Illuminate - Introduction

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

Saving your Soul - Introduction

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

Lent: An Opportunity Holiness - Introduction

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