Vineyard Columbus

August 26, 2012 In this sermon, Pastor Rich Nathan answers the question, "Who is in charge here?" as we begin our sermon series "Vineyard Columbus - The Next 25 Years." As a church, we have consistenly answered: "God is in charge." Because of this, we seek to continually listen to God’s leading through his Word as well as through the voice of the Holy Spirit as we seek to faithfully live out God's calling for Vineyard Columbus to be a relevant church that does not exist for itself but for Christ and the world. Follow-up Bible Study

August 19, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide  

August 12, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

August 5, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

July 22, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study

July 15, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide  

July 8, 2012 Rich Nathan preached this weekend on the importance of church discipline and how to properly restore a fallen brother or sister, particularly, a fallen leader. In the verses from 1 Corinthians 5, Paul confronts the church of existing sexual sin amongst the believers and charges them with not taking sin seriously. In 5:1, Paul writes, “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife;” furthermore, Paul instructs the believers in what they should have done by stating, “Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?” Paul knows that sinful behavior is infectious to the whole body like yeast in a loaf of bread. He also knows that by tolerating sin, the witness of Jesus Christ to unbelievers is destroyed and the church becomes no longer attractive to unbelievers. Rich emphasized that by exercising church discipline, the reputation of the church, the faith of the offender, and the purity of the church all have the possibility of being restored. In fact, the ultimate hope of church discipline is the restoration of the believer to God and to the community of believers. Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

June 24, 2012 Rich began with a story of a Ugandan man who had everything taken away from him by the government. When a missionary came to him to tell him the God loved him and sent his son Jesus to die for him, the man became so angry and threw him out because he had experienced so much pain in his life. This man had good reason to be bitter! But what happens to us when we harbor bitterness? Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” The Greet root for “bitterness: is “pikria” which means to cut or sharp. The writer is saying here that when bitterness is allowed to grow in us, it will cut away at us. In the story of Absalom, Rich gives us a portrait of a bitter soul. Absalom had a few sources of bitterness – his own father’s moral failure and the disillusionment that came with seeing his father as a hypocrite and his sister’s rape. Rich takes some time to tease out the broken way that Tamar’s rape was dealt with by her father and addresses the topic of sexual abuse in our culture today. Absalom displays this bitterness first in seeking revenge. His anger turns violent as he plots to have his half-brother who raped his sister murdered. Rich talks about good and bad anger and how unchecked sinful anger can destroy us. Next we see Absalom’s bitterness displayed in rage by setting the field on fire when his father leaves him in limbo. God does not leave us in limbo though; he finds a way to reconcile us to himself. In 2 Samuel 14:14 it I says, “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways to that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” To heal from bitterness, we need to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. Matthew 6:14-15 says that if we forgive others when they sin against us, God will forgive us and if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us. Giving up our hold on the sins done against us will bring us freedom to receive the forgiveness for our own sins against our Father in heaven. Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

June 17, 2012 There are many examples of individuals who discovered success later in life - or made their greatest contribution as an older adult. Some were motivated because of their faith. Well-known examples shared in the sermon include Corrie ten Boom and Sal Dimiceli, Ronald Reagan, Laura Engels Wilder, and Colonel Sanders. Another further example shared concerned the Lusitania, which sunk in 1915 just 8 miles from its destination port. It was used as a metaphor for people whose lives get “torpedoed” towards the end of their journey. Pastor Rich Nathan is in the middle of a series called Derailed – What Causes People to Fail. Under King Solomon, Israel entered its Golden Age of Prosperity and Peace. But Solomon’s life stands as a warning to us that even in old age a fall away from God and away from God’s people is still possible. In 1 Kings 3 – we see he struggled early in his life (both poor marriage decisions and making sacrifices to other gods). These decisions led to consequences early in life. The Apostle Paul gives us the absolute rule of both the physical and moral universe in Galatians 6.7-8. The choices that we make in our teens, our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s will reap in our 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. In 1 Kings 9, we see the consequences of neglecting the warning sings. God does warn us directly by his Spirit; and, God does warn us through his written Word. But one of the chief means that God uses to tell us we are getting off track is that he speaks to us through other people. The question was asked, “Are [we] correctable people?” There is a word that appears over 100 times in the book of Proverbs. It is the word “fool.” In fact, the concept of being a fool is so significant to the authors of the book of Proverbs that they use a number of different Hebrew words to deal with the issue of being a fool. The writer of Proverbs says there is a kind of fool that you can describe as “thick-headed” - someone you can’t get through to. What are you like? Solomon fell in old age as a consequence of neglecting warnings from God. His grip was slackening on the Lord. Solomon fell on the consequence of “mis-wantings” (Ecc 2:10-11). “The bottom line is people aren’t unhappy because we don’t get what we want. We are unhappy because we want the wrong things. Because we mis-want, because we are terrible at predicting what will ultimately make us happy in life.” Solomon got all that he wanted, but he didn’t want the right things. And in the end, he ended up with wind. Fortunately, we’re not just left with negative examples in the Bible of people who ended life poorly. There are many, many folks in scripture who ended well. We read about Enoch in Genesis 5, who walked with God his whole life. We read about Abraham, who died in a good old age, full of years, still in love with God. We read about Joshua (Jos 24:31), Simeon (Lk 2:29-32), and Anna (Luke 2:36-38) - what kind of older adult do we want to be? Where do we want to end up in old age? Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

June 10, 2012 There was a turning point in leadership literature after WWI which shifted the emphasis away from good character to personality traits as the foundation of success. Dr. Tim Irwin wrote that over and over again what derails otherwise really successful people is a failure of character. Pastor Rich Nathan began a series called Derailed last week. He began by saying - “the foundation for success in the Bible is the very slow, hard work of acquiring good character. By success I mean long-term success, finishing your life well”. In looking at the derailed life of Saul, it’s clear that success is not built on gifting. Saul had all the seemingly good qualities from which leaders emerge - good family, tall, handsome, influential, and prophetic gifting (a sign of God’s favor). Initially, people might be attracted to gifting, but over time character becomes really important. People begin to ask “what kind of human being is this leader?” In Samuel 15, Saul’s life unravels by a failure to wait on God (1 Sam 15:1-11). Making hasty decisions rarely results in great outcomes, and waiting on God requires trust. Saul was also derailed by disobedience to God (1 Sam 15:1). We don’t know what consequences might exist for our sin, but we do know we have a choice at obedience. Saul was also derailed by pride and self-aggrandizement (1 Sam 15:12). Parents play a role in shaping a worldview in children that they’re not the center of the universe. Finally Saul was derailed by phony repentance (1 Sam 15:22-27). Phony repentance is repentance that is only concerned about the consequences of being caught. Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

June 3, 2012 The United States along with the rest of the world is living in an age of anxiety. The events of 9/11 were for us shattering, changing things forever. We now live with a constant sense of terror and terrorism. There are economic shock waves across the globe, threatening our jobs, our finances, our homes and our futures. The speed of change we experience today—socially and technologically—is totally unique to the 21st century and only adds to our anxiety. We are overwhelmed by information and data. We cannot keep up! Nothing feels stable or reliable upon which we can stand. In times of great anxiety, like today, the temptation is to look for easy answers and quick fixes. Aaron was a leader in a time of anxiety and like other weak leaders, he looked for a quick fix to pressures and problems. When the people grew impatient for Moses to return from Mt. Sinai and demanded that Aaron do something, he made them a golden calf. We today are no different. We grow tired of waiting on God to solve our problems. We want a solution and we want it now. We look for quick fixes and as a result, are taken in by “leaders” who promise us fast and easy answers to complex issues. Aaron, like other weak leaders, was more concerned about pleasing the people than pleasing God. We see his focus was always on “the people, the people, the people.” When our primary concern is pleasing people, we most likely will not speak the truth, draw the line and hold others accountable. In contrast to Aaron, Moses was a strong leader with nerve. He was willing to confront the people and destroy their false solution. Finally, weak leaders like Aaron blame other people for the problem. In contrast, Moses didn’t blame the people—in fact Moses prayed for the people. Jesus, who is the greatest Leader of all, surpassed both Aaron and Moses. He is our great High Priest and our perfect Substitute. What is most needed today, in the world and in the church, are leaders with nerve—leaders like Jesus.   Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

May 27, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

May 20, 2012 Rich Nathan preached this weekend on doubting God’s goodness. In the verses from Ephesians, Paul encourages the early Christians to be “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” by clothing themselves with God’s character qualities. By doing so, they possess the strength to take a stand against the devil. Paul reminds his reader in vs. 12 that their struggle is not against people but against the “powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The passage goes on to compare the act of assuming God’s character by putting on armor as if one preparing for battle. Rich made the point - When we look at the suffering of this world played against the backdrop of spiritual warfare, things make a great deal of sense. Humans and all of creation are in the middle of a war. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be different from the world. Our fulfillment is not in the “American dream” where we are pampered and have no hassles or stresses. Rich plainly stated, “we are not on vacation, we are fighting a war”. This war is against an enemy whose sole purpose is seeking and destroying everything that God loves. Our God loves the world. The enemy wants to destroy everything in the world. That includes you- your character, your reputation, your marriage, your health, and your kids. We know that when Christ died on the cross, it was to overthrow the kingdom of Satan (Col 2: 13-15) and this war will not be complete until he returns (1 Cor 15: 24-26). Until then, we must rely on God’s power where God’s creation is under attack. Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

May 13, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide

May 6, 2012 Follow-up Bible Study Sermon Discussion Guide