In the House - Come As You Are

Matt started the night off by telling an old story of meeting his then girlfriend's family and eating dinner. They were at a table full of lots of food. His girlfriend's sister was stuffing her face with all the food she could. And right in the middle of a nice, polite conversation, the little sister just busted out the loudest burp one has ever heard!!! Everyone looks like her expecting her to say something along the lines of "excuse me", but instead she says "that felt good". She definitely felt right at home and was being herself! Just like this little sister, we want you to feel like you can be yourself when you through the doors at Vibe!

In John 6:37, we see that Jesus will never drive anyone away. So why would drive anyone away if Jesus didn't!?! All throughout the Bible, we see that there were all kinds of people that hung out with Jesus. Jesus didn't pick and choose with his friends; He accepted everyone as they were!

While Jesus accepts everyone, not everyone accepts Jesus. Jesus tells us a story in the Bible (Matthew 22:1-14) where a man put on a huge party, a celebration! He had a feast ready, but all of those he invited rejected the invitation. So he made a change of plans and sent his servants out to the streets to invite people to his party!

Can you imagine how he must of felt when they rejected him? Imagine you have a great feast like a wedding. You had tons of food. Normally, there are leftovers at parties, but what if no one even showed up! Talk about a lot of leftovers!

Are you rejecting the invitation God has given you? Is God calling you to a relationship but are you too busy? You put it off because you don't have time. Maybe you are angry at the messenger? Who are they to try to control your life?

God opened this invitation to EVERYONE! good or bad. It's for you. God is inviting you to join Him in eternal life (Romans 6:23). Jesus accepts you already, will you accept Him?

At our church, we have an open door policy. Like Jesus, we accept everyone. It doesn't matter how much money you have, where you were born, whether you've ever been to church before! What a great privilege to be a part of a church like that! But being a part doesn't mean just going to the church, you too have to accept whoever walks through the doors of the church as they are. Remember this is not just your church, it's God's church! So make sure you take some time to look at yourself and think about how you treat people inside and outside of the church. Don't be like the older brother in the parable of the lost son (Luke 15). He was angry and bitter when the lost son returned home; he couldn't even join in the celebration!

I personally want to invite you to come to church as you are! Don't fake being a Christian or say the things that you think people want to hear. Come As You Are! There is a great quote by Nash, L.L. that states as "A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints." What does that mean for you? You don't have to clean up your mess before you come to church. You'll never come at all if you wait for that. Church is where you bring the real you! It doesn't matter how bad you think the real you is. Jesus talked and hung out with all kinds of "messy" people, tax collectors (people who stole money), murderers, thiefs, "sinners". (Matthew 9:10)

While we want you to come as you are, we do not want you to stay the same! Next week, we will talk about being transformed!

~Ash

Vibe Intern

The Gospel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ12Ry-hD6I


If you didn't quite understand what was going on in this video above, let me fill you in a little bit. A lady called in on 911 to report that she didn't get her cheeseburger! It's crazy to think that someone would call 911 so that for getting the wrong burger, but that's exactly what happened.


There are so many different rules and laws that we have to abide by. I'm sure you can think of your five least favorite ones right now. whether it's curfew, cleaning, school rules, etc. Rules have always existed. You can read about many laws that existed at one point of time that you may have never heard of. Some laws you may have heard because they were passed through the years. So often we think of religion as the same way, we think of the Bible as a big rule book we have to live by and religion as something passed down to us from our parents.


Matt talked about how that religion can be turned into something more meaningful, a personal relationship with Jesus. To start the night, he asked two questions:


1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how sure are you that you are going to heaven?


2. If you were standing before God at the gates of heaven and He asked you why should you go through, what would you say?


GIFT
Matt told us how his father-in-law recently offered him and his family a free car! How awesome is that!?! What would you do if you got offered a car for free? Often when we are given a gift like that, our first thoughts is like Wow! or Yay! Then immediately, we think why? Are there any strings attached? What do we have to do? We live in a culture where there are so many little, fine prints. There are always restrictions or tricks behind a great deal! That is not how God's gift is!


Romans 6:23 states that God's gift is FREE! not the kind of free that is asking for something in return! So what is this gift you might ask? God sent His Son to die for us so that we can KNOW that we are going to heaven! (Romans 5:8) Talk about love! that is true love, to give up your one and only son for someone else. That's exactly what God did for you! While God is loving, He is also just. Romans 3:23 states what we already know, that we are all sinners! We all miss God's glorious, perfect standards!


SIN
Sin actually means "to miss the mark" or "to miss the target". In fact, in archery this is the word they would yell out when the person shoots the arrow and misses the target. The target we have is God's glorious, perfect standard. So even when we are being good for the most part, we miss the target because we are not perfect! The Bible says that the wages (price) of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The only way to have everlasting life is to be perfect (we already missed the mark, that option is out) or to have someone who is perfect to substitute for us!



JESUS
This is why God sent His Son, for us! Jesus was fully man and fully God! He lived life on earth as we are doing right, except He did not sin! He lived a perfect life. Then he died on cross for us! Romans 3:25 says that we can be made right with God by believing that Jesus did sacrifice His life for us!

FAITH
The way to have a relationship with God is through faith! Faith is a lot like jumping off on the zipline. Have you ever been on the ziplines? What a experience! You climb up a ladder to a platform that is HIGH! Someone clips you onto a rope to keep you safe, but you still have to trust that the rope will hold you when you jump out into the air! Faith is taking that step off of the platform into what you hope will be a fun ride down the zipline! But faith isn't just saying you believe in something. Imagine someone going up onto that platform and saying "Yes, I believe that rope will hold me" and then climbs back down the ladder. You can say that you believe it, but until you trust in Him with your life, you won't experience that personal relationship with Him!
~Ash

New Years!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

What a great time to celebrate the blessings God gave us in the year 2009! Also, we get to look ahead to 2010 and make some goals for the new year. Those goals are what we call new year's resolutions. If you just think about it for a couple of minutes, this holiday is actually a weird holiday! It is one of very few holidays that all the countries celebrate on the same day. You can watch fireworks from all over the world, Syndey, Beijing, Paris, etc. We even get a day or two off work. So much celebration for one night/day, and after the celebration is done we start all over. A new year, a fresh start!

Matt led us through a talk about New Year's, and we looked at Leviticus 23. In this chapter, we read about the feasts of the Lord and the Sabbath. These yearly feasts were a remarkable event much like New Year's, but they were not to be observed more than what we call the Lord's day or day of rest. This Sabbath day of feasts was holy and a time meant to glorify God! How often do we think of New Year's as a time that is holy?

This new year, think some changes you would like to make in your life. Think of how you can glorify God with these changes. So as you think of what your new year's resolutions are... whether it's giving more, being more loving, or losing weight.. It can be done for the glory of God.

Acts 20:35, "And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'"

Matthew 5:43-45a, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Happy 2010, a new start!

~Ash