Four Oaks Midtown Podcast

Sermon | Easter and the Riddles of Life

Peter shows how the resurrection of Jesus makes sense of the world.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Beast and the Harlot (Revelation 17)

Revelation 17 opens with shocking imagery: a drunk prostitute riding on a seven-headed and ten-horned beast holding a cup of wine. But the greatest shock is the prostitute’s identity: she is Jerusalem drunk with the wine of martyr blood. Her adultery is spiritual: she has forsaken her true husband Christ for the dragon and his Beast, the Roman empire. God will judge her for her unfaithfulness, but hints of redemption remain. The gospel is the story about Christ the bridegroom turning his whorish wife into a spotless bride. When the Beast turns on the prostitute she finds her spurned husband waiting with garment of redemption ready to restore. This is Understanding Revelation.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: Everything Falls Apart (Revelation 16)

Revelation moves in waves. It pushes forward to a certain point, then recedes, then pushes forward again onto the shore except this time a bit further. We’ve seen seven seals, seven trumpets, and in Revelation 16 seven bowls of God’s wrath. Each succession of sevens overlaps, but also progresses forward toward God’s climactic judgement of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. We often think of God as trigger-happy, reading to inflict wrath at the slightest offense. But if we read Scripture carefully we realize God is exceptionally patient. God’s seals, trumpets, and bowls serve as a warning to those who war against him that there is still time to repent. But when that time passes only judgement remains. The message is clear: turn from your sin to God before it’s too late. This is Understanding Revelation

Sermon | A Palm Sunday Portrait

Mark paints a picture of Jesus entering Jerusalem as a victorious king. 

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Harvest of the Martyrs (Revelation 14-15)

The book of Revelation begins with the glorified Christ and ends with the glorified church. This helps us understand the narrative arc of Revelation. Christ’s bride shares in his glorious inheritance by following him through the path of faithful witness and suffering, but her blood does not spill in vain. God’s martyrs ascend from their earthly suffering to their heavenly throne. Martyrs from generations past cry out for vengeance from the base of the heavenly altar in Revelation 6. God promises vengeance, but not until the sealed 144,000 martyrs join their ranks. In Revelation 14-15 Jesus harvests his martyrs after they die under the persecution of the sea beast of Rome allied with the land beast of the corrupt Jewish priesthood. Revelation 14-15 breaks down into four sections: first, the lamb and his flock (14:1-5), second, the lamb and his message (14:6-13), third, the lamb and his harvest (14:14-20), and finally the lamb and his song (15:1-8). This is Understanding Revelation.

Sermon | Salt and Light

Jesus encourages Christians to embrace their identity as salt and light in the world. 

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Beast, the Mark, and 666 (Revelation 13)

Revelation 13 unveils for us the great dragon behind the scenes that stands behind every political, spiritual, and social force against the church. This is anything but fiction. But the great hope Revelation gives is this: the Beastly powers of the age can inflict damage, but cannot ultimately destroy the church. This is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. This is Understanding Revelation.

Sermon | The Beatitudes (Part 2)

We look at the final Beatitudes which present a pro-active stance toward life in God’s kingdom. True spirituality does not exist detached from our relationships with others. Mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and even persecution all assume a life connected to others. But in a fallen world relationships carry a significant amount of risk. As Charles Shultz once said, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.”

 

Jesus by contrast shatters our illusion of private spirituality with a call not only to endure, but embrace the difficulty of relationships in a fallen world with joy. Not only to avoid sin, but show mercy. Not merely to turn from impurity, but to pursue purity of heart. To pro-actively make peace. To seek the ultimate good of those who slander us. Because our future hope empowers us not only to endure fallen relationships, but to act righteously within them. 

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Woman and the Dragon (Revelation 12)

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Those famous final lines from the classic 90s movie The Usual Suspects describe the state of modern evangelicals today. We simply do not believe he exists or acts within the world. But Satan lies behind all forces of darkness. He veils himself behind false religion, evil regimes, and corrupt system of power as he seeks people to devour. Revelation 12 both unmasks the ancient serpent as the source of the church’s persecution both in the first and the twenty-first century and reveals Jesus Christ as the cause of Satan’s downfall. This is Understanding Revelation.

Sermon | The Beatitudes (Part 1)

Jesus  begins his famous sermon on the mount with a serious of well-known but strange sayings: the Beatitudes