Telling The Story

Judges 2:10
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Step # 12
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message (our story) to others and to practice these principals in all our affairs.

Every generation has a cultural voice that defines them.
Those who fought in WW II were called the greatest generation.
My generation has been labeled the baby boomers, due to the number of us who were born after the war.
There was generation X.,  The slacker generation...
Currently you have the Millennial's.
Each generation has their own set of struggles that also ads to the defining of who they are.

We had Viet Nam....The draft.....multiple assassinations...Woodstock (and the somewhat overlooked Altamont Music Festival). We were a generation that railed against the establishment and then realized we became the establishment. We now find ourselves slowly fading into the pages of history. We have a voice, but it grows dimmer with each passing day.

Such is why we need to be about the business of the Kingdom. We don't need soap boxes from which to preach from. We need wisdom and the Spirit of God to temper our tone and touch the hearts of those we are speaking to. We really are leaving a generation that does not know God. That truth cannot stand.

From my years at Rapha, I have found that the story is the key to recovery. People want to believe in something...They want to believe that this God we claim to know is really real. They want to believe that He will do what He has promised He would do. In other words, our very lives become the message. Words alone won't change anyone. But the truth of God coupled with evidence of a life changed is a powerful thing.

Seth Barber has thirteen years clean time....
Barry Hooks has nine years clean time....
Hugh Robinson has thirty-eight years clean time....
Jason Knight also is counted among this list, as is Greg Birdwell and Nick Johnson, along with Rannie Childress.
What is the one common denominator among these three men?
They all have a relationship with Jesus.
Notice that I didn't say they had religion....or that they belonged to a particular church or denomination. They know Jesus. The follow Him on a daily basis. He brought a common discipline and order to their lives as result of giving themselves to God. Each of these men have a story of their own personal life that is tied to a greater story of the One who saved them.

Part of my daily prayer is that God would grant me the "Voice" that would break through generational barriers and bring truth to others. I never want to preach down, or parent anyone. I want to keep the message simple. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2.....I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, for here is where change takes place. It really isn't about drugs or alcohol...it's about lives that are being lived outside of the will of God. God has been rejected in order to pursue our own desires. Unfortunately our desires take us right into a ditch that we cannot get out of on our own. We become so use to the ditch that we resolve ourselves to live out our days there. My message says you don't have to live that way. There is a POWER greater than any of us that can lift us out of that ditch. A POWER that can give us life...real life. That POWER has a name, and that name is Jesus.

Tell the story....
Tell your story....
Tell His story.....

God on you...
mb