Vineyard Manhattan Podcast

We live in a world where people give us all kinds of rules, only to give up on us when we get them wrong. Is God the same way? The fact is, God gives us rules because he believes in who we can become; but when we get them wrong, he doesn't give up on us. Instead, it's an opportunity for him to show his faithfulness! --- If you’re looking for a church home in New York City, we invite you to visit o...

The Bible says there is nothing to gain by pretending to be something you're not. In fact, there is everything to lose! God is inviting you to live a Real Life that flows from the inside out: one that earns praise from God, who can see what other humans can't -- your heart. --- If you’re looking for a church home in New York City, we invite you to visit our community at Vineyard Manhattan for Sund...

We live in a world that is full of hypocrites — people who say one thing and do another, and still have the gall to judge others! But hypocrisy isn’t just a bad character trait; rules create the opportunity for hypocrisy to exist in the first place. Far from curing hypocrisy, the rules create hypocrites. And yet, Jesus — the only one with a right to judge anyone — offers us freedom from judgment f...

We live in an unfair world. We make rules to make things fair again - and yet, the rules don't do this. Instead, the rules often create new opportunities for unfairness. But God is fair - not only is He fair generally, but he's fair with respect to how He applies the rules. While everyone else in the World is unfair, God alone is utterly fair; the only being he has been unfair to, in fact, is hims...

God does not want us to be lonely - God wants us to belong, with a belonging that is real. A belonging that isn't built on getting it right, but on transcending the status of the world with God and God's people. Belonging is not about what you have done, but what Christ has done for you! Experience fellowship with us at: www.vineyardmanhattan.org

We think we know all about living - but are we really alive? What kind of life are we living? The life we live is meant not to descend into obsession with physical things and raw animal existence, but to ascend to a higher form of life called Eternal Life -- because Real Life Is Eternal. Experience our fellowship at www.vineyardmanhattan.org

We are all believing, all the time, using faith to animate our lives. The question is not whether or not we are believing - the only question is what are we believing in? Success, money, power, status, physical pleasure - we believe in anything we think will make our lives meaningful. But God wants you to leave behind these temporary things you believe in for the real thing; God knows that it is b...

Everyone is beholding something. And whatever you are looking for, it governs how you live. This city is full of people whose lives are determined by what they are beholding; instead, we need to see something that frees us from our cravings. The only thing that we can behold that will meet our needs in this way is God. God wants us, and God wants this city, to be set free by Beholding the Living G...

The world is full of very hungry people. In the face of this incredible spiritual hunger, our world only offers "North-Pole" answers - spiritual candy that excites for a second, but doesn't truly fill, nourish, or satisfy. In contrast, as a newborn Jesus was placed in a manger - a feeding trough offered up to the world to provide real nourishment. Why continue to feed your spirit with things that...

What do you want the most? The things that our in our lives that we desire most are there because we want them to be. In the same way, you only have as much of God in your life as you desire; if God's power hasn't been released into your life, it's because you don't desire Him. Jesus experienced death at the hands of Pontius Pilate and the Jewish leaders who were envious of his power; they didn't...

We all want someone to be close to us - but sometimes it feels like God is farther away than anyone else. But is God really just too close for us to appreciate who He really is? Sometimes we can feel far away by being "too close" - just as Jesus himself went unappreciated by those in his hometown. The only way to get closer to the God who's already in your heart, is through faith. There is no clos...

Vineyard veteran Eleanor Mumford breaks down the Gospel into three key elements: Christ's Manifesto, His Mandate, and our Mission. Experience our fellowship at www.vineyardmanhattan.org

So often, we are quick to tell God what we want, but just as quick to move on from the "inconvenience" of giving him thanks and praise for what He does in our lives. In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus meets ten lepers, all of whom He sends away healed - but only one comes back to praise Him! We need to see that God has helped us, and go out of our way to thank him in return. Experience our fellowship at www....

In this special Thanksgiving episode, members of the Vineyard Manhattan community share what they’re thankful for this year. This episode was produced by Ann DuBois. Music by Michael Shynes, Louis Island, Bobby Quick and Christof Walters. Special thanks to Johana Coronel for her translating help.

A well-known maxim states, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” People in positions of power often abuse their power toward selfish ends. That said, there is a form of great power that does not corrupt. It is a power we all need. It works in us and through us for both our benefit and the benefit of others. It is the power of God. The Good News is that God delights to m...

What makes you feel alive? The feeling of being alive is a strength and force all on its own; yet so often we don't feel this way in the World. Instead, we feel numb, dull, apathetic, dead. In a world where we feel less and less alive, we turn to addictions to intensify our physical experiences - only to sap our everyday vitality. At the end of the day, being alive is not a matter of physical inte...

Is there a Love that we can't be separated from? A love to surpass all trials & tribulations, that never breaks fellowship, survives beyond distress, endures in times of plenty and want, that will never be beaten back or destroyed? Thank God in Heaven there is! The Bible says that in this world of failing love, a great new love has entered in -- the Love of God, a love that never ends, never s...

Today we have a special message from Lead Pastor Adam Schalter ahead of the election. We hope God blesses you through this message today. This episode was produced by Ann DuBois. Music by Low Light. Special thanks to Coram Deo for the use of their space for recording.

In a world run by rules, grace is EVERYTHING. Our life is dominated by rules and checklists and 7-step programs to living a better life, but we are fundamentally unable to "get it right." We are doomed to always get it wrong -- unless some other power comes in to let us experience getting it right, even if we didn't follow the rules. The good news is, we can stop living under the imprisonment of t...

You don't just need to be saved; you should want it. Are we really going to say that every change we need in our lives is under our control? We need help experiencing change - we just don't like to call it what it is: salvation! Salvation is such incredible news because when we are saved, God does all the work to change us - we don't need to do any of the work ourselves. Salvation is waiting for u...

So often, we lump God's attempts to speak to us into a category of unwanted, inconvenient, or annoying demands that make us uncomfortable and threaten our control over our lives. But hearing from God isn't just about doing something for him or helping others - hearing from God is good for you. In the book of Acts, Philip shows us an example of doing God's work simply by listening; God did all the...

Why is it so hard to ask for help? We all want to believe we can do it ourselves - but asking for help is inevitably the more mature thing to do. Our physical weaknesses are really opportunities for us to recognize how much we need God's help over and over again each day. And if this is true for us, how much more true is it for those who are lost in the darkness of the World? When we clearly see t...

We all need some good news - but when it comes to the good news of the gospel, where do we start? We all need to be saved - but first we need to know what to be saved from. In the Modern Western world, where so many of our external circumstances have been solved, there is no felt need to be saved from anything... except an internal circumstance so insidious that we can't control it: ourselves. The...

Have you ever been left behind? In this world, the experience of being left behind is an unfortunately common one. This theme is relevant in the Broadway show The Roommate, as well as in the book of Ruth. In both stories, we find people for whom everything would change if just one person would enter into their lives - and stay. If you're feeling that way today, there is good news: when everyone el...

What's gone wrong with the World? We all have a sense that things "shouldn't be this way." How do we get back to the way it should be? The Broadway musical Hadestown struggles with this dilemma - as does the Bible. In Hadestown, Orpheus expresses his hope through the power of song; and in the Bible, God says he will raise us up and sing a great song of change, a song of a new day, a song to fix wh...