GREENE STREET LETTERS: Remembering Who We Are!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Remembering Who We Are!

Who Are We?

People in transition.

People who have crossed over into "new" life.
A work in progress.
Straining forward to the Upward call of Christ.

A people learning a new way to live, on the economy of heaven, rather than the dictates of our society and the demands of our old lifestyle.

We have lived in the darkness far longer than we care to remember.
Now the dawn of hope breaks over us everyday through the Word of God and the presence of His Holy Spirit in us, over us, around us. We are a people learning to trust.
Trusting God....
Trusting each other...
Trusting ourselves.

It's all about Surrender.
Giving up.
We have spent our lives giving up.
This time it is a surrender to one greater than us, that has the power to restore us to sanity.

Sanity?
The ability to make sound decisions that lead to good consequences.
Sanity!
We have surrendered ourselves to the rock.
We have surrendered ourselves to the needle.
We have surrendered ourselves to the joint.
We have surrendered ourselves to the bottle.
In the past, we chose to bow our knee and worship the almighty "high" that the darkness told us was the way to real life.
We performed this ritual so many times that it became second nature
We did it out of habit until it became THE habit.
A habit that consumed the very focus of our lives.

It became a raging voice that directed our every step.

So who are we?
Vineyard ReCovery is a community that is seeking answers that can only be found in Christ.
Our Theology?
I Corinthians 2:2
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Christ at the center of our life, gives our lives purpose and strength to be lived and walked out everyday. Our theology is not well-formed, but our hunger for Jesus keeps us bound together as we travel this new path. We are learning how to love Him, each other, and ourselves.

We are a community of hope.
Our worship is simple and direct.
We sing "to" God and not about God.

We are ready to move into 2017 to see what God has in store for us.
Why not join us!

Vineyard ReCovery meets every Saturday night/ 7 p.m. / Downtown Gadsden on Broad Street, between 4th and 5th streets. Hope to see you there.

God on you...

mbb

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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.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Remembering Who We Are!

Who Are We?

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD