Mission Vineyard live church service April 19, 2026

would transform lives in the name of

Jesus. Bless every giver and guide us in

in wisdom as we steward these gifts. In

the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

>> Thanks Kate.

>> Thank you Kate.

>> Good morning Vineyard.

>> My name is John. I get to um share with

you uh from the scriptures this morning

in a series that we are going through

about community. Really believe that uh

God has given us a word this year about

overflow

like my voice right now. Overflow.

Um we believe that God is going to be

giving us abundant finances to be able

to have a building and plant more

churches to uh partner with our local

partners more intentionally. But uh more

than that, we believe that God's making

us a church to bless our community. Uh

there's a scripture I want to make sure

that we're rooted in every Sunday as we

go through the series, and it's from

Jeremiah 29:6

Jeremiah 29:6

and verse 7.

And the prophet tells the people, and

these people don't have their own

building, don't have their own city,

don't have their own land. And God has

set them into a place to be a blessing

because that's how God has always wanted

it for his people from Abraham to us

today. God's plan has always been that

he would dwell in us so that we would

dwell in the world and be a blessing to

everybody. And so I want to read the

scripture root in this series this

morning. Multiply.

Multiply. Point at your neighbor and say

multiply.

Can imagine how insulting that might

have been for some of you.

>> Multiply. Do not dwindle away

and work for the peace and prosperity of

the city where I sent you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare

will determine your welfare. I'm going

to read that again. Multiply. You don't

have to point anymore. It's okay.

Multiply. Do not dwindle away.

Work for the peace and prosperity of the

city where I sent you into exile. Pray

to the Lord for it. For its welfare

will be determined your welfare. Over

the last weeks, I got to know uh a new a

gentleman that I' I've never met before,

although he's been on Broadway forever.

His name is Mark Mark Whitik. And Mark,

he owns a building down the street.

That's where our church offices are now.

Mark decided to to focus his life

very intentionally towards the core of

San Antonio. So last week I talked to

you about the news article that said

that San Antonio is missing out on

prosperity and it's not ready for

prosperity. This week I want to share

with you how somebody's actually working

towards prosperity. So Mark and a bunch

of other people, beautiful, beautiful

people got together and they said we'd

want to give this house this house to

the Lord for the sake of serving the

poor. And they did. They did it so much

that the neighbors started hating them

because those who were unhoused started

coming by the house so much that the

neighbors said, "Hey, you're ruining my

grass. You're ruining, you know, things

are people are camping out." All these

things. So, finally the city said, "Hey,

can you do anything about this?" And

they said, "Well, yeah. I mean, we need

a bigger place obviously." Said, "Yeah,

okay, fine." So they they prayed and all

of a sudden God partnered them with

people with lots and lots of money

and they searched for properties for a

year and they found one and it didn't

work out. They found one it didn't work

out. They found one it didn't work out.

I think there were 20 properties that

they put a bid on and it didn't work

out. Finally they found a property and

it came through. They've developed this

property to be able to house 215

unhoused seniors in San Anton. Each one

has their own tiny home or apartment.

Each one has their own furniture, their

own dignity, community life, meals being

served. The hospital, the hospital has a

site on campus to take care of everyone.

It's one of the most beautiful things

I've seen in our city. Now, other cities

are touting what they're doing for Dan

House in their city. And San Antonio has

really attempted leaders to do a lot. I

want to tell you, there's a simple man

who gave his life

to serve the poor. And he partnered with

others to do it, and God provided.

Multiply. Don't dwindle away. Work for

the peace and prosperity of the city

where I sent you into exile. Pray to the

Lord for it, for its welfare will

determine your welfare. And let me tell

you, this man is not searching to build

his portfolio anymore.

He gets to go to this place and witness

the dignity of 215 people

who are not on the streets here. And

it's beautiful. If you don't remember

anything else from today, I'm sure you

remember that story, but remember this.

We're focusing today on the generosity

that we are built with that overflow

that that that man had. And the man

still has today does not come from good

intentions. It comes from Jesus.

>> He has already received generosity from

the cross of Jesus Christ. He's a

beautiful Christian man and he is

continuing to give that away not because

of his good intentions but because of

what Jesus has already done for him. And

so if you don't remember anything, the

cross is not the end of God's

generosity.

It is the beginning of our generosity.

My son Elias, he's not feeling well

today, but he said, "Yes, Dad. You can

borrow my cross."

I'm not sure if any son has ever said

that to his father, nor if any father

has ever requested that of their son.

Can I get some help of two strong

people, please?

John, thank you.

And I could lift it on my own. I just

don't want to hurt anybody.

Can you can you hold up Chris? Yeah.

>> And you don't know, but you're going to

be standing here for the whole service.

>> We don't often have a cross in this room

cuz we're, you know, a portable church.

Although,

we have acquired a cross for our future

property because there's a building that

used to be a church that's been

transformed into something else. and

they had this huge cross on the property

and somebody from our church said, "Hey,

what are you doing with their cross?"

They're like, "You can have the cross."

And so now that cross is in their

garage. It's kind of funny, but this is

another cross. And I just wonder if we

could look at it for just a moment. This

is not to scale, but it's not too far

off.

The real story of real life, of real

history, is that Jesus was born.

He was born and he lived a perfect life.

Absolutely perfect life. He was even

sarcastic perfectly.

When he joshed around with his friends

and shoved them in the puddles and

stuff, he did it so perfectly that they

weren't offended.

But little by little, his freedom and

the love that he experienced

was so

so bitterly received by the people.

They wanted something else. They wanted

somebody with power. They didn't want

somebody with freedom. They wanted

somebody with power.

And he wouldn't show up like that. He

showed up with freedom. And when he

showed up with freedom, he gave away

freedom. And it was the most beautiful

thing our universe has ever seen. More

beautiful than any stars

or anything.

That beauty was received with

bitterness, hate.

And so they took Jesus,

they religiously abused him,

beat him physically,

shamed him in as many ways as they

possibly could.

They made him carry a cross like this,

heavier than this. Just the cross beam

would have been 100 pounds.

They carried it

and then they nailed him to it and then

they hung him on it.

publicly

in the most shameful way you ever could.

And he hung there.

And instead of getting angry, he read

the psalms that he had memorized.

He spoke them out.

Said, "Forgive them. They don't know

what they're doing."

And even as a victim of violence, he

fulfilled every prophecy in the

scripture that was said about the one

that would come to save us. He fulfilled

every single one as he was a victim

suffering. He couldn't control it. He

fulfilled it all.

And he died and he was buried according

to the scriptures that foretold it. and

then he raised to life.

It's one of the reasons why we don't

have a figurine of Jesus on this cross

anymore. We believe that he's risen.

>> He's alive.

He's alive. And he he was witness to his

disciples, to the apostles, for 40 days.

And he showed them his wounds and

testified to them all about the

scriptures that he had fulfilled. He

confirmed it. And he he saw not just

them but probably 500 other people.

This is the cross. This is why the

cross. This is this is why Jesus

is so important to us.

It's because he didn't deserve to die.

Who is God in the flesh to us, fully God

and fully man. And this cross, the

reason why people wear it and tattoo it

and all the things they do

is because it it is the biggest sign and

wonder of God's love to us that the

universe has ever known.

The love of an innocent man, God in the

flesh to us. Thanks God you can lay that

down again hopefully without injuring

yourselves or anything else.

We're going to be going through a

scripture today that speaks exactly to

who Jesus was, who Jesus is, and why

Jesus died. We're going to go from

Isaiah 53. Isaiah is written hundreds

and hundreds of years before Jesus was

born. And yet, it exactly describes who

Jesus is, who Jesus was, who Jesus died,

who how Jesus died, and why he died.

So God, I ask that you would center us

in your scripture today and would you

would you make us to be in awe in

worship of what you've done?

Would you give us the grace to

experience the fullness of your love

through the cross this morning?

Isaiah 53, the prophet says, "Who has

believed our message? To whom has the

Lord revealed his powerful arm? My

servant grew up in the Lord's presence

like a tender green chute,

like a root in dry ground. There was

nothing beautiful or majestic about his

appearance. Nothing to attract us to

him. He was despised and rejected. A man

of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest

grief. We turned our backs on him and

looked the other way. He was despised

and we did not care.

You can imagine but for a moment this is

exactly what happened at the foot of the

cross. It's exactly what happened during

his trial. It's exactly what happened in

his life. He was betrayed.

The closest thing I can imagine to one

of you or me experiencing some of this

is watching a bully take down a

defenseless child.

You ever seen that?

And you just didn't have the courage to

stand up for them?

Today, uh, more often than not, kids are

taking out cell phones and and videoing

it. And I imagine if there were cell

phones available back in the time of

Jesus, they would have done the same

thing.

But it was exactly the people who are

watching and gawking

that Jesus died for.

We turned our backs on him and he looked

the other way. He was despised. We

didn't care. Yet, it was our weaknesses

that he carried. The very reason why we

despised him is the reason why he died.

It was our sorrows that weighed him

down. Our weakness, our bondage,

our slavery,

our insecurities.

And we thought his troubles were

punishment for God as if he deserved it,

punishment for his own sins.

But he was pierced.

And he was literally pierced while he

was hanging on the cross. He was pierced

for our rebellion.

He was crushed for our sins. He was

beaten so we could be whole. He was

whipped. And he was literally whipped so

that we could be healed.

All of us like sheep, like farm animals.

The prophet is talking about

we strayed away.

We left God's path. God created a

perfect space for us to be cared for and

loved on. He created the garden. He

created the temple. He created his

presence. His own presence came and he

dwelt with his people.

But all of us like farm animals have had

pens created for us in farm in barns.

We've left God's path to follow our own

way.

Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us

all. He was oppressed and treated

harshly. Yet he never said a word. He

was like a lamb to the slaughter and as

sheep is silent before the shears.

He didn't open his mouth. He was

unjustly condemned. He was led away. No

one cared that he died without

descendants, that his life was cut short

and extreme. He was struck down for the

rebellion of my people. All of a sudden,

now I want you to see something in the

scripture.

God the father is now speaking about his

son,

announcing that God has people.

Turn to your neighbor and point to them

and say, "You're one of God's people.

You're one of God's people.

He was struck down for the rebellion of

my people.

He had done no wrong, had never deceived

anyone, but he was buried like a

criminal criminal who was put in a rich

man's grave.

But it was the Lord's good plan to crush

him and cause him grief.

God saw our sin. He saw the evil that we

do.

And he made a plan.

He made a plan to crush himself

for us in Jesus

and to cause him grief. And Jesus

carried that grief. real grief of your

sin and my sin.

Yet when his life made his offering for

sin, he will have many descendants. And

that's you and me, too.

He'll enjoy a long life. And the Lord's

good plan will prosper in his hands. And

when he sees all that's accomplished by

his anguish, he will be satisfied.

So those of you who have said yes to

Jesus, I want to tell you, you are a

sign in wonder

bringing comfort and joy to the grief of

Jesus on the cross.

Point to your neighbor and say, "You're

a joy to Jesus.

>> You're a joy. You're a joy." I love this

is the oddest thing for me to say to

some people sometimes, but especially

those people like this guy I was talking

to you about that opened up this this

property for the unhoused.

I don't think he's ever heard this

compliment or this statement before and

he kind of was weirded out when I said

it. He said, "Thank you for saying yes

to Jesus.

Thank you for saying yes to Jesus."

I was at a a party Friday night and we

have some friends that were complaining

to me about what they see in the news

and they know I'm a pastor. They say,

"You're a man of a cloth.

What's your opinion on this?"

And I said, "You know what? I love Jesus

so much because when he enters into the

life of a person, he transforms them in

such a way that hospitals are built and

those who are hated are loved and those

who are uncared for are cared for.

and those who are unforgiven get

forgiveness. And those who are wounded

get healed. Those that are addicted get

free.

So whatever is going in the news, I want

to tell you, I told him, "My hope is

that every single person," and I pointed

at him and I said, "Including you,

receive Jesus so that more people will

get healed and more hospitals will be

built and more properties will be opened

for those who need care."

The generosity of the cross is given to

us so that the generosity of us can be

given to the world. That's always been

the plan. And so as Jesus is on the

cross and he's dying and he's being

punished and he's being crushed and

overwhelmed by the sin

and the sin is so overwhelming.

He's also simultaneously now today

so much joy because you said yes to

there's a satisfaction Jesus didn't have

any physical kids

but there's so much satisfaction that he

has that those now are disciples two

billion around the world are following

him today

two billion today are asking God what

are you doing in the world I want follow

you cuz I'm one of your descendants.

When he sees all that's accomplished by

his anguish, he will be satisfied.

And because of his experience, my

righteous servant will make it possible

for many to be counted righteous, for he

will bear their sins. That's you, too. I

will give them the honors of a

victorious soldier because he exposed

himself to death.

He was counted among the rebels. He bore

the sins of many and interceded for the

rebels.

Now this generosity

doesn't come naturally. This only comes

by the spirit.

But we receive the spirit not by being

proud people saying, you know, if I were

to carry this cross around, it would I

would look pretty awkward.

Sad sad story. this priest started

yelling at this uh landscaper just

started yelling at him because he was

cleaning the property next door to the

church and the priest said, "YOU'RE

MAKING TOO MUCH NOISE. ALL THE DUST THAT

YOU'RE DOING IS COMING onto our

property." And the reason why the

landscaper was there was because there

was a single dad with two kids who

couldn't mow his lawn.

It had grown three feet high

and the landscaper just said, "I just

need to clean this property just out of

the love of his heart."

Let me tell you, even the most religious

among us still need to bear the cross of

Jesus in their heart.

We get distracted

and we need to be humbled. And that

priest was humbled that day because he

was on video.

I don't want that to happen to me. I

want to follow Jesus more closely.

In Philippians 2 5-11,

Paul is writing the church and he

describes exactly who Jesus is and what

he did.

When I was a kid growing up, we would go

on missions trips and in order to go on

the missions trip, we had to memorize

the scripture because if we went to

another country and we were worse than

how we were at home,

that was not representative of the

cross. So, we had to memorize this and

it had to stick in our heart.

You must

have the same attitude that Christ Jesus

had. Though he was God, he didn't think

of equality with God as something to be

grasped, but made himself nothing.

Gave up his divine privileges.

Took on a humble position of a slave,

was born as a human being.

He was an appearance as human form. But

he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal's death on the

cross. For just a moment, I want you to

look at the sheets that are on your

seats.

I've asked you to fill these sheets out

in a specific way. There's three places

for you to fill out. Who is it that you

would like to pray for? And who is it

that you would like to pray for you?

These are the movements that get us into

the abundance of the cross in real life.

The first movement is who do you want to

pray for you? And you can write down

three names. You don't have to put it on

the sheet. If you don't have a pen, we

don't have a pen for you. Put it on a

I mean, shoot, you can take out your

phone right now and text it. Would you

pray for me?

Three people.

The posture of somebody asking for

prayer is the one who begins to

acknowledge the cross in their own

lives. When we stop asking for prayer,

we stop recognizing the cross in our

lives.

>> Who do you want to pray for you?

Who do you want to pray for you? Who do

you would who would you love to know is

praying for you on the regular?

That's one part of humility because all

of a sudden you have to disclose your

weakness and your need of God in the

life.

The other part of humility that I see in

this Philippian scripture is who do you

want to pray for?

Because saying to somebody, hey, and I

said there was another guy at the party.

It's a guy. It was a guy I I literally

have on a list that beeps on me at 7:30

every morning.

And I went up to him and I said, "Hey,

I've got to say something awkward to

you."

He said, "What?" And he had a couple

drinks in him, so maybe it was a little

easier on me, but I said, "I have to say

something awkward to you. I pray for you

every single day."

And he went, "That's amazing."

It wasn't that many drinks. He said,

"That's amazing.

I have been feeling it. And he went on

to tell me how much he needs God in his

life.

And I said, "Listen, I pray for you

every day, but would you tell me right

now how I can pray for you specifically

every day?" And he told me about a

request that he had. And I said, "Well,

I want to pray for you right now." So,

in the midst of this fiesta party with

this band playing and this craziness at

this house,

I hugged him

and I prayed for him and I knew he

received the love of God.

Just by telling him I was I wanted to

pray for him. He stated to me how much

he wanted to bring his life back to God

about how much his history there was a

calling on his life and he said no to

it.

This Philippian scripture speaks how

Jesus humbled himself. He didn't have to

humble himself but he did. He humbled

himself in obedience to God and died a

criminal's death on a cross. And because

he humbled himself,

God exalted him. I said this last week,

I'm going to say it again. Some of you

are feeling like your faith is in like a

puddle outside. It's just good for

nothing. You know, it's there. It just

doesn't give you any life anymore. I

want to tell you, it begins in the

humility of the cross. When you begin to

ask others, can you pray for me? And

when you begin to tell others, hey, I

want to pray for you. And all of a

sudden, the flow of the love of the

cross gets exchanged. And when that life

is exchanged, God begins to elevate us

because we get involved in God's kingdom

business. God's kingdom business is

always about people.

It's always about people.

And so God

elevated him to the place in the highest

honor and gave him the name above all

names that at the name of Jesus, every

knee should bow in heaven and on earth

and under the earth. and every tongue

confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the

glory of God the Father. That's who

Jesus is for us. He laid down his divine

privilege so that we could receive our

we could receive his love. What is it

about our privilege that God's asking us

to lay down so that we can receive God's

love and others can receive God's love?

A question on the back of the sheet

there is, how could God's love in Jesus

change the lives of those we love? What

would it look like? What would it look

like? I've told you stories already on a

personal level and on a community level

of what it could look like when people

receive the love of God.

When we know and believe and act in what

Jesus did on the cross, giving that love

away is the easiest thing we could ever

do.

And so I want us to wait for just a

moment

and pray again. Come Holy Spirit, would

you reveal your love to us in the cross?

Paul wrote to another church. She said,

"The message of the cross is foolish to

those who are headed for destruction.

But we who are being saved, we know that

it is the very power of God."

Lord, would you show us the very power

of God?

Come Holy Spirit, give us an imagination

for what your love could mean in us and

out in the world through us.

I want to pray a simple prayer with you

right now. Sorry. Thank you, please.

And I want us all to say this prayer.

Whether it's the first time you've said

it or 50.

It's very, very simple.

God, I'm so sorry for the sins that I've

done. Would you pray that? God, I'm so

sorry for the sins that I've done.

Thank you for dying on the cross for me

so that I could be forgiven and set

free.

Thank you for the gift of forgiveness.

I now receive that gift.

That was sorry. That was thank you.

Sorry. Sorry. Thank you. And now,

please,

please come into my life

by the power of your Holy Spirit

to be with me forever.

I want to know your love deep in my

heart

and I want to share your love with the

world.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

You are my Lord

and I follow you.

Amen.

There's a whole team of people praying

for you before the service. We've

already said that. Kate giving an

invitation to be a part of that. Steve's

a part of that team. Steve, would you

come up and share with us how the team's

been sharing? And worship team, would

you join me up here? We're going to sing

one last song, lead you all into a time

of ministry with people praying for you

today.

And then I want to bless you with some

scriptures that you have on your sheet

there.

As we were seeking God this morning, the

first thing, first word he gave us was

a healing of an arch in the foot,

possibly the right foot.

Keep focused on your home and family,

not on the distractions.

Keep the priorities right.

Someone who's struggling with life and

perhaps feeling in survival mode.

Someone that has unexplained allergies

and that you don't know what what you're

allergic to,

but you can have healing. You feel dry

and thirsty inside. John mentioned some

of that today. Let God wash over you.

And finally, someone who is facing an

education issue or education decision.

So, if one of these speaks to you, we'd

love to to pray for you. We have a team

over team, several teams over here in

the corner. or if you have a another

need physical

uh emotional

something in your family what whatever

is we would love to to pray with you.

Please join