GREENE STREET LETTERS: A Place Of Mercy

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

A Place Of Mercy

Isaiah 55:1-2
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

If ever there was a song that described what Vineyard ReCovery Church was all about, it is the one Marie Barnett sings in the video above: Find Mercy Here.
Mercy is God giving me something I don't deserve. God giving me breath, in spite of the fact that the breath He has given me was the same breath I cursed His name with.
Mercy is God giving me life, when I took that life and rejected Him only to turn and live in darkness, for the darkness. Mercy is God giving me love, yet I took that pure love and allowed it to be twisted and turned into lust.

But Mercy is also God keeping something from me that I do deserve. Because of the Lord's great love, He has offered to me His forgiveness. He has made plain the way of salvation that leads me to life, real life, in Him. A life of abundance that transcends material possessions. A life that is eternal. One that cannot be touched or harmed by the devil and his kingdom. God did that for me......and has done it for you.

I pray that you find the mercy of God today.
It isn't found in a program....
It wasn't born in the Steps....
It can't be bought by good deeds and religious attitudes....
Such comes only one way...
To be broken before Him.
To truly be in touch with the truth that He is God and we are not.
That everything He is...I am not.
May you find His mercy today....

God on you...
mb

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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.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

A Place Of Mercy

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD