It Was A Good Night

Acts 2:17
Peter's words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers...what should we do?"

I Corinthians 1:18
I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.

The thought that someone can stand up and speak the word of God and it change an individual is beyond my comprehension. In fact sometimes I think we simply take such for granted. Or maybe we don't even think about it.

That the word of God can lead a person out of the most vilest of lifestyles into the dawn of a new way of living IS power. One man telling another what he has found and that it could change life as we know it forever IS power.

I sat last night (again) in a shed building with a group of men...probably 20 total. Some within the group have given themselves to Christ and to the program of recovery. Some not so much. This whole Jesus thing is new to them. Some who were present are so steeped in religion that they cannot hear the truth. They perceive themselves as already walking in the truth. Isn't it funny how religion can blind you to the truth of your own life? They know all the right words to say...they know Scripture backwards and forwards....book-chapter-verse, but they have no evidence of Christ in their life at all. Any way, we were a diverse group last night. To me religion is much more dangerous than sin. At least with sin you know you're messed up. Religion only dulls your senses and lulls you into a false sense of security.

Food a'plenty....Spaghetti...salad....garlic bread....tea...plates heaped and bending under the weight of the meal. Not many words spoken once the plates are filled and the eating begins...
Most of these men had already put in a hard day's work..so the appetite was there for the physical food....would there be an appetite for God's food? The answer was "yes".
Man named Charles brought the word....
Former dope slinger and all the trappings that go with the lifestyle, He shared how God took him out of that old life and deposited him into this new life he's been living for the past 20+ years. He didn't try to impress everyone with how bad he'd been....He was much more interested in telling how good God is.

I sat there listening, taking in every word of this man's teaching.
All of it truth...
Simple, bottom shelf where everyone can get to it, truth.
Truth of the cross....
Yet as this exchange of words took place, I knew the Holy Spirit was at work....
Tonight someone was going to meet this Jesus they only thought they knew about.
Sure enough it happened....
After the final prayer and we stepped into the night, there were pockets of men all around the yard.
Laughter....and tales of what the day had held...when suddenly someone walked up to me and asked the million dollar question. "What do I have to do to be saved?" If anyone needed proof of the reality of the Holy Spirit and the work He does, here it was.

A man who began his day with no thought at all about Jesus, was standing before me with the million dollar question that would be the entry point into a completely new way of living.
So there in the darkness of that yard, he came to a new relationship with the One who loves him beyond his own comprehension. The infinite met the finite and life changed right there on the spot.
That is what recovery is all about...
It's more than the absence of drugs or alcohol....
It's more than a list as long as your arm of the destruction someone has brought on themselves...
IT is about the introduction of the work of the cross of Christ, and the beginning of a new relationship. One that will stretch from last night on into eternity.
Nothing will ever be the same...

Please pray for this young man.
His name is Joshua.

God on you...
mbb