Oak Hills Church, Folsom

The people of God, the church,  every person who calls  them self  a  Christian, needs  desperately more than patriotism, more than social criticisms, more than political partisanship, and more than national fervor.  We need to remember our first love, our first loyalty, our first priority.  We need to remember that the way of Christ is a way of surrender.  

To live well in today's world as Kingdom citizens we desperately need Gods wisdom.  We need his heart. Think of all the issues that are just sitting  at the tip of the tongue when we start talking about  what's  going on in the culture,  what’s  going on in the world.  Think of all those issues  probably racing  through your mind right now ,  and  here’s  the thing ,  we desperately need Gods wisd...

  I want to talk about sacred silence in a real life  situation. When conflict is on the rise, the moment is getting tense. Anger and defensiveness are rising. Hurtful words are loaded in the chamber. When the other is talking, they simply sound like Charlie Brown's teacher; wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, we hear sounds, but we're really not listening to them anymore. Right then, at that moment, a...

You are a teacher to someone. If  God is just  sort of  an  attachment to our lives, then let the  free-for-all  begin. But if  he's  our king, then  he's   our rabbi.  He's  our teacher and  we're  his  student . So, our primary occupation,  your  primary occupation, if  he's  your king, our primary vocation, our primary  career , if you will, regardless of what our job or career is, is to be a t...

Faith is  not a wish and there is really no such thing as blind faith in the Christian perspective. Faith is not a theoretical or intellectual ascent. It is confidence that God is king.  

"There are things in this world that are not the way they are supposed to be, and they are not how God would want them to be, and genuine faith in God, according to James, compels those who have such genuine faith to do something about the brokenness that is in the world... "Now, God can make crushed gravel into orange chicken if he wants to. He can turn grass clippings into clothing if he wants t...

"Mercy doesn't replace judgment. It reframes judgment. Mercy says—while hanging on a cross—forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing. See, this is the way of the Kingdom. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy doesn't replace judgment, mercy reframes judgment. We model Jesus and His Way when we're agents of mercy in an increasingly judgmental world where the people judging are certain...

There are plenty of vulnerable and hurting people who not only do not believe in God or follow him,  they  make choices that go against him and his ways.  I'm  asking if you  believe that there are vulnerable people crossing our paths whose vulnerability is because of their choices. What do we do then? 

Being Saved means much more than going to heaven when you die. When the  New Testament  writers speak about being saved,  they’re  referring to being res cued or freed from the penalty, the  presence,  and the power of sin.  While  there’s  a past  component  of being saved which was  accomplished  and done  in the death and resurrection of Jesus and there is a future  component  of being saved wh...

Listening  helps develop curiosity. It also puts us in this posture of wondering rather than  assuming that  we know.  It's  one of the most stressful things in the world when we believe that we can read other people's minds. Have you ever noticed that?  

Life isn't a Halmark card.

T he Christian narrative provides a grand and sustaining vision through the difficulties that we face in life.   It's  not that we pretend to be joyful and then minimize the heartache as though it is irrelevant, but rather to   walk with God through the difficulty and ask him to redeem the heartache by  reframing  it in a kingdom perspective.  

In every single one of us, whether we realize it or not, there is a desire for something higher, wider, and deeper than anything this life offers. And every now and then if we listen, if we tune in,  we  might notice it rumbling. We might notice it rustling somewhere deep within us.  

It's   really hard  to look at the world without wanting God to handle certain things in   a certain way. We want God to make it easier for us to believe in him. We want him to help the  hurting . We want  him  to   eradicate evil. I mean, who  wouldn't  want to do that? We want  him  to protect  children . What sort of God would not want to protect children 110% of the time? We want  him  to do a...

Another significant chapter in Israel's history occurred when the Babylonians conquered Israel in 586 BC. After that happened, thousands of Jewish people were deported from Israel to what is today Iraq. And there they lived for 70 years as exiles. Exile is a description of God's people throughout history. I am an exile. Living in a context where God's kingdom and ways were not being upheld by the...

While the anonymous woman in our story,   perhaps part by personality,   but  certainly  influenced by her life circumstances, had learned to live in the way of passivity, to avoid,  to  hide.  Don't  make any noise, just blend in. She sneaks up from behind Jesus, reaches  out  and touches his coat and then  hightails  it out of there. And I would suggest her  way  and her approach has much to say...

The danger in religion comes when our confidence, when our faith is transferred from the God with whom we are trying to connect and become centered on the various beliefs and practices and rituals essentially the “rules” of our religion. Because, you see, ultimately the rules of our religion have absolutely no power to do anything for us.

This is how othering happens. See them, hear them, think about them, label them, see it, hear it, and an inner dialogue starts to grow in the soil of our minds that is watered and fertilized by our favorite media source. And as we process and sift and sort, often with only ourselves or with those who happen to share our perspective, we draw conclusions without ever having to engage with the person...

Our King Jesus is the almighty ruler of the universe. And our strength is not the physical power of this world. But our strength is in the invisible,  untamable  power of God who is working his plan, his way to save the world.  

If new creation has any chance of reshaping and remaking us, then we have to do the hard work of listening. And here's the thing. If we are listening to Jesus, we are going to be rattled now and then. Our way is going to be out of alignment with his way now and then. And then we have to choose who to follow.      From Luke 6, let me just rattle it off. Love enemies. Pray for those who mistreat you...

Children intuitively know that this world is amazing and amazing things happen in it all the time. Even kids in tough circumstances, any of you who's ever been around a kid going through a really, really hard time, they still know, and they will instinctively default to celebrating the goodness of this world. They feel called to it. It's like an obligation. They see this celebration as the work to...

Without identity restoration, rebuilding, we cannot have  r econciliation  with our  brothers  and sisters. And our reconciliation  happens  when we  encounter  the ultimate other of humanity ,  that become s a  human being , that  is Jesus. And when we  encounter  Jesus and our identity changed and transformed,  we're  able to relate to others in  a different way .  

This idea  w hen Jesus envisioned his   people, his family ,  he   designed it so that each member would need each other.   It's  the picture that we get from this passage that we read at the beginning of the message. This one body with many   parts, each with its own role to play, each with its own ability to make   contributions. And  it's  a great analogy because when of cours e  you think abou...

Our current series is called practicing faith because faith works like a piano. We practice it. It slowly gets into us, and we are gradually trained in how to live with and live under God with increasing trust and confidence in him. But if we don't practice it, it sits there maybe in some way part of us but not a shaping part of us. And yet faith is not meant to be a decoration.   Faith is meant t...

Pr ayer  begins with his daughters and sons interacting with  Their   very good   F ather, being with their  very good   F ather. Imagine if all we did this week ,  in  these  in  between  times  is go  back to this  prayer.   A nd I would encourage this for some of you , if  all we did was pray the opening line, “Our Father in heaven ” .  Our Father, good and loving Father who is right here and r...