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Weekend Recap – Gospel Love

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My 11/30/14AM sermon, Gospel Love from Romans 14:13-23, is now online.  The sermon sought to unpack the inward, upward, and outward calls of love to others.  We must consider our conscience, esteem God’s kingdom and live out our faith for love to have the grace shaped character it’s meant to have.  I hope this sermon helps nurture that in you.

Weekend Recap – Gospel Welcome

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My 11/23/14AM sermon, Gospel Welcome, from Romans 14:1-12 is now online.  The sermon got into the big section of Romans 14-15 and how people relate in the church.  The big theme of this passage is that because God’s welcomed us, we ought to welcome others.  Specifically, because of who God is, Jesus being Lord and God being the final judge, we should stop quarreling over secondary matters.  I hope this sermon is an encouragement to you.

Weekend Recap – Loving The State

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My 11/9/14 sermon, Loving the State from Romans 13:1-7, is now online.  This sermon, while very convicting, did attempt to chart a positive course on how Christians in this world relate to their government.  God has called on us to submit.  He’s called us to this because He’s the One who gives government its authority, He’s the One who’s given government its purpose and He’s the One calling citizens to live in an honorable way in society.  I hope this sermon helps you make progress as you live your faith in this world.

Risk Is Right.

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I’m posting over on our Church’s Mission Blog today…

From John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life (pp.89-90):

Risk is right. And the reason is not because God promises success to all our ventures in his cause. There is no promise that every effort for the cause of God will succeed, at least not in the short run. John the Baptist risked calling King Herod an adulterer when he divorced his own wife in order to take his brother’s wife. For this John got his head chopped off. And he had done right to risk his life for the cause of God and truth. Jesus had no criticism for him, only the highest praise (Matthew 11:11).

Paul risked going up to Jerusalem to complete his ministry to the poor. He was beaten and thrown in prison for two years and then shipped off to Rome and executed there two years later. And he did right to risk his life for the cause of Christ. How many graves are there in Africa and Asia because thousands of young missionaries were freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the enchantment of security and then risked their lives to make much of Christ among the unreached peoples of the world!

And now what about you? Are you caught in the enchantment of security, paralyzed from taking any risks for the cause of God? Or have you been freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the mirage of Egyptian safety and comfort? Do you men ever say with Joab, “For the sake of the name, I’ll try it! And may the Lord do what seems good to him”? Do you women ever say with Esther, “For the sake of Christ, I’ll try it! And if I perish, I perish”?

Today, maybe God is calling you deeper.  Christ is that compelling.  He’s calling us to be strategically reckless for Him.  Let’s go to Him, outside the camp and find Him to be all satisfy.

Weekend Recap – Genuine Love

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My 11/2/14AM sermon, Genuine Love from Romans 12:9-21, is now online.  Many of us think that we’re much more loving that we actually are.  And the Bible is like a mirror that we hold up to show us our true selves.  In this passage, we see that genuine love is on the move, acting in ways that are challenging for many of us.  We are demonstrating love to believers.  This is the call at the first part of our passage and it’s difficult. But, towards the end of the passage, we’re called to love our enemies, which is impossible for us apart from the mobilizing grace of God.  So, I hope this sermon is helpful as you seek to love the way God’s called you to love.

Shaped by Grace

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My 10/26/14AM sermon, Shaped by Grace from Romans 12:1-8 is now online.  This sermon honed in on how God’s grace is on the move to shape our relationships with God, ourselves and one another.  I personally felt it exposed some areas of my life that had grown stale or cold and needed reshaped by grace.  So, I’m hoping God was at work through His Word to give you encouragement through this.  Have a terrific week.

Weekend Recap – Glory of Overflowing Grace

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My 10/19/14AM sermon, Glory of Overflowing Grace from Romans 11:33-36, is now online.  In this sermon, on one level I try to showcase God who is rich in mercy and how that mercy demonstrates that He is the most glorious being in the world.  On another level, I’m engaging my hearers to reckon with the God of the Bible who is the most unique person of all.  He’s is categories all to Himself and His actions call for all that we are.  All things are to the glory of God.  I hope this sermon helps you awe God in deeper ways and glorify Him as the supreme one in your life.

Forty

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I have a big birthday today.  40.

One thought I had was all that Ecclesiastes has to say about youth, age and days:

I only have a few days from God to make the most of life on this earth. (Ecclesiastes 6:12)
All the days God gives me are to be used to live a full life. (Ecclesiastes 6:3)
I should pursue joy with my life. (Ecclesiastes 8:15)
I should try to do good all the days God gives me on this earth. (Ecclesiastes 2:3)
I should be careful with what I give my heart to in the days of my youth. (Ecclesiastes 11:9)

I’ve been, by God’s grace, able to live a full life so far.  I’m blessed beyond anything I deserve with a faithful wife, fun children, a job full of joy, a work that is beyond this world and a life that is rich.

I also think about the mortality of days.  I asked my Mom and others some facts about my dad and grandfathers when they were 40 and the churches they were pastoring at the time.  At age 40…

My dad was pastoring Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis, MO and I was a sophomore in high school.
My Gpa Auxier was pastoring in Sterling, IL and would soon move to Mt. Vernon to pastor a church he would retire from (and my dad was either graduating or about to graduate high school).
My Gpa Lemay was enjoyed a fruitful ministry at Park Avenue Baptist in Mt. Vernon (and my Mom was a sophomore in high school).

Why these facts?  Because these men are gone.  My dad would pass away at 48 and both of my grandfathers have passed away in recent years.  To know the lives they lived makes my desire to make every day count all the more pressing.

So, thanks for indulging my meditations on this birthday.  Would you mind praying for me, that God’s grace would flow in the next chapters as free and rich as it has in these first few?  Ask God to make my life useful for His purposes and for the good of others.  Thanks.

Weekend Recap – Matt Perman’s Visit

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We enjoyed a great weekend at Crestview yesterday (10/12/14).  Matt Perman of What’s Best Next was at church serving our people.  During Sunday School, Matt visited with the class we have working through his book, fielding some questions and offering up solid answers.  The class seemed energized through the content we were engaging.

Matt preached during the AM service from Ephesians 6:5-9 on a Christian View of Work.  This sermon really challenged us with a biblical vision of work that helps us do all that we do for the glory of God and the good of others.

Later in the day, Matt spoke at our annual Men and Boys Chili Supper.  He gave an apologetic for Christianity through the lens of time management in what I labeled a TED(like) Talk.

Like I said, many enjoyed this full day with Matt.  I was grateful to have some unhurried time of fellowship with Matt and left encouraged and challenged to work more fully for the good of others.  It was a great weekend.  Hope you enjoy the audio and take advantage of the practical information on Matt’s site, What’s Best Next.