Vineyard Church | Weekly Update February 11, 2026

Hello Vineyard Fam!

First week of February is in the books and we are a week away from Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent! This week we will continue our journey towards Holy Week and Resurrection Day with some more time in the Greatest Sermon Ever Given by the Greatest Teacher Who Lives. 

One of the most freeing things Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is also one of the most unsettling: “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” Not try to be. Not work toward becoming. You are.

That means that the question Jesus places before us in this passage is not whether our lives will be visible (they already are); the question is what kind of light they give off and what that light points toward.

Many of us assume that visibility requires volume and spectacle... That if faith is going to matter publicly, it has to be loud, bold, or impressive. But Jesus seems to imagine something different. Salt works quietly. Light doesn’t shout. Neither draws attention to itself. Both simply make what’s already there more real, more livable, more visible.

This raises a midweek question worth sitting with: What does my life quietly reveal? Not what do I post, not what do I argue, and not what do I say I believe. In the ordinary rhythms of my week, how I listen, forgive, work, rest, and respond... What story does my life tell about God?

This is where we might feel the tension. We don’t want to hide our faith, but we also don’t want to perform it. We sense that Jesus is calling us to something visible, but not artificial. Present, but not pushy. Churchy the right way, not churchy the loud way.

The good news is that Jesus never asks us to manufacture light. He asks us to stay close enough to Him that His life becomes visible through ours. That kind of visibility is formed slowly. It grows out of attention, proximity, and shared rhythms. This is why discipleship was never meant to be a solo project.

Practices for the Middle of the Week 

These practices aren’t about doing more. They’re about becoming more attentive to the light that’s already at work!

1. Practice Paying Attention to Reactions

Notice one moment each day when you react quickly... irritation, defensiveness, impatience. Don’t judge it. Just ask: “What is this reaction revealing about what I’m rooted in right now?” Light begins with awareness.

2. Practice Small Acts of Unnoticed Faithfulness

Do one small act of kindness or generosity this week that no one needs to know about. No announcement. No credit. Just faithfulness. This trains your heart away from performance and toward love.

3. Practice Shared Presence

Choose one person this week and pray for them. Tell them what you hear from the Father for them, and ask them how they would like to be prayed for. Light stays bright when it’s not isolated.

Salt loses its saltiness when it’s diluted. Light gets hidden when it’s cut off from its source. The same is true for us.

This is why we keep talking about staying churchy. Not because church is an end in itself, but because the practices we share; worship, Scripture, prayer, community; all keep us rooted in Jesus when everything else is trying to shape us.

Formation happens whether we’re paying attention or not. The question is who is doing the forming. Jesus is not forming performers, He is forming witnesses. Witnesses don’t try to shine, they simply stay close.

So this week, don’t aim for visibility! Aim for faithfulness. The light will take care of itself.

Stay salty my friends and I will see you on Sunday!

 
Adam Greenwell
Lead Pastor
Vineyard Church
www.billingsvineyard.org