Oak Pointe Church • Novi

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 23 The Gospel of Reconciliation In what may be his clearest argument in any of his letters, the Apostle Paul explains the two sides of “the gospel of reconciliation,” first emphasizing our individual reconciliation with God, second, our reconciliation with other human beings. According to the New Testament, the two great commandments – love God, love your neighbor...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 22 Spiritual Blessings in Christ Filled with a lofty and detailed description of the privilege and power of being a believer in Jesus Christ, Paul’s letter to the young believers in Ephesus is a crucial treatise on the eternal plan of God, the blessings that follow believing in Christ, the state of all humanity before a Holy God, and the power of the Holy Spirit fo...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 21 Paul Greets Friends The final chapter of Romans is unusual in that it is the longest list of Paul’s friends, to whom he sends greetings. It reveals the extent to which relationships were important to Paul. It also specifically highlights the role of women in the life and ministry of Paul. This message is part of our God With Us series where Pastor Bob walks us t...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 20 Differences in Matters of Conscience Christians will always have different positions on “matters of conscience.” But even though we have differences, each of us should seek to honor God in our decisions in these matters. We can allow for differences without becoming judgmental, and since God is our Judge, there is no need to judge one another. Instead, by seekin...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 19 Living As A Living Sacrifice Have you ever wondered what your life as a follower of Jesus could look like? Have you ever wondered why you aren't growing in your faith the way you want? These are real questions that we all wrestle with. This weekend we look at Romans 12:3-8 and discover what God desires for the life of all believers! This message is part of our G...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 18 Enemies, Authorities, and Neighbors Relationships are challenging. Some are more challenging than others. How does God call us to approach the relationships in our lives? In this week's passage of Romans we find the Bible has very clear instructions on how to respond to three groups of people: those with whom we differ, those in authority, and those who are our...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 17 A Living Sacrifice When it comes to following Jesus, there are two main questions to answer: Have I said “YES” to the man on the cross? Have I said “YES” to me on the altar? For many Christians, the altar question looms large and remains unanswered. While salvation is what God has done for us, living for Jesus is our response, or ‘thank you’ note back to God. Th...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 16 The Jew-Gentile Question In Romans 1-8, the Apostle Paul explained how any person, Jew or Gentile, can be brought back into relationship with God. This emphasis on the gift of God’s love for all people raised the question: What happened to God’s special plan for the Jewish people as outlined in the Old Testament? The question was especially pressing as the numbe...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 15 Growing as a Child of God (Sanctification) Forgiveness of all my sins, past, present and future and being made right with God by an act of His love and mercy – that’s amazing grace! That’s how a person becomes a child of God. That's what we covered in last week's message on Revisiting Romans 1-5. But what about growing as a child of God? What about change? What...

God With Us: Early Letters, Week 14 In Romans 1-5 we see that our real problem is the rejection of the one, true Creator-God. All other problems are offshoots of that. The religious person may “believe in God,” but their life still reveals a heart that strays from God’s ways. In the final evaluation, no one lives up to God’s standards. But God has a solution, and it's way less complicated than man...

Facing Uncertainty: How to Prepare for What You Can’t See Coming We are facing some very uncertain times. With the crazy year we're having in 2020 it's hard to know what lies ahead. But the Bible doesn't leave us without hope! What practices do we need to master so that our spiritual life will not just survive, but thrive during times of extreme difficulty? This week Pastor John shares insights fr...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 9 As he ends the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seems to give us an A vs. B choice: Would you rather experience life, connection with Jesus, peace and power? Or would you rather face destruction in life and spiritual death? The right choice seems fairly obvious, and yet so many miss the truth of it. This week we wrap up the Upside Down series by studying Mat...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 8 Have you ever wondered if your prayers are making a difference? Have you ever felt you're not praying the right way? This weekend in our Upside Down series we look at what Jesus has to say about prayer. We'll discover Jesus' desire for our prayers and the heart behind our prayers. If we are willing to pray in this Upside Down way, then we'll begin to r...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 7 If we are honest, we all have made a judgement about someone based on their appearance, weight, handshakes, teeth, laughter, eye contact, punctuality, work ethic, income, speech, age, profession, education… we are a people who love to judge! When we examine the faults of others while blindly ignoring our own, Jesus has a word for that: hypocrite! Speak...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 6 As we continue through the Sermon on the Mount, we're seeing that the teachings of Jesus are not easy and that they go against the very culture we live in. But they also lead to freedom, and the best life possible. Today, Jesus has a warning about the dark side of ambition, which goes against the way we were designed to live. Speaker: Adam Mashni, 707...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 5 In the sermon on the mount, Jesus begins to lay out a new way to live that is upside down to how the world operated then and still operates today. And in Matthew chapter 6, he addresses the hypocritical way in which religious people approached acts of righteous (giving, fasting, and prayer) and challenges his followers to not make a public performance...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 4 We live in a world where there is conflict. Thankfully Jesus has a plan for His followers who want to know how to deal with it. If you look closely at what He calls us to do, you’ll see that it looks a lot like what He has done for us. Yes, Jesus showed us how to love our enemies. Speaker: Kurt Alber, Outreach Pastor

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 3 Speaking regarding sin and the heart, Jesus calls his followers to own the values, not simply obey the rules. In Matthew 5:21-37, he challenges us to avoid anger, lose lust, dismiss divorce, and talk truthfully. Speaker: Rick Barry, The Rock Middle School Ministry Pastor

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 2 To live the upside down life, we must live from the inside out. What does that mean? Simply put, living inside out means being daily transformed by Christ so I am not conformed to the world. We cultivate this life by loving obedience and daily surrender to God’s Word and Spirit, and by lovingly serving others. Speaker: Charlie Koopman, Worship & Creati...

Upside Down: The Sermon on the Mount - Week 1 In the Sermon on the Mount, especially the first twelve verses that make up the Beatitudes, Jesus lays out what it looks like to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. God desires His people to be different: to live differently, speak differently, love differently, deal with conflict differently. What Jesus taught in these chapters was completely counter...

Conversations: Responding to Racial Injustice - Week 5 Guests: Dominique Campbell (a.k.a. Nique Love Rhodes) and Luke Shirock This week Pastor Bob concludes our Conversations series by interviewing two young activists about their perspective on the civil unrest in our country and the role of the church. While these are difficult conversations about race and responsibility, it is important that we...

In week 4 of our Conversations series, Pastor Bob shares a very poignant conversation with Donna Harris, a respected long-term community worker in the Cody-Rouge area and at Grace Community Church of Detroit. They discuss her personal life story and how the moments of greatest pain can lead to the seasons of greatest victory.

Conversations: Responding to Racial Injustice - Week 3 Guests:  Bishop Edgar Vann, Pastor of Second Ebenezer Church, Detroit Wendell Browning, Elder at Oak Pointe Church Bob’s video interview with Bishop Vann is enhanced by the presence of Wendell Browning on stage. They discuss how the white, evangelical church must first begin to speak up about racial injustice. However, it isn’t enough join the...

Conversations: Responding to Racial Injustice - Week 2 Guest: Norflette Shumake, Pastor of Life Changers International, Detroit In this week's wide-ranging conversation, Norflette opens with an emotional poem he wrote to encapsulate the experience people of color often have with their white brethren. He emphasizes how vital it is to build authentic relationships so this experience can really be he...

Conversations: Responding to Racial Injustice - Week 1 The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 has launched a civil rights movement that is encompassing our nation and world. In response, Pastor Bob has been immersed in conversations with black leaders in the city of Detroit, asking questions and seeking to better understand how the church can and should act at this time. Because of t...