BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!

Hello My People,

Last night was a great night for all of those who braved the elements.  Thanks again to Sean and Austin for taking over worship last night. They did a phenomenal job didn't they?  Please continue to pray for Ian as he is recovering from the flu.  GET BETTER DUDE.  There, that oughtta do it.  

We tackled a tough topic at Vibe last night.  The take away from last night was "When grace impacts your life you share your pain, you don't hide it." We took a look at 2 Corinthians 1:3 and Romans 12:15 where pain is shown as a public thing.  You weep with those who are in turmoil and you share the comfort that you have in Christ with those who need it.  The problem is that often times, we bottle up our pain and we react to tragedy by withdrawing from the people that could help us the most.  

Sharing your pain is a tough thing though isn't it?  We have all had experiences in our life where we have shared something and it has either been abused or not received well.  So what is the trick?  How do we get past wanting to hide our pain from others?  I think a big key is to find a community of people that you trust and who are whole heartedly pursuing Christ.  

Ray Tang came last night and we both shared some hideous photos from our childhood.  Talk about painful!!  I had a mullet that wouldn't quit and Ray had some awesome "Will Ferrell" style  basketball shorts with some crazy knee high socks.  PAIN-FUL.  As I was looking for some of these photos, it reminded me of my childhood.  I saw pictures of a fishing trip I took with my grandfather (or Paw Paw).  There were Christmas times, family reunions, vacations, birthdays and graduations.  Any event you can imagine was represented.  

But as I looked through the photos it reminded me that there were a number of bad times as well.  As a kid I didn't handle pain very well.  I would party on the weekends and at other periods in my life that I  even contemplated suicide.  I had no idea how good sharing my pain with others could be.  Instead, I kept it to myself and it began to tear me up inside.

Maybe that's you right now.  Perhaps you are going through a rough patch in your life and you feel like you aren't going to pull through.  Let me encourage you to do something very difficult but extremely good: share your pain.  The Bible says that we are to "carry each other's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).  It is part of our life in Jesus to share in the good times and bad that we are going through.  Don't be a Lone Ranger, don't try to hot dog the Christian life.  Step out in faith and share your pain with someone who loves Jesus like you do.  

If you have something especially difficult that you are going through and just consulting a friend or a group of friends isn't going to do the trick, Ray has started a group at our church entitled, "Life Hurts, God Heals".  It is designed for students that have faced serious situations (suicide, abuse, death in the family) and need help getting through it.  If you are one of these people, let us know and we would love to talk to you more about it.  Have a great week!  Keep Jesus first.

Matt

 

WISDOM

Hey Vibe Tribe,

Well what is up?  Thanks for joining us last week as we continued our series entitled "Reset" where we learned that "Wisdom is easy to get but it is hard to keep."  I started the night out by screaming, along with the help of a few friends.  A couple of you in the front row had to go change right after that, I would assume because you were so excited about the night!  My point is yelling, was to show you that it is pretty hard to miss when someone is crying aloud in your presence.  Wisdom does the same thing.  It is shouting at you, through your parents, through some of us at Vibe, through some of your friends that are Christ followers but there are times when you don't listen to that great advice.  

I really think part of it is that on a regular basis we are surrounded by bad advice.  We are surrounded by people that say it is okay to have sex before you are married as long as you love the person.  It is okay to to hurt someone if they have hurt you first.  But when grace impacts your life, it should look a lot different.  So when it comes to wisdom, seek it out but know that it is relatively easy to find.  It is within reach.  All you have to do is seek it.  Open your Bible, pray, ask your parents advice and make sure that God is in your decision making process. 

Wisdom is easy to find but hard to keep.  It is only by looking for, receiving and practicing wisdom that you will be able to live a life that reflects wisdom.  Here are some thing that you can do to begin to live a wise life.

1) Run with the Right Pack

Find a group of Jesus followers and begin to live life together.  Consult them when you are making a tough decision.  Remember, it isn't always your best bud that you should consult or someone who is just going to tell you what you wanted to hear.  Sometimes it is an adult who has been there and done that.  D-groups are a great place to find those types of people.

 Proverbs 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”

 Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.”

2) Open Your Bible (read it do what it says)

The Bible says that we should "fear God".  It isn't an unhealthy fear of Him where we dread being in His presence.  It is a healthy dose of fear, mixed with a sense of awe and wrapped up in love.  Kind of like a healthy parent/child relationship where you fear your parents when you do wrong but know that they always want the best for you.  It starts there but doesn't end there.  

You should also read His love letter to you (the Bible).  It is there and full of wisdom.  In some places that wisdom has been tested over thousands of years.  It is like getting advice from a thousand year old man that has really lived life and done it well.  So, trust Jesus, do what He says and then work really hard at it.

Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.”

3) Consider the Result

Before making a decision, make sure you weigh the consequences.  Will this hurt someone?  Are my actions going to cause pain to someone unnecessarily?

Does this need to hurt someone?  Sometimes telling someone something they don't want to hear may hurt but it may need to, as long as it is done in love and said in a considerate way.

Ultimately you need to decide if Jesus would be happy with the result of the decision that you are making.  That will happen if you do the above things.  Thank you guys for coming and being a part of Vibe.  I hope to see you soon.  Have a great week!

Matt

Proverbs 1:20

“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares;”  

Hey Tribe!!!

Thanks for coming to Vibe last night.  It was a great time and it was great to see so many of you there.  We still talking about the impact of grace on our lives.  When grace impacts your life it should look drastically different.  Last night we talked about the area of integrity.  A lot of us live between two worlds when it comes to integrity.  There is one camp that thinks as long as I am obeying the words of Jesus with my actions outwardly, I am okay.  I may dread every minute of it but I am obeying Christ.  Jesus is very clear that when you do that, you are like a whitewashed tomb.  You look great on the outside, but on the inside you are DEAD MEN'S BONES!  Your spiritual life is dead because Jesus wants your heart, not just outward obedience.  

The other camp says that if I love Jesus and Jesus loves me, we have an understanding.  I can do whatever I want, and ask for forgiveness later.  That also is flawed thinking.  If you are in a relationship with someone, there are certain rules to it.  If you love that person, you will treat that person well.  God is the same.  If you truly love Him, you live a the way He wants you to.

The passage that we looked at was 1 Chronicles 28:8-10 where David told his son Solomon that he was to pursue God with a "whole heart" and "willing mind".  I think integrity requires us to pursue God with a whole heart and not a divided one.  Sure it is okay if you have other interests and have hobbies as long as God is glorified through them.  He also wants you to open your mind to His teaching.  Not to hand your brain over and not think.  God gave you your brain to think with but open it to His teaching.    

Here were the bullet points for practicing your integrity:

1. Don't Hide Your Sin - Confess it to God and someone you trust.

2. Don't Rename Your Sin - God searches your heart and mind.  He knows what's in it.  Call sin, "SIN".

3. Follow What is Right - The Bible is full of commands.  Read it!  Then follow them.

4. Forgive Yourself - If you confess your sin.  God forgives it (1 John 1:9).  If God forgives you, who are you not to forgive yourself.

Have a great week guys!  I look forward to seeing you next week.  Peace.

Matt 

Howdy Tribe!

It is great to be back from Christmas break!  I really missed you guys and it was great to see everybody last night.  Judging from your energy level last night, you were pretty pumped to be there as well.  So...how are you doing on those New Year's resolutions?  Yep, mine needs a little work too.  Though if losing a little weight was one of mine, my stomach virus didn't hurt that goal!!!  Okay, enough about my disgusting problems.

Our new series kicked off last night and I am really excited about it.  The title is "Reset".  The idea is that sometimes our lives get so messed up, we wish there was a reset button to push so we could start fresh.  This time of year it is real easy to think about how we are doing in life because of the whole "New Year's resolution" idea.  It forces us to look at how we've been doing and reevaluate our lives and think about what we need to do differently.  The great news is that Jesus is the ultimate reset button.  Of course He is much more than that but because of the cross and because of forgiveness, we can start our lives with a clean slate all over again.  This is called "grace".  Grace is unmerited favor or simply put, God loves you because He has decided to love you.  Not because you are a great person but because He is great.  

Last night we took a look at Ephesians 6:1-3 and talked about what it means to “Honor your father and mother”.  When grace impacts your life it means your relationship with your parents should be changed as well.  Last night I said that the act of honoring, is not "lip service or empty obedience".  So if your parents tell you to be in at 10:00pm and you walk through the door at 10:00pm and then sneak out your window and hang out with friends, you didn't obey the "spirit" of what your parents actually wanted, which was to be safe and out of harms way.  On the flip side if you do something without being asked just for the purpose of letting your parents know that you appreciate them, that is honoring because it reveals your heart's condition.

So here's the CHALLENGE for this week - DO SOMETHING TO HONOR YOUR PARENTS.   Do it without being asked and do it without wanting something in return.  Like I said last night, it will totally freak them out!  They'll be thinking that you've done something wrong or want something when all you are trying to do is honor them.  Try it, you'll see I'm right.  Okay peeps, have a great week and let God's grace impact your life.

Matt 

Junior High Pastor

Chase Oaks Church