I WENT TO A MEETING

"RARELY HAVE WE SEEN ANYONE FAIL WHO HAS THOROUGLY FOLLOWED OUR PATH."

Matthew 11:28 - "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Went to a meeting last night. Felt the urge for sometime to  do so, but seems as though things kept getting in the way. But not last night. 
Room was full... Lot of back and forth conversation as guy's settled in.  Some faces I recognized, some were new to me. 

The topic for the meeting was communication. Not something that men are really good at. For better or worse, most men have little to say. Throw in an addiction on top of this character trait and you've got yourself a real problem. We have a tendency to keep things to ourselves.

With the topic given, each man in the room was asked to share. Some struggled to find words. Some wrestled with trying to stay on topic. But in the end, everyone shared. Might not seem like much to some, but this was a huge thing.

The person who chaired the meeting was good at hearing what each one said, and then encouraging them to keep on in this new journey of recovery. Addiction has a way of turning a person into someone who looks within all the time. In other words, as a friend of mine once told me, "We are only as sick as our secrets." We shut down in the communication part. We are focused on "self' and put up a wall to keep others out. 

It was good to sit in that circle and hear the stories as well as share my own. I told of how if one man had not communicated with me, I never would have been tied to recovery. But that is another story for another day.

As I drove home from the meeting, I felt a little more connected to what God had originally called me to. Serve and minister to those who are in recovery. He also showed me that I needed to keep the message simple. Don't complicate it or try to over explain what Scripture says. This was a loving reminder from God that I needed to keep the main thing, the main thing. 

It was a good evening.

Thanks for letting me share....

God on you...

mbb

WHO IS JESUS TO ME?

 

Matthew 16:15 (Jesus Talking)
"But who do you (yourselves) say that I am?"

Is that the million dollar question or what? If Jesus showed up at your house today.....or maybe in your school....or at your workplace and asked that same question, what would your answer be?
Would you try to formulate an answer that sounded religious and gave you the appearance of living a life that you know you haven't been doing?
Would you stutter for an answer, "Hemming and Umming" your way through a very uncomfortable time?

TO me this very question posed by Jesus, "Who do you say I am?" is the heart of my relationship with Him. Every day I have to verbally answer that question as well as say it with my life. Some days, if Jesus were grading me, I might get an "A"....other days I'm not so sure that He wouldn't give me an "Incomplete" and start me over. Now you need to understand something. I am not putting forth that we are a people of works or that somehow our deeds earn us favor with Jesus. At the moment of your salvation, you have all the favor of God. Can't get any more. It's like trying to be more save-der than you currently are.

If I am living my life for His glory, then my actions and more importantly, my attitude, will reflect the answer of who Jesus is to me. This is what Vineyard Recovery Fellowship is all about. We come together to celebrate who Jesus is to us, and to realize that there is so much more that we need to learn and experience. As we worship and get into His word, we will see that "The unfolding and entrance of Your words give light. Their unfolding gives understanding (discernment and comprehension) to the simple. What simple? Me simple. That's who!

We want to couple our spiritual wisdom that we receive from the teaching of His word, with the spiritual experience we have each week as we run into Jesus in our daily lives. To share what He has done to us and through us. It may be that someone who comes on Saturday night has a story of how God healed a member of their family, or how He answered a prayer. We want to celebrate, and sharpen each other with our stories, the goodness of God, the love of Jesus and the presence of His Holy Spirit who lives in us. 

I guess the best answer to the Jesus question, "Who do you say I am?" would be to simply reply...."Look at my life. Do you see yourself, Lord? Do you see yourself in me as I work, sleep, eat, share, pray and give away?" IF so, then Jesus truly is Lord of my life.
Think on these things...I know that I am.
God on you....
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P.S.--- I just threw in the video of Larry Norman because this is how some people would answer the whole "Who do you say I am?" question.

I AM MAKING GOOD TIME------I THINK

 

Human footsteps...
Headed somewhere....
Coming from somewhere.....
Movement....
Leaving one place....
Moving to another.
This other place isn't always a good place to be...
Or a good place to live.
Footsteps....

We are all headed to a destination, that being eternity. Even as I sit here in my home, and the word "eternity" comes on my screen, I still can't comprehend what it means. I have an understanding of eternity. I can measure it by scenarios......If a sparrow dipped it's beak in the Atlantic ocean and took a drink, holding the water in its mouth, and then flew across America to empty his beak full of water into the Pacific ocean.......and if that same sparrow did this until the Atlantic Ocean was empty....that would be but a moment in eternity. See what I mean?

So if I'm headed to a transition, so to speak, from this side of eternity, to the other side....wouldn't what I do here affect what happens afterwards? I think so.
This is where the religion's of the world divide into many paths.
I believe there is only one path that leads to a better life after I die. That path being Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 reads: Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Life is about choices.
Choices that I make as I take the footsteps to this journey.
If you are familiar with the blog then you know I'm all about the 12 steps.
They offer a new direction for a life that has been overwhelmed by the destruction of addiction.
They offer life....
They offer a chance to change the direction of our footsteps, thereby changing the destination of our eternity.
I don't want to make the steps out to be some kind of mystical-hoo-doo...they aren't.
But given the nature of what they say, the steps can and will take you to Jesus.
As a friend of mine use to tell me...."Mikey....you can do the 12 steps and not hit your head on the cross."
You know what?
I believe it.
That is the reason I get up every day. Jesus is real and I want my footsteps to be toward Him.
That is the reason I teach the word of God every day.
I want others to be awakened to the fact that their footsteps and subsequent destiny, does not have to be toward an eternity of separation from Jesus.

I had a good friend ask me years ago, after I had shared with him about this new found relationship I had with Jesus....."Michael...what are you going to do, if when you die you discover that all that you believed was a hoax? What are you going to do if when you die, that's it. Nothing happens afterwards. No heaven, no hell, nothing?" My reply was this....
"Well, if there is nothing...then I'm o.k. with that. I've a had a good life. I've been married to a wonderful woman....got a great family. God has allowed me to have the desire of my heart which was to make music. He has allowed me to play with some incredible musicians and to have some good, close friends. If it is all a hoax....then I've had a great life."
Then I asked my friend, "What are you going to do, if when you die you discover that it WAS real? That this Jesus is who He claims he is, and that there is a heaven and a hell.....a God and a devil...and that all the people who had spoken into your life were sent by God to get your attention?"
My friend had no reply.

So where are your footsteps taking you today?
To an eternity of life....
Or an eternity of separation?
God provided us with a wonderful road map....
It's call the Bible.
He also has given us a GPS to guide us....
He is called the Holy Spirit.
I trust that you find Him today....

God on you.....
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THE POWER OF A PAST NOT DEALT WITH

 

Three things we have to face everyday....
Our past....
Today....
Tomorrow....
Unless we have a change of heart, that can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit, We will keep repeating the same mistakes, even if we don't want to.
How can I say that?
Because unless we deal with our past....take our Step #4 inventories....we will always be governed by shame and guilt. These two toxic emotions are the very thing that holds us in the grip of our addiction. We allow the past to define us. We allow our past to color and tint everything that happens today. And when today is filled with failure and "what's the use!" then there isn't any future. We don't want to look at tomorrow because we know how it will turn out.

The apostle Paul kind of nailed all this "past / present / future" thing when he wrote Philippians. He begins in Chapter 3, verse 12 addressing the need for taking care of today.
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected (His behavior or performance) but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."

Paul has a healthy inventory of himself. He admits that He has not reach the pinnacle or summit of life yet. He knows that his actions and behavior are still a work in progress, because his heart is being transformed daily as he allows the Holy Spirit to change his heart, his nature, and his character. How can Paul have such a view with the past he carried around?  Easy. We find out his secret in Verse 13.
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind (past) and reaching forward to those things which are already...."
Think about Paul's past....
He was a hot-shot in the Jewish Temple circles. He was a Pharisee...big time enforcer of the rule-keeping bunch. Paul had a mad-on for anyone connected with Jesus, so he went about locking up people in jail for following Jesus' teaching. He had people killed. Families were destroyed because of Paul, and now here he is following Jesus himself. Do you think maybe Paul had nightmares about the people he had killed? Do you think the devil and his bunch used Paul's past to derail his efforts to tell of what Jesus had done to him?

When we read in this Philippians passage that Paul "Forgot About His Past", what he is really saying is, "I have dealt with my past!" Paul confessed, repented and received forgiveness for what he'd done. It was no longer a point of contention in his life. Paul was just crazy enough to believe that if you confess your sins.....then God is faithful and just to forgive you....and as a bonus, cleanse you from all (an what falls under "all"?") your unrighteousness. Paul was no longer moving forward trapped in the prison of his past.

Then in verse 14 Paul sets his sights on his future. We read "I press toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul is saying, "There will be obstacles and days when the effort to move forward will be hard, but I am pressing on...I am moving forward....I have a goal to reach....I want to run the race before me and be able to stand before Jesus upon my death...and hear Him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."

That Paul was pretty slick, was he not?
So, bottom line, don't let your past define who you are today.
Don't let your today keep you from who God desires you to be tomorrow.
Think on this...

God on you...
mbb

Sunday Morning "MIKE-BITE"

Another Mike-Bite: "Seeing Life In A New Way"

HOW IT WORKS? OR HOW IT WORKS!

How it works

RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided that you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought that we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power - that One is God. May you find him now.
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power (Jesus) greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

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

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we were willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.

(c) That God could and would if He were sought.

Such a simple plan....
Surrender will and life.
Whether you are an alcoholic or drug user...
Whether you've never taken a drink or used a drug...
We are all in recovery...
We are suffering from a disease that our world does not want to acknowledge or believe in...One that entered through a bad choice that awakened within us a nature that leads us to live outside the will and love of God.
Sin/sickness...
We have a nature or bent to act outside of the will of God.
We have a bent to seek out independence from God.
This bent has sent us down the path of destruction that has been manifested in a million different ways in our lives.
Broken relationships...
Bad choices...
Legal issues...
And on and on and on..
Funny part in all of this, there are some who seemingly lead the perfect life. Yet they too suffer from a sin nature.
Walking around thinking all is right, they carry a judgement upon themselves that can only be removed by God.
Yet this same God, who we think as being mean, cold, vindictive, is the very presence who loves us beyond our comprehension and has no desire to see anyone be eternally separated from Him and His promises.

What manner of love is this that burns in the heart of our creator, that He would continue to seek the very ones who blaspheme His name. Those who curse Him and deny His existence. What kind of love? Perfect, pure love.

Think on these things today....
God on you....
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TRUTH: WHAT A CONCEPT

 Title for today's posting comes from a Procol Harum song....The Truth Won't Fade Away."

I think it's more evident than ever.
The truth uncovers.
It reveals.
The absolute truth of God, the standard by which all of humanity is measured stands as strong today as ever before.
The truth of God knows no denomination.
You don't own and possess the truth of God....
The truth of God owns you and possess you.
It isn't something you bandy about like a badge or medal.
It is the course set for all who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior over their lives.
We follow the truth of God.

Jesus spoke out and told those around Him, "Hey! I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.
God the Father is the direction or "way" that we want to travel toward.
God the Son is the reality of life here in fallen world.
The world system which is governed by Satan, is corrupt and seeks to create and keep people from the truth. So he, the devil, throws out all sorts of baubles and bangles and shiny trinkets that draw our attention away from the truth. The truth of who the devil really is and the truth of who God really is.
God the Holy Spirit brings life to us. Not life as this world dictates and offers, for that is not life at all but merely existence. The Holy Spirit of God comes in power.....power that breaks the back of sin. Power that looses the tongue to proclaim the glory of God. Power that points my feet in the direction God has chosen for me to walk.

No matter dark spiritually this world may become, the truth will stand like a light because the truth won't fade away.
No matter how many voices seek to drown out the truth with intellectual babble, one voice will rise above the din because the truth won't fade away.
I leave you with this truth found in Colossians 1:12
"Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light....who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son."

God on you.........
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