Vertical Life Ministries

Making Your Case

verticallife — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:14:04 +0000

Stepping out in faith and serving God means asking others to believe in what you are called to do and supporting it. I have never liked asking others to give. But I must admit once I knew that God wanted us to do this, it was easier to ask others to join in. Everyone can be a part of the great commission. My wife and I have never had a large salary, but we have always been able to give above our tithe to missions. Among all the priorities in our lives allocating even $20. to something of eternal importance seems like a no brainer.

I send out monthly news letters but this month I thought that I would make a case for our ministry and ASK. Often we have not because we ask not. As we have committed to pray for God’s provision, I think God would also have us to make the need known. So below is a letter sent to many who are on our mailing list. If you should want to support VLM you can do so at www.vertical-life.org

Dear Friends,

In 2006, God moved in our hearts to attempt to make a difference in the lives of students. We were convinced that we lived in a time unlike any other, where a generation of teens was lost to the world. I believed then, as now, that the opportunity to reach a lost generation deserved my full effort. I founded Vertical Life Ministries to do just that. The strategy was to come alongside the local church and provide youth ministry training, camps, evangelistic events, and mission trips. We forged partnerships with SCORE International to facilitate short-term trips and Word of Life to continue offering West Coast Camp and encourage local church youth ministries with proven tools. We also teamed up with Youth for Christ and Shasta Bible College. We have hosted hundreds of students at our evangelistic events and camps. Each year we have witnessed God move; we have seen teens accept Christ, give their problems to God and surrender themselves to God’s way.

I still believe that the church has nothing more urgent to do than reach people before their lives turn hard. The American teen represents the most lost generation in history. They are also the most receptive to the gospel. There is a battle raging for the heart of a generation and I need your help to lead the charge. This venture is worthy of our full effort. I would like to ask you to consider helping me win this battle. You may not be able to preach the gospel to a crowd of teens or lead a mission’s trip overseas, but if you have a heart for winning young people to Christ, you can support this ministry.

Over the last five years, we have never reached our full time support goal. We are currently under 50% of that goal. Finances are always tight, but never more than now. We have survived through special gifts and projects that have kept Vertical Life going. If we are to continue this ministry, we must raise new support. Please consider joining our support team. Vertical Life Ministries is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and your gifts are tax deductable. But more than that, your gifts will help reach a lost generation. Please pray about making VLM part of your missions giving.

Jeff Breshears

President

Vertical Life Ministries

New Year New Hope

verticallife — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:49:02 +0000

I know, I know….the word “hope” was probably one of the most overused words in the last couple of years. But it is a powerful word for Christians everywhere. Our hope is not found in any politician or the stock market. With each new day, month, and year, there is always hope. I define hope as the anticipation of God’s goodness and faithfulness to come. Our hope is in Christ alone. My heart fills with hope as we trust in God for the next year. He has proven Himself faithful over and over. Especially in the darkest hours. This last year has been very difficult for many people. Our family is no exception. It brought many challenges to myself and Vertical Life as a ministry. But there have also been many victories as well. God moved and softened hearts at camp in a fresh and powerful way this year. Many came to Christ through our various evangelistic events. The relationships we have made with youth workers and church leaders are priceless. I don’t know what will happen in the new year. But I am excited to anticipate God’s goodness and faithfulness to come. I trust that God will continue to provide all we need as a family and as an organization committed to reaching a generation for His sake. I pray that God will bless you and your family. I am asking God to empower all your endeavors and bring you closer to achieving what matters most to you. Join me in a breathless anticipation of all that God has in store for the new year.

Psalm 80:1-19

verticallife — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:13:28 +0000

This psalm is a prayer for God to restore Israel. God has been trying to get their attention, and they are now starting to listen. It is an all too familiar cycle for the people of Israel.

It is often an all too familiar cycle for the church, for you and me. It is easy to look at Israel and think them a crazy people. After all God has done for them. But in our own lives it is harder to see the crazy coming and going of our own faithfulness.

Psalm 78:59-72

verticallife — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:17:17 +0000

This passage and the one before it, describe a jealous and angry God who has poured out blessing on a people only to have them carve idols and worship them. The Israelite people show little or no loyalty to their God. God has proven himself to them and yet they turn their back on him over and over.

How faithful am I, what are the idols in my life?

Ruth 1:1-14

verticallife — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:35:37 +0000

This is the story of Ruth and Naomi. The set up is this, there is a famine in the land. Naomi has two sons but both of them die along with her husband. She is left alone with her two daughter in laws. They have nothing. News comes that in Judah God has provided food for his people. This gives Naomi some hope and she decides to set off for Judah. The girls are with her, what else could they do? Naomi suggests that they stay in Moab and find a husband. One goes but the other stays. This is Ruth, she is a model of a faithful friend or companion.

This is the introduction to a very interresting story.

Jude 1:20-25

verticallife — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:10:12 +0000

²⁰But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²²Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Doxology

²⁴To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

This is one of the best doxologies in scripture, or at least a favorite of mine. To him who is able. He is able. To present us before his glorious presence without fault. Praise the lord, without fault. That is blameless before the Lord in our standing. Only he is able to present us without fault. That is why we can praise him. because he has the power authority through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Powerful words.

Colossians 2:8-15

verticallife — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:00:43 +0000

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,^[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,^[b] God made you^[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.^[d]

Hollow philosophy draws a lot of people to its snare. It is proof that built within man is the desire for somthing that is missing. The real power to fill that hole is in Jesus Christ, yet people are drawn away in large crowds. If we appeal to what makes since to our human reasoning we will be easily distracted from the truth. We like the idea of being worthy or earning our way before God. Yet in this passage is one of the strongest statements against that line of thinking.

having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

Canceled the code, that is the law of Moses, Jesus took it all away when he nailed it to the cross. The cross is the end of man’s effort to please God. Now God is pleased through the sacrifice of the son on the cross. It is the end of the matter, there is nothing left to be said. ”It is finished”

Colossians 2:1-7

verticallife — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:51:34 +0000

¹I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. ²My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. ⁵For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

⁶So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The key phrase in this passage in my opinion is “o that they may have the full riches of complete understanding” There is a depth to the Christ life that comes from a COMPLETE understanding of life in Christ. As simple as the gospel is we complicate it through a need to earn or deserve, that which we could never obtain except by GRACE. That is why in verse 6 Paul reminds the Colossians to live in him just as they received him. How is that , by no work of their own, our sanctification or daily living is in his strength not our own just as salvation is all of him and none of us. Therefore it is an attitude of thankfulness that should permeate our lives. A thankful person is not proud or arrogant about their standing. We are to be humble recipients of a gift so great that we then live as servants of the one who gave it to us.

This is a rich passage worthy of readign over and over.

Colossians 1:24-29

verticallife — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:17:44 +0000

Paul is saying that he has been commissioned by God to bring the full story of salvation by grace to everyone. He is now a servant of the body of Christ. He carries the answer to a mystery that had been kept secret until now. Christ in you the hope of Glory. The twist in the story, at least for those of Jewish decent, Gentiles are included as well.

Paul’s words are powerful. But when you step into the past and take on the mindset of the times, his words jump to life. The coming of Messiah was a greatly anticipated event that was also greatly misunderstood. The power of the Messiah would be over sin more than Cesar. To the Jew covering of sin was a daily ritual and regular trips to the temple to sacrifice animals. The message of Paul was that this was no longer necessary as the Messiah/Christ now covered sin. The hope of glory, or purity and good standing before God rested no longer in human hands but in Christ Jesus the hope of Glory.

Salvation is a wonderful gift. It should always be held up in high esteem, shared freely with others and we should seek to have the fullest understanding from the scriptures as possible.

Colossians 1:15-19

verticallife — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:40:15 +0000

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

This passage is about the supremacy of Christ. It is also about why we exist. All things were created by him and for him. That means our meaning is wrapped up in him. He created us and we were created for him. While no one has seen God, Jesus is the manifestation of God in human form for all mankind. All the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus.

He has conqured death.

Vertical Life Ministries

Making Your Case

New Year New Hope

Psalm 80:1-19

Psalm 78:59-72

Ruth 1:1-14

Jude 1:20-25

Doxology

Colossians 2:8-15

Colossians 2:1-7

6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 1:24-29

Colossians 1:15-19

⁶So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.