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Cutting Through the Fog of Suffering

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My 2/16/25 sermon at Crestview, “Cutting Through the Fog of Suffering” (Haggai 1), is now live. This sermon continues a series I’ve given to start the year and to encourage those in our congregation who are facing suffering. The context of Haggai proved important in showing what these people were going through. You can imagine what it would be like to lose everything you held dear and be conquered by enemies, to see all the essential things to your practice of religion not only destroyed but defiled, only to watch God restore you to this land years later. No wonder they were shell-shocked. But God. Our God is ever gracious and faithful and comes near to draw sufferers back to Himself. I hope the sermon encourages you while suffering.

Seeing Jesus In Our Suffering

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I’ve been preaching our experiences of suffering since the start of the year. Each of the sermons has zeroed in on a Gospel account of Jesus in the boat with His disciples. Yesterday’s sermon, Seeing Jesus in our Suffering, took us to John 6:16-21, where Jesus came near the disciples walking on water. The outline related to Jesus’s “bigness” coming near (as Jesus said, “It is I, don’t be afraid). I hope the sermon is an encouragement.

I also tried to wrap up those four sermons with some particular applications at the end. We all want to be helpful to others when they’re hurting. Unfortunately, the church sometimes doesn’t do well in caring for others. I hope my applications prove insightful as we try to navigate this well.

Jesus Calms The Storms

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I’ve been preaching a short series at Crestview based on the narratives of Jesus calming the storm to encourage those who are facing suffering. I haven’t updated this site in a couple of weeks, but here are the links to the past two weeks:

1/26/25 – Following Jesus in the Storm (Matthew 8:23-27) – The context of Matthew’s Gospel combined with this narrative emphasizes following Jesus and how this informs suffering.

2/2/25 – Hearing Jesus and the Danger of Suffering (Luke 8:22-25) – Luke makes a big deal about hearing Jesus, so they do it when Jesus tells His disciples to get in the boat. This sermon connected this reality to the suffering we face.

Obviously, there is so much more that could be said about our experience of suffering, but I hope this helps move people closer to Jesus.

Weekend Recap – God’s Care for Sufferers

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My 1/19/25 sermon, Questioning God’s Care (Mark 4:35-41), kicked off a new series at Crestview. Like every week, you can find a transcript, audio, video, and notes on that link. This series will be a series of sermons on Jesus calming the storm with His disciples. We began with Mark’s narrative. It was striking to me that this comes on the heels of many teachings from Jesus about the effectiveness of His Word. So, the fact that questions pop up should be very encouraging for people like us who find themselves suffering. I hope this sermon encourages you.

Weekend Recap – Week of Prayer 2025 Launch

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My 1/12/25 sermon at Crestview, Trust and Pray, unpacked Isaiah 36-37. In that passage, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, was bearing down on Judah, and Hezekiah went to God for help. God communicates through the prophet that because Hezekiah prayed, He would answer. The passage also dug into how trust is at the root of our prayer. So, I hope this sermon encourages you. And, jump into our 2025 Week of Prayer, where we’re praying for God’s glory to be seen in our life together. Have a great week.

Weekend Recap – Advent Love

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My 12/22/24 sermon, Roped into God’s Love (Isaiah 55:1-5), continued exploring the four themes of Advent by focusing on God’s love. God invites us to come to Him, incentivizes it, and even promises to make good on it forever. Christmas tells us a story that God has come to us. And His nearness means that we are affected in profound ways. I hope you have a great week relating to others out of the love of God Himself. Oh, I also closed with this illustration from Frosty the Snowman. I hope it helps you marvel at the grace shown to you by God.

Weekend Recap – Advent: Joy

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selective focus photography of joy free standing letters with lights
Photo by Natasha Fernandez on Pexels.com

My 12/15/24 sermon at Crestview, A Joyful King is Coming (Isaiah 52:7-10), is online. My sermon served to wrap the morning when we enjoyed our annual children’s Christmas program (clicking the link will send you to the place where the full YouTube of the program is available). They did a great job pointing to the King of Christmas. My sermon helped to reiterate that the coming of this King meant joyful news for all people. I hope it encourages you.

Weekend Recap – Advent: Hope

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My 12/1/24 sermon at Crestview, A Comforting Hope (Isaiah 40), helped kick off the first week of Advent. You might remember that I love all things Christmas and am ready to celebrate it always. So, when Advent comes, I love helping our congregation take time to marvel at what we’re celebrating and dig into its impact on us. Isaiah 40 was the text for this year. When introducing all of Jesus to the world, Handel chose Isaiah 40 as the jumping-off point for starting his Messiah. I hope this sermon encourages you.

Weekend Recap – God’s Mission Advancement Plan

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My 11/24/24 sermon, God’s Mission Advancement Plan (Ephesians 6:10-24), wrapped up a quick series we did at Crestview through Ephesians. This short 7-week series oriented our hearts around our God, who always moves and plans with intention. The residue this book left on me is a big pushback against the “rugged individualism” we are consistently pointed toward. As this series wrapped, one application was that the spiritual armor isn’t so much waking up and putting on the armor every day. It’s a way of life we experience in the church where we root each other’s identity in the good news of what Jesus has done for us. This sermon concluded with an appeal for our church to go deeper. I tried to do this with courage and gentleness. I hope the sermon encourages you.

Gratitude Guide 2024

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Over on Crestview’s site, we have a Gratitude Guide that provides prompts for thankfulness to God in this upcoming season. The guide started today and I’d love for you to engage with the content. I’m also posting daily on Insta (which feeds into FB). Click the link to get this content and let’s orient our hearts heavenward as we consider all that God has done for us and do the good thing: giving thanks to Him.