Pastor Stan Mitchell Updates

The Great Value of a Good Name

2009-09-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good reputation and the respect of others is more
desirable than great riches." Every week the Revised Common Lectionary
offers four texts of scripture for our consideration. When I saw this
text I was struck by the fact that, after twenty-five years and more
than five-thousand sermons and lessons, to the best of my recollection,
I have never spoken directly on the topic of reputation.

So, I am excited that this Sunday morning we will focus our attention on
the great value found in having a good name. The Bible is filled with
anecdotes and principles which speak to this very relevant matter. How
do we build a positive reputation? How do we rebuild one that has been
damaged? What are the benefits of a good name? What is the difference
in being concerned about your reputation and being a people-pleaser?
Etc.

I look forward to another great Sunday morning spent celebrating our faith and
worshipping our God together.

See you in church,
Stan

Strength - Introduction

2009-08-29T12:34:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow our central scripture text will be Second Peter 1:1-9. Last week I spoke about the strength of God which is accessible to humans; a strength which affords us the potential to do great things - even more than we would suppose.

In the morning we will carry that theme a little farther, addressing some of the more practical implications such as: When is that strength imparted? Is it innate in the human frame or does it come when we make our decision to follow Christ? How do we access it? Can it grow? Does it come and go? etc.

What a wonderful privilege it is to be a part of a church community like ours. I look forward to seeing you in the morning at 9:00 or 10:45 to celebrate life, our faith and the gift of God's Son.

Peace of Christ to you,
Stan

A Day of Strength - Introduction

2009-08-22T21:01:00.001-05:00

As the Apostle Paul concluded his famed epistle to the church at Ephesus, he encouraged the Christians there with these words, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His great power." (Ephesians 6:10)

What did Paul mean by "be strong in the Lord?" To be sure, it sounds like a condition to be desired, one that certainly beats the alternative. All of us want to be strong people, able to endure pressure and forge ahead in the face of resistance. No one wants to be weak, collapsing under life's load, unable to finish.

Through the years, a lot of people have asked me to pray for them that they would be strong or that they would be strengthened. And, through those same years, I have met a lot of strong people who have shown incredible grace under fire; inspirational people who seem to have tapped into a source or a capacity unknown to others. What is their secret, these strong ones?

I propose that their impressive strength actually has nothing to do with a secret; rather, they have simply found some key truths which are available to all of us.

It is obvious that God is creating a very special community out of us. He is truly making us strong in the Lord.

Peace

Stan Mitchell

The Serenity Prayer - Leftovers

2009-07-09T15:59:00.001-05:00

Sunday we merged two of my favorite spiritual tools - the twelfth chapter of Second Corinthians and the renowned Serenity Prayer. The pair intersected at the great theme of acceptance; Paul wrestling with an intractable pain he referred to as a thorn in the flesh and the Serenity Prayer's appeal for the calmness of soul to accept those things we can not change.

The original version of the Serenity Prayer, popularized by the recovery movement, has been attributed to the twentieth century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and began circulating widely by the late 1930s. At some point an anonymous author added a section leaving the full version:

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever and ever in the next.

That, my friends, is worthy of frequent usage.

My prayer for you today is that your life will be filled with serenity, courage and wisdom. And may we all truly rest in the hand of the One Who holds the universe and Who will finally make all things well.

Peace to you,

Stan

Generosity - Sunday Leftovers

2009-07-01T15:08:00.002-05:00

June 28th's theme was drawn from Second Corinthians, chapters eight and nine in which Paul appealed to the Christians at Corinth to be generous in a collection for their hurting brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. I could, and many have, fill a lot of pages with commentary on this incredible text. Instead, allow me to share my single, favorite verse from these highly insightful chapters.

As Paul concluded his appeal he obviously recognized the possibility that the Corinthians could feel a pressure to give that, by his estimation, would not be in anyone's best interest. So in verse seven of the ninth chapter he said, "I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving." (The Message)

I love the language and spirit of that verse. Giving is, and should be, a deeply personal thing. While we must never judge another person's giving, or lack thereof, we CAN learn a lot about ourselves by where, how and why we give of the substance of our lives. If you don't like some of the ways you feel or the patterns you see in relation to giving/generosity my best advice is to ask God for better perspective - His perspective. Inner transformation, as opposed to guilt, manipulation or glory-seeking, is the only healthy impetus for the truly generous life.

Let me leave you with the Dorothy Day quote I referenced Sunday: "Give only if you have something you must give. Give only if you are someone for whom giving is its own reward."

To the generous life,
Stan

Grace Maximized - Sunday Leftovers

2009-07-01T13:03:00.001-05:00

I actually made it to the end of my sermon notes which is a bit of a rarity for me but I suppose that's a good thing. The only downside is it cuts into potential Leftover's content. So, in the absence of remnants, I'm left to consider what parts of the lesson I would like to have a do-over on and what I've thought of after-the-fact that I wish I would have thought of last week while preparing the sermon.

The gist of the message was the age-old theme of learning to live in the moment; to seize the day; to recognize the only place life is actually lived is in the present. At the present, I am sitting in a midnight showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, with Stan Jr and I am multi-tasking which might not be the most effective way of fulfilling the aforementioned goal.

So... I will cease and desist and get back to, what promises to be, a rip-roaring conclusion to this movie. And my best "leftover" advice is - avoid multi-tasking if you can and don't miss the gift of every moment.

Stan

The Maximized Life - Introduction

2009-06-20T11:20:00.006-05:00

Have you ever had someone give you a break, a gift of mercy, let you off the hook, or otherwise just grace you with an unexpected gift? Whenever that happens to me I usually remind myself to make good use of the gift; to not waste it in other words. Not infrequently, I hear myself reminding my kids to do this with the breaks and advantages Nancy and I give them.

Our scripture text for tomorrow (which happens to be Father's Day!) is 2 Corinthians 6:1 which reads, "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." (New International Version) The Contemporary English Version has it, "We work together with God, and we beg you to make good use of God's kindness to you." And finally, Eugene Peterson's The Message captures that verse this way, "Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us."

Tomorrow, from this verse, we are going to discuss what Jesus called "life more abundant" or "eternal life." I call it a maximized life or a life fully lived. We are going to focus on ways to take full advantage of this gift we have been given as well as note five life wasters that we should avoid at all costs. I trust this very practical theme is going to be highly relevant to all of us, so I hope you will join your church family at one of our worship services (9:00 & 10:45).

Looking forward to the Lord's Day.

Process - Introduction

2009-06-15T14:50:00.001-05:00

For several years a friend of mine had a bumper sticker on his SUV that read - "Been there, still there." Like most pithy phrases, that one-liner is certainly subject to multiple interpretations. My personal take on its meaning is that life is a journey and none of us are so accomplished or completed that we can claim to be done with the process or in possession of the proverbial t-shirt. Certainly, we can make and claim progress, but what we can't claim here and now is graduation from this process of soul-making called our life.

This week's scripture text speaks insightfully to this idea. Found in Mark's gospel it reads: ²⁶ Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. ²⁸ The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. ²⁹ And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” ³⁰ Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, ³² but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” ³³ Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. ³⁴ In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them. (Mark 4:26-34 NLT)

I deeply believe that God has planted the slow but sure growing seeds of His kingdom inside the human heart. This is very good news for all of us. I could keep going here but come tomorrow and we'll talk more about what that looks like and the hope it affords us.

Hope to see you in the morning.

Stan

Soul to soul - Sunday Leftovers

2009-06-11T13:01:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday's sermon was chiefly focused on the sixteenth verse of Romans eight which, in the New Living Translation, reads, "For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children."

Some translations of the Bible render that verse, "God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit..." Personally, I like the NLT's rendering the best, "His Holy Spirit speaks deep in our hearts..." From either, though, the point is clear - God longs to communicate with us, and does so at a deep level alternately referred to as our spirit or the depth of our heart.

In connection with this, I strongly believe that humans possess a sixth sense beyond the five physical senses, and with this additional sense we are able to communicate with God. The Bible refers to it as faith - a deep conviction or confidence that something is so. I also believe that the part of us that Paul called "spirit" or "deep in our heart" is the seat of that sense.

One other thing that I believe in regard to this subject is that God communicates with each of us in ways specific to our personality or nature. While we all share the common need and desire to intimately connect with God, the ways we make that connection are as varied as we. Thankfully, God loves us enough to learn a whole lot of love-languages.

The book of Acts is a compelling book which makes the above point abundantly clear. It records in vivid detail the first three decades of the Christian church's life. In it there are multiple accounts of the Spirit of God engaging individuals and/or multitudes. While some commonalities are discernible, the clearer point is the amazing differences in the many stories. Again and again, God profoundly connected with His early followers. Again and again, He did so in distinct ways; ways that no doubt were His gracious accommodation to the distinctiveness of those He was connecting with.

My encouragement this past Sunday was for all of us to ask God to sensitize us in regards to His ''voice'' and to help us be more aware and in touch with that place called "deep in our heart." My encouragement today is don't stress about this; instead, relax, pray the prayer sincerely and then leave the welcome mat out and your heart's front door unlocked. As Frederick Buechner said, "If you pray for anything other than God, you may or may not get it, but if you pray for God, you will always receive what you pray for."

Stan

Pentecost Sunday Leftovers

2009-06-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Sunday we celebrated the birthday of the Christian Church, a day we call Pentecost. Some two millennia ago and just seven weeks after Christ's resurrection, the New Covenant began with God ''pouring'' Himself out on a group of 120 Christ-followers. The book of Acts, which is a cursory overview of the church's first thirty years, begins with this story and continues the refrain of God powerfully moving in the lives of countless people from Jerusalem to Rome.

Before the monumental day of the Church's birth, the biblical story seems to indicate that God was not as universally accessible to the human family as He became post Pentecost. We could spend a lot of time and space speculating why this was the case, and, frankly, that's not an unprofitable conversation. For this e-reflection, though, I am satisfied to focus on the reality as we now enjoy it; the good news that every man, woman, boy and girl has the capacity to directly experience God.

By ''experience God'' I mean, we directly communicate with, are empowered by and sense the nearness of the Creator of all things. In other words, our relationship with the Divine is an intimate one, marked by mutual concern, listening and direction. This reality of God's nearness is what the New Testament text refers to variously as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ or simply the Spirit. All of these monikers employ the idea of spirit which in the ancient world simply meant the deepest essence of a person. To encounter the Holy Spirit is to encounter God unmitigated by any mediation.

Jesus did not say God has a spirit rather God is a Spirit (John 4:24). In other words there are no secondary or superficial parts of God. Later, the Apostle Paul said that the Spirit of God communicates directly with our spirit (Romans 8:16). All of this is simply another way of describing the Edenic relationship when God met with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. That closeness has always been God's desire and is a reality we simply need to recognize and enjoy.

May you be filled with, baptized in, and fallen upon by the Holy Spirit even today. If that sounds too ethereal, then may you sense the nearness of God in your life right now and always.

Personal Evangelism - Sunday Leftovers

2009-05-14T12:34:00.003-05:00

Our lesson this past Sunday centered on the matter of sharing our faith with others. I concluded the sermon by offering you, what I believe are two vital characteristics of the person who is effective at this process. The first trait perhaps is the most indispensable and that is that we must care for people. The deeper that care, the more effective we will be in engaging people in spiritual conversation. The second came more in the form of a tip and that was to wake up every day and pray that God will help you cross paths with someone who is in need of His Good News. More appropriately said, pray that God will heighten your awareness so that you will be ready when you do cross paths with that person. It is highly likely that we are intersecting the lives of these people on a daily basis already.

I had five more of these traits/tips to share Sunday but, as it typically goes, I had more sermon than time. Let me list those five additional insights for you now.

1) Earn the right to speak of spiritual things.

Matters like faith, God and spirituality are intimate in nature. To get to them effectively it is only reasonable that you would have to gain the respect of the other through investments of time and concern. Why should someone be convinced that I care about their eternal life if I don't show concern for their temporal one?

2) Respect their journey thus far.

Listen to them. See and validate their spiritual process up to this point. Surely God has been interacting with them before you came into their life.

3) Tell them your story.

Jesus/God is not a doctrine; He is a living experience. There is nothing more compelling than a true story.

4) Be open for God's guidance.

Obviously, this is true in every area of our lives but no where more so than in this, potentially, sensitive area. Surely if God loves people and we are willing to be used by God, He will impress us in ways to be effective in these interactions.

5) Trust God.

Be confident that God is involved in this holy process. He loves even more than you do. The Apostle Paul taught that one plants the seed, another waters it but it is God who gives the increase. We aren't called to do anything more than come alongside people in their journey by hearing their story and sharing ours. God does the rest.

I know these are very basic and I'm sure you already knew them but that's a good thing. It reminds us that this process does not demand a degree or professional status. The truth is, with these simple elements in tow, willingness is the greatest part.

I hope you’re willing today.

Love In Action - Sunday Left Overs

2009-05-06T12:07:00.003-05:00

"Whoever loves is born of God." These are the simple but profound words of the Apostle John, written in his first epistle. Conversely, in the same letter, John said, "Whoever does not love is dead.'' Words that are equally profound.

Sunday, we used I John to look again at the many-splendored subject - love. I think it's a safe guess that of the 300 or so sermons I have prepared and delivered at GP, the topic of love would head the list in terms of subject matter. Frankly, it doesn't take a lot of reflection for me to feel justified in that ratio, for Jesus Himself taught that love was the highest goal for humanity as well as the clearest definition of God.

The desire to BE loved is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, impulses experienced by human beings. To be desired, to be longed for, to be needed, to be respected; to be admired; these are certainly desirable states to find oneself in as well. But to be loved means another deeply cares for you. To be loved means you are seen as having great worth by someone else. Furthermore, that worth is not recognized by the other person for the purpose of their benefit. Instead, you are valued and cared for because of who you are, not because of what advantage you might bring.

Some relationships make us feel like little more than a commodity. Someone else is interested in us only to the extent that we have something they want or need. But before we go much farther down this line of thought, let's be careful to admit that this is not only something we have experienced from others but something we have done as well. For sure, we have been used, but, sadly, we have also used. I can't think of many things that are more demeaning or feel worse than being exploited for someone's gain and then tossed aside when they feel you have no more to offer them. Maybe the only thing that feels worse is when you know YOU have done this to someone. Interestingly, use is the root word of abuse, which simply means to use inappropriately.

To take any other approach than love to a human being, friend or foe, is to fall short of the mark God has called us to. We are called to see the great value of every person and to honor them with treatment that is in line with said value. I hope you see the plain truth of what I just described; this is simply a description of how God treats people, all people. As His devotees, we are called to follow Him on this path of love. Jesus said, "People will know that you are children of God when they see you loving your enemies."

As challenging as the way of love can be at times, there is a way even more difficult - to not love. I am convinced that two of the unhappiest groups of people in the world are haters and users. I am equally convinced that the happiest, most peaceful people I know are lovers, people who genuinely care for the well-being of others. Jesus affirmed this truth when he said, "If you try to save your life you will end up losing it, but if you will lose your life for My sake you will find it."

I challenge you this week to LOVE; to ask God to help you see people the way He does, to treat people in such a way that they sense their inherent belovedness. This week, spend less energy trying to be loved and more energy truly loving. The results may surprise you.

God's peace to you,

Stan

Process of Personal Change

2009-04-24T22:19:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday our focus was on the subject of personal change. Specifically, we focused on God's commitment to not only forgive our mistakes but to work deep inside our lives, transforming us at the root of those mistakes. While I sincerely believe in this type of God-achieved transformation, as a matter of fact it's the only type that I believe yields true change, I also believe that God does not act alone in this process but that we have an unavoidable role to play as well.

This Sunday, our scripture text is I John 3:1-7. It reads: ¹ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. ⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. ⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

From this incredible text, Sunday's focus will be our afore-mentioned role in the process of personal change. All of us want to be better, stronger, deeper people, so... what part of that growth is God's responsibility? What part is ours? How do these roles coincide? How effective can they be, i.e., how much can we really change?

Many are skeptical, even cynical, about the potential of people to truly change, thus the axiom, ''A leopard can not change its spots.'' One of the privileges of my vocation is to have seen that adage debunked over and over again. I can't begin to recount in this space the stories of significant, life-long change that I have witnessed.

My prayer for every one of us is that we might ever be on the Potter's wheel, always prone to God's work and actively complicit in the process of becoming the person God created us to be. I hope you'll be there at one of our services Sunday (9:15 & 11:15) as we examine this incredibly important subject.

See you Sunday,

Stan

Good Friday

2009-04-10T16:32:00.002-05:00

Today is Good Friday, the day we remember our Lord's death. It has always struck me as intriguing that we employ the adjective "Good" to describe that fateful day. Necessary? Unavoidable? Redemptive? There is a good case to be made for these modifiers. And I'm sure there are others which would make sense as well, yet in spite of the many options we have chosen the word "Good."

I'm not saying I disagree with the choice. I am saying, though, that we should be mindful of the rationale behind, and the implications of, this choice. Jesus Christ was crucified. Having lived a life of perfect love and absolute holiness, He was unjustly accused, convicted and torturously murdered. In light of the fact that it is not difficult to see the bad, yea evil, of that Friday, on what grounds, then, do we possibly describe it as "Good?"

The answer? On the grounds of Jesus' own testimony. He was the One who said, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it remains alone. But if it will die it will bring forth much fruit." It was Jesus who said, "No man takes my life from Me. I lay it down for my sheep." To his bewildered and heartbroken disciples, just hours before His abduction, Jesus said, "It is in your best interests that I go away. For if I don't go away the Holy Spirit will not be able to come. But if I go away the Father will send the Holy Spirit to you in my name."

It is fair to say that the Friday in question was, and remains, the single worst Friday since time began. And in what surely must be history's greatest irony, that same Friday was, and remains, the greatest Friday of all time. In one twenty-four-hour span, mankind reached its lowest moral ebb, committing the unfathomable atrocity of killing God when He came and lived among us. And yet in that same small span of time God committed an act of love so Divine that for two thousand years we have been trying to grasp the fullness therein.

On that famous/infamous Friday, God underscored the eternal truth that, ultimately, good is bigger than bad, love is more powerful than hate, and life is larger than death. As the Apostle Paul would later say, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!" And again, it was Paul who declared that on that pivotal weekend, "Death was swallowed up by Life!"

I still find it difficult to say, "Happy Good Friday." Probably never will. And yet I deeply believe, as a matter of fact it is the bedrock of my faith, that my happiness and yours is possible because of the goodness of that day.

I look forward to being with you this Resurrection Sunday to worship the Risen Lord, to partake of His life through communion, and to celebrate together our new life and blessed hope in Him.

Peace,
Stan

Our Last Sunday at Lipscomb

2009-03-28T21:44:00.001-05:00

Time is a mystery. On one hand it seems that our church has been together for decades; so many lives, so many stories - far too much love and laughter, way too many tears and heartbreaks to possibly compress into five and a half years. And yet on the other hand it feels like just a few months ago that 129 of us gathered in the cafeteria at Lipscomb Elementary for our first service.

(I just took a couple minute break between paragraphs because my dad texted me to say that forty one years ago tonight he rushed his, then, twenty-year-old wife to Pekin (Illinois) Memorial Hospital. Within two hours she gave me life and my dad his second boy. In his text, he described seeing me for the first time and said it seemed like only yesterday:) As I was saying... time is indeed a mystery.)

Back to Tennessee and this Sunday. Of the 1500 or so folk who call GracePointe home, less than a hundred of you were there that first service; the rest have been added in one of our 290 Sundays since that first one. The paths to GracePointe have been many and the stories of what this Christ-honoring community has meant to those who have found it fill my heart with more gratitude than I can convey.

Nancy and I have been so busy working alongside our incredible staff, doing whatever it takes to get us onto our new campus, that we really haven't had the time to stop and reflect on these past five years. I tend to be pretty sentimental, sometimes to the point of sappiness, so I predict Sunday might get to me a little. I promise I'll try not to be too maudlin:) The reality is a lot of special things have happened on Sundays at Lipscomb/GracePointe over the past five and a half years so it's reasonable to think there will be a good mix of laughter and tears in our final service there.

I hope everyone will try to be there this Lord's Day, not just for one last sit in those much maligned metal chairs, but to offer our thanks to God for bringing us together, for creating something really special from the humblest of beginnings, and for how God has used this "church in a box" to impact our lives.

See you Sunday,

Stan

Illuminate - Additional Thoughts

2009-03-25T10:38:00.002-05:00

In reference to this past Sunday at GracePointe, I don't even know where to begin. For those of you who were in attendance, you understand. For those who didn't make it, I really wish you could have been with us, as it was a truly remarkable service from start to finish.

The theme of the service was honesty, specifically our need to, first, be honest with ourselves about ourselves. Once we have found the courage to shoot straight with ourselves, we then face the follow-up challenge of being honest with God. When these two inescapable demands of spiritual health have been met, we then must carry that same honesty into our dealings with our fellow human beings, beginning with those closest to us.

While the statements of the previous paragraph may seem like simple understatements or obviously foregone conclusions, experience says that that type of absolute honesty is easier to talk about than to live. One of the most obvious questions in regard to this is why do we find that type of radical commitment to truthfulness so challenging?

While I understand that over generalizing is always a danger and there are no doubt multiple answers to the question, I also am convinced that there is a common culprit faced, especially but not exclusively, by people with religious backgrounds. This pervasive problem stems from their perception of God, specifically, how He perceives their flaws, sins, failings and brokenness.

Through sincere, but flawed, interpretation of the biblical text, the failure of early caregivers who are our earliest pointers to God, or the poor example of Christ's followers, many develop the misguided idea that God is shocked, disgusted and angry at them for the shadow side of their humanity. Once they have determined that the smartest Mind in the universe has this idea, they are defenseless to disagree, concluding that everyone else must share this harsh view as well.

This mindset, perhaps more than any other, sends us into hiding from God, from others and, remarkably, even ourselves. Sadly, this mistaken notion ends up separating us from the very One who desperately desires to help us with the things we THINK cause the separation. I know of nothing that can gently and healingly coax us out of these hiding places more effectively than a loving Christian community - a group of people who get it, who understand and, in turn, represent God well. We must be that people.

My specific prayer this week is that those of you who still feel the need to retreat when you hear God's footsteps "in the cool of the day" will hear Him call for you. I pray you won't hear through old filters which distort the Voice which calls you Beloved, but will hear a tenderness which maybe you've never heard. This tenderness, when finally heard, is a soothing balm for the self-recriminating soul. Like nothing else, it can lead you into the revealing light of God's loving care.

Listen for Him. Maybe you've even heard Him in my letter today. Maybe you felt a tinge of hope as you were reading, something that said this is right, love is bigger than hate, mercy wins over judgment, that you are the Beloved. If you heard those whispers, please believe me, that is the voice, THE VOICE, you've been longing for your whole life. Believe it! It's too good not to be true:)

Peace (truly),
Stan

Illuminate - Introduction

2009-03-20T16:51:00.002-05:00

There is no doubt what is the most well-known scripture verse from the Christian Bible. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” These famous words were spoken by Jesus to an inquisitive religious leader named Nicodemus. Their larger conversation is powerfully captured by the first twenty one verses of John's third chapter and is the foundational text for Sunday's service.

The only problem with a text like this is there are so many possible themes to choose from. It was in this dialogue that Christ spoke of being "born again," referred to the classic Old Testament story of the brazen serpent, as well as gave us Christianity's most noted verse.

The particular line we will take this week grows out of verses nineteen and twenty:

"The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished."

With the help of another New Testament book, I John (also attributed to the Apostle John), we are going to examine the incredibly important idea of truthful living. What does it mean to "walk in darkness" or to "walk in the light"? We are going to ponder sub-themes like confession and what constitutes true Christian fellowship. You might be surprised where these texts take us; I'm sure you'll be encouraged. This is one of my favorite concepts in the entirety of scripture and I can't wait to share it with you.

Helping me this week is one of my favorite singers in the world, Anthony Evans. Anthony grew up in Dallas under the ministry of an incredible pastor and preacher/teacher, his father, Tony Evans. Anthony now lives in Nashville, traveling full-time, ministering in song at some of America's greatest churches. On the rare occasion he's not out singing, he makes GracePointe his home. I've been looking forward to having my friend sing for us for a good while now, and I'm really excited that this Sunday is it!

As always, it is a good thing to gather and worship our God.

See you Sunday,

Stan

A Chair in the Sky Recap

2009-03-18T09:39:00.004-05:00

To my GracePointe family,

I typically call the email I send out on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week, Sunday Leftovers. In it I try to cover material which, for various reasons, I didn't cover in the lesson on that particular Sunday. This week I am adjusting that somewhat, referring to it as a "recap." I consider this past Sunday's theme so important that I want our entire Church family to be exposed to and spend some time reflecting on it. For those who were in attendance, this definitely merits a second look.

So here are the high points (if you weren't in church this past Sunday,I hope you will take the time to go online and watch the sermon or download it in podcast form or even pick up the CD). Our scripture text was from the second chapter of John's gospel, the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem. It is obvious from the story that Jesus believed the Temple was being inappropriately used by some very unscrupulous people for their financial gain. The resulting scene was chaotic and compelling, with Jesus wielding a whip and driving the opportunistic profiteers from the sacred premises.

One very plain contemporary application of the ancient story is that we all need to be careful, or appropriately reverent, in our treatment of sacred spaces (places, times, or things set aside for holy purposes). By careful I don't mean that we should walk fearfully on eggshells so as not to offend a moody deity. I don't believe God is that sensitive or narcissistic. The care I'm referring to is defined by our motives. It seems to me that God recognizes and respects the sincere approach of an undivided heart. Intent is more than nine tenths of His law.

In no way does this exempt us from trying to do things technically correct; it does mean though that protocol is secondary to our heart's reasons. In our biblical story, it is more than apparent that those driven out of the temple by Jesus were critically flawed in the area of motivation or why they were at the house of worship.

In relation to this, the question I asked Sunday, and the train of thought we spent the majority of our focus on, was what are some of the ways we could get sidetracked as and after we move onto our new campus in a couple of weeks? In other words, how could we irreverently, and therefore inappropriately, use this campus that God is providing for us. While I am certain that there are a lot of answers to that question, in particular we spent our time on what I believe is one of the most pervasive and dangerous attitudes presently affecting the western Church as well as western culture in general. It is a sad phenomenon I refer to as Inordinate Consumerism or in our case, Christian Consumerism. Christian Consumerism is defined as the increasingly unrealistic and unfounded expectations Christians place upon the local church as well as parachurch ministries.

Indeed, in our presentation of the Gospel as well as the care and ministries we provide, church leaders (both lay and professional) should strive for a Christ-honoring degree of excellence. There is no excuse for a sloppy, ineffective local church. In no way am I seeking a diminished level of accountability in regard to my vocation as a church leader and presenter of the Good News.
I am though appealing to all of us to be careful as we develop our expectations of what a church should be. Let us make sure our desires are influenced by God's desires and not the increasingly materialistic ethos so pervasive in the West.

Please know, I am not calling for us to be dominated by asceticism (the view that the more deprivation one endures the holier they are), nor to be ungrateful for our access to wonderful technologies and other amenities offered us by modern advancement. I do not see these things as our enemies nor as being intrinsically evil and I am definitely not calling us to avoid their proper use for kingdom purposes. A thousand times no! But as we are attempting to find moderation in our individual lives, teaching our children and reminding ourselves that there is a distinct difference between wants and needs, let us apply this same mature discretion and restraint to our relationship with the church and its ministries.

My appeal is for balance; for us to be careful with our palates and expectations. One way that we can ensure this balance is to maintain a sense of gratitude, even awe, in relation to how advantaged we are. One of the building blocks of Christian Consumerism is a sense of entitlement which, I deeply believe, directly results from a loss of the aforementioned gratitude and awe.

As Lewis C.K. so aptly said in the video clip we watched, "It is startling how quickly we come to demand the things that we found available only ten seconds earlier." C.K.'s routine, captured from his appearance on the Conan O'Brien Show, is best summed up by his insightful line, "Everything is amazing, but nobody's happy!"

My prayer is that as we close our first chapter, the five year stint where we met for corporate worship in, by western standards, a less than ideal setting, we will remind ourselves of how fortunate we really are and also of the Psalmist's words, "God doesn't dwell in temples made by hand." I pray that we will enter this new chapter mindful of the really important stuff, of what truly constitutes a church. There is no doubt, the new campus and building are quite beautiful, but their beauty pales in comparison to the spiritual building God knows as GracePointe. So, may we leave off with too much consumerism and take up the role of awestruck, grateful travelers. May our complaints be few and constructive and may our thankful worship be extended and infectious.

Everything is amazing, and WE ARE happy!

Humbled, grateful and amazed that you would call me pastor,
Stan

Saving Your Soul - Left-Overs

2009-03-11T10:09:00.002-05:00

What would it profit a person to gain the whole world and in the process lose their own soul? And if they did lose it, when they finally came to the end of their life and realized they had, what, of all that they had accumulated, would they give to buy back their soul.

These were the sort of questions we asked ourselves Sunday and they reflect the kind of thinking that many people do as they approach the end of their lives. Obviously, we would be better served to think about these matters before then, yet the fact remains that these concerns are unavoidably heightened as our mortality becomes clearer.

The late author and humorist, Erma Bombeck, who passed away in 1996 at the age of 69, did a very eloquent job of making that point with an article she wrote on the heels of being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Here is the article entitled "If I Had My Life To Live Over Again."

"If I had my life to live over,

I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love you's"... More "I'm sorrys" ...
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back."

I am sure that all of us one day will share Erma's sentiments to some degree. With the exception of Jesus, the truth is, every person will face some measure of regret or second-guessing concerning their time spent on earth. It is in no way my intention to encourage inordinate or paralyzing regret. As a matter of fact I spend a good amount of time encouraging people to be merciful to themselves, to move forward past mistakes and not live constantly looking in the rearview mirror.

The fact remains, though, that we all could probably do better given a second-run at life. Wouldn't it be nice if we had one life to learn with and then a whole other life to live with what we've learned. While we don't have that luxury, we do have the ability to correct, to grow, and to take advantage of second chances. As Christians we have the example of Jesus, the guidance of God's Spirit, the community of believers, etc. to help us maintain a healthy perspective; to help us save our souls.

I pray this week that you are, as Christ said in last week's scripture text, ''seeing things from God's perspective'' as well as taking care of your soul - your true life.

Peace,
Stan

Saving your Soul - Introduction

2009-03-06T11:25:00.001-06:00

In the summer months preceding Jesus' Spring crucifixion, Christ was bringing to a close His Galilean ministry of some two years. As His time there in the north country of Palestine was coming to an end, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that Jesus began openly teaching that he would soon be rejected by the elders and killed. Mark's eighth chapter, verses 31 - 38 (our text this Sunday), tells us that Jesus first made this grave prophecy in Capernaum, the small coastal fishing village which had served as His Galilean command-post.

Mark further records that as soon as Jesus had shared this disturbing piece of insider information, one of His inner circle, Simon Peter, was so bothered that he ''took Jesus aside and rebuked Him'' for saying such things. Christ's response to Peter was quite strong, ''Get behind Me Satan!'' He said, ''For you are looking at things from man's perspective, not God's.''

While Peter was undoubtedly having to recover from Christ's rebuttal, Mark says Jesus gathered His disciples around Him and continued His teaching, making some profound statements and asking some important questions. This Sunday morning we will delve into these statements and questions: 1) ''Whoever desires to be my disciple, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.'' 2) ''Whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will save it.'' 3) ''What would it profit someone if they gained the whole world and lost their soul?'' And finally, 4) ''What would a person give in exchange for their soul?''

Sunday we will flesh out these poignant statements and questions of Jesus in a message I'm calling, ''Saving Your Soul.'' We will further ask questions like: What is a soul? What does it mean to lose your soul? What does it mean to sell your soul? And, what does it mean to save your soul? No doubt, these are important matters for us to spend concentrated time considering.

Looking forward to being together Sunday,

Stan

A little more talk about the devil and temptation...

2009-03-03T16:21:00.002-06:00

Dear GP family,
This past Sunday I titled my sermon, Lent: An Opportunity For Holiness. Our scripture text was Mark's account of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Mark 1:9-15). For centuries the Christian Church has used this event from the life of Jesus as inspiration for our forty days of preparation prior to Easter.

In the sermon, I spent some time focusing on the specific temptations posed by the devil to Jesus, and how this sensational story might apply to our lives. What I didn't mention but think is also helpful to remind ourselves of, is a very important truism regarding the nature of temptation in general. And that is that temptation generally comes by stealth and disguise; it is seldom obvious. I think we are misled when we see this encounter in the Judean wilderness in Hollywood form, with Jesus and a yellow-eyed, sulfurous breathed Satan in a cartoonish clash of the Titans.

It is highly more likely that this wrestling match was an invisible, yet no less real or devilish, struggle within Christ's mind. Jesus was, for forty days, wrestling with the will of God, repeatedly facing three alternative paths which all seemed to lead to good destinations. There was immense room for rationalization, room for Jesus to convince Himself that these three options were justifiable, even desirable. And yet, In His deepest parts, He knew these avenues were not the Father's plan. So, wrestle with evil He did, in the form of three apparently excellent offers.

When looked at this way, Christ's forty day struggle in the desert is much more applicable to our lives. If evil came to us in the visible form of a ghoulish fiend we would all have the sense to run. But it doesn't. Life's most pivotal moments of decision come clandestine, so benign that they often slip past our defenses. Generally, temptation doesn't involve abject immorality as it's bait, rather it focuses on good results achieved in damaging ways. Christ's most formidable temptation was to take shortcuts to good ends. Most of our temptations are the same.

Turn stones to bread. In a world filled with desperately hungry people, why not? Jump from the parapet of the temple and be caught by angels. In a world longing to believe in a caring God, why not display that care in a dramatic way? Immediately assume the rule of all the kingdoms of men. In a world full of genocide, oppression, slavery and war, WHY NOT? The answer(s) to those three ''why nots'' required committed soul work. And that's just what Jesus did.
Jesus temptations, though, did not end in the wilderness. Later his well-intentioned disciples would implore Him to ''avoid the cross.'' And then there was Gethsemane where He wrestled with the reality that He possessed the ability to opt out of the Father's plan at any time. And yet He knew the painful, human process was the only way. He refused to use the ''power of the Spirit,'' choosing instead the path of service.

To arrive at that place, Jesus had to meet and faithfully process deep temptation on multiple occasions. To live successful, healthy lives we must follow His example, recognizing the subtle ways darkness presents itself, realizing, as did He, that the battle is within us. Justification, rationalization, slight compromises, hedging, white lies, convenient deafness - all of these are the temptor's weapons.

Sometimes I think it would be a lot easier if the battle were more blatant, but the fact that it's not is half the strategy. The battleground is in our minds. Don't be fooled into looking for the gross and sensational. Instead be wary of the nuanced and subtle ways evil lures us. And finally, don't be afraid... our hope of victory rests in Christ's strength and example. I hope we will all spend this Lenten season opening our lives, possibly as never before, to that strength and to that example.
Peace,

Stan

Lent: An Opportunity Holiness - Introduction

2009-02-28T09:17:00.000-06:00

Since the first of the year, in our worship services we have been following Jesus from His infancy through the early stages of His earthly/bodily ministry. We heard the wise men from the east ask the question so many before and after them have offered, ''Where is He?'' We followed Jesus from His hometown, Nazareth of Galilee, down to Judea where He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. We watched as He moved northward back to Galilee where He would do the bulk of His teaching and miracles, assimilating along the way an inner core of twelve disciples as well as a large grass-roots following that unsettled the authorities, both religious and civil.

We saw his predecessor, the greatest prophet, John, imprisoned and ultimately executed for preaching the Kingdom of God. With John behind bars, Jesus assumed his message and his followers, proclaiming everywhere He went the Good News of the Kingdom. The lame walked, the blind saw and the dead were raised to life again - the crowds could only grow. And grow and grow they did until He could no longer enter cities for the throng. So He recessed to the rural places where the masses filled the open fields and seashores to be near Him.

At the height of His popularity and in the midst of His busyness we followed Him, in the early hours of the morning, to a ''lonely place'' where He spent precious time in prayer. We saw the disciples find Him there, reminding Him of the neediness of the people looking for Him. He conceded, following them out of that devotional solitude into an encounter with a leprous man whom He miraculously healed, setting the Mosaic Law on its ear in the process.

Last week we moved ahead to the end of His Galilean ministry and observed Him take James, John and Peter up a mountain where He was transfigured before their eyes. As if that weren't enough, they also saw Moses and Elijah appear from the netherworld to converse with Jesus about the implications of His impending death. Upon descending the mountain, Luke said, ''He (Jesus) steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.'' We used that text to prepare our hearts for the Season of Lent, the season the Christian church annually sets aside for the purpose of refocusing, reflecting and realigning our lives with the purposes of the Kingdom of God. I have high hopes that our GP community will take this time very seriously and in a few weeks find ourselves celebrating Resurrection Sunday with a renewed vigor and deepened commitment.

This Sunday we will do some good backtracking, chronologically speaking, in the life of Christ. Immediately following His baptism and just prior to launching His Galilean ministry, Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where, for forty days, He was tempted by Satan. As far as I'm concerned, those are forty of the most intriguing days of Christ's life. So intriguing are they, that we as a church have lifted the number of those days, imposing it upon the time we call Lent.

The gospel writers say that Jesus fasted the entirety of those forty days and was ministered to by angels. Furthermore, they say that Jesus went into the wilderness ''full of the Holy Spirit'' yet came forth ''in the power of the Spirit.'' While I'm sure I haven't fully wrapped my mind around the differences between those two phrases, I am sure that there are differences. And I am also confident that the supremacy of Christ's latter relationship to the Holy Spirit was directly related to the forty days of special devotion He committed Himself to in the wilderness.

This confidence translates for me to a deep conviction that if we follow Christ's example we will enjoy the fullness of His life. Come Sunday, and let's process this incredible text and story from the life of Jesus together. It's one of my favorites, and I think you'll see why, not only as we study it together but even more as we LIVE it together.

See you Sunday,
Stan

Transfiguration and the Lenten Journey - Left Overs

2009-02-24T16:06:00.000-06:00

This is an important message for all of us but especially so for those who were unable to be at our 10:15 worship service this past Sunday. The theme of Sunday's sermon was centered around preparing ourselves for the Season of Lent - the space of time between Ash Wednesday (tomorrow) and Easter; a season set apart by the Christian Church for the purpose of taking stock and spiritual reflection.

Preparation for this very meaningful seven week period includes, first, reminding ourselves of Lent's purpose and, second, deciding what part of our normal routine we could alter to serve that purpose. Remember, Lent is not just about giving up something for the sake of giving up something. A thousand times no! God doesn't need or desire those kinds of mindless sacrifices to appease Him or assuage His ''wrath.'' Instead, we delete, or add for that matter, something from our daily routine for the purpose of piqueing our attention, reminding us to pause and reflect on Christ and his journey to Jerusalem.

Admittedly, there are many spiritual needs, as well as the attendant exercises that address those needs, in the life of a Christ follower. One of these needs is to have a sense of purpose in life, to find and cultivate a sense of meaning. The Lenten Season is a wonderful exercise for this pursuit in that we are called alongside Jesus in His very intentional trek toward His purpose.

For these forty days we focus on our Lord, especially on the last few months of His earthly/bodily ministry. We pay careful attention to those days in which He resolutely made His way to the place of His betrayal, crucifixion and victorious resurrection.

I hope you will take this time seriously and commit yourself to the exercise of Lent. Find something to add or subtract from your life and allow the daily exercise of this alteration/discipline to serve as a tool, opening a portal to Christ and His example.

In the course of my message Sunday I mentioned a book, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, that applies powerfully to the matter of finding purpose in life. Two other books that I highly recommend on the same subject are: Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer and Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee. Any one of these three would be a great companion to you as we move with Christians everywhere along the Lenten journey toward Resurrection Sunday.

If you have questions or thoughts about the Season of Lent, as always, I would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Stan

Transfiguration and the Lenten Journey - Introduction

2009-02-21T22:22:00.000-06:00

Per the Christian Church's calendar, this Sunday is the last Sunday of the Epiphany Season. Remember, the Season of Epiphany is the period of time between Christmas and the Lenten Season (Lent being the 40 non-Sunday days leading up to Easter).

While epiphany generically means manifestation, for many centuries Christians have set aside the first few weeks of the year to commemorate the special manifestation of God through Christ, calling this time the Season of Epiphany. During these days, special emphasis is given to the stories of the Wise Men from the East (the Magi), Christ's first miracle at Cana (water into wine), and His Baptism by John the Baptist.

A large part of the Church marks the last Sunday of the Epiphany season by focusing on the story of Christ's transfiguration; an event that occurred towards the end of Jesus' Galilean ministry and just before ''He set His face to go to Jerusalem.'' Christ's journey to Jerusalem, the place He would meet His fate, has also served for centuries as the inspiration and model for our Lenten journeys.

This Sunday we will be preparing our hearts for the Season of Lent by joining churches around the world focusing on the gospel story of Christ's transfiguration (Mark 9:2-13). While Christ's baptism is traditionally called the ''Great Epiphany,'' the Transfiguration is referred to as the ''Small Epiphany.'' They are thus recognized because of the express manifestation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at both occasions.

I don't think it is coincidental that Christ's Lenten journey was preceded by such a profound, epiphanous experience as the Transfiguration. I personally believe when life is healthy it has a rhythm to it, an ebb and a flow if you will, or, as I said a few weeks ago, a breathing in and a breathing out. Life naturally and properly cycles through highs and lows, contemplation and action, fullness and emptiness, joy and sorrow, companionship and aloneness, etc., etc.

As we move toward Resurrection Sunday via the Lenten path, let's not do so haphazardly or thoughtlessly. Let's join together Sunday with intentionality, preparing our hearts for a journey with Christ toward finding our purpose, our meaning in this world, just as He ultimately found His in Jerusalem. Be thinking about how you might alter your normal routine for Lent, not as a matter of mindless, meaningless tradition but as a focusing mechanism.

Let's gather this Sunday to celebrate our epiphanies and transfigurations as we also commit ourselves to our Jerusalem/Lenten journeys.

See you Sunday,

Stan

On Cleansing and Shame - Left-Overs

2009-02-17T10:04:00.001-06:00

Last week as I was preparing for yesterday's sermon I knew I would be using the story of the law-breaking leper found in Mark 1:40-45. The only real challenge I had with such a remarkable text was isolating just one theme for the upcoming message.

Last Tuesday, as I worked through the passage with some friends, I quickly realized it was overflowing with more insight and inspiration than one sermon could contain. From these six verses we identified several sermon-worthy ideas. Let me give you a couple of the sermon themes that you almost heard:

1) Perhaps the most intriguing one grew out of the leprous man's plaintive appeal to Jesus found in verse 40: ''If you want to, you can make me well again.'' Verse 41 says, ''Moved with pity, Jesus touched him and said, 'I want to, be healed!''' Instantly the desperate man was healed and the leprosy disappeared.

What makes this incident so compelling to me are the first four words of the man's petition: ''If you want to...'' Regarding those words, my mind is filled with some inescapable questions. Questions like: Does God want to heal us? Always? Is there ever a time when He doesn't want to? Why? When we ask God to heal us and we aren't, does that mean He didn't want to? Are there other possible reasons for our entreaties not being positively answered? What could some of those be?

Suffering with illness is bad enough without having the added trauma of thinking God doesn't care or Divine indifference. This story from Mark's gospel is especially comforting to me because of the first three words of Christ's response, ''I want to...'' He said. I deeply believe those words are indicative of the Father's heart, of a God who is anything but indifferent. Why we don't always get the desired outcome from our prayers is, admittedly, a mystery fraught with complexities we may never fully understand.

2) The next point of interest stems from Jesus' interaction with the Mosaic Law. It is often and correctly pointed out that Christ, by receiving and touching the leprous man, broke the Law. It must also be noted, though, that after healing the man, Jesus then observed the same Law he had just broken. By sending the man to the priest for the official sanction of his newfound cleanness, Jesus was joining the healed one in submission to the Mosaic Code.

Jesus would later speak to the possible confusion caused by this type of perceived contradiction, saying, ''Don't think that I came to destroy the Law, rather I came to fulfill it.''(Matthew 5) By Christ's estimation, breaking the law did not constitute destroying it and even in certain situations would be necessary to fulfill it! Jesus knew that there was a spirit or intent undergirding every individual law in the Law. He also knew that strict adherence to the technical details of the law did not necessarily indicate a transformed, purely motivated heart.

While the above is indeed true, it must also be noted that Jesus did not come as a raging iconoclast tearing down Moses teaching. As a matter of fact, He always was careful to observe the law, that is, until He saw it in opposition to human need. In those moments, He repeatedly seized the opportunity to teach a new Law - one that fulfilled all of the old.

That Law, the Apostle Paul later called, ''The Law of Christ.''(Galatians 6) A new standard ''written not on tablets of stone but on the fleshly tablets of the heart.'' A law of love, born out of a relationship, one that would not come merely from black letters on a white page, but would be conveyed by the whispers of God's promised Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.

Whew! I could write all night on that one but you better get back to your Tuesday and every one in my house is asleep on this cold Monday night so I think I'm going to join them and send this out in the morning.

Peace,
Stan