Four Oaks Midtown Podcast

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

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: Blood and Fire (Revelation 11)

Things get wild as two witnesses breathe fire against a Beast then die only to be raised to life three and a half days later. What does it all mean? Find out in this episode

Sermon | Happy and Whole

Jesus sits down to begin teaching on life in the kingdom.

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: The Mystery Revealed (Revelation 10)

John ingests the scroll unsealed by Jesus in order to proclaim the mystery of God to the nations — a mystery hidden since the time of Daniel.

Sermon | Follow

Jesus captures the hearts and minds of Andrew, Peter, James, and John. 

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: Storming the Gates (Revelation 9)

Behind our everyday lives lies a heavenly conflict between light and darkness. The fifth and sixth seal reveal two opposing armies: the Satanic locusts of false teaching and the heavenly army of the church waging war with the message of the gospel.

Sermon | Preaching a Kingdom

Jesus begins his public ministry by proclaiming a kingdom. 

Teaching | Understanding Revelation: War and Peace (Revelation 8)

Truth brings conflict in order to establish hope as Jesus breaks open the seventh seal of judgement to reveal seven trumpets. These trumpets symbolize the conflict that erupts in the wake of the gospel’s spread throughout families, nations, and people groups.