February 28, 2026
Hi Grace Vineyard Family and Friends.
It’s another beautiful Saturday in Oceanside, and it’s time for another Weekly Update from Grace Vineyard.
First, let me give you a heads up about what’s in store for tomorrow morning.
Reigning in Life
Last week we explored “The Shocking Extent of God’s Grace” as a natural follow-up to the previous week’s talk about the meaning of baptism, expecially the concept that God removes our sins from us “as far as the East is from the West”, our sins aren’t only pardoned, they are expunged, and there is no longer even a record of them. This week I want to continue exploring this Grace and the outworking of it in our lives by diving into one verse that we read last week:
Romans 5:17
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
That promise – that we who receive the God’s abundant Grace “reign in life” has captured my attention for years. I would like to explore with you what this means for us as disciples (apprentices, if you will) of Jesus. I think at least some of the meaning comes from the original vocation God intended for mankind at creation:
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
As God’s image bearers, He created mankind to rule (or reign) over His creation, bringing His blessing over all the earth. When we chose to sin, we relinquished that role and according to the truths presented in Romans, death has reigned instead. Now, having received abundant Grace and the gift of righteousness, our original calling is restored – we “reign in life through Jesus Christ”. There’s a lot to unpack here, but I think we reign in life by living as faithful stewards of God’s kingdom, bringing His justice, love, and renewal into every sphere of life.
Here’s the sermon from last week if you missed our would like to listen again as we prepare for tomorrow’s time in the Word:
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.
I’d like to take a moment this week to highlight one of our ministries that I would like everyone to be aware of, our Care 4 U ministry (https://gracevcf.org/ministries/care-4-u-ministry/)
Michelle Ertel leads this ministry, and it quite simply exists to meet the needs of our Grace Vineyard family in very practical ways. For example, one of our Grace Vineyard family members had surgery this week, and Care 4 U ministry is arranging for meals to be delivered to that family while she’s recovering from the surgery. Would you like to be part of the team? You might be called upon to pray for, shop for, make a meal for, or even just visit one of our Grace Vineyard family. If you’re interested, contact Michelle and let her know with either a text message or phone call at 760-994-5962.
I’d also like to remind you about our Monday Night Spanish ministry called La Viña Oceanside. If you know anyone who’s native language is Spanish, tell them about La Viña Oceanside. Here’s our latest flier that we’re going to be using to invite our neighbors to join us:
La Viña meets every Monday night at 7:00 PM in the Upper Room, at 104 N. Freeman Street. This ministry is led by Paola and Cristopher Marquez. Please contact them with any questions you may have — Paola/858-285-9110, Cristopher/818-674-3929.
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.