The Vine Austin

This is a special Ash Wednesday episode. Though we are not gathering on Ash Wednesday this year, this podcast provides music, a reflection on Psalm 103, and a guided meditation. To receive similar daily audio podcasts during the season of Lent, text the word PODCAST to 97000.

As we continue in the second chapter of our series on peacemaking, Mark shares about disarming our words so that we can learn a vocabulary of peacemaking. Ephesians 4:29-32 www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What is one of your favorite words to say? 2. As you reflect on your experience with the journal this week, what has stayed with you? 3. Read Ephesians 4:29-32. What emerges from th...

In this sermon, Mark kicks off the second chapter in this series on peacemaking. In this message, Mark shares about the Redemptive Art of Peacemaking. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. How was your experience with the journal this week? Has anything stayed with you? 2. What characteristics mark a good listener? 3. What scenes from the Gospels come to mind when you think of Jesus’ mini...

In this sermon, Fabs shares about what it means to find peace with the Church. REFLECTION QUESTIONS Discuss your experience with the journal this week. Has anything been helpful or stayed with you? What has stayed with you from the sermon- either encouraging, confusing, or thought provoking? Read Ephesians 2:19-22; and Ephesians 4:15-16; which of the three metaphors that Paul uses resonates with y...

In this sermon, Mark shares about the importance of finding peace with self. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. Discuss your experience with the journal this week. Has anything been helpful or stayed with you? 2. Discuss the Thomas Merton quote- “There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I wil...

The Vine is beginning a 12 week-long series on peacemaking. In this first sermon, Mark shares an overview of the series and discusses how we must begin by finding peace with God. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Mark shares two different definitions of peace. What are they, and what are the ramifications of each definition? 2. What would you say undercuts your peace with God? 3. How...

January 7th was Vision Sunday at The Vine. In place of a normal sermon, Mark shared an annual pastor's report. www.thevineaustin.org

In this Christmas Eve message, Mark shares about Mary's embodied vulnerability and the calling to be born again. thevineaustin.org

Join us as we continue in our Embodied Advent series by reflecting on what it means that Jesus came to communicate and connect with us by being a part of Embodied Community.

This Advent season, The Vine is engaging a series called EMBODIED ADVENT. In this sermon, Mark continues our theme and discusses the embodied experience of emotions. Exploring Simeon and Mary’s experiences in Luke 2, we see that beholding our emotions and longings before God creates a capacity to behold our Savior. To get the most out of this experience, signup for our daily texts by texting “Adve...

Welcome to the beginning of (unofficial) Advent. This week, The Vine is prematurely entering into the season of Advent into our series EMBODIED ADVENT. In this sermon, Mark introduces our theme and shares our practices for this season. To get the most out of this experience, signup for our daily texts by texting “Advent2023” to 97000. www.thevineaustin.org Discussion Questions: 1. What, if anythin...

In final sermon of the Jonah series, Mark explores the themes from Jonah 4 including the challenges of God’s mercy and the call towards enemy love. Applying this message, Mark also discusses the conflict in Gaza/Israel. To see the e-version postcard for daily reflections, go to thevineaustin.org/worship REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. What has stayed with you from the sermon? Either an encouragement, cha...

In this next sermon, Mark shares from Jonah chapter 3. In this message, we discuss ways to read this type of scripture, communal sin, repentance, and parity in God’s character. To see the e-version postcard for daily reflections, go to thevineaustin.org/worship DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has stayed with you from the sermon? Either an encouragement, challenge or something confusing? 2. Read Jona...

In the second sermon in our Jonah series, Fabs leads us through Jonah's prayer of Thanksgiving so that we can explore Jonah's experience of God's mercy. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has stayed with you from the sermon? 2. When you consider the Who, What, When, Where, Why of God's mercy - which part do you think is easiest for people to grasp, and which part seems the trickiest? 3. What makes it h...

In this first message, Mark shares from Jonah chapter 1, its context, how some people read it, and ultimately how Jonah gives us a cautionary tale about running from God. To see the e-version postcard for daily reflections, go to https://www.thevineaustin.org/worship DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has stayed with you from the sermon? 2. When you think of the story of Jonah, what comes to mind? 3. M...

In the final sermon in this series, guest Scott Erickson shares on how the Gospel is not just a personal salvation project but is about a new social order. Amos overview here: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/amos/ Amos 5:21-24, Matthew 25:31-40 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Share about your experiences this week with the Seek First journal. 2. What has stayed with you from the message? What was...

In this sermon, Mark continues our SEEK FIRST series by exploring the difference between being deeply formed and shallowly shaped. Romans 11:33-12:2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Share about your experiences this week with the Seek First journal. 2. What has stayed with you from the message? What was encouraging, challenging or confusing? 3. In the sermon, Mark shared the quote- “Every system is perfec...

As we continue to explore what it means to SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God, Fabs shares what it might look like to seek integrated living vs a fragmented life. Luke 13:10-21 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has your experience been with the journal this week? What is staying with you? 2. Which type of fragmentation that Fabs described resonated with you: (1) compartmentalization (where you keep areas o...

In this sermon, Mark continues our SEEK FIRST with a sermon about seeking contentment and not consumerism. Matthew 6:24-34 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has your experience been with the journal this week? What is staying with you? 2. Respond to the quote from French sociologist, Jean Baudrillard. "In the Western world, materialism has become the new and dominant system of meaning …Atheism hasn’t...

As we continue in our SEEK FIRST series, Mark shares about the trappings of cynicism and how sincerity leads to restoration. www.thevineaustin.org DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What has your experience been with the journal this week? What is staying with you? 2. How would you describe cynicism? 3. Discuss the four dangers Mark shares about cynicism. Cynicism 1) has a self-fulfilling power, 2) closes o...

We are continuing in our SEEK FIRST series with the next message on seeking unity not sameness. In this sermon, Mark shares the difference between the two and how putting Jesus at the center changes everything. www.thevineaustin.org 1. What has your experience been with the journal this week? What is staying with you? 2. What are some ways you think a kingdom of sameness and a kingdom of unity are...

Mark kicks off a new series SEEK FIRST with this sermon on Jesus' teaching of the narrow road. To begin this series, we must seek the living Christ and not empty religion. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 
1. What has your experience been with the journal this week? What is staying with you? 2. Read together Matthew 7:7-14. What do you make of the promise that one will receive that which they seek? 3. Verse...

In this message, Fabs wraps up our 'Moments with Jesus' sermon series by exploring the dynamic between the Father and the Son, and how their partnership empowered Jesus to walk to the Cross.

In this message, Mark shares from the end of Matthew 9 and the beginning of Matthew 10. Connecting two teachings, we find a common thread of the plentiful harvest and what to do when we experience rejection. Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:5-15 www.thevineaustin.org

In this message, Mark returns from his sabbatical to talk about the central concept of a life with Jesus- living on pilgrimage with Christ. Matthew 4:18-25 www.thevineaustin.org