GREENE STREET LETTERS: Countdown Has Begun

Monday, December 19, 2011

Countdown Has Begun

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

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Countdown Has Begun

No comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD