Franklin Vineyard Church

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  Happy Independence Day weekend! This is a momentous year for Americans celebrating 250 years of independence, but for the Christ follower, we have always been free! We've been set free from the bondage of sin, from darkness, from captivity, and God has placed us into His marvelous Kingdom! As...

Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”   As news of John the Baptist’s imprisonment spread, Jesus stepped into the spotlight, beginning His public ministry in Galilee. His message was urgent and transformative: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus encountered ordina...

Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Continuing in our study of Jesus' baptism, we're looking at the Identity of the Son of God. The baptism story is told four different ways all declaring the same thing: Jesus is the Christ the Son of God! And this identity comes from the heart of the Father. God's words to Jesus and to...

Matthew 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  We are revisiting the Baptism story in Matthew! The Holy Spirit had been all over the place from the very beginning of Matthew, introduced in 1:20 talking about how what was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit, a...

Matthew 2:14-15 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew is the very first book of the New Testament, which obviously follows the Old Testament, and Matthew meticulously makes theological claims about the personho...

Matthew 1:20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said... In the first few chapters of Matthew, there's something that happens that can easily be glossed over without careful investigation. God revealed His plans for Jesus' birth all in dreams! God speaks to Joseph multiple times in dreams: that Jesus was a gift of the Holy Spirit, to go to...

Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah... We're finishing up our study in Jesus' family history by looking at Rahab! Rahab is such an interesting character study because she was an outsider (as a Gentile) but helped to bring the Hebrews into the Promised Land. For those familiar with the story, it's an incredible account of how God uses unexpected people to bring about...

Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham... We are returning back to Matthew chapter one for just another deep dive into the lineage of Jesus. Matthew is the very first New Testament book after the whole Old Testament, and it was intentionally placed because of Matthew's emphasis on Old Testament promises. For those familiar with the story, an...

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Moving along in our verse-by-verse study in the incredible Gospel of Matthew, we are now in chapter 4! This chapter marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, and before anything happens, we see this clash of powers between Jesus and Satan. It's a powerful message that we see here: Satan twist...

Matthew 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  We are now in chapter 3, looking at how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. It's a very familiar passage where John baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit like a dove descended upon Jesus! What a beautiful picture of the Father's love...

Matthew 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  We are now entering the main content of the Gospel of Matthew: the Kingdom of God. As John the Baptist prepares the way for the Messiah, he proclaims, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near!" Quite literally, John is telling the...

Matthew 2:3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him... Last week, we began our study in Matthew, and we'll be going line-by-line through this incredible book to see how Jesus is King! This week, we'll be looking at Jesus' early life. It was right as He was born that He experienced opposition, and Herod, because of his insecurities and jealousies, was ready to kill J...

Matthew 1:1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham... We are beginning our yearlong study in the Gospel of Matthew and looking at the great heritage of Jesus Christ! Matthew spends a considerable amount of time going through the names of people that went before Jesus, reminding his readers that the Jesus thread goes all the way back to the beginning. Matthe...

Matthew 28:6 He is not here. He is risen as he has said! It is Easter Weekend! Tonight, we'll start by reflecting on the Cross of Christ, remembering what Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago. We'll have two service options at 6 and 7:30 pm. And then we'll wait during Holy Saturday, the space between Friday and Sunday, as God does the impossible. Even if it feels like He's not working, God is sometime...

Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We introduced our last set of values, local and global, last week by looking at our call to grow where we are planted. And this week, we're going to unpack the other side of the value of being globally minded. As Christ asce...

Luke 10:29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” We are introducing our last set of values dealing with our missional focus of being both local and global. In Luke 10, Jesus has just sent out the 72. This was a continuation of Jesus' mission in sending out the Twelve in the previous chapter. We arrive at a very familiar passage of Scripture that many of us...

Mark 5:9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” Last week, we introduced the third set of values: Compassion and Deliverance. We talked about how these are two aspects of ministering to the hurt and broken. We recognize the humanity, the need of the person, and we also recognize that there's an underlying spiritual aspect to the brokenness. A...

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Moving along in our Rooted and Rising series, we are now looking at the Value of being people who continue the works of Jesus by being compassionate. We are now exploring the next set of values with compassion and deliverance, and these are two sides of the same c...

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 Go...

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 w...

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 p...

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 li...

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 we...

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...

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 dis...