On Saturday, December 10th, 25 people met at Vineyard OP at 6:15 in the morning (what I tend to refer to as "stupid o' clock in the morning").  These people braved the dark and the cold early morning hours to go down to Hope Faith Ministries and serve the homeless men and women of downtown Kansas City.

The team cooked and served breakfast, and then bussed the tables and cleaned up for the lunch crew that was coming in.  It was a great opportunity to serve so many people.

Thank you to everyone who came and served.

Here are a few photos...

Love Mercy
Big Things In Small Packages Series
Micah 6:8
December 3 and 4, 2011

Getting Started

1. What does it mean to reflect God’s nature to the people around you? Cite some positive examples you have experienced.

2. Justice and mercy are both part of who God is. How have you seen both of these aspects of God’s personality play out in your life?

Going Deeper

3. Romans 3:23 says we have all sinned and fallen short. Why do you think it is so popular to teach an “I’m OK, you’re OK” gospel? Why would someone teach this kind of gospel?

4. God showed mercy to Ninevah (Jonah 3), Zaccheus (Luke 19) and the adulterous woman (John 8). What other examples of God showing mercy can you cite from the bible? What examples can you cite from your own life?

5. Have you ever felt tempted to believe you’re better than the people you serve? Why? What happened?

6. What does it mean to be “in the restoration business”? How does God restore people? How is God restoring you?

Proverbs 22:6

⁶ Start children off on the way they should go,

and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

There are many places that students do not enjoy going.  School may top the list with hospitals and dentist offices tied for a close second.  They hate even the idea of entering these buildings.  However, despite the quality or quantity of the child’s excuses for not wanting to go, parents make them because of the benefits of attending classes and sitting through medical appointments.

My question is why should parents treat church services any differently?   Week after week I see students who come into Verb who were not at the 8am service and it makes me sad.  As youth pastor at Vineyard I do my best to make sure that every part of Verb (worship, teaching, fellowship, group discussion…etc) is God focused and Spirit driven but I cannot match what takes place from 9am to 10:45am.  Students need to be attending the first adult service as well as Verb.

What is keeping your student from doing this?  Is it their excuses or is it your excuses?

Here are some researched results of people who went to church regularly with their parents:

• • Increased life expectancy by 8 years
  • significantly reduced use and risk from Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs
  • dramatically lower risk of suicide
  • rebounded from depression 70% faster
  • dramatically reduced risk for committing a crime
  • improved attitude at school and increased school participation
  • reduced risk for rebelliousness
  • reduced the likelihood that they would binge drink in college
  • improved odds for a "very happy" life
  • provided them with a life-long moral compass
  • provided children with a caring extended family
  • get them to wear their seatbelts more often
  • and will also statistically improve the odds that they will lead an active church life in their adults years

What more do you need to hear parents?

My uncle used to tell me that excuses are like armpits.  Everyone has them and they all stink.

What is your excuse for not getting your student or yourself to church?

With love,

Blaine Anderson

Unmerited
Hidden Things Series
Luke 18:9-14
September 10 and 11, 2011

Getting Started

1. Have you ever met someone who was confident in their own righteousness? What was it like to be around them?

2. We sometimes feel compelled to try and do things to earn approval from God. Talk about a time when you felt like you were doing something primarily to gain God’s approval. What was the experience like?

3. Have you ever known someone who was a complete reprobate, but then humbled themselves and became a follower of Jesus? Share this person’s story (if appropriate) and explain what it was like to watch the change in their life.

Going Deeper

4. What do you think it means to humble yourself before God? What does this look like?

5. If relationship with God is a gift of grace from God, then why would anyone ever do good things? If you choose to do nothing, or worse, do bad things, what happens to your relationship with God? Are you still justified before God? Why or why not?

6. Why was the Pharisee not justified? Why would God reject someone’s worship?

7. Read Amos 5:22 to get a picture of what God thinks about worship offered as ritual, but coming from a heart full of lousy motives. How do we balance faith and works in our lives? What does a life of worship look like?

Don’t Lose Heart
Hidden Things Series
Luke 18:1-8
September 3 and 4, 2011

Getting Started

1. It’s been 2000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven. He promised he’d come back. He told us not to lose heart while we wait. Have you ever been tempted to lose heart or give up? What was it like?

2. David said that having faith really isn’t all that special. Do you agree? What kinds of things do you put your faith in? Is this faith the same kind of faith you have with God? Why or why not?

3. David said the best English word to describe faith is “trust”. What does it mean to trust a friend or a family member? What does that trust look like? Is this the same kind of trust we have with God?

Going Deeper

4. Share a time when you were disappointed with the outcome of something you prayed for. How did you feel toward God? Does this idea of trust in God change the way you might react now? Why or why not?

5. David defined faith as “trusting that God is who he says he is and that we can trust him to do what he says he will do.” Who does God say he is? What promises has he made to us?

6. Is it risky to trust God? Why or why not?

7. Have your relationships here on earth taught you anything about your relationship with God? Share your stories.

This coming Sunday marks the beginning of a new era in Verb.  On that day at 10:45am 20-25 new students will come strutting (or awkwardly and anxiously baby stepping) into the youth room.   I could not be more excited!  I have been praying for that day and those students specifically for months and cannot wait to see what God does with them.

More importantly for them however is their move scholastically to high school.  I can remember my first day as a freshmen.  Going from top of the junior high food chain as an 8^th grader to being so low I could read the word “insignificant” written on the bottom of the senior’s shoes.  It was one of the few times in life when I could decide who I wanted to be.  Would I be the same complacent, lukewarm, Christian poser or would I finally embrace the faith of my father and make it my own? Fortunately it was the later.

The summer before my freshmen year at a summer camp I made the choice to actually live with my life what I professed with my mouth.   It is a decision like this that I feel is pivotal in the spiritual success of the incoming freshmen.  Taking what they say they believe in and living it out like soldiers of the faith.  Soldiers who are willing to fight, suffer, and ultimately die for their beliefs and to themselves.

So this week could potentially be one of the most important weeks of their lives.  Let’s pray that they stand firm in their faith as Satan and his army marches against them.

The Joplin School Supply Drive provided school supplies for approximately 25 middle school students in Joplin.  $625 was donated to the cause to help meet students needs.  The small group coordinating the event also secured a classroom set of graphing calculators from Texas Instruments and 10 of the requested calculators.

The supplies went down to Joplin in time for the students who are starting school next week.

Thank you to everyone who generously gave to the drive and a special thanks to the small group led by Nora Barringer for the vision and initiative to lead this outreach!

Avoiding The Biggest Mistake In The Universe
Jesus Uncensored Series
Matthew 7:21-23
July 30 and 31, 2011

Getting Started

1. Does this passage catch you off guard or do you find it scary? If so, why. If not, why not?

2. Have you come across a teaching on this passage that seemed to water it down or was different from how Matt presented it? What was the take or understanding?

Going Deeper

3. Have you ever been concerned about your salvation? Why or why not?

4. Matt talked about the “aim” of the Christian life being more important than just “doing good things”. What do you think the aim of the Christian life is?

5. Matt said the Pharisees were the most tragic figures in history because they missed the heart of God’s message. How would you describe the Pharisees?

6. Why should we try to get rid of the sin in our lives?

7. In what ways do you think we might have valued gifting over character in the church at large? Or have we?

8. What does truly loving God look like you? In what ways could we grow our love for God?

Lifechange Camp and Retreat Center and our group from VOP will never be the same.  With 12 excited students and 2 over caffeinated leaders, we swooped in and “Got’er Done”.   For 4 days we worked and played hard and left exhausted, sun burnt, itchy, and yet completely satisfied by all of the above.

While at Lifechange our main objective was to build a trail that ran along the backside of the camp’s property.  This was 660ft of dense southwest Missouri forest.  So armed with rakes, machetes, and hedge clippers we started the job.  I was skeptical how a bunch of City folk would handle being in the woods, but if you would have seen those students work you would have thought you were looking at the teenage children of Louis and Clarke themselves.  They cut, sliced, and cleared every branch, tree, and log that got in their way.  What started as thick foliage and underbrush was nothing but dirt when they were finished.  It was amazing what they got done with a heart of service and the willingness to finish the task set before them.

All that happened during the day, but at night we started clearing a different kind of trail. There were no trees which needed to be chopped or brush that needed to be raked but just as many snares and thorns which needed to be identified, cut down, and burned.  So with the help of James, each other, and God’s clippers (conviction and reproof) we began/continued the journey of our faith whose destination is the very heart of God.

The trip was wonderful.  I gave the students a survey the morning of our last day.  The number one thing they said they would change if given the chance was that they would make it longer.  If that isn't what a youth pastor wants to hear after his first mission trip, I don't know what is.  So 660ft of trail finished, 14 people exhausted yet fulfilled, 1 camp changed forever.  Mission (trip) accomplished.

The Quest For The Uncensored Jesus
Jesus Uncensored Series
John 1:1-18
June 25 and 26, 2011

Getting Started

1. Have you ever had trouble believing the claims Jesus makes about himself in the Bible? What about the claims his followers make about him? Why or why not? Share your experiences one way or another.

2. David claimed that believing non-material things are not real is just an opinion – a very popular opinion. What do you think about this claim? Why do you agree or disagree?

3. Using Ravi Zacharias’ example of the college panel of experts, which featured a biologist, a historian, a psychologist, a physics professor, a medical doctor, an ethics professor and a local pastor, why do you think the pastor would be accused of being biased while his peers are not? Do you agree with Ravi and David on this point? Why or why not?

Going Deeper

4. The gospel of John is quite a bit different than the other three gospels. Why? How does this affect your opinion of this gospel? How do you think the unique experiences of John the apostle resulted in the gospel of John being so much different?

5. The gospel of John clearly states that Jesus is God and that Jesus is also the way to God. It says that he is the Son in relationship with Father. The Son is God and the Father is God, but the Son is not the Father and the Father is not the Son. This is two parts of the Trinity. What does this say about the nature of God?

6. David argued that reality begins with God – that God is the most real reality and the truest truth. How does it make you feel for David to say that you should believe God is more real than Abraham Lincoln?

This past Saturday, June 11th, 30 Vineyard OP folks headed downtown to join Hope Faith Ministries in serving the homeless men and women of Kansas City.  What If The Church and the Kansas City Convoy of Hope were also going on so it proved to be a busy day.  We helped fix breakfast, cleaned, washed dishes, bussed the tables, prepped the men's and women's clothing shops and assisted the homeless men and women with "shopping" for clothes at the free clothing shops. It was a busy morning and a great chance to demonstrate what life in the Kingdom of God is all about.  Followers of Jesus serve others!

Thanks to everyone who joined in!

Here are some photos from Hope Faith.

The next time Vineyard OP is going down to Hope Faith as a group is September 10th.  Just watch the Event Center for more information.  But don't wait for us to go.  Grab your small group, friends or family and head down to serve on your own.  To find out more about Hope Faith Ministries, just head over to their website.

Jesus Wants To Save Christians

Jesus Uncensored Series

Mark 3:1-6

May 7 and 8, 2011

Getting Started

1.  Based on your personal experience, have you ever had a time in your life where you felt like your interpretation of the Bible – something that was not explicitly clear in Scripture – got in the way of what you felt like God might be prompting you to do?  Has someone else tried to impose their interpretation on you?  How did it make you feel?  Share without condemning of vilifying the person who did this.

2.  God gave the commandment about the Sabbath to the Israelites without clearly outlining all of the possible interpretations of “work” (Exodus 20:8-10).  Why do you think he did it this way?

3.  Jesus emphatically defied the Pharisee’s interpretation of Sabbath Law, and even though he knew it would make them despise him even more, he chose to heal on the Sabbath.  What does Jesus’ attitude toward Sabbath law in Mark 3 and other gospel passages (Matthew 12 and Luke 6) say about God’s purpose for the Law?  Read Mark 12:28-34.  Does this help clarify Jesus’ attitude toward the Law?  If yes, then how?

Going Deeper

4.  God is at work restoring his fallen creation back into right relationship with him.  He partners with us to get that done.  Share any “God stories” you have where you got to partner with God.  If you don’t feel like you have any stories like this, then take a few minutes to pray for God to show you where he is at work around you and to remind you to ask each day for this awareness.

5.  David said that “We have to leave the results (of partnering with God) up to God.  We just need to obey in the moment.”  What do you think this looks like?  Why can this be hard to do?

6.  How does it make you feel to realize that God is angered and deeply distressed by our willful disobedience when he wants to partner with us and we choose to ignore the opportunity?  David based this on Jesus’ response to the Pharisee’s inaction in Mark 3:5.  Do you agree with David’s interpretation?  Why or why not?

7.  Have you ever experienced someone loving the Law more than the Lawgiver?  What does this look like?  What should it look like, with the understanding that the Law is now alive in the person of Jesus Christ?

Two Trees

Matthew 7:15-20

April 16-17, 2011

Getting Started

1. Jesus warns his disciples that they need to watch out for false prophets.  Have you ever been around someone who fits the description of a false prophet? Share briefly what that was like (please leave the names anonymous to avoid gossip).

2. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, all disciples of Jesus now have the ability to hear God’s voice and act upon it.  In the past week, how have you have “heard” the voice of God speaking to you? What did it “sound” like?  Have you heard his voice in the past month?

3. Hearing the voice of God can be tricky.  In the group, share ways you can build relationship with God and learn to listen to his voice.

4. In the message, David said that if a person’s ministry is destroying their marriage they should step back and work to preserve it.  What do you think about that statement?  Have you ever been in an environment where ministry was more important than the lives of the workers?  Share what it was like.  Take a moment to assess this “fruit”.  Is it good or bad?

Going Deeper

5. David and Mark both pointed to the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5) as a good list for behaviors that exemplify how a disciple of Christ should conduct themselves.  Can you think of any other behaviors?

6. Have you ever met someone who uses the Bible and Christian doctrine to try and make others do things their way?  What was it like being around that person?  Share some of your experiences (again, please leave out names).

7. In the Bible, God’s judgment on his people is always for correction to bring God’s people back into right relationship with him.  Have you ever seen a “false prophet” who faces judgment and then repents and is reconciled back to God?  Share this story as a reminder of the hope of the Gospel.

There Must Be A Difference

1 Peter 3:15-16

February 26-27, 2011

Getting Started

1.   The people Peter was writing to came to follow Jesus out of a culture that worshipped many gods and was very different from the Christian life.  In what ways do you share experiences today with those 1^st century Christians?

2.   Peter expected followers of Jesus to be different from those around them who did not know God.  In what ways are you different than those who don’t know God around you?  In what ways are you the same?  Where you are the same, should you be different?

3.   It isn’t likely we’ll get asked why we have so much hope (v15).  What kinds of questions have you been asked because of your relationship with Jesus?  How did you answer?

4.   Has there ever been a time when you were falsely accused of something you did not do?  Describe it.  How did you respond?  Rate your response in light of Peter’s instruction to “do this with gentleness and respect”. (v. 16)

Going Deeper

5.   A.W. Tozer described God as a person who “thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may.”  What is your initial response to this picture of God?  In what ways does this picture conflict with your own understanding or experience of God?  Why?

6.   In what ways can we seek to know God?  Be specific and describe ways to nurture relationship with God.  Why do you think these ways can sometimes grow “stale”?

7.   What words do you think of when you think of God?  Take a moment and turn all of your words into pictures that show what God is like instead of just abstractly describing his nature.  What do these “pictures” look like?

I had the honor to teach again this past weekend, and someone asked me a compelling question afterward. You can hear the original message here to get the context of the question.

The question asked was, "What if I have cynicism that is legitimate?" In other words, what if you have doubts about the motives of a person or an organization, and then it turns out that person or organization legitimately lacks integrity? I believe the inferred question was, "Is cynicism that is valid wrong (in a biblical sense)?"

I love honest questions, so I took some time to dive into this question and here's my response.

What does it mean to be cynical? To be a cynic is to have a general attitude that distrusts or disparages the motives of others. In other words, cynicism always doubts and is always distrustful, whether or not the target of the distrust deserves such treatment. Cynicism assumes the worst about the motives of other individuals or organizations without just cause. This is not a character trait that is in line with the nature of God.

From a biblical perspective, discernment is the trait that God gives his followers to fulfill this function.  If the Holy Spirit has led you to have a concern about a person or organization, then we call this discernment. This is an important distinction. Discernment relies on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us where legitimate concern is warranted. Then we can investigate further to determine if the concern we have is valid.

If you find yourself doubting and distrusting others on a regular basis, this can be a sign of spiritual unrest. God would have us dependent on him to know how to respond to the things in our lives, and so a frequent spirit of distrust is almost certainly not of God. The core matter in question is faith in God to guide and direct us.

Cynicism is by its very nature irrational. Even if you have encountered two or three charlatans behind the pulpits of the churches in the U.S., this cannot legitimately be stretched to say that all pastors are charlatans. Even if you have encountered four or five overseas ministries that manage their funds poorly and have toxic leadership models, again, it doesn't make any sense to say that all overseas ministries lack integrity. But this is how cynicism operates.

Ultimately, cynicism affects our hearts by putting virtual limits on what we believe God can do in this world. We say, "there are no good churches in America", and we have now told God in our hearts that we no longer believe he can raise up a community of believers that works to reflect who he is. We say, "there are no honest politicians", and we have now placed an artificial limit on how we think God can work. Inside us, our faith in God's power to act has been minimized. Cynicism is ultimately an expression of a lack of faith.

So, the answer to the question, "What if I have cynicism that is legitimate?" is that cynicism is never legitimate. If you are always distrustful of those around you, then you are likely to be correct about them once in a while. But that does not validate a faithless attitude of distrust. Rely on God for discernment of others' motives and then act in accordance to what he reveals.

There you have it.

And there it is.

David Andersen
Vineyard Church of Overland Park