GREENE STREET LETTERS: WOULD YOU HAVE JOINED THE CROWD?

Friday, April 15, 2022

WOULD YOU HAVE JOINED THE CROWD?

Good Friday --- Jesus on the cross ----Many will gather tonight to celebrate the events of His death and resurrection by remembering the price that was paid so that we no longer lived under the penalty of sin. That salvation came through His death and resurrection. But I also think that this weekend should be spent in looking into our own hearts.

Look into our own hearts and realize the potential and the endless possibilities we possess to embrace darkness and reject light...God's light. Life on this side of the cross is a daily war between Spirit and flesh. Flesh rises up to take control and direct the mind and body. The Spirit brings the truth of God to this fight.

I write these words this morning because of a verse that jumped out at me as I was reading. Two words collectively spoken by a crowd of people. Two words that sealed the fate of Jesus. When confronted by the choices that the Roman Procurator, Pilate, offered to the crowd, they came back with those words...."Crucify Him!". Words that were tinged with hatred. Words that were aimed at this one man who innocent of every charge leveled against Him. What must these words sounded like to Jesus? Here were the very ones He came to die for. Here were the people that "God so loved" that He sent Jesus to die and be the sin payment. Yet their words continued to ring loud and long..."Crucify Him!!".

What am I trying to say this morning? That if I were present at the time of Jesus' death, I may very well have been in that crowd shouting those words. I don't want to consider this fact. That I do have an old nature that rises up to draw me back into the darkness. Maybe knowing this about myself is why I push on daily to follow Jesus. Maybe this knowledge of what I am capable of (given the right situation) keeps me taking inventory of my heart....looking at my attitudes and well as my thoughts.

I do not want to be like Peter, thumping my chest and proclaiming that I would never deny my Christ, then turning around and actually carry out the prophetic words of Christ that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.

So as we move into Good Friday and approach Easter morning, why not take a moment and ask God to show you your own heart. Such will only deepen your need for Him and for the love He continues to pour out.

It may be Friday...and it may be a dark time....

But Sunday is coming!!!

Michael b

No comments:

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.

Friday, April 15, 2022

WOULD YOU HAVE JOINED THE CROWD?

No comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD