Why We Need This Kind of Relationship?

*This is the first of three installments by our gracious friend, Phil Auxier, Pastor of Crestview Bible Church in Hutchinson, KS.

Post 1 – Why Do We Need This Kind of Relationship? 

Demands.  They press on us from all sides, do they not?  We have demands from our relationships, our careers, our time, and even ourselves.  And, up against these demands, God speaks with crystal clarity.  With this post, I begin a three part series on our church’s journey with Sixteen:Fifteen. But where did this begin?  Well, it began with demands…

We have the demands of God’s Word. As a church, we felt compelled that the Great Commission was not merely just a divine suggestion, but the Great Commission actually articulated our marching orders. When Jesus said, “Go”… He meant it. These words arrested attention.  In a sense, His words upset the tables that we have set up in His house.  He is calling us to obey.  And on top of the Great Commission, we have the heart beat of all the Bible. We see God working to save the lost from judgment in the Garden’s promise of a Savior, to how Abraham will bless nations, to the people of Israel’s witness on the world, to the Psalms that cry out for God’s name to be exalted in the earth, to a Savior born for us, the Good News of Great Joy for all people, to the heart of the early church to take Christ where He has not been named, to the eternal worship by all creatures around the throne…You see, the Bible pulses with God’s heart to save all kinds of people.  The Great Commission calls and demands action from us.

Not only this, but what we believe about God, has demands.  Knowing that God’s heart is long suffering, full of mercy, love, goodness, and yet even full of perfect wrath and justice toward those who refuse Him… demands that we not sit still, but go.  We are unsettled. We are arrested.

And, that is where God had placed us as a church.  We knew what God’s Word said about these things.  We had beliefs that demanded we respond a certain way.  We were supporting many workers around the world.  We took mission trips.  We did a good number of nice things and we were even putting money aside in case God called one of our own full time to the field. Yet, even in doing all of these things, we were still looking at one another thinking…THERE MUST BE MORE.  This is where we were when we first began a relationship with Sixteen:Fifteen.

So, where do we begin?  In God’s Word and His heart.  These demands compel us. Theology produces doxology.  We are not the same once we come in contact with Him.  That is why we needed missions coaching. We needed to take where we were and think about applying it.  Maybe you are in the same place.  Here’s a chance to continue…

Phil Auxier
http://cbch2go.blogspot.com
@cbch2go

Are you realizing how difficult it can be to connect His heart to the heart of your local church? As people who love God and His heart for the nations, join us for Phil Auxier’s next two blog installments and register HERE for a FREE WEBINAR to hear Crestview Bible Church’s journey and how they took God’s word seriously and began to apply it to their local context.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 12pm to 1pm MST

Phil Auxier serves as the senior pastor at Crestview Bible Church in Hutchinson, KS., an independent bible church that loves the Gospel and wants to do all they can to let that love infiltrate their life together and their mission to this world. Crestview Bible Church exists to glorify and enjoy God forever through Jesus Christ. Phil also facilitates some community leadership programs within the community.

Sixteen:Fifteen exists to help local churches discover and use their unique gifts in partnership with others to make Christ known among all nations. Find out more at www.1615.org or call to talk to a Church Coach at 505-248-1615, or email us.