Hallelujah, what a Savior! Easter weekend at CLF was amazing. But, as we all know, it was amazing because our Savior lives! He is alive forevermore. Reasons to rejoice in the Resurrection: The Bible gives us several reasons why the resurrection is important to us, as Christians. To encourage your soul, here’s a list: If you’re reading this, my…
I’m not sure about anyone else, but I know I haven’t yet recovered from the joy of what happened this past Sunday. It was a display of God’s grace in our church that left me in awe. Baptisms: The Bible tells us that there is incredible joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke…
There is so much on my mind about this post, so I will do my best to keep this within reason. This past weekend, we had our marriage retreat in Bandon and our Sunday service in Roseburg without a hitch. I’d like to talk about both because they bring me remarkable joy. Sunday Service: Let me start…
Before planting CLF in 2003, Bill Heard and I discussed the type of church we wanted to serve. One of the themes that kept coming up was a church that did the “one anothers” well. The reason for this was that, for most of our church lives, we had not experienced a church this well. We had some…
Like many of you, I enjoy watching some TV series for a variety of reasons. One reason is to hear and understand the world around us and the philosophies that are being pushed. Sure, like many, I enjoy ‘turning off’ things I normally do (meetings, lots of reading, and processing plans), but this cultural perspective…
This sermon series on the ‘one another’ passages of the Bible has been very good for our church’s soul. The depth of feedback that we’re receiving is phenomenal. Our people are seeking to apply these truths, and the stories of how they’re putting them into practice are a joy to hear. And let’s be honest…these sermons are convicting. But…
This past weekend, Jill and I had the privilege of visiting Emmaeus Road Church in Bozeman. Their pastor, Ron Boomsma, is currently in the Philippines training pastors on how to handle God’s word. If you’ve been around our church, you know my affinity and love for the Filipinos. I have had the joy of serving alongside Jeffry Jo,…
Talking about biblical forgiveness is challenging for a few reasons: 1) People inevitably get the impression that forgiveness lacks accountability, or they misunderstand how restoration happens; 2) there’s so little forgiveness in our world that they have no category for it; 3) We don’t think long and hard enough about how much we’ve been forgiven. There…
My wife, Jill, is one of the most faith-filled people I know. On a regular basis, when something happens that I may or may not like, she has graciously reminded me that the Lord is at work and behind it all. Her perspective is not unique, but I feel like her faith is. I struggle at times to…
As we’re dealing with the “one anothers” in the Bible, one statement that I hear often is how many Christians aren’t very nice. I understand the sentiment. But before you read further, please watch this short video by John Piper about that idea: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Cojv6xZc5/?mibextid=wwXIfr. The video is important because Dr. Piper is correct. The stuff that gets the press…
As I said on Sunday, the new sermon series, “Better Together,” is one that we want all of our people to hear. So, if you call CLF your home church, we’d ask you to make a point of listening to each sermon in this series and seeking ways to apply them. Please make it a goal to…
Our last Sunday of 2025 was another display of God’s grace at CLF. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: our goal each Sunday is to be faithful to God, His Word, and His people. Sometimes this looks like a good at-bat (a run-scoring hit, moving a runner up to the next base, or seeing lots of…
This will be my last post before Christmas, so here are a few thoughts regarding Christmas that come to mind. Quotes about the miracle of the Incarnation: In the book 300 Quotations and Prayers for Christmas, Eliot Ritzema compiles a list of great quotes. Here are a few: One of my favorite quotes about the Incarnation from…
We live in a world that holds that our actions or attitudes aren’t wrong unless they hurt others. But I’ve often wondered, is there anything that we think or do that doesn’t harm or help others in some way? Take, for instance, sins of the heart and mind, like bitterness, jealousy, or greed. Don’t those sins affect how I treat…
Ezra 9-10 are challenging chapters. They confront us with the reality of sin in the lives of God’s people and challenge us to make hard choices about obedience to God. There are a couple of items from this past Sunday’s sermon that I want to clarify. Confession and Repentance bring healing: Often, Christians (and I would say…
There is an inspirational aspect to reading about biblical and historical heroes. People like Ezra, whom we studied on Sunday, are rare. Uniquely gifted by God for a specific task and with unusual authority. As I said on Sunday, they’re men that cannot be duplicated. The authority from God that they had is unique for redemptive history. I put…
Ezra 6:13-22 is packed full of theological content. So often, I come to texts like it and automatically think about how Jesus fulfilled the Temple, the feasts, and the sacrifices. However, as I wrestled through this text, a significant theme stood out: when God’s people obey Him (because of His great love and mercy), God meets them in…
There’s a lot to get to in this post, so let’s jump right in. From the cutting room floor: If you’ve followed my musings for a few years, you’ll notice that sometimes I add things to this that I took out of my Sunday sermon. I usually do this for two reasons: 1) I didn’t think…
As I mentioned on Sunday, I’ve got a few things about the idol of self-expression that I’d like to address. But before I get there, let me share a moment of regret from Sunday and provide clarification. Not serving the church with my words: I want to ask your forgiveness for not serving you with my…
I find it challenging to remember that we’re in a spiritual war. So much of what we do is physical: sleeping, working, eating, raising kids, spending time with friends, and doing things we enjoy — all are physical activities. It’s easy to forget that we’re in a spiritual war in a physical world. It’s also challenging to…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need the Lord to stop me in my tracks and slow me down. I often get caught up in my own thoughts and can easily become overwhelmed. It’s always nice to be reminded how to eat an elephant – one bit at a time. Sometimes, the most important thing to…
Speaking of idols, Psalm 115:8 says, “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” We become like the person or thing we worship. The reason this is true is that when our hearts admire someone, we imitate them. Some have said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Consider a young boy…
I hope that Sunday’s sermon helped you see why we shouldn’t ignore genealogies:). But in all seriousness, let me give you a list of Scripture references to encourage you. These are references that I pondered while considering that God knows our names. Remember, a genealogy is a list of names that reveals God remembers—especially the one in Ezra…
I took quite a few notes last week to prep for my “musings” this week. So, allow me to jump right in. Regret from Sunday: Generally, there is something I say on Sundays that I regret, and this past week was no different. At one point in my sermon, while talking about how the Lord adjusts our…
One of the great joys that I have as pastor of CLF is to watch God work. I love what God is doing in our church. People are coming to faith and declaring their desire to follow Jesus (see Tara Pierce’s baptism this past Sunday). There are young people eager to follow Jesus and serve Him. There are…
My last blog post was posted on June 10th. It has been 10 weeks and 76 days. During that time, as most of you know, I took an 8-week sabbatical to rest. In this post, I’ll provide some insight into why this was necessary and share a few things I’ve learned. Once I was back from sabbatical, I attended…
There is quite a bit to get to in this post. The loyal care of our elders: This past Sunday, Luis Castellanos preached on the subject of prayer. I was scheduled to preach, but on Thursday afternoon, it became apparent that I would struggle putting something together. Typically, by Thursday, I have an outline and an…
Stan did a marvelous job on Sunday with a challenging text. As he prepped for that, he asked quite a few questions of our pastors, and I could tell that he was wrestling with what to put into that sermon and what to remove. Jill and I were out of town for a wedding, but…
This blog will cover two weeks of information, so I’ll jump right in. Have your heart before the Lord: 1993 was a monumental year for me. I served Ovilla Road Baptist Church (my home church) as the youth pastor, and things were going well. Yes, I made typical immature decisions and acted like many of…
When our kids were younger, we wanted them to memorize key Bible verses, such as James 4:1. We did this because conflict is inevitable. Our kids were going to experience it, and we wanted them prepared. The biblical perspective is that we must ask ourselves what our contribution has been to the conflict. James 4:1…
There are a few key things I want to jump into regarding Sunday’s sermon from James 3:13-18. I’ll get right to it. My personal experience: Early in ministry, I prided myself on my courage and strength. I regularly applauded myself for defending the truth and for speaking with courage. Others applauded me for my ‘power’ and ‘anointing.’ I…
Hallelujah, what a Savior! This morning (Monday), I wanted to read the resurrection narrative from Luke’s gospel. I was reminded anew what a glorious Savior we serve. I sent this to our elder team: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were…
Several years ago, I was a worry wart. I would make up things to worry about to feel like I was doing something. Jill told me I didn’t need to worry, but I did. I memorized key verses about worry and tried to apply them, but to no avail. It was a long-term issue for me. I struggled with anxiety…
I moved to Oregon in 1994 from Texas. Texas was my home for my first 24 years and was the only culture I knew. In a country as big as the United States, it’s hard to imagine the vastness of different cultures. But when I moved to Oregon, I was in a bit of culture shock. This was not…
The last six weeks have been a challenge. Many of you asked me if I was okay after Sunday. Many of you have never seen me cry the way I did at the beginning of the sermon, and others saw tears combined with me checking my phone and thought something was wrong. I greatly appreciate the…
I’m not sure that I have given much thought to how temptation to sin follows trials. But James sure did. After thinking about James 1:12-18 for the past week, the Lord allowed me to see several moments where this was true in my past. Here are a few examples: In most of these moments, I failed miserably. Looking…
I was asked a couple questions after Sunday’s sermon, so I’ll use this post to address those. “The Proverbs of the New Testament” If you’ve ever read Proverbs, I’m sure you’ve noticed the different topics addressed. Those topics seem to come up randomly, and it feels like the author switches between them at will. That’s what…
“Wisdom tells knowledge how to behave” (H.B. Charles). That quote has served me well in recent years. The older I get, the greater I need wisdom, and I have found a greater appreciation for wisdom. In this post, I want to talk about James’ approach to wisdom and hopefully give you a bit of a grid to see…
It is never easy, as a pastor, to look at the text you’re teaching on Sunday and know how challenging it will be for your people. Last week, as I studied James 1:2-4, I became aware of a new cancer diagnosis, more relational conflicts, and a congregant battling lung issues. Extra-locally, I became aware of another pastor…
To say I’ve been looking forward to our study of James would be an understatement. I’m thrilled to be in this book. One reason: it’s WAY different than Genesis. It’s shorter, and the study and prep work will focus on shorter sections of scripture. I’m eager to dig deep into the language and think deeply about each section. The other…
Sunday was another privilege to share God’s word and mission with our church. Over the last few weeks, we have introduced our church’s mission statement and ministry process to our church. We have attempted to share some non-negotiables and how people connect and grow at CLF. It’s been a clarifying series. This past Sunday was about growing…
Being known by and developing close relationships with other Christians presents many challenges. In this post, I will list a few of those and ponder some biblical solutions. But first, we prayed Sunday about the devastating fires in California, specifically for our brothers and sisters at Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena. I also announced that some…
This post has much to cover, so let’s get to it. Clarifications After Sunday’s service, Chris Guastaferro sent this text to our elder group thread: “The example you gave about sick kids. I want to make sure I understand. Are we encouraging parents to attend even with sick kids? I’m sure I misunderstood.” My response was, “Haha! No.…
The last Sunday of 2024 was a memorable one. Preaching through the prologue of John’s gospel was an enormous task and treat. As I said in my introduction, that text makes me tremble because of its density and breadth concerning Jesus. Hearing our church worship at the end of the sermon was a joy because sermons should draw…
There are many reasons for joy. Sunday’s sermon was another example. I want to explore a few ways to apply that sermon in this post. Why is the joy of the Lord our strength? Nehemiah 8:10 makes this case. In that text, the people of God were under duress while reconstructing the walls, and Ezra reads from the…
One of our hopes for the Advent series was to create a sense of anticipation. We arranged the series to start in Genesis, hoping to build each week upon the longing and anticipation that the Jewish people might’ve felt. As I studied Luke 1:26-38, I could feel this in the text. It was a sweet privilege to think…
My favorite sermon topics are those about mundane life. In this post, I want to clarify some points and give practical advice on serving Christ right where we are. The Lure of the Secret As a young Christian, I was deeply concerned about missing God’s will. I worried I would somehow miss God’s signs and wanted…
Generally, the promises in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah were given in times of upheaval and distress. As each OT prophet foresaw, there was a future age of turmoil for the people of Israel. It was no different in the prophecy we looked at Sunday from Micah 5. As I noted in my sermon, the…
This past week is one of those weeks that Jill and I highlight on our calendar. We all look forward to our annual elder and wives’ planning retreat. There are many reasons for this, and I’ll use this post to highlight them. Lots of Discussions I collect information and ideas we must discuss each year…
It will be challenging to keep this post short, so I’m preparing you now… As promised on Sunday, here’s a debrief of our recent trips to the Philippines, Sydney, and the SGC Pastors Conference. God’s gospel is Moving Forward When people ask me about my view of the end times, I tell them that God’s…
Greetings from Cebu City, Philippines! Today is Tuesday morning, and it is likely that by the time you receive this, Jill and I will be in Manila. We have been in Cebu since Friday evening. We’ve had a busy but incredible time. A Quick Update When we left Eugene on Thursday, our flight was delayed by almost two…
If you’ve been in our church for very long, you have heard me talk about long-term faithfulness. In my mind, Joseph is the first biblical case study of that. We obviously can’t miss the big story of why God put Joseph in Egypt. Joseph was there to provide for God’s people during the famine in Egypt. He was also there to bring Israel to Egypt, eventually bringing Israel’s growth and Exodus to the Promised Land. But Joseph’s faithful service, no matter where he landed. The Lord brought favor in leaders’ eyes each time—from the jailer to Potiphar to Pharaoh.
Talking about forgiveness is remarkably challenging. One of the daunting tasks for the pastor is to explain principles, knowing that there can be a variety of applications. Every situation is different, but the biblical principles are the same. And quite honestly, publicly preaching/teaching cannot get into every application. But it can give principle. That’s why faithful church ministry does not…
Sunday’s sermon on Genesis 42-43 dealt with one of the more challenging theological ideas in the Bible. I was trying to explain that practically, encouragingly, and clearly. What made this daunting was the unexpected trip to Texas for a family funeral. I crammed most of my study and writing in two days, and one of those was…
We have had some wonderful Sundays the past few weeks. I will share a few thoughts from those weeks, and I hope it’ll be helpful and encouraging. Genesis 37 and Baptism Preaching at One Champion Field is challenging because the net that separates the field from the stands creates a false barrier and makes it…
Through the years, Jill and I have sought to help our kids deal with the idols of their hearts. One of the ways that we’ve helped them identify these dastardly enemies of our souls is by helping them see that when idols are close to being exposed, sinful responses usually follow. Anger, dismissal, covering up, hiding, or other things have helped our kids see where their idols lurk. I have often said that when I’m counseling people when they get mad, we’re “about to hit paydirt.” My point is that we will do anything to keep our idols.
The lifelong lessons of Jacob and his family keep coming. Remembering his compromise and his son’s overzealous actions is a great reminder that there is never a time in our lives to get sloppy or lazy. As leaders, there’s too much at stake. As young people who tend to be more zealous and idealistic, it’s imperative that you lean into older, seasoned, experienced, and mature Christians as you navigate how to deal with the stuff you see in your world. I’m sure you’ll find that there are many warriors who’ve gone before you who have learned how to engage in this spiritual war in a way that honors the Lord and makes an impact.
The story from Genesis 30:25-43 is a story about this very thing. The Lord is the provider. But the Lord gave Jacob wisdom, expertise, and resourcefulness to breed his flocks. We find this throughout the Bible. David’s building projects, Solomon’s Temple build, weapons of warfare that God’s people invented, and governmental laws were all given by God and done by the people of God. One of the hallmarks of Christianity is the freedom of thought, invention, and resourcefulness that it brings.
The study of Genesis has been good for my soul and the soul of our church. One of the areas that’s been good has been the warnings about jealousy and selfish ambition. It’s very interesting how often these issues arise in the Old Testament: In Genesis alone, we see Cain and Abel, Sarai and Hagar, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, and Joseph and his brothers. In other parts of the Old Testament history, you’ll see Miriam and Aaron being jealous of Moses and the sons of Korah doing the same. You’ll read of King Saul’s jealousy about David and David’s son, Absalom, selfishly taking the throne.
Over the course of the last 8-10 years, anything from sexual ethics to abortion politics has become a war zone. To enter these worlds, you must be prepared to speak courageously, as I mentioned above. But Galatians 5:15 reveals to us a truth that will help us as we engage in public with the truth: those who bite and devour will consume themselves.
One of my trepidations about preaching about trials is the question: “Are trials in our near future?” Some have told me they might not be at church often during this series because of that (they said that sarcastically…even though I haven’t seen them at church lately😂). But the reality is that many in our church are already in the throws of earthly pain, and I’m grateful that this series has served our church and them. Several of them have mentioned how helpful this series had been to them, and like so many in our church, they’re leaning into what God is teaching them.
Recently, as I was reflecting on the journey the Lord has had us on, I began to wonder if we, as a church, have become impatient and ungrateful and, in doing so, have lost sight of the mission of the gospel.
I have always been deeply affected by something the Lord told the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:17-18, when He said, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
I’m writing this on Memorial Day. Like many of you, we will enjoy the day of rest, eat good food, and have family over for a BBQ. It’s the official start of summer, and outdoor weather is here. But today, my mind is drawn to another year of great freedoms in our great country. I thank God for those who served in the military and your friends who gave their lives for our freedoms. Those freedoms should never be taken lightly; we should be grateful for them and the sacrifices paid to earn them. God has been kind to us, and one of the great gifts He’s given us is the nation in which we live.
When you read this prophecy in Genesis 25:23, it’s essential to see this correctly. In the stories of Isaac/Ishmael and Jacob/Esau, the older will serve the younger. But we could also say the first will serve the last. Just because something comes first in order does not mean it’s first in prominence.
Think of Adam. Adam is called the first Adam. Jesus is called the last Adam. See?
The world’s system values the order of things: first in class, firstborn, and first in position. God values something else.
Genesis 25 is a bit of a bear. There’s the death of Abraham and Ishmael—the transition to Isaac, and the introduction to Jacob and Esau. As I stated in my post last week, Genesis 25 was on the docket for this past Sunday. However, once I started looking at it more closely, I had no idea how to cover it. I broke into separate sermons. We will cover Genesis 25:12-34 this coming Sunday.
But there are two things from this Sunday’s sermon that I’d like to expound on a bit more in this post.
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Wasn’t that a great day at church? Resurrection Day service followed by baptisms was a great way to celebrate our Savior. I was reminded on Sunday about Luke 15:7, when Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” The joy of our people hearing testimonies and observing baptisms was heaven-like. What a day!
It dawned on me: look around and rejoice…all that we have needed, God has provided. Let’s use it for the mission of the gospel. Easter is coming, CLF…, and there are plenty of seats at Jacoby to invite friends to church.
Sunday’s sermon was a ‘sweet spot’ for me. I struggled with anxiety for much of my early Christian life. I wanted to please God and do His will, but I was always worried I was missing it. I was taught about God’s ‘perfect’ will and that, if I missed it, I would not be in the ‘center’ of God’s will. It created tons of anxiety. Things started to change one night when Major Ian Thomas spoke at our church on that topic. He talked about how God actively led His people and that God’s goodness met them as they obeyed Him. After his sermon, I asked, “Major, I want to be led by God. How can I be sure I’m in the ‘center’ of His will?” His reply stunned me. He said in a wonderful British accent, “My dear son, God is already leading you. You don’t have to worry about that.”
I’m a warrior at heart. I like competition, and I don’t mind getting in the fray. However, I have learned through the years that living a “peaceful and quiet life” has afforded more opportunities for the gospel than being loud and aggressive. I have learned through the years when to fight and when to create conflict (even though I don’t believe that’s what happened).
In my sermon on Genesis 20, a question came to me about God’s sovereignty over human sin. I stated that God works with, in, and through human sin to accomplish His purposes. I placed a high view of God’s sovereignty and made it clear that even though Abraham sinned, God’s purposes were not thwarted, and God used Abraham’s sin to accomplish His purposes.
The Church is the only eternal institution in the Bible. The Church started before time began (Ephesians 1:3-6). The Church is the only institution that Jesus said He would build, and the gates of hell would not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). The Church was given by God to make disciples of all nations for the good of all nations.
I’m grateful to have finished the Sodom and Gomorrah story. It’s been a long, dark, and challenging week of study. I’m thankful that the sermon culminated with a sighting of Jesus because it’s not good for my soul to be left in the judgment of Sodom. I hope it was good for you as well.
One point I didn’t have time to cover in the sermon is something that I find very important when thinking about God doing the impossible. Often, people get frustrated or disillusioned with God because they believe He hasn’t come through for them on issues not clearly addressed in His Word. Let me explain.
I have been looking forward to getting back into Genesis. I enjoy expositional preaching and exegetical study. I knew when I planned to jump back in that we would start with Genesis 17 and the sign of the covenant: circumcision. So you can imagine my angst as I thought about how that might go.
Last Friday night, before heading home, I wrote down three different conclusions for Sunday’s sermon. All three would be good. But all three together would be confusing. I let myself roll into Saturday and let the sermon ruminate in my head. By the time Saturday night rolled around, I still did not have clarity on how to end the sermon. I decided to get up extra early on Sunday and landed with the ending of 1 Corinthians 13 that I did. There was quite a bit that I cut out of the sermon. For most of this post, I’ll cover some items I cut out.
What I learned through this experience is this truth: correctly understanding God’s character changes us to be more like Jesus, and improperly understanding God’s character causes us to stay dominated by sin (namely condemnation and guilt).
But one reason I didn’t mention is that sometimes we lack peace because we knowingly sin against God. You can see this example in Genesis 4 when Cain offered a sacrifice that God did not receive. He instantly lacked peace. As Christians, this happens to us, as well. Conviction of sin can cause anxiety when we don’t repent. This is a kindness of God. It’s a way that He shows us that there’s a better way to live.
When hard things happen, if we think God’s character is sinister, mean, or, at minimum, can’t be trusted, that makes us hopeless. But, if we believe that God’s nature is always good, loving, and merciful, then we know that He has reasons for these hard things, and His reasons are good, loving, and merciful. Even if we don’t understand ‘why’ they’re happening. What we believe about God’s character affects our hope.
The last Saturday I wasn’t out of town or didn’t have a ministry event was September 2nd. Since September, I have traveled to Denver, Manila, Bend, and Orlando. In between, we’ve had local conferences and weddings. I realize I’m weak compared to many of you who travel a lot, but I’m happy to be home now for a while. I don’t have another travel week planned for ministry until March. It feels nice to unpack my bags and put my feet up finally.
I haven’t done the math yet, but since the beginning of the summer, my preaching schedule has been the lightest it’s been in years. I feel it in my soul. I love preaching at CLF. Sometimes, like Sunday, it’s like we’ve come into our family room at our house and we’re rejoicing in Christ and learning from Christ. It’s amazing to me how comfortable it is to preach at ‘home.’ I know from other pastors, in other places, their churches don’t feel this way. I’m grateful for this.
This made me consider generosity. Most of the time, we ask questions like, ‘Can we afford to give?’ ‘Do we have enough at the end of the month to give?’ These are all good questions…for an accountant. Farmer thinking would be, ‘How can I afford NOT to give? And ‘If I give at the front end of the month (sow), will God NOT fulfill His promise to meet me on the back of the month (reap)?’
I’m writing this from my last flight home from my trip to the Philippines. I’ve been trying to think about how to summarize this trip. Quite a bit happened personally and in the work we’re attempting to do in developing Sovereign Grace Philippines. So, I think I’ll divide this post into those categories to help me write.
As I stated on Sunday, our main reason for covering the shaping virtues is to show what we believe defines gospel culture in a church—most who stay for very long experience this at CLF. But knowing why it’s important and how it’s happened is important.
I was reminded not to go through the motions and that God is evaluating our worship gatherings and my heart. I was struck by the fact that Colossians 3:16 shows people singing to one another, where we remind one another of God’s faithfulness and our hope in the gospel. I was encouraged to intentionally engage with the people of God in our gatherings by reminding them that they are part of the congregation, just like the worship team is part of the congregation.
I tried to do this on Sunday with this statement: CLF exists to equip people to worship Jesus, serve Jesus, and love others. I said that a few times. While this is not our written ‘mission’ statement (we’re working on that), it does define what we’ve tried to do and what we believe is our part in the Great Commission. Our goal over the next several months is to ensure that every ministry in our church accomplishes this mission. We want to equip people to worship Jesus, love Jesus, and love others. And we want to do this in community together.
One of the reasons for our new series on the Great Commission is that we need to see how the everyday Christian life is to represent Jesus in a Genesis 3 world. We see this clearly throughout the New Testament. We hope to show how ‘minutely’ and ‘daily’ this making disciples is to be in our lives. In this post, I’ll point us to the result of the Great Commission and show the importance of seeing how practical the Great Commission is.
We’re tempted to trust in measurables in adversity. When we look across the metaphorical battlefield and see an army bigger than ours or an enemy stronger than us, it could be the cultural war on morality, the business competitor flooding the market with their product, or the sin that so easily snares us. We measure our strength and capacity compared to others and are found wanting. Then, we fret, worry, and stew (to quote Bill Heard).
Rick’s sermon ends a study this summer of many Psalms of lament. I’m grateful we covered psalms like this for a few reasons: 1) it gave us biblical answers and hope; 2) it gave us categories for times when life doesn’t make sense; 3) it shows that we’re a congregation that doesn’t want to ignore hard things in God’s word. Each teacher this summer did a wonderful job of laying out truths from God’s word that we hard to hear. But those hard-to-hear things were from hard-to-hear inspired texts from God that are good for our souls.
What struck me was how ‘real’ our sermon series in the Psalms had been to them and us. I have noticed a remarkable theme through our summer psalms: hardships and trials that seem to come without rhyme or reason. We are left with asking the Lord to alleviate the pain, and we’re left with, ‘How long, O Lord?’
These last two weeks have found our family in Ferndale, Washington, for a baseball trip with a 14U Babe Ruth team and at our church campout at Bastendorff on the Oregon Coast. It was a full two weeks with tons of memories made. It was nice to get away, and it was needed.
This is very helpful and encouraging for people like me who talk to themselves (don’t tell anyone). I have to say aloud to myself things like “Don’t say that!” or “Don’t think that!” And I repeat gospel truths to myself regularly. I remind myself that I’m forgiven, that I have access to God, and that God looks upon me favorably because of Jesus. I remind myself of God’s approval and acceptance. I do this because I am prone to forget. We all are. David was.
I was thinking about this recently as I took some time off. I could have done a better job taking time off over the last few years. I love to work. I love my job. I love my church, and I love serving the people that I mentioned above. When people love the church, it makes pastoring them easy. But it also makes you want to work hard.
It’s been a few weeks since my last post, and there are a few things that I’ve had stored up to share. I have planned on writing each of the last few weeks, but inevitably something came up that kept me away from the keyboard. Today, I’m finally able to get some things down. I hope these things will inform and encourage you.
As I have said over these past few weeks, each sermon has had a very personal feel to it. Sunday’s was no different. Only this time, it wasn’t just targeting my heart. It was targeting ‘our’ heart as a church. Last year, during my sermon planning, discussing jealousy and selfish ambition seemed like an excellent follow-up to Sarai and Hagar. But I didn’t envision what God was about to do in our church and how quickly things were changing in CLF. So this sermon not only ‘felt’ right, it felt like prophetic guardrails around the ‘soul’ of our church.
I don’t know if enough attention gets drawn to the idols of our hearts. Idols are generally not evil or sinful things. Usually, they are good things that we want too much and want now. They move from desires to needs. They become things we crave and think we cannot live without. And they dominate our thinking.
In the last two posts, I have mentioned how I’ve been dealing with some spiritual ‘heart’ issues. In the 34 years of Christian ministry, I have found that the Lord does not leave me alone, and He normally walks me through texts that I’m preaching on to get my attention. That has been true over the last several weeks. Some of you have asked me about this. You’ve noticed a sober approach to my preaching that you haven’t seen before or that the sermons seem more personal than usual to me.
I needed to be in church on Sunday. I had an odd week. It had no rhythm to it. It was long. I was frustrated with some things that went on, and I was battling through some heart issues. Then, the church service started. The lyrics from the songs began to re-speak the truth of the gospel to my soul. My eyes were lifted upward, and my heart began to settle down. When I got up to preach, I shared the story about ‘not doing more’ because ‘it is finished’ it was for my heart more than anyone else.
There are so many directions that a teacher could take on Genesis 12:10-20. The amount of preparation for Sunday’s sermon and the differences in commentators was interesting. It was a wonderful study, and I learned a ton. I like hard texts like this, and I enjoy exegeting the text for interpretation and our congregation for application.
One of the things I said on Sunday needs to be drawn out a bit more. And that’s Easter hope. I was very encouraged by the quote I shared from John Piper at the end of the sermon. Piper wrote, “The best news of the Christian gospel is that the supremely glorious Creator of the universe has acted in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to remove every obstacle between us and himself so that we may find everlasting joy in seeing and savoring his infinite beauty.”
