January 31, 2026
Happy Saturday, Grace Vineyard Family and friends of Grace.
It’s already the last day of January, and time for the last Weekly Update of January as well.
Kim and I have spent the last week working around our house on a 30 year “purge”. Going through boxes and boxes of things collected over our lives thus far — birthday and anniversary cards, photos, receipts, knick-knacks, children’s toys, old furniture….you name it. After at least 4 trips to Good Will, multiple sales on Facebook Marketplace, and overflowing recycle and trash bins we’ve still got a lot to go. If you’ve ever done a project like this, you know how the process brings up so many memories. You are reminded again of the riches of relationship. Relationship with family and friends and the Lord Himself. They are all treasures, and ultimately, Jesus is the biggest treasure of all. “This is eternal life – that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent“, were the words of Jesus’ famous prayer the night He was betrayed to be crucified. “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward,”, were the words of Yahweh to Abraham as God established His covenant with Abraham, his offspring, including us, Abraham’s offspring by faith. This week’s message will be related to the treasures of the Kingdom of God and a key principle for finding them…
The Surprising Satisfaction of Hunger and Thirst in the Kingdom of God
This Sunday I am preparing a message about a Kingdom Principle that is conterintuitive. The Kingdom of God is often called the upside down Kingdom because so many things work opposite from the way they work in our world. In our world when you hunger and thirst it means you lack; hunger and thirst are to be avoided. Food and drink are limited resources. But in the Kingdom of God, hunger and thirst for God are actually a means to abundance, not lack. In God’s Kingdom, hunger and thirst for Jesus and His Kingdom are to be pursued, not avoided, because when you hunger and thirst for Jesus, you are filled and satisfied. The more you hunger, the more you are satisfied. Spiritual food and drink are limitless resources in the Kingdom of God. Thousands of years ago, the Jewish prophet Isaiah wrote about this concept in a poetic prophecy:
Isaiah 55:1-2
Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
We hope you can all be with us in person on Sunday, but if that’s not possible, you can join us online on Zoom with this link Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814 and you can also find our livestream on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.
Compelled by His Love Series Available
Last week our special guest Caitlin Guess, missions pastor at City Gate church in Orange County, brought a wonderful final sermon called “Love Looks Like Something” for our “Compelled by His Love Series”. Here’s a link to a Youtube Playlist with all four of the sermons for your convenience: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4qHtDaFxzS8_oiOZsbP0EfC4_tklVJMq&si=Z-BCPlUsmkVZ5m3Q
You’ll find Caitlin’s message there.
Grace Vineyard Merch Shop
This is a fun announcement to make. Ever wish you had a Grace Vineyard hoodie? Well, we’ve created an online Grace Vineyard Merch Shop. You go online and purchase things like hoodies, hats, totes, mugs, etc that our team has created, they make one for you, and ship it directly to you. Here’s a shirt that I just ordered for myself:
I think I’ll wear it on a Sunday morning as soon as it arrives. When we created the site, we chose the option where the church makes no money from these sales, so the prices you see are the lowest this company has. It’s a fun way to represent our church family and to start conversations that might easily turn into “Holy Hello’s”. You can get to the shop at this link: https://grace-vineyard-merch.myspreadshop.com, or you can just use the QR code in the graphic above. Is there something you’d like to see there that isn’t there already? Just ask and we’ll see if we can make it available for you.
Ladies Walk Saturday, February 14th at Guajome Park
Practicing the Way 8 Week Men and Women’s Study Tuesday Evenings
Sabbath Practice Men and Women’s Study Monday Evenings
Prayer After Church Next Sunday
Next Sunday, February 8th, is our Prayer Sunday. Please make plans to join us for any part of the hour we’ve set aside to seek the Lord, listen to His voice, and intercede for our church, our missionaries, our youth, our city…and whatever else the Lord lays on our hearts.
Men’s Retreat in 2 Months
Can you believe our Men’s Retreat is only 2 months away? That’s right, we men our going up to Palomar Mountain on Friday, March 27-Sunday March 29th for another one of our EPIC men’s retreats. Palomar Christian Conference Center is really pretty awesome with lots of activities for our free time like zip line, skeet shooting with shot guns, horseback riding, hiking trails, rifle range, archery, paintball, and more. And it’s in a beautiful mountain retreat center. If you’ve never been, check out their webpage at palomar.camp. And that’s just the location. We’ll also have amazing times of worship, teaching, and prayer. Our men’s retreats at PCCC have always been incredible, and I’m so glad we’ll be returning in the Spring. They having 2 styles of housing accommodations – dorm rooms and hotel style. The Dorm Rooms will cost $230, and the Hotel Style rooms will cost $285. This will include all the food for the weekend too. See Steve Rogers for more more information. You can contact him via text at (760) 500-4324, email him at or srogers@gracevcf.org. To make it easy for everyone, you can pay the entire registration fee any time now, or you can make smaller payments every week/month and we’ll save it up for you. If you’re ready, here’s where you can pay online:
And that’s it for this week’s update. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.
with blessings and love,
Ron Ohst
Tithes and Offerings Online
THANKS for taking ownership in the life and ministry of Grace Vineyard! And thanks to all of you who are stepping into a lifestyle of generosity with your tithes and offerings. It really does take all of us doing our part with the income God has entrusted to us for His church. If you’d like to give your tithe or offering online, click the donate button below. If you’re giving to a specific fund (like benevolence or missions), just be sure to say that when you are given an option to add a note with your donation.