Desert Vineyard Church: Recent Episodes
Desert Vineyard Church
Welcome to the weekly audio podcast for the Desert Vineyard church in Lancaster, California. Our mission is to GATHER searching hearts into the saving embrace of God’s love in Jesus Christ, to GROW as people in the truth and transforming power of the gospel, and to GIVE ourselves with genuineness and passion to our God, our families, our community, our church and our world. Visit us at Desertvineyard.org.
The 'big difference' the resurrection makes for all those knowing and following the risen Jesus is not just that the path becomes more spiritual the physical, but that our life is now Spirit-assisted and Spirit-directed.
Shattered. It is really the only one word description that fits what happened to the faith and hope of Jesus’ disciples in the aftermath of His crucifixion. It had all seemed to end in mind-numbing, soul-wrenching defeat. Evil won.
Then it all changed. Not everything all at once, but everything altogether, it all changed because of one significant life-altering event. The resurrection. He was not dead but alive, He had risen as He promised. The tomb was empty, and He appeared to His startled, perplexed and fearful followers to point them on, to lead them forward.
Everybody has a “big hope” in life. It is a hope defined by dreams and desires, sometimes even by dreads and disasters. The life, ministry and person of Jesus were the source and object of so much hope in first century Israel. The big hope of these people, for their own lives and for their nation, was focused on Him. But the events of that week would not fulfill the hopes of those who heralded Him as King. His arrest, trial and crucifixion would dash those hopes, and crush those dreams. His resurrection from the dead would vindicate and transform the hope people had placed in Jesus. In the new reality of His resurrection, crushed hopes and dashed dreams can become something more, something bigger...
Paul says with regard to the uncertainty and confusion we face about the question of eternity that "if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (I Cor 15:19). If it is only for this life that we are reaching for more then we are aiming too low, we have set the circle of our lives too small. The ultimate end of Jesus' saving work for us is to connect us to "the fullness of life" which is eternal (Jn 10:10), unlimited by time and liberated from "the bondage to decay" we experience in this world (Rom 8:20-21).
To live with integrity is to speak, act and decide from a place of integrated wholeness, moral soundness, strength of character and conistency of conduct. Integrity is not something that is just natural to us, it is something we reach for, repent toward, and grow into more and more through a process of maturity and transformation. Integrity enables us to be the same person in public as we are in private, outside church as we are inside, at work as we are at home.
We were created to not "be alone" (Gn 2:18). That does't mean we can't enjoy solitude or social separation. But there is a fundamental interdependence and social-connectedness about our lives that must be expressed with other people - the circle of our society, community, church, friends and family - those "we do life with".
The Bible challenges us that the bigger life we seek isn't found by simply expanding the circle of possessions/playtime/pleasures that our lives contain. God's truth calls us to a path of more involvement, investment and participation in what is truly bigger, truly valuable.
We limit and lessen who we are and what our life can mean by the circle we draw, or let others draw, around our lives. The “more” that we are made for – the more that we ache for – cannot be satisfied by expanding the circle of things, experiences or even moments in our life. But drawing a larger circle of concern, identification and participation of our lives in the world will result in an expanded life of more. We must extend the circle of how we see ourselves and how we see others – our common humanity – as a critical step toward an expanded life. We are created and redeemed for wider connection, for life-giving involvement and identification with others.
From the Bible's perspective the goal and the gateway of all of our relationships is love. Love is meant to connect us with another person in genuine relationship, to bind us to that connection through trial and hardship, and to lead us to a life-giving end.
It is an inescapable reality that loving, life-giving, and enduring relationships are both the most valuable and the most at risk things in this life.