Across the Bridge
  • Mission
  • Blog
  • DONATE
  • NEWS
  • Ministry Plans
  • Partners
  • Current Meetings
  • About
  • Mission
  • Blog
  • DONATE
  • NEWS
  • Ministry Plans
  • Partners
  • Current Meetings
  • About

ATB blog

Notorious to Glorious

6/18/2013

2 Comments

 
Last night’s celebration of Step By Step night was a joyful and glorious pleasure. We had a crowd of about 60 folks that was not only enthusiastic, but able to enjoy a whole lot of home cooking and filled with encouragement from many different kinds of people, more like a church should always be. From the original poem by Leo, to Brother Freddie’s booming prayer, to Bridget’s remarks, to the amazing skit performed by Will and his wife called “Tomorrow”, to the ebullient and glowing Willie Mae who has become quite the chip giver, we had a blast!

You couldn’t tell that in those rooms were a whole bunch of “notorious sinners”.  I love the Life Recovery Bible translation of the day Jesus called Matthew, it goes like this in Matthew 9:

As Jesus was going down the road, he saw Matthew sitting at his tax collection booth…..this could be equated to our modern day of Jesus passing by a drug dealer, in practicality they were both thugs. “Come be my disciple”, Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Yes, a thug became a disciple, and a really good one at that. Notorious to Glorious!

That night, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. Can you imagine what the table setting looked like that night and what the conversation was? Maybe one of the notorious sinners  posed this question to Jesus……So we have heard of your miracles, we have seen other men do magic, what makes you different?

Don’t know his exact response but he certainly wasn’t pointing fingers like the Pharisees. His words were more than likely glorifying his father, not condemning  the guests. The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher eat with such scum” they asked the disciples. It is exactly that “church” attitude that helped start AA, when the notorious sinners couldn’t find refuge from their sins in a church setting.

But, last night Campus  and ATB welcomed with open arms, people who were seeking to find their God in a place where they were accepted. All of us broke bread together, shared our talents and went home wanting to do it again. Sound familiar (Acts 2)? All we did was follow the example of our leader who said “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, sick people do”. So, he made a house call, so did we.

And then the Lord added a line that I will never forget, which propels my passion to lead ATB and be in the midst of as many notorious sinners as I can find. How Glorious! Then he added, “For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”

Here is what I have learned to be true about our God, the more notorious you are when you come to him, the more notoriety he wants to give you. Sort of Notorious to glorious!

Glenn

*Step By Step is a halfway house in Lawrenceville for addiction recovery. Click here to learn more.

2 Comments
Anita link
6/18/2013 04:17:32 pm

Love the new site and how it flows; very user friendly, and informative, as usual. Thanks so much for continuing to share!

Reply
Collin Atnip
6/19/2013 02:08:23 am

I pray that everyone could realize how "notorious" they are and how God will accept and love them no matter what.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Glenn Yankowski

    Glenn is an ex-Marine Viet Nam vet who is also a recovering alcoholic, clean and sober for 30 years. He has been involved in start up and ongoing recovery ministry at North Atlanta Church and Campus for the last two decades. He has a passion for outreach and to spread the message that the answer to lasting and fulfilling recovery from addiction is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. He and the ATB team are available to assist in your questions or needs on an individual basis and will do so maintaining complete confidentiality. You may e-mail him at sgtski@bellsouth.net.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly