Back at the Vine

It felt great to be back in Cdale, and at the Vine Community Church. It's a rare church where you find a church full of young people and it be very diverse as well. I'm so glad I was able to find a church home while away at school, no diss against my home church, but the worship & praise music is not the same. I love the worship and praise, as I can feel like I'm the only one in the room and just talking directly to God. There's no better feeling.
Today's sermon was on 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10.
⁴For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.


The message pointed at some key things, which were like being the example as it says in verse seven. We are the church, not the building, and we not only represent ourselves but the church and everyone in it. Another key point he kicked on was how Christianity has become to watered down and how we have to be full hearted into it. Like we don't like our lemonade or kool-aid watered down, so neither should our faith and relationship with God, it's gotta be the real thing. 
We must not only run from sin, but run to God. We cannot stay in a stand still because then we stall and never grow. Just like when we build a house, we just don't build the frames and set them up and act like we are finished. We must fill up the house and provide insulation and protect it. Our faith is the same way, we must build on it and continue to build on it. 


 I just feel good to be back at the Vine church and hopeful to continue to grow and take my faith to another level.