Four Oaks Midtown Podcast

Teaching | Understanding Zechariah: Yahweh Saves (Zechariah 2-3)

God gives his people visions in order to help them see by faith a future not yet realized. It’s been said that, “If you wish to build a ship, do not divide the men into teams and send them to the forest to cut wood. Instead, teach them to long for the vast and endless sea.” Visions utilize images and symbols in order to cause us to long for the vast and endless sea of God’s future. Old creation, marred by sin and death, falls into decay and corruption, but God through Israel and ultimately Israel’s Messiah, Jesus, overcomes sin and death and ushers in a new creation that breaks forth in the present and assures us of its consummation at the return of Christ. This is Understanding Zechariah.

Check out the rest of the Understanding series here

Teaching | Understanding Zechariah: Yahweh Remembers (Zechariah 1)

The book of Zechariah unsettles us with strange visions of seven-eyed stones, flying scrolls, and conquering horns. We prefer the safe and familiar pastures of the gospels with Jesus walking, talking, and relating to the world in ways we deem “normal”. But the gospels feature exorcisms, miraculous healings, and angelic visitations. The Apostle Paul speaks of the third heaven, dining with demons, judging angels, and deflecting the fiery darts of Satan. Visions in the Bible remind us that we live in God’s world where odd things happens. Children learn about friendship, love, and courage not by attending philosophical seminars, but by reading stories with talking animals in magical worlds. Truth grips children first through the imagination and then the intellect. God grips us in the same way by drawing upon the things of the earth: olive trees, horses, oil, and fire in order to point us to heavenly realities. Children’s books help kids imagine a world that does not exist, but God’s visions challenge us to imagine by faith a world that does not yet exist, but will. And it reframes our perspective on the world so that we might go, as C.S. Lewis writes, “further up, and further in” to God’s world, which of course, is our world. A world which one day will overflow with the glory of God as the waters fill the sea. This is Understanding Zechariah.

Check out the rest of the Understanding series here

Sermon | The Lord’s Prayer (pt. 2)

Jesus teaches more about how to pray - asking for our daily bread, being able to forgive, and for when our hearts are tempted.

Sermon | The Lord’s Prayer (pt.1)

Jesus teaches us how to pray - he gives an example - and this sermon goes through the beginning part of how Jesus models us to pray.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: Far As the Curse is Found (Revelation 22)

The famous Christmas carol “Joy to the World” contains excellent theology: “No more let sins and sorrows grow/ Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow/ Far as the curse is found.” This is Genesis language. This song is about the gospel. The redemption of Christ to undo the curse of the fall as far as the curse is found. Revelation 22, the final chapter of the final book in the Bible, shows us a vision of that world. In Romans 8:18-25, Paul envisions a future glory that overwhelms present sufferings. Creation itself, long under bondage and corruption to death and decay will experience a glorious freedom. But this freedom will not come until God’s own children receive their glorification. The hope that Paul sees from a distance John brings up close and personal. This is Understanding Revelation.

Check out the rest of the Understanding series here

Sermon | Practice in the Right Way

This sermon talks through Matthew 6:1-8 and 16-18 and how Jesus tells us to give, pray, and fast. It addresses the ways in which the hypocrites do these things and what Jesus asks of us when we are practicing these things - the right ways in which to practice.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation:The New Jerusalem (Revelation 21)

The Bible begins with creation, a husband and wife, and a garden surrounded by rivers and precious stones and ends the same way: new creation, Christ and his bride, and a garden-turned-city built with precious stones and flowing with living water. God fulfills his plan in Christ by the Spirit to reconcile his people to himself. He will be their God and they will be his people. Communion with God is the goal of eternal life which is why Revelation ends with a wedding. The church, adorned like as a bride on her wedding day, prepares to feast with Christ her groom in the new creation with death defeated and every tear wiped away. In the second-to-last chapter of the Bible, God provides the church with a blueprint for the present and a hope for the future. This is Understanding Revelation.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Millennium Explained (Revelation 20)

Revelation 20 may be the most controversial chapter in the most controversial book in the Bible. The reason for its controversy lies in Revelation 20:4’s reference to a reign of the saints with Christ for a thousand years. We’ll dive into that discussion in this episode, but it’s important to recognize that when brilliant theologians across 2,000 years cannot come to a consensus on a particular verse we ought to approach that same verse with humility and charity. It’s been said that the millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians fight over. In many cases that is sadly true. But charity does not mean avoiding interpretation of this passage. God gave these words to us and we must do our best to piece them together. We do this because Revelation is a book meant to encourage us. If we give this revelation the time it deserves we will find a reservoir of strength in our time of need. This is Understanding Revelation

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: Wedding Warfare (Revelation 19)

Revelation is an unveiling of Jesus, but Jesus is absent for much of the latter portions of Revelation. The last time we saw Jesus was as a child, destined to rule the nations with an iron rod, swept up by God from the clutches of the Dragon in Revelation 12. Here in Revelation 19, that child has matured into a man ready to claim his destiny as King of kings and Lord of lords. But this grown Christ comes not only to claim victory, but also a bride. Revelation 19 is not only a victory march, but a wedding procession. This is Understanding Revelation 

Sermon | Anger and Lust

Jesus tackles the 6^th and 7^th commandments in order to reframe our understanding of the law of God.