Let The Good Work Roll!

Great truth from the book of Philippians.
Taught this at last nights Bible study.
God's good work, in us, is a process.
It is a work that is ongoing.
24/7 --- 365, God is growing each of us who are followers of Jesus.
Character change....
Hearing Him better with each day that passes.
Learning to act on what we hear.
Learning to feel His presence and be aware of those appointments with others that suddenly come out of nowhere. You know the ones I'm talking about. You go to the grocery store to get milk and bread, and you wind up praying for a stranger that you meet.
That good work involves a change of heart, as well as mind.
We find that our love for God and the things of God increases.
As we walk in this new "work" that God is carrying out inside of us, we find that our appetite for the things of this world also changes. We suddenly feel out of place in the old surroundings we use to haunt. Old friends look at us differently. Truth is, we aren't the same people we use to be.
We haven't gotten religious....
We haven't become Holy rollers...
We have simply fallen in love with Jesus.
He will do that to you, won't He?

This transition work that God is carrying out in each of us, through the work of His Holy Spirit, is designed to tune us to His will.
That is why Jesus, in Matthew 5, says that we are "Salt" and we are "light".
We bring the flavor of heaven to a world that has lived a bland and useless life.
We bring the illumination of who Jesus is, and what the Word of God proclaims, to a world that can't hear or see because of whose authority it is under.

We are finding our pace and stride as we learn to follow Jesus. 
As we grow and become aware of the extent of the change taking place in us, we will find that we want to give it away to others.
I use this example a lot out at Rapha.
We are called human what?
Beings!
We are not called human doings.
If we expend ourselves on being the people God has called us to be, then the doing will come natural. It will become second nature to us...we "do" because that just what we do.
We "Do the stuff", or the works of Christ, because that is who we are.
I don't do the works to define that I am a follower...
I do the works because I know that Christ has defined me, and given me purpose.

There are a lot of puzzle pieces to this "new" life and "good" work that God has freely given to us. Such is why we are going to look into what it means to be a follower of Jesus. As I wrote in yesterday's posting, starting this Saturday night, Vineyard Recovery Church is going to start a series of teachings on "Doing the Stuff: 101 - Part II".  Lessons will be on 
"Who Am I in Christ?"
"How do I hear God?"
"What's Up With All This Worship Business?"
"How do I fit in A Church?"
"Where's The Best Place To Start Reading My Bible?"
"What About Denominations?"

I have no clue as to how many weeks this series will run, we will be making Cd's available of the prior weeks services should you want to pick one up. Come and join us this Saturday night /  7 p.m.

God on you...
mb

Doing The Stuff 101 --- Part 2

Back in 2000, I did a series of teachings that went far beyond their original intent. At that time, I had a number of people who were coming to our meetings who were not familiar with the values and priorities of the Vineyard. There was no doubt that these folks loved God, but they had a hunger to go to the next level (so to speak). They wanted to do the works of Jesus....feed the hungry, pray for the sick, cast out demons. They wanted to be about the business of the Kingdom.  Or, as John Wimber so often said, they wanted to "Do the Stuff!". So we began to meet on Sunday morning in an informal setting to learn how to minister, pray and reach out to others. What I perceived to be a 5 - 8 week course turned into a 40 week training session. Many of those who attended the sessions are still out there ministering and moving under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as they encounter people with needs.

Flash forward to 2014.
Once again, through Vineyard Recovery, God has assembled another group of people.
Only this time, these folks are new to "church" and "relationship with God." A lot of what the church takes for granted, is like a foreign language to those on the outside looking in.
Yesterday, God began to stir me to revisit the teachings of 2000 that we had done. The original teaching was to help people become equipped to do the works of Christ. Well, God is dusting off the original teachings, but has added a new twist to it. Let me explain.

I believe that the reason people come to Jesus and then fall away is that we have not done a good job of sharing the complete story on how to have relationship with God. The church has put all its energy into simply trying to get people in the door where the plan of salvation can be presented. To get them 'into the club" so to speak.....that once people are in the door and saved, the church's job is over. The mind set seems to be..."We shared the gospel message....we loved them...the are born again....lets move to the next group.  To me, such thought is the same as collecting new born babies, putting them in a nursery and then walking away, leaving them on their own.

What if we taught them how to hear God for themselves?
What if we explained the makeup of the Bible and how to study it?
What if we laid out what prayer really was all about, and how to effectively pray?
What if we kept our "church" terminology to a minimum and used common every day words to explain the Kingdom of God here, but the Kingdom of God not yet?
What if we delved into why tithing is so important, and that it was a blessing to be able to give back to God?
What if we modeled what worship was truly all about. That worship was a lifestyle and not a musical interlude?
What if we made real disciples and didn't just talk about it?

All these questions have lead me to announce that beginning this weekend, Vineyard Recovery will start a "Doing The Stuff: 101" series of teachings in our Saturday night meeting. I'm not sure how many weeks this will cover, but I promise that we will only go as long as God intends for it to last.
I will also be making available copies of the original teachings from 2000 on CD.

I want to encourage you to bring your Bible and notepads in case something that is said jumps out at you that you might want to remember.  These sessions will also be recorded and made available should you happen to miss a week. I'm excited in this direction that God is taking us. Meetings start at 7 p.m /  hope you can join us!

God on you...
mb

Shadow's And Light

John 3:19-20
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light less his deeds should be uncovered. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be already seen, that they have been done in God.

II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

October is a season of change....
Days are growing shorter...
Weather is turning, shaking off the last vestiges of summer.
And the one thing that has been constant in my life over the last 20 years, is that when October rolls around, change is the order of the day when it comes to God. Don't ask me to explain it, I can't other than God seems to turn the page of life and points me in a new direction. I've seen this played out year after year, and it always seems to point to a spiritual change. Sometimes I think we, as westernized Christians, aren't very perceptive to changes in the Spirit. We are focused on work, family, Christmas is around the corner, and life seems to notch it up a gear as we head for all the holiday's we associate with fall. For the most part all the activity we engage in seems to draw our attention away from what God is truly doing.

One of the things I love the most about Vineyard Recovery is our "meeting-after-the-meeting".  Once our Saturday night services is over, those who have made VRC their home, so to speak, gather and we get a chance to delve a little deeper into what God is doing not only in the meeting, but in our personal lives. I get a chance to do some "spot" teaching, handing out Cd's that I feel like will help everyone be aware of the kingdom work God has called us all to.  It is a good time to receive prayer and be healed of what ever ail's you. It is a time for the body of Christ to BE the body of Christ. I want everyone who stays for the after-meeting to be equipped so that what ever comes at us in the coming week will not catch us off guard. I want us all to leave VRC and go back out into our respective homes and be salt and light to everyone we meet, loving them and revealing the Kingdom through prayer and a servant's heart.

October is a time of shadow's and light.
Funny thing about shadow's....
We don't really consider them to be full fledged darkness, do we?
IT is shadow's are the beginning of darkness, but do not carry the same weight as the word "darkness" does.
The word "shadow" doesn't seem to carry the same weight as "darkness", does it? Yet the danger of being in the shadows can be more destructive than hiding in the darkness. Of course I am speaking of spiritual shadow's and spiritual darkness. To me, shadow's are the starting point in which we seek to hide our sin. We never set out to be fully engulfed or seek out total darkness when it comes to life. No more than a first grader sets out to be the best addict or alcoholic, sin entices us to move toward the shadow's, with the promise that if we don't like it, it will be easy to move back into the light. After all, shadow and light are two separate terms with two entirely different meanings. unfortunately, the shadow's are a precursor to living in total spiritual darkness. The shadow's are a place of compromise where you trade away one thing God has given to you, for something that will satisfy the flesh, or the old sin nature. When you step into the shadow's, the feeling is almost overwhelming...and even your logic takes a turn as you try and reason, "How could something that feels so good, be so wrong?" If we linger in this shadow place for any length of time, we will begin the slide to deeper and darker places. Compromise turns to full fledged "giving away" of everything we hold dear. We trade the eternal promise of God for a temporary feeling. Or, as it is so often quoted in recovery meetings..."We pursued a temporary feeling which brought about total destruction of our lives.  Pretty soon, like the verse in John states, we love the darkness and reject the light. In fact, we run from the light seeking deeper and darker places.

God's love burns deeper than any shadow or darkness, and it is that love that chases us down no matter where we go. It is light of that love that goes straight to our hearts and tells us, "You don't need that next drink....or line...or pill...or shot to get by." Such things are only a ticket to take the journey to deeper and darker places. God's love is the life line that pulls us out of these death traps. 

Maybe one reason we don't consider the shadow's such a dangerous place, spiritually, is that we can still see light. Since the light is still present, we rationalize in our minds that we haven't really done a bad thing. Such thoughts only distort the truth and harden our hearts. God's desire is that we live in the light of His presence and love. 

This is the reason that VRC even exists.
We are a called people that walk in light, but are very much aware of those who are in the shadow's, as well as those who are in total darkness. It is the love that God has poured out on us that fuels our desire to see everyone come to the saving truth of who God is. 
As long as there are shadow's, we will be ready to reach out to those who have found themselves in such a place.
We meet every Saturday evening, 7 p.m.
Our church is located downtown Gadsden, 419 Broad Street....
We'd love for you to come and join us....

God on you...
mb

Never Cease To Praise

Psalm 145:1-2
I will praise You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. I will bless You every day, and I will praise you forever.

The act of praise....
The demonstration of love for God....
The verbal assault directed to the heavens of gratitude for what God has done in our lives.
The body language of a soul  that has been delivered and transferred from sin and its effects, into a new life or relationship with God.
How can a body receive from God and not be filled with praise?
Have we become a nation that is so self-centered that we cannot look beyond our own image and see the glorious image of one who gave himself completely so that we may have life, eternal life?


Has church history become so ingrained in us that we have no place for public display of affection for Jesus? Have we become so programmed that the only thing we have learned is that when we go to church, we sit in rows, hands folded in quiet meditation. Nothing wrong with meditation. But were is the passion? Where is the fire for God?I'm not talking about a hyped up, emotional, "whip up a frenzy" display. I'm talking about the fire that burns within and has to come out. I'm talking about a gratitude that is felt so deep within a soul that it you feel like you will die if you don't proclaim your love for God. I'm talking about a fire that burns 24/7....it goes with you daily. It is there at the Waffle House as well as the Church house. It walks the isles at Wal-Mart. It is the fuel that powers us through our day. This love and demonstration of God's love for us. It will cause you to take your last dollar and give it away to that person standing at the side of the road with the "homeless will work for food" sign. Even though your brain will tell you that you shouldn't help those who panhandle for food. An outward demonstration of God's love through the act of giving away a dollar (or more). The act of praise! God gave to you freely, didn't He? He didn't say, "Well, you know what...I know he needs saving...but I'm afraid he'll use the salvation as an excuse to keep on sinning." No! God poured out freely His abundant love and grace. We were the unlikely candidates to receive. Because He chose me, how can I not praise Him. Because He chose you, how can you not praise Him?

Don't keep the praise bottled up.
Don't keep it hidden.
Let it out.
Let it explode onto the scene and color everything around you with the tint of heaven.
You might be surprised how things change afterwards.

God on you..
mb

The Turning Point

Romans 10:9
.......And Believe In You Heart........

Believe....
Only believe....
When it comes to live and the living of it, we humans must have a grounding point from which to move from. We do not do well thrown willy-nilly into situations and circumstances left to our own devices and thoughts. 
Coming out of addiction, and learning a new way of living requires a foundation....a stable place from which we can venture out and exercise this new way of life. That stable place is found in Jesus.
We believe....
Only believe.

Charles Spurgeon writes in his book All Of Grace an explanation of what believing really is....

What is faith? It is made up of three things—knowledge, belief, and trust.Knowledge comes first. "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? I want to be informed of a fact before I can possibly believe it..."

The mind goes on to believe that these things are true. The soul believes that God is, and that He hears the cries of sincere hearts; that the gospel is from God; that justification by faith is the grand truth which God hath revealed in these last days by His Spirit more clearly than before. Then the heart believes that Jesus is verily and in truth our God and Saviour, the Redeemer of men, the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people. All this is accepted as sure truth, not to be called in question...

So far you have made an advance toward faith; only one more ingredient is needed to complete it, which is trust. Commit yourself to the merciful God; rest your hope on the gracious gospel; trust your soul on the dying and living Saviour; wash away your sins in the atoning blood; accept His perfect righteousness, and all is well. Trust is the lifeblood of faith; there is no saving faith without it.

We have tried living under our own power and intellect and it hasn't worked. In fact, the harder we tried to control and manipulate people and things around us, the worse it got. This only created stress which lead to more using, which lead to a greater sense of the need to control. A vicious cycle that only fueled the addiction, and lead to deeper levels of spiritual darkness. 

Only believe.....

Believe that Jesus is who He truly claims to be....

Believe that He will do what He has promised He would do...

Lay hold of this with everything that is within you.

Let it sink down beyond your understanding until it fills your heart and soul.

Say it over and over..."I believe!"

Then accept Jesus as the Higher Power --- the One who can turn your life around.
Turn will and life over to His care and receive what you have been unable to provide for yourself.

Did you notice what Spurgeon wrote in his book? "Commit yourself to the merciful God." The dreaded "C" word!! Commit! Say it out loud...."I commit myself to You, Lord!" Let the words resonate deep inside yourself. "I commit myself to You! I believe!"

Now understand one last thing.
Why did God give us life?
Why did God give us eternal life?

According to John 17:3, it was so that we could come to know and understand who He is.

This understanding does not come through study and reading, although that is a part of it. This understanding comes from taking the study of His word, walking it out daily, and having encounters with Him all through out your day. Pray that He would come and encounter with you today. Pray that somewhere along your path today, He would set up a divine appointment for the two of you to meet. Then go out and watch for Him.
You might be surprised as to what happens.

God on you....

mb

Taking The Fourth Step

Step 4
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Psalm 139:23 - 24
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the paths of everlasting life.

So much of the slickness we call religion today is found in its ability to make us feel good about ourselves, without actually changing anything. Our self esteem is boosted and raised when we have these wonderful thoughts that we are God's children. He loves us! He wants to bless us! We are the apple of His eye!..

While this is true, such cannot be an excuse for our behavior. Such phrases as "I forgiven!" is true. The heart of the gospel message is forgiveness for the sinner. But such a gift as forgiveness is not meant to be squandered on old thoughts and old habits that we have refused to turn loose of. In other words, with this change in our spiritual status, due to our salvation, there should come with it a change in character. In other words, God does a work deep inside us that should result in a spiritual change of behavior. 

Step # 4 is the beginning of this work.
The realization that it is our character, coupled with that old stinking sin/nature, that has fueled our addiction. Once the decision has been made, and salvation accepted, then we begin to business of addressing our character flaws. Why do you think King David asked the Lord to "Search his heart," if is wasn't to learn more about himself. Learn the exact level and nastiness that his own heart was capable of. 

Such a process as looking back at the things you've done, trying to understand the motive behind them is a painful process. More than one person has walked away from recovery because of Step # 4. This is the step that separates the adults from the kiddies. The pain that is felt is guilt and shame for all the hurt and damage that has been done. But the healing comes in spite of the guilt and shame. Healing comes as the individual makes the commitment to push forward. Healing comes when the individual can recognize his character flaws and see them for what they truly are. Then and only then can a cry go up to God for change.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world (the behaviors and mindset) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We are in need of a complete make over, and only God can produce it in us. Step # 4 allows us the incredible gift of seeing the "real" us, and to realize that such a change of character needed can only come through the grace of God poured out on us.
Step # 4 is the plow that breaks the fallow ground of our heart and our nature and allows God's Holy Spirit to begin to plant the seeds that will produce His fruit.
Love....
Joy....
Peace...
Patience...
Kindness....
Goodness....
Faithfulness....
Gentleness.....
And self control...

Now who wouldn't want those in their life?
God on you...
mb

They Work If You Work Them

Mark 2:14
...........And He said unto him, "Follow Me."

Mission Statement of Vineyard Recovery Church
........Following in His Steps.

As with any topic in this modern world, when you mention the Twelve Steps you will get proponents and detractors. Those who are all in favor of the steps, and those who claim that following the program does nothing and is merely a shyster movement. I fully understand this notion and behavior. Doesn't mean I agree with it, but I do understand. Usually those who rail against the steps are those who have never truly worked the program.

First off, the steps themselves are merely a guide to bring one into relationship with God.
Steps# 1 - 3 gives you peace with God. Like everyone, you are brought to the realization that you are a sinner. Life has become unmanageable. Step# 1 begins with looking inward for answers to our problem. We find none. We discover that WE are the problem. As a wise man once told me, "You can't be the problem and the solution." With that in mind, we look elsewhere for an answer to our problem of addiction.

Step # 2 turns the search for a solution to our problem outward.  The step reads "We came to believe in a Power greater than ourselves who could restore us to sanity."
First off, the word "Power" is capitalized. In our case, Power refers to Jesus Christ and the saving work He did on the cross through His death and resurrection. Step # 2 is also an exercise in faith. Notice that the step says "Who could restore us"....not "Who would restore us."  We are reaching out with our faith to lay hold of this Jesus through a renewed relationship with Him.  Our understanding of who Jesus is, is very simplistic in nature. Our focus at this point in time is simply to find an answer to the pain we have inflicted on ourselves and everyone around us. 

Step # 3 is actually Step #1 plus Step # 2.....get it. 
1 + 2 = 3...
In Step # 1 we looked inward and found no answers to our problem.
In Step # 2 we looked outward and saw a solution.
Now in Step # 3, we make a decision and act on it.
What is the decision?
To turn will and life over to God's care.
Turn it over to the God of our understanding.
How many times do I turn my life over to God's care? Once....
How many times do I turn my will over to Him?  Daily...sometimes multiple times through out the day.
In other words, I am learning the need for me to get out of the way and stay out of the way so God can work in me. 

Steps # 1 through 3 settle the question about our life. We are now, through salvation, in a living, breathing, changing relationship with the God of the universe. From this point on, the steps lead us through a change of character and nature. An inward work that produces outward results.

I'll take another look at these steps tomorrow...
Got to run for now...

God on you...
mb