Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are God’s Presence”

“Filled With The Holy Spirit”

Isaiah 6:1-8

John 3:1-17

True north differs from magnetic north, which varies from place to place due to local magnetic anomalies. A magnetic compass almost never shows true north. To find true north from a magnetic compass you have to know the local magnetic variation and how it is varying over time. Finding true north is essential for accurate navigation. Hence the metaphor. In life’s journey we are often uncertain where we stand, where we are going and what is the right path for us personally. Knowing our true north would enable us to follow the right path.[1]

In the winter of 1968, Brennan Manning lived in a cave in the Zaragosa Desert in Spain. The cave was six thousand feet above the sea, and he never saw another human face or heard a human voice apart from Sunday mornings when a Franciscan brother would bring him food, water, and kerosene for his lamp. Brennan Manning in The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus writes, “On the night of December 13, 1968, I heard Jesus say, ‘For love of you I left my Father’s side. I came to you who ran from me, who fled me, who did not want to hear my name. For love of you I was covered with spit, punched, and beaten, and fixed to the wood of the cross.’”[2] What a statement of God’s love for us and how resting in that love gives us true north direction, through the Holy Spirit, for our lives.

Isaiah saw God and heard the seraphs cry out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty.” God had a vision for humanity…for Isaiah. King Uzziah had been a godly man until the latter years of his reign. He lost direction for his life and that of the kingdom. Following King Uzziah’s death, God gave Isaiah a vision for his life and the lives of the people of God. Isaiah was created in the image of God. The Holy Spirit resides in the image of God. Isaiah cried out to God, “Woe to me!” Isaiah confessed his sin to God. Self-awareness is not negative. A seraph came to him, touched his lips with a burning coal, declared to Isaiah that his guilt had been taken away, and that atonement had been made for his sin. God then asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah responded, “Here am I; send me!”

John 3 addresses one’s recognition of being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that is with us in the image of God. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the beginning of conversion or what in John 3 is called being born again. Wayne Grudem defines born again as “the scriptural term referring to God’s work of regeneration by which he imparts new spiritual life to us.”[3] Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council came to Jesus by night. He said to Jesus in John 3:2-3, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God. Jesus answered him. ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from above.’” Nicodemus responded immediately to Jesus’ statement in John 3:4-6, “How can anyone be born having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Sensing Nicodemus’ urgency Jesus replied, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” By being born of the Spirit, we are a new creation. We receive this new life from the Spirit by faith. Jesus does not condemn us, but gives us life. Being born again is rooted in God’s love for God’s creation, not condemnation. God freely chose to love you and me, despite our sinful condition. It is by no merit of our own that caused God to love us. God freely chose to love you and me, despite our sinful condition. Being born of the Spirit negates death having the last word. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means we have freedom to love God and one another creating community that does not hold on to the spirit of this world.[4]

On this Trinity Sunday, let us not forget that God dwells within us. God is fully engaged as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of our lives…all of life…in all ways and at all times. Again, Manning writes,

How long have you been a Christian? How long have you been living in the Spirit? Do you know what it is to love Jesus Christ? Do you know what it is to have your love unsatisfied, endured in loneliness, and ready to burst your restless, ravenous heart? Do you know what it is to have the pain taken away, the hole filled up, to reach out and embrace this sacred Man and say sincerely, “I cannot let you go. In good times and bad, victory and defeat, my life has no meaning without you.” If this experience has not illuminated your life with its brilliance, then regardless of age, disposition, or state of life, you do not understand what it means to be a Christian.[5]

God’s eternal being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is present in the world bringing about salvation through you. Wherever we see works of love, peace, and justice, we know God is at work. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn, but to save.^[6]

Like Nicodemus, be born again. The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s true north. Self-awareness is the beginning of clarifying true north for one’s life. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is necessary for accurate navigation in one’s life. Living in the Spirit, you are connected to God and others. Jesus loves you. Know God’s love for you. Rest in it. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads you to discern true north. Alleluia, Amen.

This sermon was preached on Trinity Sunday, 26 May 2024 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

at Grace Presbyterian Church in the Great Room and Sanctuary in Wichita, Kansas.

Copyright © 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Webster’s Online.

[2]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 173.

[3]Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 480.

[4]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of J. Clinton McCann Jr., Robert A. Ratcliff, Joel Marcus Lemon, Erica A. Knisely, Claudio Carvalhaes, Renata Furst and Susan K. Olson in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 2-4, 4-6, 7-9, 10- 11, 12-13, 14-16 and 16-18.

[5]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, 174.

[6]Some ideas in this paragraph are gleaned from Donald K. McKim and Kristen Emery Saldine in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 26-31.

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are God’s Presence”

“The Holy Spirit”

Acts 2:17, 21

an excerpt from Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), 166-167.

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

The better you know yourself, you will make better choices.^[1] There’s a story about choices and it goes like this:

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said, “Jesus knows you’re here.” He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more, he shook his head and continued. Just as he pulled the stereo out, so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard “Jesus is watching you.” Startled, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. “Did you say that?” he hissed at the parrot. “Yes”, the parrot confessed, then squawked, “I’m just trying to warn you that he’s watching you.” The burglar relaxed. “Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?” “Moses,” replied the bird. “Moses?” the burglar laughed. “What kind of people would name a bird Moses?” “The kind of people who would name a Rottweiler Jesus.”^[2]

Being known by God and knowing God is the key to knowing yourself. And thus, better decision making when presented with a choice.

At the time of our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, a celebration was upon Jerusalem, one which took place every year, fifty days after Passover, the “Feast of Weeks.” The “Feast of Weeks” was the offering of barley sheaf. The people would gather at the temple to thank God for the harvest. During the “Feast of Weeks” the disciples were gathered along with all devout Jews who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit was poured out on all humanity just as Jesus promised. All who were gathered were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Peter preached the good news. Many began to follow Jesus. The Church began. As Emmanuel Y. Lartey, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, notes, “The community of Christ’s faithful people will be connected to God and one another by the Spirit’s work of guiding, leading, revealing, and reminding…Through the enabling presence of the Spirit, every need for care and support we have in all of life’s difficult and painful circumstances can be met.”[3]

[4]

Christians renamed the “Feast of Weeks,” Pentecost. Pentecost occurs fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection. The Church observes Pentecost, because of the miracle of God’s Spirit being poured out upon all humanity. The Spirit leads us into all the truth. The way we know truth is through the miracle of the Spirit called forgiveness. Through the forgiveness we receive from God, in and through Jesus Christ, and others…the forgiveness we give others and ourselves…truth sets us free. Brennan Manning in The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus writes,

We cannot possess the mind of Christ until we recognize ourselves as forgiven enemies of God and in like manner extend forgiveness and reconciliation to our own enemies. Jesus Christ crucified is not merely a heroic example to the church; he is the power of God, a living force transforming our lives through his Word: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).^[5]

Receive forgiveness. Forgive others.

Choose belief not disbelief. You are known by God and can know God. The Holy Spirit is God living with us. Believe that the Holy Spirit is before you, above you, behind you, beneath you, beside you, and inside you. Call on Jesus and be saved. Believe and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Pentecost, 19 May 2024 by

the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.

Copyright © 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Idea gleaned from Gregg Braden, The Turning Point (Carlsbad, California: Hay House, Inc., 2014), 15.

[2]Taken from “Timeline Photos” on Facebook, April 27, 2013.

[3]Emmanuel Y. Lartey in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 24.

[4]In the four paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Warren Carter, Wendy Farley, David Gambrell, Christopher T. Holmes, Mark F. Sturgess, Lance B. Pape, and Jason Byassee in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 297-299, 299-301, 302-303, 304-306, 306-307, 308-310, and 310-311.

[5]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 166-167.

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are The Conduit”

“Being A Builder of Bridges”

Psalm 1

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

John 17:6-19

In my life, I’ve struggled with ambition. Oh, ambition is important, but when it controls many of one’s moves, it’s dangerous. At times in my career, who I knew, what church I served, and how successful I was were compelling validators of me in my ministry. My self-importance became controlling, pride was deeply rooted, and “image management” ruled the day. My sense of self was not effective at building bridges. In fact, I was pretty good at making sure I was the only person on the Island. I was determined to be self-sufficient.

Psalm 1, Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, and John 17:6-19 lead us to this conclusion. “Like the foundation in a house, the keel in a ship, and the heart in a body”[1] keeps the house, ship, and body functioning properly, so your relationship with God keeps you becoming more like Jesus. Doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God matter.

In Psalm 1, one of the Lectionary texts for today that was not read this morning, the Hebrew word “Torah” is translated “law.” The word “law,” however, does not capture the full meaning of Torah. The word “Torah” comes from the verb “to teach.” With that etymology, Torah implies the practice of instruction. Instruction captures a relationship between teacher and pupil. To be a bridge builder, one must be in relationship with God and under the instruction of God. God is our teacher. We are God’s pupils. As trees are in relationship with “streams of water” and prosper, so will the people of God prosper as they are in relationship with God. According to Psalm 1, the wicked have yet to experience their salvation. Therein lays the urgency of our relationship with God and being under the instruction of God. We are to love others. Why? Psalm 1:6 reads, “…the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Loving others, then, provides an opportunity for the wicked to be encountered by God and just perhaps turn away from “wickedness” and turn to righteousness. Therein lies the possibility of a bridge being built between you and the other person.

In Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, the disciples are regrouping after Jesus’ ascension. They are still fearful, yet a bit more confident and “down one.” Judas had hanged himself. And so, they tended to their organization from a leadership perspective. The disciples were mindful of their ancestral roots…the twelve tribes of Israel…the twelve sons of Jacob. After hearing Peter’s sermon, the 120 members of the community of faith recommended Matthias and Justus to replace Judas. They cast lots. Casting lots was a method used by the Jews of the Old Testament and by Christian disciples prior to Pentecost to determine the will of God. Lots could be sticks with markings or stones with symbols that were thrown into a small area and then the result was interpreted.[2] Matthias was selected. He was not well-known. We do not hear anything else about Matthias, this new disciple, in the New Testament. Barbara K. Lindblad, Associate Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, writes, “…we can be grateful for the witness of those who are so little known.”[3]

John 17:6-19 unequivocally states that the Father loves the world and sent the Son into the world to save the world not condemn it. And the church is sent into the world to do likewise; love, not condemn. Jesus says in John 17:6, 15-16, 18, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they kept your word…. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one…. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” The Father sent the Son into the world. Jesus lived the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus sent his disciples then, sends them now, and will send them tomorrow into the world to remember, tell, and live the way of Jesus. Jesus’ message is radical. It challenges humans in their ways. Religion, law, and culture all challenge the way of Jesus. Jesus calls his followers to become holy, make all the world holy, and to be so much like him that no one would see life anywhere but in Jesus.[4]

How easy it is to have disdain for the seeming “nobody’s” in our midst. Richard Lischer in his book Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey through a Country Church, writes about his coming to terms with having a PhD in theology and being bitter about being assigned to a small rural church in the middle of no-where. Lischer notes that in his first sermon he quoted James Joyce, Heidegger, Camus, and Walker Percy. Looking back on that first sermon and over the course of his tenure, Rev. Lischer realized that he failed to honor the ordinary people of faith who sat in the pews. There were the times they helped one another put up hay before the rains came, grieved when a neighbor lost his farm, and together, walked the fields every April, blessing the seeds before planting them. These are all signs of “church” that were worthy of mention in the Sunday homily.[5]

Often, we lose the roll of the dice, just like Justus. I imagine, Justus continued to love Jesus and share his testimony with others. Often when I lose the roll of the dice, I stew in self-pity. How could I be overlooked, as if the rolling of the dice had any objective reality? Brennan Manning in The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus writes,

The heart of God is Jesus’s hiding place, a strong protective space where God is near, where connection is renewed, where trust, love, and self-awareness never die but are continually rekindled. In times of opposition, rejection, hatred, and danger, Jesus retreats to that hiding place where he is loved. So essential is this connection that Jesus encourages his disciples to take up the same practice of rest and respite.^[6]

We, too, must go to that “hiding place”, the heart of God, for rest, respite, and renewal. And then reengage the world with the good news of Jesus for eternal and abundant life.

Our everyday life occurrences are opportunities to be “church.” Stuff happens my friends, but the testimony of God’s love for us and others goes on. That is bridge building. The work of “Justice, together”, is an opportunity for each one of us to be bridgebuilders. Let’s build bridges my friends. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia, Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, 12 May 2024 by

the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.

Copyright © 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament VII, Psalms 1-150, ed. Craig A. Blaising and Carmen S. Hardin (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 2.

[2]This definition of “casting lots” was adapted from the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry website, carm.org.

[3]Barbara K. Lundblad in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2, 529.

[4]In the four paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Warren Carter, Wendy Farley, David Gambrell, Christopher T. Holmes, Mark F. Sturgess, Lance B. Pape, and Jason Byassee in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 297-299, 299-301, 302-303, 304-306, 306-307, 308-310, and 310-311.

[5]Some ideas in this paragraph adapted from Richard Lischer, Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey through a Country Church (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 75.

[6]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 123-124.

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are The Conduit”

“Being A Righter of Wrongs”

Acts 8:26-40

John 15:1-8

Evidence is important, particularly when it comes to the claims we make about Jesus and his importance in our lives. Dr. Jerry Root, Professor of Evangelism and Director of the Wheaton Evangelism Initiative, Billy Graham Center, relates the following story:

While my flight was delayed, I met a woman in the Vienna airport. She was wearing a lanyard with a name tag and carrying a clipboard and obviously taking a survey for the airport. When she came to me, I asked what her name was. “Allegra,” she replied. “Allegra, are you from Vienna?” She answered, “No, I grew up in southern Austria.” With that answer came the permission to ask, “What brought you to Vienna?” She said she was a student. This opened the door to more questions. Where did she go to school? What was she studying? After 20 minutes or so I knew [Allegra’s] mother abandoned the family to go to Canada with her lover, her father’s bitterness was toxic, and her brother also attended the University of Vienna, but that they were estranged. When I expressed my sadness for what seemed to be a good deal of estrangement from the people closest to her, she said it was far worse than she confided. She told me she had a boyfriend who went to study art in Florence for six months. He asked her to wait for him, and she did so. Her boyfriend returned the very day before I met Allegra only to inform her, he met somebody better in Florence. I knew where God was wooing her…and the deep felt need where Allegra was likely to hear the gospel. [To this point] she had not asked me one question. I said to her that I knew she had a survey to fill out but that I had been sent to tell her something. She wondered if I was a plant, put there by the airport, to see if she was doing her job. I assured her it was nothing like that, but I had something to say to her once she finished her survey questions. She rushed through the airport’s survey, looked me in the eye, and eagerly asked, “What were you supposed to tell me?” Knowing that Allegra felt abandoned and betrayed, I said to her, “Allegra, the God of the universe knows you and loves you; He would never abandon you or forsake you.” I said it to her again: “Allegra, he loves you!” Sometimes, it takes three times before the words sink in, so I said it again: “Allegra, he loves you!” After the third time she burst into loud sobs…Through her tears, Allegra blurted out, “But I’ve done so many bad things in my life!” I responded, “Allegra, God knows all about it and that’s why he sent Jesus to die on the Cross for all of your sins and to bring you forgiveness and hope.” I was explaining the gospel to ears willing to hear and a heart willing to receive.[1]

Do we live our lives with the confidence that God is already at work in every person’s life? Like Dr. Jerry Root, God will use your witness, your words and deeds, to right the wrongs in someone’s life.

Acts 8:26-40 and John 15:1-8 set forth this principle for our consideration: it is

the Holy Spirit who makes the gospel freely move forward. It is the Holy Spirit that advances the gospel across cultural, societal, geographical, and economic boundaries. Because we abide in Christ, what we ask and desire will resemble what Jesus asks and desires. And what is that? Justice and righteousness for all creation.

In Acts 8: 26-40, it is the Spirit “moved” Philip to act and teach the good news. Philip stopped what he was doing and went down from Jerusalem to Gaza. On arrival, Philip sees the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading, aloud, a passage in Isaiah 53. Philip asks the Ethiopian eunuch if he understands it. Philip resists the temptation to avoid being involved. Eunuchs were neutered male human beings. They were castrated at a young age to perform social functions for royalty and not ever be compromised with female members of the royal house. Eunuchs were given lower sociological status, because they were “…seen as scarred, defective men, unable to be fruitful and multiply. Israelites who held strictly to Deuteronomic and Levitical law permitted eunuchs only marginal participation.”[2] Philip engaged the Ethiopian eunuch and led him to the good news. He told the Ethiopian eunuch that the prophecies in Isaiah are true. The Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized. He saw water, stopped the chariot, went into the water, and Philip baptized him. The Spirit “snatched Philip away” and deposited him in Azotus. The Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Philip preached good news everywhere he could. God, through Philip’s faithfulness, righted the wrongs in the Ethiopian eunuch’s life.

In John 15:1-8, God, as the master gardener, has a better plan for our lives than we do. Growing up in the central valley of California and working in the grape fields one summer, I learned the ins and outs of tending a vineyard. The best grapes were always on branches closest to the vine. Distant branches were cut away. The same principle applies to gardening. Take pansies for example. Pansies grow better and are more beautiful when a plant is “deadheaded.” Pinching the first flowers produced by pansies will produce fuller plants. More blossoms will occur. I watched my mom do this practice every season. The point of this lesson in horticulture is that Jesus wants disciples to stay close to him. We will only bear fruit when we abide in, that is stay close to, Jesus.[3]

As we repent, that is prune sin from our lives, we experience God’s healing, and know that we are included in God’s family. We are to encourage others by affirming that the good news of God in Jesus Christ is real. Brennan Manning, in The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus, writes,

Of course, in our human condition we aren’t always able to put our minds and hearts on the path of Christ. But we know that these ripples on the surface of our souls cannot become tidal waves when we descend into the inner sanctum of our graced selves and enter into the prayer of listening to our God, who reminds us, “Quiet your heart and be still. I am with you. Do not be afraid. I hold you in the palm of my hand. All is well.”^[4]

The power to love God and others is our birthright, having been reborn in the Spirit of Jesus.[5] Let’s move out into God’s world, bearing the image of God.

As we are being good neighbors, evidence of God at work overflows. Citing William Blake, “The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”[6] Jesus provides joy in the crucible. Ask for anything on the basis of your relationship with Jesus that is rooted in dependence on and trust in Jesus. Abide in Jesus. Jesus abides in you. You are the conduit of Jesus’ message. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen.

This sermon was preached on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, 28 April 2024 by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

in the Great Room and the Sanctuary at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

Copyright © 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Dr. Jerry Root, “When Evangelism Really Isn’t That Hard” as found in Christianity Today (2-17-17). This story can be found at preachingtoday.com.

[2]Karen Baker-Fletcher in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 458.

[3]Some ideas in this paragraph were gleaned from Nancy R. Blakely in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 2, 472, 474, 476.

[4]Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus (New York City, New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 94.

[5]In the four paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Jin Young Choi, Mihee Kim-Kort, Rhodora E. Beaton, Steven J. Kraftchick, Lindsey S. Jodrey, Deirdre Good, and Rodger Y. Nishioka in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 249-251, 251-253, 254-255, 256-258, 258-259, 260-262, and 262-264.

[6]As seen in Forbes, March 31, 2018.