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What is your name?
Names are significant as they reflect identity and destiny. In the Bible, names hold deep meanings and can change to denote transformation. God’s name, Yahweh, embodies his power, compassion, and deliverance. Jesus, meaning "God saves," is exalted above all names. By embracing Jesus and identifying as Christians, we honor and glorify God's name.
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Life’s Archery Range: The Sure Shot vs The Missed Mark
At the Sure Shot Archery Tournament devotional in Phoenix, speaker Vin connects the concept of sin, or missing the mark, to archery, describing it as failing to align with God’s will. He reflects on personal growth from selfish goals to seeking God's targets, emphasizing the need for practice, scripture, prayer, and Jesus’ guidance to hit life's true mark. The message concludes with community outreach, particularly regarding addiction recovery, underscoring the spiritual and communal aspects of life's aim.
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House of Refuge—Lesson 2 (of 2) God Addict
We need an EGG, Enemy—Identify who this is. You can make an enemy of God or you can make an enemy of the devil. Whoever your enemy is, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.” Proverbs 24:17 Glorify—You can glorify yourself or you can glorify God. It’s your decision. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 God— We need a god in our life. We can be gods over our own lives, or we can have…
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House of Refuge—Lesson 1 (of 2) Identity
I use the word NEST to illustrate that the nest that we build for ourselves in our lives will always be built around our identity. NEST means: Nature—Live with a sin nature or saved nature? Eternity—Are we eternally saved or damned? Servant—Do we serve God or Satan? Trust—Do we trust in the world or do we trust in the Creator?
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Vin’s Testimony
I just said, help me. Help me God. I can't do this on my own. And I'll tell you what. God is powerful—if you let Him be powerful in your life.
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New Roads Ahead
In my backyard is an orange tree. God gives us what we need not only when we need it, but also when we are ready to accept it. It’s the winter season now in Phoenix and my citrus trees have plenty of oranges growing very large. The cold season is when people get sick and we need help fighting our illnesses. Vitamin C helps to do this—and oranges are packed with vitamin C. It’s amazing that God provides for us the things we need when we need them. As we move forward through life, reflection becomes imperative in avoiding the same struggles we encountered in the past. It is through…
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Jonesing for Jesus [VIDEO]
God is the only addiction that we should have. That's right. ... He is faithful. He gives back to us better than anything that we've surrendered to him. He ... he multiplies the blessings that he gives to us because he's got a good plan for our lives. His will for our lives is better. His will and his plan is better than our own. He's a good God. Just surrender to him, trust in him and life will be good. The thing that I run into in Celebrate Recovery is that's a huge leap of faith. People don't understand that they're already worshiping little "g" gods. They're already worshiping…
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How many times do we get to die?
▪ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AS A SHORT PAPER FOR PHOENIX SEMINARY▪ INTRODUCTION Curse and suffering all began with Adam in the garden of Eden when he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—even after he was told not to by God himself. That was humanity’s first sin, and the result was curse and suffering to all who came after. It was promised that “in the day that you eat of it, [all of humanity] shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17, ESV) That is the first biblical promise of a curse resulting as a consequence of disobedience to God. Since Adam was the only human alive when God…
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What does recovery look like? And why do we celebrate it?
A gentleman by the name of Geoff Brown interviewed me for his podcast Kingdom Culture Conversations and the topic of discussion for Part One & Part Two was about Celebrate Recovery. I listened to both of the 2-part episodes after it was released and thought to myself, “How many people are wondering why I gave a testimony—a deeply personal testimony—for all to hear? I mean, really, I was supposed to be promoting a Christ-focused recovery group, but instead I shared more about myself.” If you haven’t heard it, or have no clue what I’m talking about, give it a listen below. I wrote a post called You Don’t Know Me.…
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You Don’t Know Me
How often have you heard—or even said yourself—these words: “You don’t know me! You don’t understand me! You don’t know how it is or know what it’s like to be me!” Whether a fleeting thought of inward defiance or spoken openly for all to hear, the desire to be known is strong inside each of us, especially people who are hurting (and let’s be real, we’re all hurting in one way or another). But in today’s fast-paced world where everyone wants everything quickly, with instantaneous information at our fingertips, and most people not even getting out of their car to grab a bite to eat—it is hard for anyone to…
