Feb. 15, 2026

Discover how a hunting dog's instinct to point birds inspired Pastor Ron Vining to challenge us all: if someone followed your life this week, would they end up at Jesus—featuring the powerful story of classmate and  Dilbert creator Scott Adams' deathbed conversion after decades of faithful witness.

Pastor Ron's sermon begins at 29:10  min into the video. The music "In Christ Alone", "Living Hope", "How Great Thou Art", "What a Beautiful Name", "King Of Kings", and "I Exalt Thee" are licensed under CCLI Copyright #2723035 and Streaming Media #22024223 licenses.

Where Is Your Life Pointing? - Pastor Ron Vining——February 15, 2026

Pastor Ron opened with Psalm 34:1-3, calling us to magnify the Lord together, then took us to John 1:6-8, 19-23 to explore John the Baptist's singular mission: pointing people to Jesus. The heart of the message? Our lives should do the same—naturally, joyfully, constantly.

Learning from Cooper the Pointer - Pastor Ron shared how his two-year-old American bred English pointer, Cooper, lives to point birds. "That dog lives to point birds to us," he said, showing videos of Cooper frozen in a perfect point. Watching Cooper hunt, it hit him: "I need to do that with people. I need to be alive and all. I just have got to point people to Jesus." He laughed that none of the popular "what you can learn from a dog" lists mentioned this—they must not have pointers. But Cooper taught him the most important lesson: believers should live to point others to Christ, just as naturally as a pointer lives to find birds.

Three Ways Our Lives Point to Jesus

1. Compass of the Heart - Pastor Ron reminded us that "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Proverbs 4:23). Our heart is like a compass—it determines our direction. If it's set on God, our life naturally points toward Him. If it's set on selfish ambition or worldly approval, we drift. He shared about a potential Beast Feast speaker who lived 25 years chasing success, then read Bob Buford's Halftime and shifted to living for significance. The man told Pastor Ron, "My whole life is to point others to Jesus. That is the most important thing I can do." Pastor Ron added, "We need to keep our heart pure and towards the Lord in order to direct other people there."

2. The Power of the Example - People watch us—some hoping we'll mess up, others searching for direction. Pastor Ron told the story of a woman who always cut her pot roast in half and cooked it in two pans because her mother did. Turns out, Grandma only did it because she was poor and didn't have a big enough pot. We follow examples without thinking. "We can either be a really good example or we can be a bad one," he said. He and Ron Adams recently took an unsaved friend fishing, and Pastor Ron simply told a story about faith without pushing. "The next time we take him fishing, we will do a little bit more and a little bit more until eventually praying that he is going to come to Jesus. Because that is what Ron and I are doing. We are pointing him to Jesus through our actions, through our heart, through our example."

3. Living as a Signpost - Our lives are signposts. Pastor Ron joked about a YouTube video where a sign says "Draw a bridge ahead," and a guy pulls over and starts drawing one. That's how people read our lives—they follow what they see. "We are a signpost. The way that we live, the way that we react to things, people are watching and we are a signpost saying, hey, we are followers of Jesus. We want to point you to Him."

Scott Adams: A Life Pointed Home - Pastor Ron shared about his high school classmate Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, a brilliant agnostic he'd prayed for and witnessed to for years. When Scott was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, Pastor Ron and another believer intensified their prayers and gentle conversations. Just before Scott died in January 2026, he recorded a message: "I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I look forward to spending an eternity with Him." Pastor Ron's voice caught as he read it. Years of faithful pointing—through lunches, books, texts—led Scott home.

The Challenge - Pastor Ron closed with Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Then he left us with this: "If someone followed you this week, and they ended up the week following you, would you be pointing them to Jesus? Pray about that." His message left us thinking about our week ahead—and who we are pointing towards.