Matt VanGent's Blog

Dear God

mdvangent — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:24:00 +0000

Dear God,

Save me from cynicism. Save me from realism. From disbelief. From dwelling on the “impossible.” From what is.

Lead me to faith. Lead me to hope. To idealism. Lead me to belief. To the possible. To what could be.

You are the God who makes possible the impossible, who makes real the unreal, who takes what is and inspires us to strive for what could be. May my dreams never become stagnant. May I never stop thinking impossible things and dreaming impossible dreams.

May I never stop trying to change the world.

Sincerely,

Matt

A Tribute to the Beatles

mdvangent — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:03:34 +0000

I don’t listen to the Beatles much, but I really think they were on to something in their song, “All You Need is Love.” Jesus boiled the principles of Christian living down to two things: love God, love people. Here’s the hard part though: as Christians, we’re called not just to love people who are nice to us but people who hate us, people we can’t stand, everyone. We don’t get to pick and choose who to love. I really think this is one of the biggest things that sets Christians apart from everyone else. Jesus himself said that it’s not unusual to love people who love you back. The real test is loving people who hate you.

So I challenge you, if you consider yourself a Christian, go out and love the people no one else loves, love the people who are jerks to you, love everyone.

So what?

mdvangent — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:42:15 +0000

Who do you care about?

Who does your heart break for?

What are you passionate about?

…and what are you going to do about it?

I posed those questions in youth group last week. And now here they are again. We can’t forget about them, the broken, the impoverished, the sick, those who need help, those who need love.

Read Matthew 25:31-46. When was the last time you “did something for Jesus?”

Pray and meditate on those verses and on what God might have you do about it.

If you want some suggestions…

-The Circle of Hope Shelter and God’s Kitchen here in Corona

-Living Water (providing clean water around the world. Livingwater.cc)

-The Heifer Project (Providing sustainable income through giving families animals like cows and chickens. Heifer.org)

The list could go on forever, but those are just a few. So… what? What’s it going to be? What are you going to do? Who are you going to help?

Harmony

mdvangent — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:07:48 +0000

I love getting new insights into the Christian life. It is so refreshing to get a new take on things. I was driving in my car, listening to the radio and I was amazed at the beauty of harmony. When two or more people sing together, they produce something that cannot be replicated alone. No matter how hard one person tries, he or she simply cannot sing in harmony without another voice. What a perfect illustration of our lives as followers of Christ!

When we work together, we produce something beautiful, something unique. This is what life in community is all about. The combination of different perspectives, different talents, different passions, different personalities and backgrounds creates something astonishing. I pray that we would embrace the differences we have and enjoy the harmony that results from joining with one another.

A lyric from the song I was listening to sums it up nicely: Together we are what we cannot be alone.

Praise the Lord for diversity and community.

Being Emotionally Relevant

mdvangent — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Do you ever wonder what it means to be relevant? That word gets thrown around a lot in the church today. I’m not talking about making God relevant to people, because I don’t think that’s what we’re called to. What I am talking about is this: what does it mean for us as Christians to be relevant to those who don’t know Christ? What does it mean for us to meet them at their place in life and bring the good news to them?

I think it goes far beyond being flashy or “cool.” It’s about being emotionally relevant. We should be empathic with one another, feeling each other’s pain and joy, bearing each other’s burdens, walking in each other’s shoes. When we stop being people who really care for the needs of others (whether it be spiritual, physical, emotional, social, or intellectual) we stop being the body of Christ. I pray that you will join with me in striving to be an emotionally relevant person to those I already know and to those I will come across in the future.

Habakkuk

mdvangent — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:19:00 +0000

Do you ever have questions for God? Does life ever seem unfair? Is there something you just can’t resolve with God?

Welcome to the club! Join us for a new series starting April 15th as we look at Habakkuk, a dude with a funny name who had some serious questions.

Life isn’t fair. Good things happen to bad people and a lot of terrible stuff happens to good people. Bring your questions and join us as we seek God together in the face of these challenges.

Justice

mdvangent — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:37:00 +0000

How would you describe justice, specifically social justice?

I read some pretty cool definitions of it today. Here they are.

“Social justice, as I understand it, is when everybody gets what he or she truly
needs in order to realize his or her fullest potential as a lover of God and as a lover of other people.” (Bart Campolo)

Another way of thinking about it, perhaps more simply, is that justice is about righting wrongs. Taking things that are messed up in this world and making them right- relationships, social systems, physical situations, all of that stuff.

Do you agree with these definitions? Would you add anything?

Belong

mdvangent — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

All of us want to belong somewhere. It’s a natural human desire and need. I think it’s a healthy thing too… if we do it right.

Too often we’re willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to belong to a certain group of people- the popular kids, the cool crowd, whoever it is. But in doing that, we lose our identity, the person God created you to be. What things have you given up to fit in? Playing that game has consequences.

But here’s the good news- there’s a place we can belong to, a place we can fit in without sacrificing who we are and who God made us to be. That place is the church, God’s family. So I encourage you to really consider what lengths you are going to to try to fit in and consider turning to the place that will accept you just as you are.

Do you feel like you belong to God’s family?

iGeneration

mdvangent — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:04:00 +0000

We’re starting a new series next month. It’s based on the idea that our generation (I include myself in this, and would say that it’s even seeping into prior generations as well) is becoming more and more focused on the individual. We are moving away from life in community to life alone.

We’re going to be addressing some of the lies that our culture tries to get us to believe. Here’s a little preview:

I am an army of one.

I don’t need anyone else.

It’s all about me.

I don’t need your rules.

I hope you join us on Wednesday nights for this series, I hope it speaks some truth to all of us.

What do you think, is there any danger in the progression from life in community to life alone? I’ve been playing this progression out in my head quite a bit lately, and I don’t like where it ends up. Where do you see this going?

Jr. High Winter Camp

mdvangent — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:55:00 +0000

We just got back from jr high winter camp yesterday. It was so fun!

The speaker up there talked about labels- things that people label us as (nerd, jock, loner, loser, popular, stuff like that). We talked about the fact that God doesn’t label us like that but sees each one of us as valuable enough and lovable enough to die for.

He challenged us to not label each other but instead to see them the way God does.

So here’s what you can do- every morning when you wake up, pray to God that He would help you to see people the way that He sees them. Do you think you can do that? Try it and let me know what happens!