Vineyard Church | Weekly Update August 20th, 2025

Happy Wednesday!

Hard Things Are Cool

Last Sunday we were reminded that we are compelled by the love of Christ to carry His message. As His ambassadors, we don’t push our own agenda or try to win arguments, we carry His invitation: “Be reconciled to God."

But if we’re honest, living that calling isn’t always easy. When we take it seriously, it will lead us into tension...we’ll feel the pull between God’s Kingdom and the world’s values as we face moments when silence is safer than truth, compromise looks easier than conviction, and retreat feels more comfortable than stepping forward.

And yet—hard things are cool.

Why? Because the hard things are where God forms us. The hard things are where His strength shows up. The hard things are where our lives begin to reflect Jesus most clearly.

Paul describes it this way in 2 Corinthians 6: “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses…” (vv. 3–4). Faithfulness doesn’t happen in spite of tension, it is proven in the middle of it.

When we endure pressure, love anyway, give generously, forgive freely, and stand faithfully, we are telling the world: God’s grace is real, and it works even here.

This week, let’s not shy away from the hard things. Let’s step into them together with courage, not because we love difficulty, but because we trust the One who meets us in the middle of it all.

Hard things are cool, because Jesus is faithful in the middle of them.

I'll see you this Sunday as we press deeper into this truth with the next passage in our series Strength in Surrender. Coming up next: Serving in the Tension: Faithful Under Pressure.

Sunday at 10 AM | Billings Vineyard Church

See you Sunday,
Adam Greenwell
Lead Pastor
Vineyard Church
www.billingsvineyard.org