Four Oaks Midtown Podcast

Sermon | From Alienation to Fullness in Christ (Colossians 1:21-2:5)

Once we were alienated from God, hostile in mind, and marked by sin, but through Christ’s death we have been reconciled and now stand holy and blameless before Him. Paul reminds believers to remain steadfast in the gospel, thankful to live in the fullness of God’s revealed plan that prophets and angels longed to see. His aim is to see the church mature in Christ, knit together in love, firm in faith, and walking in the wisdom found only in Him.

 

Understanding Ruth | A Harvest of Joy (Ruth 4)

The book of Ruth focuses on two things that reveal our dependence upon God: land and children. We typically think of land as just matter that we through technology impose our will upon, but in the ANE land meant life, provision, and security. Central to Israel’s conception of land is the idea of an inheritance — God himself apportions various plots to tribes and families. These are gifts to be received rather than objects to generate profit. God nourishes his people through the land. Similarly, God grants children as a gift. Land and children remind us not only of our dependence, but our place as one rung in a ladder of generations through time. Everything in our modern world drives us to focus on the here and now. But land and children gives us a broader perspective. But even these temporal things are not the final end, for as we learn in the NT, the great inheritance we possess as Christians is an eternal kingdom, a new creation. And that the extension of our life in time through children is only finally fulfilled in our resurrection. Ruth draws us into that fundamental reality of God as our ultimate provider, protector, and redeemer. This is Understanding Ruth. 

Check out the rest of our Understanding Series: https://www.fouroaksmidtown.com/teachings

Sermon | Singing the Preeminence of Christ (Colossians 1:15-20)

In Colossians 1:15–20, Paul lifts our eyes to the wonder of who Jesus is as our Creator, Redeemer, and the One who holds all things together. All things were made by Him and for Him, and in Him all things hold together. From the firstborn over creation to the Lamb praised in Revelation, Scripture calls us to see Christ’s supremacy and respond in worship with thankful hearts.

Understanding Ruth | Wings of the Redeemer (Ruth 3)

Any author, playwright, or screenwriter worth his or her salt knows the golden rule of effective writing: show don’t tell. The narrative of Ruth shows the faithfulness of God unfolding through the ordinary lives of men and women through dialogue, action, and setting. The time of harvest symbolizes the fertility God grants to his people both in terms of bread and offspring. The shroud of darkness over the threshing floor highlights the hidden manner in which God works. The dawn of a new morning cues the audience into the rebirth of hope as Ruth returns to Naomi with a harvest of barley. Ruth offers a powerful corrective to our modern tendency to divorce God’s work from “real life”. God not only writes the stories of our lives, but calls us to live by faith as actors within his unfolding drama, submitting our will to his and playing our part with humility. We live within the same world as Ruth — a world in which God lifts up the humble and inclines his ear to the needy. A world where God acts in subtle and surprising ways. This is Understanding Ruth.

Check out the rest of our Understanding Series: https://www.fouroaksmidtown.com/teachings

Sermon | Turning to Prayer (Colossians 1:3-14)

In Colossians 1:3–14, Paul prays with thanksgiving, showing us that prayer is our first response to what God is doing in others. Prayer not only lifts our needs before the Lord, it stirs thanksgiving within us and strengthens faith, love, and hope. Paul’s pattern teaches us to pray for fellow believers: that they would grow in wisdom, walk worthy of the Lord, and wait with patience and joy.

Understanding Ruth | A Chance Encounter (Ruth 2)

Everyone wants to know God’s will for their life, but few want to conform their lives to God’s will. Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us that “the secret things belong to the LORD... but the things that are revealed belong to us... that we may do all the words of this law.” God’s secret will—his providence—unfolds day by day, while his revealed will calls us to obey his commands. Our focus should not be on deciphering God’s secret plan but on living faithfully in light of what he has revealed. Ruth and Boaz model this, acting with courage and righteousness without knowing God’s plan, yet finding themselves woven into his redemptive story—far greater than anything they could have imagined. This is Understanding Ruth.

Check out the rest of our Understanding Series: https://www.fouroaksmidtown.com/teachings

 

Sermon | Christ is All (Colossians 1:1-2)

We are kicking off a new sermon series through Colossians, a letter Paul wrote from prison to the church in Colossae. Though he hadn’t personally visited this small-town church in modern-day Turkey, we will read Paul’s encouragement for them to hold fast to Christ as the all-sufficient Lord and his warning against false teachings that threatened to add to the gospel.

Understanding Ruth | Faithfulness in Famine (Ruth 1)

Most of us in the world live as functional atheists. We live our day to day lives without reference to God almost by instinct. This way of conceiving of the world as a “closed system” detached from anything beyond the physical realm stands in contrast to the worldview we find in the book of Ruth. The three main characters in Ruth: Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz all speak in ways that acknowledge God’s hand in all things despite the fact that He never speaks nor performs a single miracle in this narrative. We often assume that God works only in extraordinary circumstances, but Ruth challenges this notion by showing how the purposes of God play out in the ordinary lives of two grieving widows searching for bread. This is Understanding Ruth.

Check out the rest of our Understanding Series: https://www.fouroaksmidtown.com/teachings

Sermon | The Restoration of All Things

The return of Christ is a message of hope, grounding us in God’s promises of resurrection, judgment, and renewal. God is not only transforming souls but will one day restore the whole creation. Because of this, our labor for the Lord is never in vain. Complete fulfillment and lasting satisfaction will not be found in this life, but only at Christ’s return, when we will share in all that Jesus has, resurrection life in eternity.

Sermon | The Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26-29)

The Lord’s Supper is a table of grace where sinners draw near to Jesus with all their need and find cleansing, peace, and acceptance in God. In this meal, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, washed by His blood, clothed in His righteousness, and welcomed by His mercy into God’s presence. He meets us with mercy and unites us to Himself, renewing us to walk in His ways. When we hold the weight of this gift alongside the weight of our sin, we can rejoice together in the grace of a seat at His table.