GREENE STREET LETTERS: First Church Of The Weird

Thursday, April 4, 2013

First Church Of The Weird

I've had a lot of people asking me questions surrounding the service we are going to start on April 13th.
Wish I had more answers, but I don't.
I know this flies in the face of "how we should do church" attitude that some see as necessary.
I guess if there is a downside to be a "Vineyard-ite", it would be that I operate from the notion that this truly is God's church and if He has called me to participate, then I would do well to stay out of the way and simply cooperate with Him.

I remember when I took over the morning service at Gadsden Vineyard. We had scores of new people show up and they would ask questions like, "Why don't you have a youth program?" Well, the reason we didn't have a youth program was because God hadn't told us to start one. One of the first things that happened after coming to the A.M. service, was that the person in charge of the children's church moved on to start something else. So we didn't have a children's church. Here again the questions came..."When are you going to start a children's church?" My reply was very simple..."I'm not." If God desires for us to have a children's church, then we are going to pray about it and He will put it on someones heart to start one. 6 month's passed and finally a new person came to me with a desire to start one. Like I said, I have found it much better to simply wait on God and cooperate with Him.

Today will be my last day at teacher here at Rapha. I will move back into the role as staff Pastor (although I don't think I ever really left that position). It has been a long strange journey since coming here in 1998. I am grateful to Steve and Marilyn Yarbrough for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this program. Rapha truly was a training ground that God used to grow me.

To me, the most incredible thing that has happened over the past 15 years is to watch what God has done in the lives of those who have been healed and saved from addiction.
I think it is best summed up in I Corinthians 1:27-28 - But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things---and the things that are not---to nullify the things that are." In other words, it is the free grace of God and His empowering presence in the life of someone in addiction which breaks the lifestyle of the addict. How can you argue with someone who shares their story of the deliverance that has taken place in their own life? You may not believe the story. You may get angry and think of the story as a religious exaggeration. You may even believe that the person is lying . But you will never beat the person who had the experience. Experience will always trump an argument.

So, I guess you could say that on April 13th, at 7 p.m. at the Gadsden Vineyard, there will be a coming together of the foolish, the weak, the lowly and the despised. We will do so for the glory of God.
Ain't that weird?

God on you....
mb

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: On to a new chapter! Congrads! Im thankful god placed you at rapha when i came through the program i guess in 2005. You were truly a blessing not only to me but so many others. God blessed you with a special heart. Gift of discernment, compassion, soft spirit, a special gift to simplify scripture, soothing musical gift. I like to refer to it as " the teedybear approach". I know you humbly with give all credit to god, which he deserves. But i believe everyone needs a thataboy every now an then, expecially on a day like today. That being said, now get back to work. Lol. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Jk; April 4, 2013 at 11:51 AM

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.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

First Church Of The Weird

1 comment:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD