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Temporada 2

Sermon: The Holiness of the Savior (March 31, 2024)

Scripture Text: Matthew 28:1-10 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Cornelius À Lapide, The Great Commentary The earth which trembled with horror at the death of Christ, as it were leaped with joy at the resurrection. 2Michale J. Wilkins, Matthew The stone that was sealed by the guards to assure that the body of Jesus would remain in the crypt now becomes the seat of triumph for the angel. The stone is rolled away, not to let the risen Jesus out but to let the women in to witness the fact of the empty tomb. N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone The point, of course, is that what is happening is the action of God himself. The God who remained apparently silent on Good Friday is having the last word. He is answering the unspoken questions of Jesus’ followers, and the spoken question of Jesus himself on the cross. And what God is doing is not just an extraordinary miracle, a display of supernatural power for its own sake, or a special favour to Jesus. What God is doing is starting something new, beginning the new world promised long ago, sending the disciples to Galilee in the first place but then, as we shall see, on to the ends of the earth and the close of the age with the news of what has happened. A whole new world was opening up in front of them. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in. Application Questions 1. What are you looking for this Easter morning? 2. Why is giving up yourself necessary to finding your real self in Jesus? 3. How is God calling you to belong here at Oaks Parish, so that others can believe?

Sermon: The Holiness of the King (March 24, 2024)

Scripture Text: Matthew 19:28-40 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness Just as there could be for Jesus no crown without the cross, so there can be for us no holiness without praise. Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander How absolutely central is the truth that we are first of all part of nature, though we are a very special part, that which is conscious of God. In solitude, one is entirely surrounded by beings which perfectly obey God. N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone That was the way the pilgrims came, with Jesus going on ahead, as he had planned all along. This was to be the climax of his story, of his public career, of his vocation. He knew well enough what lay ahead, and had set his face to go and meet it head on. He couldn’t stop announcing the kingdom, but that announcement could only come true if he now embodied in himself the things he’d been talking about. The living God was at work to heal and save, and the forces of evil and death were massed to oppose him, like Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt trying to prevent the Israelites from leaving. But this was to be the moment of God’s new Exodus, God’s great Passover, and nothing could stop Jesus going ahead to celebrate it. Application Questions 1. How does the Passover shed light on the meaning of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem? 2. What role does praise of Jesus play in understanding his holiness? 3. Jesus did not meet some people’s expectations. How might you be asking Jesus to follow you?

Sermon: Embrace: The Depths of Holiness (March 17, 2024)

Scripture Text: Ephesians 3:14-21 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Julian of Norwich, The Complete Julian of Norwich When we are fallen because of frailty or blindness, then our gracious Lord inspires us, stirs us and calls us, and then he wills that we see our wretchedness and humbly let it be acknowledged. But He does not wish us to remain thus. Nor does He will that we busy ourselves greatly about accusing ourselves, nor does He will that we be full of misery about ourselves; for He wills that we quickly attend to Him; for He stands all alone and waits for us constantly, sorrowing and mourning until we come, and hastens to take us to himself, for we are His joy and delight and He is our cure and our life. Dane Ortland, Deeper The wraparound category of your life is not your performance but God’s love. The defining hallmark of your life is not your cleanness but his embrace. The deepest destiny of your life is to descend ever deeper, with quiet yet ever-increasing intensity, into the endless love of God. We grow spiritually by getting a head start on that project, right here in this fallen earthly life. John Owen, Communion with the Triune God So much as we see of the love of God, so much shall we delight in him, and no more. Every other discovery of God, without this, will but make the soul fly from him; but if the heart be once much taken up with this the eminency of the Father’s love, it cannot choose but be overpowered, conquered, and endeared unto him…If the love of a father will not make a child delight in him, what will? Application Questions 1. What causes you to doubt God’s love? 2. Slowly review Paul’s prayer. How does it inform our understanding of the gospel of grace? 3. How do you need to comprehend God’s love this coming week? Express that to God in prayer.

Sermon: Sanctification (March 10, 2024)

Sermon Text: Hebrews 12:1-17 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. John of the Cross, The Ascent to Mount Carmel One dark night, fired with love’s urgent longings -ah, the sheer grace!- I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled. Dane Ortlund, Deeper Our natural instinct tell us that the way forward in the Christian life is by avoiding pain so that, in distracted, we can get down to the business at hand of growing in Christ. The New Testament tell us again and again, however, that pain is a means, not an obstacle, to deepening in Christian maturity. The anguish, disappointments, and futility that afflict us are themselves vital building blocks to our growth…Pain will foster growth like nothing else can-if we will let it. J.C. Ryle, Holiness As a general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found true that sanctified people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid comforts that the world can neither give nor take away. Application Questions 1. How has God used pain to draw you into deeper relationship with himself? 2. To use a phrase of John of the Cross, what “appetite” is hindering holiness in your life? How can looking to Christ bring quiet to your soul? 3. Holiness is happiness. How does this reality change your life with Jesus this week?

Sermon: Repentance & Faith (March 3, 2024)

Scripture Text: Acts 16:25-34 Quincy Robinson

Sermon: Sin - Depravity & Wisdom (February 25, 2024)

Scripture Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 Mike Kelly Quotes for Reflection CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain We have so concentrated on one of the virtues — "kindness" or mercy— that most of us do not feel that anything except kindness to be really good or anything but cruelty to be really bad.....The real trouble is that "kindness" is a quality fatally easy to attribute to ourselves on inadequate grounds. Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment… If, being cowardly, conceited and slothful, you have never done a fellow creature great mischief, that is only because your neighbor's welfare has not happened to conflict with your safety, self-approval, or ease.

Sermon: Holiness - The Aim of the Christian Life (February 18, 2024)

Scripture Text: 1 Peter 1:13-25 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Rudyard Kipling, “The Way through the Woods” They shut the road through the woods Seventy years ago. Weather and rain have undone it again. And now you would never know There was once a road through the woods. J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness “Holy” is both biblical languages means separated and set apart for God, consecrated and made over to Him. In its application to people, God’s “holy ones” or “saints,” the word implies both devotion and assimilation: devotion, in the sense of living a life of service to God; assimilation, in the sense of imitating, conforming to, and becoming like the God one serves. For Christians, this means taking God’s moral law as our rule and God’s incarnate Son as our model; this is where our analysis of holiness must start. J.C. Ryle, Holiness Most people hope to go to heaven when they die, but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether or not they would enjoy heaven if they got there. Heaven is essentially a holy place. Its inhabitants are all holy. Its activities are all holy. To be really happy in heaven, it is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on earth. Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. I know there is light in the darkness that makes everything new. I know there is a joy beyond sorrow that rejuvenates my heart. Yes, Lord, I know that you are, that you act, that you love, that you indeed are Light, Life, and Truth. People, work, plans, projects, ideas, meetings, buildings, paintings, music, and literature all can only give me real joy and peace when I can see and hear them as reflections of your presence, your glory, your kingdom. Application Questions 1. How is God’s holiness important for our culture today? 2. Peter’s exhortation is to live as foreigners with reverent fear. How would that reshape your life? 3. As we begin the season of Lent, where do you sense the need for holiness in your life?

Sermon: What is Good Stewardship? (February 11, 2024)

Scripture Text: 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 12:13-21 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity Water is a gift of God. Used properly, it gives life. Out of control, it floods, drowns, and destroys. Fire is a gift of God. Out of control, it brings horrible destruction and death. The greater a thing's potential for good when used rightly, the greater its potential for evil when used wrongly. So it is with money—it has vast potential to be used for either good or evil. Kim King, When Women Give Money is simply a tool. Right? How do we use this tool? There are only three options: We can save. We can spend. We can give. None of these choices is inherently good or bad. What makes money good or bad is its use. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. Thomas Merton, The Seven Storrey Mountain As the week went on, the house began to fill, and the evening before Holy Thursday there must have been some twenty-five or thirty retreatants in the monastery, men young and old, from all quarters of the country. Half a dozen students had hitch-hiked down from Notre Dame, with glasses and earnest talk about the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. There was a psychiatrist from Chicago who said he came down every Easter, and there were three or four pious men who turned out to be friends and benefactors of the monastery— quiet, rather women personages; they assumed a sort of command over the other guests. They had a right to. They practically lived here in this guest house. In fact, they had a kind of quasi-vocation all their own. They belonged to that special class of men raised up by God to support orphanages and convents and monasteries and build hospitals and feed the poor. On the whole it is a way to sanctity that is sometimes too much despised. It sometimes implies a more than ordinary humility in men who come to think that the monks and nuns they assist are creatures of another world. God will show us at the latter day that many of them were better men than the monks they supported! Application Questions 1. What do you learn about your own heart from the parable of the Rich Fool? 2. Creating a cushion, ditching bad debt, and planning ahead are essential movements that enable generosity. What is God calling you to focus on in this season in order to become a cheerful giver? 3. Looking back at this series, what’s your biggest takeaway?

Sermon: Does God Need My Money? (February 4, 2024)

Scripture Text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; Malachi 3:6-12 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection: The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Malachi The book may serve as a catechism for times of doubt and disappointment, during which people in the visible church are tempted to disengage from their covenant God. The prophets ministry was to light the lamp of faith in a disheartened people by reminding them of God’s electing love and to set forth the continuing obligations of the covenant to those who truly knew God. Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity Parting with money wasn't any easier for the people of Israel than for us. In fact, most of them were far poorer and worked a great deal harder for their money than we do. Yet tithing was so built into their lives that it became "natural" to them in the best sense. In times of national obedience, their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and business partners-everyone around them—practiced tithing. It became a way of life. When they went their own way and stopped tithing and withheld freewill offerings, God told them they were robbing him. Then he invited his people to test him by going back to tithing and giving voluntary offerings. The tithe was a divine invitation to test God's promises to provide (Malachi 3:8-12). Tithing begins as a duty but can become a delight, leading to joyful voluntary giving. For faithful Israelites, unclenching their fists and opening them to God had a thousand trickle-down benefits. Is it any different for us today? Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies The Jews were constrained to a regular payment of tithes; Christians, who have liberty, assign all their possessions to the Lord, bestowing freely not the lesser portions of their property, since they have the hope of greater things. John Cortines & Gregory Baumer, True Riches We shouldn’t give to things because we care about them deeply. Rather, we should give to things because God cares about them deeply. Giving often starts as an obedient step of faith before it blossoms into joyful love over time. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Application Questions: 1. Why is giving a tenth of our income so important for our life with God? 2. Have you trusted God in tithing even when it was difficult? If so, what was the result? 3. Take a moment this week to check-in on your tithe. What action do you need to take?

Sermon: Why Be Generous? (January 28, 2024)

Scripture Text: Genesis 3:1-24 and Luke 19:1-10 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection: Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods Money cannot save you from tragedy, or give you control in a chaotic world. Only God can do that. What break the power of money over us is not just redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ, what you have in him, and then living out the changes that that understanding makes in your heart-the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Kim King, When Women Give We were made to give. Scripture tells us that God made men and women in his image (Genesis 1:26-27), so we were made to love. We were made to enjoy what our Creator enjoys. We were also made to act with authority and responsibility toward all God has created on earth and entrusted to us. We share this responsibility with each other and with God. Basil of Caesarea, In Time of Great Famine and Drought, 4th century Preserve gratitude like a precious deposit within your soul, and from it you will receive a double portion of delight. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. This is the inward reality of simplicity. However, if what we have we believe we have gotten, and if what we have we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we will live in anxiety. John Cortines & Gregory Baumer, True Riches What is deeply within my heart, underneath my financial behaviors? If our hearts are full of gratitude for who God is and what he has given us, then we’re poised to experience the joy of God with our money. If our hearts are full of pride at what we can experience or accomplish, we’re on a road that tragically leads away from the true riches of life with God. Application Questions: 1. Made in God’s image, we are created for generosity. What impact does this have for you personally? 2. Among the barriers to generosity noted in the sermon, what’s most challenging for you? 3. The gospel moves us from pride to gratitude. How can that change your relationship with money?

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