Great Oaks Community Church

Pastor Jake started our Summer series that will take us verse-by-verse through the book of Colossians. Week 1 covered verses 1-14 in Colossians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul is writing this letter to the Colossian church because Epaphras has come to him for help. There is a group of false teachers (Gnostics) attacking the new little church and it’s causing confusion among these young believers. They’re saying that they have special knowledge that the Colossians need in order to be saved by God. The book of Colossians is about how that is not the case. It’s about the supremacy of Christ – how He is the fullness of all things. Jesus plus nothing. That’s the theme.

http://bible.com/events/417603

Pastor Jake continued our May “Open Hands” series. Our default position as human beings is to close our hands around the things we have. This includes tangible things like money, houses, cars, etc., but it also includes intangible things like our time, family, mercy, and more. It’s our nature and it’s our culture. Our culture screams “hoard, gather, keep, hold, close your hands!” Our default position is to live life with closed hands, and yet as Christ-followers we are to live life with open hands. Over the 4 weeks of this series, we’re going to talk about this from four angles: being open-handed with our money, with our faith, in the midst of our own trials and valleys, and towards God. On Sunday, Pastor Jake zeroed-in on living open-handed when it comes to our finances.

Pastor Jake continued our May “Open Hands” series. Our default position as human beings is to close our hands around the things we have. This includes tangible things like money, houses, cars, etc., but it also includes intangible things like our time, family, mercy, and more. It’s our nature and it’s our culture. Our culture screams “hoard, gather, keep, hold, close your hands!” Our default position is to live life with closed hands, and yet as Christ-followers we are to live life with open hands. Over the 4 weeks of this series, we’re going to talk about this from four angles: being open-handed with our money, with our faith, in the midst of our own trials and valleys, and towards God. On Sunday, Pastor Jake zeroed-in on living open-handed with our faith.

Pastor Jake kicked off our May series entitled “Open Hands”. Our default position as human beings is to close our hands around the things we have. This includes tangible things like money, houses, cars, etc., but it also includes intangible things like our time, family, mercy, and more. It’s our nature and it’s our culture. Our culture screams “hoard, gather, keep, hold, close your hands!” Our default position is to live life with closed hands, and yet as Christ-followers we are to live life with open hands. Over the next 4 weeks of this series, we’re going to talk about this from four angles: being open-handed with our money, with our faith, in the midst of our own trials and valleys, and towards God. On Sunday, Pastor Jake zeroed-in on living open-handed towards God. It all starts there. http://bible.com/events/406192

Pastor Jake continued our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. The plan is for Pastor Jake to tell each week’s perspective from that person’s point of view. On Sunday (Take 4) he was Pilate. Pilate is very different than the other 4 “takes” we will get in this series for one major reason: he never gave his life to Jesus. All the other stories we will hear in this Take 5 series are stories of life change. Pilate had an encounter with Jesus that we can only dream about. He was given the opportunity to sit with Jesus in the flesh and ask him questions! Wouldn’t you love to do that? And yet in the end, even though he believed Jesus was innocent, he allowed Him to be executed. The Gospel accounts depict Pilate as a man who was wrestling with truth, duty, and doubt. Take a moment and refresh your memory of his story by reading this sequence of Scriptures: John 18:28-19:2

Pastor Jake continued our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. The plan is for Pastor Jake to tell each week’s perspective from that person’s point of view. On Sunday (Take 4) he was Pilate. Pilate is very different than the other 4 “takes” we will get in this series for one major reason: he never gave his life to Jesus. All the other stories we will hear in this Take 5 series are stories of life change. Pilate had an encounter with Jesus that we can only dream about. He was given the opportunity to sit with Jesus in the flesh and ask him questions! Wouldn’t you love to do that? And yet in the end, even though he believed Jesus was innocent, he allowed Him to be executed. The Gospel accounts depict Pilate as a man who was wrestling with truth, duty, and doubt. Take a moment and refresh your memory of his story by reading this sequence of Scriptures: John 18:28-19:2

Pastor Jake continued our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. The plan is for Pastor Jake to tell each week’s perspective from that person’s point of view. On Sunday (Take 3) he was Matthew. Matthew wasn’t always Matthew. He started out as Levi. He was a tax collector, which was basically the most hated person in Israel at the time. They were considered sellouts, traitors, and thieves since they collected taxes for the Roman Empire and took even more for themselves. Levi was an outcast, ostracized by the masses and ridiculed by the religious elite. He was greedy and downright slimy. But Jesus called him to be His disciple anyway. Levi may have been messed up on the outside, but Jesus saw in him a heart that wanted to change. And change he did! Levi gave up tax-collecting and thieving to follow Jesus whole-heartedly. And Jesus gave him a new name: Matthew. He even ended up writi

Pastor Jake continued our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life and sacrifice from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. The plan is for Pastor Jake to tell each week’s perspective from that person’s point of view. On Sunday (week 2), he was Thomas. Thomas has a nickname that has stuck with him long after his death – “Doubting Thomas”. At times though, Thomas showed great faith in Jesus. And yet through his story, we can see the fight between faith and doubt (belief and unbelief) over and over again. Even so, Jesus never gave up on Thomas. He always helped him take the next step on his faith journey. http://bible.com/events/389980

Pastor Jake started our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life and sacrifice from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. On Sunday (week 1), he was Peter. Peter was at times very faith- filled, but at other times not so much. He made some huge mistakes – questioning Jesus, doubting Jesus, rebuking Jesus, and in the end outright denying that he even knew Jesus. And yet each time he made a mistake, Jesus was there to offer Peter a second chance and a third and a fourth. Peter's take on Jesus is that He's a God of second chances. Do you need a second chance? There's nothing you could do that could disqualify you from God's grace giving you one in Jesus.

http://bible.com/events/381925

On Sunday, Pastor Jake continued our “Game Changers” series by teaching from the life Queen Esther. God orchestrated for Esther to be taken from no influence to influencing the King of a great empire at exactly the right time. She was able to save her people (the Jews) from extinction. But it wasn’t easy. Esther had to be willing to give up her own life. The law said that to approach the king without being summoned was punishable by death. So, Esther asked her cousin Mordecai to get all the Jews to pray, and then she did it. She sacrificed herself. In the end, the King did not punish her. He welcomed her and she was able to influence him to stop Haman’s plan to kill all of the Jews. Haman is killed, the Jews are saved, Esther is favored, and Mordecai is given authority that rivaled Haman’s original position. http://bible.com/events/377986

On Sunday, Pastor Jake continued our “Game Changers” series by teaching from the life of the prophet Daniel. Daniel and his friends were exiled to Babylon from Judah. They were slaves and yet God showed them favor. Daniel was a game-changer in a very tough situation. He shows us what it means to have game-changing faith. Faith is more than just belief that gets you saved. Jesus talked about faith as if it is fluid – you can have none, a lot, a little, etc. It’s the outworking of true belief. It’s belief that moves. Faith is also based in reality, not fantasy. http://bible.com/events/374061

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http://bible.com/events/361798

In week 2 of our Game Changers series, Pastor Jake talks about the prophet Samuel and his game-changing righteousness. What does it mean to be righteous? Is there a difference between the "righteousness of man" and the "righteousness of God"? Listen to be challenged in the way of righteousness!

In week one of our Game Changers series, Pastor Jake talks about Deborah's game-changing wisdom. Everybody wants wisdom, right? But what is it exactly and how does one get it? The answer may surprise you!

In week 4 or our "My Passion" series, Pastor Chris talks about his passion -- the anchor of our souls, Jesus Christ. There's really only one thing, one answer, one purpose...it's Jesus! Jesus+nothing=everything.

http://bible.com/events/345279