Jason Stonehouse

So one of the big challenges I’ve had this summer has been what seems to be an apparent movement of God. What I mean is I’ve been praying since late Spring, I’ve been talking with several Godly people, then I prayed with and talked with our staff team in early August. And we all get the “sense” that God is going to do something big this upcoming year at Grace Church. But how far can you take a “sense”? I mean I’m confident it’s not just some bad pepperoni pizza, because the sense has grown as the months have gone on. Random people have come up and talked to me about a “sense” they have that something special is happening among us. So when does a “sense” become a honest to God “belief”? I get so fearful because I’ve seen “God told me….” used so loosely by people and also used as justification or rationalization for outright, ungodly behavior. So, I’m quite fearful of just using the phrase because of how it’s been abused.

So, I did it! I made the annual Minnesotan pilgrimage to the great get-together known as the State Fair. The one event all year, you’ll need a second mortgage just to afford the cheese curds. But hey, it’s what all the Minnesotans are doing, right? The event started for me this year back in June. Jessica, my oldest picked up a flyer about a “reading program” at the library. From what I understand, she needed to read for 20 hours and then she got some prizes, one of these prizes was a free ticket to the State Fair. “A ticket”, one ticket, to the State Fair for an 8 year old. These guys aren’t dumb, they know every 8 year old they give a ticket to will be tagging along at least one parent who will need to pay full price admission. Even though I swore we wouldn’t do it this year, they got me – and I went.

A couple of weeks ago (August 15) we talked through the heartbeat and focus of our church particularly in the days to come. And while I’d love to have everyone listen to the whole message, I realize some like to get the content in more “bite-size” pieces. So over the next couple of days/weeks I thought I would give you a couple of pieces of the sermon so you can either be reminded of the heart or hear it for the first time.