Letters From

Death--where is your sting?

2012-01-28T09:32:00.001-06:00

I find myself getting up earlier and earlier each day. This morning I got up at 4:27 a.m.
Spent time in prayer and Bible study and, after my wife woke up, went for my morning walk.
It was 38 degrees but I kind of like getting out when it cold like that. I like the wind in my face (that is if I have on my big, honkin', winter coat and gloves). I like the quietness of our neighborhood as I make my way down Case Avenue. My thoughts were directed toward all the pain and hurt that has invaded my world. Those around me that I know and love are struggling with health issues. I realize that we are all getting older. I never could even envision myself being 60 years old, but here I am. As I walked I prayed for those I knew were in the hospital or at home in hospice. I know that I know that death is the transition from this side of heaven to the other side in the presence of Jesus. I know that what I claim to be believe today will, upon my death, become truth that I know. Everything I profess to believe and be true by the word of God, I will see, touch, taste, hear and smell once I cross over in death.

Don't take me for morbid. I'm not.
Don't think I've a death wish to go ahead and be with Jesus. I don't.
But it is a part of living.
I guess what I truly want is to see death the way God sees it.
I believe in Psalms 116:15- Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Death has value to God.
Especially when it involves someone who has given their life to Him. To take them from this side and bring them into His presence to receive their reward is something that God holds dear. He calls it precious. I don't know if I could say death was precious at this time. I know that there were instances where death was very merciful, in that it was the ultimate healing to a loved one that was suffering.
The state of the person as far as their relationship with God makes death a precious thing. For those who have lived their lives under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit find that death is merely the next step in this journey. I am excited that there is more even after this life. How cool is that?

I Corinthians 15:22 - 26
Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other Adam, will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised. After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having put down all enemies of every kind. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

God on you....
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Let The Journey Begin

2012-01-27T15:22:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow night will be the first time I have taught since my heart attack back in December. I am grateful to Debbie, Sam and Seth for teaching and bringing a feast of the Word to us. I have been kind of chasing a thought that God gave me during the month of December. I am going to teach a message from each book of Scripture beginning this Saturday night. We will start in Genesis and hopefully take it all the way through Revelation. Along the way, I pray that God would help me to see truth about myself. Truth about Himself (God) and truth about the Kingdom here now in this age. I know that we do not see the completeness of the Kingdom of God yet, in other words, we have a Kingdom here but not yet. What is the Kingdom of God? It is where ever His rule and reign is being carried out in the hearts and lives of the people. We pray in Matthew 6:10: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are asking God to bring forth the power, the practices and the plans of heaven as He is directing them, and let them take root and grow right here in our time and space.

Hopefully during this journey, we will see the incredible power of God to eliminate the death and damage that sin has caused. In seeing this, may we all become more trusting in God and allow Him to work in our own lives.

I truly am working on getting the messages back on each week and hopefully I will have the one from this coming Saturday night ready by next Tuesday. I am excited about what God is doing here at Rapha.
2012 is going to be a year of the Word. More than that, 2012 is going to be the year of the illumination of God's word in our hearts. Make plans to join us as we begin this journey, this Saturday night here at Rapha --- 7 p.m. If you can't make it, then look for the message in the podcast section of the Greene Street Letters.

Psalm 107:20
He sent His word and healed them, and delivered thim from their destruction.

God on you....
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Number # 1300

2012-01-27T08:06:00.000-06:00

Today is my 1300 posting here at the Greene Street Letters. Wouldn't it be great to really believe that each of the 1300 entries would be jewels of wisdom. That some day in the future, a beleaguered, down trodden individual happened across this blog and from the entries was able to unlock the secrets and mysteries of the Kingdom of God? Truth is....it ain't going to happen. Over the past 1299 entries, some have been funny. There have been postings which maybe did strike something deep inside and awakened someone to God's truth. Remember...God's truth has always been there. It's me that is thick and dull and not very perceptive.

I remember our first year of posting here on this blog. We had just moved our Sunday morning service to Saturday night and I wanted to connect with the guys who had finished and left the program here at Rapha. I wanted them to be able to keep up with what was going on here at Rapha, as well as giving them a kind of daily devotional that would keep them pointed in the right direction in their recovery. Something that would encourage them and keep them focused.

From time to time, I seem to loose my focus and take the blog off into areas that may not seem recovery related. God, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, always leads me back. For that I am grateful. I know that the words you read here are very simple and, in fact, you've probably heard them before.
"One day at a time."
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."
"It works if you work it."
"It about spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection."
"Rarely have we seen anyone fail who follows this simple path."
It isn't the words or even the thought behind the words.
It's about the heart who reads the words.
Is the heart ready to receive truth?
If so, then the words will become a match that ignites the dry, hard wilderness places where we have held on to our addictive secrets in order to control our life.
We allow God to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

There is no doubt in my mind (or heart) that Jesus is the answer to the problem of addiction.
Addiction affects the body.
Addiction affects the mind.
And addiction affects the spirit.
Salvation introduces and awakens my spirit to the voice and life that God wants to give me.
Salvation brings healing to my body.
Salvation clears, cleans and restores my mind.
Jesus brings wholeness and completeness to hearts who are ready to change their ways and their lives.
This is more than a theory.
I have seen the healing hand...
The saving hand.....
The restoring hand of God work in the lives of those who had given up.
That is why I will never stop sharing about this God.
That is why I will never give up on anyone who is trapped by addiction.
My God is able to save and heal.

Isaiah 59:1
Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call.

Have a great day!
God on you....
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God Is My Provision

2012-01-26T08:04:00.000-06:00

Exodus 16:4
God said to Moses, "I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day's rations. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my teaching or not."

(From today's QUICK STUDY)
What would it be like with no money, no economy, no foreign trade pacts, no stores or restaurants, no banks? Israel found out. This new nation was taken into the wilderness to learn how to build a community God's way. It was not capitalistic or socialistic or communist, not even a monarchy. This was a Heavenly economy, with bread falling from heaven and water coming from rocks! God can, and always has been able to sustain His people any time, any place, any way He desires. He (God) is the same yesterday, today and forever.....(Pastor Rod Hembree)

Why do we doubt God's ability to sustain us today, here in our world? Why is it we don't trust God?
When the economy went south back in 2008, people suffered. There was great fear and panic about what the future held. Had God changed because of this down turn in our economy? I don't think so. I think we need to become more trusting in our relationship with God. If the truth be known, we don't really want God to provide for us, we want Him to save and sustain our current standard of living. Let me keep my toys and baubles and beads and I will follow you. I don't think it works that way. Now don't get me wrong, I truly believe that God doesn't mind us having things. The problem comes in when things have us and possess us to the point that losing them becomes more important than me knowing God.

The greatest place to be is where there is a total relying on God to meet our needs and to guide us. Was taking care of Israel's daily need #1 on God's list? Probably not. Getting them to the promised land was the most important factor in this journey, but how like God to cover all the needs and things that Israel had to have in order to survive. Now if God did this for Israel as a nation, how much more, under the new covenant of Christ, will God take care of you?

I look to God in every aspect of my life. He is not my provider.....He is my provision. He is all sufficient to my life. He is the sustainer and giver of life that has, through my salvation, transported me from a life of spiritual darkness and death, into a life of spiritual light and eternal life with Christ.
It doesn't get any better than this!
Look to God today to be your provision.
He will not disappoint you or let you down.
God on you today!

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Bobby Sparks

2012-01-25T07:50:00.001-06:00

I kind of like this picture of me. I'm really not very photogenic. My face is kind of hard on camera's. But this particular picture has always intrigued me in that one side is dark and deep with shadow, while the other is bathed in light. Kind of symbolizes life doesn't it? The ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of God and the forces of the devil. I am very thankful that God has placed me in a family that shares a common salvation. I am grateful for the friends that God has surrounded me with and that I can, in return, be a friend.

I got a call from a good friend yesterday. Hadn't talk to him in some while and we did a lot of catching up. That is the wonderful thing about having a good friend. It doesn't matter how long it has been since you last talked, you can pick right up with out missing a beat as though you had just seen each other yesterday. It is like that with Bobby Sparks.

Bobby is someone I admire.

Brutally honest about himself, his current walk with God and with what God is showing him, Bobby speaks truthfully and from the hip. He doesn't pull any punches and for that I am grateful. I need people like Bobby Sparks in my life. I need someone who will tell me the things I don't really want to hear. As Proverbs 18:24 reads: Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. Bobby is that type of man. He always seems to know when to call or when to come and see you. To be a voice of encouragement and a shoulder to lean on. At the same time, Bobby has wisdom that tells him he is blessed beyond measure to be surrounded by such friends who will be there for him.

Bobby also writes a blog The Spiritual Journey Of A Blue Collar Christian. If you looking to add another resource to your daily readings, then I highly recommend Bobby's blog. God has connected Bobby with some of the "big boys" of the Kingdom. Men like R.T. Kendall and Dudley Hall and many others who I would classify as defenders of the faith. From Bobby's blog you will be able to read and listen to some incredible teachings.

Bobby's life is pretty much summed up in the words that the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 2:

I identified myself completely with Him (Jesus). Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not mine, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Thanks for stopping by Greene Street Letters.

God on you.....

Turkey's or Eagles?

2012-01-24T12:57:00.001-06:00

(Borrowed from the SACRED SANDWICH)

"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline (or a sound mind)......II Timothy 1:6-7

We grow cold, hard and indifferent when we "quit" on God.

Quitting comes in many shapes, forms and fashions.

Quitting can appear when we simply grow complacent or apathetic about our relationship with Christ.

We quit walking out the disciplines He has called us to.

We quit reading our Bibles.

We quit praying.

We quit going to church or Bible study or what ever you may call the community of believers you hang out with.

We quit giving of our time, talent and MONEY for the Kingdom work.

In others words......we quit. But there is one thing we don't quit.
We don't quit expecting God to haul our bacon out of the fire when we get in trouble.

We don't quit expecting God to bless us...after all "He is God and we are only human and He understands that so He will keep on piling on the blessings even though we have quit on Him.
Sorry Charlie!

It doesn't work that way....

Does it?

Hebrews 2:1 reads:

"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it."

Drifting away from truth means that we are moving closer to lies and falsehoods.

Drifting away from the truth means we are leaving a place of safety and headed

for a place of danger.

Another translation of scripture reads, "How can we neglect so great a salvation?"

How can we simply cast it aside like some old coat in order to go about our own business?

I don't think we can.

Sometimes we (and here I mean me) need to be reminded of our need to stay in

close proximity of Jesus.

I know the Holy Spirit resides in me.

Close proximity involves keeping my thoughts on Jesus

and my own personal will at arms length away from me.

I do so to embrace His will.

Don't be one of the frozen chosen!

God on you....

Continuation in Isaiah 35

2012-01-24T07:23:00.000-06:00

Looking around at this old world, one can't help but see and feel the spiritual darkness and fear that is rising up in our societies and in the people. A people who do not know God and have turned their attention and their appetites toward a quick fix. As the big book says, "we look for the easier, softer way."

Isaiah 35 deals with God's redemptive power to restore and make new. God's ability and power to resurrect life out of what we perceive to be dead. We see death, God sees opportunity and life. In this chapter from Isaiah, we see God speaking prophetically using the image of a desert that has received rain and because of this water, life begins to appear. Water has always been a symbol of the Holy Spirit in scripture, so God is saying that it is His Spirit that brings life to our wilderness places. The places of fear in our heart are filled with His peace. The places of doubt and mistrust in our hearts are filled with the assurance that He is who He claims to be and will do what He has promised.

Isaiah 35:6-7 reads: The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the desert. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. March grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.
God will take those dry, dead places in our hearts and fill them with life. Life that seeks the eternal things of God for nourishment and the temporary things of this world.
Eternal life.....
Eternal peace......
Eternal mercy.....
Eternal grace......
Eternal relationship with the one, true living God.....

V10 of this chapter is the culmination that God will bring about. Me? I'm so looking forward to this day it isn't even funny. V10 reads: Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return to Jerusalem, singing songs of everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be overcome with joy and gladness.
Did you catch that? I will be overcome............I will be overtaken.....I will be overwhelmed by joy and gladness. His joy....His gladness. They will seek me and cover me and fill me like a divine flood. I'm telling you if that doesn't set you on fire, then your wood's wet.

You know, today I am going to lay down my fears.
Today, I am going to turn my heart and attention to God.
Whatever the world has for me today, I will not fear but rest in the assurance that God is in control.
Let it be Lord.
God on you.....

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It Was A Good Night

2012-01-23T07:36:00.001-06:00

I spoke last night at North Glencoe's Celebrate Recovery. God was beyond gracious as people streamed to the front after the message to receive prayer. There were prayers for salvation. Prayers for healing. Prayers for deliverance from demonic oppression. Prayers for God to simply come and touch them and bring hope to dry place in their hearts. There were prayers asking for forgiveness. There were confessions to God about sin. It was a night where I got to stand and watch God's hand move over the people. I confess to you that I never tire of seeing God move like this. It isn't about the numbers, it is about the heart. That God would come and touch and bring healing to those who had come seeking.

Isaiah 35 talks about God's redemptive hand being laid on places of dryness and in the hard, wilderness places of our hearts.
Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those who are afraid, "Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you."

In these verses, we see that God is proclaiming a message of hope to all who are discouraged, frightened, or injured. God has promised to save us and strengthen our weaknesses. That is His promise! Following God means that we can ask Him to help us recover in this lifetime and share eternal life with Him in the next. God says that through His power, His love and His authority, He will reach down into those dry, hard, wilderness places in our heart and cause real life to come forth. Life that is sustained through His Holy Spirit at work in us. How can you argue with that?
That is a promise you can bank on.
Why not receive from this promise today?
God on you.....
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Give Me An Undivided Heart

2012-01-21T08:12:00.000-06:00

II Kings 17
They honored and worshipped God, but they also kept up their devotions to the old gods of the places they had come from. And they're still doing it......
But they didn't pay any attention. They kept doing what they'd always done. As it turned out, all the time these people were putting on a front of worshipping God, they were at the same time involved with their local idols. And they're still doing it. Like father, like son.

The one thing that my mind goes to from time to time is to check my motives for what I do when it comes to worshipping God. First off I have to define what worship is. To me (and from what I read in Scripture) worship is a lifestyle. A life devoted in service and praise to the one true God. Everything I do is worship unto Him. In my job, I want to do the very best so that I honor God. So that when people see me, when they see the work I do, they will be pointed to God as the source of my strength and my ability. Worship!

SO what we have in these verses from II Kings is a people who have divided hearts. I have always said that a lot of people have what I refer to as "two belief systems." They have one that they talk about and then another that they live. The belief system that they live affects every area of their life, all the way from their thoughts to their actions and behaviors. This belief system reveals the heart. The belief system that they speak about or share with others is more of a front to give the appearance that they are religious or, as the catch word of our day says..., "Spiritual." The two belief systems are always in conflict and when a choice has to be made concerning something that has come up in their life, a person always chooses toward the belief system they live rather than the one they talk about. In this case, the flesh always wins, because they are living and being lead by their sin nature rather than the Spirit of God.

V32 of II Kings 17 reads: They honored and worshiped God, but not exclusively. They also appointed all sorts of priests, regardless of qualification, to conduct a variety of rites at the local fertility shrines. They honored and worshiped God, but they also kept their devotions to the old gods of the places they had come from. In other words...their worship to the One, True God was a sham. It was for show and had no substance. Behind the scenes, people were still living the old lifestyle, carrying out the customs of the country they were living in. Not a good idea.

Search yourself today and see if you have two belief systems. Does your life reflect a heart devoted unto God, or do you simply play at religion, trying to use God like some cosmic piggy bank to make your life better?
Think on these things....
God on you.....
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Sunday Night

2012-01-20T07:30:00.000-06:00

Seth Barber will be speaking tomorrow night here at Rapha. As always, Seth will bring a message that is straight and to the point about recovery and this new found relationship we are called to in Christ.
Sunday Night, I'll be speaking at Celebrate Recovery North Glencoe. I always look forward to being there and sharing from what God has given to me.

I, hopefully, will be speaking about the Power of God to change. I have been lead to study several different passages and one in particular keeps coming up. Romans 6:19 (Message Bible) You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing....not caring about others, not caring about God....the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

If we are truly honest with ourselves, we are brought to a place where we way the destruction of our old life style against the promise of a new life in Christ. We are made painfully aware of keeping on in the same old way of living that continually brings problems x problems and pain on top of more pain. Without the presence of God in our life, we sink into a pit of toxic shame and guilt that drives us to use more and more in an effort to escape the pain. Enough of this and we fall prey to the lie of lies. "I don't need any ones help. I can't quit if I want to."

Romans 8:5-8 hits on this mindset: Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them.....living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.

The reason I write in this blog daily is that I want God's truth to be here in these postings. That someone may stop by and read what I share, and in that brief moment, truth will penetrate a heart that is surrounded by darkness. I want those who have run dry of hope to find their way here and be encouraged. I want them to understand that they do not have to continue on in a life style that ultimately ends in physical and spiritual death. I want them to understand that there is a future for them here on this side of eternity.

God on you.....
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Leave Me Alone----I'm Lost-------In God!

2012-01-19T08:04:00.000-06:00

Oh, to be lost in God.
Not lost from the standpoint of our salvation, but from the thought of being totally consumed with God.
As the song states, "that the things of earth would grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
That Jesus is and always will be all sufficient for me and my life. No matter what the circumstance...no matter what the situation, I would find all my answers in Jesus. Pie in the sky? I think not.

I like what Paul writes in Romans 11:33 - Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
Just as there are depths in the ocean that man has never reached and remain unexplored, there are depths to understanding God that mankind will never reach on this side of heaven. So what are we to do? Simply recognize that fact and be satisfied with simply waiting until we do cross over? I don't think so. I want to spend my time in God's Word. I want to hear the voice of God as I read the words of Scripture. I want to let God's word soak down inside my spirit and become a very part of me, changing me and moving me toward spiritual maturity. In a few words.............I want to grow up before I grow older.

In a day and age when the things of this earth compete for the allegiance I owe only to the giver of all good things (thanks Rich Mullins for that line), I want to seek out God and not be corrupted by society. The world always portrays itself as beautiful and more fun than anything God could offer. I see so many beer and alcohol commercials that are always about parties or gatherings such as cookouts....every one is laughing and having a great time. If you look close, you'll see that there usually aren't any "ugly" folks around. Every one is thin, hair is immaculate, teeth a brilliant white. Some how I think there is a ranch somewhere in Montana where they keep these folks. When commercials are being made, a call is placed to the ranch for a number of them to appear in the shoot. The ranch folks bus 'em out to the shoot where they take care of business. When the shoot is over, it's back to the ranch. What I'm trying to say is that the worlds sells a bill of goods (and they are really not that good) to us in order to get us to buy into the what they are selling. What are you trying to say Mike? I'm saying that we need to be aware that there is a battle for your attention as well as your money and heart. The world does its best to win your heart to its ways. What is the message of this world? Your life is incomplete. Your life will never be complete unless you buy what we are selling. I don't want my life to solely be focused on the temporary things of this world. I want to chase the eternal God and follow His heart.

I Corinthians 1:31 - That, just as it is written, "Let Him Who Boasts, Boast In The Lord."
This is a worthy way to live.

God on you.....
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I Gain Control By Giving Up Control.......Step # 1 / #2 / #3

2012-01-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

Taken from the following Book. Gives us insight and one more way of looking at the nature of man, the nature of addiction, and the glorious nature of a God who can save!

Twelve Steps to Spiritual Wholeness
A Christian Pathway
Philip St. Romain
Powerlessness and Sin
Step One presents a paradox, saying that the way to regain control of out life is to give up trying to control it - to throw in the towel and admit defeat. This doesn't make sense at first, but later it will be seen as the beginning of wisdom.

Step One has relevance beyond the addiction and recovery movement, for the power of sin creates havoc in all our lives.

These days, sin is an unpopular word connoting unhealthy guilt and shame. But the authors of the New Testament recognized sin as a power able to move us toward non-loving selfish behavior. This power worked through culture (the world), our internalized conditioning (the flesh), and preternatural spirits (the Devil). For most of us, the concrete experience of sin is our own selfishness and reluctance to relate. Who among us can deny this experience?

Another insight to be found in Scripture says that we cannot reverse our selfish tendencies by our own will. In his Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul speaks of how he wants to do good but cannot find the power to do so. A point he makes again and again is that liberation from sin does not come from keeping the law. In fact, law keepers frequently become self-righteous about their goodness and judgmental of others. Such was the case with the religious authorities who condemned Jesus to death in the name of the law.

A sinner, then, might be described as one whose life is ruled by selfishness. Using the addiction model, we would say that a sinner is one who is compulsively selfish - in other words, resistant to loving relationships. This selfish direction of the will demonstrates itself in specific acts of behavior, which we call personal sins. Most personal sins are not planned or calculated but happen compulsively when we feel threatened in some manner. However, these sins bring consequences to us and to others.

All addiction (the evidence and behavior that goes with one who is addicted) finds its answer at the cross. Like every other destructive behavior or thought that can come from the mind of man, it is rooted in the heart of sin. Until the power of sin is broken in a life, selfishness will rule. In fact, selfishness will drive that individual to the grave. At the cross we find the salvation needed..........we find the heart of God who is forgiving.....and we find the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in the heart of each new believer and follower of Jesus.
Surrender.........
Confess.............
Repent.............
Receive Forgiveness.........
Be a new creation..............

God on you......
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Step By Step

2012-01-17T07:43:00.000-06:00

Step # 3We make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 7:25
Hence also, He (Jesus) is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

As you move through the Twelve Steps, you begin to see the simplicity and beauty that starts to emerge. We have lived our lives (in addiction) in self-deception. We have attempted to control our moods and emotions through our usage only to find that we sink deeper and deeper into depression and guilt.

We have attempted to control everything, and in the process our lives have become more and more chaotic and painful--------or as Step #1 says, "Unmanageable."

Step #1 teaches us to be compeletly and brutally honest with ourselves. We admit that we are powerless. We are not in control, especially when it comes to our chemical substances.

Step # 2 teaches us to believe in a God that is more than words on a page or notes in a song. That in fact God DOES exist and DOES desire to have an intimate relationship with us. We come to believe that He truly cares for us and, if we will trust Him, will bring order to our lives.

Step #3 teaches us that the only sane decision it to surrender our will and life to this God. We are to stop trying to control our lives and our circumstances or, as it is put so aptly, let God be God. We can let Him begin to give us wisdom and strength to help us deal with our circumstances.

Romans 6:16 reads: Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

I like the way the Message Bible puts the Roman 16 passage:
Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

That, my friend, is good news if you are trapped in a lifestyle of addiction.
This isn't a pie-in-sky-hope-it-works offer.
It is a straight-from-God-heart- promise that He will work into your life if you lay down your wants and desires and turn to Him for help.
I have said this before on this blog but I feel the need to repeat it.
"Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself."
Why not let this be day that you take that first step?
I love you and am praying for you......

God on you.....
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To JOICE again!

2012-01-16T07:30:00.000-06:00

I Thessalonians 5:16 -- "Always be joyful."Or "rejoice in the Lord.....Always!!! And again I say rejoice.
The word "rejoice" is defined in Strong's Concordance as being "Calmly Happy."
A sense of well being that radiates from within no matter what the situation or circumstance may be.

I see far too many people in religious circles trying to whip up happiness and rejoicing. The thought seems to be that if I act like I'm happy or if I say the right religious sounding words and phrases then somehow I will attain that level of self-perceived happiness or joy. I have been guilty of playing that game. I have found myself among a group of people that all seem to have found spiritual nirvana so to speak. I didn't. I looked around and asked God, "What is wrong with me? Am I so broken that I have excluded myself from this experience?" At the same time, I never assume that I am right or that I have all the answers to any particular situation or experience. I am always searching my heart for the motive or reason I find myself in such places. I never want to use my own experiences as the rule of thumb for others as to how they should conduct themselves. At the same time, I do not want to give credence to something that seems to not be from God.

Paul writes that when we find our satisfaction in Christ, everything else pales in comparison. Nothing this world has to offer can ever replace the inner workings and emotion that is brought on by the Holy Spirit. I am called to look to Christ as the sole source of everything I need. He is my all sufficiency in this life and the next. He is the provider of every good thing. He is my strength and hiding place. In these thoughts I will take comfort and rejoice. When I truly realize that I am dead to the world and the world is dead to me, then I will not look to the world for answers or provision. I want to see the hand of God in everything around me. I want to be aware of His voice daily and follow only His direction.
I want Him.
I want Jesus.
If that doesn't cause rejoicing to rise up in your spirit............I just don't know what to say.
Look beyond the traps and snares the world has set against you today and see the hand of God clearing a path for you to walk.
Be encouraged.
Rejoice.
And again I say.....
Rejoice.

God on you....
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A Pain Unlike Any Other

2012-01-14T09:42:00.000-06:00

Jeremiah 31: 15 - 17This is what the LORD says," A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because her children are no more."

Hard verses to read this morning.
The loss of a child or a spouse creates a pain that goes beyond any other kind of pain.
It isn't like being cut or having a bone broken. The pain of death coming into our families is a pain that goes to very core of our being. It is a pain that creates grieving and tears and mourning. I do not know the answers to questions that a death creates in our minds and hearts. I do not want to give glib or cliched' answers. I guess the only thing that can be said to a believer who is experiencing the loss is that Christ is sufficient. Christ will support you and bring mercy and peace to you to take you through the grieving process. For it is in the middle of such times that we do experience the reality of Christ. His peace is real. His comfort near. His presence always there.
Take heart during such times, for God does care.
I have no clue as to why I wrote this, other than I felt that someone needed to read it today.
If that someone is you, know that I am praying for you.
Know that God is still in control and that He loves you.

God on you.....
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Cultural Conflict

2012-01-13T07:54:00.001-06:00

John 15:4
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.

II Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline (or of sound judgement).

Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

When we come to Christ (being saved) it is the beginning of a change in our culture and custom. In other words there is a shift in the way we interact with the world. On one hand, it is possible to go off in one direction and completely cut ourselves off from the culture of the day. We see this when people seek to pull away and create a self-contained community to live in. The reject the society at large in an effort to live under a new way of life.

As people of recovery, we too must make changes in the way we interact with the world and the people around us. We no longer have the luxury or freedom to tie ourselves again to the drug culture. We find ourselves, upon starting this new life, to want to try and marry the two together (our new life and what we perceive to be the "best" of our old life"). It does not work. Realizing that we can no longer have a place in a lifestyle of darkness, such as addiction, we seek to allow God to change our hearts and desires. This is what is meant in the New Testament by "working out your salvation with fear and trembling...........we are learning a new culture and new customs.

As a new believer, when culture and custom run contrary to God's word, God's word must come first. Even the greatest men and women of God are often caught up in this struggle. The word of God must have rule and reign in our lives as we walk out this new relationship day by day.

We see the destruction that can come when we seek to mix our culture with our beliefs in the story of King Saul. Saul was appointed King over Israel by God because the people rejected God's rule and demanded that they be given a king like all the countries around them. (Here in is a good story of "be careful what you ask for...you just might get it). Saul started out well, but over time, he rejected God's direction and sought out counsel from the culture (or to put it bluntly.....he consulted a medium/ witch)
In I Chronicles we read: Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He failed to obey the LORD's command, and he even consulted a medium instead of asking the Lord for guidance.

We have been called to live a life of holiness.
Holiness not found in the keeping of rules and regulations, but found in loving a God who is beyond our comprehension. I have found in my own life that if I concentrate of loving this God daily.....then the keeping of rules and regulations come about like second nature. I don't have to work at it because I want to be pleasing to Him.
Think on these things today....
God on you.....

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Steps, Rules and Directions....Oh My!

2012-01-12T08:14:00.000-06:00

Leviticus 1:1......The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, "Give the following instructions to the Israelites......."

Israel had been delivered out of a life style of bondage and slavery. They were now a free people, but as is the case to day, with this freedom came responsibility. God had taken them out of Egypt but now He had to take Egypt out of them.

He began to give to Moses a series of laws and regulations that covered every day life among the Israelites. How to live and how to interact among each other as well as with God came out of these laws and commandments. The book of Leviticus shows us, or gives us a glimpse of a God who is awesome and holy. He is pure, clean, sinless and perfect. The numerous regulations found in the book of Leviticus given to the Israelites confirm this truth. The people needed to humbly obey God if they wanted to live in close fellowship with Him. The wonderful truth that we see in the Scripture, despite His holiness, God reaches out to broken, sinful people. He provided a way, even though a difficult one, for the Israelites to recover from their past failures.

God's heart has not changed.
He seeks to deliver from addiction those whose lives have been lived in darkness and separation from God. He wants to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God has, for us today, provided the means for our salvation and recovery thorough the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. It is through God loving forgiveness and Christs' power over our sin that we are saved through our repentance and confession that Jesus is indeed Lord and Savior.
Can't beat that with a stick......
Think on these things today and find gratitude for what God has done in your life.

God on you....
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Recovery Principal 283

2012-01-11T07:22:00.000-06:00

O.k....let me be honest.
There isn't a recovery principal #283. I just wrote that to get your attention.
Now that I have your attention, let me share a verse with you.

I Corinthians 15:33
"Don't be fooled by those who say such things (let's feast and get drunk, for tomorrow we die) for bad company corrupts good character."
You are who you hang out with.
You take on the habits and behaviors of those you run with.
Your beliefs fall in line with the beliefs of those you associate with.
Get it?
Bad character breeds bad character.
Here I am trying to work a program and I am continually associating myself with those who are still in active addiction. Not a good influence would you say? No, I don't think so.
That is why we need to surround ourselves with people who are clean and sober and are pursuing this new life with Christ.

Proverbs 27:17 reads: As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.
In other words, we influence and are influenced by those people we associate with and consider to be our circle of friends. If I want to pursue a life of purity and growing relationship with Christ, then I surround myself with men and women who have the same heart. I surround myself with those whose hearts are like minded. By doing this, I encourage them to keep on in this ongoing relationship and in return, I receive encouragement from them. I have a community of people who can help me when I am discouraged or struggling. The old adage of safety in numbers is very much at play here.

II Peter 5:8 reads : Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith.
Just like Lions, the devil seeks to identify and cut away from others, those who are weak and struggling. If my circle of friends is made up of people who are in active addiction, then there isn't any protection for me. I am easy prey to be devoured and lead back to the my old life style. But when I am a part of group whose passion is Christ and whose goal is clean and sober living through the power of the Holy Spirit, I am in a safe place.

So who are you hanging out with today?
Food for thought.
God on you...
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A Man Of God

2012-01-10T07:38:00.001-06:00

God places special people in lives that are used to point us to Him. For Vicki and me, it was Reverend George Creel. Vicki and I had been away from God for a number of years. We had drifted from each other and the roles that husbands, fathers, wives and mothers are to occupy and what was worse, we knew of our rotten state in life.

Vicki's mother had been attending Central United Methodist and had kept insisting that we visit with her. She spoke about George and what an incredible Bible teacher he was. For me, all her words were falling on deaf ears. I knew we needed to turn back to God, I just didn't want to. To my mother-in-laws credit, she never stopped inviting us. I guess she figured she could wear us down. Finally I relented and told her that we would visit.

Come Sunday morning, I tried timing everything so we would arrive after the service started and would not have to endure the obligatory Sunday-morning-church-greeting (You..."everyone stand up, turn around and shake hands with someone.") So we managed to sit in the balcony. Funny part was that it was just Vicki and I and the sound guy. No one else. I guess the sound guy thought we were terrorist or something along that line. Now that I look back, I think my mindset was "O.k....I'm here at church, God. But I'm going to sit as far away from this pastor as I can and still be inside the building." How sad was I.

I was not prepared for what came next. Brother George stood and began to speak and read from the Bible and for the next 30 - 45 minutes, I was totally consumed by what he said. He made the Scripture come alive for me. I had never heard such teaching in my life. After it was over, I looked at my wife and said, "We have got to come back just to see if maybe this was a quirk or blip in the way this guy teaches." I thought maybe we had just caught him on a really good day when he was on his "A" game. We went back that night and once again the same thing. BIBLE ALIVE!!!!!

We talked all week about Central Methodist and George, making plans to return the next Sunday. This time would be different. We would come down from Mount Olympus a.k.a the balcony, and sit among the folk. This time we took note pads and pencil along with our Bibles. We were hooked.

I can truthfully say that for 14 years, George Creel opened the Scripture for me in ways that no other man had. George's encouragement and support is what created a fire in me to study God's word. Vicki and I are blessed to be able to call George and Jackie our friends. George introduced us to the work of the Holy Spirit, as well as unlocking our minds to prophetic words and teachings. A gentle man, George had a side that would come out when confronted by the devil and the evil of this world. George is truly a defender of the faith. He lived a life of holiness before his congregration, but also the life of a broken vessel always ready to be used by God.

George is currently in the hospital suffering with a number of ailments and problems. If you would, say a prayer for this man and his family that God would bring healing to his body. A special man and a good friend. Thank you, Lord, for putting George in my life and for the way you speak through him.

God on you.....

Peace of God

2012-01-09T07:56:00.000-06:00

Debbie Handy spoke Saturday night at our meeting and shared from the place God currently has her. She spoke of Peace.........God's peace and that it comes as a result or is strengthened by 3 things in our life.
1.) Contentment - being at peace in the situation of the day.
2.) Trust - Believing God for who He is.
3.) Gratitude --- A heart of thankfulness that looks beyond situations and circumstances and finds the goodly and the godly in life.

I am reminded of Psalm 32 and the celebration of life it portrays to those who believe and live for Christ
V.1 - Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!
Do you ever think about this? Does is ever wash over you exactly what Christ has done for us and in us? That our willful rebellious nature against God has been forgiven when we repent and give ourselves to Christ. More than that, our sin has been removed and put out of sight. I guess it truly is the old adage "Out of sight....out of mind." Joy! Unspeakable joy for the goodness of God. Man if that don't crunk your tractor then nothing will!

V.2 - Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
The devil has the power to try and remind us of our sin, but God has the authority and power to remove it from our lives. Notice that is declares the joy of living in complete honesty. I have nothing to hide, therefore the devil has nothing on me. Zero sin is the way to go. To live life free from the burden and weight of secret sin and dishonesty will take a toll on a person, as well as open the door for more demonic influence in their life.

V.3 - When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable and I groaned all day long
V.4 - Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
Unconfessed sin has a way of physically, mentally and spiritually affecting a person. Living in a downward spiral of emotion and mental attacks will sap a persons physical strength, causing them to live in a defeated manner. It robs you of hope which puts you in a dark place that could bring on depression. It takes the hand of God to reach through all this to restore and resurrect you to new life.

Don't hold on to sin.
Turn it loose today and begin to live in the freedom God created you to live in.
Your situations may not all change....
Your circumstances may not turn for the better....
But you...
You will mount up on wings as eagles and find strength in Lord this morning.
If it were not true, I would not have written this posting today.

God on you.......
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New Message

2012-01-07T10:01:00.001-06:00

Just Posted a message by Seth Barber in the pod cast section of the blog. Check it out as Seth takes a long hard look at Jeremiah 29:11.
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Anatomy Of A Fall

2012-01-07T07:55:00.002-06:00

Falling into sin and moving away from God most times is not a sudden departure. It is more of a slow, progressive behavior that comes through a series of bad choices. These choices usually are a result of listening to that old "sin" nature we possess. I am going to choose what benefits me the most ( That is code for "I want what I want and I want it now."

In Genesis 13:10 we begin to see the downfall for a man named Lot. He and his uncle were at a stalemate over the land they both were occupying. His uncle, Abram, made the first offer by letting Lot pick where he wanted to live. Where ever it was Lot picked, Abram had said that he would go in the opposite direction and live there. Verse 10 reads: "And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well-watered every where." In other words, this was prime territory and it was all for the taking.

Verse 12 reads: Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. Lot didn't move there at first. He just got real close and pitched his tent so he could see what was going on. Isn't it like that when we first start drifting away from working our program of sobriety? We are following Jesus in our daily lives. We are reading our Bible and spending time in prayer. But something inside keeps drawing us back (our thoughts and attention) to the old way of life (Sodom). We don't rush out and go back to the that old lifestyle, but we do pitch our tents in the thoughts of our mind. We began to fixate on how good it was to be high...that rush...that feeling. No thought about the destruction that always followed the high...No! We won't think about that. In our thoughts we convince ourselves that we aren't really hurting anyone by simply having thoughts about the old way of life. Trouble is, it doesn't stop there, it continues down a slippery slope that leads to destruction.

If you fast forward to Genesis 19, you read about the further descent Lot makes into the culture and society that is Sodom. Verse 1 reads: Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom...... If you aren't familiar with Biblical terminology or custom you will miss something in this verse. "Sitting in the gate" is reference to the city government of Sodom. Custom of the day dictated that the city elders and rulers would convene at the gate of the city to settle disputes and make rulings for the populace of the town. Here we see that Lot has become ingrained in the culture of the society and has, in fact, become a Sodomite, or native of the town. He isn't outside the gate sitting in his tent watching, he has now moved into the city and has become one of its denizens. Isn't that the way of sin? We find ourselves sucked into the destruction and turmoil, a willing participant of wrongness and rebellion against God.

Just like the Steps tell us..."It will take a Power greater than ourselves to restore us, or bring us out of this spiritual darkness and madness." Praise God! Jesus is that Power.
So today....be careful that you don't let your thoughts turn to your old life, old friends and old places. Keep your focus on Jesus and walk out this day.
He is there to protect you...
He is there to love you....
He is there to aid you in this wonderful new life you have embraced....
God on you....

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Hard Lessons

2012-01-06T07:35:00.001-06:00

Genesis 16:9
Then the angel of the LORD said, "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority."

This is a hard word to hear this morning.
God spoke it to me during my Bible study and it has kind of lodged in my spirit.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that for whatever reason, we deem as being unfair or that we are being punished for something we said or did. Hard times. Times where there doesn't seem to be an easy answer to what we are facing.
Our first inclination is to run away. Get out! Leave and not look back. We don't know what the future may hold but it has to be better than what we are currently experiencing.
Maybe we even use God as an excuse to leave the situation. "God wouldn't want me to stay in this place because I won't be able to grow or learn anything." How wrong can we be!

In the Genesis passage, we read about Hagar, an Egyptian handmaid, under the authority of Abram and Sarai. Hagar was brought into a very messed up plot by Abram and Sarai to help bring about a promise God had made to them. God had promised a son to the couple and when it didn't happen in the time frame they thought it should, they plotted to bring Hagar in to help God. Sarai sent her husband, Abram, to have sex with Hagar in hopes that she would become pregnant and give them a sons. I know, by today's standards, it seems like a really bad plot to a daytime soap opera. Everything went down hill (as it usually does when we try to help God out) and Hagar found herself being abused by Sarai. Verse 6 says that Sarai treated her (Hagar) harshly, so she ran away. Isn't that like us? I mean you really won't hear many preachers or teachers talk about staying a situation for the glory of God, yet that is what we have here. God never intended Hagra to leave but to remain so He could work out the mess that Abram and Sarai had created. Hagar runs away, but God tracks here down. God tells her to go back and submit to Sarai's authority and that if she does, God would bless Hagar with more descendants than she could count.

Bottom line, when we remain obedient to God, even in bad times and bad situations, that brings the blessings of God to us. According to what God did for Hagar, it might even bring the blessings and extend them to our descendants. How cool would that be? So the next time you find yourself in a terrible situations, stop and ask God.."Do I stay or do you want me to leave?" Don't always assume that just because you are going through a bad time or a hard time that God is punishing you or has forgotten you. He may be trying to grow you and strengthen you for the next hard thing that may be headed your way.
Food for thought...
God on you.....

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Bread For Thought

2012-01-05T08:02:00.000-06:00

Matthew 6:11
Give us our food for today (NLT)
Some versions of this verse read "Give us this day, our daily bread."
Growing up, I use to think this verse was a pretty stingy thing to say about God and to God.
I mean...come on....bread? You got to have something a little more substantive than bread.
I don't care if it's WONDER BREAD or the best that MERITA BAKERY produces.
A person has to have some peanut butter or jelly or even a slice of bologna to go with that bread.

I see now that it was not just about a daily ration of food given by God to His children.
It was the fundamental building block.
Bread!
You have to start somewhere in a food group. Why not Bread? The possibilities of what you can do with a loaf of bread will boggle the mind. Sandwiches. Toast. Bread pudding. You can put anything between two pieces of bread and have a mobile feast at your disposal.

To me, bread (in this particular verse) is a symbol of the foundation of our relationship with God.
Bread represents Jesus Christ.
He is the bread of life.
He was born in Bethlehem (the house of bread).
He was laid in a manger (a food trough)
So to approach God and ask for daily bread is to ask for the provision of heaven to be made evident in our lives.
He must want us to act in this manner when we pray because He included it in the model prayer we read in Matthew 6.

When Jesus was in the wilderness in Matthew 4, and the devil tempted Him with food, Christ returned fire by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 -- "People need more than bread for their life. They must feed on every word of God." or as we like to say....."Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word from the mouth of God." That is why I need to digest the Bread of the Word of God. It provides spiritual nourishment and strength to my spirit. Psalm 119:130 reads: The unfolding of Your words give light so that even the simple can understand them.
Bread.
Bread of God.
Bread-Word of God.
Take some for yourself today.
Taste the Lord and see that He is good.....

God on you....
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January.....Step # 1

2012-01-04T07:39:00.000-06:00

January always comes in with the best of intentions from people.
Fitness Centers all over the country see an increase in membership when January rolls around because people are making resolutions to get in shape for the coming year.
February sees the biggest decline in the number of people actually going to a fitness center/gym as the "newness" wears off of their good intentions.

January always brings me back around to Step # 1 of the Twelve Steps.
We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies----that our life had become unmanageable.
No one really likes to admit this, much less come face to face with the evidence of a life unmanageable.
January gives us an opportunity to look at someone in Scripture who seemed to have every thing going on except for one area of his life. A man named Naaman.
On the surface, Naaman was a man's man. He had the career. He had the reputation. He had the image. But something in Naaman's life came out that brought him to his knees.

Naaman was the Commander of the army for the King of Aram.
God had given Naaman great victories over the enemies of Aram. Most considered Naaman a mighty warrior......but...(there's that word..."but" that seems to undo all the good) he suffered from Leprosy.

From the Life Recovery Bible. we read --- It can be very humiliating to admit that we are powerless, especially if we are used to being in control. We may be powerful in some areas of our life, but out of control in terms of our addictive/ compulsive behaviors. If we refuse to admit our powerlessness, we may lose everything. That one unmanageable part of our life may infect and destroy everything else. Our "diseases" are as life threatening as the leprosy of Naaman's day. They slowly separate us from our family and lead toward the destruction of everything important to us. There is no instant cure or easy cure. We recognize God as the only source of deliverance and healing from our addiction, so we give ourselves over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Naaman had specific ideas of how he should be cured from his leprosy. When things didn't turn out like he thought they should, he became angry. It didn't cure his leprosy any faster or with a better way, only delayed the process. That is why, as addicts, we have searched for the easier softer way for our recovery rather than submit to God.

I pray that this year will be your year to break free of the bondage of addiction.
God on you.....
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Run To The Rock

2012-01-03T05:28:00.000-06:00

From QUICK STUDY DAILY DEVOTION:
Obedience to God's WORD provides the protection we need.

Obedience is not a "willy-nilly" happenstance of events that we find ourselves in.
Obedience is focus of our will toward what God's will is showing us to be the proper way to make choices.
I no longer do what I think I should...
I no longer do what I want to do...
I no longer barter with myself as to what is the best thing to do....
I look to God's directive for my life and the life of my family.
Then I do it.
Sounds simple.
Yet sometimes it is very hard to carry out.
Why?
Because I sometimes only want to follow God's will when my own will had gotten me in "the ditch" so to speak. In other words, when I have messed up my choices and the situations are closing in...then I want God to come make it all better....kiss the boo-boo on my knee and tell me everything is going to be okey dokey.

It seems as the\ough being obedient is only fashionable when it truly is something we want to do. True obedience is found when God's choice conflicts with my choice.......and God's choice wins. The more I walk (or go about my daily business) in this manner, the easier it becomes to follow God.

Psalm 91:1-2 reads: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust!'"
To dwell or place yourself in God's protection comes about through following God's WORD. Then and only then can I make the statement that God is my refuge and my fortress. It is not a matter of semantics or flowery words.......this becomes truth.

I received a number of phone calls this past week from people who are really struggling with their addiction.
They were dwelling the in the shelter of the Most High but chose to leave. They chose to return to their old ways and old lifestyle. Now the pain is unbearable. The shame and guilt is smothering them. They are at their wits end and have turned once again to God for help. God has reached out to them to redeem them and bring them back into a place where healing can began. I am grateful for God's redemptive hand, but also fearful for those who continue to live in darkness, pushing God's hand away each time He reaches to them. I pray that they don't die before they receive God's salvation.

Father God....
I pray that you would loose Your Holy Spirit this morning and seek out those who are living in spiritual darkness. Bound by sin and addiction. There isn't any thing the enemy (devil) can do that you cannot break and bring freedom to those entrapped by it. I pray that today would be a day of liberation for those living the lie of addiction. That You would bring Your Kingdom Will to earth and accomplish here, what is going on in heaven right now, right this minute.
In Jesus name.....
Amen.....

God on you....
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Twenty-Twelve

2012-01-02T07:22:00.000-06:00

2012.....
Sounds like something out of the old sci-fi movies I watched as a boy.
By 2012 we would have flying cars and rocket packs.
Man's achievements would stand glistening in rising sun of a new day...a new era.
There would not be anything that mankind could not achieve.

2012.....
Reality shows us that it is a time of great spiritual darkness.
Economies around the world are at the brink of failure.
Great undercurrents of unrest and mistrust sweep the globe.
People are looking for a savior.....
Not for their lives...but for their lifestyle.
Promises never intended to be kept are given to the people in hopes that peace will reign.

Knowing and seeing this spiritual darkness, what does 2012 hold for me?
What is God saying about 2012?
Having had this time off over this past week, I have spent a good deal of it studying and praying over what God wants to do in me and through me over this coming year.
I have been reading Isaiah 61.

V1. - The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.
This was a reminder that I belong to Him. That He has saved me and chosen me to participate in the Kingdom work here in Attalla. Everyone who has been saved is called to Kingdom work. It doesn't mean that everyone is a pastor or a preacher. It doesn't mean that everyone quits their jobs to pursue what the world refers to as "Full-time Ministry." Truth be known, everyone who claims the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is in full time ministry. What we do need to remember is that we have been given the most incredible gift in the world. We has been filled...possessed by the third part of the Holy Trinity....God, the Holy Spirit. Wowzers!!

V1. - To bring good news to the afflicted.
Good news?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This little bit of information is power! It is the power to save.
In order to be saved, you have to be made aware that you are in danger.
In this case, we are born with a major character defect called a "Sin Nature." or a propensity to do very selfish, destructive behaviors that take us outside the will of God. In other words, we kind of thumb our noses at God and say, "Leave me alone and let me live my life!" In my estimation, the Apostle Paul said it best in Romans 7:18-19 - "For I know nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (sin nature), for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish."
I told you we were messed up. We are so used to living like this, we think it's normal. Boy have we fallen a long ways from the God tree!

To me, 2012 will be a year of proclamation. Wasn't 2011 a year of proclamation? Sure it was. That is why 2012 must continue on with the message. There are still those out there who haven't heard and do not know that Jesus died to free them from the bondage of sin (which includes addiction). We will continue to share this message here at Greene Street Letters. I hope that you will continue to drop by from time to time and read the postings. I hope that you will share the Greene Street Letters with your family and friends.
God on you......

mb

Sing..Sing...Sing With All You've Got!

2011-12-31T08:09:00.000-06:00

Psalm 100:1
"......Come before Him with joyful singing...."

From Pastor Rod Hembree of the Quick Study Bible Program:
Why is there so much music in the Bible? Why is nearly one-third of the Bible music? Why does God command His people to praise Him in His sanctuary? There is something about the songs of the redeemed. Those who can sing what the angels cannot. Those who were born to die, who appear at the judgment of sin, yet seek the Savior to redeem their lives, have a unique song in all of history and heaven and earth. We have felt the rise to purity from the impure. We have experienced the elevation to eternal purpose from meaningless. For this, we sing! And when we do, all heaven breaks loose!

When I read what Rod Hembree had said, I knew it in my spirit yet to see it in print just floored me. It made me painfully aware of the times I have stood in worship services singing How Great Thou Art, Yet my mind was a thousand miles away. I do not every want to do that again. I do not want to simply mouth words and hope I hit right notes during praise and worship. At the same time, I do not want to act out of emotion or my flesh either. Posturing myself so that others might think me some kind of super-spiritual saint. I think the best place to be is one of humility. Worshiping God in the knowledge and understanding of where you could be if not for His salvation, and where you don't want to be because of the guidance of His Holy Spirit.I think John Wimber used to refer to this place as the "Radical Middle".

I do not know what 2012 holds in store. In the past, I have written flowery words with touches of what I thought to be prophetic insight. I won't go there this year. I am grateful to have seen 2011 all the way through. I am grateful for everything that has transpired in my life over this past year....family...friends.....the Church at Rapha.....God has been good. How can I not worship Him because of His faithfulness, even when I wasn't. As the clock approaches midnight tonight and the calendar turns over to 1/1/12....stop for a moment and give thanks to God! Worship Him...You know He's worth it....right?

God on you....
mb

God's Hand

2011-12-30T05:39:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you know things in your mind and even in your spirit, but it takes an event to make them become real. We quote scripture and do so with great faith but faith is truly tested when you find yourself in a place where all you have is your faith. So it was Monday.

I had been admitted to the hospital and was in my room. I had my Bible and was trying to read but found my mind wandering to dark places it should not have gone. "What if this is my last day? What if I never see my family again?" Questions kept running through my mind, so I began to pray. I acknowledged that God was in control. I was His child. Whatever He had for me was o.k., but I wanted to ask of Him. So I placed my petition before Him as to what I truly wanted to see come from this heart attack. The very minute I finished my prayer, I was flooded with peace. I mean it was as real and tangible as anything I have ever experienced. There wasn't any fear. There wasn't any doubt. There was a "solid" knowing in my Spirit that God was God and He was worthy to be trusted, even with my life. From that moment on, everything that took place was incredible. In fact the entire episode, not that I look back, was covered by God's hand.

When the pain initially set in on Monday, my wife called our doctor........He was already at the hospital. The heart doctor our doctor refers patients to was on his way to the hospital to do rounds. God had set this up! You'll never convince me otherwise. Both doctors there ready to see me..no waiting...it was a God-thing.

I am grateful as I wrote yesterday for the prayers that were offered up on my behalf. I need prayer now to maintain the lifestyle that I am going to have to move toward. I've never been good at dieting or exercise, but now that is no longer an option. I have a wife that I want to grow older with. I have son's and daughters-in-law I love dearly, and I have grand children I want to see grow up and honor the Lord with their lives. In order to do that, I have got to change my diet. Bottom line in all of this, God is good.

Verse for the day:
John 14:1
"Let no your heart be troubled; believe in God, believer also in Me."

God on you....
mb

Sorry About That!

2011-12-29T06:19:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed that I haven't posted in several days.
Monday I had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. I had a heart cath done (one artery 99.9% blocked) a stint put in and all is well. The prognosis is good for my recovery so I am grateful and give praise to God for His hand of healing. I will share some of the things that God gave me during my time in the hospital, but for now I am going to rest.
Thanks to everyone for the prayers.....
God is still in control...
MB

Church At Philadelphia / What I Can Learn From Them

2011-12-26T07:03:00.000-06:00

Revelation 3:10 - 11
Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Verse 8 - For you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.

What is the message for us today found in the life of this church located in Philadelphia?
1.) The church which recognized its natural weakness, was supplied with supernatural ability through the power of God's Holy Spirit. It is amazing how we find the Twelve Steps hidden through out Scripture. The principals for living a godly life are all the same no matter whether you struggle with addiction or not. Remember the addiction is merely a sign or symptom of a greater problem. A sin problem. You don't have a drug or alcohol problem, you have a living problem. A broken relationship with Christ is at the center of the struggle. But here we see where God recognizes this church in Philadelphia because they have little strength. In other words, they know that as a congregation, they are powerless.

2.) The church has kept God's word. In other words, the Bible was more than just a book, it became the very voice of God in their midst. They recognized the value in simply doing what God instructed them to do. How simple yet how profound is it to simply do what we read in Scripture.

3.) The kept or did not deny the name of God. Names were important back in Biblical times because a name revealed the character of the person. Keeping God's name would imply a belief in the ability of God. How incredible is this! To trust and rely wholly on God's ability to take care and direct those whose hearts are committed to Him and His kingdom. Matthew 6:33 -- Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Holding fast or placing all your trust on the name of God implies a reliance upon God's strength while rejecting your own ability or strength. This is the heart of recovery. "I've tried it my way and my very best thinking has got me in rehab." It's time to put down our way and embrace God's way.

I guess the lesson for today (for me and hopefully you) is that God empowers those who persevere in the face of adversity. Realize that adversity is a given when you are putting your trust in God to deliver you out of your addiction. Not giving up ....Not giving in....Holding fast to God in the belief that He is truly who He claims to be and will do what He claims He will do is the heart of real life. Having this ongoing spiritual awakening is way to life.
God bless each of you today....
mb

2011-12-25T07:17:00.000-06:00

From our family to you and yours....
Here's wishing you a most blessed Merry Christmas....
Michael...Vicki...Chad...Robin...Tyler...Ashley...Josh and Heather...& last, but certainly not least...Betty!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T10:18:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a sons, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us: and the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

As the hours count down to Christmas, I want to thank all of you who stop by here to read the postings. I pray that you find something that might encourage you or give you strength. Above all, I pray that you find Jesus (not that He is missing) and the change that He can bring to life.

Tonight, I will take a walk. It is a tradition that started many years ago when my sons were little boys. After every one was in bed and the presents were under the tree, I would take a short walk in the neighborhood. Sometimes the weather would only allow me to walk to the end of my driveway but I took the walk just the same. Christmas Eve is the quietest night of the year. Standing there in the street, lit by the trees and lights from the various homes up and down the neighborhood, there is silence. No traffic.........No one stirring.....No noise.........just silence. It is as though God the Father has demanded reverence and quiet on this the prelude to the birth of the Christ child. Even the demons are silenced and for this brief moment, Satan himself cowers because he is reminded of the significance of this night. It is my most favorite time.

I am flooded with memories of Christmas past.
Growing up in Gallant, Alabama, the church was central to the community so Christmas events were important. We always had music and suppers and a reading of the Christmas story, bringing together all of the church family. There in that small country church, I was nurtured and fed the Word of God. I am grateful to men such as Reverend Lewis Wood, Reverend D.E. Hendrix and Reverend Don Gentry for the leadership they provided in our church.

I remember one particular Christmas when my brother received a genuine RCA Stereo Hi-fi record player. That was big stuff for back in the '50's. My dad took the speaker and put it in the window, putting Bobby Darrin's Mack the Knife on the turntable and cranking that bad boy up on about 10. 3 a.m. and all you can hear up and down the valley is "Oh that shark bite..has such teeth dear..and he keeps them outta sight!" There was my day standing in the front yard, directing an unseen orchestra as the music blared out into the Stratosphere. Lights began to come on all over the community. I guess folks didn't know whether Jesus was coming back or we had been invaded by the Russians. I miss my dad. I think of him a lot during the year, but most of all during Christmas time.

My mom loved Christmas.
To her, Christmas was a happening. Something to be organized and kept on schedule so everyone could enjoy it whether they wanted to or not. Presents would be passed out and we would sit there as one person opened up their loot. This went around the room until Mom was the last one. Needless to say it took a great deal of time to accomplish this feat. In fact one of my most memorable spanking came one Christmas after I had finished opening my presents, I took a piece of paper and pen and began writing on it. Mom stopped the festivities and ask me why I wasn't enjoying others opening their presents since everyone had paid attention while I opened mine. I wryly told my Mother that since it took so long to finish off this ritual, I was starting on my Christmas list for next year so I'd get it in on time. "WHACK!!!!!" I don't know why I did such things. I knew what the outcome would be. It was like watching a train wreck and not being able to do anything about it. I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I have written this in a sense of fun. I love my Mom and she did love Christmas. If ever there was a giving person, it was my Mom.

So it's after 10 a.m.
I will take my Mother-in-law to Candle light service tonight at Christ Central United Methodist Church. I will see old friends and there will be many greetings of "Merry Christmas!" We will come home and have supper and probably settle in to watch "It's A Wonderful Life." I am a very full and satisfied man today. God has been more than gracious to me and I humbly acknowledge Him as my provision.
I wish to you a Merry Christmas!
MB

December 23, 2011

2011-12-23T09:18:00.000-06:00

Sitting here in my office at Rapha, I look out into the compound yard and see men preparing to leave for Christmas pass. Clothes piled high (yes, they even take home their dirty clothes for mom to wash), suitcases stacked and ready to be loaded. Parents, wives and others are here to pick up a loved one to take them home for the holidays. There has been and continues to be prayer covering every one this holiday season. Prayer that they will have a Christmas unlike any they've had in a long time. Prayer that every one returns safely. It is Christmas here at Rapha.

This is my 14th Christmas here at Rapha, and I can truly say that I never tire of all the activity that goes on here. Each year has been different with surprises and wonderful glimpses of God at work in the lives of those who come through here. Now until Christmas afternoon, my phone will ring with calls from those who are out there. Some will be doing well and call just to catch me up on what's going on. Some will not be doing so well and they will call to throw out a lifeline in order to just make it through the holiday's. But we will survive and live to be clean and sober another day.

I love all the trappings of Christmas....
Trees...
Presents....
Lights.....
Music....
But it is the human connection between people that I hold most dear.
First and foremost, the connection of my family. I am blessed beyond measure when it comes to my family. I am grateful to God for who my sons are and for my daughters and my grand children.
I am blessed to be married to the most wonderful woman in the world. God truly has made us one in His sight.

Those I work with at Rapha. The best! Each day is a new adventure and I praise God that it isn't a job, but a calling. Strengthen us for 2012 and give us wisdom to take care of those You have placed under our care.

I am humbled by the cross and the Christ who hung there for my sin and for the sin of the world.
As much as I love Christmas and the manger..........it only leads to the cross. Praise God it didn't stop there but continues on to a tomb where a stone has been rolled away.

So thank you, Lord for allowing me one more year.
One more Christmas....
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michael & Vicki

There Must Be More!!!!

2011-12-21T20:42:00.000-06:00

I Corinthians 12:31
..........And I show you a still more excellent way.

Sometimes I like to ruminate on things of the past. It's not that I live there or even lay claim to it being better than my today. But the past does hold a nostalgic feel to it, doesn't it? Old television shows are great, not because they are well done or the actors were better. They are great because there are memories attached to them. I can watch an episode of Combat and have mental pictures of being over at Don Standfields watching it with him. I can see all the guys I grew up with, decked out in various pieces of Army gear, ready to take on the dreaded enemy. Me with my web belt and canteen. Michael Plemons actually wearing a fatigue shirt. Others with helmets or packs and entrenching tools. All these memories still fresh in mind as the day we played army. It is fun to take this backwards side trips with our memory from time to time. It isn't healthy when I let my mind live there and my longing for the past overtakes my need to find the future.

Sometimes it is easy to get so caught up in the past the we loose sight of the future. I like the verse in I Corinthians where Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, saying that we should "earnestly desire the greater gifts," but that he would show a still more excellent way. Those are fancy words for "There is more!" Somehow I have always carried this thought around with me as a believer. There is more than what I know or understand. It wasn't about information or knowledge or anything to do with my mind or brain. It had to do with the Holy Spirit working inside of me so that the things of the Kingdom become clearer to me. That I see the hand of God at work and know that I am growing spiritually. I am not satisfied with today. I want to chase God and see where He leads. I want to follow when He says,"Move!" and I want to sit still when He says, "Rest." I sincerely believe that blessings and clarification concerning God's Kingdom work here, is contingent on me being obedient.

What I speak of isn't a matter of works. It is a matter of heart. It is a matter of love for the Father. It is a matter of forsaking all for the Kingdom. Doesn't fly to well in the face of today's church. Seems as though some folks only want to go to church on Sunday and sit and sing so they can get up to leave and come back next Sunday to sit and sing some more. Along the way they throw some money in the offering plate and feel like they have done their "Christian Duty" for God and country. I cannot believe that this type behavior is all there is to the Kingdom of God here on earth. I believe when we stand and pray earnestly from the heart and ask God for "Kingdom will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven," God will take us up on that. I do not have the luxury or desire to nail down my beliefs and relationship with God over something in the past. I have seen people stand to give a testimony to God and it was couched in some event that took place back in 1953. 1953? Has God not done anything for you since 1953? John Wesley said that if what ever you share about the workings of God in your life is over a week old, you've got yourself a serious problem. John Wesley's view was toward a God that was at work all the time in the lives of His children. This ongoing work should be the fuel and fire that awakens us from religious slumber and sets us on the path of following Him to the more excellent way. As we count down the days left here in 2011, let us be about the business of "laying aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Let's embrace the entrance of 2012 as the year in which we live with all sincerity a life that is pleasing to God.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michael & Vicki

Steps...by Steps.....by Steps.....

2011-12-21T07:45:00.003-06:00

Step # 6 --
We commit ourselves to God and desire that He remove patterns of sin from our lives.

Step # 7 --
We humbly ask God to renew our minds so that our sinful patterns can be transformed into patterns of righteousness.
In the twelve steps, steps six and seven carry on the "inside work" that has brought us from Step # 1. We begin a life long cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God, as He works to transform us. In Step 6 we read the phrase patterns of sin. As we continue to do things (behaviors) over and over, they become habits. An example would be the habit becoming a ditch. The more we act with the same behavior, the deeper the ditch is dug. Each time the rain comes, it follows the path of the ditch. The rain would be situations and circumstances that we face each day. Not knowing what to do or how to handle what we are facing, we resort to the old ditches we have dug, in other words, we continue in the old patterns of sinful behavior. God's desire if to fill up the old ditches and dig new ones that are a result of this new relationship I have with Him.

Step # 7 says we humbly ask God to renew our minds.....(Isn't this the place where all battles are played out? Our mind?). Romans 12:2 reads that we are no longer to be conformed this world (don't act or behave in the same manner as those who do not know Jesus) but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Let God show us the better way on how to deal with life.
I like how the Message Bible puts it: Don't be so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I guess you could say the key to today's posting is A solid, biblical belief system is the key to my healthy behavior.

As we near Christmas, I do want you to know how much I appreciate everyone who stops by Greene Street Letters. I pray that we all grow in Christ and that this upcoming year will be one of greater intimacy with Him and with us all growing in faith as we look forward to the return of Christ.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michael & Vicki

KNOCK!

2011-12-20T08:45:00.001-06:00

It stands there beckoning you like some silent sentry. You don't know what lies beyond, because the door stands in the way. You look for other points of entry. Ones that seem to be easier and softer in which to move from this place to the next. There are none, at least that would seem to offer the same as the door in front of you.

This isn't the first time you passed this way. Many times the events of your life have lead you to this door, and with every returned visit you still refuse to enter through the door. That would be too obvious and even a bit hypocritical on your part. You know others who have passed through this door and they seem to have obtained what you have been searching for, but still that nagging fear of the door won't go away. At least on this side of the door, you know the rules and you know how to play the game. Never mind that you have lost everything. Never mind that you are only fooling yourself. No matter what you think............the door still stands there calling to you.

A battle rages inside you.
One voice declares that victory and every thing good and proper is waiting on the other side of the door.
Another voice derides the first calming it to be a fairytale that will never measure up to your needs. This subtle, whispered voice tries to calm your fears with promises and lies that, even as you listen, stir your soul to give in. But still the door stands there.

Finally without thought or reason, you reach for the doorknob. Turning it slowly, heart bounding with fear, you open the door. Little by little pulling it back until it stands wide open. Now for the hard part. With the "old" voice ringing in your ears, you slowly take the first step through the door. As you do, you are filled with a sense of freedom and peace unlike anything you have ever felt. A voice all too familiar greets your heart with these words......."Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Welcome to recovery.
To those of you who stop by the Greene Street Letters, I want you to know that there is healing and freedom from addiction to be found in the person of Jesus Christ. I would not write this if it were not true. I don't claim to have any magic or even many answers, but I do know this one thing. You may think you have an addiction problem. Truth is...........you have a living problem. You have a broken relationship with Jesus. Why not let this be the best Christmas you ever celebrated by giving him your life today. By allowing this Jesus to "Birth you again" unto new life. More than religious mumbo-jumbo or empty pipe dreams, this new life with Jesus is just that. New life.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's....
Michael & Vicki

Christmas Revelation

2011-12-20T07:29:00.003-06:00

I have spent a fair amount of time reading in Revelation. I love this book especially during the Christmas season. Why? Because we spend a lot of time playing and trying to make the season look like all that is good and holy and proper. In the, hopeful, not to distant future, God will actually set up His kingdom and it will be built and established on all that is holy, good and proper. I try and visualize what events will look like that I read about in Revelation.

Revelation 19
V.5 - And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great."
Instructions that we will hear. We won't have to guess whether we are hearing God........whether we are hearing correctly.....is it me or is it God? We will hear a voice calling us to the greatest worship event ever. All other such events on this side of eternity will pale in comparison to the goings-on in heaven. In the verse we are called bond servants. We have been set free but choose to follow God all the way through this life, crossing over to eternity and beyond (if such a place as "beyond eternity" exists).

V.6 - And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns."
A multitude.
How many make up a multitude? 5,000........5 million? More than can be counted? It doesn't matter, except to say that the sound they made was as the sound of many waters. Since the Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized as water.........could it be that the voices were under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit? Maybe. He goes on to say that the voices also sounded like peals of thunder.....That is a sound found in the heavens. The sound that fills heaven has power behind it. Not the power of a choir and their voices, but the sound of hearts that have been saved, all proclaiming the greatness of God. Stand back....it is going to blow our socks off. I can hardly wait.
Taking part in such an outpouring of praise and worship will be unlike anything we ever experienced here on earth. I have been a part of some pretty powerful worship, but think about standing in the presence of Jesus.............praise rising up within me............the sound that it will make as it leaves my lips...a complete giving of myself in worship unto the LORD......I can hardly wait.

Let your heart be filled with the knowledge of Christ this holiday season.
Remember your first love, Jesus, and return to Him with a renewed sense of dedication and devotion.
Merry Christmas to you and your family from the Bynum's.....
Michael & Vicki

Countdown Has Begun

2011-12-19T07:11:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful weekend.
Saturday nights service was the Candle light meeting as part of our Christmas celebration.
Voices singing and giving glory to God.
Men responding to Jesus' call to salvation.
Two more added to the long line of saints that stretches back into the past.
The room bathed in soft glow of candles as we sang You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness.
More than words, but a heart felt cry of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.
Much hugging and back slapping all covered with joyous greetings of "Merry Christmas."
Such was our Saturday.

II Peter 1:4
For by these, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
We have been granted by God what Peter refers to as "His precious and magnificent promises."
Words spoken by God...
Given to mankind....
Words that carry weight and effect when introduced into our lives.
Words that break the power of sin...
The influence of sin...
The penalty of sin....
Words that carry power and power that can deliver the vilest person whose heart is stone cold dead.
Promises that break all hardness and penetrate all darkness to illuminate and give hope.
We need these words now more than ever.
While the world seeks to put on a "happy face" and tie all happiness to the ownership of things, humanity rushes headlong using their fleshly passions like a throttle. Speeding to destruction all the while thinking, "If I can just buy one more present....If I can just have this for myself, life would be so much better." The only thing I desire to lay hold of is the cross of Christ. The completed work of Jesus that has set me free, filled me with God's Holy Spirit and has given me purpose in this life.

I place my hope, my trust, my very life in the hands of Jesus.
I place my hope, my trust, my very life on the promises of God.
I place my hope, my trust, my very life that He will guide me and see me all the way through this life, taking me to next part on the other side of eternity.
Fairy tale?
Nope...
Promises!

Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michael & Vicki

A Good Night Was Had By All

2011-12-17T07:55:00.001-06:00

Last night we celebrated the Campbell Christmas, my wife's side of the family. Truth be known, they are more like family sometimes than my own. She is from a large family, 5 brothers and sisters, and me, being from a small family, one brother, it was a bit overwhelming at first. The Bynum family Christmas was orderly and peaceful and very quiet as we unwrapped our gifts one at a time so mother could see what we had received. On the other hand, my wife's family is like something from a Keystone Cops movie. Organized chaos. Everyone talking at once. Someone on their hands and knees picking up presents, calling the name out and then chunking said present with Joe Montana precision across the room to a Campbell receiver who snatched it out of the air like Jerry Rice on the run.
You take 5 brothers and sisters, along with their respective wifes or husbands... and add kids to the mix. Then on top of that genealogical hierarchy put some grand kids and then great grand kids and you got yourselves a hoo-ha! Such is the Campbell Christmas.

We gathered at the Sardis Community Center for the sware'. Why Sardis? It's is kind of a halfway point for everyone to travel to. Ton's of food and laughter. Little kids running every where screaming and playing "Tag..you're it!" It was a time to catch up on the individual clan's year. Vicki's brother, Mike, was recovering from back surgery and doing well. He and Dianne, his wife, had made enough ham and turkey sandwiches to take care of the entire Russian Army during the winter of 09. There was Deb, my sister-in-law, and her vegetable soup. She told me that she had made it a little hotter than she intended. Jalapenos will do it every time. For me, the soup was heaven with cornbread. I do love me some good soup. Thanks Deb!

Larry, another brother and husband of hot soup making Deb, shared stories of a reunion he had recently attended. Larry is a retired Colonel from the Marine Corp and the men he served with during Viet Nam held a reunion in Washington D.C. Larry wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to attend, but finally opted to go. He is extremely glad he did and the stories he shared were humdingers. U-rah!

Presents for the little kids and dirty Santa for the adults brought squeals and screams. Errrr..from the tykes not the grown ups. I had my eye on a popcorn serving set but alas, it was not to be. Dianne, the sandwich making machine, wound up with the prize popcorn set. Me? I got a copy of Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest. Not bad at all.

I sat with my grand niece, Fiona, during the meal and we caught up on what music we were currently listening too. What songs we had heard that really made an impression. Fiona is a very good musician, playing several different instruments but leaning toward Violin as her favorite. Last month, she attended a church conference at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and was asked to play and sing. Fiona shared a video of her song, Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing. I knew she could play the violin but I had no idea of the power of her voice. She was incredible! Her voice has a (I know this may sound strange to some) Celtic quality to it. I think I may have been sitting with someone who will be taken to places through her music that she may not even dream is possible. God's richest blessing on my grand niece.

As the days count down to Christmas, I want to share a verse that means a lot to me.
I John 1:5 - And this is the message we have from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. I like that. "In Him there is no darkness." If I remain in Christ and Christ remain in me....then I will walk in light. In other words, I will be made aware of anything the enemy is tyring to do to me or through me. I will be aware of any attitudes and wrong motives that come up in my decisions. If you look around during this time of year, it's all about the lights. We have festival of lights and Christmas light shows and trees with colored lights every where you look. They represent the power and presence of Christ. The lights remind us of how little power darkness actually has when light is introduced. Light pushes the darkness away and brings comfort. Such is Christ. Darkness flees at not only his presence but at the very mention of His name. Jesus, name above all names.
During this holiday season, I pray that the light and presence of Jesus would cover each of you and your families.
Thank you again for stopping by Greene Street Letters.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's.
mb

R.I.P.

2011-12-16T05:40:00.003-06:00

We called him "Pops"...He worked in the kitchen and always had a smile on his face. He saw the world through a distinct and unique view that didn't always match up with reality.
He would sit on the bench outside the TV room, soaking up "ray's" as he referred to it.
His face revealed the miles he had traveled in this life.
It had been a hard road if you listened to his stories.
Dreams were lost... Family was just a word that some people used to connect people to their past.
He was a pleasant man.
He left Rapha some weeks ago to return to his old life. It costs him.
Police found him dead this past Tuesday. He'd been shot.

Funny or strange as this may sound, this is the very reason we celebrate Christmas.
Death and sin.
If not for those two, then Jesus would never have had to come to this earth and be born.
If death and sin had never invaded the garden, then wise men and Shepherds would never have been a part of this Christmas pageant. As beautiful as we have tried to make Christmas, we need to remember that the baby that was born in Bethlehem's stable, came to this earth to die for the sin of the world.
Jesus was on a mission at the request of His Father and He saw it through to completion and beyond. It should be a time of rejoicing! Christ, the Messiah.......the ultimate Deliverer...has been born. A Savior for all has stepped into our time and space to break the power and the penalty of sin.
But we must never forget that during this season, people are dying all around us.
"Lord...don't let me become so numb and self centered in my own life that I never see those around me who don't know you. Those to who Christmas is just another day. A day to spend money on presents. Let me proclaim Your story........Your good news........Your gospel to all. A story that still resonates with power in the proclamation that "Unto you this day a Savior has been born who is Christ the LORD!
God on you......
mb

Find The Value In The Things God Has Entrusted Us With

2011-12-14T20:26:00.000-06:00

The amazing story of God, in the form of man, stepping into our time and space.
Living, growing and taking his place in the society of His day.
Beginning to minister and proclaim with a voice that was as old as time itself that "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand......repent and turn from your sins."

Christmas is more than warm fuzzy feelings and soft colored lights.
It is a time of reassurance that God has not forgotten or lost His grip on this planet or the people who occupy it.
It is a time for faith.
It is a time for us to recommit ourselves.
It is a time to realize that.......Yes! We have joy. Yes! We have hope! But we also have a duty to God to be good stewards fo the things He places at our disposal. It is a time to stop playing marbles with diamonds.

God on you.....
mb

Shine!

2011-12-14T07:49:00.000-06:00

One light.....
One candle.....
One flame......
That is all it takes to drive back the darkness.
One heart......
One love........
One Savior.......
That is all it took to drive back the darkness.
The gates of hell............those massive, rusted, bars that have stood ever since the fall, will not prevail.
They cannot prevail. Jesus has defeated the Kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan.
By becoming a sacrifice, Jesus loved his way to victory. He is the light of the world. Not one of many lights............not a light............not some light, but rather THE LIGHT. He is the ultimate source of illumination and salvation for those trapped in spiritual darkness.

Shepherds saw the glory-light of God as it came down all around them. They were terrified until the angel said, "Fear not!"
Moses saw the glory-light of God in a bush that was not consumed. He was terrified and took off his shoes at the instruction that came from the bush.
The magi saw the message-light in the heavens and followed it until it came to rest over a house where they found the baby. There they worshipped under the heavenly light of a star that led them from the East, and nothing would ever be the same.
Evil would continue to invade and capture the souls and will of humanity.....
But....
A Savior had been born.
God in flesh walking among his creation.
Walking every day with purpose that would culminate on a cross.
Joy to all mankind.
Salvation in tidal waves of mercy poured out for all to receive.
Some did...
Some did not....
Still the plan moved on down through the ages...
Without faltering or failing....the plan moved on.
Here today, December 14, 2011, the plan is as powerful as ever.
The call to salvation has not lessened.
This is the heart and nature of Jesus the Christ.
Praise God for this and more!

Merry Christmas from the Bynum's
Michae & Vicki

A Baby Is Born

2011-12-12T20:41:00.001-06:00

Hebrews 1:3
And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He (Jesus) had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Sometimes I think the reason that Christmas is so universally accepted is that we celebrate the birth of a baby. Truth be known, babies aren't to threatening to anyone. They are cute and cuddly and warm and make really funny noises. We oooooh and aaaaaahhhhh at them. We talk baby talk to them. I don't think many people today are uneasy about Jesus as a baby. Just don't let him grow up to be man. Don't let him grow up to be a man who takes on an earthly kingdom by bringing in a heavenly kingdom. The man, Jesus, stands in stark contrast to the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in manger in the town of Bethlehem.

Rod Hembree, pastor of Good Friends Church, made this observation concerning Jesus. "Two thousand years after His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ is still the main issue. He is the ultimate swear word by the culture and entertainment community. He is central argument among all religious theologians. He is the premier problem for the agents of evil. He is the classic confusion of the philosophers. He is the number one terror of the nations that terrorize His church. He is the chief pick against political correctness. He is the rub against relativism. Jesus Christ is the dissenting discomfort of the New Age movement. He is the barbed wire barrier for the man of lawlessness and the stumbling stone of man's foundational governments. That is because in all of this, and more, Jesus Christ is LORD!"

The depth of understanding of who Jesus is will never end. In John 17:3, we read that this is the very reason we have been given eternal life...."That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." So daily, through the Word of God, through my interaction of prayer and listening for God, I grow in respect to relationship. I grow in my ability to hear God and discern His good will for me. I grow in my trust that God is truly who He claims to be and will do exactly what He claims He will do.
This time of year, I find myself extremely grateful for life itself. I look to my past and see the destruction and darkness I wallowed in for years....I look to my future and see the face of Jesus, because nothing else matters out there. I look to today and find gratefulness and gratitude for having been given this gift of 24 hours. I pray that I spent it wisely and for the Kingdom of God.

Find Christ this holiday season.
Merry Christmas! From the Bynum's....
Vicki and Michael.

Is Your Cross Big Enough?

2011-12-11T17:49:00.000-06:00

Philemon : 12 - 14
And I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, who I wished to keep with me, that in your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent I did not want to do anything, that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion, but of your own free will.

Paul is appealing to the master of a runaway slave who was converted by Paul in prison. Paul is asking that Philemon, the man to whom the letter is written, forgive the slave. Paul has brought the gospel to both men...Philemon (the master) and Onesimus, the slave, yet Paul is appealing for forgiveness saying that it is not based on compulsion but by choice. I think this is a sticking point with a lot of people. I don't think the church has done a very good job of teaching on forgiveness. Somehow most of the people I run into all have the same notion that forgiveness comes from feelings.Forgiveness comes from choosing to forgive.

Church is always great and feels wonderful when we are surrounded by people we love. But what happens when our churches are invaded by those who have hurt or harmed us? What happens when we see those people seeking God? Does our flesh flare up and we become silently angry, hiding by a face of religion? Or do we help them? I read this statement from Quick Study Bible lesson for today: Is the Cross big enough for those who have deeply wounded me, or is it just big enough for me? In other words, am I enjoying the benefits of this relationship with Jesus and only wanting specific others to have the same privilege? I dare say many would answer that question out loud, but in case you did, and in case you felt some conviction....then, like me, we both need to get a bigger cross. Or better yet, we need "self" to shrink and disappear so that only Jesus is left. More of you, Lord, and less of me. True forgiveness is never a felling or a mood; it is a choice that must be made over and over.

Mull this over and let God speak to your heart.
Today is the perfect day to forgive.
God on you.....
mb

Friday Night Get-Down

2011-12-10T07:24:00.000-06:00

We had our Christmas Tree Decorating party last night. One of my most favorite gatherings during the Christmas season. My wife made Snicker Doodles and her recipe for KILLER HOT CHOCOLATE.
It is always so funny to watch the men when they first come into the chapel and see the Christmas tree. It isn't decorated so they kind of stand off not knowing what to do.

We had a table set up with all the goodies on it.
Brenda Lee was playing through the sound system Jingle Bells Rock, so as cookies are being eaten and hot chocolate is going down smooth, one by one the men come forward picking up strands of lights and ornaments. Pretty soon the room is abuzz with the sound of laughter and singing. I might add that our singing will never win us a recording contract. What we lacked in talent was made up in gusto and passion.

It has been years for some of these men since they actually decorated a Christmas tree. It has been years since Christmas had meant anything. For most, Christmas was just another day. Another day to work at their addiction trying to figure out where they were going to get enough money to buy what they needed to get high on. But last night, for that brief moment in time, those dark memories disappeared and there was laughter. I had several come up to me after we finished and said, "I didn't know I could have a good time without getting drunk!"

Once the tree was lit (to the sounds of oooohs and ahhhhhs) we sang Silent Night. There in the glow of the lights from the tree, the Spirit of God came into that room. Faces once hard and dark kind of melted into tenderness as we simply sang and stood in the presence of God.

Thank you Father, for your wonderful love for us.
May we truly understand the celebration of Christmas.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's!

Christmas is.......

2011-12-09T06:55:00.000-06:00

Christmas is.....
Looking into the faces of the people I see at Wal-mart and at the mall.
Some faces are hard and cold. I don't see any joy or peace. I pray for those faces that they might run into this Jesus who has changed my life. I wish not to give false hope in telling anyone about my Jesus. He isn't a handy-dandy fix man who can undo all the damage I've done in my life. He is a Savior that can transform and produce a new way of seeing life.......a new way of doing business with the world.

Some faces radiate with the glow of God's Spirit. They may be about the business of buying presents for family and friends, but you see Jesus in them. Soft smiles and eyes that are filled with love. Even the very timbre of their voice can soften the hardest of hearts they meet.

Christmas is......
Breakfast with my good friends, Jim Bentley. Waffle house with coffee and conversation. Catching up on the week. Looking back at our past, wondering how we got to where we are. Appreciative of God's hand upon our lives and for the memories we share. Some good...some not so good......but none the less a part of our friendship. I have known Jim since the fall of 1968. We have a lot of shared history. He is my best-est friend.

Christmas is.....
Revisiting Luke Chapter 2.
Trying to place myself in Joseph's shoes. What would I have done? Would I have been a man of integrity like Joseph? Or would I have fallen prey to the easy way out? I get angry when movies and television shows try and "Hollywood-ize" the Christmas story. This was a serious thing to be a young girl having a baby outside of marriage. It wasn't a story of warm cozy feelings and soft lights that seem to permeate and cast just the right shadows over the stable. It was a time of a king who was drunk with power and would do anything to hold on to it. Even ordering the killing of small children. In the midst of all the political intrigue and the religious fervor.......there stood Joseph whose primary concern was for his wife and for the baby that was to be born.

Christmas is....
My family.
Josh and Heather will be coming in from Athens, Georgia on Christmas day. Chad, Robin and the grand kids, Tyler and Ashley, will be coming from Southside Christmas afternoon. My wife, Vicki, will spend the morning in our kitchen working the cooking magic she does so well and spread out a meal that would rival the finest chef's found anywhere in the world. We will gather around that table and share more than a meal. We will share our love and laughter. We will share memories. We will be together. To me that is the greatest present a person can receive......family.

I saved this one for last.
Christmas is.....
The story of the birth of Jesus.
It is the defining moment in the history of the world, when God stepped out of heaven and took on the form and flesh of mankind. He invaded our time and space with a purpose. To take the next step in his plan to right the terrible wrong that took place in the garden when mankind fell from grace into a world of sin. To me Christmas is victory! Christmas is a joyous shout of triumph, and with each Christmas, we draw nearer and nearer to the ultimate finality....Christ return. Would ever a song be so true as to be present at that return and sing.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.
Let earth receive her King!!!!

Merry Christmas from the Bynum's

Thank you for stopping by Greene Street

Michael & Vicki

Tis The Season To Gripe and Grumble

2011-12-08T08:21:00.001-06:00

Nehemiah 9: 15 - 22
You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty. You commanded them to go and take possession of the land you had sworn to give them. But our ancestors were a proud and stubborn lot, and they refused to obey your commands. They refused to listen and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt! But you are a a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and full of unfailing love and mercy. You did not abandon them, even though they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, "This is your god who brought you of of Egypt!" They sinned and committed terrible blasphemies. But in your great mercy you did not abandon them to die in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still led them forward by day, and the pillar of fire showed them the way through the night. You sent your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not stop giving them bread from heaven or water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They laced nothing in all that time. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!

God is faithful always....
Even when we are not.
It seems that the world (in particular..the US of A) has lost the ability to be thankful. I turn on the TV and I see people protesting against what they don't have. They scream and yell and shake their fist (mainly for the cameras) and rail against the perceived notion of unfairness in this country. I'm not hear to debate one way or the other. I am just confounded by the ungratefulness that people show. It's like nothing is ever good enough. That people don't have enough, so they complain and grip and grumble.
In the verses above from the book of Nehemiah, we read of God's faithfulness balanced against the unfaithfulness of the Israelites. God took care of them for 40 years, yet all they did was complain about they way God was taking care of them. "I hate this manna.....it's manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna at supper time." Yet this manna, which was bread from heaven, didn't cost them anything other than a little bit of labor to go and harvest what they needed just for that day. \

I do not ever want to forget the things God has done for me and my family. Maybe that is why Christmas is so important to me. It is a time to actually take stock of the year and how God has sustained us since last Christmas. To celebrate the triumphs of family and grieve over defeats or failures. It doesn't matter which it is, we are family so we share together.
Today I am grateful for Rapha.
I am grateful to Steve and Marilyn for answering God's call and letting him work through them to establish this place.
I am grateful to Bill who gave of himself to serve God here at Rapha.
I am grateful to Gene and Mike for taking up the mantle and bringing fresh vision to Rapha.
I am grateful for Barry for bringing to the table a new way of continuing the mission here at Rapha.
I am thankful for Brenden and Jeff as God has added to the Rapha family two men who serve in ways that amaze me.
I am thankful for Wayne and Debbie for following me all these years and for the heart of worship they bring to Rapha every Saturday night.
I am thankful for Rainnie (Spell?) and the quirky view of life that God has placed in him. For placing him as our leader and giving him vision for the future.
I am thankful for my wife and Deb for being called here to Rapha to serve.
It is truly a wonderful thing for me to be co-laborers with my wife in what God is doing here at Rapha.
I am thankful for each man who comes through the program.
I am thankful for you, O'Lord, for giving me a home in which to serve you.

Merry Christmas!
mb

Love And Forgiveness

2011-12-07T08:11:00.000-06:00

Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

I Corinthians 13:4
.....Love keeps no record of when it has been wronged.

For some reason during my Bible time yesterday these two verses met head on in a collision. We are told in Matthew to forgive and receive forgiveness. Receiving for our sins and giving for those who have sinned against us. This forgiveness includes the act of forgiving ourselves for all the destruction and pain we have caused because of our addiction.

I have some who say they can never forgive themselves and what they have done to the families. But at the same time, they make reference to being a loving person. They refer to the love of God that dwells within, but according to I Corinthians.....love keeps no record of wrongs. Do you see the problem here?
We don't and can't forgive...........either ourselves or others, yet we lay claim to the idea that we can love as Jesus loves. If the Holy Spirit of God is in us, then all claims to unforgiveness has to be turned loose of. Unforgiveness and the presence of God will not dwell together. The greatest act and present ever given to fallen man was wrapped up in the death and resurrection of Jesus. IF anyone had a reason to not forgive, I think it would be Jesus. All the humiliation and pain and suffering he endured finding its completion on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem. There, on that cross, Jesus said the most incredible words ever recorded............"Father! Forgive them............they don't know what they are doing." Love and forgiveness coming together to create the ultimate divine ripple that has passed down through the ages, not loosing power........not loosing purpose. The love and forgiveness that is poured out on every generation. Some accept this incredible gift. Some reject it. But it is there! The invitation has not slackened or become irrelevant. That is why we can scream with incredible joy...."UNTO US IS BORN A SAVIOR, CHRIST THE LORD!

Merry Christmas!
Michael and Vicki Bynum

December 24, 1981

2011-12-06T06:15:00.000-06:00

It was Christmas eve, 1981 and we lived on 4th street in Gadsden.
It was after 11 p.m. and both my sons were asleep down the hall with the proverbial dreams of "Sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads." My wife, Vicki, had retired some time back and was fast asleep also. I had finished putting out the presents, locked the doors and was headed to bed myself.

As I entered our living room, I stopped for one last look at the tree. Bynum tradition stated that the Christmas tree would remain lit on Christmas Eve. The lights, the ornaments, the tinsel all draped over our tree. There was one memory that flooded me at that moment. This was the first Christmas since my mother's death in May of that year. My mom loved Christmas because it was truly a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but also to celebrate one of God's gifts to us........family. She loved her family and Christmas was the perfect time to let this show. Mom always went overboard for Christmas with gifts and food and making sure that everyone had a great time. We always kidded here about this because she would huff and puff about how much work it took. Everyone knew that this was a labor of love for her. It was a time when she truly let the love in her heart for her family pour out through the things she did for us. She never expected anything in return.

As the thoughts of Christmas' past flooded my mind, tears welled up and I began to weep. It was an all too real pain of grief and the thought of Mom not being with us. I sat down in the floor and let the tears come even harder. In the middle of this pain, a quiet voice came to me. "Don't cry! She is with me." I knew that God had spoken. Peace. Peace came over me and my thoughts changed to the incredible thought that as much as my Mom loved Christmas, she was going to celebrate it with One who Christmas is all about. Jesus. She would be celebrating her first Christmas in heaven. I took up some paper and a pen and began to write down some words which later would become a song...............You've Gone Home For Christmas.

It's the time of the year

When the world spins in cheer

thoughts turn to family and friends

Of snow covered nights

and bright colored lights

and the things that world adores

but you....

you've gone home for Christmas

to celebrate Emmanuel's new birth

you....
You've gone home for Christmas

left His peace with your family here on earth.

Look beyond the presents

Look beyond the bustle of shopping and buying

Look to the manger and the precious gift it held that night long ago in Bethlehem.

For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord!

Merry Christmas From the Bynum's

God on you....

Opps...They Got It Wrong!

2011-12-05T06:49:00.000-06:00

Did you ever notice that people sometimes attribute things to Scripture that really aren't found in the Bible?
My favorite is "God helps those who help themselves." A nice platitude but nowhere to be found in the Bible.
Another one that I find interesting, especially this time of year, is "Peace on earth, good will to men." Peace on this planet has long been a dream that has dwelt in the heart of mankind. Some hold tight this thought of all men and women living together in peace, but sinful hearts will never allow this dream to come true.

The phrase "Peace on earth, good will to men" isn't found in Scripture.
If you read what it actually says (Luke 2:14) you'll find that it reads "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. In other words, those whose hearts are given to God, whose lives become reflections of Christ at work in them, are called to receive the peace of God here in the middle of this fallen world. Such a strange interaction that the peace of God would dwell among the chaos and darkness of the Kingdom of Satan.

If you look back to Exodus, you'll see that God did the same thing to the Israelites who dwelt in the land of Goshen. Here we had an entire people in slavery surrounded by the decadence and paganism of Egypt, yet God placed his hand of covering over them and kept them safe. It doesn't matter where you are this morning.
You may be living in a dysfunctional family that would fill the record books with their antics, God will cover you in the middle of the chaos and pain and give to you peace. Not necessarily peace that would change your situation, but peace that would take you through anything you might find yourself facing. Peace that would keep you heart, spirit and body and impart to you strength to face whatever comes your way. That is the Peace my God is able to pour out on those whose hearts are committed to Him.

So while the world tries to offer a pseudo-peace during this Christmas season, let the real-deal God give you the real thing. Don't accept imitations or knock-offs when it comes to peace. Let it permeate every area of your life today. Walk in it! Live in it! And let God receive the glory due Him.
Merry Christmas from the Bynum's!

God on you.....
Michael & Vicki

Behind The Words..

2011-12-03T07:15:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:1
Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.

This verse has begun more Christmas stories, plays and pageants that I care to think about.
It is the focal point that leads us to the night of the Christ Child's birth.
But have you ever really stopped and thought about what was really going on?
The Old Testament is filled with prophetic verses that reveal the coming Messiah.
The book of Micah speaks of the town (Bethlehem) and the exact location within the town (Ephratha) where Jesus was to be born. Isaiah 9 tells of the names that Messiah would be known for (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father and Prince of Peace). Yet for all of these prophecies to be fulfilled, all the people involved had to be in a specific place....a specific town....a specific location. Bethlehem.

Here is where things get a bit sticky.
We know (or at least we give a head nod) that God indeed moves people to fulfill his plans (Somehow we think that kind of behavior from God ended many centuries ago...how foolish are we?). Thousands of miles away from Bethlehem, in Rome, we see Caesar pittering around the palace with nothing to do. Suddenly (and without warning) a thought forms in his mind. A thought that did not come from his own intellect, but one placed there by God Himself. "WE NEED A CENSUS..........WE NEED ONE NOW........EVERY PERSON OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE MUST RETURN TO THE CITY OF THE ANCESTOR'S.

This single thought put into motion everything needed for the Scriptures to be fulfilled. What do you think is happening today in our world that God is moving and directing? Governments? I believe so. Leaders? You know it. Societies? Yep! God has not changed the way he carries out his eternal plan for this planet and His creation. So, with that in mind, it doesn't matter how spiritually dark it may get, God is still in control and I should be about the business of trusting Him that He knows best. I should trust him with my life, my family, and my future. This simple act, in Luke 2, of calling for a census, set in motion the most incredible event in the history of our world. An event that would eventually lead to a hill outside of Jerusalem where this Jesus, would give his life in exchange for freedom from sin for anyone who would repent and receive. And to think that a pagan ruler, who considered himself to be God, would be used by the real-deal God to carry out the plans of the Kingdom of Heaven.That God is something else.

God on you....
mb

The Innkeeper By John Piper

2011-12-02T05:36:00.004-06:00

In this life, the Kingdom of God moves and affects us in various ways. Life almost seems like a paradox.
When thinking of Jesus, you cannot take one aspect of his time here on earth without unraveling and finding something else.

You cannot have the manger in Bethlehem without a cross outside of Jerusalem.
You cannot have Christmas without Good Friday.
You cannot celebrate the birth of Jesus without remembering that He came to die.
You cannot have the resurrection of Jesus without first going into the tomb.

If you look at these events with human eyes and understanding, you might be dismayed or discouraged.
Life only to die....
Death only to be resurrected....
Why couldn't we just skip the hard part, after all He is God.
Because the Kingdom of God is about taking the very things, the hard things....those dark things that were brought to this world through sin and destroying them.
God lays hold to the things of the devil and by His authority and power, puts an end to them.
That is why we see the Kingdom here but the Kingdom not complete in it's fullness.
God is at work and His plans move ever forward until we will see a complete restoration of His creation.
Maranatha! Lord Jesus....

God on you....
mb

HELP!!!!!

2011-12-01T08:07:00.000-06:00

I Chronicles 5:20
....They cried out to God during the battle, and he answered their prayers because they trusted in Him.

Battles....
Warfare.....
Spiritual conflict.....
This is the truth for the life of all who are followers of Jesus.
You have an enemy (the devil.....Yes! Virginia, there is a devil) who seeks to destroy you.
To stop you from believing.
To discourage you and create such doubt and fear within that you simply give up.
Two things I truly like about the verse above.

1.) They cried out to God......
       a.) It wasn't a mental exercise. It wasn't something they simply thought about, it was a reality. It was a voice that wells up from within and explodes into the heavens. Very simple....prayers go up...answers come down. You know....what goes up must come down.
       b.) The said "Crying out" took place during the battle. IT is at the point of realization that you, in your own strength, cunning intellect, and ability cannot win, that you cry out to God. Truth be known, the crying out part should take place before the battle actually begins, but sometimes we find ourselves caught up in a spiritual conflict before we even realize that is what is taking place. No matter.....Cry out to God!!!

2.) The Trust factor:
      a.) God answered their prayers because they trusted Him. The literally believed that God was who He claimed to be and would do what He claimed He would do. Trust........cling to..........rely on........believe in......they trusted God and He answered their prayers.

Do my prayers echo my trust in God?
Or are they simply desperate cries to get His attention and hope that He intervenes in my "battle?" I want to trust him more with each passing day and the only way this is going to happen is to trust him with my life. My heart knows that He is trustworthy, but my head tells me different..."What if God doesn't come through this time? What if he leaves you high and dry?"
That is why Proverbs 3:5-6 is so important to me:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your path straight.
This is life changing truth. It takes our focus off of our own ability and intellect and places it solely on Jesus. All part of learning to follow Him and not our own way, desires and talents.

Think on these things....
God on you.....

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Leave The Stinking Fish Behind

2011-11-30T07:44:00.000-06:00

Luke 5:11
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Story of Peter and an encounter he had with Jesus.
Peter had worked all night and had nothing to show for it, and now Jesus had parked himself in Peter's boat. Peter was on the way home to eat breakfast and go to bed (I kind of infer this in my reading of the Scripture) so the idea of becoming the S.S. Minnow for a three hour tour did not set well with Peter. He pushes out and listens as Jesus teaches the people on the shore. We are not told what the subject was, but I guess that it might have been about the Kingdom of God and the need to repent of sins.

We not told of Peter's response to all of this. Perhaps he was listening intently, or maybe he fell asleep waiting for Jesus to finish. No matter what, at the end of the teaching, Jesus told Peter to take his boat out to the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Peter retells the story of having worked all night and not catching anything. He then agrees that he will do as Jesus said.

Upon being obedient, Peter's nets become so full of fish that they have to call for others to bring their boats to help with the catch. In other words, Jesus worked a miracle here in front of Peter. In fact as the catch is being taken care of, Peter responds in Luke 5:8 saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Peter was suddenly aware of his spiritual state and knew that he was a sinner. Jesus in turn makes the offer for Peter, James and John to follow Him. But the following meant a departing from one life to that of another.

Verse 11 reads: "They left everything and followed Him."
What falls under everything? Everything.
A very simple call from Christ to every believer.
"Follow Me!"
A choice to do so means a leaving of everything we have known or loved.
Here in Rehab, some want the life of sobriety and relationship with Jesus.....
They just don't want to give up old friends (and I use that term---friend----loosely) or old places.
They want the best of both worlds.
Can't happen.
The old lifestyle and this new life of following Jesus can never co-habitate in the same body.
Like Peter, we have, in our old life, labored all night and have nothing to show for it. In other words, we were like the hamster in a wheel....running, running but never getting anywhere. But with a simple call of "Follow me", Jesus took us to places we never dreamed we would go. He lead us to a new life that we never fully believed we could ever have. We simply let down our nets into the promises of His word and drew up the blessings of God.

Jesus called them (the disciples) away from the only thing they had ever known...fishing.
But if a call is made to leave one thing, then we are taken to another already prepared by Christ for us.
We are not called to sit down and wait for the second coming.
We are called to be salt and light in a world that has no flavor and lives in darkness.

Gotta have me some Jesus.....
Thank you Lord for saving me.
I was a mess.
God on each of you stopping by today....

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It's The Word

2011-11-29T08:18:00.000-06:00

Mark 12:24
Jesus replied, "Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of God."

Jesus does not mince words.
Jesus is not concerned about offending others, because in the offending, He is uncovering the truth of the heart. Here in Mark we have Jesus talking with the Sadducee's. They were part of the ruling council of the Temple. If you were to compare them to anyone today it would be the liberal side of Congress. They liked to ask Jesus questions,using such occasions to try and trip Him up. They wanted to uncover Jesus as a false prophet in order to protect their way of life and income that came to them.

Jesus goes right to the heart of every problem that comes up with religious debate. The problem is that you can read the Scriptures and still not know the Scriptures. Some today have a very shallow knowledge and understanding of the Bible. I'm not talking about an intellectual knowledge but rather a heart understanding. I cannot dissect Hebrew and Greek. I cannot uncover the deep mysteries of God that are in His word. But I can take the simple truth of the Word and let it percolate in my spirit and follow the mandate of the Kingdom.

I find it surprising that knowing the Word if followed by knowing the Power of God. We tend to get this backwards in some churches today. They discard study of the word in order to run and "Feel" the power of God. I think there is a reason that one follows the other. The Word gives us the foundation and stability to receive the Power. Without the foundation, we are like little children playing with dynamite.

In an age or time where "Experiencing" God has taken precedent over "Knowing" God...I find great comfort in immersing myself in the Word. I find solace and comfort in the words as the Spirit of God makes them come alive to me. I find light and direction as the Spirit of God directs me in what to do and how I am to act so as not to bring shame to His name.

I do love me some Bible!
I pray that you too will develop a hunger for the Word of God.
God on you today!

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2011-11-28T08:41:00.000-06:00

After weeks of not being able to load up the messages from Saturday Night, we are back.
I have loaded one this morning from Oct. 29......HESITATION!
I will be adding the other messages this week. Enjoy and be sure to pass on to friends and family that they are more than welcomed here at the GREENE STREET LETTERS.
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2011-11-28T06:45:00.000-06:00

Isaiah 9:6 - 7
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever more.
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Vicki and I went to Rainbow Presbyterian last night to see our grand daughter in their Christmas Play, The Hanging Of The Green.
I've been to a lot of churches in my time. Some good and some bad. Some friendly and some, well...not so much. But last night was the first time I've ever entered a church and felt a strong sense of family. Not that I was a part but that the members, whether vocally or not, considered their church to be a family. There were a number or young parents with their children there. It was a night of celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, and the music offered was as diverse as I have ever seen. Organ music......choirs......praise band....Acapella singing by the congregation. It was a wonderful time to start the holiday's. We saw old friends and spent time catching up on life and what God was doing in our families. I watched my grand daughter play an angel with the heavenly host that proclaimed to the shepherds that the Messiah was born.

I watched my son with his son, sitting in front of us. Arm around him, holding him close....Tyler leaning into his dad. Never was there ever a safer place than in the arms of our fathers. My mind drifted back to a time when Chad would crawl up into my lap and I would hold him. Funny how time has a way of slipping through our fingers. Maybe that is why memories are so important....they allow us to hold on to snippets of times past.

As we enter this Christmas season, let us hold fast to the promises of God.
They are not dependent on society or governments or public opinion.
The promises of God stand unshaken and unalterable by anyone or anything.
They stand as testimony to the goodness and justice of God to a fallen creation.
During this time we celebrate the birth of a baby.....
But this baby would grow to embrace the title of Christ.
This baby was born to die.
This baby would be the sacrifice for the sin of the world.
This baby is Jesus!
My savior and my lord.

Merry Christmas from the Bynum's!
God on you......

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Saturday Update

2011-11-26T09:19:00.000-06:00

I was off on Thursday as well as Friday which was a treat. It has been many years since I had the Friday after Thanksgiving off.
Vicki and I went to Celebrate Recovery in Centre, Alabama last night. I have probably spoken there more times than any other place, and it is one of my most favorite places to speak. The people always come hungry and ready for God which translates into a really good ministry time at the end.

I continue to be filled with a spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude for God and who He is in my life. As I tell folks, "I'm a mess.........but I'm God's mess!"

Psalm 145:3 reads:
One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.
Being as how I am on the backside of 30.......
40......
50........
Well, any way you get the picture.
I hope that if you take anything away from stopping here at the GREENE STREET LETTERS, it will be a reassurance that God is the real deal God, and that you won't listen to the propaganda machine the devil has cranked up to discredit God. Pursue love, truth and peace in your life as you follow God.
If I were to list all the things that God has done through me, in me and to me, it would take more hours than I have available. Suffice it to say that from my generation, I want to praise the works of God to you.

My generation, those who grew up in the 50's and 60's, did more damage as to destroying the concept of family and what real love is, than any other generation previously. WE declared that we were the generation of "Free Love" and "Make Love not War!" What a bunch of bunk. Don't get me wrong, love is at the heart of the Kingdom of God, but what passed as love in the 60's was a base, physical emotion and attraction.....in other words.............sex. Love did not figure into the equation when it came to relationships, because ours was to be the generation that cast aside the restraints of the establishment to live in freedom to do what ever we wanted to do. How's that working? NOT TO GOOD. Divorce became rampant................living together outside of marriage was on the rise........having children outside of marriage was now very acceptable. In other words, the devil was doing all he could to discredit and destroy the concept of marriage and family. Did a pretty good job too.

But you know what?
Even with all this mess about family and children and marriage............
God will prevail.
God's plan and will will rise to the top even though right now it looks as if God is no where to be found.
Trust me...I will proclaim the goodness of God from my generation to the next.
I will be a voice of reason, as God speaks through me, to those around me.
I will love with a heart of love as my Father in heaven loves.
It isn't over yet....

God on you.....
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The Coming Season

2011-11-25T09:15:00.000-06:00

Putting Thanksgiving aside, now we enter into the Christmas season.
I have always been fascinated by Luke's Account of all the divine activity that takes place before the birth of Jesus.
You have to remember that between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there was a period of 400 years of silence. By that, I mean that God was not talking (See Amos 8:11). He says that there will be a famine of the Word....silence. Now in Luke, we see the orderly account of all this angelic activity bringing pronouncements and revelations of God's plan for the Messiah to appear.

Luke 1:11 reads: Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar.
The incense altar was symbolic for the prayers that are lifted to heaven. Revelation tells of these prayers being collected in a bowl. The fact that the angel is standing on the right side of the altar is reference to "Authority" given to the angel. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father where all authority has been given to him. This angel was sent under the request and through the authority of God to proclaim that that which the Jews have been looking for (Messiah) was about to take place. God was bringing forth first the voice mentioned in Malachi Chapter 3, namely John the baptizer. John would be the forerunner of Christ proclaiming "Prepare Ye the way of the Lord!"

God always communicates his plans with His children. We must never forget that! God is a communicating God, and the Bible is the first voice God uses. I don't discount other ways, but they all fall secondary to the Scriptures. As we move deeper into this Christmas Season, look beyond the manger in Bethlehem...Look beyond the Christ Child.....look deep into the heart of the Word and see a God who loved creation so much that His plan included the death of His Son, Jesus, to pay for my sins.
I cannot wrap my head around such love....
But I am thankful for God.

God on you.....
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A Day Of Thanks

2011-11-24T06:19:00.000-06:00

Psalm 100:4-5
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name, for the LORD Is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations.

On this day, we stop and turn our attention, as a country, to God for all the blessings He has given to us.
With each passing year, each holiday that rolls around, I find myself being less thankful for things and more thankful for family and friends.

As much as I hate raking leaves and dealing with all the "fall" stuff that comes with having multiple trees, I found myself in the backyard yesterday full of hope and peace and contentment. (Even though I was raking leaves). I was grateful for the simple fact of being alive. For still being in love with my wife.....more than that, I am more in love with her today than ever before. I looked around our yard and I could see little boys playing baseball, basketball and every other sport that involved a ball. I could see where the old garage use to be and how they turned it into the "Wildcats Club House." The neighborhood kids would come over and spend the night in that old garage, but what times they had.

I saw the flower bed where Chance, our dog, use to dig up whatever was planted. Mom would come out her back door all flustered and yelling at Chance about how she was going to give her to another family. Of course Mom never would have done that, but it was all part of the game that the two of them played.

Gazing at the grill on the patio, I could almost smell the countless hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks and chicken that had given their all. Usually such food meant family time. All of us gathered around the table, holding hands and giving thanks to God for each other and His provision for our family.

There are two old wooden lawn chairs sitting on the patio. Here Vicki and I would sit at the end of the work day and talk of what ever happened to be on our minds. Decisions that we needed to make concerning our jobs, or troubles that the family was having. There has been a lot of prayers offered up from those two chairs. Some of the best times were just the two of us sitting in silence, holding each others hand while we watched the night sky.

This morning as I am posting this entry, my wife is in the kitchen putting Tom Turkey in the oven. The counter is full of pies and cake. In the bedroom down the hall, my son and his wife are sleeping. There is a sense of peace that permeates our home. The feeling and thought that my family is once again together brings great comfort to me. We will share a meal today, and more than food will be the conversation, the laughter and the memories that God has allowed us to create. From that storehouse of great riches, we will pull those memories out to once again share them among ourselves. God has brought two other lives into the mix of our family.......Tyler, my grand son, and Ashley, my grand daughter. As we share our memories, they will be pulled into the story of our family. They will look on with wide eyed amazement as I tell about their Dad when he was little boy. They will hear, once again, the stories about the events that have defined us as a family. For this, I am grateful today.

With all the love I possess, I wish for you and your family the happiest of Thanksgiving.
God on you today....
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It is a war----

2011-11-23T07:51:00.000-06:00

Psalm 144:1
Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle---
My loving kindness and my fortress. My high tower and my deliverer. My shield and the ONE in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

On this day before Thanksgiving, I want to remember that life is hard---is it not?
Life comes at us in many different ways and directions and sometimes blindsides us.
We caught off guard or maybe we are thinking we can stop and catch our breath.
BLAM! A situation arises that sends us reeling.
Sometimes I forget that living a spiritual life (relationship with the real/deal God) in a fallen world is kind of like oil and water. It just doesn't mix and it never will mix.
I forget that there really is a declared enemy out there who stands against everything God stands for. This enemies job is to stop me, discourage me, interrupt me and, dare I say it? Even Kill Me!.

I love the verses in Psalm 144 because it puts the focus on God training me for such combat and battles that I will face daily. Mixed in with all this language of war and combat and battles, we also find words like Loving kindness. Strange isn't it? That Loving kindness be mentioned in the same breath with battle and war. You see, sometimes I discount the power of Love. Especially the love God has called me to. The love of the Father poured out on me and the love of Jesus that should be flowing from me.
Jesus didn't defeat the devil through power (although power was involved). He defeated the devil by taking the devil's own weapons (death and the grave) and rising above their capability to destroy. As wonderful as Jesus' death and resurrection is, you know what is even greater? The fact that it was from a heart of love and obedience to His Father that caused or moved Jesus to approach the cross.

Hebrews 12:2 reads: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Did you catch that? The joy set before Him (Jesus) aided him in enduring the cross. That must be some kind of joy. It is the same Joy that Jesus wants to impart to us so that we can face each trial and situation for His glory, not our own.

Bible says to "ask, seek and knock and it shall be given, found and opened unto you. Let the Joy of the Lord become a part of you.
Happy Thanksgiving!

God on you....
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Thanksgiving Thoughts

2011-11-22T08:22:00.000-06:00

The days are becoming full and I find myself to simply be the man God has called me to be.
I want to share with you from Romans 15:13:
Now the God of the hope fill you with every joy and hope in the sphere of believing, resulting in your super abounding in the sphere of the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Wuest Translation)

There are boundaries to this life we now live in. If, through my own free will choice, decide to remain within those boundaries, I will experience the blessings of God. Now this does not mean that I am surrounded by some divine rabbits foot that gives me good luck. You know...I win the lottery....A long lost relative that has died left me a trazillion dollars in inheritance....that's does not compute to the blessings of God. The real blessings of God are always working and coming from a place of the spiritual that infects and affects our natural being and world. In other words, God works in me an affects the world around me.

I choose to give my will to God today.
I have chosen to give him my life years ago.
These two choices enable me to life for him today.
These two choices enable me to move through this world today under the guidance and divine mandate of God.
Divine mandate? Sounds high and mighty, maybe even a bit snooty. Not so.
The mandate is simply to love.
Love God.
Love those who love God.
Love those who don't love God.
Search these things out for yourself today......
From my house to you....
Have a happy Thanksgiving.....

God on you....
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2011-11-21T07:37:00.001-06:00

This is the week of Thanksgiving here in our country.

Originally a time of giving thanks for the survival and first harvest of those who first came to this country, it has now become a day for family and friends.
We give thanks.

We take time out, set aside a day where we give thanks to God for his many blessings.

For some, it will be the first time this year that they have spoken to God.

I guess I have to ask myself....

"Would God condone such a lifestyle?"
One that was lived outside the boundaries of God's love and grace?

For me personally....
When I start looking at family, I see the hand of God over us all.
I see specific events and times when God brought blessings and intervention

to my wife and sons to protect them.

I see times of great disappointment used by God to strengthen us and

mold us into the children He so desires us to be.

I see decisions that I have made all along the way that have impacted those

God placed under my care.

Decisions that were good....

and not so good.

None the less, God used them to grow me and hopefully, make me a little wiser.

Pity we should set aside only one day a year for thanksgiving.

Seems to me that it should be every day...

God on you...
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Why?

2011-11-19T07:02:00.001-06:00

Why write this blog six days a week?
What is the purpose in doing this?
I could give you some high-sounding, high falootin' mish mash of words.
I could try and pass myself off as some intellectual guru who is one with the cosmos, trying to connect with the innermost. I'm not.
I could try to convince you that I have this great vision of the Greene Street Letters....
But I don't.

I write daily because that is what I do.
I have simply fallen in love with Jesus.
That's it.
Because of this love, I want to share it with everyone I know.
I want to write about Jesus.
I want to simply proclaim that we are born into a world that has fallen from the standard that it was created to be.
Fallen? How?
Sin.
Little three letter word brought down God's most cherished creation.
Don't fear.
God has a plan and has been working it out very deliberately and methodically since our creation was given over to sin.

I want the Greene Street Letters to be a place of hope.
I want the Greene Street Letters to be a place of encouragement.
I want whoever stops by to come to the realization that Jesus is the only and the better way.
I don't deal in controversial subjects.
I deal in the love of God.
I don't lash out at others who I think are abusing the name of God.
I focus on finding myself and my purpose by living and following after Jesus.

I am a simple man with a simple understanding of Jesus.
He died for me..
His blood, which spilled out at Calvary (Hill outside of Jerusalem) paid a price I could never pay.
The ransom to break the power and penalty of sin.
Because of this, and my giving myself to Jesus through the confession of my own sin and repentance, I am saved (Some call it "born again").
Now I am changed (I Corinthians 5:17) into a new creation.
SO here I am, a new creation, learning how to live in an old, fallen, sinful world.
That is why I am in need of direction and guidance.
God grants me this by His Holy Spirit that has been placed in me. (some say "filled with the Spirit).
Now I am following God's lead, not my own thoughts and desires.
Believe me, it is easier this way.

The Greene Street Letters has purpose and I clearly understand what it is.
That is why I make this promise to you.
God is real.
He is who He claims to be...
He will do what He has promised to do...
You can trust Him.....

If you have drifted away from a relationship with Jesus.....
Come home.
Today is a good day to start over.

If you have never known or had a relationship with Jesus....
Come home....
Today is good day to start.....
He loves you...
So do I.

God on you.....
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How Many More Lord?

2011-11-18T08:08:00.000-06:00

If you'd met him on the street, you would not have given any thought to him.
He was just another nameless face that you might see in any city, town or community.
In fact, the two of you probably never would have made eye contact because he always walked with his face down.
Too many years....
Too many miles....
He was just beat down.
He had simply given up and surrendered to a life he knew all to well.
There had been those who'd tried to help him, but in the end, he rejected all help to continue in a lifestyle that everyone knew would not end well. Tug of the old life was stronger than the promise of a new and better life.
He was soft spoken and a man of few words.
His speech was always peppered with "Yes sir" and "No sir" when you talked with him.
Face creased with lines of a life lived hard, he seldom smiled, but when he did, his entire face would just light up.
Someone found him dead yesterday, living in an abandoned house.
No family and the only friends he had were those who shared the same life of misery.
He left this world alone and in the dark. To me that is the most horrible thought...to be alone when it is your time to die.
I pray that the things he'd heard and the things he'd been taught might have caused him to reach out to God before he died..
Like I said, you'd not give another thought about him if you'd met him on the street.
But regardless, he was one of God's creations and he was a man.
I will miss him.
in memory of Michael....

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Hitch Up That Mule and Plow

2011-11-17T08:28:00.000-06:00

I am a country boy...
Or at least I use to be.
I am a community boy er....man now.
But when I lived at home, plowing, planting and growing our own food was part of the daily grind.
It was hard work, but the meals my Momma would fix (that's prepare to those not from the South) were incredible.
Fresh green beans....
Onions and tomatoes....
Fried Potatoes....
Peppers....
Okra and Squash....
Them's some good vittle's (translated: good food).
It was no surprise that if we planted beans, when the time came, we'd pick beans.
We never planted one thing and harvested another. Just didn't work that way.

Funny how that works out.
I came across this verse while doing my study this morning.
Job 4:8 - As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it
In other words, our actions produced results.
Those results, good or bad, or determined by the choices we've made.
If I want to live outside the will of God........I can do that.
But I need to fully understand that the bad consequences that come to me are not the result of God punishing me nor are they an attack from the devil. I am simply harvesting what I planted.
You cannot sow sin and hope to reap righteousness.
You cannot sow from the flesh and hope to reap from the spirit.
I come in contact with a lot of people who haven't quite latched on to this thought before.
They are living with another person, outside of marriage.
They have a sexual history with this person.
They show no signs of a relationship with Jesus.
Yet they talk about God.............
They talk about church......
They have all the trappings of Christianity, yet show no evidence of an actual, on going relationship with Jesus.
They are mad because life is miserable...
They aren't seeing any blessing from God....
They don't understand that because of the sin they are plowing, without confession and repentance which should lead to being saved, all they will every harvest is misery and pain...guilt and shame....

Hosea 10:12 reads: Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up the unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
So what are sowing and reaping today?
Destruction because of sin...
Or righteousness because of salvation?

God on you....
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Weighed And Found Lacking

2011-11-16T07:53:00.000-06:00

Scales.....

Fairness in the weight and measure.

Equal for all.

We all want fairness in life's dealing.

Even when we say "fairness", sometimes we mean we want it to tip in our direction no matter whether it's fair or not.

"Yes, I committed the crime.....but I want the scales of justice to tip in my direction and get me out of jail." Is that truly fair? No. But it is life none the less.
It is the mind set of people. Fairness and justice are only fair and proper when it benefits me. We spend huge amounts of money on lawyers whose job it is to get us out from under any penalty that may be handed down because of our guiltiness.

Sometimes this same mind set or belief is taken over into the area of religion and God. We seek fairness in our dealings with God, even though we are guilty as sinners before Him. We try to sway the scales by claiming to "have a good heart." I think maybe Romans 3:10 - 11 puts a spike in the heart of this argument. No one is good---not even one. No one has real understanding..no one is seeking God. I'm not sure....but what falls under "no one?" Every one!

God is the ultimate judge in the matters of the human heart.

God is the ultimate judge in the matters of the human soul and sin nature.

He has to be because He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for my sin.

Because of this payment, I can accept the finished work of the cross and be freed and found innocent of the sin charges and payment.

But there are still those poor, unfortunate souls who refuse to accept the salvation God offers.
They keep playing the "fair" game trying to find a loophole in Scripture where by they can enter the Kingdom of God. It ain't going to work (yes, I meant to use "ain't). Jesus plainly states in

John 14:6 -- "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." I had someone ask me if a person was a devout Buddhist....sincere in every way....did everything required by their religion, would God not accept them into heaven? I replied, "No." They did not like the answer and even said that they could not believe in a God that was exclusionary. God is not exclusionary. In John 12:13 Jesus says, "And when I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw everyone to myself." King James Version says that "I will draw all men unto me." Doesn't sound exclusionary to me. Every one is invited to be a part of the Kingdom of God. But there is only one way to enter. Just because you don't like the door you have to go through, or perhaps you want to find a different way, it doesn't lessen the truth. Jesus is the way to enter into relationship with God the Father.

Don't be blinded to this the reality of what I have written.
Read this with more than just your eyes.

Let it be read with your heart.

Then you will know the truth and can be set free from the bondage and penalty of sin.

God on you......

Pass It On

2011-11-15T07:49:00.000-06:00

II Timothy 2:2
And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Give away what God has freely given to us.
In some cases it might be finances. God has blessed you with wealth and in return he expects you to give back to the work of the Kingdom.

It might be time. Maybe you have free time that can be used in helping and working in the Kingdom.
No matter what you possess, the call is the same for all of us. We are to reproduce in the Kingdom of God. What!!!!???? We are to teach, preach, proclaim and speak on the Kingdom of God. We are to make disciples. What is a disciple? Simple. A disciple is a follower of Jesus.

A disciple is not a part time position.
IT is a full time life style.
Yes, we have to work a job in order to support and our families and ourselves.
Yes, we have to dedicate time to these jobs that provide the support.
But in the midst of the work week, we are called to be an influence on the people we work with.
We are not called to brow beat, bible thump, and preach at and down to those God has placed us with, but rather we are simply called to love them and display the nature of Jesus.
We speak when the Holy Spirit directs us to.
We help and take action when the Holy Spirit says, "It's time to act."
I see way too many folks trying to be religious and holy. They do so simply because no one has ever instructed them in what a relationship with Jesus truly is about.
These religious attitudes and actions actually do more harm than good.

When the Jewish religious rulers brought the woman who was caught in adultery before Jesus, He didn't go off on some pseudo-religious diatribe. Jesus confronted the intention of those who had brought the woman, and when they had left, turned to the woman and told her, "Go and sin no more."
Total forgiveness.
Total mercy.
Total grace.
Not a trace of religional (new word) behavior to be found in this encounter.
I think I need to start reading the Gospels again and take a second look at how Jesus lived his life.
He was under scrutiny from every side and yet through it all, Jesus never wavered or compromised who he was and what he had been sent to do.

SO here today....
I pass on to others what God has given to me.
I do so by my life.
I do so by my love.
I do so, when directed by the Holy Spirit, in my words.

Think on these things.
God on you.......
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2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

We are approaching the holiday season where society dolls out greed and avarice and a little bit of the birth of Jesus just to keep us on the safe side and not go to hell.
I think that it is very appropriate that Thanksgiving comes before Christmas.
That our attention should be focused on God the Father, the sustains and gives all good gifts.
The Pilgrims gave thanks because they had survived in this new land through the help of their Indian neighbors. (that's Native American if you belong to the PC set).
Sharing a meal.
The very basis of life..........food, became the focal point of this thanksgiving.
Why food?
Because it represented life.
The settlers had harvested the land.
They were eating the bounty from the work of their hands.
Psalm 136:25 - He gives food to every living thing...His faithful love endures forever.

During this coming season, turn your attention toward God and be thankful!
Don't let this world rain in the parade and draw your attention into the dark and depressive places of the devil and his kingdom.
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Wow!
No matter what happens, always be thankful. I promise you that the only way this can happen is to keep our attention, our minds, and our hearts on Jesus. Looking to him to fulfill every need in every hour.

Philippians 4:8 - And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling that Jesus has extended to us, his followers.
We are called to walk above the distraction and noise of this world.
We hear a higher voice calling us to rise up and be salt and light in this world of darkness.

God on you......
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Clink...Clink

2011-11-12T06:59:00.000-06:00

Luke 21: 1 - 4
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a certain poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them, for they all our of their surplus put into the offering. But she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.:

The simple sound of two coins being dropped into the treasury box at the Temple.....
Here is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The testimony of what God expects from each of us.
The widow gave all she had. This act cost her more than all the others. She gave all she had.
With the eyes of the world...
Or ever the eyes of religion....
We would say that this was insane. A person doesn't give all they have. A person has to live.......to eat.....to buy clothes and the other necessities of life.

I believe that this "widow" trusted God more than all the others. Who knows...she may have been present when Jesus taught "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." Maybe she was just crazy enough to believe that God could be trusted to meet her needs.

First off, how is this woman referred to?
The widow.
She has the Father's heart and love. All through out Scripture, Jesus taught that the widows and children should be cared for. She fell into that part of the Kingdom theology where it teaches that real love is to see and provide for widows. In the time of Jesus, a woman with no husband was fair game for all manner of unscrupulous men. Jesus declares her righteousness in the Temple. Here, mixed among the Pharisees and Sadducee's, was this poor, almost invisible woman giving her offering to God. Yet in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the Temple business, Jesus takes the time to point out how incredible her offering was. It was given not from a place of abundance, but from the place of lack. That is a true offering. We never sacrifice from a place of fullness........a true sacrifice comes from the place of giving everything.
This widows love for God must have been an incredible thing....
A love that moved her to give all she had.
More than the Pharisees......
More than the Sadducee's....
More than the religious rulers....
She gave all unto God....

God on you....
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2011-11-11T06:56:00.000-06:00

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me."

Jesus....sin destroyer.
Jesus....power and authority beyond the reach of hell and the Kingdom of darkness.
Jesus....the ransom for sinners and the restorer of relationship.
It was Jesus' love and heart to do his Father's will that sent him here to planet earth.
And it was here Jesus manifested and demonstrated the heart and will of God the Father in the midst of sin occupied creation.
Taking on the attitude and heart of one who was being led to slaughter, this Lamb of God defeated the devil and his minions by allowing himself to die. Jesus chose the time of his death. Jesus freely and willingly gave his life.
Once bound by death, Jesus was resurrected by God's Holy Spirit.
This resurrection brought into the reality of our world such words as:
1.) Justification
2.) Sanctification
3.) Regeneration
Jesus, being risen from the dead, too the authority of the kingdom of darkness away. He took the keys to death, hell and the grave.

It is insulting to intellectuals that the Gospel is so simple. Christianity is ridiculed as a simple-minded faith because it is real and true........even to the simple (of which I am one).
While religion has a great need for the manifest works of man, Jesus does not.
Truth be known, the Gospel has a way of offending a great many people who cannot accept the truth of Christ. The words from John 14:6 are a sticking point for the world. I cannot tell you how many people have come to me with this statement. "I just can't believe that Jesus is the only way to reach God. That is such a close minded statement."
Our flesh (sin nature) wants to believe that there are many paths that lead to God and eventually heaven. We want to believe that if we are simply good people who do good deeds, then God will have to let us into heaven. Trouble with that statement is that we possess a sin nature and the penalty for sin is death.
When we sin (notice I said when and not "if") we do so against an eternal God. God being eternal has brought forth that the penalty for sin is an eternal punishment. As equal as God's justice is God's love.
The Gospel is full of the love of Jesus for his Father and for the creation.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Don't let the world and the devil rob you of the most incredible inheritance ever.
Think on these things.....
God on you....
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Not Very Popular

2011-11-10T08:15:00.000-06:00

Ezra 10:11
Confess your sin to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land..............

At the very center of this new life we are experiencing with Jesus, is the idea of separation.
Separation from our past.
Separation from old friends (I use the term "friends" loosely).
Separation from old places and hang outs.
We found ourselves in all of the above usually because of our addiction.
Addiction did not compel you to seek out people of integrity and honesty.
We avoided such folk like the plague.
Addiction drove us into communities of people all suffering from the same pain and misery we were experiencing. Truly misery does love company.

Now with this new relationship with Jesus and a life of sobriety, we are called to separate ourselves out of our past.
The two cannot nor will they ever be compatible.
For some of us, we felt abandoned at the thought of this separation.
But soon, we discovered that God truly did want to provide us with real life.
Psalm 18:20 reads: The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He compensated me because of my innocence. I've said it before and I'll say it again. When you begin to do business with God, you never trade down.............you always trade up. By that I mean when you surrender something to God....your life.............old ways..........old so called friends............what He gives you back in return is better than what you originally had. It really is like trading a YUGO for a LEXUS. I rest in the knowledge and assurance that God is a God who has my best interest at heart. He is totally trustworthy. So when He calls me into separation from the ways and the things of this world, I can totally trust Him that He is leading me in the right direction.

Rest in this.....
God on you......
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2011-11-09T08:25:00.000-06:00

There is a world within our world. It moves and rises and falls all around us as we move through our daily lives. It brings influence to us. It protects us and gives us information that aids us in our attitude and behavior.
What is this world?
The Spirit world.
There is a battle in this world between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of darkness ruled by the fallen angel, Lucifer.
Once a member of the Angelic legion known as Cherubim, Lucifer began to see himself in a proud and ungodly fashion. Within his own heart, he desired to usurp the place, the power and authority of God.
We read in Isaiah 14:12-15:
How you are fallen from heaven, O shinning star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, "I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I will reside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High. But instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.

If you noticed, Lucifer had an "I" problem.
He desired to be more than God.
IF you read Scripture, you see that Jesus defeated the plans and the power of the devil at Calvary when he surrendered his life to death. In this surrender, Jesus broke the power of the devil by being resurrected back to life. It was in this death that Jesus paid for, once and for all time, the penalty or ransom for sin. Each day that we live, we move close to the culmination of a battle that is as old as time itself. It is through the salvation that Christ offers to us that we find the power to live holy in this world and do so with a view to the ultimate life in the hereafter.

That is why, as followers of Jesus, we must realize that we have an enemy who seeks to kill and destroy us. His desire to stop us from sharing with others what Christ has done for us. But know that God has loosed His angels to guard us and has placed His Holy Spirit in us to guide us and gives us direction. We should not loose heart and become discouraged when times are hard or dark. We should rest in the knowledge that God is near and has not lost control. In other words, it doesn't matter what life looks like with my eyes, I see the truth with my faith. I Corinthians 5:7 reads: For we walk by faith and not by sight. Here in is the manner in which all believers are called to live by. A life of faith in Christ that He is who He claims to be and will do what He has promised He would do.

Take heart this day, no matter what you may be facing.
God on you.....
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Fill Up Your Old Ditches

2011-11-08T08:13:00.000-06:00

James 1:21-22
So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls. And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourselves.

This is a hard concept for some.
The idea that I am to rely on Jesus, once I'm saved, to lead me, guide me and empower me in my daily life. But even with this, I have to make some decisions that will place me at the center of his will.
I call it the great trade off.
I am getting ride of every character defect (Step # 6 and # 7) asking God to rid me of my patterns of sin.
I like that term.........patterns of sin.
We could even say our habits of sin.
As we sin, over and over, we create a habit that, when confronted with certain circumstances or situations, we turn to the sinful behavior without giving it any thought. We do it simply because that is what we have always done.
It's like digging a ditch so that when it rains, the rain is channeled in a certain direction. No matter how hard you want to the water to not go in that direction, it continues in the ditch. The only way to change the direction of the water is to dig a new ditch. The only way to move from addiction to a life of sobriety is to fill up the old ditches and dig some new ones.

No matter how much you want to be free from addiction, it begins with the acknowledgment of being powerless. From this place of being powerless, we see the ditches that we have dug in our life. They get deeper and deeper as we have let the water flow without thought or willingness to stop it. The behavior that has landed us in jail or in rehab was the only behavior we knew. It seemed normal to live this way when, in reality, we were spiritually blind to the truth. We had become so use to the pain and depression and darkness that we assumed everyone lived like this. We wanted out but had bought the life that it was only a pipe dream to think we could escape.

Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself.
He paid the price for my sin (Death).
He took the keys that the devil possessed, keys to death, hell and the grave.
He accomplished the will of his Father so that I could be free from the bondage of sin and addiction.
He has offered it to me............the gift of eternal life with Him.
Man, it doesn't get any better than this.
Think on these things....

God on you....
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Observations From An Old Coot

2011-11-07T05:40:00.001-06:00

Funny how things change.
Funny how we trade certain ways to embrace what we think are newer, better and more in touch.
I am speaking about the word WORSHIP.
When we hear that word, we all have different thoughts or feelings about what is and what isn't worship.
Most of our understanding comes from preference.
People tend to equate worship with music. While this is true, it is a view that limits what worship is.
Worship is not something that we critique or judge. Worship is giving unto God that which is due Him.

In our church meetings, we prefer certain types of music associated with worship.
We prefer certain models or ways of worshipping.
But one thing is for sure.
The world and it's ways have invaded the church, and I'm not so sure that we haven't drifted away from what worship was meant to be.
I fear that we have lost the truth, or at least misplaced it for the moment, of how God views worship and what he expects of his children.

If you go to a church service, especially if it is what is referred to as "contemporary" worship service, you'll probably encounter the following.
The worship leader will begin the service with an up-beat, fast tempo song. I've heard it explained a hundred different ways by multiple worship leaders that this is done in order to engage the people to join in the worship. While this is not evil or bad, I can also conclude that it might not be on God's heart either.
The problem becomes when our worship falls into a regimented pattern and we do it a certain way simply because we do it a certain way.
I remember when I pastored at the Vineyard.
Our early worship teams consisted of a guitar player and a keyboard player. If we were lucky we might have two guitar players along with the keyboardist. It worked.
But we began to build teams.
At times it got to the point that we became small orchestras with as many as 13 people playing and singing.
Was this a bad thing? Not in and of itself. I think it becomse bad when we leave God out of the equation and simply let our flesh direct. Darn that flesh! It can creep in and appear to be the most religious thing in the world. Behind it all can be a subtle idea of "getting the people" to act or "worship". I think this is more a response of our flesh than it is the Spirit of God moving upon us.

The idea of using up tempo music has also become a kind of sore spot for me. It's almost like we are trying to manipulate people into behaving a certain way. What if God had something else in mind for worship besides "blow out the jams?" Heaven forbid...what if God wanted a solomn assembly for worship? What if the worship had tears and sorrow and mourning? Would we even be open to the idea that it was God at work, or would we call for the elders to come forth and pray against the enemy (at least we would think it was the enemy). I guess what I'm trying to say here is that worship is about God and not us. What does God desire? What is on his heart? Is he bringing conviction and repentence into our midst? Or we to be broken before him?

I look to Job 1:20 and see a behavior that defines worship for me.
If you are familiar with the book of Job, then you know that Job had one of the worst days in the history if mankind. Job lost everything.........cattle...livestock.....property......his family.....God did leave his wife who was a source of pain during this time. I mean it was the worst times ten for Job. In the middle of all this news consuming him, we read in verse 20. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. That is the response of someone who is following God. Job had no answers. There weren't any sugary platitudes that were spoken to him. "Come on Job! Remember Romans 8:28!" (I know that Romans wasn't written at the time. Just trying to make a point). Job worshiped! It wasn't about good feelings. It wasn't about "what can I get from this?" It simply the response of a man overcome by life and did the only thing he knew he should do. Fall to the ground and worship.

Worship is my response to God in the middle of life's messes.
Job turned to God, not in an effort to feel good, but to simply do what was the right thing. Worship.
Verse 21 says even more about this man, Job, and his relationship with God.
"Naked I cam from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed by the name of the Lord."
Worship is my life reflecting the truth of God and his Kingdom in every situation and circumstance I face.....good and bad.
My life is the message as I return to God the glory and worship due him. I don't have to know all the answers. I don't have to understand the why's and the wherefore's of life. But I am called to reflect the goodness of God in every way, every day. This reflection is me returning to God through my worship.
The words of my mouth must truly reflect what's in my heart.
My deeds and actions, no matter what the situation, must be salt and light in a world of darkness.
Worship is part of my spiritual DNA and as such, I not only say it with my mouth but I live it with my life.

To God be the glory.....
God on you......
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Awakened To The Truth

2011-11-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

Oh to be awakened from this life and be brought into the awareness of real life through Christ.
To suddenly be overcome with the thought and the reality of this interaction between God and sinner.
Sinner forgiven.
Sinner made clean.
Sinner now saint.
To realize that I was the sinner.
Now I am saved.
Not of my own doing, but through the shed blood of Jesus.
I have become the saint.
We're uncomfortable with the label "saint".
We still see ourselves through the eyes of memory.
Memories that scream a different view.
Memories that want to label us as liar, cheat, thief, adulterer.
Jesus' blood washes away each label.
The blood of Christ makes us new.
For this I bow before God's throne and say, "Worthy are you of my praise."
A saint...nothing more than a follower of Jesus.

Praise God for a redeemer.
Jesus Christ, God's own son.

God on you......
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Kingdom Addition

2011-11-04T06:27:00.000-05:00

II Peter 1:5-7
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply (add) moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in brotherly kindness, love.

Kind of got stuck here in this verse this morning.
God calls us to a life of integrity and honesty. We aren't suppose to appear this way to others. We are suppose to live this way of life in front of others. I like how Peter builds on the character here in these verses. It begins with faith.
Faith---the assurance (or substance) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence) of things not seen. In other words, God and his kingdom at work in us and around us. Have I been diligent with my faith? Or have I simply held it in my pocket like loose change? Do I exercise my faith? Can those around me see my faith in action? Peter calls us to not take our faith for granted, but to build on it. Add to it the things that God desires to work in our lives.

Moral excellence? That means we, as followers of Jesus, live above the mire and muck of this world. I do not live by my base desires. I think Jeremiah refers to this life as "a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness. That sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away?"
In other words, God has not called us to live a life driven by fleshly passion that is marked by wanton sin.
Don't confuse what I am writing as one who is trying to elevate and draw attention to myself or look upon others and say, "Well, I'm glad that I live a morally excellent life. I'm glad I'm not like "those" other people."
No sir! I will not fall prey to a Pharisee's mind set. I choose to humble myself. I choose to follow the directives and plans of Christ for my life with a view that we all have been called to be servants. Not Lord and masters over everyone else.

The list of character qualities ends with the love.
Allowing God to work in our lives, changing us, changing our character eventually leads us to true godliness.
A heart of love. Seems as though some strive for the love part while discarding all the others qualities along the way. In the end, such a life only reflects human love...earthly love...not the agape-unconditional love of God at work in us. I am not complete yet, by that I mean that I am a work in progress. But the good part is that I continue to follow Jesus daily. Some days I'm pretty good at the this following. Some days, I want to take side trips away from the following. In his loving way, Jesus always guides me back. He's like that you know?

I trust that you have a great weekend.
Seth Barber will be speaking at our service tomorrow night at Rapha. 7 p.m. ---be there if you can.
God on you.....
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I Look Like The GREAT PUMPKIN!!

2011-11-03T05:38:00.001-05:00

Vacation! Me in my natural habitat....I look like a crusty ol coot...but I'm not. In fact, I'm pretty easy going. Ask my grand children and they'll tell you that Poppa is a big ol' gummy bear!
Florida ---on the balcony overlooking the ocean with my family.
I look kind of pompous in this pic...I'm not. I think, if my memory serves me well, we had just finished a wonderful meal and were gathered on the balcony for some conversation.

Today has been kind of a vacation day. Not that I was off..I wasn't.
But there was a lot of satisfaction in the day.
I felt as though the day counted for something and was not wasted. It o.k. to have what I refer to as "do nothing" days every now and then. I just don't need to string a bunch of them together at one time.

Sometime the feeling of contentment just washes over me with an incredible rush.
Being content with who I am.
Being content with where I am.
Being content with life in general.
Yet all the while, maintaining an on going desire to follow Jesus. I never want to loose that.

Psalm 95:6-7 reads: Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His Hand........
Worship is what defines my life.
It's more than music or songs....
It's more than feelings or emotions....
It's what comes from me in every thing I do.
Whether I'm at work, teaching a class....
Or I'm mowing my grass or cleaning out the gutters...
Every thing I do is worship unto God.
Like I said, worship defines me.
It reveals my heart, both good and bad, and keeps me focused on following Jesus.
Worship is "31"....
That 24/7....
365 days a year. According to the verses in Psalm 95, worship involves assembling together with like minded believers for a corporate setting. It also involves posturing....according to Verse 6....let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. American Christianity isn't really big on the posturing thing. I do think it has become more accepted in church, but still some find it a little "hinky" when it comes to actually carrying it out. You see, I'm just kind of crazy that if it is written in the Bible, then maybe we ought to consider it. I know..I know...some will say, "Well, that was the Old Testament and is primarily written to the Jews." Point! I'll give you that one. But on the other hand, it is in the Bible. We read it....and what's the worse that could happen? We get our knees dirty. What's the best that could happen? It stirs the heart of Father God to see His children honoring Him to the point that He shows up in the midst of the worship. I think I would lean toward the 2nd. The whole "God-shows-up-thing".

Me thinks I've rambled enough for now.
Just for the sake of experimentation....
Try kneeling sometime when you pray or worship.
Try laying on your face...that is also a way cool way to be in the presence of God.
Food for thought.

God on you....
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Sustainable Energy.

2011-11-02T04:57:00.000-05:00

Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.......
The greater, higher Power come down to the suffering creation.
Flesh and blood created from the mind and Words of God.
Yet a creation that was never intended to suffer like it has.
Granted much of our suffering is self-inflicted, but it is suffering none the less.
He hurts because we hurt.
He stands with us in our darkest hour.
He is constantly wooing us back to His side with words and movements of His Holy Spirit around us and in us.
He knows that it is a choice we have to make and He waits patiently for us to cry out to Him.
When that cry comes, He will not be stopped by anyone or anything.
He will come and rescue you.
He will save you.
He will bring restoration to you.
Not a half-hearted attempt at salvaging a life, but a complete---new creation----stand back and watch what I can do----act of redeeming a life from the pit of hell.
Now under His care, our life is transferred into His kingdom of light.

I love the words of Psalm 51:12! Restore the joy...the sheer unadulterated joy of the being made right in the sight of God. It goes beyond any joy that the world, the flesh, or the devil could cook up. Unequaled by any other form or type of joy, God's joy brings stability to our lives.

Grant me a willing spirit.
Grant me what I truly want....to serve you. To live for you. To walk daily in your ways. I have turned my will over to you, Lord....now grant me a willing spirit from your hand that will sustain me in all my ways and in all my days. Funny how the world talks about looking for alternatives to sustainable energy, and right here in scripture we have the eternal sustainable energy of God himself.
I want to spend all my days with you, Lord....and then beyond.
I want to live above the noise and death of this fallen world.
I want yours to be the only voice I listen to.
I want you, Jesus!
If the Spirit of God resurrected you, Jesus.....
I believe He can resurrect me.

God on you....
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I've Read The End Of The Book...We Win!

2011-11-01T08:01:00.001-05:00

When you reach the end of the New Testament, you see where the end of time is revealed. We see the incredible promise God makes to those who have lived their life and followed Jesus.
To the believer........it brings peace.
To the unbeliever............it is troubling.

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book..... Rev. 22:18-19

Pastor Rod Hembree puts it like this....
"Adding to the Word of God has become a favourite pastime of pseudo-believers of modern "feel good" faith. We live in dangerous times in which God's WORD is being twisted and teased by the ideas of weak minded men and women. The facts of hell and heaven as eternal states are being challenged. The purpose of the cross and the gospel are taking violent hits through the new attitudes of modern deism."

I run into this daily in talking to people. People who mean good but lack a foundation when it comes to the truth of Scripture. People who have formed their theology based on opinion and what they are taught, never looking up the truth in the Scriptures for themselves. Studying the Bible has actually become something as distant as a buggy whip. Reading a daily devotion is not studying the Word of God. Nothing wrong with daily devotions, but we have relegated truth to a snippet that we digest in one sitting. A bit of information that is stored away until needed. The Bible is the main source through which God speaks to His children. The person of Jesus in our lives, and the teaching of Jesus as a foundation, provides me with a stable, unshakeable place in which to life. In these days and times, this is something that brings me great peace and hope.
With the Internet available and so many out there posting, a person has access to innumerable aids that could help with Bible study.

If you find it hard to read and understand the Bible, then spend time in prayer before you read asking God to give you wisdom and understanding. Start in the Gospels....Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read slowly and digest it. Read it first like it is a novel. Put yourself in the places of the people you read about. Ask yourself..."What would I do in their position? How would I have felt if such things had happened to me?" Read it like these were real people and not a character we have surrounded with a lot of pre-supposed baggage. I think you may find that your hunger for the Bible may in fact change.
Enjoy the Word of God.....

God on you.....
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Monday Musings

2011-10-31T06:08:00.000-05:00

Lot of pain out there.
Many calls over this past weekend from people who were struggling.
Thoughts of using again.....
Thoughts of giving up.....
Thoughts of "it's just too hard to go on."
Yet even though these thoughts were present and even powerful in the minds of those who called, behind it was the voice of God telling them, "Don't give in...Don't give up.....persevere."

Jesus spoke in John 8:31-32 saying, "If you continue in my word (following and doing what I have commanded) then you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
If I focus myself in the Word of God (not a very popular thing to do) and do what He said do, then I truly am a follower of Jesus. By living this way, a byproduct is that I will know the truth. Not a head knowledge knowing, but rather a heart knowing and it is this truth that will make me free.

There are a lot of books out there competing for the place that the Bible should hold in our lives. Books that seem to be current and culturally acceptable. Slick covers with nice illustrations promise to propel us to the next level as we seek a better life. Truth is the Bible is the only "living" book in existence. It is living because when it is coupled with the Holy Spirit of God, it does speak in such a way that we are changed.

No matter what happens to me....
No matter what thought seeks to invade my brain and my mind....
I turn to the Word of God to find answers and solace whenever I am attacked.
In verse 12 of this same chapter in John, we read I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jesus, no matter what you think or believe, is the source of illumination and truth in this world. That hasn't changed nor will it ever. You are either walking (following directions and guidance) by the truth of God, or you are walking by the lies of the devil.
Yes, Virginia...there is a devil. Oh he doesn't wear red long-johns and have a pointy tail, carrying a pitch fork. But he is real.

Know that hard things happen to us all in this life.
Know that there will be times you will want to give up because life is just too hard.
But know that Jesus will strengthen you and carry you through these moments when we seem over whelmed.
He is a good God!

God on you...
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I'm Late...I'm late...I'm late

2011-10-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

I didn't oversleep this morning. Just had some appointments I needed to keep before I could actually get started on my day.
Breakfast with a good friend. Much coffee and much catching up. Our lives have taken different turns and yet God still has his hand on both of us as we told of our struggles and victories in the midst of life.
Isn't that what life is really about?
Sharing and praying with each other. Good friends. Good brothers and sisters in Christ.
I was given a most incredible worship CD by my friend. Never Looking Back by John Barnett. Each song is a gem of not only good music but incredible lyrics that are simple yet have not lost the heart of worship. It is playing even now as I type this.

I find that in my life at this point, nothing is more important to me than family and friends. Of course I write of such things as they are found in the Kingdom of God. I have been blessed to be surrounded by godly friends and family. We share with each other our need for prayers to offered up on our behalf. We are very much in touch with our humanity in the light of God's Holy Spirit. By that, I mean we are who we are. Some days we are messes, but we are God's messes. Some days we seem to be able to storm the gates of hell with water guns, only because of God's Spirit that lives in us. Through it all, we move daily toward a reuniting with Jesus. What a glorious day that will be.

Tonight I'll be teaching from James 1:5-8 at our Saturday service at Rapha.
If you need wisdom---if you want to know what God wants you to do---ask Him, and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.

No matter whether you are in recovery or not, in our daily lives of being a follower of Jesus, we should strive for consistency. The ability to deal with life using the directions of God and not turning away and running from it. Every day and in every way, I am a reflection of God for others to see. I am that reflection in the way I conduct myself in the situations and circumstances I find myself in. Truth be known, how I respond to adversity reveals great insight into what I truly believe. That is why I have to follow Jesus. Not in a spiritual, ethereal, mystical way. But in the nuts and bolts decisions I have to make each day. The simplicity of the Gospel played out in the arena of human existence.

Matthew 5:3 reads --- You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rule.
Here in is the lesson.
When Jesus said, "Follow me."..........He meant it.

God on you.....
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The Very First Posting Here On This Blog: 1/9/08

2011-10-28T09:59:00.000-05:00

People in transistion.

People who have crossed over into "new" life.
A work in progress.
Straining forward to the Upward call of Christ.

We have lived in the darkness far longer than we care to remember.
Now the dawn of hope breaks over us everyday through the Word of God and the presence of His Holy Spirit in us, over us, around us.

It's all about Surrender.
Giving up.
We has spent our lives giving up.
This time it is a surrender to one greater than us that has the power to restore us to sanity.

Sanity?
The ability to make sound decisions that lead to good consequences.
Sanity!
We have surrendered ourselves to the rock.
We have surrendered ourselves to the needle.
We have surrendered oursleves to the joint.
We have surrendered ourselves to the bottle.
We chose to bow our knee and worship the high.
Repeatedly we performed this ritual so many times that it became second nature
We did it out of habit until it becamse a habit.
A habit that consumed the very focus of our lives.

We now know that true life...
Real life....
comes only through surrender of will and life to God.
From this place, real healing comes to us.
Physical healing...
Spiritual healing...
Emotional and mental healing...
Our Theology?
I Corinthians 2:2
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Christ at the center of our life, gives my life purpose and strenght to be lived and walked out everyday.

We are a community of hope.
Our worship is simple and direct.
We sing "to" God and not about God.

Our services are every Saturday Night at 7 p.m.
Come back and visit our Blog.

Michael Bynum
Pastor
Church @ Rapha

Posted by Greene Street Letters at Wednesday, January 09, 2008

2011-10-28T07:55:00.001-05:00

Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Comforting words from the Apostle Paul that should stir hope in the heart of every believer.
If you were in addiction and have come out through the work of Jesus and the 12 Steps, then these words should especially be comforting to you.
This great transition from one life style to another....this trading of ways of dealing with the world brings great distress and challenges with it.
The unknown of what is next....
The subtle reminders that your past seeks to chase you down and bring you back....In other words, your sin nature (some call it the flesh) seeks to restablish itself as the dominating thoughts and attitudes. Praise God! It doesn't have to be. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has broken the power of sin, the penalty of sin and puts down the presence of sin in our lives.
We move through some difficult times and difficult decisions that have to be made.
The trading of old friends for new friendships and relationships...your past....they all converge in your mind creating this struggle to make good, sound decisions.

These sufferings that Paul writes about are the result of the clash between your new found relationship with Jesus and the pull of your old lifestyle of addiction and the ways of the world.
It is important that we understand who we are in Christ and whose we are in the Kingdom of God.
As our declaration here at Rapha states:

Because of Christ's redemption I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am deeply loved...
I am completely forgiven....
I am fully pleasing.....
I am absolutely complete in Christ....
I am totally accepted by God.....

No matter what may come my way today, I rest in the knowledge that it pales in comparison to the glory that is coming to me in the future. Today, I will not let the weight of this world rob me of the promise and glory of Jesus in my life. I will not let the world define me or conform into the image of its ways.
My life today is not going to reflect the values of this world.
This is a choice...
I make it today....

God on you.....
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Right Time....Wrong Place!~

2011-10-27T07:59:00.000-05:00

Luke 24:5
"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

Parked in Luke 24 this morning, and during my reading this verse just kind of jumped up at me.
Jesus is dead and has been buried in the tomb. The women who had followed him over the past 3 years, including his own mother, have gone to the tomb to prepare his body with spices.
Arriving at the tomb, the women are confronted by two angels who pose this question to them. "Why do you search for the living among the dead?" Funny part...it really isn't a question as much as it is a declaration. "Ladies.......He ain't here! You've come to a place designated for dead folks, but Jesus isn't here."

I think in a lot of ways, at times I am like those women. They came to fulfill a duty. It was a noble thing they were doing. They had spent time and effort, not to mention their own money to come and prepare Jesus' body for burial. Trouble is.............Jesus wasn't cooperating. You see there are times I think I need to do things a certain way or to accomplish a certain purpose (even might think I doing God's will), only to find out Jesus isn't in it. By that, I mean that he has not truly directed me to carry out this task.
Isn't it a great symbol of working in a place of the dead when the living is where its at? I spend way to much time moving to tombs and cemeteries of my own will and strength rather than looking for the "living" way by simply following Jesus. Life is too short to spend it working in dead places. I need to be aware of the difference between doing the "good thing" and following Jesus by doing the "God thing."

Food for thought....
God on you.....
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Big 60

2011-10-26T08:08:00.002-05:00

Dude....
Today is my birthday......60!
That is so surreal that I can't wrap my head around it.
Both my sons called early this morning and we got to chat for a while.
My grand kids are coming over tonight to have birthday waffles with me.
I could pontificate for a long time about the blessings and goodness God has given to me and my family, but I won't.
Suffice it say that I am grateful for every day God has given to me.
I pray that I spent it wisely and brought no embarrassment to His name.
I am grateful to Steve and Marilyn for giving me an opportunity and a place here at Rapha.
I am grateful to Bill Hays for sharing from his wisdom and life with me.
I am grateful to Gene and Mike for taking Rapha to the next level and continuing the work of God here at this rehab.

I am grateful to Brendon and Jeff for the diligence and their friendship.
I am grateful to Barry and Deb for answering the call to Rapha and for our friendship.
I am grateful to Debbie and Wayne for coming out each week to share their talents and heart with the men in this program.
I am grateful to Rainney for bringing a fresh view and a different way that really is an old way to the program.
I am grateful for Richard who has dedicated his life to recovery.
And I am grateful to my wife, Vicki, who answered the call with me to work in this part of God's Kingdom.

I am grateful to God that he did not give up on me, but continued to work in me and through me.
I am grateful for 60.

God on you....
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Up And Down...Up And Down

2011-10-25T08:15:00.000-05:00

I love me some Yo Yo's.

Use to be pretty good with one. I could do all the standard "YO" tricks such as walk the dog, rock the cradle, Around the World and Loop the loop. I use to practice for hours trying to perfect my somewhat limited talent with the yo yo. I saved up my money and bought the best yo yo on the market.....the Duncan Imperial. That thing could hesitate (spin at the end of the string for those not familiar with the yo yo terminology) for ever, which only benefited you if you were trying to do these difficult tricks.

Life is like a yo yo ( sounds like a subtle shift into Forrest Gump theology doesn't it?).

It has ups and downs as well as its fair share of hesitations.
God has called us to master life by following him.

He gives us the ability to weather the ups and downs. Just like the yo yo, the more we practice (Matthew 7:24) the better we get at hearing and carrying out the directives of God.

Ephesians 4:14 speaks of this: As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.

We no longer live life like the yo yo. We are no longer to be tossed about by what we hear and what we see. We find stability and a solid place to stand on in Christ Jesus. He is the very place where all of life I experience begins. He is, not only the giver of life, but the one who sustains life. Real life that is found in relationship with Him. Christ has given us a place for this attitude and behavior to grow....the church.

Verse 11 - 13 read:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ until we attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to armature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Did you catch that? He has given us teachers and leaders that are to equip us for works of service. In these works, we are a part of something larger than ourselves. We are a part of the body of Christ. The goal of the works and our fellowship is that we move into a unity of faith whereby we carry out the work of the Kingdom of God. What is that work? First and foremost it is worship unto God with every part of our being. Our very lives become worship unto Him. Our daily dealings and business become worship unto Him. The way I interact with people should bring glory to God and cause others to see Him in me.

No matter where I find myself on the string (remember we were talking about yo yo's), Christ is there to guide and empower me to always bounce back.

Go forth and "yo".

God on you....

NEW MESSAGE

2011-10-24T15:10:00.000-05:00

New Message in the podcast section:
Barry Hooks shares his journey to this new life he now possesses.
Good listening!
Enjoy...
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The Heart Of God

2011-10-24T05:09:00.000-05:00

Luke 15:3-7
And He told them this parable, saying,"What man among you, if he had a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

This passage in Luke 15 gives us a wonderful picture and insight into the heart of God. It shows the love and determination of Jesus to see that none should perish. Somehow others have the view that God is indifferent and that Jesus is merely marking time until he gets to come back to exact some retribution on planet earth. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

This passage shows the love that Jesus has for people.
He is not content to merely be satisfied with the "99"..those who already are a part of his flock. No! He is moved by the one who has wandered away. He understands the danger that is always around as the devil works to destroy those who have wandered away from God.

As long as there is one who is out there, alone and at the mercy of the "wolves" and the "world", Jesus will leave the 99 to go, find and bring back the one. Praise God for this heart of love Jesus possesses. When I was the "one" Jesus sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood, as the song says.
For that I am eternally grateful.
Seek the heart of Father God and allow Him to love on you today.
His love is a changing love.
By that, I mean that it changes me!
Jesus Christ always desires the self-righteous to know His heart and see true righteousness. He is not willing that any perish.

God on you.......
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Possessing Riches We Aren't Even Aware Of

2011-10-22T07:41:00.000-05:00

Luke 12: 4-7 And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more than they do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Truth:
The only thing of value that is moving with us into eternity are the virtues acquired in our soul and spirit.

Application:
So much of life today is the acquiring of "stuff".
The idea is that a person's worth is equal to the things that they have accumulated along the way.
Expensive toys and baubles.
Even the advertising that is all around us gives credence to this mindset.
We reject the idea of building character and being a people of integrity, instead grasping at leisure and pleasure to satisfy the fleshly desire that burns uncontrolled.
Most people cannot fathom the idea of being content and at peace outside of possessions.
There has to be trips and vacations.
Fun and excitement.
Go and go and go ...
Do and do and do...
Are vacations bad? No!
But when we fall into the trap of being lead by our flesh rather than the spirit, we are in trouble.
Everything done here on this side of eternity is going to perish.
Men and women seek to build a legacy so they will not be forgotten.
Buildings bearing their names.
Statues bearing their likeness...
All will crumble and fall....
But our character, developed here on this side of eternity, will follow us to the other side.
Character is the commodity of the Kingdom of God.
For from character flows the revelation of the person. Who they really are, how they life and what their beliefs are built on.

Character is a word that has fallen away in our society today.
Image is everything.
A facade of fabricated character so the world will look with adoring eyes.
Jesus was right when he called the Pharisees "empty white washed tombs."
Pretty on the outside.
All the effort was spent on "appearing" a certain way....while on the inside they were dead and full of hypocrisy.

A heart of hypocrisy is a dangerous thing. When we divide ourselves with the lies we live and tell ourselves and others, that we are people of character, we divide ourselves with these lies. We create a barrier between ourselves and God. Honesty about oneself is the first tool of repentance. Confession with our mouth that Jesus is LORD is a confirmation that we are not lord of our own lives. Anything else is hypocrisy. If we act like we are gods of our destiny and passions, we are liars. The apostle John warns in I John 1:8: " If we say we have no sin then we make Him (God) a liar."

Now is the time to begin to let God develop your character.
Now is the time to turn your heart, your will and your life to God and quit doing business with the ways of this world.

Have a great weekend.
God on you....
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The Dynamics Of The Kingdom Of God

2011-10-21T04:48:00.000-05:00

I don't claim to know much. But what I do know......I know it. Sounds redundant doesn't it. Well, it's not.
I know that when a person has been saved (entered into a relationship with Jesus) that person's life is changed. There is a thought or behavior that seems to be very prevalent into today's religious circles, and it is the idea that when a person is saved, God is expected to fit into their life. Truth be known, when I gave myself to Jesus, my life became his property. After all, he paid the ultimate sacrifice for it. I don't fit Jesus into my life, he fits me into his. I no longer do business as the world does. This means that I am not driven or directed by the morale's of what is right and wrong based on the whim of society. The morale's of this nation have continually gone down hill. The morale's and expectations of the Kingdom of God have not changed. They are clearly stated in Scripture and we are called to make them a part of our lives. Now don't confuse what I have written as being legalistic. I'm not talking about a bunch of "do's" and "don'ts". I am talking about being directed by the Holy Spirit in how we live. There is a difference between me, in my own strength, trying to keep a "holy" list of rules.......and me, walking by the directives of God's Holy Spirit, as they are played out in my daily life.

The Kingdom of God is about service.
It is about affecting and effecting those around us. We are called to be servants. Servants with hearts of love for others. The ministry of God's word, or the carrying out of the mandate given to us in Scripture, is not for the weak-willed or the weak of spirit. Being a servant of God is not for those who would seek to work in the their own intellect and strength. It is for those who are learning to simply do what they hear God tell them to do.

Here is the difference between a religious work and a work that is directed by God in the hearts of those who truly have surrendered themselves. Mentioned in Matthew 5:22, Matthew 26:59, and Mark 15:1 is the Sanhedrin. It is thought to have originated during the time between the Testaments under the rule of the Maccabees. It was a religious administrative council made up mostly of Sadducees and Pharisees and was the sitting council of the seventy as mentioned by the historian, Josephus. What is strange, is that Jesus also had His council of seventy (Mark 10:1). But they were not sitting anywhere! They were on the move! Healing, helping, and moving into communities. This was Jesus Christ's idea of a religious council----men who were healing, helping, and changing communities with the compassion of Christ.

Both groups were religious.
But only one group brought the message and power of the Kingdom of God into the homes and lives of the people.
The other group simply talked about it.
Which group do you want to be a apart of?
The one who simply talks about the things of God....
Or the group who actually goes out and displays the power, presence and purity of God drawing men and women into this new found relationship with Jesus?

God on you....
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Snipet Of Wisdom

2011-10-20T08:08:00.001-05:00

Wisdom from Father Martin.
If you haven't heard his "Chalk Talk" series, then go to YOUTUBE and check it out.
This is a short teaching from Father Martin on the importance of helping others.

Enjoy!
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Step # 1---Again

2011-10-19T08:08:00.000-05:00

Revisit some things we need to remember:
Step # 1 of the Twelve Steps:
We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies (Alcohol/ drugs) ---that our life had become unmanageable.

Hard place to be in......powerless.
Even harder to admit.
Something within us keeps us looking for a different way to overcome our problems. In addiction terms, we keep looking for the "easier softer way."

The Apostle Paul touched on being powerless in Romans 7:19-20.
"When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am don't what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it, the sin within me is doing it."
Paul's problem isn't a lack of desire, he wants to do the right thing.
His problem wasn't knowledge, he knows what the right thing to do is.
His problem is a lack of power.

If I am the problem, then I cannot be the solution.
Yet, even in religious circles, some people, when brought face to face with sin in their life, will neglect the admission of guilt and try to "earn" their way. "If I only read more of my Bible! If I only give more in the offering! If I only go to church more than I have". All good things to do, but it doesn't take care of the issue inside which is sin.
Acknowledging our powerlessness.
Turning to God for that power we lack.
Then daily following God by reading the Bible, praying and listening for God's direction.
(So as not to confuse, the term "listening" is more than using your sense of hearing. It is listening with your heart and mind.)

Paul goes on to write in Romans 7 about the solution to the sin problem.
Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ out Lord.

You do not have to keep living the cycle of addiction.
You do not have to keep living the cycle of sin.
You do not have to keep living with all the destruction and chaos brought on by those two cycles.
The answer is found in Jesus.
Take hope for this day and begin to talk (some people call it praying) to Jesus.
Pour out your heart to him and let him come and heal you.

God on you.....
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2011-10-18T08:48:00.001-05:00

New Message In Podcast Section: "What Are your Giant's?"
Check it out!
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Taste Bud's Are Hoppin' !

2011-10-18T07:54:00.000-05:00

In my humble opinion, there isn't anything better than banana pudding.

It is a par-tay in my mouth. I mean it just sends all sorts of bell and whistles off when I have me some pudding.

You can keep your red velvet cake.

You can have your key lime pie.

You can pack up your fancy parfaits.

Give me pudding.....

Banana pudding.

Just the taste of the puddings and wafers all coverings sliced banana's makes for a wonderful dessert.

Throw in a cup of coffee to boot and you got yourself the making's for a good time.

Don't you think it weird that in Scripture we are told to "Taste" the Lord?

Psalm 34:8-- Taste and see the Lord is good. On, the joys of those who trust in him!

The writer of Psalm 34 does not mean a literal tasting of God.
He is using this as a means of conveying the idea that we should take everything we know and have experienced and have read in Scripture into our heart. Using the idea of taste buds being a means to determining what we like and don't like, we are told to taste God for ourselves and see that He is worthy of being trusted.

Matthew Henry, in his commentaries, wrote of "Tasting God."

We must taste that he is a bountiful benefactor, relish the goodness of God in all his gifts to us, and reckon the savour and sweetness of them. Let God’s goodness be rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel. We must see that he is a beautiful being, and delight in the contemplation of his infinite perfections. By taste and sight we both make discoveries and take complacency. Taste and see God’s goodness, that is, take notice of it and take the comfort of it, 1 Peter 2:3. he is good, for he makes all those that trust in him truly blessed; let us therefore be so convinced of his goodness as thereby to be encouraged in the worst of times to trust in him.

We walk through our days focused on jobs, family, situations and problems and never once take the time to focus on what God might be doing in the midst of everything. We need to always be prepared to keep our attention on God in the middle of what we may be experiencing. Here, in this place, we can truly taste the goodness of God and see His hand at work in our lives.

Now, it's time for some pudding....

Where's my spoon?

God on you....

A New Week...Another Opportunity To Get It Right

2011-10-17T06:56:00.000-05:00

In the book of Luke, Chapter 1, we read where John the baptizer's father, Zacharias, is filled with the Holy Spirit after at the birth of his son.
Zacharias begins to prophesy concerning the birth of the coming Messiah, Jesus.
In verse 68, Zacharias says:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.

God is in the proclaiming business.
What do I mean by this?
He always informs His people of things to come.
Then brings to fulfillment what He has spoken.
That is why I always say,"God is who He claims to be.....and will do what He claims He will do."
He is a God of His word.
Zacharias' speech is in the past tense. God has visited us. God has accomplished. There was no physical, tangible evidence that Messiah had come and the prophesies of the Old Testament had been fulfilled. In God's view, He had spoken what was only a matter of time to be completed.
Why write about this?
What does this have to do with anything?
Well, there are many, many prophesies still unfulfilled in the New Testament and Old Testament. Just because time has passed and we haven't seen them completed doesn't mean that God has lost His way or has become to incapacitated to accomplish His word.

My very life and call God has given to me is evidence of the truth of His word.
For God so loved the world (of which I am a part) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever (that would be me) believes on Him (Jesus) should have (in the future) eternal life.
Jesus came to give us two kinds of life.
Abundant life, here and now.
Eternal life after we shake off the mortal coil of this body at death.
God 's word is true.
God's word is yes and amen.

The very last verse of Zacharias' prophecy closes with these words:
To give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

In other words, for this day and time, no longer will people have to sit in the darkness and oppression of sin (Includes addiction). No longer will they be separated from hope and deliverance, but by the loving hand of God the Father, through the work of Jesus Christ, there is freedom for all who cry out unto salvation.
Now if that doesn't set you on fire, then your wood is wet.
There is freedom.....
There is freedom today....

God on you.....
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I'm Late...I'm Late...For A Very Improtant Date!

2011-10-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

Things have been a bit hairy around here, and for someone who isn't a multi-tasker I'm sure juggling a lot of stuff today.
Oh well, it happens.
Please be on the look out in our podcast section next week, as Barry Hooks is sharing his story tonight at the Church@Rapha. Barry has finally found the peace and serenity that evaded him all the years of his using, and will be sharing what God has done in his life over these past 7 years. I think you'll truly enjoy hearing Barry's story and might even find encouragement from it.

I received several phone calls this past week from former clients who are doing well and living this new life we talk about every day here at Rapha.

Randy T. -----who are you man? You are insanely sober. I mean you have taken the insanity of the addictive life you once lead and gave it to Jesus and now you are just off-the-hook on fire. Randy is taken on the role of checking on and encouraging others who are in addiction.

Terry C. --- He is all about doing the little things. Terry came by this week and shared with me, "If I can watch the little things and keep them in check...being where I'm suppose to be..doing what I am suppose to be doing, then I can do this....just for today."

Wayne M. --- Going strong and working with a rehab outside of Cullman. Still uses the declaration daily in his sobriety. Oh yeah...and God healed him of cancer. Do you think Wayne has something to be thankful for? I think so.

Mark C. --- Thankful to simply be alive, Mark approaches each day with a joy and zest for living. He may not move as fast as he use to, but his heart beats strong for Jesus. I have never seen such gratitude in an individual as I do in Mark. He knows that he should have been dead years ago, but God has given him another chance and Mark does not plan on wasting this one.

Vance R. --- He is light years ahead of where he use to be. Vance has found the value in working the 12 Steps, now he is giving back. Proud of you man!

These are just a few of the good stories that are out there.
God on you.....]
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2011-10-14T08:06:00.000-05:00

Funny how no one sets out to be old. You hope that you live a long life but it really doesn't become a goal. It just kind of slips up on you. You're so focused on raising a family....holding down a job (sorry, I never had a career) and just making it through the day. But then one day it happens. It might be on your birthday or maybe you're getting ready to attend a high school reunion, but you are suddenly aware that you have accumulated a number of your years.

Being older isn't a bad thing. I know that there are those who want to hold on to youth so they try all manner of surgeries and creams, tonics and potions that will help them find the elusive fountain of youth.
Not me.
I am who I am and I am quiet comfortable in that place.
Learning to be content with today is important for me.
It helps me to stay balanced spiritually as well as mentally and physically.
The apostle Paul writes about this in Philippians 4
"Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need."

Did you catch all the scenarios that Paul mentioned concerning his living conditions?
He had much...he had little.
He had a full stomach.....he had an empty stomach.
The secret was looking to Christ.
Jesus is our sufficiency in all things. When we have lack, Christ becomes the portion that fills me up.
I know...
Your thinking..."Michael, you spiritualizing everything." Duh? Yes I am.
Because the spiritual side of the Kingdom is what brings in the rule and reign of Jesus right here in the natural. Did Jesus not interact with those around him when he walked here among us? Yes. Did he not heal in an effort to draw people attention to the Kingdom of God? Yes he did. Did he not feed the hungry so that they could see the love of God in action as 5 fish sticks and two biscuits became the currency of the Kingdom of God and fed 5000+? Yes he did.

Looking to Jesus as my sufficiency put me at odds with this world.
Yet looking to Jesus as my sufficiency in everything, enables me to live here in this world.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Did you notice Paul never said, "I can do all things through Christ, while I am young."
In fact, the older I get, the more sure I am of who Jesus is.....
and...
What he will do.
There are some incredible benefits from seeing a few years...and it's more than a senior coffee at Jack's.
Relish life no matter what age you are.
If you are older, then enjoy the gift of memories that God has given to you.
Think on the good things...
The good relationships you have experienced....
Laugh today. That is important. Not enough people laugh anymore.
Love today...
Speak first to someone today before they speak to you...."Good morning! Great day ain't it?"
Talk to your heavenly Father....
Take time to listen to what he wants to say in return.

God on you.....
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God Or Mammon? Who Are You Going To Serve?

2011-10-12T19:35:00.002-05:00

......And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
Sounds to me like Jesus is saying that I am no longer the center of attention in the new relationship I have with Him.
That my wants and desires have been laid down in order to fill myself with His wants and desires for my life.
The cross signifies a daily dying which is a choice I make.
I know those who proclaim the prosperity message.
I know that they truly believe that it is sent from God.
But what I see when I watch the prosperity gospel in action, is that "self" has become the focus and center of attention again. God loves me (which He does) and God wants to bless me (which He does) but the blessings of God are for those who obey. Those who have left everything to follow Him. Old lifestyles, old friends and old hangouts surrendered to God in order to find life and purpose.
II Chronicles 16:9 says that "The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over the earth searching for those whose hearts are totally committed to Him, that He may strengthen them."

The blessing of God do not always measure out to things which can be valued in dollars and cents.
Don't get me wrong about what I am writing. I believe that there are people who God does bless with wealth and position. The greater responsibility comes with such wealth as to be a good steward of what God has given. God does not mind people having things....it turns nasty when "things" have people. When the pursuit of material wealth and goods is the measuring rod by which our salvation and relationship is measured, then our grasp on the truth of God has been replaced by our own sinful lust and desire. Lust and desire which has been clothed and couched in the garments of religion. We possess a form of godliness and deny the power of the cross in our own lives.

I have posted this video here before, but felt the need to do so again.
Think on these things....

God on you....
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