Oakhaven Church Podcast

As we pursue a Spirit-led Identity in Christ, our choice to be intentional about our choices is the intersection at which our path is set. We choose to act in love rather than to REACT according to our automatic, fleshly programming. If we are not actively engaged in making choices, we are impassively choosing the path of inaction. “If one chooses not to decide, one has still made a choice.” The S...

When we live our lives aware of who we are by virtue of our bearing the Image of the Creator AND bearing His Spirit within us, we live transformed lives. The Apostle Paul urges us to begin that journey with the renewing of our minds, toward which there are many paths that can be pursued. Colossians 3:1-17.   To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Our identity is derived from our relationship with the Trinity through the Holy Spirit. We are each fashioned in the image of God, wonderfully made, and bearers of the news of the King. The Holy Spirit empowers our walk when we choose the way of Christ, and we live in partnership with the Eternal One who dwells within us.  Romans 8:1-11 . To investigate this most important of stories further, go h...

In Christianity, the Feast of Pentecost is shifted from the Hebrew themes of wheat harvest and the giving of Torah to the arrival of the Creator Himself in the form of His Holy Spirit descending in power. This follows 10 days after King Jesus ascended to His throne at the right hand of the Father, having been handed even more authority than He had before. The Spirit's work in and through us d...

The Apostle Paul quotes an ancient Christian hymn that encapsulates Jesus' mission in a few lines of poetry in his letter to the Philippians. Philippians 2:5-11 marks Jesus' descent from glory to mortality in order to begin and fulfill His rescue mission. Luke ends his gospel with the ascension and b egins the Book of the Acts of the Apostles with it. In this sermon we mark the completio...

We hear from "Mrs. Noah" and Sarai as they tell their stories of patient faith on Mother's Day at The Barn. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

A great number of God's promises made since the beginning of time are fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many other promises that are still in force in our lives here and now. Since we know He kept earlier promises, we know He will keep these, even (and especially) when that truth feels far away.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

We will be resurrected to a new body that synthesizes spiritual and physical just like Jesus’. This captures Paul’s (and our) imagination and gives us certain hope. Jesus’ return coincides with the coming of the similarly synthesized “new heaven and new earth” and “new Jerusalem” that straddle physical and spiritual reality. We are linked to Jesus’ resurrection from the beginning of our walk with...

We are still celebrating resurrection in this Season of Easter. Paul refers to the Resurrected Christ as the "firstfruits" of a massive resurrection harvest. Firstfruits are the first, best portion of the annual harvest that signal a bounteous crop to follow. We will be resurrected in the bounteous kingdom that comes finally and fully at the Second Coming. Until that happens, Paul descri...

Luke 24:30-49  The resurrection of Jesus has far-reaching implications in our lives. Understatement! To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

The resurrection of Jesus is the lens through which everything else in scripture is to be seen and understood. His victory over sin and death changes the universe, including our small portion of it. Luke 24. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Luke 19:28-44 is Dr. Luke's account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, launching what we call Holy Week. The good doctor is spare in his details so that we can focus on one thing.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Larry looks at John's account of Jesus' last night with His disciples, beginning the evening by washing their feet, ending it by praying for their unity. And ours.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

In the second half of His Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus uses colorful, nearly comic illustrations to convey His primary point of our need to see to our hearts and lives before we presume to check others'. Then Jesus shares the core secret of how to live the best of all lives: (1) Come to Him; (2) Hear His Words; and (3) Act on Them.  To investigate this most important of st...

Jesus chooses His 12 closest disciples and then teaches for the first time in the Gospel of Luke in today's message. A parallel to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Luke has Jesus convey the bulk of His teaching in today's Sermon on the Plain. It's not in Spain, nor does it rain, at least during this episode.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Today’s Luke sequence begins with a miracle and ends with a parable, but parable is present from the beginning. The featured friends believe and care deeply enough to take dramatic action to bring a friend to Jesus. We can do the same with and for those we love, family or friend. Jesus’ display of power and compassion continues in us and others. We are called to witness with wonder & awe. Levi...

We come to Luke 5:1-11 in our journey through that gospel and see how Jesus customizes His call on Peter (and his gang) in a way uniquely suited to the fisherman's sensibilities. He does the same with us, just not with fish.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Here's the audio podcast of Sunday's sermon, the next lesson from Luke's gospel. Jesus pushes back against darkness and brokenness as His kingdom break in, then and now.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

In Luke 4:14-30 , Jesus is without honor in His hometown because everyone is too familiar with Him, His family, etc. We run the risk of being too familiar with Him to the point of losing our wonder and taking Him for granted. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Focusing on Luke 3:21-4:13 , Jesus begins His ministry by submitted to baptism by His predecessor, John. Jesus' identity is majestically confirmed by the presence of the Spirit and the voice of the Father booming affirmation from the heavens: You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased!  We are each His beloved children as well, just as affirmed and blessed as part of the family (of whic...

The ministry of John the Baptist fulfills prophecies made about him by Isaiah and Gabriel, and as he calls the people to repent and be baptized, we are called to do the same, and if we've already done so, it's time to renew our commitments to the King. Luke 3:1-20 .  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

We begin a series on the Gospel of Luke today, whose first sentence states he will summarize "the things that have been fulfilled among us," in a far reaching work that begins with Gabriel's visit to Zechariah in the temple predicting the birth of John the Baptist through to the gospel being taken to all the known world at the end of the Book of Acts, the companion volume to Luke&ap...

The mercies of God are new every morning, and each day offers us a fresh start in Him. God is in the business of making all things new, including us, and He reminds us today of the moment when everything changed.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

We focus today on the convergence of multiple themes around the visit of the wise men to the Christchild. In looking at that story today (in Matthew 2:1-12 ), we focus on two prime lessons: they represent all of us as OUTSIDERS being welcomed into the family of God. And Matthew holds two kings up to us to ask which one we follow: the Heroes of the world, or the Christ in a humble manger? To invest...

One of the dangers of telling the Christmas story (or Easter, or how your grandparents walked from home to school uphill both ways...) as often as we do is that the stunning, mind-blowing aspects of God becoming human - and all that that means - can become ordinary and unremarkable. In this message we ask John in his prologue ( John 1:1-14 ) and Paul in his use of an ancient Christian hymn ( Phil...