Do You Know The Real King Of Hearts

Psalm 77:11-12
But then I recall all you have done, O Lord....
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

Lot of running around yesterday....In the car...out of the car...in the car...out of the car...
Finally made it to the church around noon and settled in for a time of study and prayer.
I love this building when it is quiet. Usually there is a seemingly never ending stream of people coming looking for help and prayer. We try to meet as many needs as we can...but when the people stop coming and I am here by myself, it is a special time for me.

Time to study and just kind of hang out with God. Time to tell Him what's really going on. Like He doesn't already know, but I have an obligation to do so anyway. I think maybe it's more for me than Him. I think in the verbalization of my prayers, I learn some things about myself. Things I need to surrender to His will. Things I need to receive in my life from His hand. I don't think school is ever out when it comes to living relationship with God. I think we will always be in school...always learning more about ourselves and more about Him. I am pretty sure trouble sets in or at least heads our way when we stop growing. We become stale and stagnant. We loose momentum in our walk. We loose focus and began to look around at all the baubles and beads the world has to offer. Suddenly those things seem more appealing than what God has to offer. Rather than feasting on His goodness and presence, we gorge ourselves on the cheap, carnival junk food that the world offers as a substitute for God's table. It may taste good, but it hasn't any spiritual nutritional value what so ever.

I ran across the Randy Stonehill song "King of Hearts" and it reminded me of the goodness of God in my own life years ago. I don't remember who played the song for me the first time, but I remember it filling my ears and my heart with the knowledge that God reached out to me first. It was God who initiated the desire in me to have relationship with Him. Jesus is the ultimate King of Hearts. I was saved in 1961 but the reality of what it meant to be saved did not kick in until 1979. Kind of sad ain't it? 

From 1961 until 1979 Christianity was a kind of game I played. I was good at it. Except for seven years between 1972 and 1979 I was good at playing the game. I thought I was a serious believer. I mean, come on....I read my Bible every day....I prayed somewhat...I gave "some" money for my offering. I didn't kill anyone or plot to overthrow the free world. I had to be a Christian right? Well, I may have gotten my name in the book but I wasn't  doing anything that God expected from me. Pretty much coasting. But something happened when I listened to this song by Randy Stonehill. Something clicked inside. It was like I saw God for the first time, and I saw myself...the real me...for the first time. I was made painfully aware of God's love and my lack of desire to follow Him. Wowzers!!! I prayed that God would grant me another chance to follow. I confessed my lack of love for Him and for using Him like some "Get out of jail free" card. He filled me with this incredible sense of love.

I'd like to say that the years since 1979 have always been easy and upward, but they weren't. I will say this though, God has used everyday to grow me, teach me and show me what He expects of me. As my wife likes to say..."Michael, you have become very teachable." That means that I may mess up, but I learn from the mess up and I don't repeat it again. I am teachable.

I wish I could explain this desire for God....I can't because it isn't something that has come from me. It is something that God has given to me. So I do believe that I will chase Him until I draw my last breath.  Hope maybe something I wrote about today will stir something in you. Thanks for stopping by the Greene Street Letters...

God on you....
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Don't Just Find The Door...Go Through The Door

James 1:23-24 (The Message Bible)
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

Seeing yourself as you truly are....
Not "seeing" the outside, but the inside.
An evaluation of what you really believer and act on.
Bible says that "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
The real you is bound up and motivated by core beliefs...or some would call it a "World view".
Such belief's tell us how we should act or respond to every situation we face. It kind of works like this....
Situations....pass through our core beliefs....this creates thoughts on how we respond....this creates emotions....and emotions direct our actions.
If my core beliefs are outside God's directions, in other words if I am making my decisions based on my sin nature, then my thoughts are going to be wrong. This in turn brings up harmful emotions and these will lead me to destructive behavior. 

We are going to be taking a look at the entry point into recovery this Saturday night at Vineyard ReCovery. Every journey has a starting point, and the best intentions are of no value unless acted upon. Step #1 is the entry point that we all must pass through. Under the vision and conviction of God's Holy Spirit, we see ourselves as we truly are.
We see ourselves as being powerless.
We see ourselves living a life that is beyond our ability to manage.
Doesn't mean we don't try to manage. If we awarded those who try to manage their own life, those awards would be stacked to the ceiling. The best hoped for is to manage it into the ground. The one constant among everyone struggling with addiction is "I don't need your help...there's nothing wrong with me....just let me live my life...get off my back."
Such declarations of independence lead only to one of three places if allowed to run its course.
1.) Jail...
2.) Institutions...
3.) Death.
You can bank on that.
Doesn't have to be that way, but to break free starts with seeing the need that is denied over and over. I need help.
Why do you need help?
Because I cannot break free from my using and/or drinking.
Here at this place real life can begin.





God on you...
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It's About Taking The Message To Others

It's a message about life....
And it's life that is the message.
Can't separate one from the other.
Some like to lay hold of the message in order to have this new life, and once obtained (at least they think they have it) they hold it unto themselves and forget about the others still out there in darkness where they have just come from. Selfishness that screams, "I've got mine, let them get their's." Not the way the message works. 

It's like working the Twelve Steps all the way down to Step #12 and quitting at # 11. No need to take this message to others...
I've got what I need. Is that the ultimate act of selfishness or what? I think maybe yes it is. To be afforded the greatest gift a breathing human could ever be given.....
And then simply reject all others in order to build your own kingdom. Leaving them to grope blindly in the spiritual darkness of their own existence looking for way out. I've got mine...let them find what they need..

So to me, it's all about the message....
You can dress it up, but it has no need for that.
You can put it to blues...reggae...rock...country...classical..it fits perfect and will pierce any heart with the white hot love of God. A love so pure and holy that it raises dead people to new life. 

It kicks away the tomb stones, removes the grave clothes and plunges that dead corpse with a life that no one or no thing can stop. Because that is just how God moves. HE really isn't interested in taking you behind the curtain to show you how He works His life giving message...He simply offers it and says, "Do you want to be healed?" We are all up in the understanding of the how's and why's and wherefore's of this life that has been offered to us. God simply says, "Do you want it? Do you want to be healed?" The message is simple. Do you or don't you?

The message is bigger than sobriety...
It is more powerful than abstinence...
It is not bound by time, culture, or societal dictates...
The message cannot be harnessed or changed to fit man's whims or fantasy...When such tries to take place, the message is no longer the message, but some counterfeit look alike that has no power to change anything. 

Step # 12 puts the exclamation to the message....
"Having had a spiritual awakening..."
In other words, our old way of living has kept us unaware of the truth that was all around us. We moved through it daily unaffected by it. Moving to get whatever our DOC was in order to simply fill normal. But for whatever reason, the message lay hold of us and we received it. We did more than believe...we laid hold of...we took it into our very core and it became life. This message that this POWER greater than ourselves could set us right. Now here in Step #12 we have evidence of the truth. Our very lives now reflect the reality and power of the message. Because it was given freely to us, the message is not something we can afford to hoard or hide. We don't just give it away....we take the message....we take it to those still trapped by their addiction. 

And this "Taking out of the Message" is why Vineyard ReCovery Church....Catalyst Recovery and Thriving continue to meet each week....to Let other know of the power and impact this message has had in our own lives. We don't relegate our message to only the nights we meet....we are a people who take it out! 

We truly are a people who realize....
Without His mercy...we are hopeless...
Without His love....we are lost....
Without His direction....We can make no progress...
And without His person living in our heart....
Jesus is just words on a page and notes in a song...

God on you....
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Religion VS Christianity

Saw this video Sunday night at Catalyst Recovery....
Truth has a way of getting up in your business, doesn't it.
God's truth reveals the heart....
And if the heart is all up in religion...looking a certain way...acting a certain way...yet never experiencing a change of the heart...well, there is a problem there.

I love the way the Message Bible defines relationship over religion in Matthew 11:28-29

Are you tired? Worn out?
Burned out on religion? Come to me.
Get away with me and you'll recover your life.
I'll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me....

Watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live

freely.....

and.....

Lightly!

Some might view this video as a kind of "pie-in-the-sky" view of  who God is and what He expects of His children.
I don't see it that way.
I see it as a message of freedom from everything man conceived and everything man made....so that I can embrace who God wants me to be and do what He wants me to do. It isn't a "be free and be excused from your bad choices." It is a message of growing up and taking my rightful place in His kingdom. To tell my story to those who haven't heard. To share my Jesus with those who haven't met Him. To be salt and light to a bland, blind world that is need of a Savior. 

God has not called me to add to His Gospel.
He has not commissioned me to create more hoops for people to jump through in order to be saved.
The Gospel is very simple....
Romans 10:9 - That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in you heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:13 - For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

God on you....

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New Year....New Direction

Matthew 25:21
The master was full of praise, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together."

Busy weekend...
Good weekend...
Driving home last night from Catalyst Recovery, I was trying to process all the meetings I had been in over the past 3 days. The ministry times were just off the charts, as I saw many people coming forward for prayer. Many were saved. There was emotonial as well as physical healing. All of this taking place on the first weekend of the new year. 

I was reminded of how we had labeled 2015 as being the year "of the one". Beginning with the first weekend of 2015, and continuing all year, we saw one person come to our meeting and receive from God. Each week seemed to be a time of healing or salvation for one specific person. The weird part in all of this was it was usually someone who was a first time visitor. They would come, and whatever it was they truly needed for their life, God would provide.

It got to the point that we would show up on Saturday night with an expectation of "Who will it be this week? What will God do?"
What was even more strange was that whoever the one was that received from God.....we never saw them again. They came for that one meeting...we loved on them....prayed over them...God would come...they would receive and then share with us what had happened.We would never see them again. Out of this came the truth of what God was doing in our midst. Would we be faithful with the one? Would we "BE" the body of Christ that He has called us to be? Would we take care of our portion of the Kingdom that has been entrusted to us? It was as much about us being faithful as a community of believers, as it was about the one who came each week and received from God.

So this past weekend was a time where God let it be know to me that we had been faithful with the "little" He had entrusted to us. Since we had, now we would see a different part of His Kingdom during this coming year. That excited me! What does that mean? I'm not sure, and I don't want to read anything into what I heard. I just go back to the original mandate I received to start the Saturday night meeting. God told me that this was to be His meeting and I was to stay out of the way. It was my job to simply listen, watch and then carry out what my instructions were. I have tried to do this each week. To not nail down an order or way of doing church, but to allow room for the Holy Spirit to move among us and bring the healing that we all need.

So what about 2016?
We'll see...
Our job is simply to be faithful with whatever is put on our plate. To take care of those who come through the door, making sure they hear the truth, and that we love them with Kingdom love. If we can hang on to that direction then 2016 will be a good year. 

God on you...
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It's Time To Take Stock And Move Forward In 2016

Last night was the first meeting of Vineyard ReCovery in 2016. It was a time where we looked back over the past year and was given an opportunity to set the focus and direction for this coming year. Seth Barber spoke from II Samuel 12 and the story of David's mourning for the child born to Bathsheba. David was fasting and praying for the child but the child died. Upon receiving word of the death, David got up, cleaned himself up, changed clothes, went to the Tabernacle to worship, and then back to the palace to eat. His advisers found David attitude to be strange, but when asked about it, David told them that he had done what he could, it was time to move on in life. 

Seth used this analogy to point to our need to move on in our personal recovery. It is so easy to lay near the things of death that keep us in our addiction. It is so easy to have a pity party about our lot in life and not see the larger freedom that God wants to give us. Life is about finding direction and purpose in God, and moving on daily away from the people, places, and things that were truly death to us. 

There is a term that I use for those things that only keep us in the darkness of addiction. Radical Amputation....
If I have a leg or arm that is infected and shows signs of gangrene...I must amputate it or it will spread and eventually bring about my death. Such is the same if you are trying to move forward in your recovery. There are people that you will need to radically remover yourself from because their presence will only draw you back into the old life. There are places you will need to cut out of your life because if you frequent them, you will be drawn back into your old life. And there are things that you have possessed that are associated with you old way of life that will need to be removed.

Of course, all this "Removal" of people, places and things can be a bit depressing, and you are left feeling empty and abandoned. You will even reason to yourself, "What's the use in going on..I'll never have any fun again!". Don't allow yourself to slide into that place of pity because of what you perceive yourself to be giving up. Ask God to show you what you are going to get in return. You see, it has been my experience that when you surrender something to God, He replaces it with something much better than what you had. If you give up people, then the ones God puts back into your life will be true friends and not just "using buddies". If you give up places that you use to go to, He will lead you into "Greener Pastures" and places where you can flourish and grow in this new life you've been given. 

So as we move deeper into 2016, take a moment and look at your life.
"Are you better off than you were at this time last year in 2015?
"Are you still struggling with the same old stuff....going to Celebrate Recovery getting that introductory Blue chip. You look around and you've never moved beyond the blue chip. If that is what you are seeing and feeling...it's time to find the truth and dig your heels in. Make that determination to turn will and life over to the care of God. Then ask God to show you the way to a meeting or a community of like minded people where you can plug in and get healthy.
Spiritually healthy....
Mentally healthy....
Physically healthy...
Healthy in your relationships...
Financially healthy....
Not a bad new years resolution.

God on you...
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Amazing Grace

Ephesians 2:8
For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is THE gift of God.

January 1st....
A new year...
A fresh start...
The slate has been wiped clean, so to speak.
All the failures of 2015 have been cataloged.
Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes....Hopefully we have confessed, repented, received forgiveness and moved on in this journey with Jesus.

So here on January 1, 2016 I want to take a moment and celebrate the grace that brought me to Christ.
Not just any grace.....
But Amazing Grace.  Grace that is as real as this chair I am sitting in. Grace that is the empowering presence of God in me and my life that enables me to be who God created me to be, and to do what God has called me to do....

Grace that is so amazing, that the very sound of word rolling off my tongue causes gratefulness to rise up in this old heart of mine. How sweet the very sound of that word is to me. For when my thoughts are wrapped in this wonderful Grace, I am reminded that at one time I lived outside the will and grace of God. I pushed back against this gift of Grace. I ran from the mere mention of the word. Why? Because my heart was dark with sin. I could not see the truth of God's love. I could not fathom the depth of such love that would send a Son to die in my place. Surely such thoughts of a Savior were not true. Surely they had to be concocted by some religious mind to be used to keep mankind in line (if such a thing were possible). Never the less, the Amazing Grace of God was poured out on me. When I ponder such thoughts, I truly can say that once I was lost, but praise God...I am found. Found by the nail pierced presence of Jesus. I was blind...a blindness that is of the heart and not the eyes. A blindness that causes a person to look within for answers, not realizing that the solution to our spiritual state is found in a POWER  that is greater than ourselves.

We don't like the truth.
We don't like the truth especially when it comes to our character and self worth.
We will prop ourselves up with image, smoke and mirrors in an effort to project the idea that we are o.k. Grace knocks all the props out from under us, for it was Grace that saved a WRETCH like me. Yes, like the apostle Paul, I too am a wretched man in need of a saving God, and it is God's grace afforded to me that changed everything.

So here on January 1, 2016.... I will let my thoughts drift around this Amazing Grace. I will savor it in my spirit and celebrate A God so big that loved me so much. He found worth in me that I could never have seen on my own. He has found worth in you also. So as this new year begins to unfold, let it be the year of Grace. Let it be the year that we are filled with the empowering presence of God.

Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
God on all of us today...

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