GREENE STREET LETTERS: The Great Leveling Ground---The Cross

Monday, April 14, 2014

The Great Leveling Ground---The Cross

I Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the POWER of God.

I Corinthians 2:2
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Easter week....
A celebration of the tomb...
A proclamation of the resurrection....
You can't keep God in a box...
Or your mind....
He will escape and go right to your heart.
God does not deal in mental exercise.
God does not exist in verbal acknowledgement.
God is the God of the heart.
The place from where real life is birthed.

The tomb and resurrection is an exclamation point to a week unlike any other in the history of mankind.
But to get to that morning when those closest to Jesus found out that He wasn't there....
You enter through the cross.
The cross has a way of revealing every one's true nature.
It strips away the outer coverings we create to hide behind and label ourselves with.
It shreds college degrees as well as police records.
We all stand naked and uncovered before the cross.
The cross either humbles us......
Or causes our sinful pride to rise up so that we declare we will not bow before this Christ.
I have seen the latter time and time again in individuals who refuse to give themselves over to Christ.
Steeped in addiction and darkness...sin so rampant in their lives that you could almost smell it, they stand before the message of the cross and thumb their nose at Jesus.
I fear for those who do so.
I pray that God would humble them and break through the hardness and darkness they have given themselves to.
For I know that such are storing up God's wrath that will be poured out eventually if they do not turn.

It is still the greatest mystery to me...
How one can come in contact with this Jesus and be completely changed.
Given to salvation and a new way of living...
while others can remain in their sin and darkness and give no thought to their future or what will happen once they draw their last breath.
Maybe it isn't for me to understand....
Maybe it is just for me to be obedient and love everyone I come in contact with.
This I will do...
I will love Jesus...
I will love those who love Jesus....
I will love those who do not love Jesus...
And I will tell the story of the cross.

At the cross. at the cross

Where I first saw the light

And the burden of my heart rolled away..

It was there by faith

I received my sight

And now I am happy all the day

God on you....

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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, April 14, 2014

The Great Leveling Ground---The Cross

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD