From One Degree to Another

Phil Auxier's Blog

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Walking in Wisdom…What about Halloween?

October 28, 2010 by Phil Auxier

Still thinking about the implications of last week’s sermon on walking in wisdom toward outsiders, I found these two posts helpful…

Jesus Is Not Afraid of Halloween
– This post gets at some great gospel insights and specifically concludes that Halloween is a door for Gospel truth.

Halloween for the Christian Family? – This post from Sojourn Kids wrestles with the use of this holiday, but then gives some great missional insight.

Whatever you conclude on this volatile issue, we must look to incarnate Christ in all of society.

Filed Under: Halloween, Missional, Sojourn

Weekend Recap – Missional

October 25, 2010 by Phil Auxier

Yesterday’s sermon, A Missional Church, from Colossians 4:5-6 is online. In the closing appeals of the book of Colossians, Paul is enfleshing what the church should look like. In 4:2-4, we saw that they are to be God-dependent: A Praying Church. This week, we see that they are to advance the message of Jesus with wisdom: A Missional Church. Next time, we will see that they are to act a certain way towards one another: A Community Church.

The focus yesterday, though, was on how we can contextualize this message with outsiders. I hope you found it helpful and can use the truth presented from God’s Word to advance the Gospel in ways that don’t detract from the message.

Filed Under: Colossians, Missional, Weekend Recap

Platt is Radical..

May 1, 2010 by Phil Auxier

Just watch this video and see if you aren’t stirred by the words of Jesus Himself…

Filed Under: David Platt, Discipleship, Missional

Chan on the Middle Way…

April 30, 2010 by Phil Auxier

Here’s a helpful video from Francis Chan on “the middle way” which is so often given as a way to excuse ourselves from the demands of the “Gospel way.”

Filed Under: compromise, Francis Chan, Missional

DeYoung on Reaching People…

October 20, 2009 by Mere Agency Support

I really resonate with Kevin DeYoung’s honest assessment of his heart as he seeks to reach out to others:

There have been times as a pastor where I’ve been discouraged by the slowness of growth in my congregation. I’ve thought, “Why is that church over there so successful? Why did they go from 150 to 1500 in three years?” I’ve even been borderline snippy at times, “Lord, if I get to heaven and find out there was some secret musical style or movie clip or new program I was supposed to use in order to be successful, I’m going to feel pretty bummed.” But in my saner moments I’ve come to see two things: One, it’s more my sin that wants success than my sanctification. And two, the secret is that there is no secret.

He is in the middle of a series on reaching younger people. Here are the five suggestions he offers:

Grab Them With Passion
Win Them With Love
Hold Them With Holiness
Challenge Them With Truth
Amaze Them With God

Filed Under: Evangelism, Kevin DeYoung, Missional

The Needs of the World vs. Comfortable Christians…

September 28, 2009 by Mere Agency Support

Writing from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, Ajith Fernando says:

The thing I find hardest in this list is Paul’s statement that he became weak in order to win the weak. We all like to operate out of a position of strength, to be in control, to have things going the way we want them to go. But that is not the way of the gospel. It is quite common for people to say they are looking for a church they are comfortable with. I think that is a scandalous statement. When were churches supposed to be comfortable places? There is too much need in the world for Christians to be comfortable. (from p.94 of the Call to Joy and Pain)

It seems that we are not immune to this kind of thinking. We serve our comforts much more than we serve the world. I think Ajith is right. This is not only a scandalous statement, it is a scandalous way to live in light of the calling believers have upon their lives.

Filed Under: Church, Missional, Suffering

Anorexia or Gluttony?

September 13, 2009 by Mere Agency Support

In an earlier post, I promised some interaction with Art Azurdia’s latest book Connected Christianity: Engaging Culture Without Compromise. Probably the most helpful thing he said, for me personally, was what he called “two practical distortions that have severely undercut our gospel effectiveness: cultural gluttony or cultural anorexia.” Then he defined each of these:

What is cultural gluttony? It is sinful compromise with the world: that is, the consequence of being missional without being theological. Often masked in the guise of desiring to win the world, Christians rabidly pursue likeness to the world. Over time, unfortunately, the world’s values, objectives, and desires become our values, objectives and desires. Cultural gluttony is the act of consuming the culture until it forms us. (taken from p.25)

After some extended discussion on the ramifications of this, he defined cultural anorexia:

An alternative to which the church has often succumbed in reaction is that of cultural anorexia: that is, the consequence of being theological without being missional. It takes the form of a radical and decided withdrawal from the world. Since we are determined not to let the world shape us, we isolate, insulate, and withdraw. Before long the Church evolves into a kind of enclave, a ghetto, an island of irreverent piety, and eventually we lose the ability to speak to non-Christians. Worse yet, our hearts become filled with a compassionless indifference toward such people. (taken from pp.26-27)

I was really helped by Azurdia and seeing these extremes, because I think I’ve been a part of the second at a point or two on my life. As I thought about this again this week, it can easily be a way to drift into self-righteous tendencies and miss out on the mission to which we have been called. I would recommend Azurdia’s book and all that he lays out in this helpful book.

Filed Under: Evangelism, Missional, recommendations

From One Degree To Another?

Yeah, that's right. My one, consuming passion is Jesus Christ, my Lord. I'm totally gripped by one message: the Gospel - the good news that God came after me when I was far from Him. So, the life I live, I live by faith in Him: He loved me and gave Himself for me.

From One Degree To Another is the change that He's accomplishing in me by grace. Growing downward in humility, upward into Him, outward toward others, and inward with renewal characterize my existence.

This site is where I flesh all of these types of things out, including my life as a slave to Jesus, husband, father, coffee-enjoyer, and pastor. I hope it encourages you.

RSS My latest sermons at Crestview

  • Love One Another April 27, 2025
  • The Word of Contentment April 20, 2025
  • Good Friday 2025 April 19, 2025

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