What I Learned In Church 12/11/11

What I Learned In Church 12/11/11

Let me start by thanking God for forgiving me for making my obstacles bigger than Him. Thank God for Your undying Love.

            This past Sunday I was at Triangular. I grew up there, as well as in other churches. I am just now though learning and understanding the philosophy of this particular church, just as I am coming into a fuller understanding of the Love of Jesus.

            Before we begin, let me share a few thoughts and announcements:

• Another day older but more so infinitely more mature.
• The Question of the Day was designed to show how we sometimes make man into idols and put men before God. I forgot, though, to ban preacher men from answering the question. (Thanks George!)
• Have you tried Jesus? Seriously!
  We have truly tried everything. All that IS left is choosing Jesus.
  That doesn't mean voting for a Crazy conservative next November. That means choosing Love now and letting that light shine everyday until November and beyond. This country and this world need and deserve your Love now and forever. Start with your self and watch it spread through your family to the world. Keep building. Keep growing. Never, not for one second, stop Loving. Choose Jesus from now on!
• We are Love so look for US everywhere.
• Keep on being a bright light; don't be a dim light.
  
  

And now the Word:

So, by his own words, Eddie Long's church is in jeopardy. Where Is The Healing? The healing is going on now. The people are leaving because they are supposed to. Revenues are down because they are supposed to be down. Eddie Long ("My church is in jeopardy") It is. But not The Church. Brick and mortar is in jeopardy all over because we've been choosing buildings and not God. God is clearing out the rift raft so we can choose Him and not idols. 

Healing is taking away obstructions between you and God. Obstructions are not just obvious sins like adultery or homosexuality or lying. Obstructions are making yourself, your life, your church and your problems bigger than the Real Church.

God is working with New Birth. In Matthew Chapter 9 Jesus first forgave the palsied man his sins so he could be healed. Then he told the man to rise and take his bed and go home. I’m sure Eddie Long asked for and was given forgiveness long ago. He and New Birth are still being healed. This is a specific process.

Healing is a process specifically for the individual. If you have someone to forgive, there is a healing process just for you. Remember the 7/70 plan (Matthew 18:20-22 - forgive him seven times seventy) It's not about being able to feel good It's about being able to do better. To Love better!

Attacking Eddie Long won't fix the problem. And forgiveness is not giving him a pass. Forgiveness is seeking and waiting till we find healing for Eddie Long and the church AND his accusers. The Church WILL get better. That may or may not
Include New Birth but The Church will be better.

"Pick[ing] up your bed" is taking dominion over your life. That bed was that mans life. Control that which has been controlling you. If it’s drugs, sex, lying, eating, did I say sex? Don’t play with it or let it play with you. No matter what it is, remember the Bible has a happy ending. Seek forgiveness and allow God to heal you. It’s a process. Go through it. God wins in the end. Despite how it looks now, God is working towards the best. Get on His team.

It’s funny. As soon as I heard Reverend Greg say Eddie Long. I said to myself – Awwwww man! More of that bull! But God uses everyone to shine his light. As we look to New Birth and pray for healing for that church, we should see God working in our lives to heal us as well. We should remember to remain patient and long suffering as we go through all that we must to be healed.

We’ll end with a special prayer for my Brother's Brother. Thank God for his healing hands.

What I Gave Up For Lent

When I was in New Orleans, I wasn't a practicing Catholic. So, while I knew every year when Ash Wednesday (The beginning of Lent and the day after Mardis Gras) was, I wasn't into participating in Lent. Now that I am a practicing and participating Catholic, I always forget when Ash Wednesday is coming and don't remember to sacrifice anything until a week after Lent begins. That leaves me trying to figure out what I haven't done for a week so I can continue to sacrifice it for the rest of Lent. It's hard. I even did it this year. But then Father John said it plain - "There's only one thing we need to give up for Lent-....


-Sin."
Sin brings about distance from God. What are the things that separate us from the glory of God? Let me give you a hint…It’s not cheesecake. Hell, it’s not cigarettes, alcohol (Maybe sometimes), it’s not soaps, gambling, gossiping, eating out or buying
purses. It IS lying, cheating, stealing, killing, sleeping with the wrong
people, and any other sin we do over and over without accepting responsibility
for. And then who do we blame, we blame God for not answering our prayers. We
blame God when we give up trivial things for Lent and still don’t feel the
blessings God has for us.

"It's not God's fault."....
Take responsibility for your own actions. Stop sinning. Stop naked-dicking everyone
and anything and thinking it’s OK because you gave up Ice Cream for Lent. Take
a look at our role in the existence of evil in our world. You know your
favorite drinking partner ain’t shit, yet you continue to talk to them about who
you are dating. You keep hanging in the hood and getting arrested. Stop
hanging! Quit hanging with losers and wondering why you keep losing. ....
Repent. Repent from everything. Repent for loserdom. Repent from niggardom. Repent from naked-dicking. Repent from everything you know you do to yourself to make your
life miserable.....

To make simple and easy for you, try not being an asshole for  forty straight days.

Then get ready for the blessings.....


BTW If any of the words are foreign, I implore you to dig through my blog. I have full encyclopedic entries on many of the words you may have trouble with.