In our discussions about Jesus' Kingdom in these final months of 2023, we stop today and consider an even broader perspective that helps define the Kingdom of God. Starting at the very beginning, we see God's design and desire for us is to be with him, in His presence. Piggybacking on last week's lesson focused on the power of God's presence, we survey His patient partnership with humans, beginning with Abram all the way up through the coming of Jesus, all in one fell swoop of a sermon. Buckle u...
Oct 16, 2023•40 min
In John 15 , Jesus tells a simple but powerful parable that likens our relationship with him to vines, branches, and fruit. We consider this metaphor today and its many implications: He is the source of power, nutrition, and life as we abide in Him and bear fruit. Meanwhile the gardening Father has his eye on the whole process and prunes us so make us more fruitful. And we’re all in it together with the Trinity and each other! To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Oct 10, 2023•30 min
As we consider our place in Jesus’ kingdom as His subjects and ambassadors, we look today to Paul and one of the ways the apostle bore witness about Jesus to others. He both proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ love and mercy, but then also illustrated those things in his own life by sharing his testimony of who he was before Jesus came along. His awareness of Jesus’ mercy and grace at the core of Paul’s identity is the nuclear reactor that fuels his passion for Christ and the boldness of his witn...
Oct 10, 2023•33 min
As we embark as a congregation on a 90 day journey, we are reminded of how important prayer is in this endeavor. We are not doing something FOR God, we are doing something WITH Him. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 10, 2023•26 min
At the finish of a special weekend with Marvin Bryant in which we have focused on God's Kingdom, Jesus' Kingship, and our role as His subjects, Marvin leads us through a powerful summary of the good "NEWS." To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 10, 2023•35 min
We continue today our series on God’s call in each of our lives by looking at the Apostle Paul and the dramatic way Jesus calls and changes his life. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 10, 2023•27 min
We are in a “mini-series” of messages focused on God’s call on our lives. Last week we examined Peter’s call to ministry, and this week we will look at an aspect of Paul’s call to be a Christ-follower. Both men left their old lives and ways and followed and preached Jesus. We are called to do the same. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 10, 2023•30 min
Today we look at how Jesus calls Simon Peter in the Gospel of Luke. Peter has a series of encounters with Jesus that crescendo to a miraculous catch of fish both in number and in the whole “you don’t catch fish in the heat of noon” thing. We consider Jesus’ call on each of us in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances, and how Jesus makes clear to Simon and to us that He can be trusted, even if His commands are on the counterintuitive side. To investigate this most important of stories fur...
Oct 09, 2023•32 min
Elder Brenda Wilusz takes a closer look at scriptures we may be a bit off on... To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•21 min
Elder Duey Unbehaun shares a message based on Luke 17, a story in which 10 lepers are healed of their disease, but only one returns to thank Him. Are we grateful for what He has done for us? If so, how do we show it? To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•21 min
Guest speaker and former Oakhaven elder Wayne Hawley brings a message based on Matthew 6 in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•27 min
A special dramatic narrative sermon features the point of view of someone we all think we know, but from whom we have not yet heard as well as we do here. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•28 min
John Loe shares a message that surveys several scriptures looking at the long arc of God's plan and work in reclaiming His children. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•18 min
Jim Harwell shares a message based on Jesus' call on Peter, and Jesus' call on us. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•44 min
Elder Brenda Wilusz shares a message based on the book, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven." To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Oct 09, 2023•32 min
We finish our series in which we’ve been reflecting on the Holy Spirit in a focus on “The Pursuit of the Holy Spirit.” This is a both/and concept as He pursues us AND we are called to pursue Him. Ezekiel paints God as a shepherd who retrieves His sheep. Jesus provides multiple examples of His own pursuing the Spirit’s presence throughout His ministry. If Jesus, Son of God and united with the Trinity, spends this kind of time alone in pursuit of the Spirit, how much more should we? To investigate...
Jul 03, 2023•37 min
We continue our focus on the Holy Spirit this morning in these weeks following Pentecost. Today we look at one of the most colorful stories in the Bible as we join Ezekiel in his vision of God’s raising a valley full of bleached, dry bones into an enfleshed army. As Yahveh breathes His Spirit into them to bring them to life, we are linked to Genesis 2:7 when Yahveh first breathes life into Adam, and are joined in new creation in the kingdom of God. The story is a powerful one of renewal of relat...
Jun 30, 2023•40 min
Today is Father’s Day, a day to celebrate for a lot of people, but also a tough day for others. None of us have (or are) perfect fathers, but we can all rejoice in God the Father caring more for us than we can imagine. He adopts us into His family in a powerful way that removes distinctions like male, female, Jew, gentile, slave or free. We are no longer treated as slaves, but as His children, a powerful theme to contemplate the day before Juneteenth, upon which we will also reflect in an effort...
Jun 20, 2023•39 min
We continue our rumination on the Holy Spirit in these weeks following the universe-changing day of Pentecost. Today we’ll look (all too briefly) at some of the roles the Spirit plays in our lives: Companion, Comforter, Counselor, Companion, Intercessor, Equipper, Empowered, Sanctifier, Pray-er, Deposit and Guarantee, and more than we can ask or imagine! To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Jun 13, 2023•35 min
The Bible begins with a picture of God and His children, Adam and Eve, living a life of close relationship with one another in actual physical presence together. When human sin forces exile, the rest of scripture is about how God restores His relationship with His children, including us. Over and over, He promises that there will come a day when He will be our God, and we will be His people. The full restoration of that relationship and presence awaits us at the return of Christ; HOWEVER, on the...
Jun 06, 2023•30 min
On the Sunday just before Memorial Day, elder Brenda Wilusz shares a message of the role of memories and memorials focused on God's past faithfulness as we step into the future with faith in His continued presence and goodness. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jun 01, 2023•31 min
40 days after His resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven - body, spirit, soul, heart, mind and all - the whole kit and caboodle. His ascension completes His mission as He is enthroned in glory as King of the Universe. The layers of symbol, meaning and power in this moment are significant both in how God’s plan on which He has been working for all time comes together in these amazing moments, and in how they impact our lives both now and forever. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the righ...
May 24, 2023•28 min
We celebrate Mothers’ Day by hearing from four mothers as they share their testimonies of God’s faithfulness in their lives through their experience of motherhood. Youngsters, take notes! To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
May 17, 2023•36 min
Directly tied to Jesus’ resurrection is His promise to return someday and resurrect everyone else. He’s the “firstfruit,” like the first apple to be picked as harvest begins. So what’s the deal with His not coming back yet? The longer we wait, the less likely it seems. And what does it mean to be ready for His return? Do we need to have all our ducks in a row, all the right hoops jumped through, and ready to face the music? What does that music sound like? Are we rejoicing that “many will meet t...
May 11, 2023•33 min
Jesus’ resurrection brings with it the promise of ours. Several passages briefly describe Jesus’ return and the sequence of events He triggers at the time. In every instance, the descriptions of things to come are accompanied with a sense of what and WHO is already here. The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead has been given to us - Jesus tells His disciples that He’s got to leave them so He can send the Spirit to be with them. Our living forever has already begun, and the promise of eternity...
May 11, 2023•35 min
We continue in the season of resurrection by looking at accounts in both Luke and John of people’s encounters with the risen Christ. We then note Paul’s catalogue of “sightings” in 1 Corinthians 15 and take a lesson from what every encounter has in common: everyone who sees the risen Lord tells everyone else about their experience. Who have you told of your experience of the risen Lord lately? To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Apr 25, 2023•36 min
The resurrection of Jesus permanently alters the frame of reference of the Jesus follower. Perspective is turned on its head and death is rendered powerless. The worst that could happen used to be to die. Now that death is just a temporary setback that in fact ushers you into God's presence, it's not really a threat anymore. As a huge bonus, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now LIVES WITHIN HIS FOLLOWERS. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Apr 18, 2023•34 min
Jesus, the humble king, spreads His arms upon the cross and embraces death, dragged into the grave and even hell itself by the enemy, only to astound the universe by being raised to new, permanent life on Easter morning. The war is one, but we continue in the battle. A battle in which we are impervious to the enemy’s greatest weapon. And our secret weapon is the love that sent Jesus to the cross. And raised Him from the grave. He is risen! Hallelujah! To investigate this most important of storie...
Apr 18, 2023•30 min
As we consider Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday two millennia ago ( Matthew 21 ), we reflect on how his kingship and kingdom are so very unlike that of Rome or even the Jewish nation to which He came. His is a way of humility, helping, and healing instead of conquest and domination. He chooses symbols - like the donkey - to convey His Way, and chooses us to represent Him as His ambassadors in the world today ( 2 Cor 5 ). To investigate this most important of stories further, ...
Apr 03, 2023•32 min
As we live life On Purpose as children of God, marked by His fingerprints and made in His image, the overpowering message He extends to us is that He loves us. In fact, He loves EVERYONE, and very much wants EVERYONE to know how much He loves them. He has chosen a very grass roots “method” of spreading this information, which the New Testament refers to as “good news” or “gospel.” We are the grass roots through whom He spreads the incredible news of His love. Or rather, through whom He deeply de...
Mar 29, 2023•33 min
