» Crestview Church of Boulder -Weekly Podcast

This Sunday, Jesus' resurrection takes center stage.  Jesus' resurrection is the most profound mystery (truth) the world will ever know.  It's the central teaching of the Christian faith alongside the cross of Christ.  1 Corinthians 15 is the longest chapter in Paul's letter to the church of Corinth by far.  What's the topic?  The Resurrection!

This has been another challenging week for the people of Boulder, CO.  The event on Pearl Street Mall Sunday afternoon brings much reflection.  We lift up before God the families directly affected.  We hold up and support those who are involved with the families directly in care - spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.  

For Sunday, read 1 Corinthians 13, a famous chapter among many believers and non-believers alike - well known and resonates whole.  How important is love when it comes to the use of any gift God has given us, whether a 'spiritual' gift or otherwise?  What is the character and essence of love?  Where do we find it?  All kinds of questions arise, yet in 1st Corinthians 13, we find many answers!  

Ever heard the phrase "all for one and one for all"?  It's a catch phrase that has various meanings for a few different situations.  I think Paul's chapter 12 in Corinthians promotes this idea.  All God's people are in the faith engagement with God for God and his glory and the Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts of all the others in the body of Christ.

Guest Speaker Pastor George Saylor on 1 Corinthians 11:17-32

Five words to change the atmosphere of your environment.

Idolatry... such an old-fashioned notion... Or is it?  Paul says clearly in 1 Corinthians 10 that we are to 'flee from idolatry.'  How can we identify or recognize an idol in our life?   This short clip takes a look at some questions that can help us get to the heart of our own idolatry.  After answering these questions, I've concluded, idolatry is alive and well... 

In 1 Corinthians Chapter 9, Paul leads us into an attitude and posture of self-less-ness.  It looks like self-discipline, self-denial, self-control in ways of being self... less.  Imagine a world where everyone looked not only to their own interests but to the interests of others? 

This week we celebrate the most momentous week in history.  As Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheering and by the end of the week, jeering.  As Jesus is crucified on a cruel cross, it's far from a loss.   As Jesus' death and resurrection opens the door wide, turning the tide, against sin's spell, death and hell, as God's love in Jesus is the deepest of wells. 

I think of Palm Sunday and Good Friday as being prime examples of juxtaposition.  When two things are placed close together with contrasting effects.  The nearness of contrasting realities.  Jesus is hailed as King and yet, in a few short days suffers in agony and is crucified.  This must have been so confusing to the people at the Passover festival and certainly for the disciples.  No wonder they scattered, it made no sense.  What is to come? 

In 1st Corinthians 8 Pauls says, "Knowledge puffs up, love builds up."  Sometimes we use knowledge to destroy and humiliate others by elevating ourselves as wiser, higher and better than others.   Yet, as Paul says, "Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know."  

In our walk through 1st Corinthians, Paul is pouring out his heart of advice, counsel, wisdom, including commands and concessions about relationships.  Essentially saying, "A relationship with Jesus will transform all of your relationships."  

Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians says much about sex - sex and marriage, sex in the city, sex and the single person.  All of his guidance, instruction, concessions and commands are grounded and founded in our union with Christ.  He houses sex in the reality of the Kingdom of God and an abundant life in Christ - and this changes everything. 

God be glorified in my Body! (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)  The Apostle Paul waxes eloquent in delivering one of his most concise teachings on human sexuality for the follower of Christ.  His words and teaching are masterful.  

In the 1st letter to the Corinthians, Paul is on fire.  Waxing eloquent, with passion, of the wisdom and power of the cross, of Christ crucified and risen, of life in the Holy Spirit!  As we enter into chapter 6, Paul is concerned for their witness in the world for Christ.

1 Corinthians 5 is on deck for this Sunday.  We are well into this letter to the Corinthian church and the beauty of Paul's teaching is becoming more deeply personal and more deeply communal.  There is some big trouble in this church community that Paul confronts directly.  Yet, Paul includes everyone in his teaching to include everyone.   

So this Sunday, Paul wraps up his discouragement of certain behaviors and encouragement of others addressing the call of pastors and leaders.  It's a fascinating passage, so here we go, 1st Corinthians 4.

The Corinthians imagine themselves a Superstar Church but Paul considers them immature toddlers who need to grow up. He urges them to recognize their jealousy and quarreling as signs of immaturity.  Then he proclaims truths which can guide Christ followers of all times and places to grow up into the maturity which God desires for in His people.

Paul, the author of the letter to the Corinthian church is building a rock steady foundation in the opening chapters.  It's a foundation Jesus would call 'solid as a rock.'  The foundation?  The 'cross of Christ and Christ crucified."  Paul describes it as our 'righteousness, holiness, and redemption.'  This foundation is seen by many as shaky, even 'foolish and weak.'  But to 'those who are being saved it is the wisdom and power of God.'    

Paul is laying a foundation for everything in his letter to the church in Corinth by centering everything around the cross of Christ, Christ crucified, by saying, "The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the wisdom and power of God." To grasp the depth of truth and meaning for life and living in this one phrase will provide all the wisdom and power we will ever need for living well and finding the good life.

Only one chapter into deeper study and reflection of Paul's letter to the Corinthians and the profound nature and content is stunningly beautiful. Paul waxes eloquent on God's wisdom. And God's wisdom is on full display in the most unsuspecting and surprising way. God's wisdom is found in the cross and our Lord Jesus crucified. This is so otherworldly, it's deeply profound. Paul goes further to say that the cross of Christ, is the power of God on display, becoming God's wisdom and power at work in the world and in us. The "cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God." In the cross, God uses "the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the strong." The cross of Jesus, Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God.

This week we head out from shore to explore the ocean of 1st and 2nd Corinthians.  There are some whales and schools of dolphins we will encounter as they break the surface of the water, and as we snorkel the reefs and scuba dive the depths other truths will be revealed and discovered.  There will be storms to navigate with truths that bring us calm.  I'm looking forward to this excursion (adventure) with you. Sunday we will set the context with a rough map of the journey ahead, setting the context as we head out from shore, outlining some of the challenges and blessings we may encounter.  So pack your bags and all necessary items you think you will need, Sunday we set sail.  

Prayer...  What is it?  How does one engage it?  Prayer can be a difficult thing to engage.  A relationship with God can often seem distant, silent, in a way unreachable.  Yet this is what Christmas was all about.  God incarnate in Jesus comes near in a relationship one can touch and trust.  God has drawn very near through Jesus.

We begin this year with a conversation about discipleship and a message on prayer before diving into the Books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. As we look at the essence of discipleship (following Jesus), Proverbs 1-3 is a good place to start.  As God's wisdom is at the heart of Discipleship.  

Promise made, promise kept!  For Christians, we believe in God's Word and that God keeps his Word.  And at Christmas, God's Word becomes flesh revealing that God is faithful! Ever since sin entered God's world, God promised that he would send a Savior - someOne who would save us from our sin.  Over and over God promised this - by his Word, in his Word - through prophets, priests and kings, even angels - various messengers and mediators.  And after hundreds of years of waiting, anticipating, expecting, and preparing - God's promise made becomes God's promise kept in Jesus.  

It's Advent 2024 and Advent is all about anticipation, expectation, and preparing for someone important to show up - and that important someone during Advent is God.  When you think about the future, either today or the next year of 2025 unfolding, are you anticipating, expecting or even preparing for God to show up? 

So, life is a big advent-ture.  Filled with expectation, anticipation, preparations of all kinds.  We are always wondering what's around the bend.  This makes the season of Advent in preparation for Christmas so fun.   I've been thinking about God's mission impossible.  How to redeem and reconcile, reclaim and restore fallen humanity.  History proves and personal experience reveals humanity cannot do this, it is impossible.  Yet, in Scripture I read that "with God, all things are possible."  

God is so good to us, this gift of love in Jesus.  During Advent, we will engage an old tradition of 1st/2nd Sundays of Advent focusing on looking forward to Jesus coming again (themes of transformation and mission).  Then a focus on looking back to Jesus 1st coming (themes of advent and promise fulfilled).  This will lead us to Christmas Eve, 5:00pm worship service as we gather around the manger to celebrate the Incarnation, Immanuel, God with us.  

"So you say you're a Christian?  What does that mean?"  How would you describe the essence of Christian to someone else when they inquire.  A few pithy Scripture texts for Sunday preparation:  Galatians 5:1, John 8:34-36, and Revelation 1:4-6, Some significant clues as to what is the essence of being Christian - what do you hear and see?   

Broken promises... no fun being on the receiving end of the breaking.  As broken and fallen human beings we experience different shades of less than full faithfulness, kindness, and goodness - of our own doing and undoing, and the doing and undoing of others.  What is really discouraging is when we find out that the one doing the breaking is us.  Where can we turn to find one who is all-together faithful, kind, and good?  How can we get some of that?

Everyone needs good news.  Everyone wants to be a part of a good story.  Everyone wants to be invited into the good life and to live it out.  Sounds like GOSPEL to me.  What is Gospel?  Good News.   What is the good news?  God loves the world and its peoples. Who is the Good News?  Jesus is.  Why is Jesus good news?  Because through his incarnation, birth, life, death and resurrection we receive atonement/forgiveness of our sins, redemption from what was to what now is and will be, a reconciled relationship with God, an invitation into the good life.  

Sunday we complete our Daniel series with a summary message of chapters 9-12.  Looking forward to it.  Here's a challenge: Read these final chapters of Daniel back to back to back to back in succession.  Some might say wild and bizarre, not only out of this world but some of it about the end of the world.  Yet, we must proceed with humility for only God knows how the fulfillment of the history will unfold.  However, within these visions and dreams, from these visions and dreams, we can gain some general knowledge about God and his ways in his world. 

Today and next week, we are wrapping up our message series on Daniel while at the same time kicking off a new series where we will look at the apocalyptic visions of Daniel in chapters 7-12.  

The Book of Daniel is stunning!  Wowser... as we enter chapter 6, it seems like the climax of the book in that Daniel is thrown into a lion's den.  It's certain death.  For what?  For worshipping his God in prayer, mostly in the privacy of his own home.  The jealousy and envy of his peers drives them to devise a manipulative and extravagant plan of deception of King Darius for the sole purpose of trapping Daniel and getting rid of him.  

On to Daniel Chapter 5 and another supernatural happening, as the "Finger of God" writes on the wall of the room where a powerful king is partying with his nobles, multiple wives and concubines, "Mene, mene, tekel, parsin."  

On to Daniel 4, another dream, another interpretation, God shows up... and a powerful lesson on pride and its cure - humility. So many Scripture texts and stories speak about the intermingling of pride and humility. Can you think of any? A quick search will yield a harvest of scriptures from beginning to end, so it's easy to find.

In 3 chapters over 3 weeks now, we have witnessed Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel's response to challenges to their faith and following of God (YHWH) with clarity, integrity, humility, and courage.   As they live life faithfully with God in Babylonian captivity, their faith is challenged in different ways.  In chapter 3, they are asked to gather together with all the people before a massive statue of gold.  And as the music plays, they are commanded to bow down before the statue of gold.  How do Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah respond?  They stand.  And they stand together.

As we've opened the book of Daniel, our prayer is that God will open the book of Daniel to us.  Written long ago to God's people in exile in Babylon, we get a glimpse into God's working in and through Daniel, Hananiah, Misheal, and Azariah.  Already, we've seen God at work in chapter 1.  Now, in chapter 2 we see God at work once again as the King has a dream about kings and kingdoms and asks his servants to not only interpret the dream for him, but 1st, to tell him what his dream was.  Naturally, the servants respond by saying, "Impossible."

This Sunday we begin the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel is an extraordinary blend of historical narrative (half of the book: 1-6) – highlighting Daniel, Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego's faithfulness to God… pointedly when their faith was challenged… and the other half (7-12) is mostly prophetic visions – apocalyptic in nature and genre, with two central themes woven throughout the book – the 1st is God's provision and protection over his faithful followers and 2nd, the showcasing of God's sovereignty over history, empires, and kingdoms. And guess what, I believe the Son of God, who we know today to be Jesus, makes a special appearance… Can you guess where that might be?

As we hear Jesus' Sermon on the Mount this Sunday, he is already preparing our hearts through his already opening words at the beginning of his official ministry, "Repent! For the Kingdom of God is near... Come! Follow me." As the huge crowds are attracted to Jesus, he teaches them his Way, God's Way, invites us to follow him. When he sees the crowds, Jesus has compassion on them, because they were 'harassed and helpless... like sheep without a shepherd." So Jesus reaches out to all people, invites them into his Kingdom, his Spirit rule, an abundant and eternal life filled with purpose and meaning, "Repent! The Kingdom of God is near... Come... believe in me... receive me... follow me."

Bible teacher D.A Carson says, "Nothing is more important in God's universe....than knowing God better." We know the church in Ephesus faced a cluster of problems. There were problems between Jews and Gentiles. There were concerns about immoral behaviors and troubled marriages. And alarming misunderstandings about spiritual warfare. But Paul's first prayer is not about any of these things. Instead, he prays that the Ephesians will know God better. Knowing God better....knowing His plans for us, His love for us, and His power for us actually helps us face all the other problems. This is why knowing God is the highest priority of every Christian.

Sunday is Part II of a 3-week miniseries on Knowing Jesus. We began last week with Colossians 1:15-20, Knowing Jesus Profound Identity. This week, August 25th, we look at Philippians 3:7-11, Our Profound Identity in Knowing Jesus. Next week, we focus in on Ephesians 1:15-19a, To Know (Getting to Know) Jesus Better.

We remain in our summer series of life/faith shaping texts and for the next three weeks, three texts on Knowing Jesus: August 18th – Colossians 1:15-20 – Knowing Jesus Profound Identity August 25th – Philippians 3:7-11 – Profound Identity in Knowing Jesus September 1st – Ephesians 1:15-19a – Get to Know Jesus Better!

One of my favorite Bible texts is Mark 7:31-37.   In this passage, we see Jesus' excellent caregiving on full display.   He explains his intentions to heal the deaf mute through touch language and sign language. His tender love and great power amaze the crowd who exclaim, "He has done everything well!"  Such an excellent restoration also gives us a preview of the great future restoration King Jesus will accomplish when He returns in glory. 

Sunday we enter into the vision of Ezekiel in chapter 47.  In the vision, a man takes Ezekiel to the temple foundation where there is a trickle of water coming out from under it.

Humilitas – humility, poor in spirit, meek, modesty, diffidence, absence of pride and vanity… Jeremiah 9:23-24 says much with very little words. In this way, Jesus calls us to follow him. The one who has ears, let them hear.

Psalm 139 is a moving epic Psalm filled with revelation after revelation of God's love and intimate knowledge of us. From before we were born, God knew us. He is with us now, everywhere we go, in all that we do - guiding us, comforting us, and working in and through us. And he will always be with us always into the future. This kind of love and knowledge of us from God our Creator leads us to significant trust and dependence, "Lord, search me, know my heart, my anxious thoughts, find any offensive way in me and lead me in your way!" All ours for the asking, the receiving, the loving, the living. Psalm 139, an epic, moving Psalm.

Psalm 139 is a moving epic Psalm filled with revelation after revelation of God's love and intimate knowledge of us. From before we were born, God knew us. He is with us now, everywhere we go, in all that we do - guiding us, comforting us, and working in and through us. And he will always be with us always into the future. This kind of love and knowledge of us from God our Creator leads us to significant trust and dependence, "Lord, search me, know my heart, my anxious thoughts, find any offensive way in me and lead me in your way!" All ours for the asking, the receiving, the loving, the living. Psalm 139, an epic, moving Psalm.

Romans 12:1-2 signals the transition from Paul's theological opus, to his practical opus- how does a person know the will of God? In two verses we are invited to a complete surrender, complete transformation, and complete confidence in God.

In Psalm 63, the songwriter sings about the love he has found… in God.  Yearnings met, soul satisfied, “Because your love is better than life my lips will glorify you… my heart will pursue you… I'll love you as long as I live!”  

What better place to go from here (Psalm 1) than there (Psalm 19). Psalm 19 reveals God's two great 'reads' of revelation: Creation and Scripture. What more does anyone need to read? If you are a part of a summer book reading club - these two are a must! Psalm 19, a beautifully written song of God's two great books of revelation, leads us to a surprising end: asking for forgiveness and a heart focused on the worship of God. The post Podcast: 2024-06-23: Top 10: Psalm 19 – Two Books – All You Need To Read first appeared on Crestview Church.