Ultimate Gift....Ultimate Truth

Isaiah 9:2
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

Beyond the decorated trees....
Beyond the brightly colored paper used to wrap presents in....
Beyond the family gatherings and festive celebrations, lies an incredible truth.
The people who call this planet home have a Savior.
One that was born to us....
One who brings the ultimate "good" news.
One who is not bound by some political creed, or denominational name, but stands above every government that seeks to rule.
Jesus.....

A name so hallowed and full of power that His sworn enemy, the devil, seeks to pull that name down and turn it into an everyday curse word.
A name that carries with it the very nature and character of the one upon who it rest.
The very mention of it will send demons fleeing into the darkness.

Seems to me that every year the world wants to create the perfect Christmas. Every commercial on television is crafted and carried out for maximum influence. To be honest with you, I don't think I have ever seen anyone get a new car, finding it sitting in the drive way with a huge red ribbon on it. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying I've never seen it. 
You always have the perfect family.....the perfect house...the perfect tree......
Yet in all of this perfection....sin still mars the landscape.
Isn't that why we should really celebrate Christmas?
That a Savior has been born to us.
So if God proclaimed that a Savior had been born....what does that imply?
Maybe that I am in need of being saved? I think maybe yes.

Saved from what?
Myself? Probably.
My past? Definitely.
My own nature of doing the wrong thing? Surely.
By the way, we all possess this nature (sin) to want to be independent from God. 
Saved from hell? If the descriptions found in Scripture are true...then that would be a big 'YES!"
Jesus came to save the whole package.
That is the good news....

Luke 2:10-11

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you

good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

So in the middle of all the hubbub and hoop-la, stay focused on what this celebration is really all about. Focus on the truth that the penalty for our sin has been paid for. Focus on the truth that the power of sin has been broken, and that we indeed have been given the most wonderful gift of all......the gift of relationship with the complete God....Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now that is something that fits all sizes and has not need to be returned for refund.

Merry Christmas from the "B's" in Attalla.

God on you...

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Check It Out!!!

Finally......
After many months.....
at a cost of millions.....
using a team of thousands....
bringing together the best minds the world has to offer....
We have been able to get the audio of our Saturday night teachings back up and running here on the Greene Street Letters.

If you look to the right hand side of this blog, you'll see the audio section....
I will be re-loading messages from the past few months to catch up.
Feel free to listen...
Download for later....
Or fold into small miniature airplanes to attack squirrels and other small, furry woodland creatures...

Thanks...
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Dude! It's His Church....Let Him Build it

Jesus speaking to His disciples in Matthew 16:18
....And on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Been doing a lot thinking lately.....
That has the potential of being a dangerous thing, if you know what I mean.
Thinking about church, why we do it.....what do we hope to accomplish from all the activity.
Things like that, all rolling around in my brain.

So, for whatever reason I just happen to have downloaded a series of teaching by Ray Hughes on Worship and the Church to listen to as I cleaned the office last night. About five minutes into the teaching, Ray begins to talk about the personality of the local church. He questioned as to why all churches have this need to take on a form of "doing church" that pretty much is cookie cuttered around the city. For instance....."everyone knows that a church should have a steeple." Why? Why does every church need a steeple. Have we really thought this one out, or do we keep replicating and duplicating the same concept that having a steeple sets us apart so folks know that we are a church. Well, shouldn't our reputation for loving folks be the real calling card to the community, and not some pointy structure that looks like  a Titan Missile sitting on a launch pad ready to ascend to the heavens?

You may be thinking that I've either lost it, or I'm a disgruntled, angry old man. Well, I don't think I'm either, and if I were one of the two, I believe I'd come down on 'loosing it". As the teaching from Ray continued, I realized that he was putting language to something that had been rolling around in my head and heart for some time. I realize that I was given an incredible opportunity when I started our first recovery meeting back in 1998. I had no blue print on how to do it. I didn't have any instruction sheet that told me what it should sound like. All I knew was that I felt God wanted us to provide a place where anyone......anyone at all who might either be in recovery, or still in their addiction but was looking for a way out, could come and meet God. That was the entire philosophical / theological mandate I had received from God. Set a time (Saturday night) open the door. Worship God in a way and style that is a reflection of those who come. Love folks and do two things.  (1) Teach the Word of God  (2) Minister in the Power of the Holy Spirit.(That is a religious way of saying, "Ask God to come and get up all in our business". IN other words, we were to be a place that fulfilled the Matthew 6:10 passage. "Your Kingdom come---Your Kingdom "Will" be done, here on earth as it is being done in heaven."  I felt that we were to hold everything loose and just let God run the show. So that is kind of how I have conducted each service since those early days. 

I had several people over the years, who attended our meetings, come to me asking how they could duplicate it. My first thought was always, "Why? Why would you want to duplicate something?" I was truly flattered that someone wanted to copy what we were doing, but I also realized that this was a trap that would end badly. Even had one man who wanted me to write a book on how to do recovery meetings. He went as far as to tell me that he'd finance the book and get it out to distributors. I told him that I'd be glad to write a book, but that it would be the shortest book ever.  One page........ten words........."Go hear God for yourself, then do what He says." 

So over 16 years, the model for us hasn't change much. Why? Because what we do on Saturday nights is a reflection of who we are as a community of believer's. I'm not naive enough to believe that everyone who comes to visit us actually likes how we do church. Over the years I have had my fair share of criticism and complaints. I am grateful that people did love me enough to tell what was on their hearts. And with each criticism, and with ever complaint, I went to God to make sure that I wasn't getting out of line or moving into areas that He did not want me in.
Everything you see when you come to Vineyard Recovery Church....the way the room is set up...the style and sound of our worship....the way we teach and minister was birthed by God from our hearts as a reflection of how we perceive Him and what His desire is for us as a church. Are we trying to be everything to everyone? Not at all. We realize the people that God has called us to love and serve. We bless the entire body of Christ, the church at large, and pray that each group find who they are to minister to. But we will stick to our side of the street and reach out to those who are in addiction, loving them into His Kingdom. 

We meet every Saturday night/ 7 p.m.
If you have a free Saturday, come out and join us.
God on you...
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Receive? Or Reject

Luke 2:11
For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.

Everyone is all up in the celebration this time of year.....
Lot of acknowledgement about the birth of the Christ child.
Baby Jesus.....Wise men....shepherds.....Mary and Joseph.

The world turned in darkness then....
The world turns in darkness now....
But the truth of the passage from Luke 2 is more relevant today than ever.
The advent and beginning of a new work...a new covenant between God and man occurred that night in a stable in Bethlehem.

The city whose name means "house of Bread" became the recipient of the "Bread of heaven" come down to feed all of mankind. Came down in the form of a babe. All throughout the old testament, people feared to look on the face of God. They believed it would bring instant death to have seen His face. Yet there in that stable, those gathered looked deep into the eyes and face of God. Jesus the babe, lay in his mother's arms.  No matter what the form...it was God. He was, and is, the second part of the God-head, the Trinity. God the Son had started the process of taking back "that which was lost" to the devil and his kingdom long ago in the garden.  A process that continues to this day.

The devil continues to this day trying to keep souls from being saved. He has invented new ways to sin and to turn away from God. Yet with each day that passes, God's kingdom is extended over this planet. Someone else comes to the saving grace and presence of Jesus to enter into this new life with Him. More than a fairy tale......more than some kind of morality play, what I write about today is real, and it it truth.

Today...
Right now....
5:17 a.m......
December 4, 2014....
You no longer have to live under the bondage of addiction.
You no longer have to walk in the darkness and pain that accompanies such a life.
You can be free....
Free inside to experience real life.
Free to encounter every trouble and situation and face them head on.
Free to push forward and not run back to your old way of living or thinking.
God makes some pretty bodacious promises if you ask me.....
No matter what may come your way....He has promised that "His grace is sufficient" to meet  it. 

For most today, Christmas is about giving presents.
God gave the ultimate present to mankind.
His Son.
To pay the debt each of us owed because of our sin.
As it is today...if someone offers you a present, you can only do one of two things.
Receive it and accept it....
Or
Reject it and walk away....
What will you do with Jesus?
Receive Him and His offer for real life?
Or
Reject Him and continue the way you are?
Think on these.

Merry Christmas from the "B's" in Attalla.
God on you..
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Water Grave

Woke up with this song running through my mind and my heart this morning.
A song of separation....
A song of hope .....
The death of the old life...the old man..
The birth and resurrection of the new.
I don't think such a transition can truly be appreciated until you experience it.
Some call it salvation....
Jesus referred to it as being "born again" by Spirit.

The old way has a stranglehold on the soul of a man.
It whispers that "You'll never be able to escape."
Any dreams of having real life is just that....
A dream.
It is for others, but not for you.
The old man, and the old ways make promises that they never intend on keeping.
The stand in the shadows of thought and heart and speak half truths to souls that are dying.

Jesus stands clear and unobstructed speaking simple truth.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
The old man and the old ways fight these words.
Accusations arise....
"You don't need Jesus! You just need your D.O.C. (Drug of choice)."
"The drug is real..."
"You can hold it..."
"You can taste it..."
"Jesus is just a thought. Just a concept someone dreamed up to keep you from experiencing real freedom.'

Seems to me that this is the same old tired argument the serpent used in the garden. He sure has gotten a lot of mileage off this misguided, dark thought of living out from under the hand of God. Yet humanity keeps falling for it over and over. It's the same song...just different verse. It's the same story, just a different time.

The song "Water Grave" is performed by the group DOGWOOD. First met Steve Chapman and Ron Elder back in 1981 at the Falls Festival put on by Christian Brothers. What stirs me about the song is the idea behind baptism. Water symbolizing the grave where Jesus' does His best work. Going down into the water as the "old man" ......the old nature of sin being taken by Christ through the work He accomplished on the cross and from the tomb.

In my house there's been a mercy killing

The man I used to be has been crucified.
And the death of this man was the final way of revealing

In the spiritual way to live, I had to die.

Now if I let a dead man linger in me...
I might get a little idle in my ways.

So I'm going down to the Celebration River

Gonna take this dead man down to his water grave.

I'm going down to the river, my Lord
I'm gonna be buried alive.

I want to show my heavenly Father
The man I used to be has finally died

Now when I think of where I'm going

In terms of where I've been

It makes me, Lord, glad to know that I've been born again.

There is freedom in the name of Jesus...
There is life in being born again.
Why not take your old nature down to a water grave?

God on you...

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Everyone Is Born With It

Ephesians 1:5
Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will......

Every person born is done so with a purpose.
Maybe it's locked away inside our DNA.....
Maybe it's something that comes to us, from God, at certain points in our lives. Or maybe it is a circumstance that draws it out.....
Whatever it might be, I am a firm believer that we are born to do more than take up space, eat the food and breathe the air.
Do let me clarify one thing....
Whatever it is as to our purpose....
It will be found in God....
It will be directed to us by God....
And it will be for His good pleasure as we connect with God.

Moses had purpose....
God appointed him to be the deliverer of a people who were trapped in bondage with no hope of a future.

Noah had a purpose....
He spoke God's warning to a people in spiritual darkness, all the while building an ark.
Simple message....get in the ark and be safe...
Stay outside and perish...

David had purpose.....
Shepherd boy...anointed king...
Saves a nation by slaying Goliath the giant.
Endures hardship and threats on his life until he can take the throne of his nation.

Esther had purpose....
Her beauty put her into a position in the King's court that allowed her to thwart a plan to kill all the Jews.

I could go on and on with the purposes of those we read about in Scripture.
But not everyone is called to such major endeavors as these I have mentioned. Some are called to a much more simple purpose. 
A call to love and speak truth to others on behalf of God's Kingdom.

How about a man named Simeon....
We read about him in Luke 2:25-32
He lived in Jerusalem.
He was a just and devout man, whose mission from God was to wait and see the Consolation (deliverer / the Messiah) of Israel.
He was walked and lived under the covering of God's Holy Spirit.
God had revealed to Simeon that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
He was at the temple when Mary and Joseph came to Temple with Jesus.
Simeon took the child into his arms and spoke out a proclamation that was from God. A proclamation that was for all time and all people.
That was the purpose of Simeon.
We might not consider such as dramatic as what Moses did, or what David accomplished.
But Simeon allowed himself to an vessel...to be poured out as God desired.

What if your purpose, as directed to you by God, was to raise your children to be followers of Jesus?
What if your purpose was to simply love those you come in contact with and pray...I mean really pray...for them. Not a hurried, thrown to the sky prayer, but one that fills your heart and mind and you don't seem to be able to shake it off. 

What if your purpose was to speak truth to someone who has ran away from it. You do so with love and not condemnation, to draw them into a real relationship with Jesus.

I do know this.
You were created for higher purpose than addiction.
You were born to be filled with God's Holy Spirit and to simply be available when and where He needs you to be.
Sometimes it will be like a light coming on inside you. You'll find yourself in a situation that you really have given no thought to, and you'll suddenly have a knowing that you need to pray. It may be that you are to pray healing on someone. You suddenly have a knowing that God is at work and you are part of the equation. 

You see, when we pray the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6), there is a statement we all have said at one time or another....

Your Kingdom come...
Your will be done...

On earth...
As it is in heaven

Do you realize that when you pray this, you are asking God to use you to be the conduit through with His Kingdom will is carried out? Is that awesome or what? Me! With all my mess ups and wrong turns....with all my running away and insecurities....me! God would use me to enact His will through so that what is taking place here on planet earth is a revealing of heaven to those who can't see. Now that is cool.

Think on these things today!

God on you...

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Weekend Recap

Joel 2:28
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on ALL flesh.

It was a good weekend, topping off a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Last night, I spoke at CR Catalyst Church (Seth Barber).  Still in the infancy stage, this CR has made some great strides in becoming who God has called them to be. One of the hallmarks, to me, for a CR is does the room feel intimate. Does it feel like a place where you could let down your guard and share? Well, CR Catalyst has accomplished this, which is a pretty big feat considering they meet at Convention Hall in Gadsden.  It has more to do with the leadership inviting the presence of God to be the focus of those present, than anything else. They are committed to loving and enfolding those who feel like they are on the outside looking in on all this God-stuff. Thank you for the invite.

Oh yeah, one last thing:
Catalyst CR will be meeting at Gadsden Vineyard on Sunday, December 14th. Supper at 5:30 p.m. /  main service - 6:30 p.m. / Small groups to follow. 

Yesterday morning, I spoke at New Outlook Fellowship Church. Senior Pastor Rannie Childress and all the folks there have an incredible love for those who are either still in addiction or on that road to recovery. They also host a Wednesday Night Christ centered support meeting. They meet every other Wednesday. This month, they will be meeting on December 10th and December 24th. Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday night found me at the Vineyard Recovery Church. TO say that last Saturday night was somewhat unusual (And pretty incredible) is an understatement. Small crowd, two visitors who were looking for some assistance for a place to spend the night and get out of the cold. They came in and we invited them stay for the meeting, and have some coffee.
The worship team took the stage, just like we do every week, and began to lead the group in worship.

First Song: New arrangement of "Blessed Be The Name". You could sense the presence of God as we sang to Him, proclaiming His greatness and the power of His name.

Second Song: "Holy Fire"...
Holy Fire from heaven descend to us today, let us burn again.
An invitation for God to come and fall on us...
The line "Waiting in expectancy...surrendered to Your Sovereignty........we're hungry for real intimacy, Lord....For the things You adore". 

Third Song:  "Adorned".....proclaiming the attributes of God. Each one like a precious stone, all making up the nature and character of God. 

Fourth Song: "I Love Your Ways" by Chris Lizotte. By the time we got to this one, the room was thick and heavy with God's presence. To be honest with you, that phrase doesn't truly explain what took place. We moved through song verse by verse and by the time we reached the end, the song took on a life of it's own as we followed the Spirit of God off the page, and into the heart where the singing continued. Spontaneous worship that broke out into the room. Words from the heart to proclaim the greatness of God. The two visitors were weeping and raising their hands, totally enveloped in and by the Holy Spirit. I directed some of our leadership to go back to where our visitor's were and pray for them and over them. 

Our usual format for a Saturday night meeting is 20 - 30 minutes of worship /  20 - 30 minute teaching followed by ministry time for those who need prayer, or are responding to an invitation to receive prayer. 

Saturday night we never got around to teaching. The worship was the teaching as God came and brought healing and freedom to all who were present. It was as energized a room and service as I have ever been a part of. Needless to say, we all went away that night with our batteries recharged, ready to give away what we had received. 

Like I've always said, when it comes to Vineyard Recovery Church... God told me early on that this was HIS meeting. He was in charge. I was to stay out of the way and facilitate what He was doing in our midst. Saturday night----that was exactly what I did. After all, He's a lot better at this than I am.

God on you...
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