Category Archives: Sermons

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

Vineyard Values Series: Reconciling Community

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This was the hardest sermon I’ve ever preached (noting, of course, my loooong career as a preacher). 😛  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.

Continue reading Vineyard Values Series: Reconciling Community →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

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?!

Continue reading Vineyard Values Series: Kingdom Theology and Practice →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

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…

Continue reading Who Are We? Vineyard Values Series →
Payette River Vineyard, Sermons, Theology Thoughts

Remembering the Body of Christ

I’m about a week late in posting this…yet, better late than never.  🙂

Below is my sermon notes from March 6th – the audio version can be found at the PRV website.

Blessings.

Remembering the Body of Christ

God is on the move.

He showed up last week in a powerful way…the Spirit – the Presence of the Lord was THICK.  Part of me didn’t want to leave – didn’t want it to end.

You want to know a secret?

The Presence of the Lord shows up for a reason. Do you know what that reason is?

It is to empower His people to be the hands and feet of Him – to be the body of Christ – to be the church. It is not enough to simply bask in His Presence on Sunday – and, let me tell you, basking in it a GOOD thing – we need to bask sometimes – to soak Him up…

But once His Spirit has permeated every part of us – every cell – then we need go. You see, God did not “lift” His Spirit from us last Sunday – He permeated us!

We became so filled with Him we couldn’t tell the difference – like a fish in the water. The fish doesn’t recognize the water – it is normal for him. It is part of life. That is what happened to us – we were filled till we couldn’t see any difference.

Continue reading Remembering the Body of Christ →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

Breaking Out of Our Cages: The Nerd Version

When I was preparing for Sunday’s sermon about pursuing God’s adventure, I wanted to use an example from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Sadly enough, I did not…something about having to spend half the sermon setting up the story, explaining what hobbits were, etc…

(A friend once complained about why pastors are allowed to use sports analogies but not Star Trek analogies…)

Online, however, is a different story – a lot of you folks are nerdy like me!  Therefore, I am going to tell you the story I wanted to tell the church. 😛

Here’s the set up…remember, the sermon is dealing with breaking out of one’s cage (fears, responsibilities, guilt, traditions, etc) and following God in His adventure….

Breaking Out of Our Cages: The Nerd Version

Bilbo Baggins was a respectful hobbit from a long line of respectful hobbits:

“The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures of did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him.”

This all changed the day Gandalf and 13 dwarves showed up for tea – quite unexpected, of course as a good hobbit wouldn’t be seen in such company!

Continue reading Breaking Out of Our Cages: The Nerd Version →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God's Adventure

Sunday was my “first” sermon as a senior pastor and, wow,  did God show up! Granted, it helps when He wakes you up at night and tells you what to say (as He did last Tuesday evening). I don’t know what He is up too – but I’m willing to follow and see what happens. 🙂

Audio version located on the Payette River Vineyard website.

Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God’s Adventure

The last few weeks have been tough for me…lots of changes…new responsibilities – attacks on our fellowship by the enemy…. Tons of leadership questions – now that we have opened the question of church elders, what happens? What does the structure of this church look like?

One of the dangers of growing up in the church is seeing too many models – too many leadership concepts – too many ways of doing ‘church.’ We need a fresh touch from the Lord – not a structure imported from somewhere else. We need to hear from God….

And that is scary.

What if miss His voice? What if we only catch part of what He is saying? What if we hear Him and don’t like what He has to say?

We have been learning seven principles in our “Experiencing God” study:

  1. God is always at work around you
  2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal
  3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work
  4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways
  5. God’s invitations for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action
  6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing
  7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you

Principle five is a “crisis of belief” – this is where we hear God and have to choose if we what to follow Him. Do we want to do the required adjustments in our lives to join God?

Continue reading Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God's Adventure →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God’s Adventure

5 Comments

Sunday was my “first” sermon as a senior pastor and, wow,  did God show up! Granted, it helps when He wakes you up at night and tells you what to say (as He did last Tuesday evening). I don’t know what He is up too – but I’m willing to follow and see what happens. 🙂

Audio version located on the Payette River Vineyard website.

Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God’s Adventure

The last few weeks have been tough for me…lots of changes…new responsibilities – attacks on our fellowship by the enemy…. Tons of leadership questions – now that we have opened the question of church elders, what happens? What does the structure of this church look like?

One of the dangers of growing up in the church is seeing too many models – too many leadership concepts – too many ways of doing ‘church.’ We need a fresh touch from the Lord – not a structure imported from somewhere else. We need to hear from God….

And that is scary.

What if miss His voice? What if we only catch part of what He is saying? What if we hear Him and don’t like what He has to say?

We have been learning seven principles in our “Experiencing God” study:

  1. God is always at work around you
  2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal
  3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work
  4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways
  5. God’s invitations for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action
  6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing
  7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you

Principle five is a “crisis of belief” – this is where we hear God and have to choose if we what to follow Him. Do we want to do the required adjustments in our lives to join God?

Continue reading Breaking Out of Our Cages and Pursuing God’s Adventure →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons, Theology Thoughts

Prayer and Fasting

Last Sunday I had the honor of kicking off a 21 day prayer and fasting time for the Payette River Vineyard. As we head into our fifth year as a church, we wanted to hear Go’s direction for our lives and for the church in general.

The cool part is that we are going to gather together at the end of the 21 days for a special time of prayer. Specially, we are expecting God for healing miracles, emotional miracles and spiritual deliverance. It should be a wonderful time seeing God work. 🙂

Click here to listen to the sermon.

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons, Theology Thoughts

Sermon: "Fullness of God"

While I usually posts my sermon notes, today I’m going to forgo that tradition and just point you all to the audio file of yesterday’s sermon.

I’m doing this mainly because I didn’t end up using them and they don’t convey the passion and detail that the audio version does.  🙂

The main theme of the sermon was that Good News of Jesus goes way beyond forgiveness of sin. It is an invitation into a New Life today. It was a passion filled sermon close to my heart.

Give it a listen.

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons, Theology Thoughts

Sermon: “Fullness of God”

While I usually posts my sermon notes, today I’m going to forgo that tradition and just point you all to the audio file of yesterday’s sermon.

I’m doing this mainly because I didn’t end up using them and they don’t convey the passion and detail that the audio version does.  🙂

The main theme of the sermon was that Good News of Jesus goes way beyond forgiveness of sin. It is an invitation into a New Life today. It was a passion filled sermon close to my heart.

Give it a listen.