Sermons from Oak Church

05/27/2018 Genesis 1:1-2 & Genesis 2:5-9 Chris Breslin   The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; […]

05/20/2018 John 20:19-23 Chris Breslin   “The convex (outward tilted) of the concave (inward tilted) Resurrection is mission, and the two have to happen almost exactly together, on the same day, because this Great Miracle requires this Great Mission, immediately and urgently.” –F. D. Bruner   “[Isaiah & Jesus] offer a way of liberation through the liberation, healing, and total [&#82...

05/13/2018 1 John 5:9-13 Chris Breslin   “How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of […]

05/06/2018 1 John 5:1-6 Chris Breslin   “If we ask the question, ‘Where might you expect to find the baptized?’ one answer is, ‘In the neighbourhood of chaos’. It means you might expect to find Christian people near to those places where humanity is most at risk, where humanity is most disordered, disfigured and needy. Christians will be found in […]

04/22/2018 1 John 3:16-24 Chris Breslin Slides from April, 2018 Scripture: John 3:16 Matthew 25:40 1 John 4:19 Romans 8:14-17, 28 Psalm 139 Philippians 2:5-11 John 15:5-10 (The Message) Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering: Love is Even the Name by Walton Come, Light Our Hearts by McCracken Father, Let Your Kingdom Come by Porter’s Gate Worship Come Thou Fount of […]

04/15/2018 Testimony Katie DeConto, Jeremiah Dodson, Matt Hoffman, Meg Hoffman Ecclesia Network

04/15/2018 1 John 3:1-7 Chris Breslin “In the New Testament, there is an ongoing ministry of reminding.” –Bruxy Cavey “’We are an eschatological people.’ We’re called to create a picture of God’s dream in the present.” –Jürgen Moltmann via Danny Prada “God is calling us to embody our protest…through the building of relationships around the table.” –Brad Nelson Geoff & […]

04/08/2018 1 John 1:1-2:2 Chris Breslin “The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for […]

04/01/2018 John 11:17-44 Chris Breslin “I would not be a Christian apart from those tears.  Jesus’ wasteful tears.” –Steve Garber (recounted in Makoto Fujimura’s Tears for Fragile Emanations While the symbolism of hot cross buns doesn’t share the sacredness of bread and wine, it still serves to remind us of the dark wonder of this day. We cannot make it […]

Baptismal Testimonies and Liturgy Gary Davis & Matthew Fox April 1, 2018

03/30/2018 Isaiah 52:14 & 53:1-6; John 18-19 Chris Breslin “Like the lynching tree in America, the cross in the time of Jesus was the most ‘barbaric form of execution of the utmost cruelty,’ the absolute opposite of human value systems.” –James Cone “Paul understood not as an accumulation of misdeeds, but as a Power with a death grip on the […]

03/25/2018 Matthew 21:1-11/John 9:1-14; 35-41 Joe Longarino Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering: Come Light Our Hearts by McCracken Hosanna (Praise is Rising) by Brown/Baloche Heal Us by Cowper/Twit/Morgan King of My Heart by McMillan All Who are Thirsty by Brown/Robertson What the Lord Has Done in Me by Morgan Doxology Go further: The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple by Richard […]

03/18/2018 John 6:15-21 Chris Breslin “Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I’ve come to believe […]

03/11/2018 John 6:5-14 Sarah Neff “It is not easy to offer the world to each other and to God. We prefer to take the world, possess it, and consume it. What we do not realize is that this hoarding gesture, a gesture often founded upon a deep insecurity and anxiety within us, compromises and degrades the giving of God that […]

03/04/2018 John 5:1-15 Charlene Brown Rev. Charlene Brown is the National Director of Black Campus Ministries for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe […]

02/25/2018 Sermon John 4:46-54 Chris Breslin “Jesus peculiarly dramatizes the dynamics of grace: what is needed by humans is unilaterally initiated by God.” –Marianne Meye Thompson May it Last (Avett Brothers documentary) Scripture: Psalm 5:1-2 Genesis 1 John 1:1-4, 17 Titus 3:1-2 Colossians 3:23-24 Romans 10:8 James 2:14, 26 John 20:26-29 John 20:17 Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering: I Believe...

An archived unedited version of The Road to Now (RTN Theology #3) episode. Pastor Chris Breslin recently invited Bob Crawford to be part of a live conversation with Kate Bowler to talk about the history of Christianity, their faith, and how the crisis of cancer has affected their relationships with God. Kate Bowler is Assistant Professor of the History of […]

02/18/2018 John 2:1-11 Chris Breslin Here’s an epiphany to have and hold, A truth that you can taste upon the tongue, No distant shrines and canopies of gold Or ladders to be clambered rung by rung, But here and now, amidst your daily living, Where you can taste and touch and feel and see, The spring of love, the fount […]

02/11/2018 Sermon Mark 9:2-13 Chris Breslin “Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one in the world who is dying. ‘We’re all sinking, slowly, but one day, while everyone watches, I will run out of air. I am going to go under.’ Even explaining it, I feel more and more frantic. ‘There will be a day when I can’t take […]

02/04/2018 Mark 1:29-39 Matt Hoffman Sermon Resources: Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering: Have Mercy on Me by Gungor/Alattas/Cunningham Alive by Hoisingtons/Jordan/Leonard Come Light Our Hearts by McCracken King of My Heart by McMillan/McMillan What the Lord Has Done in...

01/28/2018 Mark 1:21-28 Chris Breslin “…carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.” –Winston Churchill “for Christ plays in ten thousand places,/Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/To the Father through the features of men’s faces.” –Gerard […]

01/21/2018 Jonah 3:1-5, 10 & Mark 1:14-20 Chris Breslin “The gospel is not about choosing to follow advice, it’s about being called to follow a King.” –Tim Keller, The King’s Cross “To add insult to very substantial injury, the Ninevites prospered; for an excruciatingly long time (three centuries or more) they fared too well for any savvy Israelite not to […]

01/14/2018 John 1:43-51 Chris Breslin “There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” –Wendell Berry “I was ready to give up. With my cup of coffee sitting untouched before me, I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing a coward. In this state of exhaustion, when my courage […]

01/07/2018 Psalm 29 & Mark 1:4-11 Chris Breslin “This is the Epiphany’s first lesson about joy: to rejoice in the coming of Christ, it’s not enough for Christ to have been born; we must also perceive him as savior and king. Otherwise we won’t rejoice but will treat him with fear, disdain, or indifference.” –Miroslav Volf “We say – and […]

12/24/17 Psalm 96 Chris Breslin “Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.” John Wesley, Directions for Singing Christmas […]