oasisCHURCH

Monday Morning Letter to my Family

Dear Oasis Family,

I just spent the last 30 minutes typing you a pastoral letter with words that I had hoped would bring comfort and encouragement in light of the heavy theological issues we have been engaged in during the past four weeks from our study through the book of Romans. Unfortunately when I clicked on "submit" the internet did not fulfill it's promise to actually submit. Apparently this morning the word "submit" actually means "delete and frustrate a pastor".

But I will not be frustrated. I will simply walk away from the computer and come back tomorrow or the next day to recall the things I said in the original letter. It was mostly a "thank you" for your patience and your teachable spirit in our Sunday gatherings. I know those Middle School chairs are not the most comfortable seats in the world. Likewise, neither is this particular teaching on God's sovereign election the most comfortable teaching (at least trying to grasp it for the first time; actually, it is the most comforting message about God we could possibly have when you consider the alternative). But I thank you for continuing on, and for allowing God's Word to shape your understanding of God, rather than human logic which cannot be trusted. But God's Word can always be trusted. And God's Word will usually come into conflict with human logic in more places than one.

Another thing I wrote in my letter that vanished was that in light of the heavy training we have been doing lately, I have decided to focus the majority of this Sunday's worship gathering around worship and prayer. The teaching from Romans 10:1-4 will be very brief, as it is dealing with Paul's prayer for his "friends and family" to be brought into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We will do the same. This Sunday we will take 20-30 minutes to study this section of Romans, and we will invest the majority of our time doing what God's Word inspires us to do.

I have much more that I will be sharing with you this week through email and this blog, so keep checking back. Now, before I hit submit this time, I think I will right click and copy first, just in case.

I love you, Oasis church. With you I have found true fellowship. With you I have found what it means to be the Family of God. Have a great week!

Chris

Sunday's Message

The audio and the notes are both available on the Oasis Media page. I plan to add some additional thoughts from the teaching during this week right here on the blog. I also invite dialogue in the comments section of these posts. Feel free to give your thoughts, questions, etc.

Have a great week!

Number 10

It was great to see the St. Louis Cardinals dominate the World Series and win it in five games, especially as the team with the worst regular season record to ever win a World Series. Regular season means nothing, just as long as you show up for the post season. And they most certainly did.

St. Louis will always hold a special place in our hearts because that is where our firstborn, Brock, was born, in DePaul Hospital on St. Charles Rock Road. We spent five very enjoyable and memorable years in the Gateway City, and developed some of the best friendships we have ever had while there. And I am sure they are an overjoyed bunch this morning!

Audio and Notes for Gospel Class

You can download the audio and the notes for first session of The Gospel & Oasis 101 on the Media Page.

We had a great time together this evening. If you did not get a chance to come to the first session, but would like to come to the others, you can use the above links to catch up to where we will be next week.

The Gospel & Oasis 101

Tonight I will be leading the first session of a four-session workshop called The Gospel & Oasis 101. This workshop will be held at Mike and Sharon Stewart’s house from 6:00pm—8:00pm. I will provide notebooks and class notes for all participants.

There is a very good reason why we are doing this workshop. First and foremost it is for the purpose of giving God glory in establishing and working out of His plan through the local church community. Secondly, for anyone who may be interested, the course is to be a detailed description of the Gospel, and of the core values and beliefs of the Oasis Christian Fellowship as an organized community of believers. And thirdly, for anyone interested (although not a required condition for taking the course) it is intended to provide a means of making an intentional commitment to Oasis as a local church. Everyone who attends will be invited, but not required, to covenant with Oasis Christian Fellowship through the signing of a membership covenant. In the sessions it will be explained in great detail what it means to covenant with a local church family. My desire is that through this course many of your questions regarding church membership will be answered.

This workshop is open to EVERYONE and ANYONE. All ages included. No one is excluded from these. In fact, I believe it will especially helpful and important for young people. Several of you have children who are at a critical age in their lives, where some of the most important decisions they will ever make are being contemplated. The presentation of the Gospel will undoubtedly be very clear and timely for them.

Below is the list of the session themes (yes, you will notice six sessions in all; we will be condensing the material in order to complete it in four weeks at Mike and Sharon’s house):

• Session 1:  Introduction and Purpose
• Session 2:  The Bible
• Session 3:  God
• Session 4:  Creation and Sin
• Session 5:  Salvation
• Session 6:  The Church and the Culture

If any of the above topics looks like something you are interested in or need to know more about, then I would STRONGLY recommend planning on attending these classes. Even if you have never come to Mike and Sharon’s house church before, please come. House church meetings are never closed meetings. They are as open as any other gathering Oasis has. I am very much looking forward to teaching these classes. God is alive in our fellowship. And I look forward to how He will manifest His presence in these sessions.

PS... I will be doing this same workshop at Jim and Julie Durst’s house when the four weeks are completed at Mike and Sharon’s house.

The Amazing Bond of Christ

Two reflections from Wednesday Night's Community Supper

Smiles & Space
I have often read from various authors on relationships and communication that it only takes us a few seconds to size someone up in our minds from the moment we first meet them. In one instance I remember reading (I apologize for the lack of reference, as it was several years ago that I read this; I did search but to no avail) that within 14 seconds of meeting a new person we will have decided in our subconscious mind whether or not we would desire to continue a deeper relationship with that person.

If that is true, then it took even less time for me to make that determination about a family I met last night. Those of you who were at the community dinner hosted by the Oasis House Churches probably had the opportunity to meet Smiles and Space Welch and their three boys: Forest, Eli, and Simon. They are from Arcata, California and Smiles is the worship leader at Sunny Brae Church in Arcata, and Space works with the children's ministry there. They are genuinely God-centered people with a passion for Christ.

So why, you may be wondering, did they come all the way from California to Meigs County just to share in our community supper? Well, that was not the only reason why they were here, but it is a significant one nonetheless. Interestingly, Smiles and Space have been praying for Oasis for about a year now. They found us through the internet. One day they stumbled upon our web site, and they began reading the articles, listening to the sermons and the songs, and God drew their hearts to us and they began praying for the work here in southeastern Ohio. Part of their story (which is an amazing one that I will have to let Smiles share with you sometime), is that through many travels they have come through Athens on a number of occasions. Nine years ago God began to stir their hearts to plant a church in Athens, and they have been praying and preparing for that day ever since. Through what I will proclaim as the divine providence of God, Smiles was led to Oasis via the bethechurch web site. From there he made contact with me by email and we had a couple of conversations before meeting face-to-face last night. Smiles and Space were traveling east to take part in the wedding of his mother in Maryland, and while there he will also baptize his sister. What a great blessing!

There was a very cool connection between the Welch family and the Oasis family last night. They are "Oasis" people. And I know why. It's because they are "God" people. Smiles shared with me that his greatest passion is to make the sovereignty of God known in all of his life. That's the foundation for the bond we felt. It never ceases to amaze me how the Holy Spirit has a way of creating a stronger bond in individuals than anything else is capable of. That has to be why God calls His people a family. We could have absolutely NOTHING else in common, but if the presence of God is in our souls through faith in Christ then there is a commonality that is stronger and closer than any other bond. It meshes people in a way that only God can do. All of a sudden, strangers are considered brothers. What a great kingdom we live in. Even better, what a GREAT KING we have!

Joyful Service Motivated by Love
Through this event, what I saw in people like Peg Brickles, Cathy Erwin, and so many others who were instrumental in making the community supper happen, was true JOY in serving. This joy comes not from a motivation of duty, meaning, they felt obligated to do something for the community on behalf of Jesus. I saw in their eyes and in their diligence to serve, a love and a passion to share the grace of Christ through a meal and taking time to make conversations with people. The reason I point this out is because this is where all service must come from. Love for Christ is what must motivate our service. Love for CHRIST. Yes, we must love people also. But it must not be the motivation behind what we do, because eventually there will be a day when our love for people may not be enough to motivate us to serve them. When we serve out of love for Christ, then the service is done with true joy, and it will never cease.

I pray that last night is just the beginning for Oasis and this particular kind of ministry. I don't know how many people came to the dinner last night, but it was more than I anticipated. And with every dip of a ladle, with every plate carried to a table, there was this awesome sense that we were serving Christ. What a blessing it is to serve our great KING! And what an amazing bond He creates in His kingdom.

Piper for Cardio, AC/DC for Squats

Many of you know that a couple of years ago I got a free iPod from an internet promotion, and it has been one of the best things I ever did. I take my iPod with me everywhere I go. I have over 3500 tracks on that little piece of genious, a combination of about 2500 songs, and the rest are sermons and various podcasts. It has allowed me to listen to about 7 to 10 sermons a week, something I love to do, whether I am in my car, sitting at my desk, or working out.

But I discovered something today while working out. This morning, just before I began doing my sets of squats, I switched from listening to a John Piper message on the Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World to AC/DC's Thunderstruck, and my lifts seemed much easier. So I will keep listening to Piper and others while on the treadmill or elliptical machine, but when doing heavy lifts I think I'll just rock out.

I don't know why I just told you that. Just wanted to blog something today I suppose. Anyone still checking the site for new material? Let me know. If so, I will make a better attempt to keep it coming.

Continuing in Romans 9

We continue to press through the eye-opening ninth chapter of the book of Romans in our Oasis study. To hear this Sunday's message, click here (or simply subscribe to our podcast to get all the Oasis messages every week... click here if you use iTunes).

To download the notes in MS Word format, click here.

Sermon Audio Is Back

Master sound tech Mike Kennedy has tremendously cleared up our audio recording for our Sunday gatherings, and we're back in business. Today's message from Romans chapter 9 titled God's Sovereign Choice, Part 1 is up on the media page, so if you receive our podcast you should already have it. Or you can just download it here.

Here are the notes for the teaching in MS Word format.