Eternity Church

06/01/2026

Hey Eternity Youth and Parents!

Moses saw a bonfire! Okay, that’s not so strange. We’ve all seen fire. Tending Jethro’s sheep in the wilderness, fire couldn’t have been that out of the ordinary to spot in the distance. Another shepherd, another wilderness wanderer, stopping to cook or clean. But this fire was different. No one was nearby. Not only wasn’t this a regular brush fire, it was a bush, burning but not consumed! When Moses’ clocked that, he had to get closer to check it out.

Reading Exodus, we know it was the angel of the Lord appearing in the burning bush, and when “the Lord saw Moses turn aside to see,” God called out to him (Exodus 3.2-4). Across the distance, God called Moses by name. Just as in the life of Abraham, God was using fire to symbolize His presence (Genesis 15.17). Seen as “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” the Lord passed through Abraham’s sacrifice and made a covenant with His servant and His people. Now, on Mount Horeb, God was fulfilling His promise to redeem Abraham's people, and He was expressing His presence through fire.

The older we get the more we realize how often we miss God’s presence. We “know” that God is omnipresent (everywhere at all times), but we get distracted. Thankfully, there are times God wants us to be aware of His nearness; times when we’re confused, when we’re tired, when we’re hurting (Isaiah 30.21; 40.31, 10). When we’re blinded by “our” plans, “our” vision for our lives, “our” feeling trapped by past mistakes, the Lord lights a signal fire, calling us back to Himself.

As we step into summer, how does God want us to be more aware of His presence? How is He calling us by name, inviting us to stand together on holy ground and carry His refining holiness in our lives and into the world? I know there are a million things we want to do, a billion things vying for our attention. Even still, I pray, we would see the light from a burning fire and turn aside to see what God’s doing.

See you Wednesday!
Brett

05/27/2026

Beloved People of God,

The Bible is full of so many amazing stories! Obvious right?! Okay, but humor me for a moment. The mind reels as we read of the cosmos created. The pulse races as the rain beats against the side of the ark and then lifts it up into the waves. The heart swells when Noah and his family stand again on solid ground gazing at the rainbow, the soaring symbol of God’s covenant. There are so many big stories with big heroes (Abraham, David, Elijah to name a few) whose stories are packed with adrenaline.

There are also hundreds of “minor” characters, men and women we find in only a handful of verses, that—if we stop and think about it—have outsized testimonies of God’s faithfulness. One great example of someone in the Bible often looked over—just as she was in life—is Leah (Genesis 29.15). Left to our own rushed reading we’d be excused for missing her. If Jacob and Rachel’s love story is a chapter, Leah is an easily lost footnote. Rachel is described for her striking beauty, but only Leah’s eyes are noticed (29.17). Which is poetically telling. Leah alone sees how unseen she is. She's overlooked by everyone around her, and she sees it. She’s a side character in the story of her own life.

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Leah tries to be seen based on the best ideas of her place and time. Barnabe Assohoto insightfully shows us how, “Leah’s reasoning is a product of her culture. She was sure that Jacob would love her if she bore him sons. That is why she greeted Reuben’s birth with the words, ‘Surely my husband will love me now’ (29.32).” Reuben’s name literally translates, “See, a son!”

Leah’s story is amazing, but not in the ways we might expect. She doesn’t win over her husband. She doesn’t gain the respect from others she deserves. What she gains is something far greater: she is seen by God (29.31). It takes Leah a while to get past her best efforts to discover the One who sees her and loves her. (Sound familiar?) Seeing Leah’s life, we find an amazing truth for our own: we too are seen and beloved by God.

For Christ the King,

Brett

05/24/2026

05/20/2026

Beloved People of God,

As I’ve been praying and preparing the summer series for our youth, following the repeating imagery of God’s presence in fire, I'm struck afresh by the faithfulness of God to us across the ages. In the Old Testament, at one of Abraham’s lowest moments, God anchored His promise to the patriarch by making a covenant with Abraham; one for which the Lord alone was responsible (Genesis 12.1-4; 15.17). Before His called and chosen servant’s watching eyes, as “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,” the Lord’s presence passed through the sacrifice. Through the fire, the Lord was saying to Abraham, we have made a covenant, but I alone am responsible to fulfill my promise.

When we consider Moses sharing this story with Abraham’s sons and daughters on their exodus journey out of slavery and into the Promised Land, God’s covenantal faithfulness becomes all the more pronounced! In the wilderness, all these men and women needed do was look up from their dark and dusty feet and fix their eyes on the pillar of fire by night and trust the Lord was faithful to His word (Exodus 13.21-22; Numbers 9.15-23).

When we arrive on the other side of salvation history—after Christ endured the cross for us, after He conquered death and the grave, after He ascended to the right hand of the Father—we rejoice as Jesus our Messiah pours out His Spirit in a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire (Acts 2.1-4). In the wind and the fire and the tongues we see expressions of God’s everlasting faithfulness fulfilling His promises. In the Apostle's Pentecost sermon, as Richard Thompson once said, our attention is drawn toward this simple fact: “God acted as God promised.” On Pentecost, through the outpouring of His Spirit and the proclamation of the Gospel, God revealed His faithfulness. Like Abraham and the Exodus generation, the people in the crowd in Jerusalem were invited to believe – to believe Jesus was the Lord and Messiah, to believe the witness of the Apostles and Prophets, to repent and receive mercy.

Beloved friend, God’s faithfulness remains the same. It is the same mercy and grace which calls us to repentance and baptism today. It is the same love which makes a covenant with us, confirming His promise.

For Christ the King,

Brett

05/18/2026

Hey Eternity Youth and Parents!

As we’ve been discovering, the Bible isn’t just another book. It’s so much more than that. It’s a book of books. It’s packed with poetry, filled with narratives that tell the stories of generation and generations. It’s seasoned with songs and proverbs. The biblical authors were writing from their experiences in life with God, by the inspiration of God’s Spirit.

One thing I love about how the Lord breathed His revelation into our lives is how He took everyday things and infused them with deeper meaning. In the last few weeks, we’ve been studying the Apostle Paul’s charge Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” in his life (2 Timothy 1.6). With this metaphor, Paul took an everyday sight in Timothy’s world—that of a fire, cooling and unattended—and infused it with deeper purpose. Timothy’s God-given gifts were like dying embers, and Paul didn’t want to see his fire go out. Probably for the rest of Timothy’s life, whenever he saw the soft glow of embers, he would remember his mentor’s encouragement.

Fire is one of the most profound images used in the Bible. Beginning in Genesis 15, as Abraham is worried God’s promise to Him will go unfulfilled, the Lord made a covenant with Him affirming His promise. He illustrated that covenant with a vision of a fiery torch passing through Abraham’s sacrifice. Throughout the Old and New Testament, the Spirit of God would use fire to reveal God’s purpose plan for His people over and over again. These repeating themes are important for us to pay attention to, because the more we see them, the deeper our understanding of God’s revelation becomes.

Starting this Wednesday, and through the summer, we will follow this fiery trail through the Bible. With every torch and burning bush, pillar of fire and purifying promise we will seek to follow the Lord where He’s leading us.

See you Wednesday!
Brett

05/13/2026

Beloved People of God,

On Pentecost, Luke summed up the substance of Peter’s message as the Apostle’s witness to Jesus as the Lord and Anointed Messiah! Peter proclaimed, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2.36). Peter built his sermon on the fullness of Scripture, referencing revealed truth through the lives of God’s prophetic people. In the prophetic poetry of Joel and the psalms of David, the Lord was opening our eyes to His plan of redemption and transformation.

The truth is, when we are in Christ, when we have confessed the Lordship of Jesus as our Savior and repented of our sin, we are made heirs with Christ (Romans 8.17). Through the redeeming power of Jesus and the sanctifying work of His Spirit, we are given citizenship in God’s kingdom! Like the people on the day of Pentecost cut to the heart by Peter’s witness, we now ask, what must we do to be made right with God? Peter’s response was, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2.38-39). That’s it! That’s all it takes.

This public profession is what demonstrates we are the Church. In baptism, we are built together into a worthy dwelling place for the Spirit of God as we are—in Paul’s words—built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone,” (Ephesians 2.20). It’s in believing that we become aware of God’s rich mercy and love; and just as God raised Jesus from the grave, so we are raised in His resurrection into the gift of God’s grace (Ephesians 2.4-10).

On our way to Pentecost, let’s take time to rejoice that we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” and incline our lives all the more to the in-working of His Spirit as we reflect His mercy and grace to the watching world around us!

For Christ the King,

Brett

05/06/2026

Beloved People of God,

In the early church there was a man named Ignatius (30-107 AD). He devoted his life to the way of Jesus, was discipled by John, and served as the bishop of Antioch. In his final years, as a living witness to the rule and reign of Jesus, Ignatius was condemned by the Roman Emperor Trajan. In chains, he was brought to Rome to be executed, torn apart by wild beasts in the Colosseum. On his way to Rome, he wrote seven letters—just like his mentor John—to the churches. In all his letters, he knows many probably knew him better by his nickname, Theophorus. Between his name and nickname, we find an excellent example of what it means to be a disciple on the way to Pentecost! Ignatius means “fiery one.” It describes a burning ardor and passion (Mark 3.17)! His nickname, Theophorus, means “God-bearer.” This fiery one burned bright with the indwelling presence of God in his life!

Deep calling to deep, this God-bearing servant rejoiced in his letter to the Ephesians because when they heard he was arrested, they hurried to his side to encourage and pray with him. With his final days, Ignatius “Theophorus” continued to lift up a name above all names, Jesus our Christ. He echoed Peter on Pentecost, exalting the name of Jesus, the One “attested by God with mighty works and wonders and signs God did through Him” who “was crucified and killed by lawless men” (Acts 2.22-23). Facing his own martyrdom, Ignatius knew his life was secure because the Eternal Lord of Life is the Almighty God who raised Jesus from the grave, “loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (2.24). For this reason, the Pentecost fire in Ignatius’ heart was not quenched as he was paraded “in chains for the sake of our common name and hope.” This persecution only served as a witness to the “faith in and love of Christ Jesus” in which we are truly held.

Beloved, on our way to Pentecost, may we hold dear Ignatius’ words, that we should “in every way glorify Jesus Christ, who glorified you, so that you, joined together in a united obedience… may be sanctified.”

For Christ the King,

Brett

05/04/2026

Hey Eternity Youth and Parents!

Being young is hard. Think about it. You’re trying to piece together this whole “life” thing, but everything around you’s built for full-sized people (chairs, counters, cookie jars—even rollercoasters with their “you must be this tall to ride” signs). We’re kids just trying to make sense of it all from a strange vantage point.

Being a kid’s hard but been a teenager’s harder. Now, you can see things better—as your body and brain stretch out, but just because you’re taller doesn’t mean you understand any better. If anything, you feel set up. You’re tall enough to ride the rollercoaster, but did anybody warn you about eating the nachos before life flipped you up, down and around at sixty miles per hour!? Many a shoe (and lunch) have been lost on the roller coaster of life.

In our youth we’re given more room to make decisions for ourselves, to make our own mistakes. As parents, we want our children and youth not to make the mistakes we made, to learn from our experience, to apply our firsthand life lessons to their blank slate. I think this is what the Apostle Paul is trying to get across to his spiritual son Timothy. Paul encourages Timothy to re-kindle the waning embers of God’s gift in his life. It seems like Timothy got on the roller-coaster of life once and he wasn’t keen to get tossed around again!

Friends, the truth is following Jesus is not for the faint of heart. To walk in the way of Jesus we can’t be timid Tims, ashamed of our testimony. We need to intentionally fan into flame what God has given us, to trust Him as life tosses and turns. If “the ultimate goal of reading the Bible is to become more like Christ and to participate in God’s story of redemption,” then we need re-kindle the fire of our faith, testifying in the power of the Spirit (not ours), living in Christ’s love and exercising the spiritual gift of self-control.

And don’t forget. We don’t ride this rollercoaster alone. As Christians, we live and share with one another

See you Wednesday!
Brett

P. S. The trick is to use the chair to get the cookies from the jar on the counter. You’re welcome.

04/29/2026

I love a good front porch, especially one with a rocking chair or swing. Sitting out on a summer evening is my idea of relaxation - “just watching the world go by.” Front porches are unique. They are part of a home—often the most visible part—yet they stay partially exposed to the elements. In the city, they are seen by everyone and, in some cases, accessible to all. It’s where people get to enjoy and interact with the outside world while under the shelter of their home. Yet they are also places where people can come without entering.

In one of Tim Keller’s last articles before his death, he shared some thoughts on how the gospel can be shared in the Western world as cultural Christianity fades. It was the first of a two-part series he didn’t get to finish before he died, called “Lemonade on the Porch” (available for free online, and worth a read). His conclusion is that churches need more porches. Not physical porches, but half-way places and spaces between the church and the “world” where those who don’t yet believe can see, question, and hear Christianity.

In Acts 2:14–21, Peter stands up and exclaims as he explains the seemingly inexplicable events of Pentecost. This is not the effects of alcohol; this is the effect of God’s Spirit poured out on all people as prophesied by Joel: “This is that.” What was once limited is now overflowing. Heaven is no longer distant—it is breaking into the world with real consequences. Human norms and constructs are being demolished like a cataclysmic cosmic event as everyone gets to partake. Peter stands on the porch, calling everyone to repent and come in. This is the descent of the Spirit that will forever change the world because of the ascent of Christ.

Perhaps it is fitting that the front porch of the Bonnie Brae house—where the modern Pentecostal movement began—collapsed under the weight of people searching for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What porches may we be called to build? And may we even pray to see them buckle under the weight of overwhelming demand, as God ushers His people inside His church.

Blessings!
Jordan Crews