Leave The Stinking Fish Behind

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

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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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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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

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

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

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----

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

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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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?

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?

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

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

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......

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Pass It On

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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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

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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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

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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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

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

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

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

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!!

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.

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!

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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