Weekend Recap - Affluenza (1)

Today's sermon, Affluenza (1), is now online. Affluence would be defined as having lots of stuff and affluenza would be the disease or sickness associated with having lots of stuff. This sermon, from Matthew 6:19-20, helped diagnose affluenza (laying up earthly treasure) and provide a remedy for affluenza (lay up heavenly treasure).

I hope it was helpful. I did allude to Randy Alcorn's book, the Treasure Principle. Here are the six keys I pointed to.

Killa by Lecrae

Lecrae's song Killa from Rehab is one of the best descriptions of the fight with sin I've seen in a while. Here's the lyrics:Uh, I know it's going to kill me but I just can't let it go
And the, taste so appealing it's got a grip upon my soul
These honey dip lies mesmerize me
Pride's got its crooked fingers twisted all inside in me
Fools walk the path I'm on, never to be seen again
Sipping on seduction while we eating on some secret sin
(No one will ever know) says the whisper in my ear
And I know I should be over this, but I ain't seeing clear
And I ain't leaving here, unless somebody save me
Walking to my grave letting evilness enslave me
Evil looks so lovely covered in her lace of lies
And the silky smooth seduction just manipulates my mind
Her fabric of fabrication is fueling my fascination
While I'm intoxicated she starts her assassination
I'm losing all my honor and my years to the merciless
Giving all my life away but I'm just so immersed in this (Killa)

Hook:
Baby this is innocent (Killa) it won't even hurt a little bit (Killa)
I'm only here for your benefit (Killa) I'm your every wish (Killa)
Come on and let me in (Killa), baby this is innocent (Killa)
And it won't even hurt a little bit (Killa) Close your eyes and let's get lost tonight
(Killa) It'll be alright(Killa), You'll see I'm not a (Killa)

Her feet go down to DEATH, so don't let her consume you
Even though her heart is black, her exterior's beautiful
She'll take your life away, strip away your joy
Pretends that she gon build you up but she's just gon destroy you
My friends fell low, when they was so high
Got me running scared of myself, no lie
And I know I'm gon die, I tried cold turkey
But when I'm feeling worthy, Satan's sure trying to merk me
I'm doing myself dirty, flirting with what's perverted
I should follow the word but I guess I'd rather be murdered
(Eh-hreehmm) —Excuse me I mean martyred ‘cause I'm killing myself
My sin conceived a baby, and we gon name her death, breath
(Gasps) —Taken, she take my breath away
Replaces it with poison and I'm so swept away
I need some PRAYER today hope I wake up
Before they start my wake up somebody make me break up
I'm dating a (Killa)

Hook:
Baby this is innocent (Killa) it won't even hurt a little bit (Killa)
I'm only here for your benefit (Killa) I'm your every wish (Killa)
Come on and let me in (Killa), baby this is innocent (Killa)
And it won't even hurt a little bit (Killa) Close your eyes and let's get lost tonight
(Killa) It'll be alright(Killa), You'll see I'm not a (Killa)

Hillsong United's Aftermath

The latest album from Hillsong United entitled Aftermath is now available. It's available from Amazon for $7.99 or from iTunes for $9.99. Hillsong United is one of my favorite groups. Songs from their past albums include: Salvation is Here, Lead Me to the Cross, Hosanna. This album came out last Tuesday (the 15th) and I've been listening to it pretty regularly. So...download and enjoy.

Kevin DeYoung on Two Corners

DeYoung posted his article from this month's Tabletalk magazine today entitled A Tale of Two Corners: Knowledge and Maturity. What I loved about this was the pastoral prowess exhibited in recognizing this. In church life, we have those who love theology and want to go DEEP, which is a great thing. However, often those same people have huge maturity issues. And, in the church we have those who are more simpleton's but demonstrate maturity in innumerable ways. This article highlights this and urges both camps to grow. I found it to be greatly helpful for me as a pastor, not only in shepherding others, but growing myself.

Weekend Recap (2) - God's Word

Last night's sermon, Your Family Needs God's Word, from James 1:16-25 is now online. In the world we live in, God's Word or family worship is often pushed by the "tyranny of the urgent" to the side. In last night's sermon in the Gospel-Centered family series, I tried to give an apologetic from God's Word as to why it's so important that we keep pursuing it. I hope this sermon encourages you to this as well.

Weekend Recap - AM on Prayer

We finished out our series on prayer by looking at Matthew 6:13. The sermon, Model Prayer (5), is now online. The big idea was that just like we need God to help with physical needs and our salvation, we also need His help for sanctification issues of fighting temptation and evil.

I'm hoping God uses these sermons on prayer in our church to draw us closer to Himself and make us a praying people.

Weekend Preview - Lead Us Not/Deliver Us

Tomorrow, 2/20, we plan to spent some time in Matthew 6:13, wrapping up the Lord's prayer. The basic idea is that the same God we trust for physical needs (daily bread) and ultimate spiritual needs (forgiveness) needs to be the One we rely on as we face temptation and evil. The sermon will highlight 3 ways that God provides for us in prayer.

As you prepare to come, what is the greatest underdog moment you can imagine? Maybe you think of the greatest upsets in sports history, biggest oversight, or something to that effect? Why did this really take place? What did it show? Might it be the case for us, too, that we fail to recognize our true Helper in facing temptation and evil?

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow...dv.

Update on Lauren & Meg

As many of you know, we gave birth to our third child on 2/17. About 1PM yesterday (2/18) we were able to come home. Now, a little over 24 hours at home, I thought I would update on some questions I get:

How's Meg? -- She's doing well. Obviously, post pregnancy is a bit uncomfortable physically but she seems to have a good deal of strength and nursing is going well so far as well.

How's Lauren? -- She's doing well, too. We had a rough night getting her to sleep (I'd forgotten that first night home with the child isn't like the peaceful moments we're used to before). But, eventually she calmed down and we were able to get some sleep. But, seems to be fine physically, getting acquainted to our world.

How's the boys? -- Lauren's two older brothers seem to be doing well with everything. Obviously, they both want attention, too, so they are learning to be patient, and, having Meg's mom here is a big help. But they are very gentle and anxious to help when we let them.

Thanks for the concern. Now, somehow, I have to recalibrate my settings to be prepared for a full Lord's Day teaching SS, preaching AM and PM messages.

The Whiteboard Verse...

...for Lauren.

Each time we have a child, I use the whiteboard in the room we deliver to record the obvious facts:

LAUREN KAYLEA
2/17/11 @ 2:27AM 7lbs.13oz. 19 inches

But I also write out a verse so that everyone who comes and looks at the board sees what our focus is. It helps people see who we are really thankful for. Here's Lauren's verse:

"Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting."
- Psalm 147:1

Join us in praising and thanking God for His amazing kindness and grace to us, in spite of what we deserve.

What's in a Name...

We all know choosing a name for a child can be a difficult task.  In naming Lauren, we were drawn to that for some reason.  The name means crowned with victory or honor.  Lauren's middle name, Kaylea, is especially meaningful to us, because it pays tribute to our mothers.  My mother's middle name is Kay. Meg's mother's middle name is Lea. Put them together and you get Kaylea.  Thanks moms for the way you have been such a blessing to us. Lauren's name will always remind us of the blessing you are.

Lauren Kaylea Auxier Is Here!

That's right, at the early hour of 2:27AM, Lauren Kaylea was born. She was 19 inches long and weighed 7lbs.,13oz. Mom (Meg) did great through everything. I believe her water broke around 1:30. They checked her and she had gone from being dilated 3 to 9. Things happened pretty quickly after that. Meg pushed about 4-5 sets of pushes and we were done. We're praising God for His grace and kindness to us.

Progress on Meg and the Baby...

Continue to pray for progress tonight. In case you didn't hear, we came to the hospital around 6PM because the contractions seemed to be getting more serious. (Meg had been having contractions most of the day in 30 minute intervals, but in the late afternoon they were increasing in frequency and intensity.) Since she's been here, things have progressed quite nicely. She is having contractions about every 2 minutes and already has been able to get her epidural (thank God for modern medicine).

Now, we wait. So, ask God to give grace to Meg, the baby, and me as we walk through the next few hours. Hopefully, when you awake, God will have worked to give us a baby girl.

The Word Cloud...

Sixty-Six Clouds "brings the Bible, design and technology together in a fresh and beautiful way. All 66 books of the Bible have been individually imported into Wordle to create a unique word cloud for each one. Word clouds quickly present viewers with the gist of written materials at a glance. Print quality images are available for purchase and a video version of Sixty-Six Clouds has also been created. Please email hello@66clouds.com if you would like to inquire about posters or if you have any special requests. Thank you."

We are going to feature some of these in our environment on the book of Hebrews soon. Check them out for more info, or watch this video:

Leadership Reno County

...is a class offered in our community that "focus[es] on leadership skills combined with exposure to the attributes of, and issues in, Reno County." Our local paper ran a story announcing the group I am in these things with. If you're interested, check out that story.

The time has been amazing so far. We've been given principles that have easily transferred over to my work. On a deeper level, though, we had panels related to social services and education, which have made me more aware of the adaptive challenges we face here in Hutch and Reno County.

Spurgeon Wallpaper

I have been greatly helped by the resources over at the Resurgence. We use their theological posters to help teach men doctrine (their posted over the urinals in our restrooms). I was happy this weekend to see that they released a new wallpaper: The Spurgeon. Enjoy.

Weekend Recap - Forgiveness

Today's sermon, Model Prayer (4) from Matthew 6:12 is now online. In previous posts, I've tried to highlight what today would be about. Forgiveness was the major theme. R.C. Sproul said praying this prayer is a very dangerous thing. Hopefully, the upshot from this is that God will work through His Word to make us people who are quick to forgive others in light of the amazing grace we've been shown by the Father. I hope it encourages you to do so.

The forgiven are forgiving...

This Lord's Day, 2/13, we plan to look at Matthew 6:12 and what "and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" means. I've been greatly helped by Ken Sande and Peacemaker Ministries in my growth on this area.

Read the 4 G's article and you will see Sande talk about the 4 Promises of Forgiveness (which I will allude to in Sunday's sermon). Here's the 4 Promises:

1. "I will not dwell on this incident."
2. "I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you."
3. "I will not talk to others about this incident."
4. "I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship."

Let's anticipate great things from God tomorrow as we gather to revel in these truths...

7 in '11

Gentlemen in and around Hutch: Just a reminder, we will have 7 in '11 tomorrow, Saturday AM, February 12, at 8AM. Tom Dixon will be teaching on the second of the seven deadly sins (anger) and we will have time for eating, accountability, learning and prayer. Join us...

Forgiving Those Who Don't Change

Darrin Patrick answers some questions from people in his church. In this installment: How do I forgive someone who refuses to change?

Snarky?

As believers, the words we use are to be characterized by letting: "no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29). In some interaction with others recently, I've noticed my own words are rather snarky. I confessed this to some fellow leaders and they wondered what it meant.

Wiktionary defines snarky as "Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation; often humorously." It's easy to speak words like this when wronged or when we seem to be more righteous than someone else. We can act as if we are better than our brothers or sisters. This can't be. Let's be loving and forgiving towards them, especially when they sin.

As we think this weekend about forgiveness and having a forgiving spirit towards others, let's wage war on our tongues, seeking to make sure that no corrupting (snarky) talk comes out of our mouths.

Weekend Preview - Forgiveness

This coming Lord's Day (2/13/11) we will be honing in on Matthew 6:12 (...and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.) This will be my opening illustration from Rick Reilly on Aaron Rodgers' unforgettable forgiveness. Summarized as:

To err is human. To forgive is divine.

To forgive in the Super Bowl, even better.

There are so many lessons for us to learn from what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:12. Join us this Sunday as we explore these truths.

Wed PM Activities at Crestview

...will be cancelled on 2/9/11

How's your eyes?

I got my eyes checked this afternoon.  One year ago I gave up all the squinting to get some glasses.  I realized pretty quickly that my sight hadn't been clear for a while.

How's your spiritual sight?  We do such a great job noticing other people's failures and oversight, but give ourselves a very charitable assessment. Hold up God's Word to your life by asking other people to assess your blind spots.  In doing so your spiritual sight will be clarified.

Weekend Recap - Daily Bread

Today's sermon, Model Prayer (3) on Matthew 6:11 is now online. This sermon sought to flesh out what a dependent, trusting heart looks like towards a God who can "give us this day our daily bread." Hopefully the sermon was helpful in making your heart more dependent on the God who gave you life.

No service this evening. Hope you have a blessed week full of trusting the Lord for the basics.

Daily Bread (from Proverbs 30:7-9)...

This video from Francis Chan gets at the truth we will be looking at this coming Lord's Day. What does it mean to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread"? Here's the question from Chan:I hope this challenges you and you come ready to hear what God's Word has to teach us. To review, why not read through Matthew 6:9-13 (these are also the church's memory verses for January).

Test

I'm testing a new Android app. Thanks for bearing with the technical difficulties.

DG Pastor's Conference Wrap Up

Now that I'm back from the 2011 Desiring God Conference for Pastors, here are some reflections on each of the messages.

Session 1 - Cultivating Private Prayer as a Pastor - Joel Beeke

This was a great kick off session, full of quotes and much practicality. I really felt conviction of my lack of prayerlessness through this sermon. His two paths of application were Take Hold of Self and Take Hold of God. Matt Perman tweeted that this was the best sermon on prayer he's ever heard. I am in relative agreement, although this wasn't an exposition as much as a topical unfolding of the subject of prayer.

Session 2 - Helping Your People Discover the Praying Life - Paul Miller

If you've read Miller's book, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, then this session will be a helpful, one talk summary of all that this book teaches. It was really encouraging as well.

Session 3 - Prayer as a Way of Walking in Love: A Personal Journey - Francis Chan

This talk was a testimony of sorts as to how Chan has experienced answered prayer in his walk with the Lord. Great question in this talk was "Do you still believe God answers prayer?" Very motivational to the practice of prayer.

Session 4 - He Kissed the Rose and Felt the Thorn: Living and Dying in the Morning of Life Robert Murray McCheyne - John Piper

I love these biographical messages by Piper each year. This year's didn't disappoint. He weaved what made this young man burn with passion for God by showing his conversion and preparation for a young life. It ended up looking at the place of prayer in McCheyne's life. Again, very encouraging.

Session 5 - Leading Family Worship - Joel Beeke

This talk had 4 goals: to lay out a paradigm for family worship, to discuss the practice of it, to lead us to preach on this and to consider more effective ways of training others in this. This talk was replete with practical ways one could go about practicing family worship.

Session 6 - Unreached Peoples and the Power of Prayer - Jerry Rankin

Another highlight of the DG conference is the missions talk or how does the subject of the conference relate to the fulfilling of the Great Commission. Rankin gave a call for us to go about obeying the Great Commission and realize that as we pray for the nations God might be changing our hearts to go ourselves.

Session 7 - Q & A - Speakers Panel

The conference typically wraps up with a session dealing with some questions the conference inspired. Helpful way to review and hear about the subject matter again.

Overall Reflection: I loved attending this conference. DG always does a great job of leading us in singing, giving us opportunities to pray and helping us think through subject matters. I personally would have liked to see more Biblical expositions, but found the messages helpful. I think, also, that sometimes commendations were confused with commands. It's easy for pastors (especially) to treat applications as matters of obeying or disobeying what God has actually said. There was some blurring of that. However, these are minor assessments. Overall, I know that I need to be about the work of prayer in ministry and this conference helped give me avenues to flesh this out more in my life.