Jan. 14, 2008 -- Residents of Tempe, Arizona expect 300 days of sunshine each year, but for those who know the Lord Jesus the Son shines every new day that comes. This past weekend I was privileged to share in the divine warmth and glow with approximately 240 believers and children of all ages at the Tempe Church of Christ and to meet gracEmail subscribers both local and visiting. On Sunday morning, I gave two Power Point presentations on some ways God guides his people. We first found each method of guidance in the Book of Acts, then illustrated each with similar stories from church history and today. In the first session, we considered God's leading through the Spirit speaking (audibly or inaudibly), through the faith-community's prayerful discernment of the Spirit's will and by a word of prophecy. Session two looked at examples of a specific Scripture "speaking" with special clarity, dreams and visions, and open and closed doors.

We emphasized that God guides us overwhelmingly through the Bible's own general teaching and examples, especially that of Jesus himself, and that Scripture is a "canon" or rule for measuring "revelation" that comes through any other channel. This means that while God does not guide through the Bible only, he guides through it both first and finally. We considered that God's guidance is cause for peace and not for panic, since his will is not some detailed secret which if we miss at any given point costs us his presence throughout life. We also stressed that God seems to utilize some means of guidance more frequently than others and that in these matters we should not expect the extraordinary to become the ordinary.

Though in Tempe only about 26 hours, I was able to enjoy leisurely periods of mutual testimony and encouragement with the congregation's shepherds and their wives (Dean & Anita Todd, Norm & Karen Ultis, Darryl & Ann Starling and George & Nancy Burney) as well as with its new preacher, Dennis Webber and wife Linda, recently moved from Maryland through the evident guidance of God. I was blessed by the Webbers' maturity (Dennis is 61), pastoral heart and prayerful spirit, and by the passion of the shepherds and their spouses for Christ, their love for their fellow-believers and their unflinching commitment to spiritual development as the first priority for the church.

Upon entering the church's meeting place, one immediately senses a spirit of openness, joy and "family." Church volunteers go each year to Mexico and build two rudimentary houses. The church has a vision to extend its outreach to students at nearby Arizona State University (a prior work there was decimated by the then-cultlike "International Churches of Christ"). The Tempe church has suffered in recent years by several strikes of the Serpent at the heel of Jesus Christ, but it has found refuge, healing and strength in God's love and grace. These believers now are eager to move forward in the power of the Spirit as God crushes Satan under their feet (Rom. 16:20). If you ever have opportunity to share their company, you will be richly blessed.

For more on nature and travels, click here.