Vineyard I/O Community

I’m Willing to Listen God!!!

Fran — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:51:52 +0000

Well it’s great to be back and discussing outflow with you once again. This week I want to look at reading 22 “listening for change”. In this fast past world listening can be difficult. So much to do, so much to say, so little time. It seems as if your able to catch a few words and make a guesstimate on the rest of the conversation your a good listener. But that’s not how Jesus works. He is willing to listen to us all for as long as we need because he loves us. he also expects us to slow down and begin to listen to the people he puts into our lives as well. In this reading I love the story of Rose and how she became known as a woman who lives every day for Jesus and others, not for herself. That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. If we truly want to live a Godly life let’s not judge those around us let’s listen to them and the Holy Spirit and begin to make a real difference in the world around us and in our own lives. They’re are plenty of opportunities to live like Jesus if we begin to look around and listen to the people in our lives. This week as the spirit to help you hear what is going on in others lives and truly listen to them. On pg. 210 the reflection pool ask’s “how can you listen for the ways God wants you to reach out to the world with his love? I feel if I slow down and look at the people around me and see what their body language is telling me I can begin to ask and listen to what they have to say. Hopefully if I’m truly listening to the spirit I can then begin to see God’s Kingdom at work. That’s it for now, please post your thoughts on this weeks discussion.

Serving Big Pine through vision!!! Our Mission One More

Fran — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:27:30 +0000

It’s exciting to think about the possibilities of God moving mightily through Big Pine and the surrounding islands. In this weeks readings (reading 20) really struck home for me. It’s about having a Godl’y vision and compassion for our home town.Christ cried out for Jerusalem because he was upset with the people and how far away they had gone from Him. I know a lot of Christians are crying about the state of the islands here in the keys. We are known for drinking, sex, drugs and kicking back and letting time go bye with no worries. But that is not the way God wishes we were known for. How about a new vision for the Keys. One that is Holy Spirit inspired, where people come to enjoy the atmosphere of love being poured out from the believers of Christ. At the Vineyard we are already seeing many people coming into his Kingdom by reaching out and blessing them and accepting those who are hurt, lost and dying for a drink from the fountain of life. I encourage you today to figure out a way to invite someone to church in a none threatening way. Let’s be the fountain that will fill the thirsty here in te Keys. I enjoyed the questions on pg. 191 especially the first one. What is it about your city that you love? For me I fell in love with Big Pine because we have the island atmosphere as well as a country feel with the woods, deer and wildlife as well as some Piney people. I think this diversity of island living/down home country brings us close to the maker and that we can reach many people here who are tired of living life for themselves. What do you think about this weeks readings? I look forward to hearing from you and getting back in touch next week.

Love my Neighbor? But their not like me!!!

Fran — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:54:09 +0000

Welcome back to another week of discussing Outflow. As the weeks go by I hope the fountain of the Holy Spirit has been flowing out of you onto the lives of your family and friends. Now it’s time for the true fountain test. How about your neighbors? Has the life giving water that transformed your life begun to flow out to your neighbors? I know that Christ wasn’t just talking about our actual neighbors living next door, but I’m sure he wasn’t dismissing them either. If your like me it’s easy to show Christ’s love to those in our church, after all most of them are wearing their Sunday’s best as well. But how about when we go home and the neighbors dog is barking, or they left the trash out and some local critters got into it and once again their trash has become your trash. Is the fountain bubbling over with love or is it boiling with anger? Christ told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, so lets get busy this week. I suggest starting with prayer and asking God to change your heart, I go through this routine every now and then when my neighbors aren’t acting the way I want them to and I then realize that they are God’s children and that I need to show them grace. Christ is waiting for me to allow his fountain of life to flow over to my neighbors and hopefully bring them into His Kingdom. On Pg. 157 in the reflection pool we are asked, “How can we move from one attitude to the other?” I personally use prayer and then I reflect back on my past and find out how I can relate to the people that I’m annoyed with. Most of time the things that get me the most angry are the things I have struggled with in my past or that I’m struggling with in the present. I would love to hear your thoughts and I look forward to writing again in a few days. For now, may God bless you and may His Holy Spirit flow out from you onto your neighbors.

Just another week. Or is it?

Fran — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:25:39 +0000

Welcome back to the Outflow discussion site. It is great to see that you are taking an interest in the book and our blog. I hope that the season of Christ has been flowing out from you into the lives of thoose around you. I know we are not discussing the book on a daily basis so I will begin discussing week 3 from Outflow. In week 3 we begin to see the flow of the fountain coming up from the inside of us as a result of the Holy Spirit, then flowing down into our lives and now with lots of prayer, bible reading and worship of our Lord we should be experiencing the outflow onto the lives of our family and friends. Outflow recognizes the power of “Love” when it comes to evangelizing. Most of us have had some pretty bitter arguments with people we love, about our belief in Christ. We are passionate and we want them to get it and turn their lives over, but they resist. Hoepfully after reading this chapter we can all be better prepared for our next discussion about our belief in Christ when it comes to the people we love and we can love them into the Kingdom and not push them away from the Kingdom with anger. This week as we pray for our family and frineds to turn their lives over to Christ let us remember Roman’s 2:4 that says “God’s kindness leads to repentance.” I would like to finish this discussion by looking at the top of pg 111. What specific seeds of love and kindness have helped to bring you closer to God? A week before I came to the Vineyard Church and turned my life over to Christ I sat in a parking lot in Marathon arguing with someone who demanded if I wanted to stay clean and sober I needed to turn my life over to Christ. I was furious about this Christians ignorance and stated to a friend that I would never go to church just to spite the guy who I felt verbally assaulted me. A week later a friend and I attended a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church and afterwards he asked what I thought about the service. I told him it was interesting but I couldn’t imagine coming on a regular basis. He then asked if I wanted to see the other end of the spectrum when it comes to church and so we drove down to Big Pine to the Vineyard Chrurch. My trust in him and the love he showed me was one of the reasons I came to the church. My friend sowed a seed of love and Christ did the rest.

Outflow Discussion 2

Fran — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:53:30 +0000

Hello, I’m glad you have checked in again. In the last few days I was pondering the idea of being a fountain for the Kingdom of God, and if I was an overflowing, abundant fountain or a trickling almost dried up fountain. The book states that fountains are supposed to be overflowing with water and that a dried up fountain is sad and depressing. I know that life can be tough and we all have our moments where we struggle to be the image of Christ that we are called to be, but where are you right now? Are you a dried up fountain or are you bubbling over with life? The top of pg. 22 states “When you become a friend of Jesus-when you believe so fully in his love-you’re able to experience life to the fullest. Life as it was meant to be: full of relationship, love, purpose, adventure, and fulfillment.” Are you experiencing this endless life, this gushing fountain within you that Jesus promised? If not pray that God will begin to fill you above and beyond what you feel is possible with his love, peace, purpose and make you an overflowing, bubbling fountain. Remember “We can do all things with Christ who strengthens us”, so continue to pray, read your word and read Outflow with the understanding that Christ is waiting to flow fresh everlasting water into and out of your life.

Outflow “reflection pool”

Fran — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:59:11 +0000

Welcome to the Outflow discussion, hosted by your’s truly, “Fran”. This week I want to begin by congratulating you for making a decision to get involved with this book reading, discussions, and activities that Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping have come up with in this book. I will be posting my thoughts on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I look forward to hearing from all of you as well. We will also have the video clips that correlate with the readings, so please take a look at the video later today and share your thoughts and feelings after you watch the video. As for today I want to discuss from pg. 19 question #4. What are your hopes in reading this book? I hope to deepen my relationship with Christ and become a reflection of Christ to all who come in contact with me. My hope for all who read Outflow and are part of our I/O community is that the love of Christ will flow out from you as well, and that all those who come into our church and who we meet while doing outreach’s will experience what it is like to be in the presence of the most high God-Jesus Christ. May the power of Jesus’ Outflow begin to work in all of our lives.

Welcome to the New Vineyard I/O (Inreach/Outreach) Community Website

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:04:37 +0000

We have started this Vineyard I/O Community website to help all of you who are involved in Outreach and Hospitality at the Vineyard stay connected. On this site, we will post articles about events and ideas and you can use … Continue reading →