Vineyard Church | Weekly Update October 1st, 2025

Happy Wednesday, Vineyard!

We’ve just spent the summer walking through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians... It’s been an honest, sometimes uncomfortable journey! Paul pulled back the curtain on weakness, suffering, and the messy work of being church together. Again and again, he shows us that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The cross is the center of our story.

Paul’s closing challenge is clear: don’t just hear these words, live them! Be generous. Be forgiving. Be reconcilers. Be people who boast only in Christ.

That’s pastoral wisdom from the pen of Paul, and it’s also a call to arms. If the church in Corinth needed reminding in their time, so do we in ours.

From the Cross to the Crown

This Sunday, we pivot to Psalm 23, a psalm that comforts us with green pastures and still waters, but also provokes us with a picture of leadership that runs counter to the grain of our world. The Shepherd is also the King. The One who leads with authority is the same One who lays down His life.

Our culture tells us kingship means power and visibility. Scripture tells us it looks like washing the feet of those who would betray and abandon, carrying crosses, and guiding with gentleness. This is the paradox at the heart of Jesus: Coming King, Surrendered Servant.

Practice: Pray the Psalm, Live the Call

Take time this week to pray Psalm 23 line by line. Linger with each phrase until it becomes more than words. Ask:

• Where am I invited to rest in Christ’s shepherding care?
• Where am I called to shepherd others... not with control, but with service and presence?

Then, let Paul’s charge echo as you pray: step into generosity, forgiveness, humility, and boldness, not by your strength, but by the Shepherd’s presence.

Rallying Cry

Vineyard, we know the world doesn’t need any more noise. The world needs an invitation to the throne of Jesus from a people who actually live what they believe. So here’s the challenge as we close this chapter and open the next:

Live the paradox. Be strong in surrender. Lead by serving. Carry Christ’s crown by bearing His cross.

Let’s be the kind of people Paul envisioned and Jesus embodied: weak in ourselves, strong in Him.

This Sunday is the hinge. Psalm 23 will steady us, then launch us into the Coming King, Surrendered Servant. Let's not just watch it happen, let's step into it together!

Adam Greenwell
Lead Pastor
Vineyard Church
www.billingsvineyard.org