Every good and effective government must provide both laws to govern its citizenry and courts to represent its citizenry. If laws are absent, unarticulated, or unenforced, there is anarchy. If courts are corrupt, powerless, or inaccessible, there is tyranny. God’s government promises both infallible regulation and unending representation for the good of its people. Foreshadowing this reality in the past, God gave ancient Israel kings from the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10; Ps 60:7) and priests from ...
Mar 06, 2024•38 min•Season 9Ep. 9
Worship is a central tenet, activity, posture, and goal for all believers. As one author has suggested, “Christian worship is the response of God’s redeemed people to his self-revelation that exalts God’s glory in Christ in our minds, affections, and wills, in the power of the Holy Spirit.” However we define and articulate this important concept, one thing must be clear: ultimately, worship is not about us—it’s about our God the King. Worship starts with God and responds to revelation from God. ...
Feb 26, 2024•40 min•Season 9Ep. 8
It’s hard to grow, improve, or mature without first being honest about the need for growth, the room for improvement, and the areas of im maturity. Being realistic is important for those who want to progress and, as a church family, that is exactly what we desire. We want to become a congregation that is used by God to lead more and more people from darkness into light. We want to be a people so being filled with the Holy Spirit that wounded, battered, discouraged, and questioning Christians can...
Feb 21, 2024•36 min•Season 9Ep. 7
The psalms are songs about life, sacred songs, but commentaries on life. The ups and downs, the good and the bad, the joys and sorrows. They afford so much wisdom about life as it was meant to be lived. They tug at our hearts, they challenge our ways, and they teach us good and godly things. Many of them were written by David, the king of Israel, as is Psalm 34. In it, he speaks of several godly habits. A habit is a repetitive behaviour, one that by its repetition requires less intention and pla...
Feb 21, 2024•41 min•Season 9Ep. 6
After the predictably horrible reign of Saul, God hand-picked David to succeed him as king of Israel (1 Samuel 13:14). And David loved God, worshipped God, served God, and represented God. By all earthly measurements, David was a great man. But, as 2 Samuel 11:1–12:12 demonstrates, even the greatest of people still sin, sometimes dramatically. No one—no matter how mature they are in the Lord, how knowledgeable they are about the Lord, or how useful they’ve been to the Lord—is immune to temptatio...
Feb 07, 2024•45 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Weddings can be beautiful and meaningful events. Friends and family are gathered, happiness and love are expressed, promises and prayers are offered. Even on the surface, these events are celebratory and significant. But the beauty and meaning of a wedding runs far deeper than many people understand. From a biblical perspective, a wedding (and the marriage that ultimately follows the wedding) is hugely significant and symbolic as it honours God’s presence, points to God’s character, demonstrates...
Jan 29, 2024•36 min•Season 9Ep. 4
The Scottish novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson, once said, “The person who has stopped being thankful has fallen asleep in life.” In other words, even in the darkest moments of life there is always something for which people can be grateful and to not recognize that is to be knowingly or ignorantly unconscious. Now, if that’s true in general, how much more for God’s people in particular? Are we not totally forgiven? Are we not kept near the Father through the Son by the Spirit? Are we not loved b...
Jan 22, 2024•37 min•Season 9Ep. 3
“He loves me, he loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not.” It’s a familiar and simple game. By alternating those statements while plucking pedals from a flower one-by-one, an individual seeks to discover whether their affection for someone is , or will be , reciprocated. Ultimately, it’s an exercise in hopefulness and powerlessness. Following the Lord through the ups and downs of life can feel similar: “He loves me, he loves me not. He’s with me, he’s with me not. He protects me, he protect...
Jan 17, 2024•36 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Bad things happen to good people, even to God’s people. Belonging to Jesus Christ does not inoculate us from sadness, loneliness, and stress. Following the Lord does not ward off financial insecurity, relational hostility, emotional misery, and physical injury. The gift of eternal life in the ever after does not guarantee a long life in the here and now. Many of us know biblically —and all of us know experientially —that trials and tribulations arise regularly. We live in a sin-cursed world full...
Jan 08, 2024•37 min•Season 9Ep. 1
This morning I want to go back in time together, before Christ on the cross and before Messiah in the manger, to a time of desperation, a time when the future for God’s people looked bleak and the hearts of God’s people seemed black.
Dec 24, 2023•31 min•Season 8Ep. 52
Christmas may be “the most wonderful time of the year” but it’s also one of the most expensive times of the year. One report estimates that an average household will spend almost $2500 this season on festive food, decorations, and gifts. But even beyond the financial cost, Christmas also can carry a relational cost with family tensions and social divisions being exacerbated. There can be an emotional expense with the season sparking loneliness, sadness, and grief. Finally, the holiday can take a...
Dec 17, 2023•41 min•Season 8Ep. 51
There are many words we could use to describe Jesus’s birth: miraculous, humble, anticipated, needed, epic, joyful, and merciful. But one word we cannot use is secretive. The coming of Jesus was not classified, hidden, or undisclosed. It was unmistakable, being both predicted before it happened and announced after it happened. And, ultimately, that leaves all people without excuse. The revelation of Jesus Christ puts all people to a decision: will we respond with rejection or adoration?...
Dec 10, 2023•15 min•Season 8Ep. 50
Hope is a wonderful thing. Hope is faith directed towards the future. It is confidence in what is to come. For Christians, our future is a glorious thing. This is the key teaching in the book of Revelation and it is the key in Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians as well. Seven of the eight chapters in these two books highlight the coming of the Lord. All through these two letters, the Holy Spirit is wanting us to embrace this hope. It is what we need to strengthen us for living today.
Nov 27, 2023•37 min•Season 8Ep. 48
From the beginning, God’s desire was to reign over his creation through a mediator. To that end, the King of the universe placed representative images of himself in his creation to fill his creation and rule his creation (Gen 1:26–28). But, also from the beginning, Satan’s desire was to usurp God and set himself up as sovereign. He deceived God’s first kingdom mediators, prompting them to rebel against the King rather than represent the King (Gen 3:1). In spite of the catastrophic effects of thi...
Nov 19, 2023•39 min•Season 8Ep. 47
At long last, the Apostle John is shown the culmination of God’s future wrath against and destruction of all sin. To this point it had been revealed that Jesus Christ—the Lamb who was slain and is, thus, worthy (5:6, 12)—will one day initiate, oversee, and enact righteous judgement upon the whole world. Natural disasters and unnatural disturbances, fear and famine, death, darkness, and demonism will be unleashed. While the church will be exempt from this time (3:10), those who come to faith duri...
Nov 13, 2023•37 min•Season 8Ep. 46
A message shared by Lew Worrad on November 5, 2023 at Oakridge Bible Chapel.
Nov 05, 2023•38 min•Season 8Ep. 45
Satan had just brought his antichrist and false prophet into the world to deceive and destroy (13:1–18) when John sees the Lamb standing unfazed on the heavenly Mount Zion (14:1–7). Harps are being played, songs are being sung, and gospels are being preached when, seemingly out of nowhere, an angel flies overhead declaring, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great” (14:8). What immediately follows is reverent celebration in heaven and more devastation on earth (15:1–16:18) before a similar refrain i...
Oct 30, 2023•43 min•Season 8Ep. 46
Throughout human history, God has stayed his hand of retribution, being “patient toward us, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). But God’s patience with rebellion does not mean forgetfulness of rebellion. In fact, Paul teaches that the unrepentant are “storing up wrath for [themselves] in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom 2:5). It is as though the sin in this world is building-up pressure like water against a dam until...
Oct 22, 2023•38 min•Season 8Ep. 45
A message shared by Nate Vellekoop on October 15, 2023 at Oakridge Bible Chapel
Oct 19, 2023•43 min•Season 8Ep. 44
There’s nothing quite like a good comeback story. You know the type: when a person, group, or team seems so down-and-out, so defeated, and so oppressed and yet finds a way to climb back into contention, grab success, find safety, and even secure victory against all odds. These tales are surprising, satisfying, inspiring, and exciting. While it may seem near-blasphemy to call the eventual-and-total victory of Jesus Christ “a comeback story,” there are sections of Scripture that record the Lord sn...
Oct 08, 2023•37 min•Season 8Ep. 43
When the glorified Jesus appeared to the imprisoned John, he told him, “write down what I’m about to show you and pass it on to my people” (ch. 1). In this message, after some pointed words to the churches in the present age (chs. 2–3), Christ turns his attention to the future (chs. 4–22). He takes the apostle into the heavenly throne-room, giving him a glimpse of the Father’s awesomeness, the Son’s faithfulness, and their all-together worthiness to be worshiped and trusted (chs. 4–5). The Lamb ...
Oct 01, 2023•44 min•Season 8Ep. 42
In the early 1900s, it was not uncommon for over a million people each year to lose their lives due to natural disasters like floods and droughts, earthquakes and fires, tornadoes and landslides. Fast forward one hundred years and, in this past decade, the average annual death toll was less than 10,000. Why this dramatic improvement? Is it because there are less natural disasters today? No. The positive trend is largely due to the fact that humanity has become better prepared for the storms, mor...
Sep 24, 2023•40 min•Season 8Ep. 41
Reading the fourth and fifth chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ can feel like stepping into the sun after hours in the dark. It takes time for our senses to process what it is we are being shown as our eyes, ears, and minds are treated to a glimpse heaven’s glory, joining the Apostle John in the witness of pure, untainted worship of the awesome Creator and Sustainer of the universe. At first, the scene can be overwhelming, what with creatures and crowns, thunder and thrones, singing and ...
Sep 17, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 40
People want to know the future and are quite creative in how they attempt to do that, reading tea-leaves and palms, examining stars and crystals, and studying playing cards and weather patterns. And this desire to peek beyond the horizon of tomorrow isn’t unique to our times. God warned about these methods at Mount Sinai (Lev 19:31), Saul dabbled in the practice during his downward spiral from Israel’s throne (1 Sam 28:6–7), and Paul encountered the lucrative practice of fortune-telling in Phili...
Sep 10, 2023•44 min•Season 8Ep. 39
How many here like gifts? How many of you enjoy Christmas when you receive those gifts? Most of you celebrate Christmas receiving gift for one day. I celebrate Chanukah where I receive gifts for 8 days, with having a large family you can imagine how many gifts we get!! Its Wonderful!! What is a gift if you don’t open it? A gift is no good still wrapped up. A gift is no good if you don't use it or implement it. God has given us many gifts and so many of us don’t use the gifts we’ve been blessed w...
Sep 03, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 38
God’s people have many needs and vulnerabilities but God’s Spirit has been given to help meet those needs and minister to our weaknesses. As rebels against God, we need saving, so the Holy Spirit regenerates, making believers new creatures who are born again from above. We need security in and assurance of that salvation, so the Spirit indwells us, seals us, and testifies to us that we belong to him. We need truth in a world of deception, so the Spirit teaches us. We need fellowship with our Sav...
Aug 27, 2023•38 min•Season 8Ep. 37
Living in a fallen world, it’s not uncommon for people—even God’s people—to feel disoriented and isolated, overwhelmed by choices and trials, decisions and disappointments, insecurities and uncertainties, hurts, fears, and loses. Sometimes the cumulative fatigue of such experiences, the emotional taxation of helplessness, and the dramatic intensity of uncertainty rises to such a level that even God, the only one who can ultimately bring guidance and deliverance, seems out of reach. It’s in these...
Aug 21, 2023•34 min•Season 8Ep. 36
If you have been with us in the past weeks, you’ll know that we have been doing a series on the Holy Spirit. Today we will continue that series with the topic of sanctification. Our word sanctification comes from the latin “sanctus”, which means holy. In other words, today we will talk about becoming holy, and the role the Holy Spirit plays in that. Holy can mean blameless or pure, and often we define it by what is not: to be holy means to be separated from sin. If you think it about this way, t...
Aug 13, 2023•48 min•Season 8Ep. 35
The filling of the Holy Spirit could rightly be considered the centre of his work in the world today—the hub to which his other ministries connect and by which his other ministries are rightly experienced. The Spirit has regenerated, indwelled, and sealed every believer. But it is the filling of the Spirit that helps us understand and celebrate those realities. The Spirit teaches. But it is his filling that empowers our recognition and reception of that education. The Spirit unifies. But it is w...
Aug 07, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 34
Speaker: Jim Rennie Series: God In Us: A Study of the Holy Spirit
Jul 31, 2023•45 min•Season 8Ep. 33
