8 Weeks in Proverbs

This Summer I choose a preaching series through the Proverbs for Coastline Bible Church. One reason is that during the summer I like a series that builds on itself but it's ok if you miss a week or two. In the summer people are traveling, camping, have company or more. When I think of a summer preaching series I like something that has continuity but is ok if have to step out for a minute.

The longer I'm leading the more I lean to something that causes us to act. Let me explain that. The Proverbs are all about wisdom. I need wisdom. You need wisdom. We all have something going on in our life that requires us to have wisdom. The Proverbs offer us that wisdom but require us to act and put it on practice.

If you're interested in preaching the Proverbs here is our outline for the 8 weeks:

Proverbs 1:1-7
Sermon Title: How to gain wisdom
Big Idea: Wisdom is found by those who seek it out

Proverbs 2
Sermon Title: The Benefits of Wisdom
Big Idea: Wisdom protects us

Proverbs 3:1-12
Sermon Title: The Value of Wisdom

Proverbs 4
Sermon Title: The Urgency of Widsom
Big Idea: Wisdom is worth the cost

Proverbs 5
Sermon Title: How to ruin your marriage
Big Idea: Marriages thrive when couples are committed to being faithful, honest, and vulnerable

Proverbs 8
Sermon Title: The case for wisdom
Big Idea: Find wisdom and receive favor from the Lord

Proverbs 27
Sermon Title: Community > Isolation

Proverbs 12, 13, 22
Sermon Title: Nothing is off limits from wisdom
Big Idea: Use your money wisely

Wise Up- a summer in the Proverbs

This Summer I choose a preaching series through the Proverbs for Coastline Bible Church. The book opens by letting us know that Solomon had has hand in the book. Later in the book we see there are some other contributors to the Proverbs. We’re not exactly sure how many proverbs Solomon writes, but I think he is the major voice or the major contributor to the book. It makes sense since he is known as the wisest man to ever walk the earth. Solomon took the wisdom God gave him and passed it on.

I highly encourage you to read about the life of King Solomon in 1 Kings. He is the son of David. Learn about he came to be the king. Look at his first experience after being king and how he immediately applies the wisdom God gave Him (1 Kings 3). See the magnificent building projects he undertook and accomplished. As you keep going, you will see the organizational leadership he developed in leading Israel. You will read about how nobility and royalty came from a far to seek an audience with him. Even Queen Sheba came and brought Solomon amazing gifts.

Let me zoom out and briefly talk the book as a whole. Proverbs 1-9 are a longer discourse on wisdom and the benefits of wisdom. Proverbs 10-31 are more pithy little sayings for us to apply to our lives. The are short, impactful, and memorizable. In the first nine Proverbs wisdom is spoken of in great detail. Wisdom is referred to in the feminine form. Then in the later two-thirds of the book, the reader is encouraged to apply the wisdom she/he has learned in the first third of the book.

There are few reasons I choose to go through the Proverbs this summer.

A series that (kinda) builds on itself

First, during the summer I like to preach a sermon series that doesn't have to build on itself. The summer is a time when people travel. At Coastline we do our best to shape culture for the truth of God, but we know that people travel more in the summer. This trend can be a little different in a beach community, but there is still a good deal of travel. Grandparents want to go see the grandkids in Oregon. Young families travel to see their parents. It's a good time to take vacation at work.

We want to preach a sermon that a person can be at the first three weeks, miss a week or two and easily merge back into the sermon series. If we choose to preach the book of Daniel it might be more difficult for a person to jump back into the story because it builds on itself. The Proverbs build but you can miss a week and be fine.

In addition to that, we have more and more people who are staying current on the preaching series by listening online at Coastline Bible and via Podcast.

We're a new church

Our church just relaunched. In March our church just relaunched and went through the book of Colossians. After that we talked about living a life of Compassion. Then we looked at the book of Ruth. After that I preached a stand alone sermon for Father's Day. I'm sharing all of this because when we preach a sermon series we want to see what is before and what is after.

Our church preached a number of topical sermon series this year. That means we choose a topic to talk about. We talked about Biblical Literacy, Marriage/Sex/Dating, Compassion, and more. When I look at that I think that it's time to preach through a section of Scripture from the Bible.

As a new church, we want to hit topics that define who we are and who we want to be. We are an outreach focused church, but we want to be more outreach focused.

The Proverbs are great for gaining wisdom. As a new church we need God's wisdom. Since we are outreach focused, we are seeing more people coming to Jesus than before. We are seeing new people every week (one week we had almost 25 guests).

We all need wisdom

If you are honest with yourself, you want more wisdom. I'm thankful that in Proverbs 8 we read that wisdom is calling out.

Wisdom is not hiding from us. Wisdom is not some unfindable entity like BigFoot or the Lochness Monster. Wisdom is not confined to a certain region or a classroom. Wisdom is not hidden in the darkest cave or placed in the middle of the hottest dessert. Wisdom is calling out to any person that is willing to listen. Understanding is crying aloud to be found by every person. Solomon tells us that wisdom is calling out at the gate to the city. This is a place where everyone would pass. This is a central location where wisdom is available to all.

Wisdom is available to anyone who will stop to listen to her. We live in a time that is fast paced; where people can be extremely busy. We live in a time where we spend hours on the TV and screens; hours that would be invested in listening to wisdom. What we learn from Solomon is that means we have to be willing to allot our time in such a way to be able to listen to what wisdom wants to teach us. We need to schedule our life in such a way that we have time to sit where wisdom calls out so we can hear the truth of wisdom.

We live in a time where formal education is pushed. I am sick of hearing parents tells their children to go to college so they can get a degree and get a job. I’m not opposed to college. I'm opposed to students going to college, graduating with thousands of dollars of debt and sleeping on a couch. I would prefer for parents to help their kids see what they’re passionate about so they can go to school to get an education and help make the world a better place. Not everyone needs a college degree. We need more people to become union plumbers, electricians, and pipe-fitters. We need more people who want to join the armed services and help serve our country.

My stepdad enlisted in the Army after high school. He served our country by going to Germany. While he was overseas he fell in love with VW’s. He came home and began working at an auto shop. He eventually moved to Big Bear and opened his own shop in the back of his house. He was a genius with anything dealing with a VW engine. I’ve heard a story that VW was having an issue and they called my stepdad. I asked him about the story and he just laughed. Wisdom can learned in a classroom, mountain, basketball court, or garage.

Keep the fall preaching in mind 

Just as we looked back to what we preached earlier in the year, I also look to the Fall for what we're going to preach on. This fall we're kicking off a brand new sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. For years I've wanted to preach through Mark. I think it's going be a life changing sermon series for our church.

When you slot your summer preaching calendar, it's vital to keep the Fall in mind. Preaching through Proverbs and then transitioning to the Gospel of Mark will be shift for our people. For the summer we're not talking a ton about Jesus (every week we do talk about Jesus), but looking at Solomon's call to wisdom.

The Gospel of Mark is going to be an up close encounter with Jesus. The Gospel of Mark is going to help Coastline; look, smell, and live more like Jesus. We want have an in-depth look at the life of Jesus. I think we know about Jesus, but lots of us have things confused.

As you think about the next summer preaching schedule, keep this in mind. Now let's be honest, all of this can be applied to fall, winter, or spring teaching too.

Hope this helps!

Summer Giving Update 2019

Dear Coastline Family,

I hope you are enjoying the first few weeks of summer! I can tell you that I’m grateful that June Gloom is over, and the sun is out again. As you know, we rarely talk about money here at Coastline and we don’t use pressure tactics to get people to give. However, we feel it is our responsibility to inform those who are part of our church family where we are at with our budget and what our financial needs are. With that in mind, I want to share that as we enter summer we are currently 10% behind our anticipated giving. Because of that our staff has adjusted their spending to keep within our received giving.


Coastline is currently on a growth trend. On Saturday our Elders met to discuss the future of Coastline. In that meeting one of our elders said, “If you look at our attendance, we are up by 24% from the previous year!” To put that into perspective, the average church grows about 6% a year. Our increase in attendance is a huge accomplishment for which we give God glory.

Here’s how we’ve recently seen God work in exciting ways at Coastline:

• We are getting ready to take twenty students to camp next month. 
• Our Seniors hosted a well attended game day at the church.
• We just hosted a membership class with five people. 
• We are seeing new faces join the Coastline family every week. 
• Children’s ministry hosted a wonderful Kids Camp in the month of June. 
• We hosted another successful “Women Are…” night. 

This summer we are laser focused on helping people find and follow Jesus, and we need your help to be able to continue reaching those who are far from God. Giving typically lags in the summer while people are on vacation. To help us with this, please consider financially participating with us in one of the following ways:

• Catch up on any giving you have missed
• Set up a reoccurring gift to Coastline through bill pay in your bank account
• Set up regular giving online at https://coastlinebible.org/other/giveonline/
• Set up regular giving via text message at (805) 200-3557

We prayerfully ask that you continue to support Coastline by staying on track with giving so we can fulfill the mission God has given us to help people find and follow Jesus. Thank you for joining in the work the Lord is doing here!

Neal Benson|Lead Pastor

Coastline Bible Church

www.coastlinebible.org | (805) 642-3244

blog: NealBenson.com| twitter: @nealbenson

Proverbs 2 Responsive Reading

Responsive Reading Proverbs 2

Leader: If you accept the words of the Lord and store up His commands within your heart, then you will find wisdom.

People: We will turn our ears to wisdom and apply the wisdom of the Lord to our heart.

Leader: If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, then you will find wisdom from the Lord.

People: We will look for wisdom as silver and search for it like a hidden treasure.

Leader: Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

People: For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Leader: He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless

People: For he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Leader: Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.

All: For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Kayak Fishing on Santa Cruz Island

Last week I hopped on a boat from Island Packers and went West to the Santa Cruz Islands. It was an early boat but nothing earlier than other fishing trips I've been on. The boat ride was about an hour and we saw all kinds of marine life on the drive over. We saw dolphins, birds and seals. As the boat slowed to a stop we unloaded at Scorpion Bay. The next step was to pack our gear to our campsite. We wandered up the trail looking for "campsite 9."

With our tents set up we ventured back down to shore to get in the kayaks. Now kayak fishing took much more preparation than I expected. We set sail (if that is what you call it) and began paddling. The ocean in that place is a marine reserve so no fishing allowed. After paddling about 15 mins we were fishing. We basically allowed the swell to slowly push us while we fished the cliffs. I caught four calico bass but none were large enough to keep.

It was getting later in the afternoon and time to head it. We had to paddle, into the wind and waves, for the next 60-90 mins. Just to be clear, this was my first time kayaking and I was not stoked on this part! I used to time to marvel at creation and think of the Native Americans who would have done fishing like this before me. I also thought about the Hawaiians who crossed much worse. I realized I was a wuss at this point.

We made it back to shore and boy was I happy! That night it was back to camp and in bed early. The next morning we were up and off again. This time we would adventure through caves, over kelp and travel to Potato Harbor. The sights were breath-taking. The prayer time was good. And the caves... well the caves scared me. I don't like tight spaces where the ocean is swelling and it can be dark. I'm probably overly exaggerating some of this but as marvelous as they were I was reminded of how small I am.



Through caves and into other caves we traveled down the coast. We landed at Potato Harbor for lunch and it was good to stretch our legs on land I threw some lures in the harbor and caught a small sand dap (he was a feisty one). The ocean was getting bigger and I was getting more fearful. I learned something about myself that trip. I had to press through some fears of sharks, drowning and irrational fears from my childhood. It was good that I did.

One of the guys wanted to move down the coast and fish more. Now I love fishing but honestly I was scared of the ocean waves (they look much bigger from a kayak). I had to speak up and decide it was time to head back. I wasn't looking for a fight against the wind again. As we paddled back it was increasing easier than the day before. The wind was at our back and ocean was pushing us. We ventured through another cave or two and I had to pray out loud in some of them.

Looking back it was an amazing trip that really stretched my faith, invited some fun in a time where my life is full of transition and reminded me how much I missed my family.

Thanks to my GoPro I have this video to share with you

Summer in the Psalms

This Summer our church took a break from the book of Acts. We spent some time encouraging fathers on Father's Day and then jumped in to the Psalms.


The Psalms have been called the heart of the New Testament. For centuries the people of God have turned to them to find comfort, hope and direction. The Psalms have been called God’s Prayer Book. They are a guide or help for those of us who have struggled with words and in their absence we’ve used the Psalms to express our communication with God. The Psalms have been a place where our church community has traveled this summer. The Psalms have been a balm to hurting souls. The Psalms have been an encouragement to saints who are finding the truth in God’s word. The Psalms have been a bridge that led our people to Christ. The Psalms have increased our prayer life and expanded our hearts!

When we started this series the goal was to have some application from each Psalm. There was personal application but also a corporate application; something we could take away as a church body. As a reminder of where we’re traveled be reminded of the kind of church we want to be here in Ventura:
Psalm 1- a church that seeks God
Psalm 3- a church that prays
Psalm 100- a church that worships God
Psalm 8- a church that cares
Psalm 142- a church that does life in community
Psalm 51- a church that confesses our sin
Psalm 20- a church that trusts God
Psalm 23- a church where God is our shepherd

Just because our church has finished this series it doesn’t mean you can’t spend time in the Psalms. If you’re experiencing a tough season in life turn to the Psalms and find healing for your soul. You could read a Psalm a day and meditate on God’s word. You could also choose to read five Psalms a day and finish the entire Psalter in a month. Whatever you decide to do will you please pray for the future of Coastline and that we would be a a church that reflects what we studied in God’s word.

Mount Hermon Q&A 2017

Last week I had the joy of being at Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is a wonderful camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The location is beautiful, the staff is awesome and it’s a place where God is at work.

For the week I was speaking at Pondy we taught on Luke 15. The theme was awesome and you can see some of it here. While at Mount Hermon there are two days where students can sign up for different activities. Some of these include: jazzercise, laser tag, high ropes, pool time or Q&A with the speaker. In the past I’ve been a part of this but had only a handful of students show up. This year I had close to forty students involved in both days (Tuesday had a higher attendance than Thursday).

After the session I wrote down some of the questions I was asked and wanted to share them here:

What is the meaning of your tattoos
This question came up in both sessions. I took the time to talk through each of my tattoos and the meaning. I pointed out the handprint tattoos for my kids. I showed the heart tattoo for my wife. I talked about the significance of having Isaiah 52:7 on my feet and more.

Who is your favorite character in the Bible
I love Peter. I love how Peter follows Jesus that day on the shore. I love the questions he asks. I also love how he denies Jesus, is restored on the same shore where he was called and then becomes of the main leaders of the early church. I can relate to Peter and his passion. I can relate to coming to Christ at an early age and following Him.

What is your favorite story in the Bible; Old Testament and New Testament?
My favorite Old Testament story: I went with two. I love the story of Joseph. There is so much redemption and forgiveness in there. I also love the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo. I love how these guys stand for God in the face of death.

In the New Testament I love the story of Peter walking on the water. He is freaked out when he sees Jesus walking on the water, in the storm, and then asks Jesus to call him out on the water. Peter is walking on water until he sees the wind. I shared how things in our life go great until we take our eyes off the Lord.

Top three favorite worship songs
What a Beautiful Name- Hillsong Worship


No Longer Slaves- Bethel Music


Your Great Name- The Eagle and Child


Who are your favorite bands
Hillsong Worship
The Eagle and Child
For All Seasons

What is the best thing that happened in your life? 
Next to meeting Jesus, the best thing to happen to me was meeting my wife. Charity is such an encouragement in my life. She laughs with me, supports me and prays so much for me. (A follow up to this was to tell the story of our engagement)

What is your favorite Bible verse?
Romans 8:31
This was the first Bible verse I memorized after fully surrendering my life to Christ. It reminds me that no matter what is happening that God is for me!

If you could be stuck in a movie what movie would it be?
I went with Frozen. I wanted to go with Talledaga Nights but figured there was no chance I could snowboard in that movie.

How did you choose your children’s names?
We went with Sophie because it means wisdom.
Leah means “delicate eyes”.
Isaiah is Charity’s favorite male name. She always wanted to name her son this.
All of the names are Biblical. Sophie is in the Greek Bible while Leah and Isaiah are both Old Testament names.

This is just a sample of what came my way. Overall it was a great success and time with the students. Obviously some students had more questions than others but I think it helped them to get to know me more.

Mount Hermon Summer 2016- Day One

(Family packed and ready to drive)

It's Tuesday morning and we're loving our time here at Mount Hermon. The kids are doing well. Isaiah is napping right now and Charity is really enjoying it up here. Our morning's are starting early and the nights are long but it's so rad being here!

I'm going to do my best to give a recap of the day before. This post will actually cover Sunday night and Monday since we arrived later Sunday. Upon arrival we got landed in our housing then headed up to Ponderosa. I immediately connected with Matt who had been awesome! It's been really fun to see how much our kids are enjoying this experience!

(The girls)

The theme this summer is Through the Woods and we're studying Romans 8. Each night I'll be preaching on a handful of verses from Romans 8 and at the end of the week we will have covered the entire chapter. I really love how Mount Hermon is tackling some tough passages in Scripture and helping to shape this generation of believers! Sunday night we had forum and it was an introduction for me. I shared my life story in 4 minutes and then we opened it up for some Q&A time. I was super surprised at some of the questions:

• What do your tattoos say?
• What is your greatest regret in life?
• What is your favorite color?
• What is your favorite sports team?
• What is your most embarrassing moment?

After forum I kept the girls around to hang out. We've met some great counselors who are really loving our kids this week! 

Monday morning came early after a late night but we had a good time as a family at breakfast. The girls checked in to their first morning of day camp and we kept Isaiah with us. Most of the afternoon was spent around the pool. Sophie passed the swim test but decided not to jump off the diving board. I was hoping she would but a three foot board is scary when it's just a little smaller than you!

Monday night we had a great forum. I started out with Romans 8:1-13 and talked about how our sin, flesh and the law can't separate us from God's love. I talked about the Prodigal Son to help illustrate this point and even used a blow up crocodile to help show how we don't have to be afraid of sin (not that we need to participate in sin, we just don't have to fear it). Overall it was a great first day! 

Summer Reading Idea

Summer is usually a time when our normal schedule is thrown out the window. Think about this with me.

Students- you are on summer break. Whether a junior high, high school or college aged person you are on break. That means: no reading, no going to classes, no homework and no opening your locker on campus.

Adults- you are loving the warmer weather. People are traveling more and you are seeing places you've never seen on your Instagram feed. You're roommates may be out of town or you might have an old college friend visiting you this summer.

Parents- you are still waking up early because your kids don't know how to sleep in. You're trying to figure out what to do with your kids. You're creating awesome adventures with your kids or dreading some days when you have no plans.

Grandparents- you might have the grandkids for a week or two this summer so that your children (who are adults now) can get a break. You are loving the change of pace and the new routine of having the little ones around.

No matter what stage of life you find yourself in we can all agree that summer brings about change. With this change that means we may find it tough to have a Bible reading plan. What if this summer you made a commitment to read two Gospel accounts in the Bible? What if you said, "I'm going to read Matthew and Mark"? You may not read every day but you can sure try your hardest.

The Gospel of Matthew is 28 chapters long and Mark is 16 chapters. That means 44 days of straight Bible reading. You might miss a day or two here and there but you could finish both of these books by the middle of August with no problem. It would require about 5 mins of reading a day. Did you hear that? Five minutes of reading is all it would take to read one chapter a day! Make it even better and use the YouVersion Bible App to help you out.

Take a summer reading challenge and start reading God's word today!

Trending Now- Money

On Sunday I kicked off a new summer series at our church. This summer we're going to tackle tough topics that are taking center stage in our culture. I started out the series by talking about money. Some people wanted to know what the controversy with money is. The question made me think. There is so much controversy around money that we have bought into that lie that there is no controversy about money. Our money use shows the intentions of our heart.

Here is the entire sermon I preached: https://vimeo.com/170518842

Hume Lake 2009

We just back from Hume (well it was like 4 days ago) and I gotta say how amazing it was! This year, before we left, I had all our students sit down and I shared my heart. It went something like this: For the last four years we have made Hume about competition. Every year we go and go with the goal of winning the competition and we have won the last three out of four years. One year I came home with one of those champion t-shirts and you know what? I thought it would feel a lot better than it did!
This year my challenge was to make camp about Christ and not competition. See Christ won't let us down. At the end of camp I had two guys in my cabin tell me how amazing camp was. One said:

"This was my best Hume! I'm so glad it wasn't about competition. I got so much more out of chapel."

That made it for me! I was so stoked on Hume this year! We had the best leader team that I have ever brought (no offense to anyone else) but most all of our leaders have been to Hume before so they know how it goes. I am so thankful for our leaders and thankful for those who prayed. God did some huge things in the lives of our students.

Swim Time

Today I was able to run home from work (a little late) and go swimming with the girls! It was so fun! Charity takes Sophie to the pool like every day; look how tan she is! She loves the water. After we got out I messed up her hair and gave her a mini-mohawk. I like to think in my head that she likes it! I am so blessed to have such a rad family!

You also gotta love Sophie rocking her tongue out! She is so rad