Castle Oaks Sermons

What makes a life worth living? Paul explains it clearly in one of his shortest and most profound statements ever.

"We all seem to be stuck in a waiting room these days." We're waiting for the end of quarantine, waiting for the arrival of Spring, waiting to be reunited with friends and co-workers, maybe even waiting for answers. Through this new series, "While We Wait," we will dig into the ancient letter from Paul to the Philippians. Paul, under a lockdown of his own, writes some of his most memorable an...

The Resurrection of Jesus changes everything. So, if that's true, then why do our lives often look so much like everyone else's? Tough questions demand truthful answers. Maybe this Easter can be the start of something new for all of us.

At the beginning of this series, Jesus "resolutely set out for Jerusalem." Now he arrives in the Holy City, and our Holy Week begins. Through this longer passage, Luke records several events and teaching that help frame the last week of Jesus' life in a unique and powerful way.

On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus shares a surprising parable that gives us direction and motivation during this trying time. Our community will thrive if we can put His words into practice.

As Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, he makes a stop at a friend's house. An unplanned moment before dinner provides us an incredibly relevant teaching, especially during these days of cancelled events, quarantines, working from home and online school.

Fear Less

"As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." Luke 9:51. As Jesus travels this road toward crucifixion, His teachings become focused on the imminent task at hand. The road He travels is the road we are invited to walk on as well, as we follow Him every day.

The beauty of our life being incorporated into the life of Christ as a people chosen, adopted, loved, forgiven, redeemed is that we get to align our hearts with God’s heart and participate with him in what he is doing in our world.

When we adibe (remain) with God we are reciprocating exactly the way God loves (and remains with) us. What does it mean for us to abide with God? How can we do this in a daily way?

One of the results of staying connected to the Vine is that we bear fruit in the proper season.

Jesus describes our relationship with God with a powerful metaphor: He is the vine and we are the branches. What does that mean? How does it work? How come we often feel disconnected from God? How can we deepen our connection to the all-important source of life? Before we begin the Lent Season we will spend a few weeks in John 15:1-17.

As we wrap up this series, we'll draw wisdom and inspiration from the author of Hebrews who tells us how to persevere in spite of failure, struggle, and difficulty.

We've been talking about the "mark" as union with God. But we sometimes find it easy to lose our way and start heading in the wrong direction. How does this happen? How do we get back on track?

Dealing with the same routine day after day and stuck in a bit of a rut? What are some ways God meets us in the day-to-day? What is our response?

What if our understanding of sin is one of the things that keeps us stuck in old patterns and repeated failure?

What happens when we miss the mark? How do we deal with, process, survive, and come back from failure? What does the Bible say about all of this? As we begin 2020, let's take a close look at who we want to become and what gets in the way.

God uses difficult trials to grow our faith in powerful ways. As we begin the year, let's reframe our painful experiences and ask God to teach us how to learn from our trials and disappointments.

This Christmas Eve we will read through the most familiar words from the Christmas story and find a fresh perspective about making room for Jesus in our lives.

Luke begins the story of Jesus with the one who is called to, "prepare a way for the Lord." The first chapter of Luke will help us prepare room in our hearts for Jesus this Christmas.

Our lives are full and cluttered. We often don't have time for the all that we want to accomplish, but we sure try to make it all fit. Maybe we need to rethink our approach. The Advent season gives us opportunity to make room in our lives for Jesus, to prepare for His arrival. What would our lives look like if we made space for the King of Kings? How can we prepare Him room?

We often make the common mistake of connecting gratitude with our circumstances - when good things happen we are thankful. But the scriptures give us a different understanding of gratitude that is not dependent on what happens to us. Incredible shifts in perspective occur when we practice the habit of giving thanks.

Luke records an interesting event in his story of Jesus' life: a group of people experience healing from an awful disease. May God give us grateful hearts as we reflect on this passage of scripture.

When we gather together as a church, we gather as a family. God uses the family analogy often thoughout scripture to help us understand our responsibility to each other. Today we will focus on the needs of those throughout the world who feel as though they have no family at all.

Abraham and Sarah get a big promise from God, but then must endure a long, long wait. That leads to efforts, like many of ours, to grab control and try to make things happen. Thankfully, God does with them what he'll do with us: he disrupts their control and gives surprises of life-giving love.