Phil Auxier's Blog
My 3/11/18AM sermon, The Obvious Work of the Holy Spirit, is now online. In this sermon, I dug into John 16, 2 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 12 and back to John 16 to expose some of the familiar things the Holy Spirit does. He convicts of sin. He transforms our lives spiritually. He gives gifts to build up the church. He glorifies Christ. My hope is that as you lean into these familiar works, you would exhibit the fruit of what the Spirit is doing in you.
My 3/4/18 sermon, Why the Holy Spirit? from John 14:15-31, is now online. This sermon launched a short series our church is doing during the month of March on the Holy Spirit. This opening sermon got at why He tends to be “unknown” or “forgotten” by many of us. And, it ended with a call to look to Him not ourselves for real progress and living.
During my introduction, I also mentioned a short children’s book by Francis Chan entitled The Big Red Tractor. Here’s a video with the content of that book:
I hope these things encourage you and put a hunger for the Holy Spirit within you.
This coming Sunday, 3/4, we will start a series on the Holy Spirit. We’ll be looking at who He is, how He works, and His significance in our lives during these upcoming weeks. I hope you’ll be praying for His influence to be among us. And, if you’re interested, join us at 10:15 AM Sunday at Crestview.
Like I mentioned in January, I’m trying to do a better job this year of keeping track of books I’ve completed reading. As usual, there are some books/things, I’m always working in like the Bible (praying through the Psalms of the Day and doing lots of reading in 1 Peter in different translations), Sonship, as well as Crestview’s Leadership Pipeline material.
In February 2018, I worked through the following:
My 2/25/18AM sermon at Crestview, The Mission of Life Together, sought to wrap our life together series as well as propel us outward, engaging our world on mission. There are ways we’re propelled outward horizontally to our world. But, in the Bible, we’re also propelled outward and upward to bring glory to God. I hope this sermon encourages you to this end.
I enjoyed an amazing Sunday getting to hear Luke preach in Crestview’s Life Together series. Specifically, he preached a sermon entitled The Problems in Life Together. Most of the literature about church family life doesn’t take a lot of time on the problems that happen when we engage in life together, but the problems are real. They will come your way if you dig into life together. I hope this sermon encourages you (and it is filled with lots of Gospel hope).
My 2/11/18AM sermon, Overcoming Objections to Life Together, is now online. This sermon sought to dig into some narratives that loom large in Christian circles and how we can press what the Bible says about life together into them. I was hoping to renew minds around the truths of life together. I hope it was encouraging and revealing.
In the evening, our Men/Boys enjoyed a night together at Crestview’s annual Men and Boys Chili Supper. Luke shared and we had a good time together.
Sometimes getting kids to eat their vegetables is difficult. Trying new things (or things unfamiliar to us) can test us to our core. And, if it’s true with food, it’s probably certainly true with habits and rhythms of life. This Sunday, my sermon will deal with some of the objections people may have to this whole notion of life together. My hope is that as we work through these, your resistance might be broken and you’d step into this amazing life to which God is calling you.
A few weeks ago, Luke and I went to the 2018 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. They finally have all the audio from this conference online. Some I would direct your attention to:
Paul Tripp – Danger of Familiarity
John Piper’s kickoff sermon – Seeking the Holy Spirit
Sam Storm’s appeal to not quench the Holy Spirit – Don’t Quench The Spirit
Francis Chan – Praying in the Spirit
There were many other sermons that were all helpful. We were really struck by these, though. I hope these encourage you, too.
We had a great day Sunday at Crestview Bible. First off, we introduced a new song, O How Good It Is, which tied in very well to our Life Together emphasis for the month. Also, Luke preached a sermon on The Picture of Life Together from Acts 2:42-47. The upshot of this morning was a digging into the rhythms that will characterize our lives as we intentionally live together on mission.
In the evening, I enjoyed the game with some friends. It was an entertaining game and a fun night to relax with people and enjoy this big part of our culture. I hope you had a great day.