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Dangerous Calling Email #1

February 4, 2013 by Phil Auxier

Last week, we had an Elders/Deacons Meeting and began to take some time looking at Paul Tripp’s Dangerous Calling book.  Here’s the first of weekly emails I’ll be sending our leaders from last Wed entitled Suspect Yourself:

As we jump into thinking about Dangerous Calling this year, I was reminded of a Sherlock Holmes case in which the inspector asked Holmes if he had any suspects yet and Holmes replied, “I suspect myself—for jumping to conclusions too rapidly.”  Really the Introduction and Chapter 1 of this book highlight the importance of tender hearts before God.  In the Intro, for instance, Tripp clearly lays out his aim: “This is a diagnostic book.  It is written to help you take an honest look at yourself in the heart-and-life-exposing mirror of the Word of God—to see things that are wrong and need correcting and to help you place yourself once again under the healing and transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (p.11). 

In Chapter 1, Tripp recounts “three underlying themes that operated in [his] life…”
1) I Let Ministry Define My Identity.
2) I Let Biblical Literacy and Theological Knowledge Define My Maturity.
3) I Confused Ministry Success With God’s Endorsement of My Lifestyle.
Here’s some good diagnostic questions for this first chapter:
“What about you?  How do you view yourself?  What are the things you regularly say to you about you?  Are there subtle signs in your life that you see yourself as being different from those to whom you minister?  Do you see yourself as a minister of grace in need of the same grace?  Have you become comfortable with discontinuities between the gospel that you preach and the way that you live?  Are there disharmonies between your public ministry persona and the details of your private life?  Do you encourage a level of community in your church that you give yourself to?  Do you fall into believing that no one has a more accurate view of you than you do?  Do you use your knowledge or experience to keep confrontation at bay?”
There’s great hope for us because of the Gospel, so, let’s remember that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble and bow our knees (and lives) in awe before this God we serve.  

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Filed Under: Church Life, Dangerous Calling, leadership

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.

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