GREENE STREET LETTERS: NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM

Monday, May 9, 2022

NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM

The illustration above point out a truth that many do not want to hear. A truth that some refuse to speak on from the pulpit and in the church.

Our government thinks the solution is more education. Teach the people...give them instruction..and they will do what they deem to be right. Herein is the problem. Any choice that is made comes from heart conviction. If the heart be sinful, then the choice will not be truthful or even holy.

The heart reveals the nature and character of people.

I remember during now former President Bill Clinton's first campaign for the presidency, the Republicans kept hammering at his character. Clinton's response? Character doesn't matter, it is the issues. I never will forget the sinking feeling that came to my spirit when I heard this statement. Character doesn't matter? It is the character of the man that determines the decisions he makes.

A heart that is not or has not surrendered to Jesus can only produce one kind of behavior.

Listed in Galatians 5 we read that list.

Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and the things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

God presents mankind in another verse, Jeremiah 17:10 - The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? The heart? Not that organ that pumps blood, but the very core of our being. The connection between our will, our ego and our intellect where our decision on how to act and what to do come forth. IF the heart is wicked and evil, then our actions and behaviors will reveal this.

One of the hardest things for someone in addiction to understand is that their addiction is a secondary thing. It is a symptom of a greater thing. The truth is that we suffer from a broken relationship with Jesus. Our hearts are wicked and full of sin. Sin? Sin is my self chosen independence to live my life with no interference from God on any level. When the woman was deceived in the garden of Eden by the serpent, the serpent put fort the idea that God has holding back from Adam and Eve. The serpent told her, "God surely knows that when you eat of the fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God." Imagine that! The subtle promise that we can be like God. If I am like God, then I won't need him. That is the very point that mankind traded away the promises of God. Ever since that time, we have lived outside the will of God because of our sinful hearts and the nature that drives us to do that which is contrary to God's will.

It takes a heart-transplant from the divine heart of God to take us out of this old lifestyle.
King David knew this when he wrote in Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

According to the Twelve Steps:

Step #1 - the total awareness that we are powerless to do the right thing. As Romans 7 reads.."That which I want to do, I do not do. That which I do not want to do, that is the very thing that I do." My friend that is powerlessness.

Step #2 - We come to believe in a Power that is greater than ourselves who could restore us to sanity.

Sanity comes with the heart change which produces a life change.

Step #3 - We made a decision to turn our WILL and our LIFE over to the care of God as we understood Him .

We look to every excuse and reason to validate our bad behavior except to the truth of God.

Therapy will not relive the pain and destruction of sin.
Medication will not free you from the bondage of a life separated from God.

Group-thought and Validation will not confirm the reality of Jesus' saving grace.

We find the answer for our life and for our future at the foot of the cross.
There forgiveness is applied to a life a sin.
There we find the unspeakable joy of the Lord. A joy that the world can neither comprehend or duplicate.

It is the shed blood of Christ that ushers us into the "new" life we have been searching for.

That is why I write daily.
To share with you the joy that has been brought to my own life.

To share Jesus with you....
May you find Him today for yourself.

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, May 9, 2022

NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD