Now, in the midst of Hebrews describing Jesus as the ultimate high priest. The author pauses, and says this, we're going to start from Hebrews chapter 5:11. The author says this, We have much to say about this, regarding Jesus as our high priest. But it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this…

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church; the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord. Measuring up to the full and complete s…

Do I believe my life depends on hearing from God? Wow! Like we all believe that we need food for our body to survive, right? This is why a regular part of our daily life is, run around scrounging for food. We plan our day around it. We get up early to make sure we have time for breakfast. Our school or our job will actually let us stop working so t…

Certainly, the Garden of Eden was not some place where Adam and Eve strolled around going, oh my gosh look how pretty that tree is, I'm so sick of looking at that! There's none of that. There's a sense of renewal and growth and they worked with their hands. They took care of things. It seems to me the future involves discovery and learning and work…

I suppose in some isolated Chambers at Nassau or Space X, gravity is not currently at work. But in nearly every other square inch of this planet, if I throw a ball up into the air it will come back down. Or if I jump out of an airplane without a parachute the fall might be fine, but the landing will be a tad messy, because gravity is present and wo…

So, tell me, how do we look family when in the eyes of God we hold on to titles like democrat or republican or any other title to save us instead of the presence and will of God. We may look to these titles to save us but trust me every time we are met with the sinful grasp of humanity, none of these titles can save us. Only the presence of God in …

Believe It or Not prisoners had to finance at least a portion of their incarceration. They had to pay for it. So, they needed money to buy food and clothes and other supplies or they went hungry, and they got cold, and as you can imagine nobody really cared. So The Philippian Church sent Paul money and maybe some other gifts. And they sent them wit…

But all that said, Paul's real passion, just like my professors many years ago, was never merely to inform his readers, but to transform them. His interest was not that they and we would know our Bibles, important as that is, but that they and we would know that, using words from Oz Guinness; “Spirituality for the follower of Christ is a matter of …

I don’t know about you, but I’ll just tell you I am stirred to the core about what the Apostle Paul reveals about himself in this passage. I mean this brilliant biblical scholar is showing us his raw self. He's cutting himself open right in front of the Philippians and right in front of us and he is saying, “this is who I am, and this is who I am n…

So even though we're just talking about confidence, what's at stake here, what you have to lose, is actually very very real. Paul is not exaggerating this passage when he says, “that he had lost all things for Christ's sake”. It's the very real cost that the Young Rich Man encountered in the story that Mark tells in his gospel in chapter 10. When t…

Paul says, “have the same attitude as Christ Jesus” or “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.” That can be kind of abstract for me. It can seem impossible and so I feel free to ignore it. But then Paul says look at Timothy. This is what serving Christ, prioritizing Christ’s interest means. It means caring for others. That simple. Tha…

And I would suggest to you that Anthony’s adventure in football very much resembles our Christian experience. It’s a long process, of gradually learning the way of Jesus. And gradually becoming the individuals and the church community that he wants us to be. And through the process there are forward and backward steps, but even the backward ones ar…

More than just referring about their behavior as individuals in the world, Paul is actually pointing to the way that they live out their heavenly citizenship with one another, their collective polity. See, Paul recognizes that as a local church, they have a common life with each other. That is, set in the context of their citizenship in the Roman e…

Paul did not say, "Everything has a purpose." He did not say, "In spite of the difficult circumstances of me being in prison, God did something good." Paul simply did not make the best of a bad situation. What Paul said is far more remarkable.He said, what has happened to me—that is, getting thrown into prison—has served to advance the good news. I…

Over the next several months, we will be reading someone else's mail. I say that as sort of a creative way to refer to the fact that this New Testament book, this epistle to the Philippians, really is a letter from the apostle Paul to the local church that he had started in the city of Philippi.But in another sense, I say that because, you read the…

How does the resurrection make a difference on a Wednesday? When I'm bored at school? When I'm grocery shopping at Trader Joe's? Or languishing at a mundane job I only endure for the paycheck? Now we can have a fine time today kicking around some theology of the resurrection, or maybe naming two or three proofs for the resurrection, but I want to t…

"Our first priority as the church is not to make all these things happen in the world through political action, but to be a prophetic witness to the hope of a world remade according to Christ." Brian ZahndToo often, we sink our chips into politics and try and make the society righteous. But as the church, we are the ones who are to be the righteous…

Politics—if we think of the fullest definition of it—has to do with how we live together, and how we relate to each other in the various communities that we are in. It has to do with the values and the principles that govern our communities and relationships and common life together.And today's topic is "Incarnational Politics." It might seem like …

I have to tell you lately, I've been taken with the phrase, "The center is different than the middle." Think about that from the perspective of a follower of Jesus. The middle is neutral political ground to avoid conflict and make everyone happy. But for the Christian, the center is the starting point for healthy discussion and debate. And the cent…

God says in the first of the ten commandments these words, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me." And a few verses later in the second commandment, God continues the theme, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guilt…

A crucified God is at the center of our faith, and this image gives us a vision of power that is upside-down from Rome's, Jerusalem's, Washington D.C.'s, or any other place of power. Jesus' life was cross-shaped even before He went to the cross. It was a life of service and sacrifice. Jesus said at the end of Matthew 28, "All authority in heaven an…

The church, from the very beginning, was designed to be a community of "Unlikes," a community of "Differents." There is a palpable tension in the New Testament around the inclusion of the Gentiles in the early church. Christianity was born out of the Jewish faith, and there came points along the way where there was pressure to let Gentiles be part …

Paul says it clearly: Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked in this world or in any world, and God placed all things under his feet. In short, Jesus is King.If all things are under his feet, then no thing is more powerful than him, no thing compares to…

Our church's mission statement is written in fancy metal letters—on the wall, in the lobby, over the water fountain, next to the coffee bar. It reads, "To invite people to experience the reality of life in the Kingdom of God."What we're talking about the next two weeks—God the King and His Kingdom—is foundational and essential to the Christian fait…

We bring the whole of who we are into parenting, and all will sometimes sin. Sometimes get it wrong. The sooner we understand that the more we let go of the drive to be the perfect parent, the more we lean into the perfect parent—God."The beyond-our-comprehension reality at the heart of the universe is that God in Christ on the cross has forgiven a…

It doesn't take too long before the question arises: Why? Like, why does God need me to pray for Him to act? Like if—as it says in Matthew 6:8, God already knows what we need before we ask Him—why does He need me to ask? And why sometimes when I do ask for something I think I need, I don't end up getting it? And then, why do I sometimes miraculousl…

"God's plan is really simple. God's plan is to form a people, a community. And through that community's transformation, through that community's life together, through that community's Christlikeness (both at an individual level and at the communal level)—God's Plan A is to use that community to show other people who God is and what life can be lik…

"A healthy marriage is the foundation of a healthy family, and a healthy family is foundational to a healthy society. A healthy marriage can create ripple effects through many generations, while a broken marriage, whether it's officially broken (meaning papers have been filed and spouses live apart) or unofficially broken (meaning papers haven't be…

"I like this time of year, I really do. It's a chance to look back, a chance to let go, a chance to celebrate, and a chance to look ahead. I just find it invigorating—as corny as it may be—to think about the close of one year and the prospect of beginning a new year. Henri Nouwen, in a book called Here and Now, said it this way: "We must learn to l…

"The Christmas story is a pivotal chapter in this big and beautiful story that God is writing and slowly unfolding because in Luke's gospel, when the angel announced, 'Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord,' he was announcing the arrival of the Prince of Peace. He was announcing the partial fulfillmen…

"In the Jewish community at that time, "Father" was a powerful idea that carried meaning for every aspect of your life. It was a term that referred to more than just your biological birth father. It was a term that you would refer to your ancestors. It was also a term that could refer to a ruler or a king or a governor of a city, that their role of…

"When we think of "Mighty God," power probably comes to mind. The name, the title, "Mighty God" declares that the Messiah of Advent is powerful. So powerful that Isaiah 9 says that the running of the whole world is going to rest on His shoulders. In Isaiah 46:8-10, God is speaking of himself—with attitude:"Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to…

In this closing message, we invited the Oak Hills Community to share — open mic style — what they've been learning from our six-week series.Due to the nature of the sharing, this podcast only includes the opening remarks by Pastor Mike Lueken, and not the actual sharing time from the congregation.By Mike Lueken

These two disciples are walking behind Jesus, and the language used in the Bible is that they were "following" him in the sense that they were walking behind him (John 1:35-42). But not yet in the sense that we're talking about today. He turns around and asks, "What do you want"? And this question, Jesus asks, and keeps asking those who say they wa…

"Go to the Oxford dictionary today, and look up the word "grace" and it will tell you that it is God's "unmerited favor." But while this is a widely accepted definition of God's grace, it is—like we were saying last week with the gospel—a rather truncated or reduced definition that actually robs it of the power ascribed to it by the authors of the …

“The understanding of the Gospel that circulates in many religious—and even unreligious circles—can be described as gospels of sin management. Essentially, different ways of saying, ‘Jesus died for your sins. And if you accept him as your Savior, you can get your sins forgiven and go to heaven when you die.” Now the thing about these definitions of…

"I’m not trying to point fingers at anyone, because we all medicate, and we all have a false self. We are all prone to whatever degree to present a polished picture of ourselves to the world in the hopes of being applauded, accepted, or approved. These impulses to do this—to filter, to cover up, to polish—these are direct consequences of sin, and o…

"What happens if I ask you if the way you respond in times of stress, or pain, or loss, support what you claim to be your picture of God? When life goes wrong, do you ever wonder if God is punishing you? Do you truly feel that God is always for your? Or a bit against you? What does your prayer life suggest about your true picture of God? How about …

"We actually believe that drastic and authentic transformation is at the core of the Christian Gospel. In the spirit of Colossians 3, we believe God desires communities of his people who are growing in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. And love is the preeminent virtue they offer to each other and to this broken…

"The trouble with leaving it at "Trust God" is that the concept of God is so broad—infinite really—that if we're not careful, we can create a picture or an image of God that is intangible and obscure, an image of God that isn't even accurate...So it is of no comfort to us in our [specific] time of trouble and it leaves us helpless to the onslaught …

"In our passage, Jesus is on the verge of unspeakable rejection and suffering. literally, within an hour or two, he will begin his passion. And yet, in his final instructions, he's talking to his followers about his joy. How can he have joy? How can he talk about joy, minutes before he is arrested and beaten and executed?"...Through it all, he knew…

"James says it this way: 'Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.' (James 1:17) And it is this truth—this fact—that makes being thankful in the midst of disappointment and trials a reasonable response. You see, being thankful is not dishonest or naive …

"Now remember, we're defining joy in this series as 'a pervasive and constant sense of well-being.' So in the language of this series, we're talking about choosing the path that leads to a pervasive and constant sense of well-being, no matter our circumstances. And grieving, lamenting is the path to choose in response to the pain and brokenness of …

"How do we find happiness and hang on to it in a world where hardship and heaviness and violence and trouble seem so unrelentless and so unstoppable. Well, over the next five weeks, our answer is: Choose Joy.""Happiness may not be possible in this broken world. Because typical happiness is often if not usually dependent on circumstances...life is a…

“We as a local church need to be on the frontlines, helping people discover the life and hope that only Jesus gives. And we need to find creative and imaginative and as yet untried experiments to bring ministry beyond these walls and help people find God.““The Lord is God and there is no other.” This is as true today as it was when Moses stood in f…

When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject …

When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject …

When we're attentive to the Spirit, He can teach us through a variety of unconventional ways—through circumstances, through friends, and even through the songs we hear. Our pastors have been listening, and over three-weeks, they'll share a few words of wisdom by playing off various songs that are currently popular. Today's sermon is on the subject …

As we conclude the series, Tell The Story, we consider the Old Testament practice of "Remembering." One of the primary means in which the nation Israel worshiped was through the practice of remembering—feasts, commemorations, monuments, and even Passover were acts of Remembering. And in the remembrance, we are reminded of God's goodness, provision,…

We continue our series on telling the story of God by exploring the importance of community prayer. Specifically, Pastor Mike Lueken and Elder Scott Schafer discuss the purpose, priority, and power of praying as a community of believers.By Mike Lueken & Scott Schafer