Jul. 27, 2026

When was the last time someone looked at your life and thought, "I don't know what you have, but I want it"? 

Pastor Ron Vining returned to the pulpit for a message built around what he calls his favorite verse in all of Scripture — John 10:10: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Drawing from John 10 and closing with Romans 8:35-39, he brought a warm, story-rich message about what abundant life actually is, where to find it, what gets in the way — and why showing it to a watching world may be the most powerful witness a believer has.

Jesus Is the Door and the Good Shepherd - Ron opened in John 10:7-9, where Jesus declares Himself the door of the sheep — the only entrance to eternal life. "There's no other way to get to heaven. There's no other way to get to the Father but through Me." He reinforced this with John 14:6 and a story about a fishing friend named Joe who believed doing more good than bad was his ticket to heaven. Ron's reply: "I hope not, because I think I do more bad than good." Jesus is the only door.

He then turned to the Good Shepherd section of John 10 and leaned on a book his wife encountered at a women's conference titled All We Like Sheep, listing how aptly the description fits believers: sheep are dependent, not particularly intelligent, directionless and prone to wander, led rather than driven, unable to defend themselves, unable to get back up when flipped on their backs, and not designed to carry burdens. The shepherd, by contrast, protects, leads, lives among the flock, corrects with a rod and staff, and gives his life for the sheep. "Jesus says that in this passage of Scripture: 'I even give up my life for my sheep.'" One flock, one shepherd, one door.

What Doesn't Give Abundant Life - Around a campfire a few weeks before, Ron asked a group what they thought gave abundant life. The list was familiar: money, a great job, family, friends, houses, cars, motorcycles, fishing, hunting — the American dream. He offered Darryl Strawberry as exhibit A. After spotting a recent YouTube clip, Ron quoted the former Mets star: "Baseball success never filled the empty void in my life. It wasn't until I turned to Jesus Christ that my void was filled and I got abundant life." He made the point with a personal touch: years earlier, Ron's Liberty University trainer friend Steve Garland had been hired by the Mets, which meant free tickets — and a memorable elevator ride with Strawberry and Doc Gooden that a young player named J.C. Hitchcock never forgot.

Showing Abundant Life - The most personal section of the message traced Ron's own journey. As a seventh grader in a legalistic home church, he asked his Sunday school teacher flat out: "Are the people in this church living abundantly?" The answer was a mumbled non-answer. Ron's conclusion at age twelve: "I don't want any part of what they've got." Years later at Liberty University, he saw 1,200 young people on fire for Jesus. "I went through the door because what they had, I wanted." He also recalled a later moment when he told his pastor — a man he now wishes he could apologize to — that he preached looking like a basset hound. "There was no joy or expression in his teaching. I wish I could ask forgiveness. He did look like a basset hound."

He led the congregation in the traditional children's song "If You're Happy and You Know It," then offered his own verse: "If you're happy and you know it, tell your face." The point was serious. "People are watching our lives. I almost went to hell because of church people that didn't show me abundant life." He shared two lighter illustrations of cheerful witness — a prank on his wife at a restaurant early in their marriage, and a fishing tournament the day before where he and Ron Adams won multiple prizes while attempting to witness to a fellow fisherman who turned out to already attend church.

Ron closed with Romans 8:35-39 — "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" — and a personal word about his father, who spent his entire life fearing he could lose his salvation. "What kind of God would do that to us?" As he put it simply: "We walk through that door and it's only one way through. You can't get back out. Praise the Lord for that."