Oakhaven Church Podcast

The good news of Jesus begins with four humans and one angel: Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, and Gabriel. The angel startles the humans with news of God’s upcoming action in and through their lives. Their different reactions are patterns for us to follow - or avoid - as we walk in their steps. None of them are of great import in their world. In fact they are decidedly ordinary. If God c...

On this third Sunday of Advent we hear from someone intimately acquainted with the early goings-on associated with the Incarnation.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

On this second Sunday of Advent, we focus on the theme of peace. Our sense of peace (and hope, joy, and love, etc.) is far more a function of perspective rather than circumstance. The prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul both set touchstones for us with which to orient ourselves and live in “Peace on Earth.” To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Keeping Sabbath is a test of faith that removes a day’s wages (or a day’s progress in our projects for workaholics) so that we recognize that his care for us far surpasses our efforts. At the core of observing Sabbath rest is an intentional use of time aimed at personal (and church body) renewal. That renewal is driven by an awareness of God’s goodness, provision, and presence flowing from priorit...

God very strongly identifies the orphan/fatherless, widow and immigrant as being objects of His special attention. His identity is bound up with how much He cares for them. YHVH commands a structure in Israel’s everyday society that provides for the poor in their midst. That provision includes various “flavors” of food. We are called to live like and look like our Father in our treatment of the or...

The culture around us defines us according to our occupation and income. We are human “doings” in the eyes of the world. We are created in the image of God, the true source of our value, worth & identity. We are human “beings” in His eyes. Because we are made in His image, His example of resting from His work from the very beginning is a precedent for us. Jesus’ teaching that the Sabbath was m...

Several times in scripture humans are likened to sheep. This is not a compliment. Isaiah famously intones that "all we like sheep have gone astray." We are weak, learn slowly, and require the leadership of a shepherd. Sheep that do have a shepherd - especially when His name is Jesus - reap countless benefits of safety, provision, community, and on and on. Those without a shepherd are los...

Last week we concentrated on seeing people the way Jesus does. The next thing Jesus does after seeing a person is: He loves them. He has compassion for them. He cares about them and for them. One of the challenging things He sees in them is that they "are harassed and helpless." They are under the thumb of the enemy, and unable within themselves to change their situation. Jesus, however,...

Jesus sets a clear pattern in His ministry of deeply seeing people. Many of those people are on the margins and are not seen by others. Human tendency is to self-protect with distance and an “eye bounce” that avoids seeing them. In contrast, when Jesus sees someone, His first reaction is to love them. BECAUSE He loves them, He speaks and ACTS in their first, best interest. To follow Jesus in lovin...

Looking at Jesus' Kingdom through the lens of Romans 5 , we are encouraged to remain faithful and confident in our salvation because of the lengths to which God, Jesus, and the Spirit have gone to rescue us from sin and death and restore us to eternal friendship with our Creator.  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Being a Christian doesn’t remove us from the hardship in our lives. Far from it. However, because of the Kingdom of God (and its King), we take strength and comfort from three things: His past faithfulness: His current indwelling (and PERMANENT) presence, and the perspective established for us by Jesus' resurrection and the promise of His return. Until He does, His presence beside us brings u...

The Book of Psalms is sometimes called “The Little Bible.” It mirrors the five books of law, and Blake Adams tells us “We should read it not as an assortment of poems and songs but as a single rhapsody on God’s covenant promises.” This year’s Midwest Preachers’ Retreat was held this past week, led by Hebrew scholar and former Oakhaven member, Dr. Lance Hawley, focusing on the psalms as a deep, rem...

According to the standards of the world, Jesus assumes a very low profile in His ministry that launches the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God not by edict, governmental action, or human might, but by compassion that drives Him to recover the helpless sheep that need a shepherd. Through it all, though, Jesus is the glorious King revealed as the Son of Man to Daniel, not a wolf in sheep’s clothing bu...

Recent sermon themes converge today as we see the arc of God’s interactions with humans adapting over time as He matures the human race to have the capacity to receive His greatest self-revelation: Jesus. We note again how Moses’ and the hebrews’ experience of Yahveh met them “where they were at” and moved on from there, spiritually and literally! Then God reveals Himself most fully in Jesus, who...

It’s a mighty special day at Oakhaven Church: our annual homecoming corn roast! Today’s message will be in a creative vein as we hear one of Jesus’ followers describe some of the highlights of their years of ministry together. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

Scripture says that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. However, humans are not. We are on a huge learning curve when it comes to understanding God and His ways, and we examine how He customizes his revelation and relationship with us on levels far beneath Him but right on our wheelhouse. Take, for instance, the story of the burning bush... To investigate this most important of stories...

God sets a pattern of revealing Himself in ways that are simple enough for His children to understand. These revelations are far from where He will eventually “arrive.” The sense of where God is begins with Him being distant and separate and VERY gradually grows toward a sense of His nearness, even though at the beginning He is thought to be in specific places. We also cannot understand everything...

We embark on a journey to discover how God "customizes" His presence (via our perception of where He dwells) to meet the needs and frame of reference of different people across time. We start with a spoiler alert and read the final chapter first. In Revelation 21 we are promised “ Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself w...

Today we revisit the story of Jesus walking on water, this time in Matthew 14 . As a template for our experience, we acknowledge that storms happen, often in the natural course of things. At other times they are caused by human influence, whether our own or others’. Regardless of storm type or strength, at some point Jesus shows up to “divinely intervene” in the moment. Jesus’ intervention is mani...

Today we look closely at Psalm 42 , a beautiful psalm of lament that we often don’t get past the first verse on: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you.” As we track with the psalmist, we learn that the seasons of life shift at times. There will be chapters in our life in which it feels like God is far away, and we will thirst for His presence. (We should thus be deeply...

Today we look at Jesus’ call on Saul on Acts 9 . God appeals to the next apostle through an experience that reaches all Saul’s senses, capturing his attention and heart. At times Jesus places a dramatic call on each of us through sensory experiences that may be physical, spiritual, emotional, or relational. How we respond to that call determines our next steps on the road to our own Damascus. To i...

Oakhaven Church has the tradition of setting aside "regular sermons" on fifth Sundays to instead hear members and their testimonies of how God has worked in their lives, especially how He has drawn them into life with Him. Today, Josh Patterson shares his story with us. Dust off your disco ball. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

As we continue to examine Paul’s wide-ranging message in Romans 8 , we come away with several insights. First, following Jesus will include moments of pain and suffering that are sometimes overwhelming.   In those hardest moments when we don’t know what to say, the Spirit is there with us in the heart of our anguish to translate it all to God as a cry for His intervention and healing.   God knows...

On this day celebrating fathers we look at the amazing access God grants us to Himself using Romans 8:9-19 (NLT) .  To investigate this most important of stories further, go here . 

We are in a complex and mysterious, adventurous and powerful, permanent relationship with the Spirit who lives within us to anoint and nudge and save and remind and inspire and empower and equip and comfort and counsel and reform and transform and reshape and renew and ultimately resurrect us just as He raised our Older Brother from the dead. To investigate this most important of stories further,...