II Corinthians 6:16
........"I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
The verse above is the very reason that we gather together on Saturday night at Vineyard Recovery Church. To understand what it means to a "people of God." To understand the call and empowerment that is given to each believer. This thing we refer to as "relationship with Christ", is not a mental exercise that we simply think about and talk about. We gather together to celebrate another week of life since we last met on the Saturday before. We gather to learn how to hear God when He speaks. More than that, when we do hear God, we learn to act on what He has shown us. We gather to simply say, "God, we are here waiting on you....come and do to us what you do so well." If there is a need for healing, then we ask God to come and heal. If there is a need for salvation, then we ask God to come and save. We set aside this time to simply be with God. After all...it is His meeting and His church. Shouldn't we let Him have access to it?
As a community of people who are learning what it means to carry the name of Christ in our personal lives, we understand that when we meet corporately, God manifests Himself in our presence. During our worship time, we become very aware of God, as we sing to Him declaring our love for Him. Think of it as the worlds largest Valentine's Day card....all put together by a bunch of folk's who, for intent and purposes, should have been dead. Addiction does that you know.....kills people. But there we are, standing together lifting voice and heart in praise to God.
On Friday, I wrote a open invitation to anyone who wanted to come and join us in a service. Jim Bentley sent me a Facebook message that kind of spoke to what I was really trying to say in my posting. "Maybe a subtitle.The subtitle would communicate that VRC is for everyone. An example might be
"Sinful human welcomed." Or how about "Free Coffee for people who know they can sin." Or my personal favorite..."Welcome, those in a constant state of recovery----everyone else use the ally entrance."
Like I wrote back in April, We are a people whose theology isn't well-formed at this point. We are in transition into a new way of living, thinking and interacting with the world around us. It is a journey, and Saturday nights are a time when we can come together with like minded others, and get our batteries recharged for the coming week.
Over on the right hand side of this blog, you'll find our podcast/Mp3 download available for your conveinence. You can listen to each message dating back to April 13 of this year when we met for the first time.
This coming Saturday, January 4, Seth Barber will be speaking. If you haven't heard him before, then please come and join us. Seth, a recovering addict, drives home the point that Jesus is the answer to addiction, but that there is a discipline that goes with the new life we have been given.
We start at 7 p.m. and if you can't join us, then be sure to check out the download. Messages are usually posted by Friday.
God on you.....
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