February 21, 2026
Happy Saturday to our Grace Vineyard Family and Friends.
I’m still in the afterglow from last Sunday’s baptisms. I’m not sure where they all came from, but the line for people to get baptized kept growing, and I think 11 people in all made public declarations of their commitment to follow Jesus as they went under the waters of baptism. The service ended up going a lot longer than we had planned, but so many of you were willing to stay and pray and encourage and bring prophetic words to those being baptized. It was a really special day. Thank you to all who participated.
Matt Evans was back in the tech booth manning the cameras, but he too heard a word from the Holy Spirit while people were sharing their God stories as they prepared to get baptized: “Expunged!”. Do you know the difference between a pardon and an expungement? In legal terms, expungement removes the record entirely of someone who had been convicted of a crime, while pardon forgives the offense but does not erase the record. If you’ve been pardoned of a crime, it will still show up on a background check. But if it has been expunged, no record of the crime exists. That’s what God’s Grace does with our sins. They are removed and forgotten. God forgets our sins! Think about how incredible that is. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us,” says the Psalmist in Psalm 103. God’s Grace is that extreme. We aren’t simply forgiven of our sins, they are expunged! They are removed completely. There is no record of them. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of Life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering…” is the conclusion the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 8:1-3. As I thought about this great truth this week, I felt I should open up the scriptures and talk about it with you as a natural follow up to the talk I gave on understanding the power of baptism last week.
I think it will be encouraging and perhaps surprising to hear the shocking exent of God’s Grace as described in the Sciptures. I hope you can join us on Sunday morning, but if you are unable to join us in person here’s the info you need to join us online: 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.
And if you missed it, here’s the talk on baptism I did last Sunday morning:
We have several opportunities to grow together this coming week.
2 New Practicing The Way Groups
Practicing the Way 8 Week Men and Women’s Study Tuesday Evenings
Sabbath Practice Men and Women’s Study Monday Evenings
Mom 2 Mom Goes to School February 27
Are you a mom in need of support from other moms? Or are you a mom who has been there and wants to lend your support to others? Then you are welcome to Mom 2 Mom, a peer to peer and mentoring group designed to uplift, enrich, share and connect moms. We’ll gather Friday, February 27th at 6pm at Grace Vineyard on the terrace for a program that will include sharing a meal, connecting and inspiration. This month, representatives from Mira Costa will be present and we’ll be focusing on education and career paths. Childcare will be provided- please let Sheri know how many kids/what ages. To find out more, call Sheri Winter at 760-208-8403.
Men, it’s time to sign up for our Men’s Retreat next month.
Men’s Retreat March 27-29
We men are 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 does it for this week’s Weekly Update. Have a great rest of your day, and I’ll see you at 9:30 for worship.
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.