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Tweets From Revelation 3

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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 3.  Here’s a compilation of my tweets followed by the reference.


Revelation 1 | Revelation 2


Jesus knows your involvement in the local church and whether or not it’s a show or for real. (Revelation 3:1)
Some of us need to WAKE UP from complacency & sloppy inconsistent living of what we believe. (Revelation 3:2)
God’s remedy: remember what you’ve learned, keep it and repent, lest He come. (Revelation 3:3)
Jesus always has a people who are set apart from the world, walking with Him. (Revelation 3:4)
As we persevere in faith, Jesus will keep us pure and persevering, commending us to the Father. #gloriousmystery (Revelation 3:5)
Not only is the Holy Spirit alive and real, He’s got something to say to the church. Listen up. (Revelation 3:6)
The church need to listen and be awed by Jesus, who is holy, true and fully of authority. (Revelation 3:7)
Jesus knows your life and is in control. Feel weak? He still calls you to honor His name. (Revelation 3:8)
Jesus will one day right the wrongs of deception out of love for His people. (Revelation 3:9)
Persevering in keeping God’s Word ensures that He will keep us, no matter what comes. (Revelation 3:10)
Because Jesus is surely returning, we ought to continue to persevere toward our eternal reward. (Revelation 3:11)
Perseverance = being established by God Himself, eternally. (Revelation 3:12)
Got ears? Listen to what God is saying…for reals. (Revelation 3:13)
When Jesus speaks, He speaks an an authoritative, reliable and relevant person. (Revelation 3:14)
Jesus knows your life and wants you to believe. (Revelation 3:15)
Casual Christianity (relating to God as it’s comfortable) isn’t appealing to Jesus. (Revelation 3:16)
Living life without an active dependence on God grossly underestimates your spiritual reality. (Revelation 3:17)
Jesus’ counsel is that we come to Him as desperately needy people. (Revelation 3:18)
Jesus demonstrates His love by correcting those He loves, so we should nurture a heart for Him. (Revelation 3:19)
Hey! Jesus longs for fellowship with His people, so give Him a warm welcome. (Revelation 3:20)
When we persevere in Jesus, in the end we are given a hero’s welcome by Him. (Revelation 3:21)
Open your ears and hear what Jesus has to say. (Revelation 3:22)

Get Your Head In the Game

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This coming Sunday, 7/1/12, we will be turning our attending to Running The Race of Endurance marked out for us from Hebrews 12:1-2. After highlighting the importance of perseverance and showing how faith relates to this, in chapter 12, our writer comes right out and tells us that we need to run the race of endurance. Sunday’s sermon will relate to how we can run this race more effectively, specifically highlighting the importance of Christian community, getting rid of obstacles and looking to Jesus.

As we prepare for Sunday, though, I thought I’d ask, are you in the race? There are way to many people in our church who treat Christianity as a casual thing. They do the church thing as it’s convenient for them. Sure, they would be quick to confess they love Jesus. But, when you press them, they don’t talk much about Jesus, how He’s working in their lives, or how He’s their passion. No, they are passionate about gardens, weather, building projects at home or a host of countless other things. As a pastor who feels the burden (like Paul felt) of presenting every man complete in Christ, I’m hoping God does a work this week to get people’s heads in the game. There’s a race to run. There’s a life to live. If we’re not aggressively centering all of it in Jesus, we can easily lose sight of the things of most importance. Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: “Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us.” Headed in that direction with you…

Weekend Recap – New Covenant & Faith

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My 6/24/12AM sermon from Hebrews 11:39-40 entitled Faith and The New Covenant is now online.  There’s lots of excuses made as to why one can’t live a life of faith, but, Biblically speaking, we have every reason in the world to aggressively pursue it.  Simply put, because of the new covenant blessings that are ours in Christ, faith should be the natural way we relate to God.  In this closing passage to Hebrews 11, I try to make the case that we should live by faith because that it is a path, a way of life, that is blessed by God.  Further, it’s how righteous people live.  There’s no other way.

I hope you enjoyed a great Lord’s Day.

Couple of Things From Elder’s Retreat…

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As you may know, I am away on an Elder’s Retreat with our church’s leadership.  We have a great time together and have spent all day praying, planning and seeking how God would particularly like us to move.  We also have fun.

Here’s a video of a place we ate at last night, which was excellent:

This morning, we got rolling by working through this recent article entitled Progress In the Christian Life from the latest Life Action Revive Magazine.  Two prayers, in particular, stood out to us as we began our journey today.

George Whitefield: 
“God, give me a deep humility and a burning love, a well-guided zeal and a single eye, and then let men and devils do their worst!”


And a prayer at the end: 
“O Lord Jesus, make me happy enough in you to avoid sin, and wise enough in you to avoid danger, that I may always do what is right in your sight. In your name I pray, amen.”


We have had a truly amazing day.  Thanks for praying for us.  We are humbled to be a part of God’s work and continue to praise Him as THE HOPE for our future. 

Elders, Unity, Retreat…

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Starting today, the Elders I get the privilege to serve with will be taking some time to get away, pray, focus on long term vision and have unhurried discussion about many areas of the future.  We are taking our wives with us for some of this, to build into them and experience good fellowship together.  It really is a rich time.  Psalm 133 speaks of how good and pleasing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity and likens it to rich oil dripping down the head.  God is blessed when we lavish a spirit of unity on one another.  This is one component of how meaningful these times are.  While we are by no stretch of the imagination perfect, at the end of the day, we are in this great cause for the Gospel together.

So, if you take the time to read this, would you mention a prayer for our time together, that God would be glorified as we seek Him, seek His heart, and try to shepherd Crestview to the glory of God.

Chandler & The Magic Silver Bullet

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Got some exercise this morning and listened to Matt Chandler’s sermon from 6/17/12.  It was entitled Sowing, Reaping and Gospel Good from Galatians 6.  I loved in the middle of the message when he pressed this idea so prevalent in some pockets of Christianity that holiness will just happen someday.  That we will flip the switch and hear a sermon and the change will be instantaneous for sanctification.  That will not happen.  People who are allegedly called to ministry, for instance, don’t magically decide to not be lazy and start aggressively serving in the church once a church calls them to a position.  If they are called that is their heart now and it should be seen now.  This relates to our pursuing holiness.  It’s sowing, then reaping.  At any rate, take some time and listen to this word and be helped.

Something Better

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This coming Sunday, I hope (Lord willing) to finish Hebrews 11 by preaching Hebrews 11:39-40.  After listing hero after hero who triumphed in faith one way or another, our writer wants to turn the corner to help us see what this means for us.  And, he’s been sitting on a royal flush.

He assures us that God provided something better for us, namely the Lord Jesus Christ and His new covenant work.

All these Old Testament saints had trusted and didn’t have the great and precious promises that we have in Christ.  Here’s how Lig Duncan highlights this charge:

“Look you Hebrew Christians, who heard the Gospel from those who had heard it from the apostles themselves.  You have seen how the story ends.  You have seen the coming of the Messiah.  These people before had not seen it and yet they trusted.  So why don’t you trust?”

Or Calvin:

“A tiny spark led them to Heaven.  But now that the Son of Righteousness shines on us, what excuse shall we offer if we still hold to this earth?”

We’ve been given much more than the heroes of faith had in chapter 11 of Hebrews.  The only question that remains is, “Will we live by faith?”  Come this Sunday as we explore this.

Weekend Recap – Worthy Heroes

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My 6/17/12AM sermon from Hebrews 11:32-38 is now online.  It was entitled Worthy Heroes.  There were a few things that really stood out to me in this passage…

1) The hope of a better life.  In v.35, there are 2 ways contrasted.  2 women triumphed in faith when they received back children from the dead.  That was a pretty amazing thing, a physical resurrection.  But, what captivates the writer of Hebrews was those who were tortured, and led to death in the hope of a better life, a better resurrection.  This spiritual resurrection that is ours should be enough to jolt us in the here and now to live lives of endurance marked by faith.  This hope of a better life should help get you through Mondays.

2) Worthy – In v.38, these suffering believers are described as those of whom the world is not worthy.  Which led me to ask, well if they aren’t worthy of the world, then who are they worthy of?  The answer: God Himself.  When we triumph in endurance, God is pleased and esteemed as the most worthy one of the universe.

Today, then, strive to be a worthy hero that honors God by living in faith.

Tweets from Revelation 2

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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 2.  Here’s a compilation of my tweets followed by the reference.


Revelation 1


Jesus is very involved and aware of the life and ministry of the local church. (Revelation 2:1)
Jesus knows what local churches are doing and has right to speak commendation and/or judgment. (Revelation 2:2)
Jesus is very aware of your patient endurance and your not growing weary in the difficult times. (Revelation 2:3)
Since love fulfills the law, Jesus is always calling us to deeper love of God and neighbor. (Revelation 2:4)
Jesus’ call for His straying people is always repent and return. (Revelation 2:5)
We ought to nurture a love & knowledge of God so that we hate what He hates. (Revelation 2:6)
Listen up! If we endure to the end we get eternal life in heaven. (Revelation 2:7)
Jesus, who died, was raised, & is everything has something to say to the church. (Revelation 2:8)
Jesus knows your good times and bad as well as the true condition of people around you. (Revelation 2:9)
Don’t fear but persevere in suffering for Christ; the time is short compared to the eternal blessings that will come. (Revelation 2:10)
Listen up! Persevere in Christ & enjoy eternal life. (Revelation 2:11)
The church needs to listen to what has been said in God’s Word. (Revelation 2:12)
Jesus knows where you are & what your life is: your faithfulness & faithlessness. (Revelation 2:13)
Jesus has disdain for teachings that don’t result in His worship. (Revelation 2:14)
An easy way to recognize false teaching is to examine the fruit it produces (Revelation 2:15)
If we refuse to repent, Jesus Himself will work through His Word to lead us there. (Revelation 2:16)
Listen up! Persevering trusts in God’s provision & our identity in Him. (Revelation 2:17)
The Lord Jesus is holy. (Revelation 2:18)
Jesus knows our life and whether or not we are living out what we believe. (Revelation 2:19)
Jesus is against us when we tolerate things that are an affront to Him. (Revelation 2:20)
Jesus calls us to repent of specific sins, most notably sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:21)
Refusing to repent has consequences, including further judgment. (Revelation 2:22)
Jesus searches our minds and hearts and perfectly judges accordingly. (Revelation 2:23)
There is a blessing for avoiding things that dishonor God. (Revelation 2:24)
Jesus is coming back; therefore, let’s persevere to the end. (Revelation 2:25)
If we persevere in well-doing, Jesus promises to reward it. (Revelation 2:26)
Look forward to the day when your faith is made sight and you live in God’s authority. (Revelation 2:27)
For those who persevere to the end, we will one day appear like Jesus. (Revelation 2:28)
Listen up, church, God has something to say today. (Revelation 2:29)