Oak Hills Church, Folsom

What is church about? Why does it matter? Does it matter? What are we attempting to communicate? What are we attempting to say to one another? What are we attempting to say to ourselves? And what are we attempting to say and demonstrate to a hurting world?   There is no one like our God!  

But when you think about it for a second, you think about what would have to be true about the world for us all to be walking around naked and feel no shame. What would have to be true about the world? What would have to be true about us for us to live unguarded, unshielded, fully transparent lives with each other? Well it would have to be a world where we were not a threat to each other, where we...

We never outgrow the need for story. Yet we think we do, don't we? Especially when it comes to this book, we call the Bible. We have made it into a book of rules, rights and wrongs, and dos and don'ts. And yes, there are some rules that teach us how life works best, but if that is what the Bible is to us, we have missed the point altogether. We have made it into a book of character studies and his...

“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” – John 21:24-25 In the last two verses of John's gospel that I just read, John says in effect, I saw all of what I j...

Inhale the victory of the cross and exhale the power of the resurrection. Maybe that gives us something in the thick of the suffering, down deep in the valley of suffering. Inhale the victory of the cross. Exhale the power of the resurrection. This is the way of the Christ follower. And you know what strikes me in all this, as we reflect on this. What strikes me is that this is another one of thos...

See, back in the beginning, when this whole thing started, Peter had gotten into this Jesus thing with the idea, with the dream of changing the world. Jesus comes and calls Peter with the promise, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus had called him to serve, and for a while, Peter had been at the very center of the action. Life change was happening all around him. Miracles were happe...

Friendships can be hard; that's just the simple point, they can be hard. We let each other down, we disappoint, we don't come through, we don't show up, we fail as friends, and some of our friends have failed us. And so, friendships in the real world will usually be a mixture of the good and the beautiful and the hard and the painful, but the resurrected Jesus, just by way of vision, models friend...

Every person that professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ has a vocation and that vocation is bigger, more important, and more of a priority than our jobs or our careers. This vocation actually encompasses any job or career or trade or roll. This vocation is essentially the same for every single person who follows Jesus. Whether our work is to pick up trash at the park, lead a fortune 100 compa...

I believe Dallas Willard used to say, “a good practice was to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs”; doubt your doubts, believe your beliefs. And when we stay immersed in Christian community, even in the midst of our doubts, that's a good way to do that. Because of course, by staying in community, right, the next time Jesus shows up, Thomas was there, and he was able to encounter the risen C...

Part one, thinking it was the gardener, just another day, just another person, just a thing. Part two, she hears her name, he calls her name. And part three, she turned toward him. This kind of just walks right out the door with us on any given Monday.   Outbreaks of God’s presence and activity in the ordinary of our lives anytime, anywhere.  See a God who can return from the dead can rather easil...

You see God's plan, His vision, is and always has been, to prepare a people for himself in the midst of whom he can dwell. Every aspect of our character, our spiritual formation if you will, contributes to that ultimate goal, that ultimate vision. Jesus is planning on riding through the gates of your life. So ,your renovation matters. Not just be cause it makes your life better. Not just because i...

In Luke chapter 10 , J esus sends out his disciples on a short-term mission trip . A s they go out and experience God working through them , an d they come back . T hey come back Luke says , “f ull of joy ”, because of what they had experienced . God working through them . A nd so , then they tell Jesus about their trip . A nd you know what their story about their trip generated in Jesus ? If fi l...

God is at work behind the scenes of everyday life st uff , but his name is rarely mentioned . H e's working , through all these things . Ki nd of behind the scenes . S o , then we come to the c rux of the matter , in verses 16 -1 8 , but Ruth replied don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you . W here you go , I will go , and where you stay , I will stay . Y our people will be my people a...

See , when we come to worship that is a very different thing than going to church . C oming to worship is categorically different than going to church . B ecause when we come to worship , we come thinking about the offering w e are going to give . W e come ready to do the work of worship . W e come ready to pour out our hearts and our minds and our emotions in adoration and praise to our beautiful...

Prayer may be the most important practice for co-operating with God as he tenderly pulls up the old carpet in our lives and installs his new creation version. But the triggers around prayer are real. I have a bunch of them myself. You may as well. Prayer may be the most important practice, but in some ways it is also the most challenging and the most confusing. It is challenging, we might say, bec...

Paul commands us to not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our min d . B ecause then we will be able to discern God's good pleasing and perfect will . A nd I do not believe it is possible to resist conforming or to be transformed or have our mind renewed or discern God's will unless we are regularly and consistently interacting with the Bible in ways that sh...

This is America, where we are free to actually arrange our own gatherings, our own dinners. It’s a constitutional right. You can do it. There’s opportunity for you to connect with folks during the week, on your own. But whatever form it takes there’s just no way to effectively love one another or any of the other one another’s, in theory, or in general, you know from a distance. So maybe for you r...

“In a word, what I'm saying is, grow up. Your kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” ~ Matthew 5:48 MSG The other day I was walking through this room. No one was here, and I was on my way to that kitchen right there to see if anyone had recently had a meeting where there were more sandwich...

It’d be a lot easier if we all pulled the same lever, just a lot easier. I'll trade that in any day of the week. There's only one problem, if you have that you don't have the church you've got a group, you've got a click, you've got a hobby club, but you don't have the church. Because, the church by definition is this mess of messy people all over the map going, we're coming to be this, the table...

“Our life together as the community of followers of Jesus is the most powerful proclamation of Jesus we can make” ~ Mike Lueken For people to hear that proclamation they have to be invited in. And so, Jesus sends us out to be hosts, to practice hospitality. The practice of hospitality has been one of the most foundational practices of the church since the beginning, two thousand years ago. All thr...

The Bible tells us that God deeply cares for people. He wants none to perish. He wants all to know him and live with him; rulers of Rome, thieves on the brink of their own death, Roman guards, Jewish peasants, the blind, the rich, the sick, the powerful, the person you named when we started. None is too far gone. No one is outside God's loving reach. His heart breaks for those who want nothing to...

What better way to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, who changes lives, than to have people in our life actually see Jesus transform us. Actually, see Jesus transform our character. I mean imagine when the people to whom I have been sent notice that where I used to be consumed by worry there actually now is peace. When the people who could see my addiction to work, my addiction to performance, and suc...

Paul writes, "and so it was with me brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a...

It's the picture my friend sent me of the flames at the end of his street, that keep me up at night. And again, this is not just the case for the people that I know in Southern California. It is the case for people everywhere, all around the world, all the time. Every major catastrophe, every downward trend, every systemic issue in the world from human trafficking to racism, to road rage, to sickn...

Epiphany sets in front of us the reality that Jesus Christ claims to be King of everything, and everywhere, and every person, and every moment. And all of His truth, goodness, holiness, righteousness, love, mercy, grace and beauty saturates every square inch of His reign. That’s just a really good reminder to savor and soak in here at the beginning of a new year. And to do that, today, I’d like fo...