Northridge Vineyard Evening Community

Following on from his teaching on humility last week, Jesus turns to the subject of prayer.  In Christian circles, we’re so used to the Lord’s prayer that we often miss the context it’s delivered in. Not that it’s not an incredible prayer on its own… but it’s not just a set of words to recite, it’s actually a teaching on the very heart of prayer. So let’s be honest… in what ways are we, the modern church, like the pharisees when we pray? How does the Lord’s prayer teach us a different way? In very tangible terms, how do I pray differently as a result of this passage?

We’re very used to interpreting this passage with reference to consumerism and material things—but the truth is, it speaks to anything that we treasure over the things of the Kingdom. What are some other treasures that perish, spoil, and fade? Is this a call from Jesus to take on a poverty mindset? What do ‘treasures in heaven’ look like in 2022?

Here, Jesus teaches us that when we do good things, not to do it for our own benefit by making it public. Instead, we’re supposed to do this on the down low. In Christian culture, this seems like an obvious teaching… we scoff at the pharisees who make a show of their generosity. However, in so many ways we are still the same… what are some of the ways we are just like the pharisees? What’s the cost of humility? And how do we practice it on a day-to-day basis?

In this week’s passage, Jesus goes on to make his claims from last week very concrete, applying them in three situations — murder, sex, and oaths. The shift is from what the law says to what it means. In a society with a very different moral compass to the ancient Jews, does this passage still apply to us? How does it it cause us to live differently?

Having shocked his audience with a subversive commentary on society’s concept of who is blessed and who isn’t, Jesus gets into the meat of his sermon — talking about how he will fulfill the law. While this ‘fulfilling’ rather than ‘abolishing’ the law sounds neat, what does it actually mean… especially when Jesus tells us we must have greater conduct than even the pharisees? Looking forward, how does this set us up for the rest of the sermon?

Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount with a masterclass on the topic of blessing — but the people who he calls ‘blessed’ are not who you’d expect. How does this shocking teaching address the people on the mount with Jesus, and how does it speak to us today? How does it subvert our concept of blessing?

We live at a frantic pace. Busyness has become a badge of honour. By default, society pushes us to live at the edge of burnout, and often it’s our bodies that pay the price. The ironic thing is we don’t tend to perform at our best when we’re in this state—yet for some reason, it’s so hard to jump off the hampster wheel. How does Jesus model a different way? What does this look like, in very concrete terms, in our day and age?

This Sunday we revisit our relationship with our ‘stuff’, as Debby talks about the spiritual practice of simplicity.

Do Christians still keep Sabbath? If not, should we? Kirk explores the concept with reference to his own story, as well as the story of Israel.

When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, it was more than just their physical freedom that was taken from them. They were forced to work without ceasing, living in bondage to a system that always demanded more from them. In so many ways, we find ourselves in this same bondage in the modern world, without even realising it. In this series, we're exploring four practices that can help us break free of the default patterns of this world. This week, Chris begins with the unusual practice of silence.

In the first week of December, we begin our advent series, God on a Mission. Between now and Christmas Eve we'll look at the ways God demonstrates his mission on earth — which we're called to partner with here and now. Jen kicks us off with a look at Abraham's call, and God's promise to make him into a big family. Jesus shows us what the fulfilment of that looks like... 

This emotional scene is the last of Paul’s itinerant ministry—while a free man, anyway. He feels strongly to return to Jerusalem, with the sense that he will never be able to return. He has grown close to the leaders of the Ephesian church. They have worked closely in ministry, with Paul discipling them as he went. This is the moment he releases the church to them. It’s a stark reminder that a life following Jesus is not without cost. What can we learn from Paul's example?

This week's passage tells us a number of things about Paul. For one, we observe that Paul worked a second job to support his ministry habit — he was a tentmaker. For another, we discover that he was extremely tenacious. When the Jews became abusive towards him, he literally started a church next door to their synagogue. Aside from being a gutsy move, it shows that Paul didn’t need to be universally liked. He was content to minister in a place where his own people hated him for 18 months, knowing that it was where God had him set up. What was his secret?

This week, Paul finds himself in a tricky situation... imprisoned for setting a girl free from exploitation. But far from giving in to despair, Paul and his companion Silas use it as a chance to worship Jesus. In a miraculous turn of events, an earthquake frees them from their chains, and the jailer and his family all become Christians. Rob explores this well known passage, but with a twist—who was really in prison?

Luke doesn’t make a big deal of it, but passages like this one in Acts 14 remind us that ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit was part and parcel of how Paul worked. We see Paul and Barnabas heal a leper… but things take a very strange turn from there. The crowd assume they are Greek gods, in human form.

The apostles’ response gives us an interesting insight into how healing ministry fits into their way of operating. They are quick to point out it’s not their power—it’s God’s. Rather than lean into their success—from a worldly perspective—they use it as a chance to share the good news about Jesus. For them, the proclamation and demonstration of the Kingdom of God go hand in hand.

Unfortunately, some Jews get involved, and it doesn’t go well for Paul and Barnabas. They survive the experience, and extraordinarily, go back into the city that left them for dead, before moving on.

But back to the topic at hand… what does this passage tell us about the way Paul ministered in the spirit?

Fast forward fourteen years, and something totally unexpected happens. While everyone else was busy converting the Jews, the Antioch Christians thought it would be a good idea to preach to the Gentiles… and it worked! Hearing reports of this, the Jerusalem church sent Barbabas to try and manage this highly unusual situation.

We’ll never totally understand Barnabus’ motivation here, but it’s highly likely at this point that he remembered a young convert from Tarsus. A Pharisee with a commanding grip of Torah, yet with equal aptitude in the popular Greek philosophies. Who better to help manage a church with both Jews and Gentiles involved? Barnabas summoned Paul to Antioch to help form a church with this eclectic group of believers.

So what exactly was the problem that Barnabas brought Paul in to help solve? Why was Paul the right fit for this situation? What does this tell us about the importance of starting churches in new areas, and among new people?

After Paul’s radical conversion, he wasted no time in beginning to tell the world about this Jesus he had encountered. However, he discovered that not everyone was ready to listen to him. For the first years of his ministry, Paul was a misfit—and it turns out we can learn a lot from his experience.

Rob begins a new series looking at the life of the Apostle Paul. This week we begin with his conversion—how did a zealous Pharisee, persecuting the Christians, become one of Jesus' most vocal advocates?

You might have heard people say things like "I'll pray about that", or "I'm seeking the Lord on this decision". How do you actually do that? How do you bring God into the big decisions? Guest speaker Putty Putman (Vineyard USA) shares his lived experience with this process, and gives us some helpful tips for walking through life changes with God.

It might be tempting to think that the prophetic is something reserved for our meetings together—but this couldn't be further from the truth. We can hear from God at any time. In fact, part of maturing in faith is developing an everyday dialogue with Him. Kym gives us some very practical ways to turn the prophetic into a constant conversation.

We believe that anyone can give a prophetic word, so this week we get into the nuts and bolts. How can I receive a word for someone? How do I receive a word that someone gives me? And what are some guidelines to a healthy practice of the prophetic?

What is the prophetic and why should we be interested? Adam introduces our new series, 'Hearing From God', with a biblical overview of the prophetic and a beginners guide to giving it a go.

After a week off for prayer walking, we pick up our Colossians series for one last message. This week we're tackling a tricky passage at the end of Colossians 3 where the apostle Paul seems to advocate for slavery, amongst other things. Chris suggests that instead, this passage is more about learning to live as citizens of a future reality within the institutions of the present.

In Colossians 3, Paul outlines an extraordinary vision for humanity, based in a new creation where our old differences don't matter anymore—only Christ. Andrew unpacks this epic passage of scripture and asks—how might we live differently with Paul's vision for the family of God?

It can be difficult to reconcile with others if we're not reconciled with ourselves. Bonnie unpacks Colossians 2:6-15 and provides some helpful, practical ways to engage with the process of inner healing with Jesus.

We hit week two of this series, and *actually* start reading Colossians now. The book opens with an epic poem describing the way that Jesus' death and resurrection is the starting point of all reconciliation. Mandy Anderson draws out the gold in this excellent scripture, and explains how it changes the way we live each day.

This week we're kicking off a new series, looking at the theme of reconciliation through the book of Colossians. So naturally, we're starting in the book of Philemon. Yep, you read that right—this quirky little book (which needs a lot of context, provided within) was addressed to one of the leaders at the church in Colossae, and gives us a fascinating lens through which to read its longer counterpart. Chris takes us through Philemon and draws out three important lessons it holds for the modern church.

In a week between series, Chris takes the opportunity to review results from a survey that our community recently completed. How are we tracking overall? How is our spiritual wellbeing in lockdown? The somewhat surprising results lead to a discussion of a framework for Christian life based in Matthew 22.

As we come to the end of our journey through the biblical thread of work and rest, Chris brings us in to land by looking at a day in the life of Jesus. How did he balance work and rest? How can we apply these principles to our life?

Having discussed work for the last two weeks, we turn to the other side of the scriptural thread—rest. Guest speaker Dan Sheed (Central Vineyard, NZ) talks about sabbath, a spiritual discipline that often gets left out of modern expressions of church. Looking at scriptures from both Exodus and Matthew, Dan explores four dimensions that make sabbath the best day of your week.

Having painted a picture of what work can look like when God’s involved, Chris turns to the obvious problem—why is work often so much less than fulfilling? Understanding the fall in Genesis 3 helps answer that question, and points to some of the modern outworking of this brokenness.

Off the back of our recent series, ‘The Kingdom Reformation’, we’re unpacking some of the very tangible outworking of the Kingdom gospel narrative. In this new series, based on ‘Garden City’ by John Mark Comer, we’re looking at the biblical thread of work and rest. Chris begins by introducing the ‘work’ thread from Genesis 1 and 2 — what does the bible have to say about work?

In this series, we’ve talked about the way we tell the gospel story changing in our lifetime. So how exactly *should* we tell the story? As the series draws to a close, Rob Giles shares some final thoughts about the gospel narrative through the lens of God’s kingdom.

As we seek to understand exactly what the bible means by the ‘good news’ of Jesus, Greg Trainor dispels a pernicious myth about the afterlife. What exactly is it that Christians hope for? What do we mean when we talk about ‘heaven’, and importantly, how does that change the way we live now?

We talk a lot about the bible in church... but very rarely do we take a step back and ask ourselves some of the foundational questions. What is this book? Who wrote it? Why should we trust it? And how do we make sense of a book that was written thousands of years ago to a very different time, people, and place? This is exactly what this week's edition of 'The Kingdom Reformation' is about.

If you had to explain 'the gospel' to someone in a couple of minutes, what would you say? It turns out the answer to this question is changing in our lifetime. Chris goes through church history and unpacks the evolving story of the gospel, landing on Jesus' favourite topic (the Kingdom of God) as the centrepiece of the good news.

The word ‘beginning’ in Mark 1:1 implies an ending, but this gospel has no proper ending. It is good news beginning in the life of Jesus but which continues to unfold in the lives of those who come to share in his identity through belief in him to this very day.  Some scholars think that Mark did write an ending, but that the last page of his Gospel was lost. While this is possible, it seems more likely that Mark intended to end his Gospel this way. In many respects, the whole Gospel is a call to faith in the face of trials and suffering. Mark’s readers, who were likely suffering for their faith, have heard the announcement of the resurrection, but they do not see Jesus physically with them. In this way, they are in the same position as the women. Mark’s whole Gospel, including the empty tomb story, is a call for faith instead of fear in the face of an uncertain future? How are we able to carry on the legacy of Jesus today? The call to bring the Gospel to the world is one of perseverance. 

In Mark 10, a couple of Jesus' disciples approach Him and ask a pretty bold question. They want to sit at His left and right when he is raised up in glory. Jesus refuses them graciously, but when the other disciples get irritated by this exchange, it becomes a teaching moment. Jesus says words that would become leadership gold in the 21st Century—that whoever wants to be first must be last, and whoever wants to lead must take the position of a servant. It's a revolutionary, society-upending claim which Jesus embodied in His own leadership. In this edition of our Gospel of Mark series, Chris introduces us to Jesus as our leader, and draws out implications for our own lives.

Lucy talks about how Peter’s declaration of Christ as Messiah reiterates a truth that has been set out at the very beginning of Mark - that Jesus is the Son of God, The Messiah, but within Peter’s declaration he reveals a misunderstanding of the ‘type’ of Christ Jesus really is. The term Messiah is being redefined in Mark 8:27-33 to include the need for suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus redefines the role of the Messiah from the ‘Warrior Messiah’ of Roman and Jewish culture to a new one defined at the foot of the cross. 

The feeding of the 5,000 is one of the most well known of the miracles of the gospels. This is where the synoptic gospels come into their own and we can understand something more about the circumstances Jesus was going through at the time of this miracle. John the Baptist had just been beheaded. He was grieving. (Matt 14:13-14) What does being servant hearted in this world - really look like? How do we balance self care and avoidance of burn out with what we see of the life of Jesus?

Mark’s gospel not only emphasises the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God and the Mighty Messiah but also his humanity. Jesus becomes hungry (11:12) and tired (6:31) He exhibits a full range of human emotions, including pity (1:41), anger (3:5), sadness (3:5), wonder (6:6), compassion (6:34), indignation (10:14), love (10:21), and anguish (14:34). We also see in Mark that Jesus does not know everything (13:32), and his power is limited (6:5). What does this mean? How do we explore the humanity of Jesus? What does Jesus’ humanity mean to us?

This week, Mandy continues our series on the Gospel of Mark by introducing us to Jesus the Teacher. Looking at Mark 4, Mandy demonstrates how Jesus used parables to communicate to his listeners.

In this talk, Chris shares with us about the power and authority of Jesus displayed through His miracle working power.

This week, Lucy introduces a new series on Mark's gospel and shares with us the importance of understanding Jesus' identity as the son of God.

As part of Rob and Bonnie's commissioning as senior pastors, Kirk Delaney shares an encouragement from the book of Colossians. Kirk and his wife Nicole direct the Vineyard movement in Australia at a national level.