Over the next four weeks, we’ll be leaning into Missions — a perfect lead-in to Advent, which represents the ultimate mission for humanity: the gift of Christ Himself.
We’ll begin this series by exploring the Great Commission — the call (and command) for every believer to take part in the Kingdom mission of sharing the Good News of Jesus, our only means of salvation and our hope of glory.
How do we hold the tension of the promises of God and the hardships of life that come with being a broken people living in a broken world? What is our perspective when suffering comes our way? We need to take our eyes off the situation, and instead gaze upon the face of Christ. For by Him, we have both the promises of God and the sufficient grace to walk down the path ahead.
Life is full of hard things we have to face, and some of them can leave us feeling weak or defeated. Yet, while we are not called to live a defeated life, we can take comfort in knowing that weakness is actually a position of Kingdom strength. The paradox of “when I am weak, then I am strong” is not because we possess strength in ourselves, but because our strength is found in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit is our advocate, and His fruit equips us with everything we need to face life’s challenges.
This message is a call-back to child-like faith. Focusing on the words of Christ in Mark 10, where Jesus explicitly says that unless we become child-like in our faith, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. This message dives deeper into what it means to embrace such a faith, and the fun we can have along the way.
It was great to gather at Central Vineyard for our Combined Service. Guest Speaker Adam Russell shares on the need for friendship in our discipleship journey and looks at the relationship between David and Jonathan as an archetype of covenant friendship.