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Asia Summit Debrief

The last few days have been crazy!!!

Just about every spare minute was used talking to people, building relationships, and networking with folks from 15 different nations. Worshiping the Lord with these guys and gals gives one a picture of heaven – the nations rejoicing and praising the King Most High!

The focus of the conference as been the Vineyard Values – with each of the main sessions tackling one of the five core values of the Vineyard. Phil Strout, the new Vineyard USA National Director, spoke Tuesday night about the Kingdom of God and following the King.

Wednesday morning saw a panel of speakers from various nations talk about and answer questions concerning being a reconciling community. That evening a lady from the Philippines spoke about compassionate ministry using stories from her life and the people in her church.

We ‘played’ Thursday morning with folks going swimming, shopping, or sleeping. But that evening we were right back at it with a session on culturally relevant mission. Or we were suppose to have a panel talking about that… God had other plans as we spend the evening worshiping, praying for each other, and basically experiencing the presences of God.

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November 18th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Vineyard Movement, World Missions | Comments are closed

Vineyard Values Series: Compassionate Ministry

Over the last month we have been looking at our core values:

  1. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
  2. Experiencing God
  3. Reconciling Community
  4. Culturally Relevant Mission
  5. Compassionate Ministry

Today we are going to be completing this series with a look at why we engage in compassionate ministry with the lost, the poor, outcast, and the outsider. Along those lines, I have asked some folks to come and share with us a little bit about why they work at the food pantry.

{Click here to listen to the full audio version of the sermon including testimonies}

Thank you both for those wonderful stories… God is moving and changing lives! Isn’t it exciting to be used by God? To be a part of what He is going in this community?
God is good….all the time.

Why?

Why do we do it? What is our purpose? Good questions to which there could be many, many answers….each person in effect has a story about why they do what they do.

Yet as a community I think it is important to have an overarching answer to these questions – to why we engage in compassionate ministry. Why we feed the hungry and clothe the naked….

It all goes back to our very first core value – the theology and practice of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God – this was Jesus’ central message throughout the Gospels.  He was declaring that God’s rule and reign had entered into the world and was driving out evil.

Jesus’ life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension was for one purpose – to overcome evil, deliver humanity from its power, and to bring us into the blessed covering of God Almighty.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. -1 John 3:8b

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April 18th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Payette River Vineyard, Sermons, Theology Thoughts | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)

Vineyard Values Series: Culturally Relevant Mission

Over the last month the Payette River Vineyard has been walking through a series about our five core values. These values are as follows:

  1. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
  2. Experiencing God
  3. Reconciling Community
  4. Culturally Relevant Mission
  5. Compassionate Ministry

The fourth value – Culturally Relevant Mission – was the topic of Sunday’s sermon. Below are my notes from that sermon – granted the audio version is better as I tend to “fill” in the gaps while talking. :)

Culturally Relevant Mission

Allow me to read from our value booklet as I think the wording is great:

“The church exists for the sake of those who are exiled from God. We are called to bring the gospel of the kingdom to every nook and cranny of creation, faithfully translating the message of Jesus into language and forms that are relevant to diverse peoples and cultures.”

The “church” – we the believers – does not exists for ourselves. It was once said that the church is the only organization that does not exists for its members.

The church is here simply to bring the gospel of the Kingdom – the Good News of Jesus – into every “nook and cranny.” I love that phrase – nook and cranny. This mean every square inch – every crack or corner of this world.  The church is to go not only to the wide open places of the world – the places where there is fame and glory. But to the places that everyone else is running from.

As the early 1900’s British missionary CT Studd once said,

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”

Within a yard of hell…every nook and cranny….

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April 12th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Payette River Vineyard, Sermons | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)

Vineyard Values Series: Reconciling Community

This was the hardest sermon I’ve ever preached (noting, of course, my loooong career as a preacher). :P   It  was hard not because of the time it took to prepare; or because of the words used in the sermon.

It was hard because I have to live it.

I cannot read the words of Jesus to others if I am not willing – nay, if I do not try with every breath – to live them out in my personal life…

Following and obeying Jesus… hard things do to….Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

Reconciling Community

(Full audio sermon can be found here)

Yesterday afternoon I was staring out of our upper window looking south across the green fields towards the Montour mountains…. Reagan’s Butte stood tall – a silent monument of a peaceful valley created by the Hands of God.

Dotted throughout this beautiful view were roofs – metal, tile, shingle – roofs of the houses of people. What is happening in these houses? Do they enough food? Are they lonely? Friendless? Are they fighting cancer? Disease? Perhaps a cold or flu?

Maybe they have a good family, some friends – maybe they are healthy….maybe they are searching for something bigger then themselves? Perhaps they feel empty and lack a purpose…

Each home – each person has a story… they have feelings, emotions, dreams…yet often we drive past these houses without thinking – without considering the pain, the happiness, the people inside.

Today we are going to talk about being a “Reconciling Community” – a community of healing and forgiveness. A community – a people – who realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin.

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April 4th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Payette River Vineyard, Sermons | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)

Vineyard Values Series: Kingdom Theology and Practice

It always amazing me that no matter how much I prepare ahead of time, the Lord always takes my sermons off track. This week was no different – granted, I stayed on ‘track’ for most of the time. It was the ending that God really took over…but considering He gave some words of knowledge and healed some folks, I guess I will let you continue to run the show. ;-)

Full audio version can be found here.

Kingdom Theology and Practice

Last week we started a series looking at who we are as a church – what are our values?

  1. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
  2. Experiencing God
  3. Culturally Relevant Mission
  4. Reconciling Community
  5. Compassionate Ministry

We started this series off by talking about how we are a center-set people focused on moving towards King Jesus – living a life of doing what God is doing and saying what He is saying.

Today we are going to be talking about the theology and practice of the Kingdom of God.

Now before you all get scared or nervous about “theology” – let me tell you that is really just about fried chicken.

Juicy, buttermilk batter, on-the-bone, deep-fat fried chicken – the kind that clogs your arteries the moment you take a bite. To a Southern boy like myself, that is a description of a piece of mouth watering fried chicken.  Right?!

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March 22nd, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Payette River Vineyard, Sermons | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)

Who Are We? Vineyard Values Series

(Audio recording of this sermon can be found on the PRV website)

Today, I’m going to kick off a five or six week series looking at who we are because I believe it is extremely important that we know who we are and why God put us here in this valley – in the Payette River drainage.

Then over the next few weeks I am going to be talking about the five values of the Vineyard Movement – one at a time:

  1. The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
  2. Experiencing God
  3. Culturally Relevant Mission
  4. Reconciling Community
  5. Compassionate Ministry

This should bring us up to mid-April, just in time to celebrate Easter. Following Easter – say, the beginning of May – I would like to take a look at the big picture of the Bible. What has been God been doing all this time? What is the central motif or framework that supports everything throughout the Old and New Testament?

A lot of time we hear stories about Abraham, Noah, David, Ruth and Joshua – but we really don’t know how they all fit together. They can become isolated stories that may or may not have an impact on our lives….

Starting in May, I would like for us to start on a journey through the entire Bible (don’t worry, we will be moving a lot faster than we did with Acts!) – looking at its unity and focus and how we can join with God in His mission.  Sounds good?

Ok…

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March 17th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Payette River Vineyard, Sermons | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)