Pastor Joni

“The Invitation” - Sermon starts at 34:45

What if the greatest invitation you’ll ever receive is the one you’re most likely to ignore?

In this powerful message, we dive into Jesus’ parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:15–24) and wrestle with a challenging truth: many people are invited—but not everyone shows up. Some make excuses. Some feel unworthy. Others don’t even know the invitation exists.

But God’s heart is clear—His table will be filled. And He’s calling His people to go beyond comfort, beyond routine, and beyond the walls of the church to invite the overlooked, the broken, and the forgotten to experience His grace.

The Invitation — Full Service for 21 June 2026 What if the greatest invitation you’ll ever receive is the one you’...

“Awl of It” - Sermon starts at 39:45.

What if the greatness you’ve been chasing is actually getting in the way of discipleship? In this sermon, Pastor Joni exposes the uncomfortable truth that no one dreams of being a servant—yet Jesus insists that servanthood is the true mark of a faithful disciple.

From the dangerous mission Jesus gives his followers, to the shocking moment when the King kneels to wash dirty feet, this message flips our ideas of success, power, and faith upside down. It challenges us to ask whether we’ve truly walked through the door of devotion or merely hovered at the threshold—claiming to love Jesus while withholding our lives, our obedience, and our service.

Following Christ isn’t about status, convenience, or what’s in it for us; it’s about love expressed through costly, visible service that reflects the heart of the Master to a watching world.

Enumclaw Nazarene Church is live! What if the greatness you’ve been chasing is actually getting in th...

In my church, we have been focused on becoming Christlike disciples. We are to abide in the true vine and be changed from our wild (sinful) nature.

Today in my personal Bible reading, I came across this passage in Isaiah 5:1-4:

“I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now… judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?”
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God, the keeper of the vineyard, made a perfect place for good grapes to grow. He provided everything for its growth. There was nothing he could have done differently.

And the outcome? Wild grapes grew.

So what is the difference between cultivated, good grapes and wild grapes? Wild grapes are tart and acidic. Some of them are toxic and you really don’t know when you’re going to encounter them. Interestingly, wild grapes are more productive, meaning spreading quickly. They easily overtake other things that are growing there.

Cultivated grapes, on the other hand, are sweet and juicy. They have a pleasing flavor. They take work, but they are ideal.

God planted good grapes and he wants the yield to be good grapes, which represent his righteousness and the good life in Christ. God has provided everything needed for us to grow abundantly and be strengthened in the good vine.

Wild grapes represent the sinful life, which is contrary to what God planted. The sinful life spreads easily; it may seem pleasing in some regard, but it is bitter and toxic, and it has a way of infesting the area in which it found its home.

When Christ tells us to bear fruit, he does not mean toxic fruit. We are to produce good fruit in keeping with the righteousness of Christ. Those who are rooted in Christ will bear a good fruit. Those who are infested with wild grapes will be overtaken by those wild grapes.

God has done the work to bring out the best. How will you respond? 

Additional reading: John 15:1-11; Matthew 3:7-10; Matthew 7:15-20; Galatians 5:16-26; and Luke 13:6-9.