November 7, 2026
Hello Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,
It’s time for another Weekly Update. The first thing to mention is that the Women’s Retreat started last night, so let’s remember to pray for them throughout the weekend. There are about 40 ladies on Palomar Mountain for this retreat. I’ve heard briefly from Kim that the first night was Awesome (I’m not surprised!) They’ll be finishing their retreat around 11am tomorrow, and then returning home.
For those of us staying in the lowlands, we’ll be continuing our journey through the Gospel of Mark tomorrow morning.
Jesus is always Proclaiming the Kingdom of God and Demonstrating the Kingdom of God. Mark 4 starts with Jesus telling several parables about how the Kingdom of God is like farming- planting seeds and reaping harvests. Now Jesus is going to on a very focused mission to plant a seed and reap a hundredfold+ harvest. Proclaim and Demonstrate. He gets on a boat, travels across a large lake to the shores of a very pagan, gentile city called Gadara. As he steps out of the boat, Jesus sets one man free from a terrible demonic “prison” and gets back in the boat after leaving instructions that the man should go tell people how much the Lord has done for him and how He had mercy on him. By the time we get to Mark 7-8, Jesus returns to this same area and there are now crowds that turn into to thousands eager to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom. One seed, large harvest. In this case there’s quite a Spiritual battle that Jesus must contend with to plant this seed, so I’m calling this message “A Spiritual Battle in the Harvest Field.” You’d all do well to read Mark 4:35-5:20 before tomorrow. It’s just one page in my Bible, so it really won’t take much time at all! I hope to see all of you who didn’t go to the women’s retreat at Grace Vineyard in the morning, but if you are not able to join us in person, here’s the info you need for joining us online: 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’re looking for a link to the video or audio for last week’s talk on Planting Seeds and Reaping Harvests from last week, here there are on our YouTube channel and Gracetalks.org Podcast:
The sermon outline for last weeks’ message is available right here:The Gospel of Mark Week 5 Outline
Encounter Worship Night Is Sold Out
We’ve been announcing tomorrow night’s Encounter Worship Night at Front Wave Arena for the past several weeks. Unfortunately, the last time I checked it was sold out. It’s free to get into, but the event organizers were wise to plan on the potential of more people wanting to come than could fit. It’s a 7,500 seat arena, so that’s pretty awesome that we have so many people in our area wanting to gather for a worship night!
Please note, there will not be a Sunday Night Sanctuary Service this week (because we’ve been inviting people to go to the Encounter Worship night instead).
After Church Prayer This Sunday
Right after church tomorrow we will be meeting on the terrace at the back of the sanctuary for our monthly prayer meeting, where we bring our requests before the Lord. Prayer is one of God’s chosen ways to partner with Him in seeing His will accomplished in our world. We pray for a very large landscape of requests – our church, our missionaries, our government, the nations we love and support, local businesses, you name it, we pray it. And we also have a space to just listen to the Lord’s voice that’s very impactful. We’ll be available for one hour, but you are welcome to come and stay for any part of that if you have other commitments on Sundays. I’d love to have you join us this Sunday.
Next Saturday: Ladies’ Walk & Men’s Breakfast
Women – you are all invited for some outdoor fellowhip as you walk into Calvera Hills from the Oak Riparian Park where you’ll meet at 9:00am at 4625 Lake Blvd in Oceanside. This is a wonderful park with lots of natural beauty all around. Please text/call Kathy Green at 760-583-1779 to let her know you’ll be coming. What a wonderful way to share some rich conversation while enjoying each other in God’s beautiful creation. Win-win-win!
Men – while the ladies are walking, we’ll be chomping…chomping on one delicious, home made breakfast! We meet at 8am at the church, eat a delicious breakfast that always features generous amounts of bacon, followed by worship through song, and an inspiring/challenging message. This month our speaker is our own Matt Evans. Hope to see you all there!
Our friends at Convicted for Christ Ministries are putting on a Complete Thanksgiving Meal with Turkey and all the fixings the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 27, at 1:30 PM. We Need Your Help to Make Thanksgiving Special! Convicted 4 Christ Ministries is inviting our church family and members of the community to come together as we prepare to serve a wonderful Thanksgiving meal to our friends in the park. Thanksgiving is about more than sharing a meal. It’s about sharing love, kindness, fellowship, and reminding people that they are not forgotten. We want our friends to know that they are valued, that they belong, and that they are part of our community. We are asking for volunteers to sign up to contribute food, help prepare the meal, or lend a helping hand during the event. Look for a table in the lobby after church to sign up. This is going to be AWESOME!
Operation Christmas Child
By now you are all familiar with Operation Christmas Child, right? Just in case somebody isn’t, the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child collects shoebox gifts filled with fun toys, school supplies and personal care items—and delivers them to children in need around the world to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way. For many of these children, the gift filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 244 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 175 countries and territories. And in 2025, Samaritan’s Purse collected 12.2 million shoebox gifts globally. Isn’t that amazing? It’s an incredibly fruitful program, and we are joining Christians from all over the U.S. to pack these gift shoeboxes. You can pick up your Operation Christmas Child Shoebox in the lobby this week where you can find all the info you need. You can also find tons more information at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ The Collection Sunday is November 15 or you may drop your shoeboxes off at any local collection site. See Irene or Sharon E with questions.
Have a great rest of your Saturday. I was out earlier today, and it is one beautiful day in Oceanside! Don’t forget to pray for our ladies up on the mountain. Prayer Changes Things!!!
Love and blessings to each of you,
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.