John 15:9-10 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love..."

Moving along in our Rooted and Rising series, we are now looking at the Value of being people in the Love of God! Last week, we introduced the idea of being people rooted in the Truth of the Gospel of Christ and how He invites us into full discipleship, to "pick up our cross and follow Him." And now we're seeing the other side of the coin by discussing the Love of God. It is God's love that invites us into fellowship with Himself and one another.

The Love of God is all about salvation, that God hasn't counted our sins against us but comes into our muck and mire and brokenness to rescue us from darkness. That God doesn't hold our sins against us but comes into our world to redeem us from the curse is LOVE. Love is relational. It's powerful. And it's about doing life together.

From Genesis to Revelation, the story of God and His people is about relational healing and walking in the wholeness and fullness that Jesus invites us into through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Moving along in our Rooted and Rising series, we are now looking at the Value of being people of the Truth!

All throughout human history, truth was something worth seeking out. It's what began most philosophical pursuits, and especially in the biblical times, truth was objective. It was God Himself! But we live in an era where truth has become relativized and subjective with your truth versus my truth.

Whether that happened in the post-WWII context, or more recently in the day of AI and social media deepfakes, there's a rising suspicion in what is true and what is good. However, as people of the Word and Spirit, we believe that Truth isn't something that *we* get to determine but has already been decided for us in Jesus Christ. He is, after all, the way, the truth, and the life.

Truth is about applying the principles of the Gospel in real time, in real life, in what many people call "sanctification." All are able to receive the Gospel message in love, and we are invited to walk out this truth by applying the Blood of Jesus Christ to all aspects of our Christian lives.

John 20:21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit."
We are now looking at the values of the Vineyard, and from our inception, we have always tried to be people of the Holy Spirit.

Our denomination (or movement) began with a simple prayer of inviting the Holy Spirit, so of course, the person and the power of the Holy Spirit are very important to us! We cannot do life without the Holy Spirit, and we obviously cannot do church life without the Holy Spirit. Though we so often do (whether out of arrogance or ignorance), and God is inviting His people to trust in the Holy Spirit and allow Him to be the wind in our sails.
All throughout the book of Acts, there's this cadence of "They were filled with the Spirit and preached with confidence..." And it's only because of His strength and goodness that the church has become what it is. If we lose our first love, of relying on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we in function become a country club. But one of the main values of the Vineyard is that we are always going to ask the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do!

Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock...

We began our new series, Rooted & Rising, last week, where we looked at what God has been calling us into! And we'll be continuing that thought by looking at Christ the solid rock.

Everything that we do is with Jesus Christ at the center. That may sound like a given in a Christian church, but we want to make the implicit explicit: We want everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we believe...we want it all to be rooted in the real-life person of Jesus Christ.

We want to build our foundation upon Him, and Him alone! Again, it may sound like an obvious thing, but we want to make Jesus famous. To echo the words of John the Baptist: He must increase, and I will decrease. Our posture, our leaning, and our bend is to recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate authority, and it is He that builds His church!

Matthew 13:31-32 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Let's try this again...we obviously had to change our plans with the snow last weekend, so this weekend, we're for real starting our new series!

It's called, "Rooted and Rising", and we'll be talking about our Vineyard Heritage and Inheritance. We'll look at how we've arrived at this moment and time, and then dream with the Lord where we are going!

It's been a process of listening to God, listening to His people, and asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance. We truly believe that God is up to something special here in Franklin, and we're looking forward to more of the Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven!

Matthew 6:16-18 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

We are one week into our 21-Day Prayer and Fast, and we're going to take some time looking at how to keep the fast going!

There's an advertisement out there that talks about how by January 8th, most people with New Years resolutions will give up on them, and the same can be said about fasting. Whenever we start something out, we have all the zeal and energy to get going, but after a bit, it can become tedious and hard (which is probably the point!)

We're going to look at some practical ways to keep the fast going, encouraging one another as we keep going before the Lord and inviting Him into our lives, and spend some time in prayer.
It's going to be a good Sunday!

Acts 13:2-3 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
We are starting off the new year by entering into a 21-Day Prayer and Fast! All throughout the Bible, whenever the people of God needed wisdom and discernment, they prayed and fasted. So often, we can pray, but it's the real act of surrender and submission in fasting that truly brings about the clarity and breakthrough.

We will take some time looking at the importance of fasting and praying, especially as we continue to seek the Lord on some really big decisions for our church body.
The Lord is faithful, and He will continue to shepherd and guide us in ways that only He can! And fasting is the act of decreasing so that He can increase.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given

We are now in the fourth week of Advent, and we are looking at the last gospel theme of love!

One of the most famous verses of the Bible is found in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world..." The word to describe God's love, agape, in this verse is the highest form of love. It's not the familial love or the romantic love, but it's the covenantal love of God most often associated with sacrifice and self-giving.

The love of God in Jesus isn't like the love talked about in country music songs, nor is it the love that we often use when describing our favorite food. It's the highest form, one of self-emptying, self-sacrificing, and otherly focused.

In Isaiah, we are promised a Messiah who would right all the wrongs in the world, one who would take upon himself the sins of the world. And as we mentioned last week, the cradle is the precursor to the cross. The Incarnation and Crucifixion are two sides of the same coin, revealing the great lengths that God has gone to in order to show the world His great love.

1 John 1:3-4 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

We are now in the third week of Advent, and now we are looking at the theme of joy!

Last week, we mentioned that "No Jesus, no peace, and know Jesus, know peace" which could be applied to all of these Advent themes. And joy especially follows this thread. Joy, rather than happiness, is about being rooted and established in the love and presence of Jesus. It means that we are content despite what we may be going through, and that our joy is in the Lord.

As Scripture reminds us, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and it is in relying on his presence and goodness that we are able to overcome any obstacle that we find ourselves in. Oftentimes, our joy becomes hindered by circumstances, and we need one another to edify and uplift to keep running the race set before us.

True joy is fellowship: fellowship with the Triune God and fellowship with our fellow believers. As we remain, and abide, in God and ask one another for help and prayer, we will continue to dispel the powers of darkness and be the Light of the World that we are called to be!

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

We are in the second week of Advent, and now we are looking at the theme of peace! The peace that is in Christ, the peace that Christ gives to us, is not the peace of this world, which usually means the absence of problems or pains. But the peace of Christ is given to us in the midst of problems or pains. It goes beyond our understanding, which means we may not understand why we have it, but we have it nonetheless.

Jesus is our Prince of Peace, and he leads us beside still waters. That doesn't mean that we won't go through hardships along the way, but as our Good Shepherd, he takes us where we need to go.

Oswald Chambers writes that we have to pray with our eyes on God and not on our difficulties, and this allows us to see how God is going to make an impossible situation work for his glory and our good!