Good Start To The Week

Matthew 28:20
........and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the (very) close and consummation of the age. Amen (let it be).

Words of Jesus....
A promise, if you will, of His commitment to those who choose to follow Him.
He was there last night while you slept.
He is there this morning when you woke up.
He will follow you, as you follow Him, through out this day.

More than a presence standing silent in the back ground, this Jesus will speak to your heart and guide you through this day.
Guess what? If you got up sober this morning (something that you found hard to do in your old life), then you got up ahead of the curve. You got up with a wonderful present in grasp. You are sober. Now, all you have to do is maintain this gift until bedtime tonight. Will there be struggles during the day? You bet'cha. You might ever run into some problems or even situations where you don't have any answers to the solution. But Jesus is there for you. He is the stability that will help you not run back to the old ways. He is the firm foundation that will tell you to stand and weather the storm that rages around you, and in your emotions. After all, He did promise to be with you, did He not?

II Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself (or seek out) strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him.
We have lived far to long with an appetite for the things of this world. Things that never satisfy, but only leave us empty and dark craving for more. We get caught up in a viscous cycle that unless checked will take us to destruction. 
There is nothing you will face today that you cannot overcome, move through, or go over with Jesus' help.
Think on these things....

God on you...
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Henry The Duck And Bonhoeffer's View Of The Kingdom Call

Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Thought I would give you an update on "HENRY" the Rapha Duck.
On Thursday night, we thought he might have a broken leg. He struggled to walk and could not put any weight on his right leg. He would move with a kind stumble-jump-fall gate to his step. If you followed the post, you read where the last thing I did before leaving was to pray over Henry.

Well, low and behold when I got to the camp on Friday, Henry was loose in the day room, running around like it was nobodies business. No sign of a broke leg, showing no pain as he walked. Did God really answer a prayer for a duck? I think maybe He did. He's kind of like that you know.....
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Excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's
"The Cost of Discipleship"

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They are the "Poor". They have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earth society to claim their absolute allegiance. Nay more, they have no spiritual power, experience of knowledge to afford them consolation or security.

For His sake they have lost all. In following Him they lost even their own selves, and everything that could make them rich. Now they are poor-----so inexperienced, so stupid, that they have no other hope but Him who called them. Jesus knows all about the others too, the representatives and preachers of the national religion, who enjoy greatness and renown, whose feet are firmly planted on the earth, who are deeply rooted in the culture and piety of the people and moulded by the spirit of the age. Yet it is not they, but the disciples who are called blessed---theirs is the kingdom of heaven

The kingdom dawns on them, the little band who for the sake of Jesus live a life of absolute renunciation and poverty. And in that very poverty they are heirs of the kingdom. They have their treasure in secret, they find it on the cross, and they have the promise that they will one day visibly enjoy the glory of the kingdom, which in principal is already realized in the utter poverty of the cross.

My Thoughts

Sometimes when you read passages like Bonhoeffer wrote it makes you uncomfortable. I think the uneasiness comes from the simple fact that we know we have read truth. But it is a truth that runs counter to what the church teaches. Church has become a commodity that is dispensed every Sunday morning to consumers. Our signs proclaim..."Come and be blessed".....very seldom, if ever, do we proclaim..."Come and die". I don't think that would draw much of a crowd. Am I anti-blessing? Of course not. But the blessing that are given from the hand of God are not intended to satisfy your flesh. If anything, they are to set you ablaze for to see the Kingdom extended. To see people healed and restores. TO see souls saved and added to the Kingdom. 

Salvation is free..

It is a gift from God to all who would believe.

A gift to all who would receive.

But the life we are called to lead costs us. I think the church has done a terrible disservice to God and to those who fill the chairs and pews, proclaiming a message of come and be forgiven. Come and receive Christ and you won't have to change anything in your life. Oh, we may not actually say those words, but that is the subtle message that is being sent out. A cross-less Christ who hands out forgiveness like chocolates to children.

If you go into the main hall at Gadsden Vineyard Church, there is a painting hanging on the wall. It is the motto of the Moravian's. They were a community of displaced believers who were cast out of their own country because of their faith. They eventually settled on the estate of a German Nobleman named Count Von Zinzindorf. They established a settlement there they called Hernhut. Their motto reads........To Win For The Lamb The Rewards Of His Suffering. That became the zeal and passion of this people who truly lost everything. That their very lives were to be spent on Christ. To be about the Kingdom Business. Each member sought out God for direction in how this passion was to be directed. 

The motto of Vineyard Recovery Church is Following In His Steps.We chose this because of our focus on helping those in addiction, as well as those who are beginning this new journey in recovery. WE are believers who adhere and believe in the Twelve Steps as a discipline and a set of boundaries for recovery. Jesus is the Higher Power, we make no apologies for that. How can you read Step # 3 and see that we are to turn will and life over to His care,and then simply decide I will do what I want to do? Yo can't. When we state that we are living by Following In His Steps, we mean it. Just like the disciples we are poor in Spirit. But also like the disciples, we have inherited the Kingdom Rule of heaven in our life.

I guess this is another reason I enjoy watching God work among those in addiction. By the time we encounter someone, they pretty much have lost everything, or at least are painfully aware that if change doesn't happen, they will loose everything. They are hungry to know that this God is real. They are ready to change. That is why Saturday night's are so important to me and to the core leadership of VRC. It is a door way to a new way of living. Not the meeting, mind you........but the introduction of God into the dark heart and life of someone who is in bondage to drugs and alcohol.

God on you...

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The Holy Door Knob

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten Door Knob, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to, relies on the Door Knob shall not perish or come to destruction but have eternal everlasting life.

Did I read that right?
Door knob?
Well, some would have you believe that in following the twelve steps, you get to pick your higher power. If you can't find anything or anyone to call your higher power, then use a door knob or a coffee cup until you do. 

In the beginning of A.A. there was no question as to the identify of who the Higher Power was...It was God. Bill Wilson was changed by an encounter with God. Given up as hopeless drunk, Bill found sobriety as he cried out to God and simply gave up. There in his hospital room, Bill was suddenly bathed in a warmth and presence that forever changed him. He no longer had the desire to drink.

Next year will be the 80th anniversary of A.A. and like I said, things have changed. In an effort to appease some, the focus has been watered down. Before I go any farther, I would like to point out that from the very beginning, A.A. has never been nor will it be a religious organization. It was never intended to be a place where deep theology is discussed, or doctrine practiced. It was, and continues to be a fellowship of people who have found a common purpose....to pursue a state of sobriety that had escaped them in the past.  The only qualification to be a member of A.A. is a desire to stop drinking/ using. But make no mistake...the Higher Power mentioned in the big book IS God.

This past week, for me, has been a celebration of what God has done in the lives of a number of people who have escaped the bondage of addiction.
Got a call from a person who is chasing after Jesus. Been out there for a while and grew tired of the struggle. Monday, he got a call for a job interview. Good job with benefits. He went for the interview and now is employed. He is doing all the little things necessary to keep his sobriety. 

Another person called, filled with gratitude for the meeting they are attending. God has surrounded this individual with good people who are like minded in their pursuit of Jesus. They have gotten a taste of what real life is all about, and they want more. This man has found the truth of the twelve steps. You get to keep your sobriety when you give it away to others.

Calls about family being brought together and united for the first time in a long time. Calls to simply thank me (like I had anything to do with it) for showing them the way out . Last but certainly not least happened last night.

One of the men at Rapha found a baby duck that had been abandoned. I mean this little fellow had just hatched. He was injured and without some sort of intervention, would wind up a meal for some other animal. This duck, who has been christened "HENRY", was fixed up in a box with grass, straw, some water and food,  But the new keeper of the duck was concerned that it would die. He kept coming back to check on it. He would pick it up and hold it, talking to it in an effort to quiet it. I was getting ready to leave last night when the new owner and the duck, along with several others showed up. "Brother Mike, we don't know what to do, so we thought we'd ask you to pray for Henry." I explained to them that God is concerned with all His creation and even knows when a sparrow falls to earth. So there in that room, we gathered around that box and we prayed for Henry. This may seem like a silly thing to some, but to these men it was a big deal. The realized that they were powerless to help Henry and needed a power greater than themselves that could bring healing. Sounds kind of like the twelve steps, doesn't it? I think maybe what we had there in this encounter with an abandoned baby duck and a group of me in treatment, was a little show-and-tell from God about the state of their own lives. 
So, if you would....
Throw up a prayer for Henry.

God on you..
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It's A Mercy Day

Psalm 136:1
O Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy and loving kindness endure forever.

Having an attitude of gratitude.
Being grateful this morning.
The verse above states that the Lord "IS" good.
Not the Lord was good....
Or that the Lord will be good...
His goodness is right now, right here.
It's here on Greene Street, in Attalla, Alabama...
At 4:34 a.m on November 6, 2014.
And He is good wherever you are reading this posting.
He is good no matter what day you might be reading this posting.

His goodness is there in spite of what you may think, or be going through.
Sometimes the pain of life and the darkness of our own heart keeps us from not only seeing, but experiencing the goodness of God.
Rest assured ....He is there.

No matter what state your heart may be in....
Sin or saved....
He is there.
In sin, He seeks to draw us into a new way of living.
Through confession or our sin, brokenness of heart, and a looking to Him to truly be that Higher POWER we've read about and heard about.

In salvation, He seeks to guide us and show us the better way.
Show us that He is more than a Higher POWER.
He is Savior.......
He is Counselor...
He is our Friend...
A Friend like no other.
A Friend who does not change, but becomes the one constant and stable force in  world that lives for change.

The verse states that "His mercy" endures forever.
Endures....
That it has stood, and will continue to do so, the test of time.
This attribute of God has been assailed by countless tyrants and unbelievers who have tried to destroy Him.
He has been accused of being a wrathful and vengeful God. Treating humanity like chaff or some kind of cosmic play toy.
Such accusations come from hearts that truly do not know this God.

Mercy...
What is mercy?
Mercy is God giving me something I don't deserve.
What is it I don't deserve?
Relationship with Him.
He did so by sending His own Son to die in my place as a payment for my sins.

Mercy is God withholding something from me I do deserve.
What is it that  I do deserve?
Hell....
Born a sinner....
Born with a bent to want to run my life free and clear of God and any intrusion by Him into my life.
Sin nature that flies the flag of independence from God.
And by doing so, seals my eternal fate.
Such arrogance and stubbornness cloud the mind and dull the heart to God's voice.
Yet, in mercy, He continues to love me.
In mercy, He continues to call to me to repent and turn to Him.

His mercy was there every time you took that drink...
Smoke that joint....
Used that needle....
Snorted that line....
Swallowed that pill....
He was right there loving you...calling to you....sometimes even sparing your very life, when the devil tried to take it.
That's my God....
Full of mercy and loving kindness....
Do you know Him?

God on you...
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You Can't Do Recovery Without Bumping Your Head On The Cross

Luke 9:23
And He said to all,"If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself (disown himself / forget / lose sight of himself and his own interest / refuse and give up himself) and take up his cross daily and follow me (Cleave steadfastly to Me / conform wholly to My example in living, and if need be, in dying also).

Recovery from addiction is more than the absence of drugs and alcohol.
Recovery is more than the absence of any mood altering chemical.
If that was all recovery was about then there wouldn't be any problems.
I would take you into a treatment program.....
lock you in a room.....
shove food and water under the door....
keep you there for 49 days, and then release you.
I guarantee you'd be free from the presence of your D.O.C in your system.
But the odds are that you'd go right back into that old lifestyle.
Why?
Because the problem isn't the drugs or alcohol.
The problem is you.

Recovery is the mending of a broken relationship.
We are born with a bent to do the wrong thing, to make the bad choice.
This bent manifests in different ways.
Not everyone who is born turns out to be an addict, but they still possess this bent none the less.
We born separated from God.
Oh, He is constantly reaching out to us, but because of this bent in our nature, we run from Him.
Sometime in the midst of running, we turn to other things for comfort, or to help us deal with our problems.
This is where everything goes south for someone with an addictive personality.

No one ever starts out to be an addict.
It is a progressive trail that takes the individual in a downward spiral toward destruction.
Addiction is really a lifestyle of compromise.
You will compromise family and friends for a feeling.
You will compromise your morals and values for a high.
You will compromise your freedom for the next hit.
And so on, and so on, and so on till you find yourself hitting rock bottom.
Sometimes you'd think that hitting bottom would bring a person to the senses to the fact of what has happened to their life. In some cases, when an addict hits rock bottom, they grab a shovel and dig a little more.
Sad but true.

So what is the answer for those who find themselves in this state?
If you check out the big book of A.A., you'll find a section titled "There Is A Solution". Isn't that a strange way to title a chapter? To be bold enough to state that for anyone in addiction there is a solution to the problem they are facing. So what is the magic bullet for this epidemic?
"A Vital Spiritual Experience".
There I said it, or rather I quoted it from the book.
The recognition that you don't have a drug or alcohol problem. 
You've got an identity crisis.
You have forgotten who you are.
And you have forgotten whose you are.
The greater need to break free from addiction is found in the love and forgiveness offered to you by Christ Jesus.
Of, and just for the record....
I'm not talking about church-Jesus...
Or denomination-Jesus....
Or religious-Jesus.
I'm talking about the real-deal Savior of all mankind.

Real recovery begins at the cross of Christ.
An acknowledgement of being powerless.
An acknowledgement of a life that has become unmanageable.
You have looked within and found no answers to your problem.
Now you have looked outward and found, in Christ, a POWER greater than yourself. Someone who could speak a Genesis week into your life and bring order out of the chaos.
Finding such a POWER you turn will and life over to His care. That is the very heart and basis for the verse at the beginning of this post. 
Jesus throws out an invitation to anyone who would desire to follow Him.
You loose the old ways....
You embrace a new way.....
You find new life in this relationship with Him.
Life that has escaped you in the past.
Why not reach out to Him today...
What do you have to loose?
Only....
Guilt...
Shame....
Fear....
Hopelessness....
and the list goes on and on...

God on you..
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The Harvest

Matthew 9:36-37
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples,"The harvest truly is plentiful (ripe / ready) but the laborers are few. 

The harvest is ready and waiting....
But those needed to bring the harvest in are few in number.
The fields are standing, waiting for the feel of a sickle...the touch of a hand.
But those needed to bring the harvest in are few in number.

The harvest is ready....
but the laborers are sharpening their implements.

The harvest is ready....
but tomorrow sounds like a better day to start.

The fields are ripe....
but those called to labor for the harvest are too busy taking care of other things.

The fields are standing full and tall with a harvest....
but the laborers are under the assumption that someone else who knows more about farming and harvesting should actually be taking the lead in this one.

The grain is ready to be brought into the storehouse....
but the laborers are too concerned with their own needs....
"Bless me! Bless me!"
They don't understand the blessing that comes from participating in a harvest.
The workers had rather gather and talk about harvesting.
Share their great plans for the next harvest.
Or better yet...
They gather and talk about how they don't see much of a harvest.
They can't see the truth of what God has said in this verse.
It's kind of like a man complaining about the darkness, while he has a flash light in his hand.

Harvest season lasts for only a time.....
The fields are ripe because they have been tended to. The call is for laborers to come and bring the harvest in. God, Himself, has been at work. We don't truly get it, do we? That God is always stirring and working in the hearts of people all around us.

From our point of view, the fields look empty.
The fields look barren.
There isn't any harvest.
We look and what we see is a field of briar's and thorn's. 
Fields of sage brush. We don't see them filled with the lives of those God wishes to redeem.
But when you look at the same filed with God's eye's, you see golden wheat...
golden wheat standing tall, yearning to be harvested and brought into His storehouse.
Oh God........give me vision to see as you do.
Give me vision to see the harvest that needs to be brought in.
More than that....
Let me make my way into the field and begin to harvest.

God on you..
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Off To A Good Start

Ephesians 2:19-22
Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Last night was very special to me.
I got to witness a birth.
I was there for the conception....
I watched as it was in the womb....
And now I have seen the birth.
"What?" you may ask.
The birth of a recovery meeting that has been in the works for months.

Seth Barber and the Catalyst Church held their first recovery meeting last night. 
Of course everyone will ask if it was successful. How can you measure such? How do you measure success of a church meeting. In America success would be measured on the number of people who showed up. Or the amount of money that was taken up as an offering. Well, in this case, I think you'd have to measure it by whether God's presence was in the room. You'd have to measure it by were there people who were touched by His Spirit. Did they come forward for prayer and ministry. Was there a feeling of intimacy in the room. Was the message relevant to someone in addiction, or just starting the journey to recovery. If those are any benchmarks to measure a meeting by, then you'd have to say that Catalyst Recovery was a success.

I saw many familiar faces there last night, working and greeting the folks who came in. Faces of people who have been redeemed and set free from addiction, now giving back to others in need. There was much laughter in the room. You want hear laughter in the lives of those trapped in the darkness. But last night laughter was the main course. Laughter with a generous helping of love to cover it all.

I loved the improvisation and spontaneous actions when "Chip" time rolled around. Usually in a recovery meeting, colored plastic chips are given out for the different levels of sobriety that has been achieved. Blue, red, green, white, black, yellow...well, the chips had not arrived in time so Elmo improvised. He passed out white napkins, saying, "Come up here and get you a white flag of surrender to your addiction."  The front filled with individuals taking a napkin and going to the altar to pray. That was cool times ten. 

Seth's message was spot on.
The introduction of sin into humanity (Genesis 3) and the downward spiral it has taken us on.
Once again, people responding to the message by coming down to pray and be prayed for.
Standing there, taking it all in, I couldn't help but wonder who, in this room, would be the next one to give birth to another meeting. God is like that you know. He reaches down into humanity and draws out those that no one else would pick. He draws them out and fills them with His Spirit and His kingdom plans. 
I should know...
He picked me.

God on you...
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