A 9-part sermon series on spiritual practices, based on John 15, that asks what it would take to move from attending church to apprenticing ourselves to Jesus, and how simple rhythms like Sabbath, prayer, and hospitality make room for God to change us. Free to use and adapt, from Vineyard Church Maryville in Tennessee.
Trellis is a nine-part sermon series on the spiritual practices. It starts from a simple image: a trellis doesn’t make a vine grow, but it gives the vine something to climb, so it can reach the light and bear fruit. Vineyard Church Maryville built the series around that idea and has shared its sermon notes so other churches can walk through the practices with their own people. Instead of treating the practices as ways to try harder, the series presents them as ways to put ourselves where God can do the work.
The opening message names the problem honestly. Many of us have confused attending church with following Jesus, and knowing about him with being apprenticed to him. From there the series moves into practices that push against the pace and pressures of modern life. Sermon 2 presents Sabbath as a gift and an act of trust, a weekly reminder that our worth doesn’t come from what we produce. Sermon 3 turns to the Holy Spirit, offering a practical, expectant approach to the Spirit’s power and gifts for people who believe in the Spirit but aren’t sure what to do with that belief. Sermon 4 on prayer and solitude begins with the step most of us skip: getting still before we bring God our list.
The middle of the series covers practices that shape how we hold what we have. Sermon 5 teaches generosity as worship and trust and makes the case that anyone can give meaningfully, whatever their income. Sermon 6 addresses the gap between believing the Bible matters and actually reading it, and offers practical help, including lectio divina, for reading Scripture to be formed rather than just informed. Sermon 7 recovers hospitality from the pressure of entertaining and describes it as simple welcome that anyone can offer, especially to people who can’t pay it back.
The series closes with two practices that are easy to overlook. Sermon 8 points out that Jesus said “when you fast,” not “if,” and gives people who have never fasted a practical way to begin, while connecting fasting to God’s concern for justice. Sermon 9 on vocation challenges the divide between spiritual life and work life, showing that work was a good gift before it became hard and that the Spirit can change how we experience it.
Each download includes a full sermon outline with the key texts, an overview, illustrations, application, and supporting Scriptures, plus reflection questions that work well for small groups. The nine messages can be preached as a full series or pulled out individually, and they leave plenty of room for your own stories and your church’s context. Vineyard USA is sharing this series from Vineyard Church Maryville with the wider Vineyard family, so use as much of it as helps and adapt it however your church needs.
