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Weekend Preview – Jesus, The Helper

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Jesus, the Son of God, took on flesh to help mankind.  For two weeks, I’ve highlighted, in my Christmas in Hebrews series, how He’s done that.  Specifically, last week, I made a connection that Jesus doesn’t merely help people — He specifically helps the offspring of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16) those relating to Him by faith.

This Sunday, Lord-willing, we hope to look at another great incarnation text from Hebrews (Hebrews 4:14-16) and see how it is exactly that Jesus helps believers.  And, we will see that Jesus comes to help us when we are most needy.  He does this as a sympathizing High Priest.  Come, then, seeing how Jesus passed through the heavens to come and help you.  He was tempted as we are when He walked on earth.  His incarnation makes His help real and tangible.  Come, ready to be helped by Him this Sunday.

End of Year Giving – CTC/YF

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I happy to serve on the board of an amazing non-profit in our community.  Here’s an end of year financial appeal that I helped write.  If you’re looking for a place to give some money that makes a difference in the lives of others (besides your local church), this is a wonderful organization.

Dear Supporters,

As we near the end of another year, if you’re like us, you are probably thinking about the things that really matter.  It seems that the end of year always seems to focus us and orient us to the most purposeful and most important things in life.  And, we’re writing you because we believe that you agree with our work of increasing positive youth behaviors and helping Reno County children and youth stay away from drugs and alcohol and graduate high school.

If we were to summarize our purpose it would be: creating healthier choices for children and youth in Reno County through mentoring, substance abuse prevention, and strengthening families.  We would love for you to partner with us through some strategic programs we offer:

YouthFriends:  School-based mentoring to help increase academic achievement and high school graduation through productive relationships.

Communities That Care Leadership Program:  Our Youth Leadership Group at Hutchinson High School and Hutchinson Middle School 8 promotes positive youth development and substance prevention activities by giving opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles to elementary children, peers, as well as adults in the community through school or community presentations, a middle school summit, community service, and other intentional activities.

Parenting Classes:  These various opportunities help equip parents with tools to encourage positive outcomes as well as enable children and youth to make good decisions, including the positive choices of staying away from substance abuse.

We hear great success stories from students, volunteers, parents, and teachers about Reno County Communities That Care and YouthFriends.  Teachers report that students who have YouthFriend mentors have better attendance at school and make better grades.  Middle school students tell of the positive impact of our Youth Summit and how presentations from our youth leadership group have changed their lives for the better.  These students intend to make better decisions when they enter high school because of the positive influence of our CTC Leadership group.
 
Would you please consider giving a tax-deductible gift before the end of this year to benefit any of the above programs and to improve healthy youth and children’s behavior in Reno County.  Please indicate which program you would like to contribute to and 100% of your contribution will go to that program.  Thank you for your contribution and partnering with us in improving the future of our youth and community.

We would also like you to “Save the Date” for our annual meeting to honor all volunteers and donors who are dedicated to making a difference for youth and children in Reno County.  The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 from 4:00-5:00 at the CTEA at Hutchinson High School.

Sincerely,

Sondra Borth                                                  Phil Auxier
Executive Director                                          Board Chairperson
For more information, feel free to contact Sondra at 620-615-4012 or borths@usd308.com.
______________________________________________________________________________
Enclosed is my gift of $______________
I wish my gift to benefit:
____YouthFriends
____CTC Leadership Group
____Parenting Classes
____Area of greatest need
Please mail gift to:
Reno County Communities That Care and YouthFriends
1520 N. Plum
Hutchinson, KS  67501

Crestview Kids Prep – Holy Spirit

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Tonight at Crestview Kids, we are studying the Holy Spirit.  Our verse for the month has been 2 Corinthians  13:14, which highlights the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We’ve also sang the Sovereign Grace Music song, “Three In One” this month.

Why study the Holy Spirit?  On the one hand, Jesus’ credibility stands on the Holy Spirit being sent.  After all, Jesus was the One who promised that He would send Him (in John 14).  In a much deeper way, though, the Holy Spirit is the person of the Godhead who teaches us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  If we want children who love the Gospel, then, they must love and understand the Holy Spirit, who makes it possible.

Leadership Email — Coming Up for Air and One Thing

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Here my leadership email to leaders in Reno County this week:

For the past few weeks, I’ve really been hammering on our need to diagnose the situation.  And, I want to diagnose our situation of diagnosing the situation by coming up for air today.  So, let’s take a deep breath.  Seriously.  It’s Monday.  Breath.  And, as we jump in, a quick review:  We started highlighting the importance of diagnosing and followed that up with a couple of reasons why we misdiagnose: we rush into solutions or we try to find pain-free fixes to problems.  Then, we emphasized the importance of determining whether our problem is adaptive or technical.  So, coming up for air today, let me try and “Give The Work Back” by asking you to define this difficult challenge of diagnosing.  Why do you and I tend to misdiagnose or rush right past this important piece?  What might be some potential solutions to your lack of practice in diagnosing the situation? 
I know these are hard questions for a Monday, but your consideration of them is an act of leadership and leadership is a difficult, risky work.  I think we all wish that leadership was easy and the world would just cater to our best laid plans, but the reality is that leadership is an opportunity for us to propel our purposes in the world.  We can make a difference.  Today, what’s one thing that you could practice in this whole diagnosis piece that might further your leadership?  That’s what I’m hoping all these weeks of engaging in this subject might provoke.  My hope is that we would make progress on the issues we care about.  So, will you join me today by stepping back from the minutiae for a second and asking diagnostic questions?  It just might help us make that progress we long to see take place.  

Weekend Recap – Sharing Flesh and Blood

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My 12/9/12AM sermon, Sharing Flesh and Blood, from Hebrews 2:14-18 is now online.  This sermon is the second of four during my Christmas In Hebrews series, highlighting truth about Jesus becoming man from the book of Hebrews.  The sermon, specifically, highlighted the benefits that believers receive because Jesus was born in the flesh: we receive the destruction of death, deliverance from death’s fear, and Jesus’ work as High Priest.

It was encouraging for me to think about how Jesus had to be born to make these realities, well, ahem, reality.  If Christ doesn’t come and live these out, then I am left to fight death myself or I am left to be high priest (or at least rest in someone who does the job better).  But, Jesus came and finalized the work of a High Priest.  He put death to death.  In Christ, then, especially during His incarnation, we have great hope for living and benefit in amazing ways.

I hope you’re being encouraged in these truths this holiday season.

Tweets From Revelation 21

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In late May, I began 202 days of journaling through the 404 verses of the final book of the Bible, Revelation.  To go along with my personal study and preparation to preach through this book in 2013, I’m trying to tweet something from every verse.  Today I finished chapter 21.  Here’s a compilation of my tweets followed by the reference.

Revelation 1 | Revelation 2 | Revelation 3 | Revelation 4 | Revelation 5 | Revelation 6 | Revelation 7 | Revelation 8 | Revelation 9 | Revelation 10 | Revelation 11 | Revelation 12 |Revelation 13 | Revelation 14 | Revelation 15 | Revelation 16 | Revelation 17 | Revelation 18 | Revelation 19 | Revelation 20


One day this world will be replaced by new heavens and new earth. (Revelation 21:1)
God compares the new creation to a wedding day. (Revelation 21:2)
The new covenant will one day see final fulfillment as God dwells with His people. (Revelation 21:3)
Struggling with death? Crying? Mourning? Pain? God will wipe away your tears. (Revelation 21:4)
God gives us trustworthy and true words: He will make all things new. (Revelation 21:5)
God freely gives eternal satisfaction to all who come to Him. (Revelation 21:6)
Enduring to the end in the Gospel demonstrates our adoption. (Revelation 21:7)
Rejecting the Gospel and its life-changing power will result in eternal destruction. (Revelation 21:8)
In heaven, both grace and justice are emphasized. (Revelation 21:9)
The bride of the Lamb is seen as a holy city coming down from God’s heaven. (Revelation 21:10)
The Lamb’s bride radiates with His glory. (Revelation 21:11)
The Lamb’s bride is like a city of completeness. (Revelation 21:12)
The city, picturing the Lamb’s bride, is orderly. (Revelation 21:13)
The foundation of the city is devoted to following the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14)
God allows the city, picturing the Lamb’s bride, a regal measurement. (Revelation 21:15)
The city lies foursquare: perfectly symmetrical to the God to whom it’s united. (Revelation 21:16)
Even the measurements speak of the city’s holiness. (Revelation 21:17)
The city’s building materials are resplendent and glorious. (Revelation 21:18)
The city walls are jewels. (Revelation 21:19)
Each jewel points to the beauty, glory and majesty of God Himself. (Revelation 21:20)
Pearls and clear gold — showing the riches of glory found in God. (Revelation 21:21)
No temple. Why? We meet with God in Christ alone. (Revelation 21:22)
No lights needed, either.  The Lamb’s glory illuminates all. (Revelation 21:23)
In the Lamb, both nations and kings find true glory. (Revelation 21:24)
The gates of this city are open: perfectly secure in the Son. (Revelation 21:25)
All nations will glorify and honor Christ. (Revelation 21:26)
The only people in heaven are those relating to God through Christ. (Revelation 21:27)




Leadership Email – It’s A Sucker, Stupid.

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Here’s the email I sent to leaders in Reno County on 12/3/12:

Funny story from a couple of old codgers here at the church: they were sitting in Daylight Donuts for a morning coffee and in walked a family with a little girl, who had a sucker in her mouth.  One of these guys said to her, “Are you enjoying that lollipop, sweetie?”  And she said without batting an eye, “It’s a sucker, stupid.”  I’ve laughed about this story time and again, but all too often this is how our civil discourse is about issues we care about, isn’t it?  We sincerely want to make a difference or make progress, only to be stopped in our tracks by the “It’s a sucker, stupid” people.
I, for one, have been helped by the competencies at this point.  You see, what is exposed in my bristling at this statement is my lack of diagnosing the situation.  I’ve begun to treat a problem as a technical one when it’s an adaptive one.  Here’s another quote from Ed O’Malley in The Competencies For Civic Leadership, p.3: “Technical problems live in people’s heads and logic systems.  They are susceptible to facts and authoritative expertise.  Adaptive challenges live in people’s hearts and stomachs.  They are about values, loyalties and beliefs.  Progress on them requires the people with the problem to do the work, and the work involves refashioning those deeply held beliefs.”  To relate it back to our situation, it’s the belief that a sucker isn’t a lollipop that caused the girl to rebuff those codgers.  Might some of the resistance we face be due to the fact that we’re treating adaptive problems with technical solutions?    We’re engaging brains and not hearts.  So, get back to purpose.  Dive deeper to find that common ground.  And, see if this doesn’t help us make progress as a community. 

Weekend Recap – Lower For A Little While

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My 12/2/12AM sermon, Lower For A Little While, from Hebrews 2:9 is now online.  This sermon kicked off a new Advent series I’m calling Christmas In Hebrews.  There are specific ways that God reveals truth to us in this book.  Specifically, the writer of Hebrews says that in the present, we see Jesus.  We see Him as God become man, as dying for glory and suffering for us.  As we look with spiritual eyes into this truth, we can find reality for this Christmas season.  I hope you had a great Lord’s Day, too.

A Radically Awesome “Moderate” Makeover

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Often, after we’ve taken some time in Elder’s meetings to pray for the pressing physical and spiritual needs of members, regular attenders and other things affecting the life of the church, we have a part of our meetings that are meant to inspire us spiritually.  We find an article or study a Scripture together and find the fellowship this brings deepens us in God and in the lives of one another.

This week, at Elder’s Meeting, we read David Powlison’s introductory essay to the latest Journal of Biblical Counseling entitled, A Moderate Makeover.  His point was that we are so driven by some radical, awesome, life-changing, world-altering goal that we often miss the simple work that God is up to accomplishing in our lives.  He puts it this way:

Make me childlike toward God, and make what I do and say helpful toward others. A moderate  makeover, in other words. Not necessarily dramatic. No adrenaline rush. No scaling the emotional heights. No doing a fire dance on the high wire. No latest, greatest, hottest, bestkept secret. Moderate has this advantage: no odor of hype. No excessive hopes that breed disillusionment. No danger of overpromising but underdelivering. This makeover always delivers more than you think it was promising.

We each found this to be a helpful reminder for pursuing growth in godliness.  And, that would be my hope for you: childlike toward God, helpful toward others.

Make me childlike toward God, and make whatI do and say helpful toward others. A moderatemakeover, in other words. Not necessarily dramatic. No adrenaline rush. No scaling theemotional heights. No doing a fire dance onthe high wire. No latest, greatest, hottest, best-kept secret.Moderate has this advantage: no odorof hype. No excessive hopes that breeddisillusionment. No danger of overpromising but underdelivering. This makeover alwaysdelivers

more

than you think it was promising

Leadership Email – Torching Glaciers

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Here’s the email I wrote this week to leaders in Reno County…

I once heard a speaker use an amazingly graphic image about “torching glaciers.”  I guess this cemented in my mind because it’s such an interesting image.  Think of a glacier, with its slow moving, voluminous mass.  And, picture someone beneath that glacier with a blowtorch, with water dripping little by little.  For many of us, our work seems like torching glaciers.  We know that there are huge, adaptive, wide needs that exist.  I think of non-profit work that I’m involved in and how there will always be another child or family that needs mentoring or strengthening.  I know many of you are on the ground floor, “torching glaciers.”  It’s difficult work at times, but little by little, just like the drops of water from the torching of the glacier, we see successes.  And, even if you’re not in non-profit work, progress may come in big chunks at time (like, undoubtedly, when you are torching a glacier) but by and large, progress seems slow or even nearly stagnant at other times.
For this reason, all of us involved in leadership roles in Reno County should be encouraged about the happenings in Hutchinson this week.  The Hutchinson Community Foundation is sponsoring Match Day.  I view Match Day as a torching of a glacier.  In a sense, we’re empowering the 26 different non-profitswith resources.  We’re widening the scope of the blowtorch so that the HCF’s vision of “a one-time opportunity to dig deeper, to grow each endowment exponentially, so that our nonprofit partners can enrich people and programs for even greater impact” is reached.  Match Day isn’t the final solution to the problems we face.  But, it is certainly a means to be mobilized to make some progress.
Let me personally invite you to consider (if you haven’t been asked already) what you might give on Wednesday, November 28th at Eagle Media (here’s some more details).  We are all, I believe, united around the goal of making progress on the deepest needs facing our community.  Maybe this Wednesday could be a way you can torch a glacier and help make some progress in areas you care about deeply.