SATURDAY!!!!!

Saturday.
Made it.
Visitation today as families will come and fill up Rapha.
There will be laughter and kids running around.
Hugs and kisses.....
Grown men who get all soft and tender.
Grown men sitting in the floor playing Candy Land with their daughters and sons, trying to rebuild the damage drugs and alcohol did.
There will be much food and conversation around tables.
And I get to see it all.
Families who want so bad to see their loved one overcome this battle that has been going on for years.
I get to see it all.


Interesting verse this morning that pretty much sums up my life.
I Corinthians 9:16 --  For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yet woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
What?
Paul is saying that as someone who preaches the message of Christ, he is the least of the equation. There is God....There is the Word of God.....and there are those who need to hear the Word of God. The one who is preaching, or proclaiming the Word of God is the least relevant of the process. When it reads "For necessity is laid upon me"...it merely means that "I can nothing else but tell the story of Jesus".  I can relate to this.
I guess the greatest fear I had when I answered the call to pastor was the thought of having to come up with a sermon each week. One message. Little did I know that the week itself would provide the message. Something would happen that sparked the Holy Spirit to reveal to me what the message would be. I don't know if my approach is the way other Pastor's go at their sermons, but I know it has served me well for the last 13 years.

Truth be known, it isn't very Vogue to preach the whole council of God these days.
IT isn't very fashionable to speak of the blood of Jesus or hell or sin.
Those things are best left unsaid in some churches. After all, the economy is bad and times are hard....people need an uplifting message. If you start talking about sin and hell, you're libel to run some of them off.
Titus 2:1 reads, "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine."
"We don't want doctrine. Tell us about all the blessings that God will give us!"
"Tell us about our destiny and the keys to health, wealth and prosperity. Those are the things we want to hear."
Let me tell you about the greatest blessing! Jesus himself.
Verse 13 and 14 read:  Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
When our hearts desire anything but Jesus himself....
When our hope lies in what we receive rather than the one who is giving....
When our vision is lowered to the things of this world and is fed by a nature that was born in the garden at the fall of man, we have lost sight of what is important.
Our Christianity is an abomination before God.
It has become a source of "getting" rather than a life of giving.
Jesus is beyond any blessing because HE IS THE BLESSING!
He heals the sick...
He binds up the brokenhearted....
To death He declares, "LIFE".
To the poor, He is the Kingdom of God come down.
He is the great I AM.
He is the Christ.
He is my Lord and Saviour.
and.....
Praise God! He is coming back.
Look up for your redemption is drawing near.

God on you.......
mb