We view Christmas through the eyes of the angel who got the story moving: Gabriel. Bringing a timeless perspective to the birth narrative, Gabriel puts the manger story in a broader context that helps us remember just what is at stake in all this, and helps us to appreciate why such a strange, secretive birth was the path chosen by the Lord of Hosts for His Son's nativity. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Dec 15, 2020•46 min
Welcome to worship with Oakhaven Church at the barn in Oshkosh! Today we step alongside the nation of Israel in their wait for Yahveh to fulfill His many promises of sending His Messiah ( Isaiah 9:1-7) . We look through lenses provided by prophet Isaiah ( 7:10-14 ), as well as the stories of God’s faithfulness across the years, beginning with Abraham in a crescendo that peaks with the visit of angel Gabriel to an olive-skinned teenage girl named Mary ( Luke 1:26-38 ). The promised child is given...
Dec 08, 2020•33 min
After a reading of Philippians 4:4-9, Pat, one of Oakhaven's elders, uses the imagery of the first Thanksgiving - new beginnings, new friendships, contrasting cultures side by side at the table - in which differences are set aside in order to gratefully share in the table. When we disagree and we can’t communicate, we "divide" the table. The table gets broken. Communication ceases, and it becomes “us” and “them.” When it becomes “us” and “them,” we all lose. The ironic thing about fighting is th...
Dec 01, 2020•32 min
Duey, one of Oakhaven's elders, describes the transition God has led the Oakhaven family through in recent years, encouraging the body of Christ to live in faith and faithfulness. ( 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 ) God is continually seeking to do something new among us. "May we be still for a time and let God’s Holy Spirit fill us up, let God’s Holy Spirit organize us, and let God’s Holy Spirit direct us. " To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Dec 01, 2020•26 min
Things are tough for everyone right now. Today we take courage and strength from the promises of Jesus when He tells us that He will give us rest in Matthew 11:28-30 . This rest comes from our “taking His yoke” - being bound to His life, His strength, and His ways. We don’t have to do things on our own, we don’t have to just “get by in survival mode.” The Creator of the Universe is right beside us every day, all day long, pulling for us, pulling with us, even dwelling within us. It’s not like we...
Nov 16, 2020•35 min
Today, Orphan Sunday is marked by churches across the world. Today at Oakhaven Church, we look at God’s heart for orphans. The tender love He has for the least among us is woven into His identity. Time and again in scripture He essentially introduces Himself as the Mightiest of the Mighty and the Lover of the Orphan . When He warns His people of judgment through the prophets, their lack of care for the orphan (and widow and refugee among them) is at the top of His list of indictments. Jesus’ par...
Nov 10, 2020•31 min
Today we’ll finish our look at Jesus’ bible - the Tanakh of Hebrew Scripture, comprised of Torah (Law/Instruction) Nevi’ im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). Today, we’ll see how the Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezrah-Nehemiah [one book in Tanakh)] and Chronicles) bear witness to God's faithfulness in creative, powerful, personal ways. It all points to God having a plan from the very beginning and working it out over history...
Nov 02, 2020•38 min
In this episode, we look deeper into The Prophets and the role they play both in God’s big story and in our lives. We are all called to a righteousness that isn’t based on religious performance, but on how we treat the least among us: the widow, orphan, and immigrant, just as the prophets instructed the people of Israel years ago. We are reminded that we are created in God’s image, and to reflect that image to the world around us as we do justice, love merciful kindness, and walk humbly with our...
Oct 27, 2020•44 min
Fourteenth (!) in a series on what's going on at church (if we're paying attention) and third in a series on the scriptures, we take a brief look at the role of the Law given God's people at Sinai. They're coming out of generations of slavery and headed into a new land filled with peoples whose ways they are not supposed to adopt. God's law shows His children how to look like Him - how to bear His family resemblance. The law flows from His character as He commands fairness, justice, mercy, and c...
Oct 20, 2020•30 min
We survey the metanarrative of the Old Testament while noticing things we've probably taken for granted in our use of scripture. For one thing, the printing press is a very recent development in terms of our having our own copies of the sacred text - often multiples - on our shelves, not to mention the infinite number of options on our tablets and phones! Scripture was experienced far differently when first penned and read aloud to an audience that was largely illiterate (and who strove to memor...
Oct 14, 2020•35 min
The Book of Acts tells us that the first Christ-followers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer" ( Acts 2:41-47 ). As we continue to unpack all (honestly, "all" is impossible - let's just say we're trying to cover "most") of what happens in times of worship together - be it in person or united online - we get up from the table and get out our bibles for some time in "the apostles' teaching." The ancient words of all of scripture ...
Oct 05, 2020•43 min
Today we conclude our series (on the table) within a series (on what goes on "in church") with the seventh and final sermon centered on the table. We see in the New Testament a clear pattern of communion ALWAYS being incorporated into a full evening meal. We see this reinforced in an important early church document, the Didache , and we mark the historical progression that decays the practice into a formalized ritual that is extremely different from the original. We also unpack the misapplicatio...
Oct 01, 2020•36 min
On this day we complete a series of 7 sermons focused on communion, and the day's communion service includes several themes from the series, including a focus on one another instead of shutting ourselves up in an emotional corner all by ourselves and dwelling on our personal issues. We reinforce the fact that Jesus plays the role of host (as in head of the table, not transubstantiated wafer), and that we are all guests at His banquet. To investigate this most important of stories further, go her...
Oct 01, 2020•10 min
TENTH in our Going to Church series – SIXTH focused on the table – looks at similarities between the first century church in Corinth and the 21st century church today, the good, the bad, and the not so good. The apostle Paul (and Jesus) call us to unity and love around the table, a table at which HE HIMSELF joins us, week after week. Let it never become ordinary or commonplace! At every table, we are reduced to our simplest, equal, physically needy selves - humans that require nourishment to sur...
Sep 21, 2020•35 min
As the first Christians celebrated the first "communions" together, their time at the table was characterized with overflowing Joy ( Acts 2:41-47 ). Communion is a party, not a funeral. It is something Jesus has given us to remind us of His triumphant resurrection, to be associated with the Freedom of Passover and His victory over death. He deliberately set the pattern of breaking bread with His followers the very evening of His resurrection ( Luke 24:25-34 ) in order that the practice be one of...
Sep 15, 2020•34 min
We review three primary strands that come together at the table of Jesus with His disciples in Luke 22:7-23 . Across the year, Yahweh instituted various festivals for His people to celebrate as reminders of His faithfulness in specific moments in their life together. Spring brings Passover and Pentecost, other seasons bring Tabernacles, First Fruits, Trumpets, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Hannukah, and Purim. Of all available, Jesus chooses His Passion to coincide with Passover and its theme o...
Sep 10, 2020•34 min
As we look further at the table and all its resonance, we survey several of Luke's 10 accounts of Jesus at table during His ministry. In these instance of God being at table with His people, it is not only the topic of conversation that points to His kingdom breaking in, but those who are gathered round it. Tax collectors - seen as God's people's enemies ( Luke 5:27-31 ) - and a "sinful" woman ( 7:36-50 ) are as welcome as self-righteous, judgmental Pharisees ( 11:37-41 ). Jesus also embraces Ma...
Sep 10, 2020•33 min
We continue to explore the layers of background behind the table found in the fellowship meals after certain sacrifices in the Mosaic sacrificial system. Specifically, those sacrifices that celebrated relational peace (with God or fellow humans), those offered in thanksgiving, or those that sealed a vow were shared by the ones sacrificing along with the God. Often there was a GREAT DEAL OF BEEF - up to 800 pounds - that had to be eaten in TWO DAYS, so you invited EVERYONE you knew! We work throu...
Aug 31, 2020•31 min
There's a lot going on during worship whether we're aware of it or not. This is especially true during communion, where literally millennia of resonance surround those moments. We begin a journey of seeing parallels in Israel's sacrificial system with the covenant meal of Exodus 24 . Sacrifices galore pave the way for 70 elders - by momentarily forgiving their sins - and they SIT AT A TABLE WITH YAHWEH ON SINAI AND EAT WITH HIM. That didn't make it into Cecil's film. Too often we equate our time...
Aug 31, 2020•33 min
While the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water in Matthew 14 doesn't directly discuss worship, the truths imparted by the powerful story show us the way forward in all our life, including in worship. Jesus' power over all things is a given, and He imparts some of that power to Peter when the apostle is focused on Jesus. The storm is still raging around the fisherman. Jesus hasn't lessened it one bit. But because of Peter's sole focus on Jesus and His Call to him, the disciple is sure enough...
Aug 24, 2020•31 min
Our series on worship includes swaths of the book of Hebrews, particularly chapters 9 and 10 as they outline the extreme effectiveness of Jesus' sacrifice. In contrast to the old system of repeated sacrifices that never fully atoned for sin, Jesus' death on the cross is a one time only, once and for all deal. We are not able to lift a finger to accomplish our own salvation: Jesus has done it ALL. In doing so, He calls us into a life of connection to Him and others with worship at its center. In ...
Aug 24, 2020•33 min
This is the second sermon in a series on "Going to Church," as in, why bother? Last time we looked at the example Jesus set in His own life of worship. If ever there was someone qualified to stay out of church because He didn't need to be there, it was Jesus. Instead, He embraced a vibrant worship life that kept the cadence of the year in celebrating God's story with His people. This week, we jump to the end of His mission and ministry, the completion of His destiny, and His faithfulness to the ...
Aug 24, 2020•26 min
The simplest answer to "Why go to church?" is another question. Are you following (or trying to follow) Jesus? If so, then go to church because He sure did. He was part of worship and singing the Psalms, sat at the table to eat fellowship sacrifices, and celebrated festivals throughout the year to retell the story of God's faithfulness. Whether or not you go to church isn't all about you: it's about God - Who He Is, what He has done. We look at Hebrews 12:18-24 as a lens to help us realize there...
Aug 19, 2020•27 min
We return to our series on the Holy Spirit and explore the role He plays in establishing and confirming our identities and sons and daughters of The King. The seal placed upon us claims us as belonging to and under the protection of Jesus Christ. Created in God's Image, the Spirit empowers us to bear that image well in both a life of ongoing sanctification (repenting of our sins and walking more fully in Jesus' righteous example) and in ongoing witness. To investigate this most important of stor...
Aug 19, 2020•23 min
Lament is found throughout scripture. On this gathering date, 130,000 Americans had died from the corona virus and COVID-19. We spend time in lament for the great loss of life, hearing the story of four individuals to represent the vast number of others. We then look at the story in Mark 4:35-41, where Jesus calls the fierce storm around the boat He and His disciples are in, and look at the parallels of His power and presence being with us in the current storm in our lives. To investigate this m...
Aug 19, 2020•18 min
The Holy Spirit is given to Christ followers in order to enable and empower them to bear witness to the Great News of Jesus Christ. In Luke 12:11-12, the Spirit is promised to "teach you at that very hour what you ought to say." In addition to words, the Spirit bears fruit in our lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (the very opposites of today's public dialogue). This fruit of the Spirit is not just for our personal pleasure and wel...
Aug 19, 2020•33 min
The primary purpose of the Spirit in our lives is to empower and enable us to bear witness to Jesus Christ. As part of this process, the Spirit fosters the bearing of certain fruits in our lives and personalties: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Paul lists these in Galatians 5 in contrast to the inclinations of the flesh, which is in conflict with the Spirit. A life driven by flesh is all about self: MY desires, MY rights, MY territory, ...
Aug 10, 2020•47 min
In Acts 1:8, Jesus indicates that the primary purpose of Holy Spirit in our lives is to empower our bearing witness to Jesus. Everything the Spirit does is part of this: gifts He gives, fruits He bears, the sanctification He fosters, the words He gives us, the precious identity He confirms in us, the nudges, the shoves…. All given to us so that WE CAN BE VESSELS OF THE GREAT NEWS OF Jesus Christ. John 16:26-27 ESV 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit...
Aug 10, 2020•46 min
The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost has instituted the reversal of three curses or consequences from sin in Genesis. Humans are exiled from God's presence in Genesis; the presence of God With Us - Emmanuel at the front edge of Luke's Gospel - is spread across humanity with the Spirit's outpouring on Pentecost. The curse of Eve as she is put under the rule of Adam, encoded in law and patriarchal practice over millennia, is systematically weakened by Jesus across His ministry in his counter...
Aug 10, 2020•37 min
Key elements of God's covenant with Abraham fall into place fulfilled in dramatic fashion on the Feast of Pentecost. 15 nations hear the good news in their own languages proclaimed by 120 disciples fulfilling Joel 2 prophecies at the same time. The exclusivity of the past is gone with the coming of the Spirit: neither age nor gender nor station bar believers from exercising their gifts in proclamation of the good news. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Aug 10, 2020•34 min
