action in solving a problem may very well be hitting the pause button on that action plan and seeking some diagnosis so that wise(r) plans are made.

We’ll look at another way we tend to misdiagnose next week.  Thanks for taking time to consider this important step today.  Take time to diagnose and see if it doesn’t help us make progress on the issues we care about deeply.

Weekend Recap – Prayer Encouraged

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My 11/11/12AM sermon, Prayer Encouraged from Hebrews 13:18-19 is online.  In this sermon, I sought to, once again, ground everyone in the Gospel (has to be the case reading the book of Hebrews) and help them see how that encourages pray.  Specifically, my outline involved 3 directions for prayer: we pray for people, Gospel-centered living and circumstances.

I hope the sermon helped people to see the access they have to their Father and to pray more diligently.

And, I hope you had a blessed Lord’s Day.

Weekend Preview – Prayer

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This coming Lord’s Day, we plan on looking on Hebrews 13:18-19 and it’s call for people to pray.  There are some specific ways this author contributes to our thinking on prayer that will, undoubtedly, be a great encouragement to us.  We all know the importance of prayer.  This, coupled with the amazing truths we’ve seen time and time again in the book of Hebrews about how we’re made acceptable in God’s sight, what our great High Priest has done to give us confidence to enter, and how Christ Himself is interceding make this a very exciting text to pursue this weekend.

I hope you’ll come and be encouraged to be a person of prayer.

Thoughts On The Election

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Yesterday, I posted Some Thoughts On the Election from my good friend, Brad Russell.  He put this on a blog post, so I thought I’d link it here, since I posted it on Facebook only yesterday.  Thanks for your patience with the re-post.

While I am not thrilled with our president, and cannot stand for his moral/immoral stance… a couple of things to remember:

1. Everyone likes to say it, but as Christians we MUST believe it… Our Lord is enthroned forever. Remember that in the end, Jesus is the one Who has promised to destroy America (and every other nation) to reveal His Kingdom… There will be only one banner flying in the new heavens and new earth… the banner of Jesus. 

2. Our first priorities now as Christians must be to pray for our leaders and make disciples who make disciples… amazingly, no matter who is in the oval office, this will be our commissioning from our Lord. 

3. Prosperity is not a promise from God. It is also not a sufficient reason to be upset about our nation. It is better to be righteous and poor than to be wrong and prosperous. More Christians need to concentrate on GIVING away what they have for the sake of the Gospel and the suffering as opposed to HOLDING ON to things that will never satisfy us. 

4. The moral decline of our nation is not Obama’s fault. It is sin’s fault. It is OUR fault. Things aren’t worse morally now than they have been… in the 60′s “Christians” beat and killed people because of the color of their skin, made them drink out of different fountains, eat at different counters, go to different churches, schools, etc. In the 18th and 19th centuries “Christians” thought it was ok (if not biblical) to OWN PEOPLE like they were cattle. We have to remember that no Republican president has been able to change the morals of our nation (abortions were legal thru Reagan, Bush, Bush Jr.) and no president has ever saved anyone from their sins… Only Jesus has the power to save. 

What will you be talking about today? The problems of America, or will you a part of the solution by proclaiming Christ? We have a job to do… and that job has been the same… and will stay the same… until Christ returns.

So well said. I loved Brad’s heart here and continue to be challenged by it. In the mean time, now that we have a day behind us, this can serve as another reminder to be about the eternal work we’ve been called to pursue. Hope you have a blessed day to this end…

Weekend Recap – Church & Leaders

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My 11/4/12AM sermon, Church and Leaders, from Hebrews 13:17 is online.  In this sermon, I sought to explore how the church at large is to relate to the leaders that God has given her.  Considering their teaching, lives and care for the souls of others should provoke people to put their trust and confidence in leaders for their own advantage.  It was a hard message to give — hoping that I was able to humbly unpack God’s Word and give some contours of thought that might help the people of Crestview glorify God more effectively.

Hope you had a productive Sunday as well.

Tweets from Revelation 18

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In late May, I began 202 days of journaling through the 404 verses of the final book of the Bible, Revelation.  To go along with my personal study and preparation to preach through this book in 2013, I’m trying to tweet something from every verse.  Today I finished chapter 18.  Here’s a compilation of my tweets followed by the reference.


Those sent by God for His purposes shine gloriously. (Revelation 18:1)
The judgment of the wicked includes speaking of her fallenness. (Revelation 18:2)
Immorality is a huge, detestable blight to mankind. (Revelation 18:3)
God consistently, out of His mercy, calls us to forsake sin or face its consequences. (Revelation 18:4)
God will surely punish sin. (Revelation 18:5)
Unrepentant sinners will one day reap what they’ve sown. (Revelation 18:6)
The pride of a sinner can easily blind them to their condition before a holy God. (Revelation 18:7)
God is mighty in His fair and just judgment. (Revelation 18:8)
Instead of repenting, God’s judgment of sin creates sin sympathizers. (Revelation 18:9)
Instead of bowing before God, sin sympathizers lament the swift judgment of God. (Revelation 18:10)
Sin sympathizers mourn their lack of outlets for sinning. (Revelation 18:11)
The world’s cargo has everything a sinner would enjoy. (Revelation 18:12)
The world’s cargo carries away human souls into slavery. (Revelation 18:13)
The spiral of sin is that what seems enjoyable leads to captivity. (Revelation 18:14)
Sin sympathizers aren’t concerned about the captivity of souls but selfish gain. (Revelation 18:15)
Again, sin sympathizers cry out for the world’s goods. (Revelation 18:16)
And again, sin sympathizers lament the swiftness of God’s judgment. (Revelation 18:17)
Sin sympathizers can’t see the true reality of sin’s work. (Revelation 18:18)
Rather than mourning their sin, sin sympathizers are appalled at God’s response to it. (Revelation 18:19)
Believers are called to rejoice in God’s final judgment of the world. (Revelation 18:20)
God gives a graphic picture of His judgment of the world. (Revelation 18:21)
The world’s sound of celebration in itself will be silenced in God’s judgment. (Revelation 18:22)
God’s judgment is due, in part, to the world’s deception of people. (Revelation 18:23)
God will also right the wrongs of persecution and martyrdom. (Revelation 18:24)