Gospel

Clarkston Team & McIntosh Church Replant (By Thomas Hill)

CLARKSTON TEAM

This Saturday, Crestview is deploying a team of sixteen to serve with our friends at Clarkston International Bible Church. From May 31 to June 6, we will be helping staff Camp Encounter for the week, a summer kids camp serving the refugee community. Clarkston is one of the most unique cities in Georgia and home to internationals from around the world. Gospel work in Clarkston is like an international trip without buying a plane ticket. Please pray for our team to serve in God's strength, speak God's word, and walk in the fullness of the Spirit. Pray for eternal fruit to be born in the lives of refugee families. Pray for the Lord to be glorified in Clarkston, Griffin, and to the ends of the earth!

Team members:

  • Brandon, Dawn, Hank, Hattie, Harper Vaughn

  • Will and Ada Barnes

  • Emily, Cooper, Larsen, and Harris McLean

  • Emma Lael Sisler

  • Silas Crook

  • Rocky Stubbs

  • Cole Barnes

  • Thomas Hill

UPCOMING MCINTOSH CONNECTION OPPORTUNITIES

As we continue to pray and labor toward the replanting of McIntosh Baptist Church this September, we encourage Crestview members to consider whether the Lord would have you to join this work. We continue to pray for three to five families to be deployed by Crestview as members of this new church. If you are someone who is praying, open, interested, curious, and ... waiting ... there are two upcoming on-ramps for you:

  1. July 4 McIntosh Cookout Fellowship: 4:00-7:00 PM. All who are interested are invited to an evening with the Sandersons and the plant team. There will be food and kids activities at the McIntosh campus. Most importantly, this is a time to learn more about the new church and spend time getting to know the plant team. Afterward, the group plans to tailgate together and watch the City of Griffin fireworks show.

  2. Sunday Evening Prayer Services, starting July 6 at 5:00 PM. Starting July 6 and continuing each Sunday evening through the summer, all who are considering the church are urged gather with the plant team to pray for the work. These are prime opportunities to develop relationships and discern the Lord's guidance.

NEW SUMMER QUARTER EQUIPPING COURSES

New equipping courses begin this Sunday, June 1, at 9:30 AM. These courses are designed to help you learn and apply God's word.

  • New Testament Overview (2 Thessalonians to Revelation)

  • Psalms

  • You Are A Theologian—Systematic Theology (Ladies)

  • Daniel (Men)

  • The Best News of All— The Gospel (Kids)

Which course will you take this summer?

For His Glory,

Pastor Thomas

Hallelujah, What a Savior! (By Thomas Hill)

Musician Philip Bliss penned one of my favorite hymns in the mid-nineteenth century. It goes by at least two names: “Man of Sorrows” or “Hallelujah, What a Savior.” My mentor, Al Jackson, introduced it to me. During my college years, he met every week with a group of young college students who aspired for future pastoral ministry. As we drank coffee and learned theology at daybreak, he would lead us in singing rich doctrinal hymns. I vividly remember him teaching us this one and and telling us, “Men, few songs express the doctrine of the cross more clearly than this hymn.” He was right. If you are not familiar with it, listen here. Let’s give a few moments to reflect on the lyrics and the Scripture they express: 

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name for the Son of God who came ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

  • Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

  • 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

 Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

  • Isaiah 53:4–6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Guilty vile and helpless we, spotless Lamb of God was He; full atonement can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior!

  • Romans 3:23–25 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

  • 1 Peter 2:21–24 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.

 Lifted up was He to die, “It is finished!” was His cry; now in heaven exalted high: Hallelujah, what a Savior!

  • Isaiah 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

  • Hebrews 1:3–4 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

 When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we’ll sing” Hallelujah, what a Savior!

  • 1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

  • Revelation 19:6–9 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Yes, my mentor was right. This hymn puts to words and melody the most precious truths of the gospel of grace. Jesus, the divine man of sorrows, has given himself for our sins—Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Resurrection Sunday Plans
This Sunday is Easter Sunday! I hope you’ll plan join us for gathered worship this Lord’s Day. We will follow our regular schedule. During the service we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. So, as good hosts, prepare your guests accordingly. We welcome baptized believers who are members of faithful churches to eat the supper with us. Following the service there will be a kids egg hunt and photo booth. Invite friends, fill the room, and let’s worship the Savior!

For His Glory,

Pastor Thomas