Looking Back Over The Weekend

It's really Christmas now!
I've purchased my 2015 Waffle House coffee mug.
I'm a mug-nut when it comes to coffee....
The weight of the mug...
The type of handle it has....
The ability to keep the coffee hot for an extended period of time....
All of these are found in this little blue mug created by those wonderful people who run Waffle House.
It's really Christmas now!

Saturday Night:
Good gathering of Vineyard ReCovery Church.
Todd Bagley and worship team provided the vehicle for us to enter into worship.
Simple songs that reflect the goodness of God and our love for Him.
Message was from Luke 2, the passage about Simeon who waited at the temple to see the Messiah. Seems as though Simeon wasn't your typical man-in-the-street. He talked with God a lot.....AND GOD TALKED BACK. 
Things to take away from the message:

1.) Simeon was a righteous and devout man.

No mention of his past...his sins...etc.

Why? Because Simeon did all the law demanded, and then some.

His past was irrelevant because it had been dealt with.
When we confront and turn over our past to God,

we no longer are tied to it. We no longer are slaves to it.

It no longer has power over us.

2.) Simeon was eagerly waiting for the appearance of Messiah.

Not just waiting and marking time...
Simeon was "eagerly" waiting.
How is such a thing possible?
Well, No.#1 -  He believer the promise that God had given to him.

That he (Simeon) would not die until he had seen Messiah.

What does all this have to do with us?
Well, the enemy (not to mention our own nature) wants us to 

be anxious about everything.
When I'm anxious, I am listening to my emotions and not God.

I am making bad decisions based on my anxiousness.

How do we combat this feeling of anxiousness?
Bod gave us someone who works in us to change this.
The Holy Spirit, as He works in us, produces some new

character points to help us not be slaves to our old ways.

Galatians 5:23 lists these incredible new character attributes 

give to us.
One of them is PATIENCE!

3.) Simeon, when he had found Jesus, took the baby to himself.

Such a little thing when we read it.
But when we come to Jesus to be saved, we must do the same...
Spiritually open ourselves up to TAKE Him and allow Him entrance into our hearts.

Sunday Night:

Had the opportunity to go and speak to North Glencoe's Celebrate Recovery. Haven't been out there in a while, so I was anxious to go and be with them. One of the things I love about going to different churches and different places to teach is that I get to sample different styles and types of worship. Last night was really good! New songs that I had not heard before, but ones that were powerful and pointed the way to Jesus.

Spoke on the message the angel delivered to the shepherds, that a Savior had been born and that His birth would be good news to everyone. Sometimes the message gets lost because we hear it every Christmas. It becomes more of a story than truth. It becomes something we expect to hear but not awaken us to the reality of what was spoken to those shepherds long ago. I don't want this to be the way I hear the Christmas story. I want it to be fresh. I want to shake the dust out of my heart and the dullness from my ears and hear the Good News again. I want to be reminded of what took place on that night outside of Bethlehem as shepherds were settling in for the night.

All in all, it was a really good weekend.

Now It's Monday and we get to do it all over again.
Thank you for LIfe, Father....for the good and the bad, that I may find You in all of it.

In Jesus name, amen.

This Saturday night we'll be having our candle light service at Vineyard ReCovery.
If you're free, we'd love to extend an invitation to come and join us.
Merry Christmas from the "B's" in Attalla!
Vicki and Michael Bynum

God on you...