RE-CAPTURING CHRISTMAS

RECAPTURING CHRISTMAS - A VERTIGO COMMUNITY MISSION
Christ tends to get overlooked at Christmas. Let’s be honest. December comes and you think, “OK, this is the year.” This is the year you will make the most with family. Help the needy. Zero in on what it really means to be a Christ follower during this holy season. We’ll together we can make this the year we actually do that. Our goal this season is to:

WORSHIP MORE - SPEND LESS TO GIVE MORE - LOVE ALL

The Mission: Vertigo Youth Group is adopting two local families that without our help Christmas will not happen. We are also raising money to help build a well in Africa. We will be partnering with blood water mission [www.bloodwatermission.org] to help bring clean drinking water to African villiages where people die daily because of water borne diseases.

The Plan: We are asking that each student voluntarily asks their parents to receive one present less this season and use that money to buy the local family a present (the amount the student wants to give up is up to them - we suggest shopping for the family together). We are also asking each student to come up with at least $10 to donate to blood water mission. Starting next week there will be a place to drop off the presents. Last collection will be Dec 19th. Next week we will have a detailed wish list from the families. We hope you will participate in this mission.


How can we a youth community worship Jesus more, spend less, and love all this christmas season?

Every student needs to raise at least $10 to give to blood water mission for clean wells in africa. You can dig up change around the house - do more chores - work a couple more hours - give up a movie etc.

What actions can we take to reclaim Jesus in christmas in our own lives, our spending, and the world?

The idea "re-capturing Christmas" was inspired by Advent Conspiracy. Advent Conspiracy was formed by a few churches to re-think and re-shape how Christ followers celebrate Christmas. The idea is to spend less, give more relationally, and worship more. We are doing a piggy back off this idea and tweaking it for Vertigo. Visit www.adventconspiracy.com for more details.

JOHN 15 - THE VINE

The passage in the Bible we are going to center around is in John 15. What is really interesting about this passage is it falls right after the famous last supper and right before Jesus crucifixion. What Jesus tells his disciples in John 15 you know is of great importance because it is one of the last times he talks to them before his death.

Let’s start by reading through John 15

What is the Good Life?
I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (John 15:1-2)
Greek Word: Airo - To lift up, to prune
Jesus uses the ancient image and well-known metaphor of the vine to teach his followers about life with God. In the vineyard, the Father decides which branches bear fruit and which are capable of bearing more. The word airo literally means to lift up. The vines of ancient vineyards ran along the ground and not on modern trellises. It was the farmer's job to come along and gently lift the branch out of the dirt so that grapes wouldn't rot.
How does this image affect your understanding of the role of God as the Vine Dresser?
In what ways do we "cut off" when perhaps we should be "lifting up?"

LIFE IS ON THE VINE ONLY
By Ourselves What Do We Have - We try to do a lot on our own - in fact many around us that’s all they have ever done. But the only way to true life is in God. To stay connected to him like the branches are connected to God. The life source - if the branches detach from the vine they will die.

The deal is God wants us to have a full life - like it says in John 15 God wants each of us to bear fruit and if god is the vinedresser then a vinedresser wants to get the most out of each branch that he possibly can.

FULL LIFE
In John 10:10 Jesus says that he came to give us life and life to the full

God offers the best for each and every one of us. But we often settle - we often do our own thing - and what we fail to realize is that life is in God alone.

What I have come to find out is that it is a trust issue. One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is do i believe that God has what is best for me. Do you?

If you question God’s goodness and that life in him is not the best than you are going to do your own thing. Let’s explore what life on our own vs. life that God intends looks like.

Life on own leads to greed, selfishness, pride, etc. and those all lead to addictions, hurt, pain, brokeness. Just look at the world - you don’t have to look to far to see that it’s hurt, broken, life on it’s own isn’t working.

So if God brings life - he can’t help it that’s what he does - that’s who he is. And we our nature brings nothing good on it’s own then by our actions our choices we either choose to bring life into our lives or the opposite.

Many of us who are christians those who follow Jesus. Have got caught in an invisible net we are just moping through life try to be “good” and we have no connection with God. We don’t connect with the life source regularly and when we don’t we become like the vine that is overgrown and the sun can’t shine in.

Our lives get filled with little things that turn into bigger things. Or maybe we haven’t dealt with the feelings that our inside of us and they now control us. GOD IS SCREAMING AT US HE IS PURSUING US saying I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO OFFER.

How many of you want your life to count for something. You want to make a difference you want to make a mark. Of course all of us do. The only way to do so is to be connected to God.

PRUNING
The stuff that has to go because it is choking you to death and nothing good is coming - no fruit is growing. A vine left alone to do it's own thing will kill itself, make the wrong choices. Cutting away what can appear to be good to untrained eye. Things in our life that can keep us from bearing the most fruit possible - things that waste our time and energy. What are those things in your life?

TRAINING THE BRANCHES
The Vinedresser (GOD) goes through the vineyard daily and knows what the vine needs. He is training the vine in a very specific way so that the vine can produce the most fruit possible.

LAYERS - HEART #4
This month we have been talking about the heart and the importance of getting our heart in order. From the heart all life flows. Jesus came to show the heart of God in everything. We started off with fake plants, cleaning cups, last week with fruit, and tonight we are going to talk about layers - specifically onion layers.

I know many of you aren’t doctors but tonight you get to pretend that you are. I am going to give you a list of symptoms and you have to tell me what sickness these symptoms describe.
Here are some symptoms - your goal is to guess what symptoms go with what sickness.
symptoms :: fever, shivering, chills, malaise, dry cough, loss of appetite, and body aches. = YOU MAY HAVE THE FLU
Symptoms : : the stuffy nose, sore throat, and cough = YOU HAVE A COMMON COLD
Symptoms : : Aching, tiredness, headache, fever, sore throat, itchy skin rash, blisters =Chix Pox

If you have more than one symptom you know that there is something else going on. You start linking them together and discover you have a cold, fever, flue etc. We go to the doctor and try and fix the root problem that is causing the symptoms. The symptoms are bad but the root of the symptoms is the disease which causes the symptoms - find the root and you solve the symptoms. If we don't treat the root cause the symptoms never go away.

Things in our life our the same way we can look at our lives and see symptoms but few of us actually ever look and try and link the symptoms to the root cause. See there is nothing that shows up on the outside of our life that cannot be tied to what is going on in the inside of our lives.
If we have pride in our hearts it’s going to show up on the outside in many different symptoms. Anything that shows up on the outside is a direct tie to something that is happening on the inside.

Our lives are like onions. You know what I mean?
Well what i mean is - our lives have many layers as well. If everything on the outside points to something going on in the inside then we have to peel away the layers to see what the root of all the symptoms is - what is causing us to do _______.
Let’s deconstruct our onions - our lives. See on the outside an onion has a little smell to it but it looks whole - together. When we get into it we see that there are layers, lots of layers. The stink comes out.
If our lives are like onions then let’s take a life and look at it and see if we can get to the root of what’s going on.
The guy sitting in traffic just full of rage that he is going to be late - and he is honking his horn yelling. That’s the top layer. The next layer is he is so busy - he is always running around and he feels like his plate is full and it is. Why does he continue to say yes to things? Is he trying to win people’s approval? Insecurity? The symptom is he has road rage the core issue is he isn’t yelling it’s much deeper.
What are your symptoms? Have you ever tried and linked the symptoms together to see what the root issue is? Anger, Bitterness, Lust, Control, Un-Forgiveness, etc. What are the big circumstances that have happened in your life that could cause symptoms? Divorce, Parent leaving, Friendship broken, etc. Have you dealt with those? Have you healed from those? Anger, bitterness whatever it is doesn't go away on it's own it only gets bigger and worse. Treat the root, find the root, peel back the layers - before the symptoms take over.

Give Yourself Away!

Everyone check out these websites! www.bloodwatermission.com, www.adventconspiracy.org/water/, www.fermiproject.com/act/rwanda/downloads.asp - How can we a community of faith join in with giving ourselves away to something bigger than us to make our God the God of love real around the world. Could we start with something as simple as clean water.

According to the World Water Council, 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water; 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation. 1.8 million People die every year from diarrheal diseases and 3,900 children die every day from water born diseases.

It is truly a declaration to the world that Jesus cares and that is why He came and created the church to act on His behalf. How you go about spending the money for clean water is up to how God leads you.

Last night we watched the video of the young student who started a program called loose change to loosen chains. There is an estimated 10+ billion in loose change in the U.S. What if we the Vertigo Student Community collected loose change to build wells for clean drinking water? What if we could raise enough to build more than just 1 well but several. If we all pitched in and collected change and then gave $1 a week we could do some real damage. If we all gave $1 a week that would be around $200 a month and $2,400 a year. If we collect loose change on top of that who knows what we could do. A well is around $3,000 and gives water to thousands for a lifetime of clean water supply. Together we can do huge things.

Book of John Study #3

John 4 Is a packed full passage with several different things weaved in it. Jesus was a master story teller - (called parables). In the interaction with the woman at well Jesus takes physical things and communicates spiritual truths. Jesus teaches us how to have spiritual conversations in every day language with everyday people. The thing that is challenging me in this passage with the woman at the well is how do I communicate the story of what God is doing and what he has done without using Christianese (christian sub culture terms that only church people know and use). Are you engaging people in spiritual converations? When was the last time we shared what God was teaching us with someone else?

+ The story - [backgroung] Samaritans were people that were half Jew and have Assyrian? When the Assyrians conquered the jews some of the Jews intermarried and created the Samaritans. Jews were not supposed to talk to the Samaritans because they were looked down on. So Jesus by religious standards was not supposed to talk to a samaritan, let alone a women. Who are the Samaritans that you are "not suppossed" to talk to because they are looked as unclean people? Be honest about this - are there people that you wouldn't be caught talking to because of what others might think, or what others think about them. Why wouldn't you talk to those people? What's going on there? How do you talk about others that dress different, look different, live a different way? How can we learn from Jesus here?

Jesus does something beautiful here talking about water but really talking about life. He is offering this woman a different way to live. Not living in a way that will only continue to leave her empty. You see this woman had been through 5 marriages and was living with someone else. Jesus, instead of condemning her offers her hope in the midst of a life that is filled with pain and plenty of emptiness.

Jesus is offering this women a different way to live. A way that won't leave her broken, empty, continuing the cycle that she is in. Jesus offers life. He always does - as a teenager i always thought that God's ways were limiting me. I thought if i follow God i am going to miss out. Do you ever feel that way?

At the core of who you are do you believe God wants what is best for you?
When we answer this question we start trusting that God's ways don't hinder or limit us but actually free us. God wants us to be free. It was for freedom that Jesus came.

John 4:39-42 - Many samaritans heard the message of Jesus through the woman and believed. God did something amazing in this woman's life and she told everyone - I think she didn't have to use many words because her life spoke a lot of the change to people. The news of who God is and What he has done spread through this woman.

Reread John 4 - What is God communicating to you in this passage? Just be still with the passage - think about it - ask God to teach you - to change you. Are you living in the life that Jesus offers.

VERTIGO FALL RETREAT
NOV 17 -18
"LIFE ON THE VINE"

You can still register for the retreat. I want everyone to be there. Retreats are the best way to grow our group together. For the low price of $35. If you need to come late we can arrange that. You can download retreat registration forms off the website www.churchattuscaloosa.com/vertigo it is under the upcoming events. Turn the registration and money into Eric to reserve your spot. This will be a weekend you will never forget. If you had other plans cancel them. See you there.

Heart Check Week #2 - From the inside out

Matthew 23:25-26 You clean the outside of the cup and the dish but inside they are full of greed and self - indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish and then the outside also will be clean.

--- They had these rituals in which they would clean the dishes they ate with and wash their hands - Jesus was saying - you are more concerned with the outside appearance the part that doesn’t matter but the inside is filthy. If your hearts are right then your life’s actions will become right.

Mark 7:1-8

We work so hard to make sure the outside looks good. In our culture think about that - Surgeries to change our physical appearance, the clothes we wear, the car we drive, the house we live in.

Even the things we do we want others to be impressed by how we play a game, how many friends we have. We want others to take notice of us. We want to be famous we want others to be about us.

Celebrities have all of this don’t they. But what do we know about celebrities? They are just as screwed up as the people that don’t have the looks, the cars, the houses, the fame. The outside stuff didn’t change the inside did it? They still feel alone, broken, self concious, The inside is all messed up but the outside sure does look good doesn’t it.

Our desire must shift - our hearts must shift. If we live for those things the inside of us won’t change.

If our inside changes than the outside will change. If we are content with what we have then we won’t need to buy more. If we are comfortable in our own skin we won’t need to starve ourselves. If we realize that fame comes and goes we will be more about pointing people to God who never fades.

Are you content? Do you always find yourself wanting more?

I wonder if we got real honest and took a look on the inside of our lives how many of us would say - it’s really messy in there. I am more concerned about the outside of my life and the inside - i hate myself, i have bitterness towards others, i don’t think i am valuable, i am about fame/popularity at any expense.

The thing is on our own we can’t clean the inside of the cup by ourselves. Only God can do that. Because there are layers and layers of crud in here. For us i think God is asking each one of us.

Are you going to surrender your life to me and let me help you clean the inside of your life?

Are you going to continue living as if it is all alright on the outside when the inside is dying?

Book Of John Study #2

Many of us would read John 2 and see that Jesus turned water into wine and be clueless of what was really going on here.
+ In that time Wedding celebrations would usually last a week and many guests would be invited. There had to be careful planning about food, drink etc. If the party ran out of food/drink it was a huge embarrassment to the couple and family. Jesus was responding to a heartfelt need here.

+ In this story I started thinking about what it looks like for a lot of people to wait to life hits empty to look to God. God still delivers the best but why wait to the end or when it gets bad. Following Jesus is the best possible life. But we tend only to come to God when things are at whits end or the end of life on Earth. What does it look like for us to come close to God throughout our lives and trust him in every part?

+ The temple clearing - here we see Jesus' and what righteous anger looks like. He isn't angry for selfish reasons, or for no purpose but rather he sees injustice happening and he is furious at that.
---The story behind the story---
The temple is packed - and people have come from all over to make their sacrifices. Jesus isn't upset that people are buying and selling but what they were doing. See the vendors and money exchangers were charging incredibly high rates to make a huge profit because they knew the people would have to do it. They would turn away their animals and make them buy their higher priced animals.

v19 Jesus says tear down this temple and I will restore it in 3 days. What Jesus is referring to is himself. He references himself as the temple. This is really a huge deal. The pharisees thought he was talking about the physical building. Jesus was making reference to himself being crucified and resurrected 3 days later.
+ Jesus as the new temple system. This passage also refers to the fact that Jesus was saying the temple system as they know it was broken. Jesus is going to be the way to God not sacrificing at the temple. Jesus was attacking head on their system and obviously these men who made a good living off of the temple didn't want to see it go. They wanted to kill him for things like that.

+ Later in Matthew 21:12-22 (read it) Jesus clears the temple again. After he does this they walk by a fig tree. The fig tree had leaves on it meaning that it was supposed to have fruit but it didn't. I think this is direct reference to the temple and the pharisees. It is supposed to offer life but only has crumbs. The outside looked good but the inside there was nothing.

What are your thoughts?

Online Study Week # 1 - John Chapter 1

JOHN CHAPTER 1
John chapter 1 is packed full - this chapter sets up who Jesus is, his role, and the beginning of his investment in his disciples along with the background on John the Baptist.

The first couple verses are so powerful - vs1 "In the beginning...(before anything, where there was nothing, God created everything from nothing. Everything we see God spoke into existence - his words are powerful. He spoke into nothing and everything was created. The oceans, the sun, the stars, everything. Our God is powerful, huge, creative, and that God came to Earth in human form - Jesus).

Vs 1-5 are talking about Jesus - he was with God, and he is God. He was there in the very beginning when all was created.

Vs 5 "light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it."
Let's look at light for a second - What does light do? If there is a glimpse of light in the darkest of rooms it shows through. Light exposes things, it brings things into visibility. The light of the world (Jesus) came down into a broken world to show, expose, and bring into visibility the best way to live. Jesus shows us how to respond, how to live, how to be.

Vs 6 Welcome John the Baptist to the story. John's role was to prepare people for Jesus. He testifies to the light (Jesus). His whole life purpose is to point people to God. This is to be our whole life purpose as well. He is a witness to the light v8 - In court what does a witness do?

V14 This verse points out that God became flesh. God in the flesh. No one up to this point had ever seen God but now God came to the Earth in flesh. Now if we want to know what God is like, what he is passionate about, what he cares about, how he reacts- we look to Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh showing us what God is like. He is the visible image of the invisible God.

v14 Grace and Truth - a little phrase that has a lot in it - full of forgiveness, second chances, redemption, healing but does that in the context of telling the truth about things, not backing down from conflict, and revealing what is really going on. How do we live full of grace and yet still have truth there with it.

v15 -29 talk a lot of baptism. I have come to see baptism a lot like a wedding ceremony. Where you publicly announce that you are committing to the person. You are saying to everyone I belong to them. Baptism also has a lot of symbolism in the fact that you go under the water signifying dying with christ and when you come out of the water signifying new life in Christ. Baptism is a beautiful thing and if you are ready to make that commitment publicly to Christ we have a baptism ceremony coming up in Nov.

v39 The disciples start there journey with Jesus. It's interesting how it all begins - Jesus just says "come and see." No matter who you are or your background - Jesus says - come - be a part of what I'm doing. Start living with me.

v43 Jesus changes Simon's name. We tend to just read over things like that - but let's take a deeper look. Names were a big deal back then - they had meaning they carried symbolism. Jesus changes his name - it would be like me saying your name is now _______ and then rolling with it. He gave Simon a new identity.

v44 to the end of the chapter has this story with Jesus and this guy named Nathanael. When we read it we notice that Jesus was seeing to the heart of Nathanael. Pointing out that he is the real deal through and through not just on the outside. Jesus can look to the core of who we are and where are and speak into the center of us.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PASSAGE?

ONLINE STUDY

Welcome to our online study of the book of John. Over the next couple of weeks I want you to take part in a community experience. On Tues and Thursday of every week leading up to the Fall Retreat (where we will be interacting with John 15 "the vine"). I will post my thoughts, ideas, and reflections on the chapter. I want you to be reading, thinking, reflecting, and sharing with us. To leave your comments click the post and then click add comment. To make this a great success we have to commit to this, to read, to reflect, and to post. This will be a great way to encounter the text and learn with each other and from each other.
Week # 1 = Thursday John 1 Week # 2 = Tuesday John 3 - Thursday John 4
Week # 3 = Tuesday John 6 - Thursday John 9 Week # 4 = Tuesday John 10 - Thursday 12
Week # 5 = Tuesday John 13 - Thursday John 14
FALL RETREAT NOV 17 - 18

Last night at Vertigo we kicked off a new series "the heart of life." I used the visual of a fake plant to bring home the message that we can look like the real deal on the outside but on the inside we can be far from it. I desire to be a Christian in my heart as well as on the outside. Here are some notes from last night:

+We physically live from our hearts. If your heart stops you stop. The heart is central to our physical life.
The heart (the center of us) is also the core of spiritual living.

+PROVERBS 4:23 - heart is the wellspring of life

+Life decisions and actions flow from the heart.

FAKE PLANTS
no matter how much you water it it won’t come to life it isn’t the real deal

Have you ever seen something that is a knockoff? A copy? Fake rolex, polo shirt, designer purse etc.

Looks like the real deal but isn’t

We can try to be a christian on the outside but what about the condition of your heart?

I want to be a christian not just in actions but in my heart as well

Have you ever tried to do the right thing to love, be patient etc. but you just can’t do it for very long?

Jesus said serve with your right hand so that your left doesn’t know what the other hand is doing. How is that possible? Tell me how?

You don't think about breathing ( i hope ) it comes naturally - to serve without knowing it our heart, our being must be that of a servant then we naturally do it.

psalm 119:9-10
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.

Are you keeping the word close to you? Putting it to practice?

BELLA THE MOVIE

Verses We've Been Discussing

Over the last month we have been looking at several different verses - in each of them there are layers of depth and tons to unpack. Here they are:

ACTS 17:24-28 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need...though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. ...And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

GALATIONS 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

JOHN 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

INTERACT : : :
Last week at vertigo we took some time to read each of these verse and let them read us. We looked for phrases and words that seemed to jump out at us. This practice is called Lectio Divina [divine word]. It is a way for us to be still with the text, to pause and slowly read it so it can read us. Go ahead and take a couple minutes to read these verses again, then do it once more, what jumps out at you? Write a comment to this blog about the phrases or words that spoke to you. What about them jumped out and what does it mean to you? Have you tried reading these verses 2 times a day? How did that go? Try and commit these verses to memory so you can carry them with you where ever you go.

ERIC'S THOUGHTS : : :
I keep coming back to Acts 17. These verses have been been living with me the last week or so. Phrases like 'God is not far from each one of us' 'he doesn't live in man-made temples' 'in him we live and move and have our being' God is not only always around me (which i need to be aware of him more) but my life, identity is him. In him i live and move and find my being my very life. I want to further explore what that means to find my life, my actions, my identity in God. And live with the awareness that he is everywhere.

Journey Together

Hello Vertigo,
I am excited to start this online journey together where we can start learning, sharing, and experiencing what it means to become a community that follows Jesus. I want this blog to be a place where we can interact - be honest - share thoughts - and grow together. To post all you have to do is signup for an account or become a member of this blog. Feel free to share what God is teaching, life experiences, what your reading, or just something random.

In It Together,
ERIC