Pastor Jake read through a number of Proverbs, as well as a passage in Isaiah 58 and one in Matthew 25 that clearly show God’s people are called to not sit by and ignore those who are hurting and in need. Those of us who are fortunate enough to live without such struggles may be in danger of redacting God’s clear commands to help those around us who are struggling—the poor, the abused, the orphans, the homeless, the widows and those who are alone. It is not enough for us to live a life that does...
May 12, 2019•53 min
We are in week 3 of 6 in our series called “Redacted”. We would never take a sharpie to the Scriptures to mark out what we don’t like, but what about the Bible in our hearts? Often we live like parts of the Bible just aren’t in the Bible. We pick and choose as if it’s up to us what is from God and what isn’t. We redact what makes us uncomfortable or may cost us something. However, 2 Timothy 3 says very clearly that all Scripture is God-breathed. In this third week of the series, Pastor Jake prea...
May 05, 2019•52 min
In this second week of the series, Pastor Jake preached on the reality of hell. Many people have removed the idea of hell from their understanding of what the Bible says because they have rationalized a loving God would never choose to send anyone to hell. This just simply is not the case though. Romans 11:22 says “note then the kindness and severity of God…” In Matthew 18, we see Jesus warning his disciples that it would be better for them to enter life crippled or lame or with one eye if our h...
Apr 28, 2019•44 min
On Easter Sunday, Pastor Jake began a new series called “Redacted”. This series will be 6 weeks long. We would never take a sharpie to the Scriptures to mark out what we don’t like, but what about the Bible in our hearts? Often we live like parts of the Bible just aren’t in the Bible. We pick and choose as if it’s up to us what is from God and what isn’t. We redact what makes us uncomfortable or may cost us something. However, 2 Timothy 3 says very clearly that all Scripture is God-breathed. The...
Apr 21, 2019•49 min
In the “Dear Church” series, we are studying the 7 letters from Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3. This week, we looked at the 7th and final letter – the one to the church in Laodicea. In the Bible, Jesus said some things that are pretty difficult to take. Most of these 7 letters have at least one of those things. This letter might be the one that proves that best. We could get into a bunch of historical facts and background about the city, but the letter itself is actually very easy to ...
Apr 14, 2019•47 min
He opens what no one can shut and shuts what no one can open…you can trust Him. No criticism for Philadelphia. They had little power and yet “kept my word.” Do you keep God’s Word only when it’s easy or when it’s difficult too? When you feel powerless, do you reach for it or something else? Faith is not the highway everyone seems to act like it is. It doesn’t move fast. Movement measured by years and decades, not moments and days. It’s a crawl. It requires patient endurance. Perseverance. We don...
Apr 07, 2019•35 min
In the “Dear Church” series, we are studying the 7 letters from Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3. This week, we looked at the 5th letter – the one to the church in Sardis. In this letter, Jesus calls the church in Sardis (and us) to wake up and look at the how our works are lacking. Jesus tells the church in Sardis that they have the appearance and reputation of being alive, but they are actually dead. The letter continues by warning the people of what will happen to those who do not st...
Mar 31, 2019•44 min
In the “Dear Church” series, we are studying the 7 letters from Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3. This week, we looked at the 4th letter – the one to the church in Thyatira. In this letter, Jesus calls the church in Thyatira (and us) to look at their actions (not just beliefs and words) and He warns them (and us) against being deceived by false teachers/prophets. This letter is a harsh rebuke! So let’s talk about false teachers & false prophets real quick. The Bible warns over and o...
Mar 24, 2019•42 min
Jesus’ letter to the church there is a warning (to them and us) against compromise. There are those in the church at Pergamum that have compromised the Truth of God and accepted the false teaching of Balaam. Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament book of Numbers that was offered a lot of money by the Moabite king (Balak) to curse the Israelites. He tried 3 times but was unable to curse them. Each time, God only allowed him to bless His people. Balaam said that God’s people cannot be cursed in...
Mar 17, 2019•47 min
In our “Dear Church” series, we’re studying the 7 letters to the 7 churches from Jesus in Revelation 2 and 3. This week, we looked at the second letter – the letter to Smyrna. This letter would be a tough one to receive from Jesus. Smyrna was a top tier city in its day – considered first in Asia, beautiful, prosperous, safe, and fun. And yet the Christ-followers there were heavily persecuted. They were suffering – poor, slandered, bullied, thrown in prison, and killed.
Mar 10, 2019•46 min
Week one was all about the first letter which was written to the church in Ephesus. The opening of the letter has a lot of encouraging words showing that Jesus is pleased with a lot of what the people in the church are doing. He says He knows their works. He sees that they are patient and enduring many difficulties. He sees that they have not grown weary. He knows that they have been tested by false teachers who claim to be apostles and have remained steadfast. And all this is all being done for...
Mar 03, 2019•47 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Feb 24, 2019•46 min
In week 3 of our series on the Lord’s Prayer (Teach Us to Pray), Pastor Jake talked about the third part of the prayer. Remember – this prayer is not just for memorization and recitation. Jesus was teaching His disciples (and us) not what to pray but how to pray. “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.” First, we pray from a revelation of who God is. Then last week we tackled the second part – “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” – and we said we pray from Go...
Feb 17, 2019•41 min
In week 2 of our series on the Lord’s Prayer (Teach Us to Pray), Pastor Jake talked about the second part of the prayer. Remember – this prayer is not just for memorization and recitation. Jesus was teaching His disciples (and us) not what to pray but how to pray. So we start by praying from a revelation of who God is. He’s our Father in Heaven. He’s holy. The second part of the prayer is “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Pastor Jake’s main point was that we pr...
Feb 10, 2019•38 min
It’s communication with God. There are many types. It’s not just memorized prayers, kneeling down, by yourself, KJV voice, etc. It’s constant communication with God. Concerted/set-aside, longer time for prayer is vital, but you can and should also pray in your car, when you see someone in need, while you’re on the treadmill, etc. It’s talking AND listening. How do you recognize His voice? How do you recognize anyone’s voice? If your dad were to call you from an unknown number, would you recogniz...
Feb 03, 2019•40 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Jan 27, 2019•44 min
Pastor Jake has introduced three different areas of focus that we will cover over in this series: inward, outward, and together. Last week, we discussed the inward focus, specifically study of and meditation on God’s Word. This week, we will discuss the outward focus. Pastor Jake mentioned 4 disciplines in this category: Solitude, Service, Submission, and Simplicity. Since we live in a culture consumed with our stuff, the Lord led him to teach mainly on the idea of simplicity (a spiritual discip...
Jan 20, 2019•47 min
Pastor Jake has introduced three different areas of focus that we will cover over in this series: inward, outward, and together. Last week, we discussed the inward focus, specifically study of and meditation on God’s Word. This week, we will discuss the outward focus. Pastor Jake mentioned 4 disciplines in this category: Solitude, Service, Submission, and Simplicity. Since we live in a culture consumed with our stuff, the Lord led him to teach mainly on the idea of simplicity (a spiritual discip...
Jan 13, 2019•41 min
Looking all the way back to the beginning, we see that Adam and Even were created for perfect fellowship with God, but sin changed all of this. We now live in an imperfect world and inherit an imperfect nature. It is the reason why we struggle with sin so much. However, that longing to have a perfect fellowship with God still remains in all of us and is the reason behind our desire to want more in our lives. It is why we exhaust our time, money, and resources in an attempt to improve ourselves; ...
Jan 09, 2019•47 min
Pastor Nateended the year off with a message about Killing Criticism. He likened criticism to the acid we used in the class of chemistry that burned everything it touched. It ate a hole in a block of wood, grafted deep scars in a metal bowl and destroyed a plastic tablet permanently. We used goggles and gloves and special beakers to hold the caustic fluid, but we were still hesitant andscared. The warnings of our teacher had brought a healthy fear of injury to our minds. Many of us opted out of ...
Dec 30, 2018•38 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Dec 23, 2018•41 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Dec 16, 2018•36 min
Pastor Jake continued our Christmas series “Vantage Point”, telling the story of Christmas as the “Story Teller” from four different vantage points. Every other story is connected to this story; like streams flowing into rivers, and then into the ocean, every other story flows into this one in some way, but it’s not just a story. It’s the story. It’s history, but it’s not just history. It is the history. This story changed everything; set humanity on a different course. At its core, this is a st...
Dec 09, 2018•33 min
On Sunday, Pastor Jake kicked off our Christmas series “Vantage Point.” Christmas is not just a story. This does not go in the category of fairy tale. It’s not just a tradition. It’s bigger than that. This epic tale…it changed everything. It is the most important thing to ever happen anywhere. It changed human history. It set the earth itself on a different track. It changed the lives of billions upon billions. But not only that…what we’re talking about changed more than human history, because i...
Dec 02, 2018•30 min
Pastor Jake and his wife Erin preached the last week in our November Marriage Series called “Fixer Upper”. When you’re buying a house or building a house, you have to realize that things will never be perfect. There will always be things that need fixing. Things will happen to the house; things will fall apart; as years go by, you’re going to have to do some updating and some remodeling. You’ll have to maintain things if you want that house to last. Really every house is a “fixer upper” eventual...
Nov 25, 2018•44 min
Pastor Jake preached the third week in our November Marriage Series called “Fixer Upper”. When you’re buying a house or building a house, you have to realize that things will never be perfect. There will always be things that need fixing. Things will happen to the house; things will fall apart; as years go by, you’re going to have to do some updating and some remodeling. You’ll have to maintain things if you want that house to last. Really every house is a “fixer upper” eventually. And it’s the ...
Nov 18, 2018•42 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Nov 11, 2018•43 min
On Sunday, we launched our November Marriage Series called “Fixer Upper”. When you’re buying a house or building a house, you have to realize that things will never be perfect. There will always be things that need fixing. Things will happen to the house; things will fall apart; as years go by, you’re going to have to do some updating and some remodeling. You’ll have to maintain things if you want that house to last. Really every house is a “fixer upper” eventually. And it’s the same with marria...
Nov 04, 2018•52 min
Great Oaks Community Church Weekly Sermon Podcast.
Oct 21, 2018•41 min
Pastor Jake wrapped up our “Red Letters” series (week 6 of 6), going through 6 passages within the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Jesus’ sermon is kind of like a family meeting. The people listening have expressed interest in being His followers (disciples). Now He’s sitting them down and talking with them about what that means for their lives and how His representatives should compare to others in the world. He’s taking on relevant topic after topic; issue after issue – anger, lust, divorce...
Oct 14, 2018•46 min
