Demystify: Prophecy

Amy Bruton takes us through the scriptures to learn the who, what, when, and how of the prophetic and shares some of her own stories about hearing and discerning God's voice. 

Demystify: Discernment

Jeremy Geelen shares his experiences of hearing from the Lord and learning to discern what he hears as well as encouragement for the church in learning to discern the prophetic, teaching, and personal experiences with hearing from God. 

Demystify: Hospitality and Helps

David and Melanie Macon, who faithfully administer hospitality at The Vineyard Church, share their stories of the Holy Spirit guiding them in using their gifts of hospitality and helps as well as what the Lord has shown them about the nature of spiritual gifts as a whole. 

Demystify: Craftsmanship

Jessica Geelen shares her story of becoming worship leader at VCHS and how her gift of craftsmanship has shaped that role and the way she hears from God. 

Bringing God's Peace

Jack Kelly, staff pastor of Expression 58 church in Los Angeles, CA and missionary to the entertainment industry in Hollywood brings a message to The Vineyard Church about being people who bring God's shalom and operate as thermostats instead of thermometers wherever we are. 

Demystify: Tongues

Pastor Josh discusses the types and purposes of the gift of tongues as well as shares his own relatable experiences with tongues. 

Demystify: Administration

Administrative Pastor, Leah Pavel, shares with us about the gift of administration and what it is that distinguishes the spiritual gift of administration from the commonplace, secular administration that we are all so familiar with. 

Demystify: Healing

This week, Tommy Bruton shares with us his experiences and thoughts on the gift of healing with an emphasis on faith in the Lord to accomplish His purposes through each of us. 

Demystify: Introduction to Spiritual Gifts

*AUDIO NOTE:  We apologize for the blips in the audio in this recording. There was difficulty with the wireless mic that gets resolved around 11 minutes into the track. 
This week Pastor Josh lays the foundation for a new sermon series that will take us into October: Demystify. It's all about making the spiritual gifts more accessible and approachable and less daunting, keeping in line with our Vineyard value of "everyone gets to play". Instead of only a pastor teaching on the theology behind the gifts each Sunday, over the course of this series we will get to hear from a number of different practitioners of these gifts. These individuals with share their perspective and experiences in being used by the Holy Spirit to operate in these gifts on a regular basis.

Baptism

July 30th was a baptism Sunday at VCHS and pastor Josh took the opportunity to talk about the meaning, purpose and importance of baptism. We baptism because we obey and follow the example of Jesus. The mark of God's people is no longer external as it once was with circumcision. We are now marked internally with a circumcision of the heart that we demonstrate outwardly by baptism. 

The Mission of God

The mission of God is not to fill seats in a church on Sunday. The mission of God is far bigger, more powerful and more beautiful than that. We are more than dispensers of truth. Disciples of Jesus are called to seek, to save, to heal, to deliver, to store what has been stolen. The Gospel of God IS the mission of God. 

Romans 16 A Picture of Reconciliation

Paul's closing remarks in Romans 16 reveal so much about the nature of the church at the time and the power of the gospel of Christ to bring together people from all walks and stations of life and reconcile followers of Jesus both to each other and to the Father. Then Paul ends with reminding us of the beautiful mystery of how we are established through Jesus to whom belongs all glory!

Romans 15: One And The Same

Guest preacher Emanuel Williams encourages us from Romans 15 about the nature and reality of God's grace coming to each of us in abundance but in different and unique manifestations. He also exhorts those in the church to become what he refers to as "advanced believers" - those who believe God in His promises, have faith in God's ways, and are marked by the quality of always being aware of God's grace at work. 

Romans 14 Disputable Matters

This week, VCHS elder Brant Cannon explores Romans 14 as a spiritual guide for navigating our faith not amongst non-believers or against the world or culture, but as a map for working out our faith amidst other believing Jesus followers. In Romans 14 we see all the differences in belief and practice between Jews and Gentiles and become aware of how those differences are mirrored by the differences in today's denominations, theologies, or anywhere else we make our camp. What we learn is that pursuing God's presence together requires unity and a resolving of and putting away of disputable matters.

Romans 13 Government and God's Sovereignty

In this chapter, Paul tells us that government is ordained by God, but how do we reconcile that with governments and leaders that we see that are clearly corrupt or evil? And as followers of Jesus, how should we respond in light of these circumstances. Pastor Josh unpacks these scriptures with biblical examples from both the Old and New Testaments to show how God's sovereignty is central. 

Romans 12 Living Sacrifices

Romans 12 is all about maturing in our faith and walking it out in the day to day. Paul leads us to a richer, deeper understanding of worship. Before Romans 12, sacrifice was only understood in terms of death, but now God is calling his people to be living sacrifices. Being living sacrifices that are steeped in worship and that serve through humility make us both useful and beautiful and render our hearts supple and pliable, able to be shaped and formed by Him. 

Romans 11

The big message here is the salvation of Israel. Remember Paul is writing to address divisions. God hasn't rejected Israel. If God has turned his back on Israel, what confidence could that give Gentiles? Is God faithful, or is his interest fleeting? But the end of this chapter shows us that God goes deep. What it shows is God's faithfulness from generation to generation - his faithfulness from Jew to Gentile. It shows us his grace! 

Romans 9 & 10

In these chapters, we clearly see where the title of this series comes in: "The Gospel for a divided world." Chapter 9 shows us the scriptural theme of God's choice by how He has chosen us for adoption and grafted us into the family of God. God wipes away that which divided us and brings us together. 
Chapter 10 can be read and understood as a lament about the "unteachable". Paul speaks to us from his own experience about the effects of zeal without knowledge and righteousness without submission. He brings us back to the driving message that Christ is the culmination of the Law, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 

More Than Conquerors (Romans 8 Part 2)

The Gospel shines its brightest when it helps us navigate the darkness. God loves us, calls us and purposes us. We aren't God's trophies - we're created to be participants. So what does it mean to be 'more than conquerors'? It's easy to see what defeat is and it's easy to see what victory is. But being 'more than conquerors' doesn't mean just making it through and surviving. Reacting to a situation is the lowest form of engagement. A step above that would be responding. But more than conquering means being led somewhere that we would not have gone by default. Just conquering would mean bending something to our will, but being more than conquerors means bending a situation to a will and a purpose that is beyond ourselves.

Romans 8 Part 1

What controls you? What motivates you? What affects your mood? Why do you decide to do the things you do? It matters whether or not we are living according to the Spirit or according to the flesh. God desires for us to be free and not be slaves to sin but instead have freedom by His Spirit where we have joy and desires that are pleasing to God. So many of us have taken on identities because of our roles, our problems, our diagnoses, etc. that are not part of our God-given identities. But God has new names for us so that we will know we are not defined by our successes or failures but by our Father.