December 27, 2025
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!
I’ve really had a wonderful Christmas season so far. A special moment around the Ohst household this week – our son Bryce proposed to his girlfriend Andrea, and now she’s his fiance’! We are very, very happy about this. We’ve also been able to enjoy some time with our newlywed daughter Charissa and her husband Stephen for their first Christmas as a married couple. Such a joyful family gathering. AND I’ve also really enjoyed our Grace Vineyard family this Advent season. I loved the Christmas Eve service with “The New Star” production. I didn’t know we had so many great actors in our midst! (Who knows, maybe one of us will get a vision to start a drama ministry…I’d be all for that for sure.) Thanks to Ammee and the actors and singers and instrumentalists and sound crew and projector team and stage hands and set designers…and anyone else I might be missing here. What a blessing that night was. We appreciate all your hard work to make our Christmas Eve so special.
I’ve also really enjoyed our Sunday morning series on Cultivating the Blessings of Advent. By way of reminder, we’ve been taking a look at the traditional four themes of Advent in a new light. We’ve said that the 4 themes – hope, peace, joy, and love – are not only the themes of Advent, they are also descriptive of God Himself, and further, they are the marks of abundant life in the Kingdom of God that can be cultivated for a lifetime of abundant living.
This week I’m going to look at a 5th blessing that undergirds those first 4, the gift of faith, which is also in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. We’ll discover that faith is what makes love, joy, peace, and hope possible and sustainable. When we talk about Biblical faith, its quite different from the common concept of “blind faith”, or faith in the absence of evidence. Quite to the contrary, when we talk about faith in the Bible, we are talking about settled confidence in the reality of God’s Kingdom demonstrated and made available in the life and ministry of Jesus, especially His historical resurrection from the dead. Our faith is built on His proven track record. Our faith is in reality. I’m calling this talk “The Reality of Faith – Undergirding the Blessings of Advent”. I hope we’ll learn some principles together from the Word of God that will really solidify everything we’ve been learning together these last 4 weeks of Advent. I hope to see you Sunday morning, but if you can’t be with us in person for worship tomorrow morning 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.
If you’d like to be able to go back to the 4 weeks of Advent teaching, I’ve put them in a Youtube playlist for your convenience right here: Advent Youtube Playlist. And here’s the video and Gracetalks.org podcast for last week’s 4th Sunday of Advent sermon:
North County Gospel Choir Worship Concert Friday, January 9th
I am really excited that there is now a community Gospel Choir in North County. I’ve actually been hoping and talking about this for a number of years now, and it’s finally a reality. I’m even more excited that we are hosting their first worship event of 2026 at Grace Vineyard. They’re calling it “Ignite Worship Beyond the Walls”, and it will be Friday, January 9th, at 6pm. They’re planning on having food vendors with doors opening at 5pm, so you can come early and grab an early dinner right at the church. If you’d like to learn more about the North County Gospel Choir (including how you can join the choir too), check out their website at https://www.northcountygc.com/
Financial Study Group Begins January 11th
Starting on Sunday, January 11th, Chaplain Jason DiPinto is going to lead a financial study called “Navigating Your Finances God’s Way” from Compass Finances (A Financial Discipleship Ministry). It’s a six chapter, video-driven study and we’ll be meeting on Sundays at 11:30 after church. Space is limited – there is a 15 person maximum, so the first 15 people to sign up will get to come to this one. The fee for the materials for this class is $20.
You can click here to register.
Click on this button to pay the Materials Fee:
December 31 Deadline for 2025 Donations
Just a quick note for people who are thinking about taxes and tax deductible donations: if you are planning on making tax deductible donations for the 2025 calendar year, please note that those donations must be received by our office no later than December 31st. That means that if you mail a donation, and it arrives on January 1st or later, it will have to be recorded for the 2026 tax year.
And that’s it for this Weekly Update. See you on Sunday morning.
With love and blessings,
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.