June 7, 2024

Happy Friday to my Grace Vineyard Family and Friends!

As I begin another of my weekly update emails, I want to remind us all of the a simple phrase that summarizes very simply so much of what is important to us as a community of Jesus Followers and Worshippers:  REAL GOD | REAL PEOPLE | RESTORING LIVES

To unpack these words, I’ll just quote directly from the about page on our website.

These 3 phrases summarize what’s important to us:  at Grace Vineyard, we want to see people encounter God, grow as disciples in authentic community, and together restore people to wholeness by the power of Jesus Christ. We believe we are called to be to each other what Jesus has been to us so that together we can impact the world with the living presence of the Spirit of God in us. And when we live like that, we bring Glory to God.

Here’s a more complete way to describe each of these 3 essentials:

Real God

God is alive! When we meet He shows up, and we experience Him through His Word, His Spirit and each other.

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.”
– Matthew 18:20 NASB

Real People

Come as you are. We grow by getting real with God and others in genuine, caring relationships.

“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
– Acts 2:46-47

Restoring Lives

Give it away. We freely share the truth, love and power of Jesus to heal and restore broken lives.

“For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you…”
– 2 Corinthians 5:19-20

And that reminder leads me right into the theme we will be talking about this coming Sunday morning.  We started reading 1 Thessalonians together last Sunday. and I began with an intro to the important circumstances that led to the writing of this letter to the church at Thessalonica, which is really important for understanding the message of the letter. If you missed it, I really recommend you watch this before Sunday so we will all be on the same page:

We have a Mission in our world, as did Paul, Silas, and Timothy (not to mention all the other Jesus followers of their day), and we’ll see in chapter 2 of the letter how absolutely important it is that we have a heart of Love for the people with whom we share the Gospel, as well as pure motives.

Consider reading the letter once or twice before Sunday morning to get your hearts prepared to receive what the Holy Spirit will be teaching us when we open the Word together.  If you are not able to be with us in person this Sunday, you can always join online via the Zoom app with this info:  Zoom Meeting ID  153 112 432, Passcode 684814. You may also join us on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.

TOMORROW MORNING: Men’s Breakfast and Ladies Walk

For our Men, we are very excited to welcome Pastor Kevin Bruce from Calvary Chapel Oceanside.  We’ll be meeting at Ty’s Burgerhouse at 8am tomorrow morning, June 8th for a delicious breakfast that includes biscuits and gravy, eggs served country scramble style, potatoes, Orange Juice, and Coffee.    We’ll worship together, and then we’ll hear an encouraging word from Kevin.  Guys, if you’ve never joined us, we hope tomorrow will be the first of many breakfasts we can share together!

Ladies, you’ll be meeting at 9am in the grassy area at the corner of Pine and Carlsbad Blvd for some exhilarating outdoor fellowship at the Carlsbad Beach Walk.  If you are planning on going, please text or call Kathy Green at 760-583-1779 to let the ladies know to expect you.

All Church Prayer this Sunday

By now I think most of us know the rhythm we are keeping of praying together after church for about an hour on the 2nd Sunday of every month.  I can’t emphasize enough how essential prayer is to everything we do.  God has designed it to be so.  For our church family to flourish in every way that God has called us, we need to bring our requests to Him.  I hope some more of you will join us right after church to seek the Lord for His direction, His favor and His abundant provision in all that He has called us to be and do in our city. It will be roughly from 11:45am to 1pm.

Face To Face, Friday, June 14th

All ladies are invited for a time of worship, teaching, prayer and swimming at Sheri Winter’s home (4538 Coronado Dr., Oceanside).  We’ll gather at 6:30 for snacks and hang out.  Worship will begin at 7pm.  Bring your suit for an evening swim after the meeting.  Call Kim Ohst for more information 760.519.4558.

New Monday Night Women’s Bible Study Starts This Monday

Our Women of Grace who went to our last retreat will certainly remember our amazing speaker, Dianne Leman.  Dianne has written a book called, “Hello Holy Spirit, God’s Gift of Live-in Help”, and there is a 7 session DVD study to go along with it.  Debby Gidley will be leading this study on Monday nights, beginning this coming Monday, June 10th.  The study will take place at Lisa Rogers’ home, 1771 Round Tree Dr., Oceanside.     If you have questions, call or text Debby at 760-637-9286.  You can also email her at debby@gracevcf.org.

That’s all for this week.

Have a wonderful, joy-filled weekend, and I’ll see you all on Sunday morning.

With blessings  and love,

Ron Ohst