AfterHours Experience this FRIDAY, July 31st @ 6:30p

In mixed-martial arts, a “Tap Out” is when a person submits, giving in to their opponent. The outcome? Immediate defeat.

The same thing can happen in our lives. Defeat, opposition, and hardships can so easily show up, knock us down, and tap us out!

So don’t miss this month’s AfterHours Experience as we learn how to resist the TAP OUT.

Catch the vibe of our next AfterHours Experience on Friday, July 31st @ 6:30p Live music (FAITH UDEH) Mama’s Appetizers (FIGHT CLUB CHICAGO STYLE HOT DOGS), Chef Jeff Fruity Drinks, and some spiritual conversation.

Pastor Jamey

The AfterHours Experience – Friday, July 3rd

Do you know someone who has seen Bigfoot’s tracks?

You know how it goes: someone sees something and tells someone who then tells someone else. Urban legends go on and on and on it goes until its hard to separate fact from fiction. This doesn’t just happen with the Bigfoot myth… it happens in our lives as well.
 
There are some very powerful myths most of us believe about ourselves.  When we choose to believe these “myths “are, in fact, TRUTHS, twe tend to miss out on the potential of living a truly abundant life God desires for us.

Come join us in The AfterHours Experience as we separate fact from fiction and identify some myths we might have in our own lives.

Check out The AfterHours Experience, Friday, July 3rd @ 6:30p. as we engage in a spiritual conversation about “Finding Sasquatch.”
 
Hope you catch the vibe!
Pastor Jamey

AfterHours Rewind

  What’s up everyone!  As Will Smith would say, “HAPPY SUMMER TIME” to you.  Our next AfterHours Experience will be held outside on Friday, July 3rd @ 6:30p – come join us and experience live hip-hop, spoken word, Chef Jeff BBQ, and some real good connection.  Our spiritual conversation is on the subject of Urban Legends…Catch the VIBE and bring a friend! 

 AfterHours Rewind:  Last month in the AfterHours Experience we explored what it meant to feel LOCKED UP!

Spiritually speaking, we have all been through what we might call “prison experiences” in life. Times in our life when we feel LOCKED UP in affliction and adversity for reasons beyond us. Have you ever wondered where God was in your pain ? And why adversity and affliction was a part of His plan for us?  Many of us have lost our passion, our sense of mission, our sense of direction, and abandoned our dreams as a result of feeling LOCKED UP in our difficult circumstances.

What do we do?  In chapter four of the book of Philippians Paul urges his readers to maintain a tough mind, fixing on what is right and profitable.  Paul looks to discipline, contentment, and focus as a way to help him get through challenging times.  Although many of us find ourselves in positions of adversity, nevertheless, we should be challenged to display attitudes of joy, peace, and conquest.  Why? Because God is the source of our joy, peace, and conquering spirit.  Paul was able to stay of mission, even in prison, because he knew God was going to see him through…Paul had hope and so can we!

 Our challenge is to be pro-active people of mission.  We can either surrender to God and His purpose/mission for our life or we can surrender to the adversity and difficult circumstances we are experiencing.  The Apostle lived in constant adversity, however, he was a leader who was determined and able to leave his mark and never drift from his sense of mission.

 How did Paul’s sense of mission and purpose keep him in the fight of life as he literally sat in prison?  What did he learn behind bars?  John Maxwell points out 5 things Paul learned from being “LOCKED UP”:

1. A purpose will motivate you.

2. A purpose will keep your priorities straight.

3. A purpose will develop your potential.

4. A purpose will give you power to live in the present.

5. A purpose will help you get through difficult times.

The Next AfterHours Experience – May 29th @ 6:30p

Nobody desires to serve time in jail nor be locked up in prison. Spiritually speaking, we have all been through what we might call “prison experiences” in life.

The question is, “Can great blessing come out of tragedy and adversity?”

Check out The AfterHours Experience, Friday, May 29th @ 6:30p. as we engage in a spiritual conversation about being “LOCKED UP”

Hope you catch the vibe!
Pastor Jamey

AfterHours Rewind on Crazy Pills

I would like to thank each of you who caught the VIBE with us last Friday night in The AfterHours Experience. We had a great intervention/detox session as we peeled back the label on the bottle of crazy pills in our life. We had over 6o people that engaged in a spiritual conversation about how busyness, distractions, and breaking points drive us out of balance and make us go crazy.

I would like to give you a REWIND RECAP and offer a few solutions in dealing with the cRaZy PiLL in your life. Here are key scriptures and questions to contemplate as you decide if you are willing to detox off the CRAZY PILL:

Key Scripture: Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-41). Key point: Connecting with Jesus is a way better choice than busyness.

How do we detox off the Crazy Pill (busyness, distractions, and breaking points)?

The Big Question: Why do we do what we do?

Second Big Question: What are your priorities?  It’s a great question to ask to keep our busy lives on track. Our priorities should govern the way we live.

How do we define our priorities?
1. What’s Required of you?                                                                                                                                                                                        So the question you must ask yourself then is, “What must I do that nobody can or should do for me?

2. What gives the greatest Return?
We all should be attempting to work in the area of our greatest strength.

3. What brings the greatest Reward?
“There are many things that will catch my eye, but only a few things that will catch my heart.”

In order to effectively implement and answer these questions we must continually:
1. STOP the “STUFF”
2. Be Quiet
3. And make a connection with Jesus.

Other Questions:
In order to successfully detox from the crazy pills in our system we may have to restructure our life somewhat. Ask yourself:

• Is there any activity I need to stop?
• Is there a relationship I need to give less time to?
• Are there things that need be less of a priority?

Experience “cRaZy PiLLs” in The AfterHours Experience

Have you ever been convinced that you’ve taken a crazy pill? We would like you to join us conversation tonight as we peel back the label on the bottle of crazy pills in our life. And look how busyness, distractions, and breaking points can drive us out of balance and make us go literally crazy.

Detox with us Friday, April 24th @ 6:30p

AfterHours Rewind (March 09)

 Last Friday night, in The AfterHours Experience, we had a great spiritual conversation on the subject of Doors.  A door is defined as a means of entry or access, allowing us to move from one place to another.  Life is a series of doors.  Therefore, the challenge is all in the choices and decisions, which doors to close in our life and which doors to walk through. 

 

We approached the threshold to some of these doors, and examined how we make decisions in our life and unlocked what it takes to close and open all the right doors, we discovered how our finances, relationships, attitudes, and every our very salvation all comes down to a single question: What are we going to do with the doors?

I would like to give you a REWIND RECAP and offer a few solutions in dealing with these DOORS:

Key Questions and Scriptures to contemplate as we decide what doors to open or close:

The best questions to ask ourselves as we enter through the doors of life:

• What is the wise thing to do?
•  In light of my past experience, what is the wise thing to do?
•  In light of my current circumstances, what is the wise thing to do?
•  In light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing for me to do?
  
  Ephesians 5:15-17: Be very careful, then, how you live you live. not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
  
  Proverbs 28:26: He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered. 
• Others: Luke 11:9; Revelations 3:20

Other questions for study and reflection:

1. In light of where you want to be financially in ten years, what’s the wise thing to do right now?  What doors do you need to opened or closed financially right now in your life?  What do you need to start of stop doing financially?

 

1. If you are single, in hopes of one day finding the man or woman of your dreams, what is the wise way to conduct your relationships now?

 

1. If you are married and your dream is to finish life together with your spouse, what is the wise way to conduct your marriage now?

 

1. What is the wise thing to do relationally in your life right now?  What doors need to be closed?  What relational doors need to be opened? Who do you need to let go of in your life?  What friends need to be let go? Who do you need to forgive?  Who do you need to talk to?  Who do you need to apologize to?
2. In light of how you envision your relationship with your children when they’re older, what is the wise thing to do now?  What doors do you need to open with them?  What doors do you need to close?  What practices would you be wise to incorporate now into your parenting?

 

1. In light of your spiritual walk with Christ, what are some wise things you need to do?  In light of your time, activities, and busyness, what doors do you need to shut? What other doors do you need to walk through?

 

1. Professionally speaking, what is the wise thing to do?  What doors do you need to shut?  What doors need to be opened?

 

1. In light of your physical health, what is the wise thing to do?  What doors do you need to shut?  What doors need to be opened? 

 

1. In light of your emotional health, what is the wise thing to do?  What doors do you need to close?  What doors do you need to open?  Do you need counseling?  Do you get help because of a secret addiction?  Emotional triggers from a negative childhood? Talk to a pastor, or a therapist?

 

Thank you for coming and catching the Vibe with us.  See you Friday, April 24^th for our next experience.

 

Blessings and Peace!

Pastor Jamey (jameyjohnson.org) (afterhoursvibe.com)

Our Next Experience?

A A door is defined as a means of entry or access, allowing us to move from one place to another.  Life is a series of door!  The challenge is all in the choices, and decisions/which doors to close in our life and which doors to walk through.   

Start by making a great decision to walk through the door of The AfterHours Experience, Friday, March 27^th @ 6:30p.  Join us as we have a spiritual conversation about doors…the wrong and right ones to walk through.

Live music, spoken word, mama’s appetizers, and Chef Jeff Fruity Drinks!

Catchin’ the VIBE!

AfterHours Spiritual Conversation: The Monster Within Review

I I would like to take this time to THANK all of you who came out and truly CAUGHT THE VIBE in The AfterHours Experience last Friday night.  I enjoyed having each of you, and a special thanks to all of our artists and creative performers who did their THANG! 

My mommy always said there were no monsters—no real ones.  But there are, aren’t there?  We’d better get back, ‘cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostly come out at night…mostly.   Aliens (1986)

In The AfterHours Experience last week, we shined the spotlight on some of those MONSTERS that lurk in our heart…It was our desire is to uncover some mean and ugly stuff in —the mysterious depths of our own hearts!

My evil self is at the door, and I have no power to stop it?                   
DrMorbius, Forbidden Planet (1956)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  So we asked the question, “HOW ARE THINGS WITH YOUR HEART?”  Are your monsters that lurk in your heart getting the best of you lately?   

We have all grown very adept at covering up for these monsters that lurk in our hearts.  We swear to ourselves, and maybe to the people around us, that we will never act that way again.  And we mean it.  Then we repeat our mistake. 

Here are some scriptural verses and questions that we used in AfterHours to uncover those monsters from within:          Matthew 15:1-202.                   Proverbs 4:233.                   Jeremiah 17:9

How true that quote is, “My evil self is at the door”.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “

1. Identify:  What do these monsters look like?  the monsters in your heart…what are they?  Lust? Greed? Anger? Emotional Unrest? Porn? Bitterness? Pride? etc.
 * How long have this monster been there?  Does anyone else in your family struggle with this same kind of monster?  
* How did this monster get there?  How did it enter into your heart? What did you experience? 
* Has this monster effected the way you live? 
* What are some of the consequences you have had to face because of these monsters?  Give an example 
* Do you think it is possible to escape from this monster? How?  

“Start a habit, reap an attitude, live a lifestyle.” How does this statement strike you? 

 2.Confession: — Create in me a clean heart…
3. Repentance:  - Go to God
4. Connecting and Accountability: Talk about it with others!  

I think for all of us it’s time to take the heart filters off, and become relentless about repairing the conditions of our heart. 

Please feel free to dialogue and share your thoughts and feeling.

- pastor jamey johnson