The Vine Church OC

What are the cries and outcries that tug at your heart? God is allowing you to hear those particular cries because he has appointed you as a “priest” to intercede on behalf of those particular people. Pastor Ger Jones of Vintage LA explains how through Abraham we can discover our unique and surprising calling to be priests in God's kingdom. We are priests who are “in Christ” and invited to function in God’s love and authority. Will you step into this calling to be a priest that intervenes in prayer and action to see God’s kingdom break through?

Pastor Ash Meaney, associate pastor at Vintage Church, continues our series on how God uses Old Testament characters despite their brokenness and weakness. He looks at Moses through the eyes of Stephen in Acts 7:20-36. Ash describes the life of Moses as “the transformation of the soul through the crucible of wilderness”, drawing three key lessons out of his life: a) our stories always shape us more than we think b) the wilderness is a place of profound transformation and c) God calls us in our weaknesses and beyond our abilities.

Do you find yourself connected to a person or a system that holds you back from what you really want? Dr. Henry Cloud, psychologist and best-selling author of over 45 books, addresses this question, sharing wisdom from the life of Lot. The Vine continues to join our sister church, Vintage Church LA, for their series on Old Testament characters whose lives were changed as God met them.

Do we put our trust in the promise, or in the God who promises? The answer makes all the difference! Dr. Bill Dogterom, professor at Vanguard University, shares this message entitled Abraham: Leaning Into Relational Obedience. This is the second in a summer series on how God met and changed characters from the Old Testament.

Ger Jones, lead pastor at Vintage Church LA, brings encouragement from 1 Samuel 17. God made you to be unique. There is no one like you and he made you for a reason. Sadly, often we struggle to find the freedom to be fully ourselves. Instead we are enslaved to what others think of us and trying to be someone we are not to get their approval and attention. Real transformation and purpose in God begins with finding the freedom to be fully who God made you to be. God brings that freedom - it's time to be fully you.

Ash Meaney, associate pastor at Vintage LA, shares two essentials that are fruits of a transformed life: our prayers and our proclamation. Nothing signifies our transformation with God more than the our hunger and devotion to prayer and our desire to share our faith with others. So Paul leaves us with some really practical instructions on how and what to pray for knowing they will be a source of maintaining our transformation and spiritual life, listing four key ingredients: devotion, watchfulness, thankfulness and purpose.

“Transformed people transform the world.” Pastor Ger Jones, lead pastor at Vintage Church LA, shares about “Finally Becoming Your Authentic Self”. In Colossians 3: 1-17, Paul confirms that we are new in Christ and yet we so often live out of old selves of anxiety, fear, and anger. Paul tells us how to live into who we already are in Christ by becoming our authentic selves. Change is possible not by willpower, but by arranging our lives around Jesus.

We may be living in a moment of the greatest social unrest since 1968 says Greg Ganssle, professor of philosophy at Biola University. Greg shares a timely message reminding us of the authority of Jesus over chaos, over all other authority, and over eight other areas, seen throughout the Gospel of Luke. This same authority is available today, in this current time of uncertainty. How will we respond?

Each of us has been uniquely gifted and invited into a specific calling or ministry. Ger Jones, lead pastor of Vintage Church LA encourages us to step into that unique ministry wholeheartedly, remembering four ingredients that Paul outlined in Colossians 1:24-29. Your ministry is a) for the sake of others, b) probably not visible, yet still vital c) sure to experience suffering and opposition d) a partnership with the Holy Spirit. As we embrace these aspects of our calling we can joyfully join God in his work around us and through us.

This final message in a series of three on Acts 2 describes two dramatic changes the Holy Spirit brought to that small gathering of believers at Pentecost. First, they were moved out of their building and into the streets, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Secondly, they were moved towards fresh unity with a those of diverse languages, cultures, and customs. Pastor Michael suggests that right now we may be seeing a fresh work of the Holy Spirit as COVID-19 takes us out of our church building into our neighborhoods and as we hear God’s invitation to racial reconciliation in this day. What if in the midst of all our current crises an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is on the way?