October 2005 Monthly Letter

Dear Partner in Changing Young Lives,

Jesus said "when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convince the world of sin."

I love to get people into God's Word. It is "living and active" and brings about change. This was especially evident in the life of a strong, young, budding-athlete, Chris.

He came to the men's session with his dad. He had a Marine type haircut, walked with a cocky-confident strut, displayed a "chain" tatoo on his muscular right arm, and had a Bible tucked under his bulging left bicep. A real macho type!

I always insist participants bring a Bible to each session-one that can be marked! (I am alarmed by the number of church attenders who are biblically illiterate and unfamiliar with other than very baby-basic biblical passages!)

You would be surprised when I ask participants to turn to a familiar book like John how many of them turn immediately to the index in their Bibles!!!

Our mission statement is "to upbuild men, women, and children in practical expressions of their Christian faith." One of the reasons God blesses UpBuilding Ministries is because of its emphasis on the Word of God and its practical application in each session.

As stated in Luke 5:17: "…Jesus was teaching…and the power of the Lord was with Him to heal. "Whenever the Word is taught there is power to change lives…and to heal!

Well, back to Chris. The theme of the men's session was "Becoming a man after the heart of God." David is the model. He is the only person in all the Bible referred to as being such a man!

Why David? One of the reasons is that he immediately confessed his sins when the Holy Spirit spoke through Nathan the prophet and convicted him of his sins against God, Bethseba, her husband Uriah, the people he served as king, Israel, and himself.

After studying David's actual prayer of confession, recorded in Psalms 51, I ask each man to take his Bible, find a secluded place somewhere on the church property, meditate on verses 1-12, and then pray David's prayer out loud before returning.

Chris came back fighting tears in his eyes and asked to speak to me privately. Here is what he said: "I've been coming to church since I was a child. Mostly of late 'cause of my parents. I'm a jock. Big on sports. Known as kind of a tough guy. I've never heard God speak to me personally. But today He did." (with this confession the tears came pouring out! As we hugged, I could feel the groanings coming from his quivering diaphragm!)

Parting from the hug, he went on to say: "The Lord spoke to me about my sins through that Psalm. It was like it was written for me…and by me! I'm glad you insisted we read it out loud. It really made a difference for me. I confessed all my sins to Him and felt such a peace and release of my sins after I did it. I can't describe it. I guess my tears do it better than my words. Whew! (He gave a deep sigh accompanied by a wide smile.)

After this I had the privilege of leading him to receive Jesus as the One God had sent to forgive and cleanse him of all of his sins. I also marked passages in his Bible that I encouraged him to memorize and gave him some practical principles to ensure his continual growth in Christ.

Thank you for your support that enables the power of God to change lives through His Word!