“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Our God is the owner of the vineyard and loves when it produces fruit, prunes it to make it more fruitful and gives it to those who will produce its fruit. If you are a disciple, God has successfully reached out to you through another person- you are fruit of His vineyard. Fully understanding this is imperative for every disciple. This is not a “pressure cooker” way to look at your purpose or a reason to get “stressed out” but this is how we glorify God. Bearing fruit for him allows his kingdom to continue reaching out into all the world.
It was amazing this past week being in Santiago, Chile. Each disciple is fired up with how God has blessed their group in the last two months. Five people have been baptized in these few weeks, while several others are placing membership. Helen and I, along with the McKean’s had an incredible time fellowshipping, preaching and visiting all of Santiago and the surrounding cities of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. It is a truly incredible country and the people are so open to the gospel that it is amazing. God will do great things in this country sometimes known as: Sur del Mundo (the south of the world).
We sang joyfully together on Sunday morning as the 34 disciples reached out to all their friends and family and brought 52 visitors. We had 105 in attendance and so many want to study the Bible. There will be great fruit in the “vineyard” of Santiago in the months to come! Let us be a sister congregation to Santiago that truly bears abundant fruit for God- the Lord and owner of the vineyard.
He stoops down to make us great,
Matt Sullivan
*Following are pictures of some baptized in Santiago along with pictures from our trip!
103 attend Sunday December 2!
Saturday night dinner, fellowship and preaching. The sisters of Santiago
embrace Helen and Elena.
Brothers unified in the dream to evangelize the world.
Roberto and Claudia help lead the marrieds in the church while Carlos
and Mary Elena dream of helping to plant churches in South America!
Raul met and baptized Ernesto on campus and Clara becomes our sister.
