We are going to worship. We are going to share lives. We are going into the Bible to find what God wants to say to us.  We are going to enter into the healing, saving, delivering, encouraging, strengthening ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And kick back and relax in God’s presence.

When: The first Saturday of the month at 7 PM
Where: The Springs Vineyard, 4151 Centennial Blvd.

See you there,

Richard

Experiencing God’s love, experiencing God’s grace and experiencing God’s transforming power is what we are all about.

We are transformed by God so that we can be a part of His transforming work in our community.

We invite you to come and see for yourself. Better yet, come and experience what God is like and what God is doing with us.

The first generation of the Vineyard movement took Power Evangelism into the streets of their communities and witnessed the Spirit heal, deliver and bring people to Jesus. It is our turn to carry on the fight! At the Springs Vineyard on November 4th and 5th, we will worship together, receive training, unleash the Holy Spirit in our presence and then go out into the streets to do the stuff Jesus did.

RIchard Clinton and Greg Thompson will train and release us as the next generation of the Vineyard movement While Scott McNiel from the Canon City Vineyard will lead worship!

On Saturday afternoon, we will split up and head into Colorado Springs to seek devine encounters to offer healing and prayer.

We invite everyone ages 16-25 to come and receive this training and be released to do the stuff in our communites.

For overnight lodging, we have limited space with Host Families, to crash on the floor at the Springs Vineyard, or to stay on the YWAM base for a small fee. If you are interested in these options, email Adam Greenwell at adam@vineyardcs.org.

There are also numerous hotels in the area along I-25 and Garden of The Gods Road.

Conference Schedule:

November 4th

5:00 pm: Tailgate Party Supper and Registration

7:00pm: Worship and Session 1: “Time to Step Up: The Call to FIght” With Richard Clinton

November 5th

9:30 am: Worship and Session 2: “Prep For the FIght”

!2:30 pm to 3:30 pm: Lunch and Divine Encounters in Colorado Springs

3:30 pm to 5:00 pm: Personal Ministry Time: Come back to get prayer and share testimonies

6:00 pm: Worship and Session 3: “Released to the Fight” WIth Greg Thompson

Sign up here: 

http://itsourturn.eventbrite.com/

Meeting Time: 10:00AM Sundays
Contact: 4151 Centennial Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
(719) 268-1790

The picture of faith in the passage from Jeremiah above is one that everyone wants in his or her life.  Droughts come; storms come.  But the one described above continues through it unfazed, and continues in Jesus.

In a drought, in a desert, the green tree attracts attention.  This is the tree that has tapped into an unseen source of water that is keeping it going where others have withered and died.  In a storm, the tree with deep roots stands and endures through it – those with shallow roots are uprooted and blown over.

How does one get to this point of being fruitful and having a vibrant life through storms and droughts?

Simply this:  the one who is green through the drought, who stands through the storm, is the one whose roots are deep into Jesus.  This is the one that has a strong relationship with Him.

A way of thinking of this that helps me:  The power for the horizontal comes from the vertical.  In other words, when our world – the horizontal I speak of – has dried up or is shaken by the storms of life, the power to carry on comes from the vertical:  our relationship with Jesus.

There’s nothing like one’s world shaking to reveal where we don’t trust Jesus as much as we think we do.   When life’s droughts and storms hit, and they bring out that you don’t trust Jesus as much as you should (or as much as you thought you did), take the opportunity to drive your roots deeper into Him.  Seek Him, learn from Him, and strengthen your relationship with Him.  Having a deep relationship with Jesus is how to be full of life and fruitful no matter what life throws at you!

- Norm Hetzel

Have you had trouble giving Jesus control of an area of your life?  I think we’ve all wrestled with it at one time or another.  This is a very precious promise – to take on Jesus’ yoke is to give Him control, let Him guide us.  Look at His promise!  If we do that, we’ll find rest – His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.

I remember coming to the end of my second Air Force tour in the Washington DC area.  I was praying, asking the Lord about where He wanted to send me next.  I didn’t put any constraints in my request – wherever He wanted to send me was OK with me.  Though there were some places I knew I didn’t want to go, and some I did, I made up my mind to pray to go wherever He wanted me to be.  Every assignment I’ve had in the Air Force, He’s had His hands in – both where I went and what happened to me there.  He had a purpose for each one.  When I asked Him about where I should ask Him to go for my next assignment, I heard, “Colorado Springs.”

That was a completely unexpected response.

Colorado Springs?  Lord, that’s HOME!  That’s where I was raised – where my parents live, and my brother!  That’s been the desire of my heart for a long time – in fact, for the entire time I had been in the Air Force!  Is this You, or is this me?  Surely you’re sending me to Boston, or Los Angeles, or someplace else?  But each time I prayed about it, I kept hearing, “Colorado Springs.”

Sound familiar?  “I want this too much.  This can’t possibly be You I’m hearing.”

I wrestled with it for about 2 weeks, and then settled in my mind that He was indeed calling me to go home to Colorado Springs.   Within six months, a chain of events occurred and I was reassigned to one of the Air Force bases in the Colorado Springs area.

Many have this idea that if we give Jesus control of our lives, He’s going to send us someplace horrible.  That’s not the case!  He knows who we are – what’s inside of us.  He knows our desires and our hopes – and they’re not there by accident.  He wants to use who He has made us to be for His purposes.   I’m not saying that He’ll always give you exactly what you want, as He did in my case above – but I am saying you can trust what He gives you to be the best, and lined up perfectly with who He created you to be.

Give Jesus the reins.  Take on His yoke.  Trust Him with your life.  You will not regret it!

Norm Hetzel

How is your prayer life doing?

What a promise the verse above is! This is the Lord promising that if we are in Him, we can ask for ANYTHING and He will do it. This is a huge key to serving Jesus. Do we want Him to move in a given situation? Have we asked Him to do it? There is so much that remains undone because we have not asked Him!

The context to this verse is abiding in Jesus (remaining in the Vine) and bearing fruit for Him, obeying His commands (John 15:1-17). Look at verse 8: “This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” Here’s the purpose – to bring glory to the Father.

At one point some years ago, I was given a mental picture on this topic. I saw a control room, and the person in the control room was in the process of granting the prayer of a very specific item I remember praying for in the past, and receiving – right down to the color. The sense of power being released was intense! Immediately following that I heard spoken “Galatians 2:20” – I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. God has made available His immense power to those that pray – but not for ourselves. Jesus wants to live not just IN you, but THROUGH you!

This verse refers to a core part of walking with Jesus. It’s praying – but not just praying for how we want to do things. This is praying along the lines Jesus tells you He wants you to pray. It’s letting Jesus love others through you. The power to love in that way – selfless God-empowered love – can only come through Jesus – we don’t do that naturally.

Prayer is the way for Jesus to work and love people through us. Pray, and things will start happening. That’s a promise!

Norm Hetzel

Have you ever thought about the fact that God usually doesn’t do things like we think He should?

The Jews of Jesus’ day had expectations of the Messiah – they expected him to throw off Roman rule, set up a physical kingdom, and restore the glory of Israel.  But what did Jesus do?  He went to the cross.  This was so far out of the disciples’ expectation zone that they didn’t hear Him when He told them – multiple times – this was what was going to happen.   They did not yet fully realize that His Kingdom was much deeper, much more profound than a physical, earthly kingdom.  And when the third day came – which we celebrate at Easter – they got the punchline, equally unexpected.  The tomb is empty!

Such is life today.  We have expectations of God – things we expect Him to do for various reasons, and ways we expect Him to do those things.  Maybe you’ve been given a prophecy which leads to expectations attached.  Often, however, He goes a completely unanticipated route to do what He has said He’s going to do.  And when He does follow through, what actually happens is so different and so much better than what we envisioned – but the path that He uses to get there is one that causes us to question Him.

Expectations of God can be dangerous, particularly given the fact that God doesn’t think and act like we do.  Unmet expectations often result in anger.  They can also result in fear, confusion, and other emotions.

God can handle it.  But if we get angry at Him, it’s almost always because we don’t understand what He is doing and why He is doing it.  We don’t see the punchline yet.

Even though God will often tell us ahead of time what He’s doing, just as He told the disciples, there are times we can’t hear it, won’t hear it, or will completely misunderstand it – based on our expectations of Him.  Then, when He does what He plans to do, we get angry at Him– even though He gave us a heads-up ahead of time – because what He’s doing is the exact opposite of what we expected Him to do.

Wait!!  He’s not finished yet!  The cross is not the end of the story!  On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead!  The tomb was empty!

The moral, when you get angry with God or don’t understand what He is doing – when it seems like He is doing the opposite of what He said He would do – is this:  Wait on the Lord, trust Him and go with it, though you don’t understand at all what He’s doing.  You will be amazed at what He does and how He does it!

Norm Hetzel

Luke 24

¹ On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen!

The very cornerstone of our faith is captured in these three words.  He… Jesus, God’s mercy for us, the One who takes our sin and the consequences of that sin upon Himself, the One who defeated sin and death and makes it possible to be reconnected to God.   Has past tense… it is already done.  Everything that needs to be done has been done. The mission is completely completed.  Risen… faced the worst that sin and death could dish out and emerged victorious with the keys over death in His hand.  Risen to new life… never to face death again.  Risen to freedom and wholeness and leading the way for all of us who believe.

Never have three words carried such an incredible message of hope, a message that inspires us, a message that lifts us out of the daily grind and tough life situations that we all face.  HE HAS RISEN!

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

I love to read the prayers that are recorded in the Bible.  It lets you understand how the person was thinking and what was on their heart.  In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul prays a great prayer.  Because we know that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write this letter, we know that God was leading Paul to pray this prayer.  I will write this prayer in my own words:

God, could you fill each person with the knowledge, full understanding and spiritual wisdom of your will?

God, could you help each person live a life that is worthy of You and a life that would please Jesus?

God, could you help each person to be fruitful in all the good works you have for them?

God, could you help each person to grow in their knowledge and understanding of You?

God, could you give each person all the strength that they need to face every situation in life?

God, could you help each to endure tough situations with patience?

God, could you help each person to be full of joy and thanksgiving?

Wow.  That is a super prayer! Oh Lord, answer this prayer in my life!  Jesus is praying this prayer for you right now.  You can pray this prayer for someone else.  Pick someone you love and pray this prayer for them today.