Vinelife Podcast

   17 September 2023 John 13.1-17 Throughout this series we have focused on eternal life as a way of life in the present, of getting heaven into us, not just getting us into heaven. Often when the subject of washing feet comes up, the focus becomes about the ritual as church ceremony, or the humility of Jesus, rather than the focusing on the lesson of service and of how to love one anoth...

   10 September 2023 John 12:36b-50 Jesus was specific, his role was to be the light of the world and show people the Way to eternal life not to judge them. Jesus’ role as savior did not mean he rejected the standard of God’s Word but to reserve judgment for those who refused to see when all was said and done. If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do so here: vine...

   3 September 2023 John 12:12-36a Jesus’ kingdom is vastly different than the kingdom that the religious leaders wanted even as they prayed for God’s kingdom what they wanted was a kingdom that fulfilled their own wishes, one fulfilled their will, not God’s will. As God’s people, we too can pray for God’s kingdom but inadvertently press for own will rather than God’s will. So we d...

   John 11.55-12.11   27 August 2023 The word Christ or Messiah literally means the anointed one. In this text we find that Jesus’ anointing not only comes from the Father, but that the Father had appointed a faithful and god-fearing woman to anoint Jesus for his crown, his glorification, and his burial, that would culminate his be declared the king of the cosmos. In this surprise turn o...

   John 11:1-54   20 August 2023 One of the seven ‘I am’ statements in the Gospel of John, this particular text is often misunderstood as being simply about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Looming much larger is not only Lazarus but the events that Lazarus resurrection will trigger leading to the moment when Jesus is glorified on the cross, and ultimately leading to the day when the...

   John 10:22-42 13 August 2023 The consensus of the church from the beginning has been that Jesus is not only human but fully divine, but since the 300’s there has also been heretical a heretical group teaching that Jesus was not fully divine. Throughout the Gospel of John we have seen repeatedly the clear witness that John not only believed that he was divine, but that the Jews clearly...

   John 10:1-21 6 August 2023 The metaphors within this chapter point us to the relationship of Jesus and His people in a powerful way. Our temptation is to drill down on the metaphors because each one is so rich, but then miss the bigger picture of what they tell us holistically, that Jesus is not simply leading us as a shepherd or protecting us as the gate, but that God has come to his...

   John 9:1-41 30 July 2023 How is God working in the midst of life? How might God be using my current situation, good or bad, for His glory to be displayed? If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do so here: vinelife.church/give       The post Eternal Life – This Is The Way: God Working In The Midst Of Life appeared first on VineLife Christian...

   John 8:31-59 23 July 2023 The knowing (embracing, experiencing) lived out in obedience leads to life! If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do so here: vinelife.church/give       The post Eternal Life – This Is The Way: The Truth That You KNOW Sets You FREE! appeared first on VineLife Christian Church .

   John 8:12-30 16 July 2023 What does it look like to embrace Jesus in order to experience life-giving light? If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do so here: vinelife.church/give       The post Eternal Life – This Is The Way: The Light That Leads to Life appeared first on VineLife Christian Church .

   John 7:32-52   9 July 2023 Significant to our growth in and enjoyment of eternal life is to recognize the role our will plays in all that we do and how we respond both to God and to other persons. Having been created in the likeness and image of God means that our will is powerful, and spiritually substantial, which is often made light in the church out of respect for the Sovereignty...

   John 7.1-31 2 July 2023 We often speak of God as our provision, meaning that God gives us what we need, but truth be told, it is easy in this world to see ourselves, our hard work, and our productivity as the source of our provision, forgetting that the resources of this world, as our as our abilities are all provided by the creator who has given his provision both to the just and the...

   John 6:25-71 25 June 2023 This is often noted as one of the hardest sayings of Jesus to comprehend and it is often a source of controversy just as it was in Jesus’ day. Jesus was no stronger to controversy and he often employed these difficult sayings to weed out those who did not “have ears to hear.” For those earnest disciples these hard sayings would later be understood again...

   John 6:1-21 18 June 2023 I have often heard it said that our expectations can be our greatest obstacle to enjoying and experiencing what is happening. Often what we think ought to happen keeps us from seeing the beauty or goodness of what is happening. In fact some of our greatest sources of conflict are often our unmet expectations. The people of Jesus’ day had many ideas about Messi...

   John 5:1-47 11 June 2023 Sometimes we get overly fixed on the roles within the Trinity. There is no separation in God, God is one. The Son only does what the Father does is not about subordination but unity. Likewise, it is not just Jesus that loves you, but you are loved by the Father because there is no separation in God.  If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do s...

   John 4:43-52 04 June 2023 This was another encounter of Jesus in a private conversation not contained in the other biographies of Matthew, Mark & Luke. Once again Jesus was speaking to someone of questionable background and faith. While this person was socially elite, he was not spiritually elite. That was always a problem for the Pharisees, but what happened in this man’s life wa...

   John 4:1-42 28 May 2023 Two weeks ago we read about Nicodemus, the first of seven conversations only recorded in the Gospel of John but left out of the other biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark and Luke). This week we pick up in the second conversation with an unnamed Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well, outside of town in the middle of nowhere. Everything about her said she was a nobody...

   John 3:22-36 21 May 2023 Nicodemus came to meet a powerful Rabbi who did signs and wonders, someone he thought might be the Messiah. What he found out was that the Messiah loved the whole world, not just the Jews, and he did not come to conquer Rome but sin and death. What a disorienting surprise to find out that your theology as the teacher of Israel was not in line with the heart of...

   John 3. 1-21 14 May 2023 Nicodemus came to meet a powerful Rabbi who did signs and wonders, someone he thought might be the Messiah. What he found out was that the Messiah loved the whole world, not just the Jews, and he did not come to conquer Rome but sin and death. What a disorienting surprise to find out that your theology as the teacher of Israel was not in line with the heart of...

   John 2.13-25 7 May 2023 What does Jesus’ zeal for the temple and worship have to do with us? When we read the word temple we tend to think about brick and mortar but the imagery of the New Testament moves us from brick and mortar to Jesus, and later in the writings of Paul, to the indwelling Holy Spirit in God’s people. The zeal of Jesus for the temple of God was not about protecting...

   John 1:35-2:12 30 April 2023 There are many ideas about what eternal life is and how we attain it. The Bible speaks of only one way, by knowing the eternal God and Jesus Christ his Son. In the gospel of John we see this lived out, as Jesus invites his disciples to do life with him, not as a religious practice but in the everyday stuff. Likewise we are invited to know eternal life, not...

   John 1:19-34 23 April 2023 I am convinced that some of the greatest heroes of heaven will be the nameless and faceless of church history, people who plowed fallow ground, who laid ground work for the gospel in hard places, and who often wondered if they made a difference. Everyone likes to win, and most of us like being heroes, but we forget that without the assist, the goals and the...

   John 1:1-18 16 April 2023 From the very beginning it has always been the heart of God for us to know God and to be with God, to dwell with God forever. And from the very beginning God has sought to teach us that real life, the abundant life, is so much more than biology and desires, and the eternal life is more than heaven. If you would like to support us in our ministry you can do so...

   Mark 16.1-8 9 April 2023 The gospel of Mark comes to a dramatic ending in the resurrection of Jesus and those critical words, “quickly now go tell his disciples and Peter, He is Risen, Just as he said.” Those words bring to completion every hint within the biography of Jesus ministry, that nothing was left to chance. That Jesus of Nazareth was not just some peasant preacher, but that...

   Mark 15.1-47 2 April 2023 It probably sounds crazy to hear, but this chapter is a powerful analogy of the ceremony of triumph, common in Roman celebrations for generals who returned victorious in battle. This event in particular, almost verbatim, followed the ceremony used by Rome to celebrate Titus some forty years later, after he ransacked Jerusalem and destroyed it’s temple i...