Oaks Parish

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-15Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionPaul David Tripp, Redeeming MoneyGod created us to be dependent. He created us to follow his commands and to submit to his will. Real life and true freedom are found when we willingly and joyfully surrender to the One who created us, knows what we need, and rules what we could never control. But something else is vital to remember: we were never designed to put ourselves in the center of our world and make our lives all about us. We were never created to live for little more than our personal comfort, pleasure, happiness, and success. In God’s plan for us, we will never find the rest of heart that we all seek until we live according to the purpose and glory of the One who created us. Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments Have you ever noticed that Jesus is sometimes less “spiritual” than we might think? That doesn’t sound right, but here’s what I mean: we might think that Jesus would tell us, “Do you want possessions? Shame on you. Do you want security and safety? Shame on you. Why don’t you desire something more important?” He doesn’t do that, though. Instead, he taps into the desires of all human beings. We want to make sure that we have something that will last. We want to make sure that we have enough for the future. Jesus says, “Okay, I get that. Let me tell you how to really be happy: store up treasures in heaven!”John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian LifeThe biblical ideal is certainly not that we all become poor. Rather, it is, first, “godliness with contentment” (1 Tim. 6:6). The wisdom teacher recognizes that there are temptations in both wealth and poverty, so he asks God to give him just enough: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me” (Prov. 30:8; compare “our daily bread” as the Christian’s request in Matt. 6:11). But if God does give poverty, or riches, we must expect temptation and be ready to deal with it.R. Kent Hughes, Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly LifeEvery time I give, I declare that money does not control me. Perpetual generosity is a perpetual de-deification of money.Application Questions1. Why can our relationship to the material world become enslaving?2. As a central aspect of worship, how can tithing deepen our relationship with God?3. Within each of our vocations, God brings about opportunities to help those in need. How can Oaks Parish partner with you?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Sermon Text: Exodus 20:1-14Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionAnn VoskampYour naked body deserves the honor of being shared only with someone who is covenanted to never stop loving your naked soul.Preston Sprinkle, “What is Marriage”Is marriage the union between two consensual adults—who fall in love and are committed to each other? Or, is marriage the union between two sexually different persons? I would suggest that the Bible says the latter. Marriage is the union between two sexually different persons. It’s not as if marriage is between two people, and oh, by the way, we Christians have always believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Even that doesn’t capture the historically Christian view. It’s not as if sex difference (male/female) is an arbitrary add-on to a Christian view of marriage. Rather, sex difference is an essential part of what marriage is. Marriage by definition is the union between two sexually different persons and not simply the union between two humans regardless of sex difference.Kevin D. Young, The Ten CommandmentsThe relationship between Christ and the church is a paradigm for the relationship between a husband and a wife. The mystery is that the union of Christ and the church finds expression in a man and a woman becoming one flesh in Christian marriage. God designed for a Christian husband and wife to come together in such a way that this union of Christ and the church can be symbolized.C.S. Lewis, The Four LovesWe use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he ‘wants a woman.’ Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus.Application Questions1. Why does Scripture celebrate sex, and how does this biblical vision compare to how sex was understood and discussed in your upbringing?2. How can emotional self-awareness shape a godly vision for sex and intimacy?3. How can sex, according to God’s vision, be a life-giving and spiritually enriching part of your life this week?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-13Quincy Robinson

Ash Wednesday ServiceScripture Text: Exodus 20:1-12Bryan Buck

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-11Pat Roach

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

*We apologize for the poor sound quality at the beginning of the recording. It resolves in about 20 seconds!Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-7Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionWilliam Shakespeare, Romeo and JulietWhat’s in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other word would smell as sweet;So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,Retain that dear perfection which he owesWithout that title. Romeo, doff thy name;And for thy name, which is no part of thee,Take all myself.Justin Cronin, The FerrymanThere is power in a name. It is through names that we bring all things into this world, and when they leave, it is names we carry with us, so they are never truly gone.Alec J Moyter, The Message of ExodusWhat were the people really asking for when they wanted to know God’s ‘name’? In the Bible, names often had a serious significance, and in the case of the Lord his ‘name’ was his ‘story’; it summed up who he was and what he wanted to make known about himself.John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian LifeThe one who gives a name to someone else has some measure of control over the one who receives it. The parent names the child, the conqueror names the conquered city, and the Lord names his people. Yahweh names himself, for there is no one higher than him.Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments The way to see God’s glory is to hear his name. To know the name YHWH, the merciful and gracious one, is not to merely know something about God; it is to know God himself (Ex. 34:6–8). God shows himself by speaking his name.Application Questions1. What power is found in a name? 2. How does calling upon the name of God open the door for his transformative power? 3. In what ways are you moved toward a more public faith, bearing witness to God’s name?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenResources we mentioned in this episode:Idolatry Chart - based on Tim Keller’s material on the “mega-idols” of power, control, comfort, and approvalQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-6Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionKevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments If the first commandment is against worshiping the wrong God, the second commandment is against worshiping God in the wrong way.John Calvin, Commentary on ExodusGod wishes to be worshiped in a spiritual manner. If we turn away from this, we lapse into idolatry.Timothy Keller, Counterfeit GodsWhat is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian LifeIdolatry has two senses: (1) worshiping a false god, and (2) worshiping any god by means of an idol. The first commandment deals primarily with the first form of idolatry, while the second commandment deals with the second form of it. But of course the two are intimately connected. To worship a false god (first commandment) is to direct our worship to something creaturely, namely an idol (second commandment). And to worship an idol (second commandment) is to rob God of worship that he alone deserves (first commandment). So the two commandments imply one another and serve as two perspectives on our worship. In that way, the second commandment, like the first, covers all aspects of human life. Application Questions1. Idols can be real both individually and corporately. What idols hold power in the American church today? 2. John Calvin writes that “God wishes to be worshipped in a spiritual way.” What value does that have for faith? 3. How does true and false worship shape generational faith? How have you seen this to be true in your own life?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-3Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionKevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments The good news of law, C. S. Lewis once remarked, is like the good news of arriving on solid ground after a shortcut gone awry through the mud, muck, and mire. After fumbling about in the squishy, stinky mess, you’re relieved to finally hit something solid, something you can trust, something you can count on.John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian LifeThe document begins with God’s name: Yahweh, the Lord. As God so identified himself to Moses in Exodus 3: 14–15, so he now identifies himself in the direct hearing of all his people. This identification ensures, first, that the covenant is a personal relationship. 15 Ultimately, we are to obey the law, not just because its principles are true, but because of the one who commanded them. I have argued that the personality of God is indispensable to ethics. Worldviews that reduce the personal to the impersonal lose any basis for ethics. Ethics is based on a family relationship. In this world, we learn ethical standards in the family, in a context of love and loyalty. 16 Similarly at the ultimate level, we learn right and wrong from a heavenly Father, an absolute personality. Only such a personal relationship can communicate principles that are absolutely authoritative.Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Powers of a New AffectionThere is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered; but as to its desire for having some one object or other, this is unconquerable. Its adhesion to that on which it has fastened the preference of its regards, cannot willingly be overcome by the rending away of a simple separation. It can be done only by the application of something else, to which it may feel the adhesion of a still stronger and more powerful preference. Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of - and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind, as hunger is to the natural system. It may be dispossessed of one object, or of any, but it cannot be desolated of all. Application Questions1. When you consider the Ten Commandments, what comes to mind? 2. How does the context of Exodus inform and reshape your understanding of God’s law? 3. As you consider the first commandment, what will you turn away from and turn toward as we begin the rhythms of Lent?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenMentioned in this episode:Article: How Intellectuals Found GodQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Luke 2:22-38Andy TobinQuotes for ReflectionR. Kent Hughes Simeon and Anna represented all who saw that their only hope was in the mercy and grace of God. Along with the poor carpenter and his wife and the outcast shepherds, they were flesh-and-blood examples of those to whom Christ comes. They personified the paradox of being profoundly empty and profoundly full—“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). They longed for the righteousness and consolation that would come only through the Messiah. They came to God’s house hungry, and they received as few others have in the history of the world. J. C. Ryle And now what do we think of Christ? This is the question that ought to occupy our minds. What thoughts does he call forth in our hearts? This is the inquiry which ought to receive our attention. Are we for him, or are we against him? Do we love him, or do we neglect him? Do we stumble at his doctrine, or do we find it life from the dead? Let us never rest till these questions are satisfactorily answered. John Piper The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ . . . the more homesick you get for heaven . . . the more you want “all the fullness of God”…the more you want to be done with sin…the more you want the Bridegroom to come again . . . the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus . . . the more you want a great awakening to God’s reality in the cities . . . the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world . . . the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth . . . the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed . . . the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea. Application Questions1. What hunger in your heart has Christ satisfied, or what hunger do you want him to satisfy?2. What are your “inner thoughts” about the person of Jesus?3. Would your life look different if it were characterized by waiting for the appearing of Jesus (i.e., his second coming)? How so?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Luke 11:1-13Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionHudson Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Choice Sayings: A Compilation from His Writings and Addresses Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about.Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement If you want a window into the personal prayer life of Jesus, the Gospel of Luke is the best place to begin. When you look through the various panes of the pages of his Gospel, you will see Jesus staying up all night to pray on several occasions (for example, Lk 5:16). At every turning point, whether it was choosing the Twelve (Lk 6:12-16) or preparing for the night of the transfiguration (Lk 9:28), Luke tells us that events happened as he was praying. When Jesus angrily tears up, for the second time, in the marketplace in the temple court, Luke tells us that the real reason for Jesus’ emotion is his desire that the Gentiles have a quiet place to pray (Lk 19:46). More than any other Gospel, Luke paints us a picture of Jesus on his knees.N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone The ‘Lord’s Prayer’, as many call it, is therefore not just a loosely connected string of petitions. It is a prayer for people who are following Jesus on the kingdom-journey. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, to act on behalf of God’s name, which had been dragged in the mud as his people had turned away from him in rebellion. He was on the way to accomplish the ‘Exodus’ in which the long-awaited kingdom of God would become a reality. He had provided bread for the journey, and ‘the breaking of bread’ was to become the sign of his presence in the church, and the bond between his followers. He was already offering forgiveness, and would accomplish it completely in his death – and he was already demanding from his followers that they imitate the graciousness of their God in forgiving their enemies, let alone each other. And, as we have already seen and will shortly see in more detail, he was waging war against the powers of evil, a war that would reach its decisive battle on Calvary. This is a prayer which grows out of the mission of Jesus himself. It has been ideally suited, both as it stands and as a framework for wider praying, for his followers ever since.Application Questions1. How would you describe the place of prayer in your life? 2. How can the notion of persistence be an encouragement for prayer? 3. What’s one thing from Jesus’s teaching in Luke 11:1-13 that can change how you abide with God this week?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Luke 10:25-37Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionDavid Brooks, How to Know a PersonYou may find the whole idea of God ridiculous, but I ask you to believe in the concept of a soul. You may just be chatting with someone about the weather, but I ask you to assume that the person in front of you contains some piece of themselves that has no weight, size, color, or shape yet gives them infinite value and dignity. If you consider that each person has a soul, you will be aware that each person has some transcendent spark inside them. You will be aware that at the deepest level we are all equals. We’re not equal in might, intelligence, or wealth, but we are all equal on the level of our souls. If you see the people you meet as precious souls, you’ll probably wind up treating them well. If you can attend to people in this way, you won’t be merely observing them or scrutinizing them. You’ll be illuminating them with a gaze that is warm, respectful, and admiring. You’ll be offering a gaze that says, “I’m going to trust you, before you trust me.”N.T. Wright, Luke for EveryoneWhat is at stake, then and now, is the question of whether we will use the God-given revelation of love and grace as a way of boosting our own sense of isolated security and purity, or whether we will see it as a call and challenge to extend that love and grace to the whole world. No church, no Christian, can remain content with easy definitions which allow us to watch most of the world lying half-dead in the road.J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeThe world would be a happier world if there was more practical Christianity.Application Questions1. Why is the story of the Good Samaritan so radical? 2. What role does personal identity play in our ability to love others? 3. How might your life be enriched this week by loving your neighbor?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 9:1-36Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionHartmut Rosa, Two Versions of the Good Life & Two Forms of Fear When something really touches us, we can never know or predict in advance what we will become as a result of this.J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke Thousands in every age of the church spend their lives in this way and never come to the point of drawing near to God. They satisfy themselves with a miserable round of gossip about this preacher’s sermons or that writer’s opinions. They think “this man goes too far” and “that man does not go far enough.” Some doctrines they approve and others they disapprove. Some teachers they call “sound” and others they call “unsound.” They cannot quite make up their own minds as to what is true or what is right. Year rolls on after year and finds them in the same state – talking, criticizing, fault-finding, speculating – but never getting any further. They are hovering like the moth around religion, but never settling down like the bee to feed on its treasures. They never boldly lay hold of Christ. They never set themselves heartily to the great business of serving God. They never take up the cross and become thorough Christians. And at last, after all their talking, they die in their sins, unprepared to meet God.N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone The more open we are to God, and to the different dimensions of God’s glory, the more we seem to be open to the pain of the world. We are right to be wary when we return from some great worship service, when we rise from a time of prayer in which God has seemed close and his love real and powerful. These things are never given for their own sake, but so that, as we are equipped by them, God can use us within his needy world.Application Questions1. Consider a time when you experienced the power and presence of God in your life. How did this occasion impact your outlook on life? 2. How could ‘talking, criticizing, fault-finding, and speculating’ actually be getting in the way of ‘boldly laying hold of Christ’? 3. Why might faith in God be on the rise in our day?

Scripture Text: Colossians 1:15-20Andy TobinQuotes for ReflectionDavid Wells Paul’s Christology, therefore, also encompasses the language of the kingdom of God in the Gospels. To believe on Christ is to enter the kingdom and is to become a part of the age to come. Paul, however, expands this thought far beyond the personal and ecclesiastical. If Christ is the Lord whom every believer serves, the Head to whom the whole churchly body is responsive, he is also the Creator from whom everything derives its existence, the center without which there is no reality. Whether above in the starlit firmament or below within human consciousness, Jesus has “supremacy.” Hebrews 1:1-4 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. John Piper We admire Christ for his transcendence, but even more because the transcendence of his greatness is mixed with submission to God. We marvel at him because his uncompromising justice is tempered with mercy. His majesty is sweetened by meekness. In his equality with God he has a deep reverence for God. Though he is worthy of all good, he was patient to suffer evil. His sovereign dominion over the world was clothed with a spirit of obedience and submission. He baffled the proud scribes with his wisdom, but was simple enough to be loved by children. He could still the storm with a word, but would not strike the Samaritans with lightning or take himself down from the cross. Application Questions1. What Christological truth from Colossians 1 will influence your worship of Jesus this Christmastide? 2. How is God calling you to live in light of the supremacy of Jesus? 3. What relationship in your life needs the reconciling power of God, and what is the first step you need to take?

Read: Matthew 1:18-25Reflect: 1. How does thinking of Jesus as Emmanuel impact your life right now?2. Where have you seen God's hand in your personal life history?3. How do you rely on the Holy Spirit in your vocation?4. Wherever God has dwelled has always been the most holy place. And as the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are now the most holy place for our culture. How does this compel you this week - whether in thought, word, or deed?5. What does the incarnation mean to you?Pray: Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Special thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).

Scripture Text: Matthew 1:18-25Quincy Robinson

The Oaks Parish PodcastSpecial thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).Read:Philippians 2:1-11Reflect:1. What is most striking to you about God's humility in the incarnation?2. How have you seen the impact of humility in your own life? 3. Why is Jesus’s physical body so important for our redemption?4. How could you profit this week from ‘pretending’ to be Christ?5. In prayer, respond to God about the ways in which the humility of the incarnation invites you to know him better.Pray:Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Scripture Text: Philippians 2:1-11Scripture Text: Philippians 2:1-11Quotes for ReflectionN.T. Wright, Philippians for EveryoneThe eternal son of God, the one who became human in and as Jesus of Nazareth, regarded his equality with God as committing him to the course he took: of becoming human, of becoming Israel’s anointed representative, of dying under the weight of the world’s evil. This is what it meant to be equal with God. As you look at the incarnate son of God dying on the cross the most powerful thought you should think is: this is the true meaning of who God is. He is the God of self-giving love.Athanasius, On the IncarnationThe body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord’s body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. Death there had to be, and death for all, so that the due of all might be paid. Wherefore, the Word, as I said, being Himself incapable of death, assumed a mortal body, that He might offer it as His own in place of all, and suffering for the sake of all through His union with it, “might bring to nought Him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver them who all their lifetime were enslaved by the fear of death.”C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Now, the moment you realise ‘Here I am, dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may realise that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go and do it. You see what is happening. The Christ himself, the Son of God who is man (just like you) and God (just like the Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality. Application Questions1. How have you seen the impact of humility in your own life? 2. Why is Jesus’s physical body so important for our redemption?3. How could you profit this week from ‘pretending’ to be Christ?

Read: John 1:1-14Reflect:1. What are you searching for in this season?2. Why is John’s term “the Word” (logos) helpful to anyone searching for spiritual answers?3. Where are you looking for God to show up?4. Where do you need to yield to God?5. John writes that we become the God’s children by his power. How does this reality help you meet a pressing concern right now and respond in a fresh way?Pray:Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Special thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).

Scripture Text: Johan 1:1-21Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionN.T Wright, John for EveryoneWhatever else John is going to tell us, he wants us to see his book as the story of God and the world, not just the story of one character in one place and time. This book is about the creator God acting in a new way within his much-loved creation. It is about the way in which the long story which began in Genesis reached the climax the creator had always intended.Gary Burge, John: The NIV Application CommentaryThe prologue to John is not about a message that offers hope, but about The Message that is the only hope. It is not about an idea, but a person. The Word became flesh tells us that God is intent on communicating with us not about mere concepts; he is intent on communicating about himself. The Word became flesh tells us that The Message is accessible and not hidden away for mystics and scholars but was lived in the world and was touched and heard by many. The Word became flesh tells us that the man Jesus was no mere mortal. He was not an inspired carpenter or a model human. Jesus was God himself—taking on the clothing of humanity, embracing it fully and eternally, walking in it, speaking through it, and delivering the reality of God to the world in a manner never done before. This prologue tells us that something definitive has happened in time, something objective and absolute. A marker has been placed in human history, and all humanity is now being called to mark time and progress by that post.Athanasius, On the IncarnationWhat, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image. In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.Application Questions1. Why is John’s term “the Word” (logos) be helpful to anyone searching for spiritual answers? 2. Why does the incarnation of Jesus make so much sense? 3. John writes that we become the God’s children by his power. How does this reality help you meet a pressing concern right now and respond in a fresh way?

The Oaks Parish PodcastSpecial thanks to Alex Wenig, Director of Music at Oaks Parish, for her contribution of music to the podcast! From “Offering” © Alexandra Adkins, 2011: Sonata For 2 Violins In D Major, Op. 3, No. 6: III. Largo (Jean-Marie Leclair, 18th century).Read:Isaiah 9:1-7Reflect:1. In what ways do you see a stark contrast between the government of Isaiah's child king and the kingdoms of this world?2. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. As you reflect on the meaning of these four titles of the child-king, how is Jesus the specific answer to a darkness you are facing right now?3. "His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom." What questions, feelings, or reflections do you have about the promise of a kingdom with no end? Share those with God in prayer.4. How does “the zeal of the Lord” transform the way you face the darkness of this world?5. How does the promise of the Incarnate Son of God impact the way you enter this season of Advent?Pray:Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)

Scripture Text: Isaiah 9:1-7Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionDietrich Bonhoeffer, God in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and ChristmasLook up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes. Look up, your redemption is drawing near. something different from what you see daily will happen. Just be aware, be watchful, wait just another short moment. Wait and something quite new will break over you: God will come.John Oswalt, IsaiahHave we allowed the Child-King to take over the government of our lives? Only then can we know the benefits of God with us. We cannot have the light, the honor, the joy, the abundance, the integration that he offers in any other way. Alec J. Moyer, The Prophecy of IsaiahThe eye of faith looks at all this but affirms that, real though it is, it is not the ‘real’ reality. As always, the people of God must decide what reading of their experiences they will live by. Are they to look at the darkness, the hopelessness, the dreams shattered and conclude that God has forgotten them? Or are they to recall his past mercies, to remember his present promises and to make great affirmations of faith? Isaiah insists here that hope is a present reality, part of the constitution of the ‘now’. The darkness is true but it is not the whole truth and certainly not the fundamental truth.Application Questions1. How do we see tangible evidence that the government of Isaiah’s child-king provides a stark contrast to the chaos of worldly kingdoms?2. How does “the zeal of the Lord” transform the way we face the darkness of this world?3. Reflect on the meaning of the four titles of the child-king in verse 6. How is Jesus the specific answer to a darkness you are facing right now?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 8:1-21Andy TobinQuotes for ReflectionJ. C. Ryle The last caution contained in the parable of the sower, is to beware of being content with any religion which does not bear fruit in our lives. Our Lord tells us that the hearts of those who hear the Word aright, are like good ground. The seed of the gospel sinks down deeply into their wills, and produces practical results in their faith and practice. They not only hear with pleasure, but act with decision. They repent. They believe. They obey. James 1:19-25 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. N. T. Wright Look out of the window at the people walking by. What sort of soil is the seed being sown in today? What can we do to plough up the rough ground, to remove the stones, to weed out the thorns? What can we do to sow the word more successfully? The answers will vary from place to place and time to time. But perhaps the first and most important answer is to ask ourselves how much mature growth, how much fruit, the word is producing in our own lives. If we have ears, we must learn to hear. Application Questions1. Which of the four soils represents your response to Jesus? 2. How is God calling you to “pay attention to how you listen”? 3. In what area of life does your doing need to catch up with your hearing?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

*We apologize that a couple minutes are missing from the beginning of this replay, but jump right in for the majority of the sermon!Scripture Text: Luke 7Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionC.S. Lewis, Mere ChristianityNow Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off,’ you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.Joan Chittister and Rowan Williams, Uncommon GratitudeDoubt, on the other hand, is the mother of conviction. Once we have pursued our doubts to the dust, we forge a stronger, not a weaker, belief system. These truths are true, we know, because they are now true for us rather than simply for someone else. To suppress doubt, then, to discourage thinking, to try to stop a person from questioning the unquestionable is simply to make them more and more susceptible to the cynical, more unaccepting of naive belief. It is that doubt is the beginning of real faith.J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeAll desire to see among Christians more good works, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ’s commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing – nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ until there is more hearty love for Christ Himself. The fear of punishment, the desire of reward, the sense of duty are all useful arguments, in their way, to persuade men to holiness. But they are all weak and powerless until a man loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a man and you will see his whole life changed.Application Questions1. How does Jesus’s interaction with the centurion and widow serve as an encouragement to our faith?2. What doubts do you need to bring to Jesus this week?3. Why is ‘faith alone’ such a precious reality for our relationship with God?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 6Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionJ.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeThe Christian must be altogether another style of man. His feelings of love and his deeds of kindness must be like his Master’s – free and gracious. He must let men see that he loves others from higher principles than the ungodly do, and that his charity is not confined to those from whom he hopes to get something in return.Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says ‘Love your enemies,’ he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies—or else? The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of AmazementYou have a storeroom. It’s called your heart. If your heart is good, only good things will come out of the storeroom. If it is evil, then all you’ll have stored up is evil. Out of the overflow of the storeroom of your heart your mouth speaks. Whether it’s the image of the house or the storeroom or the good tree or the thorn bush, Jesus is painting images to recapture our imaginations. I don’t want my life to count for nothing, just as I wouldn’t want my house to be washed away by a storm. I don’t want to fall blindly into a deep pit, just as I don’t want my discipleship to be shallow and meaningless. If it is an unimaginable kingdom into which you and I are being called, then only the parables and the Spirit can enable us to imagine our way in. If it is an impossible command that Jesus demands that we follow, then only by his hesed will we be able to obey.Application Questions1. How can scholar J.C. Ryle say that Christians are altogether ‘another style of man’? What does that actually mean? 2. How can gospel-centered love help you love someone in particular this week? 3. Of the five illustrations that Jesus uses in Luke 6:37-49 to paint a picture of the Christian life, which picture speaks to you the most right now and why?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 5Quincy Robinson

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 4:1-30Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionJ.C. Ryle, The Gospel of Luke The first event recorded in our Lord’s history, after His baptism, is His temptation by the devil. From a season of honor and glory He passed immediately to a season of conflict and suffering. First came the testimony of God the Father: “You are My beloved Son.” Then came the sneering suggestion of Satan: “If You are the Son of God.” The portion of Christ will often prove the portion of Christians. From great privilege to great trial, there will often be but a step.C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters Nearly all vices are rooted in the Future. Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone It is a central part of Christian vocation to learn to recognize the voices that whisper attractive lies, to distinguish them from the voice of God, and to use the simple but direct weapons provided in scripture to rebut the lies with truth. The Christian discipline of fighting temptation is not about self-hatred, or rejecting parts of our God-given humanity. It is about celebrating God’s gift of full humanity and, like someone learning a musical instrument, discovering how to tune it and play it to its best possibility. At the heart of our resistance to temptation is love and loyalty to the God who has already called us his beloved children in Christ, and who holds out before us the calling to follow him in the path which leads to the true glory. In that glory lies the true happiness, the true fulfilment, which neither world, nor flesh, nor devil can begin to imitate.Henri Nowen, Life of the Beloved You have to keep unmasking the world about you for what it is: manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and, in the long run, destructive. The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: 'These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God's eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief.Application Questions1. How have you recently experienced temptation and why this challenge? 2. What is the meaning of Jesus’s victory for your own spiritual battles? 3. What do you learn from this passage that gives you hope in the face of temptation?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Please note: A couple minutes are missing from the beginning of this replay, but jump right in for the majority of the sermon!Sermon Text: Luke 3:1-21Bryan BuckN.T. Wright, Simply Good NewsMany people today assume that Christianity is one or more of these things – a religion, a moral system, a philosophy. In other words, they assume that Christianity is about advice. But it wasn’t and isn’t. Christianity is, simply, good news. It is the news that something has happened as a result of which the world is a different place.J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeLet us work on, and believe that help will come from heaven when it is most needed. In the very hour when a Roman emperor and ignorant priests seemed to have everything at their feet, the Lamb of God was about to come forth from Nazareth and set up the beginnings of His kingdom! What He has done once He can do again. In a moment He can turn His church’s midnight into the blaze of noonday.Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of AmazementLuke devotes sixteen verses to John the Baptist and his followers beside the Jordan, yet only two for the unexplainable baptism of Jesus. It is unexplainable because One who has never and would never sin submits to a baptism that is a sign of repentance. He is not repenting; he is identifying. It is the first step toward an eventual death on the cross. Here, with John, he submits to a baptism of repentance for sins he never committed. On Golgotha he will die for sins he never committed so that he can forgive each and every sin.Application Questions1. How does Luke 3:1-2 situate us in the world of John and Jesus and how does this give us hope for our own time?2. How is baptism a form of imperial rebellion?3. Follow the through line of Luke’s point in chapter three. Where do you need to repent of your own “small-scale injustices” so that your life is aligned the coming of God’s kingdom?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 2:1-21Andy TobinQuotes for ReflectionFrederick DankeThe faith of the shepherds is revealed by their decision to proceed to Bethlehem to see this thing. Like Mary in an earlier recital (Luke 1:39) they went with haste. What they found at Bethlehem is spelled out in detail in order to emphasize the nature of the response that follows. Depth of spiritual commitment is determined by the quality of one's fidelity after the majestic voice is no longer heard. They find an ordinary Jewish couple and the child who lies in the manger. Instead of being disappointed they published the angelic interpretation of this child. Thus they are the first evangelists.Alfred EdersheimTo the question, whether this hope has ever been realised—or rather, whether One has appeared Whose claims to the Messiahship have stood the test of investigation and of time—impartial history can make only one answer. It points to Bethlehem and to Nazareth. . . . Admittedly, He was the One perfect Man—the ideal of humanity; His doctrine the one absolute teaching. The world has known none other, none equal. And the world has owned it, if not by the testimony of words, yet by the evidence of facts. Springing from such a people; born, living, and dying in circumstances, and using means, the most unlikely of such results—the Man of Nazareth has, by universal consent, been the mightiest Factor in our world’s history: alike politically, socially, intellectually, and morally. If He be not the Messiah, He has at least thus far done the Messiah’s work. If He be not the Messiah, there has at least been none other, before or after Him. If He be not the Messiah, the world has not, and never can have, a Messiah.Bishop John HooperRead the second chapter of St Luke, and there ye shall see how the shepherds that watched their sheep all night, as soon as they heard that Christ was born at Bethlehem, by and bye must go to see him. They did not reason nor debate with themselves who should keep the wolf from the sheep in the meantime, but did as they were commanded and committed their sheep to him whose pleasure they obeyed. So let us do, now we be called; let us commit all other things unto him that called us. He will take heed that all things shall be well. He will help the husband; he will comfort the wife. He will guide the servants; he will keep the house; he will preserve the goods; yea, rather than it should be undone, he will wash the dishes, and rock the cradle. Cast, therefore, all your care upon God.Application Questions1. When was the last time you experienced the good news about Jesus as “great joy”?2. How might you make space to treasure and ponder the truth about Jesus?3. What about the shepherds’ response challenges you?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Scripture Text: Luke 1:39-56Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionMarcus Aurelius, Meditations Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the human spirit is colored by such impressions.Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship Bewilderment is true comprehension.Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement They were, all of them, quite simply amazed. Zechariah’s friends, the shepherds, all who heard the shepherds, Joseph and Mary, the people in his hometown of Nazareth, those in Capernaum, those who heard the boy Jesus in the temple, the disciples, the parents of the girl who had died, even the Pharisees: all were amazed, astonished, in awe and afraid. Three decades later, as Luke interviews the ever-decreasing group of eyewitnesses, he finds them still amazed, still struggling to put into words just what it was like to encounter the rabbi from Nazareth. And thirty years away from the event that was Jesus’ life, Luke still finds himself amazed as well.Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly The dominant note left ringing in our ears after reading the Gospels, the most vivid and arresting element of the portrait, is the way the Holy Son of God moves toward, touches, heals, embraces, and forgives those who least deserve it yet truly desire it.J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke Let us learn from this holy woman’s example to lay firm hold on Bible promises. It is of the deepest importance to our peace to do so. Promises are, in fact, the manna that we should daily eat and the water that we should daily drink as we travel through the wilderness of this world. We do not yet see all things put in subjection under us. We do not yet see Christ, and heaven, and the Book of Life, and the mansions prepared for us. We walk by faith, and this faith leans on promises. But on those promises we may lean confidently. They will bear all the weight we can lay on them. We shall find one day, like Mary, that God keeps His word, and that what He has spoken, so He will always in due time perform.Application Questions1. What good news have you received recently, and why did it bring you joy?2. What amazes you about Jesus, and how might these insights refresh your faith?3. How is faith an extension of belief? In what specific way can your history with God strengthen your faith this week?

The Oaks Parish PodcastBryan Buck & Martha Van HoutenQuestions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Matthew 5:13-16Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionPliny the Elder, Natural History But of all the things that are necessary to the life of man, nothing is more useful than salt and sunshine.Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans), Middle March For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone Our present passage, then, is a kind of gateway to all that will follow, and its theme is clear. Jesus is calling the Israel of his day to be Israel indeed, now that he is there. What he says here can now be applied to all Christians, but its original meaning was a challenge to Jesus’ own contemporaries. God had called Israel to be the salt of the earth; but Israel was behaving like everyone else, with its power politics, its factional squabbles, its militant revolutions. How could God keep the world from going bad – the main function of salt in the ancient world – if Israel, his chosen ‘salt’, had lost its distinctive taste?Application Questions1. In what ways has the church lost its saltiness in our culture? How might we reclaim our identity as salt and light in a way that impacts our society?2. Why is our physical presence in a place essential to understanding God’s ongoing work in the world?3. Faithful presence embraces limitations and includes staying close to the light, being rooted in place, and discerning with commitments. Which of these areas is God inviting you to focus on in your current season of life?

Scripture Text: Ephesians 2:11-22Bryan BuckQuotes for ReflectionDavid Brooks, How to Know a PersonPeople need social skills. We talk about the importance of “relationships,” “community,” “friendship,” “social connection,” but these words are too abstract. The real act of, say, building a friendship or creating a community involves performing a series of small, concrete social actions well: disagreeing without poisoning the relationship; revealing vulnerability at the appropriate pace; being a good listener; knowing how to end a conversation gracefully; knowing how to ask for and offer forgiveness; knowing how to let someone down without breaking their heart; knowing how to sit with someone who is suffering; knowing how to host a gathering where everyone feels embraced; knowing how to see things from another’s point of view.Tim Keller, Prodigal GodChristians commonly say they want a relationship with Jesus, that they want to “get to know Jesus better.” You will never be able to do that by yourself. You must be deeply involved in the church, in Christian community, with strong relationships of love and accountability. Only if you are part of a community of believers seeking to resemble, serve, and love Jesus will you ever get to know him and grow into his likeness.N.T. Wright, Ephesians for EveryoneFor Christians a church building is not a ‘Temple’ in the strict sense. It is the people themselves who are the ‘place’ where God is now deciding to live. One might almost say that God himself has, in a sense, become a stranger and asylum-seeker within his own world, the more so since, as the early Christians knew, the Jerusalem Temple itself had been solemnly condemned by Jesus. The living God was now seeking to make his home in the hearts and lives, and particularly the communities, that had declared their loyalty to Jesus, and were determined to live by the gospel.Application Questions1. Why do you think it’s so difficult to experience unity in our culture today? 2. What can it mean that Christ makes us into a new community, the dwelling place of God himself? 3. Consider the David Brooks quote from his work How to Know a Person. Among the social skills listed, what stands out for your growth as an “illuminator”?