Pastor B Oakwood, Students

Fusion Flipped Series This Month 9:15am @ SWC

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Session 1 Summary: Up in a Tree (July 27)

What are you afraid of? Spiders? The dark? People who twerk? Most of us have at least a few things that scare us. Sometimes they’re surface fears. Simple fears. But most of us also have a few deeper fears. Those are the ones that we don’t talk about as much. And, if we’re not careful, they will cause us to miss out on some really great things in life. Zacchaeus was a little man with some big fear. Fear that controlled him and caused him to keep a safe distance from everyone, including Jesus. In his story we find that getting to know Jesus, and what He really cares about, can flip our fear and lead us closer to Him.

 

Bottom Line:

Jesus wants to love you, not judge you.

 

Session 2 Summary: Losing Control (Aug 3)

Who really calls the shots in your life? Think about the most powerful person you know. Reality is, no matter how powerful that person is, there are some things he or she still can’t control. Jesus met a man like that. This guy had assistants for his assistants. Everyone followed his orders. But at the end of the day, someone he cared about was really sick and there was nothing he could do to change that. However, he understood something about authority that we could all learn from. He understood that when his ability had run out, Jesus’ ability kept going. And trusting Him to be in charge flipped everything.

 

Bottom Line:

When your ability runs out, Jesus’ ability keeps going.

 

Session 3 Summary: Peel the Label (Aug 10)

Funny. Pretty. Jock. Nerd. Popular. Smart. Not Smart. We all have a tendency to label the people around us. In fact, we tend to label ourselves too. We think about ourselves in terms of categories. But have you ever thought you gave someone the right label only to find out that they were totally different? Or have you ever heard someone else label you and thought, “that isn’t really me”? That’s the problem with labels. They aren’t always true. And even if they are, they’re always changing. Nearly everyone who met Jesus had their lives flipped, and in the case of a woman with the worst possible label, He changed her whole identity. He gave her a new label that would last. One that changed her whole world and can change ours too. Because there’s a label that beats all other labels: His.

 

Bottom Line:

There’s a label that beats all other labels: His.

Pastor B My Life, Oakwood

Laredo Family Mission Trip

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We had a great weekend on the Family Mission Trip to Laredo as we Intentionally Engaged the Las Lomas Colonia with Pastor Mario Garcia.

The Vaquero Church Plant is well on it’s way.  Just 18 miles East of Laredo, we discovered 1000 households needing the love of Jesus Christ.  This country-like area is 30 miles from the border.  The roads leading to the location are dirt roads, and it is not uncommon to see Vaquero Peoples riding a horse down the way.  If you are in the area on Saturday afternoon, you might even witness a PARADE of Vaqueros following a truck cranking out Tejano Music.  These people need the love of Jesus and Mario Garcia is starting a strong church basing from a Men’s Bible Study held out at a ranch in the area.

Cabrito means GOAT!
Cabrito Means Goat!

We met this Bible Study group and shared Cabritos with them!  The guys meeting on Friday for Bible Study and an occasional cookout are then invited with their families to the Vaquero Church Sunday afternoon.

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Family Mission Trip June 2014

Oakwood families set out on the journey Thursday night for a 3 hour trip to Laredo.  We spent Friday and Saturday painting the interior of the Worship Center, updating a shower, throwing a block party/carnival, cleaning the inside and outside, and decorating the place with a Vaquero Church theme.  We also had time to add walls inside a house of one of the Vaquero Church members that is being trained for ministry.

We came with Galatians 5 on our minds and hearts.  As we are looking at the FREEDOM we have this July in the great country of America, we realize there is a GREATER FREEDOM in CHRIST.

Galatians 5:13

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Pastor B Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students

XP3 Students: BUILD Parent CUE

XP3 Students: BUILD Parent CUE

BUILD: Parent CUE

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We’re Teaching This:

What is the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced? Maybe it’s a basketball game against your archrival. Maybe it’s passing your math class. Maybe it’s just trying to get up and go to school on time. Whatever it is, you’re probably familiar with the little knot that forms in your stomach. The nerves. The feeling of being completely overwhelmed. The Bible tells the story of a guy named Nehemiah who was all too familiar with that feeling. In fact, it isn’t just one story—there’s a whole book in the Bible named after him. Growing up in service to a king in Babylon and then Persia, Nehemiah probably didn’t think his life would make much of a story. But when he learns that his family’s homeland is in ruins, something changes in Nehemiah. He decides to do something about it—to go there. To build. Nehemiah decided to face, head-on, the God-sized challenge of rebuilding the wall surrounding Jerusalem and creating a safe place for his people. And through his story, we may just find the tools we need to face the challenge of improving our town or our school. It’s time to build.

 

Think About This:

Where did you grow up? Was it a small town with little to do outside of farming. Or was it a big city with tall buildings and a public transit system? Or something in between? No matter where you grew up, one thing is for sure—it still affects you. Whether its in our taste for certain types of food, our comfort level with certain groups of people, or the dialect with which we speak, there are always traces of where we grew up tucked in the folds of our personality. And that’s a great thing! Environment is one of the things that God uses to mold us into unique individuals.

 

But does your student know that?

 

The reality is, life begins long before you move out on your own. Not only does their current town profoundly shape them, but it’s also the first place students will have the opportunity to invest themselves—to care, or to serve others. It’s the first place they learn to assign value to the people around them. What students learn in their hometown will be what they carry into every town after that.

 

So if our hometown is so important, why is it that so many of us get the idea that the real-world exists after high-school? And how can we teach our students to make the most of their time here?

 

Focus on now. College is coming. The real world is coming. But for today, your student is right here. While it’s important to talk about the future, we also need to fight the urge to talk only about what comes next.  The truth is, if your student is in high school, he or she already has a limited amount of time left in your home and possibly in your town. By teaching them to use this time wisely and value the impact they can have right now, we are also teaching them a principle that they will take into their future. The principle of caring for where you live.

 

Try This

As parents, it’s easy to talk about the glory days of college or our experiences when we moved out on our own. Those stories are often more exciting or have better morals to them. But, even in our well meaning way, we sometimes accidentally communicate that our lives didn’t start until after we left home.

Try sharing a story of what it was like growing up where you lived as a student. Was it a big city or a small town? Was there a lot to do or were you often bored? Most importantly, in what ways does your hometown shape who you are today? As you share, you may just find your student starting to value his or her own experience more exactly where they are.

 

Get connected to a wider community of parents at www.orangeparents.org. 

Pastor B Culture, Oakwood

Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

Home – Denison Forum on Truth and Culture.

Culture is constantly changing.  We all have questions about how to apply TRUTH to our DAILY LIVES.  Many of our Oakwood Staff find great help in the daily articles and seasonal devotions the Denison Forum provides.

Personally, my first encounter with the man, Dr. Jim Denison, was at Dallas Baptist University where he literally answered ANY and EVERY QUESTION that a whole bunch off College Baptist Theology Students were throwing his way.  He not only answered them, but kept the room pretty quiet after one or two questions.  He is a knowledgeable man and is dedicating his live to aid people like you and me on the journey of faith.

Dr. Denison writes a cultural commentary available at www.denisonforum.org/subscribe. His free daily commentary is distributed around the world to 87,035 subscribers in over 200 countries. He writes for The Dallas Morning News, contributing weekly to the “Texas Faith Forum” and is a guest columnist for the The Christian Post.

He has also taught world religions for 25 years with four seminaries. He has spoken in China, Cuba, Brazil, Australia, Europe, Israel, Greece, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Turkey and served as a short-term missionary to East Malaysia, in Southeast Asia. He also leads frequent study tours in Israel, Greece, and Europe.

 

Here are some more facts about Dr. Denison:
Dr. Denison currently serves on the board of the Baylor Health Care System and as Chair of the Advisory Board for Dallas Baptist University. He teaches Ph.D. seminars and graduate-level classes for Dallas Baptist University and serves as a teaching fellow for the B. H. Carroll Theological Institute. He has taught on the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and at McAfee School of Theology, and has served on the boards of Dallas Baptist University, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University.

Prior to founding the DFTC, Dr. Denison was pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church, a 10,000-member congregation in Dallas, Texas. He also pastored churches in Midland and Mansfield, Texas, and in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Dallas Baptist University.

 

The Denison Forum on Truth and Culture (DFTC) (www.denisonforum.org) exists to engage contemporary culture with biblical truth. As a catalyst for moral and spiritual renewal, DFTC is joining God in building a global movement of culture-changing Christians.

 

Pastor B My Life, Oakwood, Students

Easter – Journey to the Cross

 

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Easter Services 5 & 6:30pm Saturday, 8, 9:15, & 10:45am Sunday.  No Fusion 9:15am Bible Study.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the  Lord  has laid on him the iniquity of us all.. Isaiah 53:6

This verse was read to me as a VERY YOUNG CHILD by my mother.  She had an ABC’s Children’s book that took each letter of the alphabet and tied in a scripture.  “A” began with “ALL WE..” and the rest of the scripture followed.  As we journey to the Cross again this Easter Season, I have come back to remember the beginning of my personal relationship with Jesus.  Simply asking the question, “What is sin?” and talking about what Jesus did for us on the Cross led my mother and I to a little brown, mushroom stool where I knelt down and asked Jesus into my heart.  Now, 30 years later, I come back to the beginning again, and remember the powerful journey to the cross that Jesus took in order to take a sheep, like me and like you, that has gone astray.  He not only found me, but he saved me from the one who would like to steal, kill, and destroy my life.  He promised me abundant life when he took my iniquity, my sins, and fully paid for the world.  He is the GOOD SHEPHERD that laid down His life for us.  He KNOWS His sheep and His sheep KNOW Him.  On top of all that, that powerful sacrifice of the GOOD SHEPHERD is trumped by the powerful authority that He has to take His life up again.  The only one that has the authority to lay down a life and take it up again is Jesus Christ.  He is all about raising dead things to life.  I am thankful this season for what Jesus did for me.  I am also reminded about the powerful NEW LIFE we have in Christ.

Do you feel like you have gone astray?  Do you feel like your life is moving toward dead things?  Is there something that you need to give to Jesus, so that, in His authority, He can bring NEW LIFE?  As we Journey to the Cross this week, remember the powerful work Jesus has done in your life.  Remember that He is GOOD.  He wants us to have ABUNDANT LIFE, and where there is evidence of sickness, pain,  a broken relationship, or destructive behavior, there is a GOOD SHEPHERD ready to move us from our OWN WAY and lead us to THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.

 

Pastor B Culture, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students

Love At Last Sight Challenge: BE ALL THERE

The Love as Last Sight Challenge has begun at Oakwood Baptist Church.  For 30 days we are going to focus on adding value to our relationships using the practical insights Kerry and Chris Shook have given in the Love At Last Sight Book.  I like the fact that we are taking a look at this challenge as an ART and not a SCIENCE.  Relationships are messy and one relationship is not exactly like another because we are all uniquely created by God.

Check out this link for more details 

Three Stages of Love – We have discovered in the book that there are three stages of love when it comes to the deep relationships around us.

  1. First Glance or infatuation stage – The Monkees added a great musical touch to this first stage of love.  Here are the lyrics:                                                                                                                                                                               I thought love was only true in fairy tales
    Meant for someone else but not for me.
    Love was out to get me
    That’s the way it seemed.
    Disappointment haunted all my dreams.Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer
    Not a trace of doubt in my mind.
    I’m in love, I’m a believer!
    I couldn’t leave her if I tried.I thought love was more or less a given thing,
    Seems the more I gave the less I got.
    What’s the use in tryin’?
    All you get is pain.
    When I needed sunshine I got rain.

    Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer
    Not a trace of doubt in my mind.
    I’m in love, I’m a believer!
    I couldn’t leave her if I tried

  2. Second Look stage – you take a second look and usually it’s a harder second look and that’s the time where you ask, ”What did I ever see in you in the first place?”  All you can see is the glaring differences you have.  You say, they’re not like me at all.  We’re just opposites.  You see all of their annoying habits.  I think Pop Stars and the Media-type relationships make it right up to this stage and BAIL!

3. Last Sight stage –  Then there is the tried and true Love Stage.   The goal is to think this,  “The last time we see each other we will be more in love than ever before.”

I believe we are all looking for Last Sight Stage people to have in our lives.  We crave people that really “get” us and know who we are.  Someone that knows my heart won’t misunderstand me as much, right?

Think about it:   What deep relationships and friendships do you have right now?  Are you deeply hurt by someone close to you?  Has your marriage lost that loving feeling?  Maybe we all need a lesson on what it takes to reach the Last Sight Stage, where we are actually growing in our close relationships like never before.
If we are going to learn to love at last sight, a great place to focus is on Ephesians 5:1-2.

“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”  Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)

Kerry Shook says, “The highest goal we can have this side of heaven is to love like Jesus Christ.
That’s a life-long journey of growing and developing rich, meaningful relationships.  Jesus shows us what it will take to live a life of love.  That’s why we’re told to follow the example of Christ if we are to live a life of love, a love that lasts. He paints a portrait of what God would have our relationships look like.  Relationships are an art and the master artist who offers us the clearest picture of love is Jesus Christ.  When you look at His life, His character and the relationships He shared with His Father and others, you see a perfect picture of love.”

This love at last sight thing is all about the art of relationships.  The first art is The Art of Being All There, Wherever You Are – the Bible tells us that Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  You’ll never have to worry about Him not being all there for you when you call out to Him.  Following His death and resurrection, He gave this assurance to His disciples and to us in Matt. 28:20, “… And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  He wanted them and us to be confident, “be sure of this” so that we would never doubt His presence.  Even though we may not be able to see Him, He wanted us to know that He was with us.  Faith simply believes that and says thanks!  You’ll never have to pray what I’ve heard prayed so often in churches growing up, “Father, be with us today…”  Why do we ask God that?  Wasn’t it God who said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Heb. 13:5 (NIV)

So the first week challenge is to  BE ALL THERE in your relationships each week of this Love At Last Sight Series.  Something that has been helpful to me is the following scripture on love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It is not rude, it is not self‑seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

This is ultimately Last Sight Love.  When we focus on the love of Christ, we put away our selfish pride and begin to focus on others.

How are you doing with the art of BEING ALL THERE?