Desperation

Luke 15:16-17
......And no one gave him anything. But when he had come to his senses.....

It's the prodigal son.....
It's the leper who meets Jesus coming down from the mountain....
It's a man name Jairus whose daughter lies at the point of death....
It's an unnamed woman suffering with an issue of blood....
It's a blind beggar named sitting outside of the city of Jericho who refuses to be quiet as Jesus is passing by.

All of these had one thing in common.
They were desperate for their condition to change.
They were without any answers and knew that something had to happen if they were to go on living.
There is a common behavior that runs through an connects each one of these stories together.
Jesus is surrounded by a multitude of people.
In my study, I found that whenever the word "multitude" is used, it stands for multiple thousands. So we know that at least 2,000 people were around Jesus. Two thousand people who each had a story, and maybe even a need that Jesus could take care of.
But.................
It was the ones who were truly desperate that were healed.
It was the ones who refused to be quiet, but rather approached Jesus and recognized Him as the only source of healing possible for their lives.
They were not content to sit back and watch, hoping something would happen.
They were desperate.

Desperation will make you do some strange things.
Make you act in ways you thought you never would ,when it comes to change and being healed.
Desperation will make you pray...."Jesus! Either heal me or kill me, but something has got to change. I can't stand this any longer."
Healing came to the ones who were desperate.
Healing came to the ones who could no longer stand their current state of life.

This same heart-set ( I refuse to use the term "mind-set") is what it takes to break free from the bondage of addiction. If you haven't become desperate in your heart to be free once and for all time, you will not make it. The Big Book of A.A. states in the section How It works---
"Remember that we deal with alcohol (and drug use)--cunning, baffling, and 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 avail us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked for His care with complete abandon.

Desperation deals in the here and now.
It doesn't look to the future. When you desperate, you're not sure that you even have a future if something doesn't happen today.
It doesn't look to the past. In fact, the past (all your behavior and bad choices) is the fuel that has stoked this desperation into a roaring fire in your spirit. 

Desperation contains hope when set in the right direction.
When the target of your desperation is Jesus, then there is hope.
When the target of your desperation is Jesus, then there is healing.
It is the heart-set that will transfer you and change you into a new way of living, when you give will and life over to the care of Jesus.

Thanks for letting me share this morning.
God on you...
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The Deep Waters

Luke 5:4
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter). Put out into the deep (Water) and lower your nets for a haul.

Deep water....
Those unknown places that elude our understanding and certainty.
Deep water......
Those situations and circumstances that seem to have no solution. They create fear inside of us and cause us to hesitate because we don't know what is out there.
Deep water....
The very place where Jesus calls us to follow Him.
Staying the shallows is a place where we believe we will be safe.
A place where I am in control and I can make the decisions that I feel is best for me.
Well,  how has that been working, staying in those shallow places? Not to good.
Deep Water.....
The place where blessings exist.
Why?
Because blessings are a by product of obedience. We are blessed when we obey.
We are blessed by God when we go out into the Deep Water.
The funny part in all of this. God will never call us to the deep water places and abandon us. He will go with us. Just as Jesus went with Peter when he was told to launch out if you want a blessing.

Journeying out to the deep water requires faith. You remember faith don't you?
Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified)
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses). 
Faith isn't something you produce for yourself. It isn't something that is manufactured by human will or intellect. It is a gift given by God to each person. Scripture says that we all have a "measure of faith". What you do with your measure determines the growth of your faith. Faith reveals the truth to us in our spirit, that God is who He really claims to be....and will really do what He has promised He would do.

Faith is called to be exercised.........used........loosed to act. It isn't something that is hidden or kept under wraps. II Corinthians 5:7 tells us that we walk by faith. Faith isn't blind either. Faith has vision and that vision lets you see God in your circumstances. The men who brought their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed did so in faith. Faith to the point that they tore the roof off of a home so they could lower their friend down to where Jesus could heal him. Scripture tells that "SEEING" their faith, Jesus healed the man. Seeing their faith! Faith has to have legs...it has to be put into motion.....Just as Peter found out when Jesus told him to launch out into the deep waters.

Don't stand on the shore today and let the blessings of God pass you by.
Don't be so fearful that you will not follow Him into the future (Deep waters).
Make that decision to turn will and life over to His care.

God on you...
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Went To The Filling Station Last Night

Isaiah 55:1
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters...
And you, who have no money, come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and mild. Without money and without price.

Yesterday was one of those days where I was running on empty.
The week had been full, and now it was time to prepare for last night's meeting at Vineyard Recovery Church. 
Cd's to burn....
Chairs to move....
Stage to set up.....
Preparation for a baptism....
Coffee to make....
A former client calls and wants to know if I have time to meet with him since he is in Gadsden.
"Of course I do."
It was good catching up and hearing what all has transpired since he left Rapha.
Needless to say, by the time 5:30 rolled around, I was empty.
Not in a physical sense, but in the emptiness that comes from giving away all week.
I needed to be filled.
I needed my plate piled high with goodies.
God never fails.

Seth spoke last night and, as always, hits the nail on the head.
I have watched this young man grow over the past 11 years. I have watched as the Spirit of God took this former addict and changed him into a fire brand for His Kingdom.
Seth burns to help others in addiction.
He won't enable, and he speaks the truth. Sometimes the hard truth that no one wants to hear, but truth none the less.
He spoke on the "Promises of God" and how they are for everyone who will turn loose and turn will and life over to the care of God.
Isaiah 54:17 reads: No weapon forged against you will prevail (Succeed or prosper), and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is the vindication from Me.

As an example of "Giving Up!", Seth told a story of a white water rafting trip he took some years back. Winding up in an extremely rough patch of water, Seth's raft overturned and it threw him into a whirlpool. He kept being pulled under by the suction of the water, and was failing and fighting to break free from the current. The guide had explained before their trip started that if anyone found themselves in that situation the best thing to do was not fight it but let it pull you down. Once under the water, it would shoot you out into a place where you could surface. Seth said that his mind kept telling him to fight and swim, struggle and fight. He said this went on until he had no strength left. He gave up and let the current take him under. Sure enough, he was spun out of the pull of the whirlpool and surfaced in a safer place. Seth said that this was the same way addiction/ sin did us. We found ourselves in the middle of this spiritual whirlpool that was sucking us down to our death. It isn't until we give up, that we are able to break free of the pull and certain death that await us. 

As I sat there listening and following along in my Bible, I suddenly realized that I was no longer tired or empty. Hanging out with those who came to VRC.......spending time in worship....having the Word taught....all had combined to fill me up. I guess the dessert came when we got to do a baptism. One of the young men who had been coming to VRC had been saved, and it was on his heart to be baptized. Always a special time for me. It was a good night.
I think I'll do it again next Saturday....

God on you...
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The Real Deal

"I have loved you with an everlasting love."
Bold words that should bring us great comfort.
Love....
We need it as much as we need air.
Air to keep us alive.....
Love to keep us alive.
Without love, we shrivel up and die.
But not love as this world defines it.
Not love as our society claims we need.
Their track record is not to good.
Beatles sang, "All You Need Is Love"...and then they broke up.
The need to be loved is born into every heart.
Poet's write about it...
Songwriters sing about it...
People talk about it...
But what they crave falls short of what God wants to give.
The love that He pours out on us is pure and has not been defiled by this world. The love He pours out destroys the works of the devil in our lives. The love He pours out breaks the bonds and chains of addiction and sin that have held us in captivity. His love is power.

Why do we need love? Because love affirms us. Love tells us that we have worth to someone else, even when we can't see it for ourselves.
So when God tells us that He loves us with an ever lasting love, He sees us as having an eternal worth that stretches far beyond this side of heaven.
I keep saying it....
I know it to be true, but some how I keep drifting away from it....
But I probably should spend more time and effort asking God to show me how to love others. You know, and I know, that it is easy to love the people who you deem lovable. It's that other group...you know the ones...the knuckleheads and the ones who get on your last nerve.....Those are the ones I need help learning how to love. God showed me that they weren't the problem. I was. In fact, He told me that I needed to remember that to someone else, I was one of those unlovable knuckleheads. "Really? Me? Surely You jest, Lord." He wasn't. OUCH!

"I have loved you with an ever lasting love. Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you."  The Holy Spirit uses this eternal love to woo us into relationship with God. We have a tendency to see ourselves in a bad way..."I'm a terrible person...look at what I have done....How could God love me." Well, He does. Do you think God doesn't know all our secrets? Even those that we may have forgotten are not beyond His reach, and in spite of everything, He still loves us. In spite of everything, He still wants to have a relationship with us. How could you not receive such a wonderful gift?

Our main focus at Vineyard Recovery Church, is to learn now to love God and be loved by Him. Such is the power of the cross. Such is the power of the gospel, or good news, of Jesus. Love is a powerful force to break down walls of doubt and fear. Love is the Master's Plow that breaks up the hard ground of our hearts. 

Today....
Let down the walls you have constructed around your heart.
Walls that were built because you had been hurt when you loved someone else.
Find out the truth for yourself about this ever lasting love...
God on you....
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Unmoveable

Seems as though pain and sorrow are winning.....
Where are you Jesus?
Cancer takes another one.....
Where are you Jesus?
Car wrecks lay hold of bodies and twist them beyond recognition....
Where are you Jesus?
Disease steals years away from our loved ones....
Where are you Jesus?
Addiction flows in the veins of our sons and daughters....
Where are you Jesus?

Unless you stop and listen...
I mean really listen....
Not with your ears, but with your hearts...
You will miss His voice.
"I've been here all along," is what He will say.
"But there is so much death and destruction."
"You have to look beyond..."

I want neat packaged answers when I ask "Why?"
I want to be able to understand.
What I know to be truth is that me, a finite being, could never understand HIM, the Infinite God."
I choose to lean on the words written in the book of Job ----
Job 13:15 -  Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him........
So life truly becomes a celebration of the little things we experience.
It also has those moments of great pain and sorrow. 
Those times when our situations and circumstances seem so monumental that we will never get beyond them. When I turn To Christ in such times, He lovingly leads me through the darkness. 
He understands....
He's the Rock that will not be moved.
Life is change.
Jesus is stability.
Life is emotional highs and lows...
Jesus is stability.
Life isn't fair....
Jesus is that anchor that keeps me from going over the edge.
He's the Rock that will not be moved.
Praise God for this!

God on you....
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Anatomy Of A Salvation

Acts 2:37
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Good group last night....
Larger than normal.....
The message?
Wasn't anything spectacular or would cause you to think that it was one of the best you'd ever heard.
I spoke on the serenity prayer.
There are times, if you teach/preach enough that you are aware of when God's Spirit is working behind what you are saying. Call it a feeling....an unction....a sense that something is happening. The words come easy and you just know that this is one of those moments where everything seems to be coming together. You are also very much aware that you are the least likely part in this cosmic divine encounter. You are merely a conduit....a voice that is being used by God at this time.  You grateful to be used, but you do so with no false sense of your own  self worth in this equation. God is the one working and moving on the hearts of those present. His Holy Spirit is the convictor and Power present to awaken hearts long dead under the weight of sin. Inside I was praying that someone would meet Jesus maybe for the first time ever. Someone would be saved. After all, that is why we teach and preach, share our story isn't it? For the chance to introduce Jesus. 

As the message progressed, I tried to keep everything in perspective. 
"God, your in charge, not me. This is Your meeting. You've called the ones here in the room to be here tonight. I believe that you did so because someone is going to come needing you."
I've never been very good with what some refer to as "altar calls". I spent far too many years where there were pleas for some one to come to Jesus. I sat through times where we were threatened with Jesus..."You could leave here tonight and be killed in a wreck." I remember one night in particular where we sang "Just As I Am" 12 times (all the verses). 
So invitations have not been some thing I'm good at. To me, it is a time to simply say..."Why don't you come and let's pray together and see what God is doing."

As I began to talk about our need for Jesus, a young woman to my right began to fidget in here seat. Could this be the Holy Spirit at work? I didn't know. I spoke on how we've struggle with our addiction and that tonight could be the night that recovery becomes more than just a word.....it becomes a true lifestyle. The woman to my right was not bent over in her seat and you could tell that she was crying.

"What do you have to loose....except maybe your old way of life. What do you have to gain...except eternity with Jesus. You gain a new way to live here and now."
She stood up and made her way to me. A lady on the prayer team of this meeting got up to come and meet her. The woman was ready to be saved.

Her name is Alfreeda.....The years had taken a toll not only on her life, but her spirit as well.
She had been beat down by addiction and life. There was no where else to go. Hope was in short supply, but something (or rather someone) spoke straight to her heart and her situation. She was ready to change. Through a flood of tears, she said over and over and over....."Oh Jesus, please save me...What do I have to do...Please save me." And He did.
As we prayed over her, the Spirit of God settled in and you could visibly see her change. Her face, once hard and drawn into a frown, was now relaxed and her features were soften under the hand of God. Her cry for being saved turned into a chorus of "Thank you Jesus"....
With the amen, I hugged her and looked at her. A huge smile spread across her face as she hugged me back...No words spoken, but you knew that the family of God had grown by one.
Like I said...
it was a good night.

God on you....
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Eternal Promises

Exodus 6:7
.....Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God......

The words of God spoken to Moses....
A list of promises that will be fulfilled.
God has given His word and will now act on it......
Take that to the bank, if you will, after all He is God, isn't He?
Even though the words we read in Exodus 6 were directed toward a people, the Hebrews, they are as relevant today as they were when God spoke them thousands of years ago. For in them, we see the heart of God that yearns to be known by His creation, and to for them to be set free from the taskmasters of sin.

The Hebrews, in the Exodus account, have been in bondage for over 400 years. You know when you live in a lifestyle such as they did, there is a tendency to simply accept it. It's all you've known. You were born a slave....your parents were slaves...you're grand parents were slaves....it's all you've ever known. Now all of a sudden there is this flourish of divine activity and God begins to declare a coming time of freedom. Pretty heady stuff, if you ask me.

Exodus 6:6-8
V6 - Therefore say to the children of Israel, "I AM THE LORD!"
God puts His personal name at the beginning of this list of promises for freedom so there will be no confusion as to who is responsible. It is truly what we believe and teach at Vineyard Recovery Church. God has decreed freedom to those who are trapped in addiction. He makes no apology or explanation when He proclaims that He is the way out...

I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
The transference from one kingdom to another. Still relevant today. God's gift of salvation, upon acceptance by us, takes us out from under the control of sin and places under the guidance of His Holy Spirit that is given to everyone who believes. God frees us from the penalty of sin.....breaks the power of sin...and keeps us from the presence of sin. All we have to do is accept His salvation and follow His directions.

I will rescue you from their bondage.
We trade one burden for another burden. But Jesus tells us in Matthew 11, that His burdens are light and do not carry the weight of those that the devil had placed on us. We find that one of our burdens that we will carry will be a heart for those who are still out there trapped, living under the bondage of addiction.

And I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
It was those outstretched arms of Jesus on that cross that opened the door for major deliverance to be poured out on all of humanity. Because of Christ's redemption, I am a new creation of infinite worth in the eyes of my heavenly Father. Know this day that Jesus did not die for worthless people. He saw a value in you and in me that we could not see in ourselves.

V7 - I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Then you shall "KNOW" that I am the Lord your God. Know.....to experience through an incredible act of intimacy. God is waging a battle against a dictatorial power for the sole reason of His love for a people trapped in bondage. That is the same reason we see deliverance today in the lives of those who have run into this God. His desire to lay claim to that which was taken back in the garden when the man and woman gave dominion away for a piece of fruit. 

V8 - And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, And I will give it to you as a heritage. 
God doesn't give us a promised land....
He provides us with a promised life.....
Since it is God who is speaking this, we can pretty much take it to the bank as being true.

These incredible promises end the same way as they began....
I am the LORD.

That is His way of stating that what has been spoken will be fulfilled.
God is as trustworthy today as when He spoke these promises to Moses.
Think on this today....

God on you....
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