How Do You Grow?

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How Do You Grow?

Recently I was reading through the F260 Bible Reading Plan, and I came across a passage I had read before but that struck me in a unique way. I was reading 1 Corinthians 8 where Paul discusses the very foreign idea of eating food sacrificed to idols. But what struck me was what Paul said first:

“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God” (1 Corinthians 8:1–3). 

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What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

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What's Your Plan to Read the Bible in 2019?

For many of us, 2019 means fresh starts and new beginnings. When we think about new years, new year’s resolutions typically come to mind—losing weight, quitting a habit, changing something. We all know, however, how often new year’s resolutions last or work. 

Why don’t new years resolutions work? They often fail for one primary reason—lack of discipline. Anything worth while in life requires discipline—the ability to say no to certain things, yes to other things, determination, perseverance, good time management, and more. Each year many of us long to read the Bible more but fail to. What needs to change?

As we leave 2018 and enter into 2019, we must see Bible reading as a discipline, and that’s a good thing! Like any discipline, Bible reading is something we must be committed to and willing to do regularly until it becomes a habit. After we’ve carried out a discipline regularly over a long period of time, that discipline becomes easier. This reality is also true for Bible reading. 

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Life Groups, Life Change

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Life Groups, Life Change

At Vintage Church, we believe that community is so important. Coming to a Sunday worship gathering serves a significant purpose in someone’s personal and spiritual life, but even that alone will not be enough to provide the depth and focus that we all need to have a thriving life after Jesus. Because of this, we have vGroups, which are groups of 10-20 people who meet throughout the city for transformation, connection and multiplication. These vGroups are where men and women from all walks of life meet in people’s homes to fellowship, study God’s Word and pray together. Although vGroups are extremely important, we are also excited about our Life Groups. Life Groups are gender-specific groups of 3-5 people who meet regularly for the purpose of focused discipleship. We have some people who are in Life Groups already, but we want to see many more step people into this as well. 

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Why You Should Make a Big Deal about Baptism

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Why You Should Make a Big Deal about Baptism

A lot of people have different thoughts, beliefs, and even misconceptions on what baptism is and what it’s meant to be. As Christians, we need to understand the true meaning and significance behind baptism and how the Bible explains it for our own understanding and so we can also explain it to others. 

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Monday Morning Reflection: Why We Need Many Tools

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Monday Morning Reflection: Why We Need Many Tools

We’re nearing the end of our Apocalypse Series through the book of Revelation. You can find all the resources connected with this series at vcnola.com/apocalypse. Yesterday I preached on the importance of conquering in Jesus! One of the elements I believe that is connected with conquering is “pursuing Jesus’ holiness.” In Revelation 18:4, John hears, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.” Here the churches in Revelation are challenged to not pursue the sins of the Roman Empire but rather the holiness of Jesus.

The Tool Belt of Sanctification

Think about any project you’ve ever worked on, particularly if you’re building something. People who build things often wear a tool belt. Why? They need direct access to all the tools they might use—hammers, nails, screw driver, tape measure, etc. These are all tools that you might need at your disposal. 

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Love Ya Pops!: A Father’s Day Reflection

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Love Ya Pops!: A Father’s Day Reflection

Just like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is such an important and significant day to honor our fathers and those who have been father-like to us. Personally, I have been fortunate to have an amazing father who has loved me, poured into me, and taught me what it means to be a man after God’s heart. If there has been anyone who has been a consistent support and encouragement in my life, it would be both of my parents. I could write an entire separate blog on how much I love my mom, but today is about dads (sorry mom!). I think that I take for granted the sacrifice that my dad has made in his life, in order for my sister and I to be where we are today. My dad has modeled what it looks like to put the Lord first before anything else. Of course my dad isn’t perfect, because no one is, but I honor and respect his pursuit of God and the wisdom he has given me over the years and still gives me this day. 

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Are You My Mother?

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Are You My Mother?

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be a mother—what exactly it is that makes one a mom. Technically speaking, a mother is “a female parent.” But I think we can all affirm that a mother is much more than that narrow definition. At the core, mothering is about nurturing. When you nurture or provide for the baby you just birthed, the baby someone else birthed but you are raising, or a baby who isn’t even yours at all, you are acting as a mother.

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Can You Do It Alone?

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Can You Do It Alone?

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been discussing church membership. In particular we’ve answered two questions. First, we answered, “who is the church?” You can read that post HERE. Last week, we discussed this question: “what is church membership?” That post can be found HERE. While understanding who the church is and what church membership is are important, those two questions really just laid the foundation for where we are going today and next week. 

Today, we are asking this question—“Why is church membership Important?”

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