In a short turn around, John Piper wrote and published a book to address the current worldwide pandemic. The book is Coronavirus and Christ, which is translated into many languages and available for free. I hope you’ll consider some of the truths he points to and weigh it Scripturally. Let’s keep navigating these days together.
Austin Stone Worship is releasing a new album soon (called Within). Crestview’s students had a chance to learn this song at camp in 2019, as part of the Austin Stone team led musical worship for us that week. This song really encourages my heart to center all my hope on Christ. What a refreshing reminder for the midweek! Have a good week.
Matt Heerema hosted a ministry roundtable with some of my heroes, asking them what they were thinking, considering, and working toward in these days.
His guests were:
Jason Thacker – Associate Research Fellow and Creative direct at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Author of “The Age of AI”. You can find more of his work at jasonthacker.com
Tim Challies – Pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario. Blogger at challies.com, and a speaker and author of multiple books.
Mike Cosper – Pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. Director of Podcasting for Christianity Today, he’s also an author, speaker, podcaster, musician. Find him at his website (which looks like it needs an update 😉 mikedcosper.com.
Matt Perman – Director of Career Development at The King’s College, NYC, founder of What’s Best Next, and an author of a book by the same title. You can find more about him at mattperman.com.
Eric Schumacher – Associate pastor at Grand Avenue Baptist Church, Worship Songwriter, and author of Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women. His site emschumacher.com.
If you have the time to listen to this, I think you’ll find it extremely helpful.
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.
My 4/5/20 sermon (for Palm Sunday 2020) at Crestview, The Exalted Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12), is now online. This passage clearly points forward to Jesus coming to earth and I realized I had never done a sermon on this passage. This sermon is an attempt to help encourage us to look to Jesus for Holy Week. I hope it encourages you.
Further, take advantage of the 2020 Holy Week Devotional related to this passage (Julie Thompson designed this and it includes articles from Tom Dixon, Ron Rhoades, Kole Farney, Luke Thompson, and me).
My 3/29/20 sermon at Crestview, God Is Serious (2 Samuel 21), is now online. I tried to draw out some implications of a passage that shows God avenging the shedding of innocent blood as well as God giving David victory over his enemies through his mighty men. The conclusion was that there are some things in this world that we learn that God is serious about and this should give us great comfort, especially as it relates to our salvation and God’s care for people like us. I hope the sermon spelled good news for you and you were encouraged through it.
My 3/22/2020 sermon at Crestview is now online. Entitled Toward Stability (2 Samuel 20), I dug into the instability of David’s kingdom as he entered Jerusalem after God rescued him from Absalom’s coup. There are all kinds of applications related to the instability we’re currently facing in the throes of COVID-19. Ultimately, the application is what kind of stability we’re going for. Our ultimate stability is found in Jesus Christ and the unshakable kingdom found in Him. I hope this sermon encourages you.
My 3/15/20 sermon, The King’s Return (2 Samuel 19), is now online. This sermon was preached for the live stream of Crestview. David is returning to Jerusalem after Absalom rebelled. And, we slow down to see all kinds of people that David deals with as he returns. It really dug into the idea of conflict and questions that emerge as we deal with conflict. On top of all this, we got to see how God has been kind to us through Jesus. I hope it’s helpful for you.
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