Oakhaven Church has the tradition of setting aside "regular sermons" on fifth Sundays to instead hear members and their testimonies of how God has worked in their lives, especially how He has drawn them into life with Him. Today, Josh Patterson shares his story with us. Dust off your disco ball. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
As we continue to examine Paul’s wide-ranging message in Romans 8 , we come away with several insights. First, following Jesus will include moments of pain and suffering that are sometimes overwhelming. In those hardest moments when we don’t know what to say, the Spirit is there with us in the heart of our anguish to translate it all to God as a cry for His intervention and healing. God knows every aspect of the journey He has called us to and He will bless us along the way by using every circum...
On this day celebrating fathers we look at the amazing access God grants us to Himself using Romans 8:9-19 (NLT) . To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
We are in a complex and mysterious, adventurous and powerful, permanent relationship with the Spirit who lives within us to anoint and nudge and save and remind and inspire and empower and equip and comfort and counsel and reform and transform and reshape and renew and ultimately resurrect us just as He raised our Older Brother from the dead. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
We continue to look at Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 11 . After He teaches His disciples “The Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus goes on to use humans in everyday situations to illustrate God’s care and attention to our prayers. A human in bed will get up in the middle of the night to help his neighbor. A human father will not give his child a snake instead of bread. If humans can act so well - in spite of their motivation - surely God will act even more kindly. He then tells us to ask and thus receive, ...
Luke 11:1-13 . Today we look at two different episodes in Jesus’ life with His disciples. First is His teaching them “His” prayer in Luke 11, with a key focus on the prayer that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Then in Luke 8 , we look at the disciples’ fear of the storm and find ourselves with them. Also with them, though, is Jesus. If we focus on Him instead of the storm, our hearts and minds will be as calm as theirs. To investigate this most important of stories further, go he...
Shepherd Brenda Wilusz discusses the many ways God shows His love. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oakhaven Church founding member Deb Cleveland shares a special Mother's Day message featuring the women of the bible. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
We complete today our year long journey through the Gospel of Mark with a summary of his masterful storytelling. We focus on two of his primary themes: identity and expectation. Our identity is built upon that of Jesus’ the King of kings come to bring His kingdom on earth. We are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father, and the younger brothers and sisters of the King. We also check our expectations of Jesus, as His followers in Mark have a skewed view of Who He Is or should be. To investig...
We continue to explore life in the Age of Resurrection along with the unique ending of Mark's Gospel. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
After the grueling pain of Good Friday and the silent waiting of a dark and quiet Saturday, Sunday comes in power, light, and victory. Sometimes our Saturdays last a long time, but Sunday is coming! Mark 16:1-8 To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jesus asks for a different path in the Garden of Gethsemane. God says no. Jesus stays on the path anyway, because the only way out is through this time. His followers desert Him right and left, before and after. But Jesus stays true to The Plan despite what it will cost Him. When everyone else around Him gives in to fear, He alone faithfully stays the course. For you. Mark 14:26-52 To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Our journey in the Gospel of Mark brings us to a poignant, difficult final meal of Jesus with the twelve. The resonance of the past that is celebrated in the Passover meal carries forward not only to the cross and empty tomb but to our lives as well. Mark 14:12-26 To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Longtime Oakhaven member Duane Canon shares his testimony of God's faithfulness in his life over the years. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
We are firmly in Act III of the Gospel of Mark today as Jesus is anointed for burial by a woman at the home of Simon the Leper. This anointing points to Jesus’ Kingship, Messiahship, and pending sacrifice. The woman’s total commitment to Him is shown in this “no going back” breaking of this extremely expensive vessel in order to bring Jesus honor to the greatest extreme of which she is capable. There are moments in our lives when we receive the same nudge, including the daily call of Jesus to fo...
We look today at Jesus’ longest discourse in the Gospel of Mark. Mark 13 contains some of the most dramatic language and images in the gospel. As Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, we take away five lessons: God’s Promises and Plan are CERTAIN but Surprising. Expect Challenging Times. You’re Not Alone - Rely on the Holy Spirit. Don’t Be Taken In or Led Away - No One Knows the Time or Hour. Persevere with Vigilance - Live in the Promise! To investigate this most import...
We return today to the Gospel of Mark ( 12:35-44 ) and find again that Jesus/Mark have packaged 3 stories together that seem unrelated at first but in fact interpret each other. Jesus first quizzes the people about the Messiah, a descendent of David, somehow also be David’s Lord. Then Jesus warns against desiring attention and influence like the religious teachers, many of whom prey on naive widows for income. Then the stories pivot on the character of widows, as the most famous widow of all tim...
Duey shares a message on Jesus' command in John 13:34. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you , so you must love one another." To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Stories of a lost sheep and a lost coin in Luke 15 point to how much Jesus wants us to be found, and the great lengths to which He will go to do so. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
In our journey with Jesus through the Gospel of Mark we have recently arrived in Jerusalem after Jesus' triumphal entry on a donkey. ( Mark 11:11-25 ) As Mark's structure passes from Act II to Act III, the joyful pilgrims who'd shouted Hosanna! to Jesus have gone their separate ways and He is now concerned with the Jewish leaders and with how the worship of the entire nation has been structured so as to be as unwelcoming as possible to outsiders. Jesus renders judgment by overturning the tables ...
We return to our survey of the Gospel of Mark today and find ourselves at a key structural point in Mark’s storytelling. Mark’s gospel can be divided into three “acts.” Act I takes place in Galilee, Act III takes place in Jerusalem, and Act is the bridge “on the road” between those two locations. Today’s brief story occurs at the end of Act II ( 10:46-52 ), and is the last story before Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem and all the events of Holy Week, to which Mark devotes a huge percentage of his gos...
As a result of the grace that Jesus has showered on us, we are moved to share His story with others. Jesus is the King who comes with His kingdom to break into the present while ensuring its eternal future. in 2 Corinthians 5 (and elsewhere), we are called to be ambassadors of this King and Kingdom, first leading lives that represent well the One we serve. Those lives will be markedly different from those steeped in the culture around us, so we can expect to be questioned about our hope and must...
Because God has lavished His grace upon us through His Son, our lives reflect that grace in how we live with one another. Today we look at how His grace moves us to live lives of forgiveness, patience, and kindness. We love because He first loved us, and He makes our forgiving others a requirement for receiving forgiveness ourselves, starting with “forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus tells a striking parable about forgiving one another in Matthew 18:21-35 . We are moved ...
We’ve begun 2025 with a brief series on “The Four G’s of Grace,” examining how the grace God has lavished on us impacts our attitude and behavior. This week we focus on how grace gives us a grateful orientation, aware that God is providing all the good in our lives, striving to not take the blessings (especially the people around us) for granted. The Apostle Paul starts us off with his opening statements in his letter to the Ephesians , reminding them and us of the grace God has lavished on us i...
We complete the Christmas Season together as we examine the story of the Magi , the first humans to know of the coming King, and the furthest from Him both geographically and demographically. As the Abraplan reaches its climax to bless all nations, these astrologers from the east herald a new age in God’s dealing with humanity. They set so many precedents, and also examples for us all. Their generous gifts given in worship of the newborn king teach us how to go about our lives in the year ahead,...
Welcome to Oakhaven Church! The Christmas Season is well under way, Advent having finished on Christmas, we are now in the “12 Days of Christmas,” celebrating with joy the coming of the Messiah. This season ends with marking the journey and arrival of the magi on January 6 and the Feast of Epiphany, so there is yet a bit more of the story to tell. Today at The Barn, however, is the fifth Sunday of the month, and we follow our tradition of hearing one of our family member’s testimony (in place of...
On this final Sunday of Advent, we celebrate the love of God, shown most clearly in the gift of His Son to us. “For unto us a child is born… and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Even those four titles given by Isaiah point to human and divine joined together in One Person: Jesus. We visit the shepherds and angels today in Lesson Seven, noting that the “multitude of the heavenly host” th...
We look at two passages from the Gospel of Luke today: Gabriel's visit with Mary in Luke 1:26-38 , and Luke's sparse account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2:1-7 . The angel's statements to Mary are incredible, as is Mary's reaction and acceptance. Then when Dr. Luke describes the Messiah's birth, he could not be more plain in his verbiage, and neither could the birth of the Creator of Heaven and Earth. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Two passages by Isaiah are highlighted in today's, both prophecies describing the coming Messiah and His far-reaching impact. Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 11 both make clear that the fabric of the universe shifts when He comes to dwell among us. Jesus walks beside us, casting His light into our darkness, showing us the way as our Wonderful Counselor and Our Prince of Peace. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
As we cross into December today, we step into an ancient season, Advent, set to focus our minds and spirits on the great gift given us by God in the form of His incarnate Son. Working toward our special service on Christmas Eve of lessons and carols, we will reflect on the scripture passages upon which that evening will be based. Today we look at Lessons One and Two . The first reminds us of the problem of sin born in Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. We are reminded of the pres...
