Vine Works

01/29/2024

11/12/2023

“Whenever, though, they turn
to face God as Moses did,
God removes the veil
and there they are -
face-to-face!
They suddenly recognize
that God is a living,
personal presence,
not a piece of chiseled stone.
And when God is personally present,
a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete.
We’re free of it! All of us!
Nothing between us and God,
our faces shining
with the brightness of his face.
And so we are transfigured
much like the Messiah,
our lives gradually becoming
brighter and more beautiful
as God enters our lives and
we become like him.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭MSG‬‬

08/24/2023

“Watch what God does,
and then you do it,
like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.
Mostly what God does is love you.
Keep company with him
and learn a life of love.
Observe how Christ loved us.
His love was not cautious
but extravagant.
He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.

Love like that.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬

06/05/2023

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—
things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.
We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.
We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
LEGALISM is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.
Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭MSG‬‬
(June Rose and her loquats 😛👌🏼)

03/12/2023

🌷Awesome passage for welcoming Spring time. And any time.

“Attention, all!
See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees
all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons
across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic!
Take a long, loving look at me,
your High God,
above politics,
above everything.””

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Open my eyes, Jesus.

09/14/2022

“Mercy to the needy
is a loan to God,
and God pays back
those loans in full.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19:17‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Mercy to the needy is a loan to GOD, and GOD pays back those loans in full.

07/23/2022

Keeping these ones in prayer.

07/19/2022

Set the world right. 🌎
Yes! What a great translation of this passage.

“…With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.
Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:7-13‬ ‭MSG‬‬

07/04/2022

🎊 “It is absolutely clear that
God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you
don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you
want to do and destroy your freedom.

Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.

For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:13-15‬ ‭MSG‬‬

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your free

06/26/2022

“I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work.

So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him.
Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God.
Christ lives in me.
The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God?
I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace.

If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” 👊🏼😑

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:19-21‬ ‭MSG‬‬

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how