GREENE STREET LETTERS: My Corner

Sunday, July 12, 2009

My Corner

If anything, I want to be responsible for what God has given to me.
I know that this blog is one of the things he has entrusted me with. It began in 1994 with a simple mail out to a few folks to remind them of a home meeting (we referred to them a KIN SHIPS) that my wife, Vicki, and I hosted every other Saturday night.
The note grew as I began to include what was going on in our lives as well as the life of our kinship. We put the GREENE STREET LETTERS down in 2002. But I kept writing and keeping a journal over those years. When I began to blog, I wanted to do a Greene Street Letter but it just never came to be.

When I changed the name of this blog back at the first of the year (thanks Bobby Sparks), I began to see a change in the perception of the blog. More people began to log on and read. That was an encouragement to keep on writing. What I'm trying to say is that we each should find out what God has entrusted us with and be a good steward with it. The "what" we have been given by God is not important for each of us has a corner of the kingdom to influence for God. It may be in a classroom or a factory. You may work in a hospital or an office but where every you are, look for ways to influence those around you with the Word of God. Please! Let God lead you in this. WE don't need to jump on soap boxes ( I don't know that I've truly ever seen a soap box) and become a pharisee for Jesus. Our greatest prayer should be for God to teach us to love others as He does. Without that 4 letter word.....L....O....V...E, the apostle Paul says that we are nothing more than clanging cymbals and empty thoughts and words. Love brings purpose to what we do and say. Not the love the world has, but the love that only comes from God.

I confess that I struggle with this.....loving others. I say it with my mouth, but find it hard to carry out in the real world. I don't want to simply give lip service to this but truly be changed by the Holy Spirit. I want to love those that deep inside, I don't want to love. Then and only then will I know that I am truly growing in God. No more games or acting religious. I need to be about the business of loving. Now don't confuse love with excusing. God does not excuse or turn away from sin. Every thing God does to bring someone to repentance is done with love, kindness and mercy. Seems as though I tend to use judgment, criticism and pressure. Like I said, I have a long way to go.
Pray for me as I will pray for you that we all learn to love with Kingdom Love.
God on you......
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

My Corner

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD