From One Degree to Another

Phil Auxier's Blog

Connect

Weekend Update…8/8

by

As you may or may not know, we (Me, Meghan, Andrew, Gabriel) are in Colorado Springs, CO for Tyler Dixon’s Wedding this weekend. The wedding is in a few hours at Cathedral Pines Lodge. Rehearsal went well yesterday and wedding is today. Should be a fun time. As you think of them, pray for Tyler and Melanie as they begin their new life together.

Tomorrow, back home at Crestview, Josh Seachris will be filling in, continuing his series through Ecclesiastes. I don’t have it in front of me, but I believe Josh told me that his sermon would be from Ecclesiastes 3 on the Sovereignty of God.

In the evening, the church will continue in worship meeting in small groups to discuss our unity of purpose and how that connects us to one another from Philippians 1:27-30. Hope the weekend goes well there.

Pastors Need Heart Work Too…

by

My life really resonated with Thabiti’s recent post on Pride and Preaching. Here’s an excerpt…

oh! how often the heart craves to hear that good report, that positive appraisal of “our” sermon and preaching. And, oh! how often we want to preach for God’s glory and all the while “be known” for preaching for God’s glory. Pride is sneaky, and the preacher is as vulnerable to it as everyone else.

These are great words and counsel. Too often we can forget that before we can boldly thunder God’s Word, we must humbly receive the correction that Word thunders in us. Pray that I would model this kind of humility for the people God’s entrusted to me.

Josh Harris on Correction.

by

Earlier this week, Tony Reinke did a post on Josh Harris’ sermon from this past Lord’s Day. The sermon, Lady Wisdom’s Food and Drink, was based on Proverbs 9:1-18.

I had a chance to listen to this excellent sermon today and was freshly convicted about responding to correction. I think all of us in the church would benefit from this sermon. Here’s a summary from Reinke’s post on the spectrum of responses to correction:

The Wise—(1) Loves correction. (2) Pursues correction.
The Growing—(3) Appreciates correction. (4) Begrudgingly accepts correction.
The Simple—(5) Is open-minded to correction. (6) Is indifferent towards correction.
The Fool—(7) Is annoyed by correction. (8) Judges those who correct.
The Scoffer—(9) Hates correction.

Now, today, Josh has posted a PDF outlining a Correction and Encouragement Evaluation. Take advantage of this great resource and see if you don’t grow in wisdom and the fear of the Lord.

Biblical Parenting – Infant to Age 5

by

One of Covenant Life Church‘s pastors, Brian Chesemore, gave 2 talks last fall on parenting those aged infant through age 5.

Biblical Principles of Parenting (Part 1) – Audio and PDF
Training, Discipline and The Rod (Part 2) – Audio and PDF

In our church, we have a burgeoning nursery ministry and many parents in this age group. I hope you can take advantage of these excellent resources.

Recap on God..HIs Heart and His People

by

I mentioned in a previous post about where we were headed this weekend. Well, today is in the books and it’s time for the diligent work of application.

In the AM, we looked at God’s Heart for the Lost in Luke 15:4-7. I was struck with how I am so religious in my orientation and this keeps me from loving the lost with the same aggressiveness that God does. Lining up my heart with His is what I am called to.

In the PM, we looked at A Stiff Necked People from Hosea 6:7-7:16. God had contention with His people because they are going their own way and being led astray, while seeking to draw near to Him with a shallow repentance. This message struck me in that I am much too casual with sin. It’s an affront to God because of His holiness and justice. Turning to Him in heartfelt repentance is the only prudent action.

Anything stick out to you all?

Serious Discipleship…

by

I’ve seen this resource (Fight Clubs: Gospel Centered Discipleship)numerous places on the internet, so when this afternoon presented an open season for fun reading, I took the free pdf download and gave it a read. Awesome stuff. What it really gets at is how accountability groups that make us feel bad aren’t what the Gospel is really all about in conforming us to the image of Christ. This is a better picture. It’s Scripturally-solid, full of practicality and bleeds Gospel. This is a great resource to consider. Download the free pdf or buy this book.

4 Sunday: God and, well, um God…

by

Yes, that’s right, we will be very God-centered as we approach the Scriptures tomorrow.

In the AM, we will be looking at the Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15:4-7. We will see God’s heart on display, as He shows compassion for the lost sheep and calls us to joy and many other truths. Does your heart reflect God’s heart for the lost?

In the PM, we will return to Hosea and look at a longer narrative (Hosea 6:7-7:16), addressing some contentions God has with His people in their disobedience. It should be an interesting day of listening to God as He speaks loud and clear through His Word.

Reading Update…

by

I posted a reading update a while back and thought it was time for the latest…

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’m really being helped by Lou Priolo’s book Pleasing People: How not to be an “approval junkie”. I can always grow in my battle against pleasing men. And this book gives great help for the sanctification I need to be pursuing in this area.

Manly Dominion by Mark Chanski is a helpful book (so far) on what it means to exercise our role as men and, even more basic, to be the people God created us to be.

Sent by Ed Stetzer will be our small group curriculum this Fall. I’ve read it twice and am going through it one more time very meticulously to get a better feel for how I can use this material in my small group.

I am also going through Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson’s book Counsel From The Cross for the 3rd time. Why? I am so encouraged to read this. Counseling is an area that I need to be consistently growing it. I am swayed that keeping the Gospel central is key to healthy churches and numerous other reasons. This time I am slowly working my way through again.

I also keep reading some in The Mission of God, giving the foundational Biblical and theological underpinnings of missionally reading the Scriptures.

Anything big I’m missing out there?

Unforgiveness as an expression of pride…

by

In his excellent book, Pleasing People, Lou Priolo encourages us to examine where pride exists in our lives and gives some Biblical manifestations. One that emerged to me was unforgiveness. He writes:

[Pride is seen, in that] when wronged, being unwilling to forgive an offender who has not demonstrated extreme submission or repentance. Proud people struggle to grant forgiveness to those who are not wallowing in sorrow over their offenses. They want not a simple “I repent,” as the Scriptures require (Luke 17:4), but the great proof of repentance. If you’re having a hard time connecting the dots between pride and lack of forgiveness, imagine asking forgiveness from someone who responds like this: “I’m not ready to extend my forgiveness to you. You haven’t offended just any old person; you’ve offended ME! And I don’t grant people forgiveness simply on the basis of their word without their somehow otherwise propitiating my anger.” (Of course, when it comes time for him to confess his own sin, the arrogant individual expects those he has offended to overlook his “little mistakes.”)

A humble believer recognizes the enormity of his own debt of sin that Christ has forgiven and considers any offenses that he himself must forgive as minutiae in comparison (cf. Matthew 18:21-35). He willingly grants forgiveness to those who sincerely ask for it. (In the absence of hard evidence to the contrary, he takes the repentant brother at his word.) (Luke 17:3-4)

I thought this was helpful in my own life. First of all, I have had to deal with people who are prideful like this. Secondly, however, and much more grievous, I’ve seen this attitude in my own life of making someone feel the sting of wronging ME. It’s time for us to humble ourselves in light of the cross and let repentance come.