Vineyard Groningen Sermons

The Sabbath is the set-apart day for the set-apart people of God to cultivate their set-apartness in this world. We are called to live a life of worship, to live as a people wholly devoted to God, living out the character of Christ. But it is that set-apart day that we use to cultivate that set-apartness through shifting our attention from all the things that demand our attention all week, and dedicate our time and focus to worship and devotion.

The Sabbath is meant to be the best day of the week, filled with joy and laughter, with good friends and great people. The Sabbath serves us as a weekly celebration of all that is good about God, the world and life itself. Celebration, embracing joy, embracing all that is good in the world, enjoying the fellowship of believers, even if it is just for one day a week, is a powerful tool to resist cynicism and to become people of joy.

There are many things in our lives that can take our passion away. How can we resist these things and get our passion back? In this message Ricky Venter, pastor of Vineyard Brussels, takes us through Psalm 23 to give us some keys how to get our passion back.

Sabbath is a key-stone habit to resist a culture of restlessness. The combination of insatiable desires in our heart and a consumption-driven digital economy constantly drives us to want more, have more, be more. Sabbath invites us to leave the tyrannical system of more and experience a deep satisfaction in God, so that our soul can find rest in Him. In this message we take a closer look at how Sabbath comes to us in the Law, with the intention to make sure that the people of God would not treat themselves, or anyone or anything else as goods to be consumed or commodities to be dispatched for endless production, but to trust in God, be satisfied with enough and ensure justice for all. This is a highly relevant message for us today as well, as we are living under a system that looks a lot like Egypt, always driven to more and more. But there is another, more painful side to this as well. Failing to keep the Sabbath and a drivenness to more also takes away Sabbath-rest from the most vulnerable, and tu

Sabbath answers a deep need in our soul that is wasting away under the constant demand and activity and the inner and outer expectations to always be busy. In this message, we do a quick run through Scripture to discover the purpose of Sabbath. In the coming three weeks, we'll take a deeper dive into Sabbath as a way to Stop, Rest, Delight and Worship. This message is part of a four week series on Sabbath. This series is part of a three year long journey that our church will take with Practicing The Way, exploring nine practices from the way of Jesus to help us reorient our lives around following Him.

What is the single most important quality of any team, band, group, community or political party, that will ensure success? Unity. Any united effort needs a deep sense of unity around a common vision and goal in order to flourish. And the book of Nehemiah is jam-packed with lessons for what it means to operate in unity. In this message, Koen will run through Nehemiah 2-6 and unpack some lessons about the importance of unity, and apply this to the life of the church.

The report about the state of the city of Jerusalem broke Nehemiah's heart. For days he could do nothing but weep and pray. This became his calling experience. He understood that God was sending him to Jerusalem to lead the rebuilding project. What is your heart breaking for? As we set out on a new year, what is the Spirit's invitation to you?

Is your life pointing people to Jesus? The first chapter of John's Gospel frequently talks about John the Baptist as the prophet that bears witness to Jesus, the Messiah. As we close off our Advent series we are going to learn from John’s life, how our lives can point people to Jesus.

Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God radically intervened in human history. He responded to what He thought was the biggest need of planet earth. He sent His one and only Son down from heaven to live life as a human being – the creative word of God became flesh and bones and blood – to live among us. And what did He come to bring? Grace and Truth.

The opening of John's Gospel is very different from the others. Instead of starting at Jesus' birth, John starts even further back: creation. When John opens his Gospel story, the Good News of Jesus Christ, he introduces Jesus to us as a light that is breaking in and breaking through the darkness of our world. It is an act of re-creation by God. There is a new hope, there is new life and a new chance through Jesus Christ. John’s language is grand and abstract, even metaphysical. Yet, this news has very personal implications. And the big question is; How will you respond? How will you respond to the light of God shining into the darkness of our world? John is giving us three ways to respond. Put very simply: 1) receive the light, 2) live in the light, and 3) witness to the light.

The main mission strategy of Jesus was hospitality. In this message we explore the fascinating story of how Jesus sat down with a traitor and his promiscuous friends for a meal, and in doing so expressed God's grace and generous welcome to all. How can hospitality become our mission strategy as well?

Our communal God has called us into a relationship with Himself that is then strengthened by our relationships with one another so that our collective witness shows Jesus to a watching world. Community is a key-practice in the life of Jesus not only for this reason but also, because it is the frame from which many other Way of Jesus practices are lived out.

A heart posture of generosity means that you make room in your budget, calendar and priorities for the benefit of others; not just other people that we know and like, but other people in general. In this message, Koen discusses three principles of generosity based on Luke 6:27-38

Simplicity is a key-practice in the way of Jesus. The inward reality that forms the basis for a lifestyle of simplicity is a heart that is simply set on God’s Kingdom alone, or as Jesus put it: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Practicing simplicity is a baseline practice for all the practices that we are teaching on, helping us to keep our focus on God and His Kingdom, setting that as our priority, and then reorient our life around it.

Solitude is the spiritual discipline of giving undivided attention to your formation as a follower of Jesus. It can take place in private as you immerse yourself in prayer and face your temptations and fears, or it can take the shape of ‘being alone with God among people’ as you receive ministry prayer.

On an average day, you and I have to digest a vast amount of information and messages. What we need to realise, is that every bit of information has an agenda for formation. What we take in has a deep impact on how we view ourselves and the world. Yet, not all the information we have to process in a day aligns with what our loving Creator is saying. This is why it is important for every Christian to develop a daily practice of reading Scripture.

Fasting is the spiritual discipline of abstaining from food for a certain period of time in order to engage the whole self in drawing near to God in prayer. It’s a way to express your hunger for God, and to let go of some lesser things in order to reach out to more important things.

Prayer is foundational to our relationship with God. Jesus invites us to pray without ceasing as a way to constantly remind us of His Fatherhood to us, and because of this, He asks us to begin our prayers by addressing Him as Our Father. Although He is our King, Friend, Almighty God, he wants us to approach Him as a Father. He is a Father who longs for an intimate relationship with us as His children. A Father who is so generous and willing to give us even more than what we ask of Him.