Connect With Rodney Cundiff

In “Farewell”, Rodney shares some parting words to the New Vision Church congregation in San Antonio, Texas after almost 12 years of leading and pastoring the local church. Farewells are always an awkward mix of memories, emotions, and expressions of love. Rodney shares some words of encouragement and warning as the church transitions its leadership. He reminds them, so many today are in pursuit of titles. They believe that influence, and power comes from the title they have. But, real influence and power is given from the God and people they serve. The apostle Paul reminded the Philippians that they were slaves of Christ, and that every time he thought of them, he thanked God for them. “Unbroken remembrance results in unbroken thanksgiving.” The prayers that are offered up for them are filled with joy as he reflected on their partnership in ministry. Lastly, he was certain that God would continue and finish the good work he had started in them on the day of the Lord’s return. When Jesus returns we

In “I Didn’t SHRINK”, Rodney shares that transitions in life can fill us with stress, and overwhelm us with all sorts of concerns. The people in the Bible were not any different. The apostle preparing to leave and transition his ministry after a long extended stay and residing in Ephesus for over three years in prepares to leave the Christian believers and church he started in the city of Ephesus. He reminds them of his care and love for them, and most importantly that he did not shrink back from telling them all God wanted them to know. Pastor and church elders have a heavy burden leading a church, but it is also wonderful blessing when called of God to lead his church. Church leaders should never shrink back from their responsibility to lead and share the one message of the gospel: repenting from sin, turning to God, and believing in faith in Jesus Christ. At the end of every minister’s time of leading a church, or ministry may they be able to say with a pure heart and clear conscious, “I Didn’t SHRINK.”

In “Into Your Hands” Rodney shares that You will experience a time in your life when you will have to take a leap of faith requiring you to fully trust, and completely place your life into God’s hands. It can be a scary thing. It is a common experience. But if you trust God and place your life into his hands, it will be the act that moves God to do the miraculous in your life. Christians are to live by faith. You can trust that while God may be unseen, he is not unknown. Amazing things happen when we give up, and surrender completely, placing ourselves into God's hands, like Jesus did. If you want to see God do amazing things in your life, you must trust God, and place your life into his hands. Only by placing your life into God’s hands can you experience the miracle of a resurrection.

In “Here Comes The Bride”, Rodney shares that with the events that have been transpiring in Israel, Some have wondered if this could be the beginning of the end times, and whether Psalm 83 could prophetically be playing out right in front of us. A more accurate assessment is we are not at the beginning of the end, but near the end of the end. The Marriage Supper in Revelation 19 is a beautiful picture of the uniting of the bride (The Church), and bridegroom (Jesus Christ). The waiting time of the Church for the arrival of Jesus is coming to an end. Are you ready? The Bride must prepare herself for the marriage supper. A bride’s preparation involves both her works, and the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a divine cooperation in the preparation of the wedding supper, between the bride and the Spirit. Everything the bride has need of is provided by the Holy Spirit. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper. There is no greater invitation than to be invited to the wedding supper of the ages betwe

In “The Gift Of A Legacy”, Rodney shares that “The Gift of a Legacy” means more than just heirlooms, financial inheritance, or the passing of real estate to your heirs. How much thought do you give to leaving “The Gift of a Legacy”? You can leave an heirloom, but it can be stored away, and never appreciated or used. You can leave money, but it can be spent quickly or lost in foolish ways. You can leave a house, but it will eventually need repairs, and might be sold. So, I ask you, what is the gift of a legacy you will leave? “The Gift of a Legacy” will outlast all the aforementioned gifts. The Gift of a Legacy allows you to change the life of the next generation and generations to come. An advantage to being a Christian is that we live for a purpose. “How do you want to be remembered? Your God-given purpose gives an answer to this question. The Gift of a Legacy allows you to change the world for a generation and for generations to follow. Don’t wait until the end to decide you need to think about y

In “Christ-Leaders”, Rodney shares that in the Kingdom of God, God has called us to live, and strive for a life of compound growth, expansion, and fruitfulness. Christ-Leaders think, “How can I multiply the Kingdom?” Living things are thriving things. In the church, we’ve done well at calling people to follow, but we’ve done a horrible job at calling people to lead. The call to simply follow demands less, so it produces less. Churches that have a deficit of leadership produce less fruit, talents, growth, increase, ministry, and salvations. Many of us have come to think that being a follower is passive. But, Jesus recruited followers who developed into being leaders. Be the leader God has called you to be. Take initiative, by trusting that you are fully equipped, and empowered to handle whatever opportunity comes your way. A Christ-leader is not just interested in reaching this generation, but the next generation to come. You need to be not only a Christ-follower, but a Christ-leader.

In “Love Me”, Rodney shares that churches often speak of, and reminded us to love God, and love others. Additionally, we want you to know that God loves you. While not always addressed, you also need to be encouraged to love yourself. Having a healthy self-identity is not easy when you live in a world that constantly works against you having a healthy view of yourself. We need to develop a biblically healthy view of ourselves. Often how you feel about yourself influences how you think God thinks about you. However, what God thinks and feels about you is very likely different than what you think and feel about yourself. Reading God’s word will give you a balanced look at yourself. It is a necessity to “love me” if we are to love God, and love others in the manner we have been commanded to love, and the standard by which we will be judged. You need to love God, love others, love his church, and love yourself. God loves you! Isn’t it time you, love you, too. Start today – make a decision, begin to “Lo

In “Our Legacy – The Next Generation”, Rodney shares that stewarding the responsibility of parenthood, and our Christian responsibilities of passing our faith onto our children is a high calling. Our legacy is only one generation away from extinction. Faith is built and passed on by scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. One generation is to pass on their faith, knowledge, and experience to the next generation, and the next generation is to pass on their faith, knowledge, and experience to their following generations. When the next generation is shown, learns, and experiences a faith in God that is alive, it allows them to “set their hope in God.” The stories and works of God in the past, become the stories and works of God in their present, and they set their hope in the future that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their parents becomes their personal God.

In “Philemon – A Story of Forgiveness, Restoration, & Reconciliation”, Rodney shares that true faith is expressed in actions, not just words. True faith is more than just intellectual ascent or emotional stirrings, faith should produce the fruits of righteousness. Far too often, the church has requested too little of people who call Jesus, Lord. Much of the churches anemic condition is it has not been challenged to live up to the life Christ Jesus has called Christians to live. The story of Philemon and Onesimus is a challenge to every Christian to live kindly, and be useful for the Lord. Expressions of kindness, generosity, and usefulness flow from our love for one another. Love is always personal. Imagine a church filled with kind and useful people. When it is people are filled with joy. The apostle Paul is confident the grace of Christ shown in Philemon will prevail, and go above and beyond what is required because that is what love does. On some level we are like Onesimus, and in Christ, we

In “Timing – Set Up or Setback to Success”, Rodney shares that To experience success in life, business, relationships, or even your spiritual walk, understanding and embracing the truth about this contributing factor is essential, “Timing, Timing, Timing”! Think of the millions of decisions you have made over your lifetime. How many do you wish you could change, or do over? How many of those negative outcomes might have been different if you had better timing? Concerning your leadership, success in life, ministry, or business you must be willing to wait, and know when to act. Learning the importance of timing will help you make the right decision at the right time. Much success can be attributed to being at the right place, with the right people, at the right time. The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity. Today is the right time to master timing. This could be the difference between your unfulfilled dreams, and seeing God’s will unfold in your life. Right timi

In “Sacrifice – The Price For Success”, Rodney shares that God has a plan for your life. God’s plan is big. If you ever get a sense of God’s plan for your life, you want to be successful. For many, the difference between missing out on God’s best and success in their life, ministry, and success in fulfilling God’s plan for their life is the amount of sacrifice someone is willing to pay. Most everyone wants perks and rewards, but fewer are willing to sacrifice what it will take to be successful in reaching their dream. What is your dream? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to see it come to pass? Hopefully your dream is to follow the plan of God for your life. Salvation is free, but discipleship and leadership is costly. As you mature in faith, and in your leadership there will be more sacrifice that is demanded. The threats to tomorrow’s success are today’s success, and your unwillingness to sacrifice. Every level of success in business, life, or ministry requires you pay a greater price fo

In, “Walking With God”, Rodney shares that God walked with Adam and Even, the first humans, in the Garden of Eden, and they experienced close spatial and relational proximity. Similarly, today, God is still walking and talking with his people. You can experience and ever deepening and growing personal relationship with Jesus. The Christin is seeking for more of God, can experience fellowship with the eternal Word, our Creator, Judge, Savior, and Lord of all. Ultimately our relational proximity will determine our spatial proximity with the Lord. Adam, Enoch, Noah, and so many other patriarchs of the faith, and his disciples had a relationship with Jesus, and it didn’t stop with the death of the apostles or first century church. God is still walking and talking with his people. Walking with God means the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing in your life. When we chose to daily walk with God, in relational proximity and intimacy, we will experience the spatial proximity and manifest presence of the Holy Sp

In “The Persecuted”, Rodney shares that wearing the authentic label of being a Christ follower will naturally invite persecution to all who wear it. The authentic Christian life calls us to come out from among the world, and to live distinctively and recognizably different. The persecuted are not harassed because of crimes against humanity, or sins against God, but is on account of righteousness - doing the right thing. By living the Christian life openly without reservation, it will bring criticism and will cost the disciple of Christ something. Simply proclaiming the gospel, and living out our profession of faith in Christ, and the teachings of scripture invites persecution. When you wear the authentic label of a Christian you will suffer hardship for following Jesus. The closer you are in proximity to Jesus the greater the possibility of persecution, because of your closeness to the target of the worlds scorn and attack. We are not to seek after persecution or attention from persecutors, but we are t

In “Peacemakers”, Rodney shares truths about one of the most critical labels that will help us identify his followers is that of a peacemaker. Do not confuse a peacemaker with timidity. Being a peacemaker may be the bravest and most challenging thing you ever do. The starting point to being a peacemaker is to personally be at peace with God. In a very real sense Jesus is the first peacemaker. “For Christ himself has brought peace to us” (Ephesians 2:14). No animal, angel, or man can make peace between man and God. Only Jesus provides an opportunity to have real everlasting peace with God. Only after you have peace with God can you begin to have peace with people. The reason there are so few “Peacemakers” is they operate in an environment of war and hostility. Peacemaking implies there has to be the existence of an active or potential conflict. Making peace is not easy. It will cost you something. Peacemaking will likely put you in harms way. If it cost God the Father giving his son and cost Jesus his life in

In “Pure In Heart”, Rodney shares that the next recognizable label you should desire to wear as a Christ-follower is the label of “Pure In Heart.” We tend to think of sin as primarily something visible or seen, but God is actually more concerned with where that sin originates – the heart. Like people who slap on paint to a dilapidated house on the verge of being condemned, we hopelessly try to paint ourselves outwardly to cover up the fact we are inwardly a complete shambles, and broken-down mess. God is as concerned with what is going on inside you as much as what is happening outside you. During the time of Jesus, the Pharisee was obsessed with keeping himself outwardly and ceremonially clean. The Jews had 613 laws they were supposed to obey, and the Pharisees tried their best to keep everyone of them. Their over concentration on outward appearance led their hearts astray from true intimate relationship. Their religion became about a bunch of rules instead of love. King David realized that his feebl

In “Mercy”, Rodney shares that mercy is what we don’t always like to give, but always praying to receive. Mercy is often associated with a negative context of not dispensing consequences, punishment, or wrath that is deserved because of wrong behavior, or less than what is appropriate, or expectations. Mercy is more than us letting an offense go, or feeling bad for the plight of someone. Mercy includes actions taken to alleviate suffering whenever possible. It is amazing some of us are more motivated to alleviate the pain and suffering of an animal than that of a fellow human made in the likeness and image of God. What does it say about us when we are unmoved, lack feeling, or empathy when we see suffering and don’t respond? A feeling, or thought has never saved, rescued, healed, given, served, or ministered to anyone. Mercy includes actions taken to alleviate suffering whenever possible. When you realize how merciful God has been to you, you will respond with mercy to others, far and near, who need i

In “Starving For The Right Thing”, Rodney shares the next recognizable label you should desire to wear as a Christ-follower. It is the label of Starving for the Right Thing – Starving for Jesus. There is no other hunger or thirst that is more important or necessary than our hunger and thirst for Jesus. People often pursue things passionately attempting to feed the hunger and quench the thirst in their soul with temporary things. They are trying to satisfy a spiritual hunger with material solutions. This only leaves people feeling unsatisfied, unhappy, and unfulfilled. Only people who respond to this inner craving will find their spiritual appetites satisfied. Our desire for righteousness is not just a longing for what is ethically, morally, or legally just. It is a heartfelt longing for Jesus himself. Jesus is the only one worthy to bear the name the Lord Is Our Righteousness. What are you starving for? Are you starving for Jesus? You will experience all the goodness of God as a consequence of seeking him wit

In, "Happy Are The Humble" Rodney shares that we live in a world that on one hand we embrace and admire arrogance, cockiness, and pride. On the other, we are put off by it, and more importantly for us to remember, God is not impressed with it, but praises humility and gentleness. Jesus desires hid disciples to appropriately dress in godly humility, in this world. People of the Kingdom of God should openly wear the label of humility. Christian meekness is an outgrowth of a renewed spirit when they are born again. Christian humility believes that when suffering an injury from the hands of another, ultimately, God will judge and be just in his repayment. Humility produces peace. It is evidence that God is doing a work within us. Humility is not weakness. When we act and walk humbly we are living like Jesus. Humbleness is the doorway to entering into the inheritance that God has reserved for those who are citizens of His Kingdom. Humbleness of spirit positions them to receive the maximum benefit and inheritance o

In “Mourning In Style”, Rodney shares that Jesus tells us true comfort is found through mourning. For someone to mourn or lament means they feel guilt, sadness, deep sorrow, and grief. It refers to a person who will even manifest their grief with wailing and outward expressions that cannot be hid. The scriptures indicate that we should mourn over our personal afflictions and troubles. We should grieve with deep sadness the sins of others and the world. The depth of depravity that we witness and hear about daily is alarming. Even the church is not immune to sins reach. The rise of an apostate church is leading many astray from the genuine Christian faith. Most importantly, we are to mourn for our own sin. Our sin continually reminds us of our personal inadequacy’s, but thank God! The answer to our finding comfort for our mind and soul is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. True repentance brings about comfort. Coming into agreement with what God has said about our condition. Worldly sorrow produces a false sense o

In “Poor In Spirit”, Rodney shares that we live in a culture that often judges and identifies individuals based on the labels they wear. We are identified by our clothes, purses, electronics, and cars. It doesn’t take much investigating to find out what sports team each of us support, but what about our Christian faith? How are followers of Jesus Christ identified? What are the characteristics traits that people can look for to identify and find Jesus followers? Sadly, the world is filled with all sorts of inauthentic knockoffs. Knockoffs are not authentic, cheaper, less durable, and no guarantee or warranties are provided. There is nothing more disappointing than when you find knockoff Christians and Churches. This sermon series, “LABELS” is going to identify some of the distinguishing marks and characteristics of an authentic follower of Jesus Christ and His authentic Church. It is interesting that Jesus begins his famous Sermon on the Mount with talking about how you can label and identify specifi