Making Disciples

II Timothy 2:2
And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men (and women) who will be able to tech others also.

Spoke last night at Celebrate Recovery @ North Glencoe, and God was gracious to come and change some hearts as well as lives.
I took in the whole picture of that meeting as worship was going on. People up on their feet, clapping and singing. High energy in the room, as song moved to song and the words were flashed on screens for all to see. 

Chip time brought thunderous applause and cheers as people made their way up to the front to receive a chip for the amount of time they had been sober.
Hugs and back slaps, along with words of encouragement to help them stay on the track and trail to recovery.

There were brief testimonies of how life use to be, as opposed to how it is today. People hanging on to every word. It was a mixed bag of people in that room. Some there because they have found life at this meeting. Others there simply because they needed a stamp for their court card in order to appease the powers that be. No matter the reason, everyone there sat under the presence of God. That can't be a bad thing, can it.

I write all of this to show my appreciation and gratitude to Seth Barber, Nick Johnson, Shane Elmore and a whole host of other people who, week after week, give of themselves to oversee this meeting. It was a good night also in that it reinforced in me what God has called us to do at Vineyard Recovery.

We are kind of the next part to Celebrate Recovery. We are a school...a place where you can be taught how to follow Jesus. A place where you can be taught how to pray. How to read this Bible. How to hear God for yourself. And as you are taught, you can go out and share it with others.

Saturday night is unlike anything I've ever done before.
The worship hasn't changed, as far as the music and the people on the team, but God has upped the ante, if you will. Saturday night, Debbie Handy led the worship for our meeting. If ever there was such a thing as Power in peace, that is what we were given Saturday night. The songs were intimate and inviting as the room slowly began to join in. Words can't truly express what happened as song followed song. God's presence was so thick in the room, that when we had finished, I knew that the message I had prepared was not the one He wanted me to speak on.  I threw away the notes and began to share what God was saying.

God is the one who grants to those who surrender, a life of recovery. But once you have this new life, then what? That is where Vineyard Recovery comes in. We are there to help you learn, to teach you and to encourage you as you move out into the work place, to school or where ever it is God is taking you.
I'm not looking to build a church. The church belongs to God, he will place people where He wants them to be. I'm not looking to build a name for myself or to bump the name "VINEYARD" to a place where it supplants what God is doing. It isn't about me. It isn't about Vineyard Recovery. 

I'm simply trying to open the doors on Saturday and prepare a place where we all can meet God. Where we all can be changed. Where we all can leave and go out and be the people God has called us to be. In other words....I want to make sober/recovered disciples for Jesus. People who truly do "Celebrate Recovery"....but a people who find the value in living for this Jesus and have a desire to be taught what to do next. That is the heart and soul of what Vineyard Recovery is all about. Our mission statement is very simple and reflects who we are as a community of believers. Following In His Steps.

If you're free one Saturday, come and visit with us.
Meetings start at 7 p.m.

God on you...
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A Post-calyptic Rolling Rant Without The Emotion That Would Have Embarrassed Me In The Past

Some of you may not be familiar with what I am speaking about in this video. It is not an anti-church statement....or one against being taught. Bottom line, I believe that it is the duty of every follower of Christ to pursue him and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us.

It shouldn't be up to the guy who stands up front every Sunday morning (and Saturday night) to be the one who makes sure you "Do your homework" so to speak. Our time together corporately (at church or at a meeting) should be a time of instruction and teaching...a time of encouragement and edification. But then, when we leave, it should be on all our shoulders to grow in Christ. We should be running into divine appointments God places before us. Opportunities to pray with people and to serve people. To see people get healed or set free from demonic spirits. 

It should be a time of study in God's word as we digest and feed on it. Once our stomachs are full, we should look for opportunities to exercise what we have read. Far too many are content to go to church, put money in the offering plate, sing the songs, listen to the sermon and leave. Leave, only to come back for the next meeting and do it all over again. 

We somehow fall into the trap of believing that showing up is all there is to this whole Jesus thing. Wouldn't it be great that if next Sunday (or Saturday night) you went to church and no one was there? Wouldn't it be great if there was a sign on the door that said, "Gone Fishing"? That everyone who was a part of that fellowship was out "doing the stuff" that Jesus did. 

Bottom line....
God wants to talk to you, personally.
God wants to teach you daily.
God wants to reveal his love for you every minute of every day.
God wants us to give that love away....beyond the walls of the church.
Sometimes I think we take that whole "you are the salt of the earth" thing to the point that we agree...."Yes! We are the salt of the earth". But we use the church like a salt shaker, all the while praying that we aren't shaken out of the comfort of the container. Sorry...salt is no good if it stays in the shaker. It has to turned upside down and violently shaken...then it falls out and accomplishes what salt was intended to do. Flavor...season...preserve....
Let's be salt!
What do you say?"

God on you...

Second Floor..Children's Clothing...Kitchen Ware....Forgiveness..Not Being Judgmental...Watch Your Step Please!

Romans 1:7
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.

We'll be continuing in our journey through the book of Romans, tonight at Vineyard Recovery. We have finished Chapter 1 and are moving into the second chapter which takes us to forgiveness and judging others. By the way, sometimes I think judging others is the fan favorite of people everywhere.

If ever there were two stumbling blocks to recovery, these two are the big guns.
Forgiveness of others as well as ourselves is huge. In fact, what I see with people who are trying to break free of addiction is that they truly believe that God can forgiven them, but that they cannot forgive themselves. The mind set to not forgive yourself only creates the feelings of guilt and shame. Those two emotions are what I refer to as the toxic twins. Not being able to forgive yourself is a sign that a person feels like they deserve to be punished. How wrong is that? This is where the beauty of the Gospel comes into play.

It's the Grace thing.
It's God's mercy.
It's the love of the Father.
It's His willingness to wipe the sin slate clean and pour out huge buckets of grace over you. (Don't take that and make a bucket theology. Bucket was the first thing that came to my mind. For all I know it could be Tupperware containers). No matter....we need to understand that the grace of God enables me to forgive myself. 
Forgiving myself means that I am breaking with my past...what I have done...people I have hurt. That enables me to deal with the issues that are a part of my past and, at the same time, move on into my future. 

I have written this before, but here is my definition of grace:
The empowering presence of God in my life that enables me to be who I was created to be, and to do what I have been called to do.
It takes God's empowering presence in me to see that I can forgive myself. This isn't a mental exercise that if you think long and hard it will happen. It is a "knowing" ....an exercise of our faith that God is who He claims to be and will do what He claims He will do. 
I can forgive myself, because that is what He desires of me.
To those who have made the claim that they believe God could forgive them but they could never forgive themselves....basically what has been said is this: "I have more power than God does. I know myself better than God knows me." 
My Bible has an incredible offer to those who struggle with such things.
Matthew 11:28 -  "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." What could possibly be more burdensome.....what could require more work that someone who could not forgive themselves. Carrying around the baggage of past behaviors and hurts. Such a life has no future not matter how hard or bad they desire one.
It is time to break free from the past and move ahead.
Hopefully I'll see you tonight at Vineyard Recovery.

God on you...
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Rocking For The Lord

Saw this on a friends FB page and it just gave me a chuckle. Well, actually it more like a cross between a chortle and a guffaw, and a giggle thrown in for good measure.
I want to be like this baby. I want to just cut loose and get all crazy up in Jesus. Not an emotional, fleshly crazy. But a loosing it just because He is Jesus kind of crazy.
I want to be like this baby.

I don't want to be childish...but rather, as Jesus called us to be, childlike.
To believe God simply because He is God.
To take my heavenly Father at His word and not worry about anything.
To actually believe that my heavenly Father has not lost power or ability to see me through because time has moved by. (Time is something that God created and stands outside of). Sorry, no Rolex's in heaven. Not even a cheap, John Cameron Swayze Timex.

I need to  remember that life is to be lived, not complained about.
Life is to be embraced with Jesus at the center of everything. Not something to whine and cry about.
To remember that life is about following, not leading.
Following Him...
Walking behind Him...
Life is about not loosing sight of what's important. 
As John Wimber use to say..."Keep the main thing, the main thing."

Life is God. The three part God who pow-wowed back in Genesis and came to the decision to create humanity in "Their" image. In spite of all the dumb things we have done....God still loves us. How cool is that?

Life is Friends.... As evidenced by the joy I felt last Friday night playing with the GUISE. As evidenced by hanging with the people at Vineyard Recovery on Saturday.

Life is Family. A grandson who can recited the most obscure facts about animals of every shape, form and fashion. It's about a grand daughter who eats her breakfast cereal without any milk. She doesn't hate milk, she just doesn't want any on her cereal. It's about two sons who still enjoy each other company and trying to make the other one laugh. Two sons, who when they come back home, still argue over which part of the dishwasher they have to unload after supper. Life is about incredible daughters in law who have fallen in love with our family. And life is about a wife who has weathered every storm with me, lo these last 41 years (as of September 1st).

Life is The Word....It was there in the beginning. It was with God. It was God.

Life is Banana Pudding....(Just threw that one in there so see if you were paying attention).

Life is Doing the stuff of the Kingdom. This Christianity thing isn't a spectator sport. It involves jumping off the high dive and screaming all the way down.

Life is Giving away what has been freely provided for me. I don't actually get to keep anything. At the time of my death, all the stuff I thought was important will be divided up among all the well wishers and family.

So I just want to enjoy this ride as long as I can.
Keep teaching and chasing this Jesus as long as I am able.
After all....
Life is an adventure when you saddle up with Jesus.
So be like a little baby banging them ivories, screaming and laughing all the while.
Isn't that what life is about?

God on you...
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Breathing Praise (An Audio Message)

Audio message I gave at Grace Covenant Church last Sunday ( 8-4-13).
Psalm 150:6 -  let everything that has breath....praise the Lord

The Kingdom Of God

Matthew 3:1-2
In those days, John the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Matthew 6:10
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:13
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen!

In the conversation regarding addiction/recovery, we are wanting to point to the work and person of Jesus as being the Power needed to retain a new life.
That He is the way, or direction, we need to look to and follow in order to break free from the power of sin/addiction. 

This introduction of Power, through the presence of God's Holy Spirit in our life, is the source that will propel us into a new dimension of living. One that has escaped us at every turn. As some in recovery say....."God did for me the very thing I could not do for myself."

This interjection of God into our situation and life is what is known as the Kingdom of God. God's rule is eternal and universal in the sense that he is, and was, and he always will be the supreme ruler of all things. (pg.7 - Kingdom of God VBI course). 

As we work these steps and we come to the place of surrender of will and life over to God, we find that His power will break into our affairs and situations we face. He does so by changing us. Changing our hearts and not only our minds. The Kingdom rule of God confronts all the spiritual forces that the devil and his kingdom have brought to bear to keep us in this old way of living. A life of bondage and sin that manifests itself through our choices. In other words, all you have to do is look at the decisions that we made when we were totally out there living for the next high, the next fix...the next promise of relief.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that I rely on 
I John 3:8 to address the desire of Christ to come to our aid. 
Here is the I John passage from the Amplified Bible:
But he who commits sin (who practices evildoing) is of the devil (takes his character from the evil one), for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (Destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works of the devil (has done). 

Did we not take on the character of the evil one? Lying, stealing, immorality, anger, jealousy, manipulation, and on and on and on? Yes!
But then Jesus was revealed. We are aware of Him and His capabilities to free us from the penalty of sin......the power of sin.....and the presence of sin. He is revealed to our hearts and then we respond by turning to Him.
Once we acknowledge our need for Him, then the destruction of the works of the devil,in our lives, begins.

The first destruction of the devils works is a destruction of the character we have adopted from him. The Holy Spirit begins to change the very nature of our heart and we begin to see life differently. 

Take a look at the evidence of our old nature or character that was under the influence and control of the devil.
Galatians 5:19-21
Now the doings (practices) of the flesh (old nature) are clear (obvious). They are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I previously did, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Sounds like a who's who of addictive behavior, doesn't it?
Now lets take a look at what happens when God intervenes in our life through His rule and reign being brought to bear to address our problems.
Galatians 5:22-24
But the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit (the work which His presence within accomplishes) is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence) faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (Self-restraint) against such things there is no law (That can bring a charge). And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.

Such is why we are instructed to pray..."Your Kingdom Come (The rule and reign of God in us and through us)....Your will be done (That is power at work in us. It is God's will to change us into the image we were originally created to have, not the one that sin warped and distorted. The verse closes by saying....on earth as it is in heaven. We are asking God to splash on us from His fullness..to bring the mandate and power of heaven into our time and space to intervene in our affairs and lives. 
This is the heart of all recovery.
The interjection of the Kingdom of God into a situation and life that has no hope or way out.
Thank you Lord, that you arm is not so short it cannot save. Or your ear so dull that you cannot hear.
May we see more and more of your Kingdom in our lives and in our families.

God on you...
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Compilation Of All The Little Things Make For Some Big Things

Forgiveness! Sometimes that word burns in our stomachs when it is mentioned to us. Some well meaning soul will come to us with their wisdom and say, "You really need to forgive that person if you want to move on in your recovery.

"Forgive them?"
"They hurt me...they wounded me....I was counting on them and they let me down! Forgive them? Never."
I'm not real good at giving out religious platitudes or catchy sayings, but the truth really is that forgiveness is more about you and your welfare and spiritual health than it is about someone who has hurt you.

If you are not in the mind to forgive, then you are the one who is really suffering....not that person who wronged you. They probably don't even think about you or what they may have done to you. You're the one who can't get the hurt out of your life....it would be different if the hurt and pain you are experiencing moved you forward in your life and in your recovery, but it has become the stumbling block /obstacle that you can't get around.

One of the reasons I chose to answer Jesus' call to this new life he has given me, is that he lived out what he taught. He didn't come up with all these really neat sounding religious lessons. He demonstrated them before those who were following him. He made sure that nothing in his life ran contrary to what God had given him to share.

Think about it.
On the worst possible day a human could have....
Being rejected by everyone who claimed to know you, leaving you alone...
Arrested and charged with some bogus claims made by paid witnesses...
Sentenced to die the most humiliating death a human could experience. Jesus chose to demonstrate to those present the very heart of what he'd been teaching.

There hanging on a Roman cross that he'd been nailed to.....
The very first words that Jesus said from that cross was "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)
With all that was happening to him....
With all the pain he was going through...
His mind and heart was on those who had brought about this deed.
"Father...forgive them"
I think more than what we read....Jesus was not only speaking about the people there at the cross of his death, but also every human being.
When he spoke those words he was looking down through the ages. He saw me....and he saw you. He knew that we were so in need of being forgiven.

You see, forgiveness isn't about a feeling. You don't do this because you feel like it. You do it...you forgive because you choose to. It isn't about feelings, it is about a choice. Funny part, as you walk out this commitment to forgiveness, your feeling will change.

You see, the Twelves Steps kind of works like this.
Step # 1-3 - making peace with God
Step # 4-11 - making peace with others
Step # 12 - Giving it away.
What is the result of all of this?
I am at peace with myself.
Now that is a gift money can't buy.

God on you...
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