As we continue to examine Paul’s wide-ranging message in Romans 8, we come away with several insights. First, following Jesus will include moments of pain and suffering that are sometimes overwhelming. In those hardest moments when we don’t know what to say, the Spirit is there with us in the heart of our anguish to translate it all to God as a cry for His intervention and healing. God knows every aspect of the journey He has called us to and He will bless us along the way by using every circumstance for our good and the good of His kingdom. In the face of temporary trouble, hardship, and persecution, God reminds us of His ultimate perspective and ultimate outcome of endless glory for His entire family. We are His children, and nothing can separate us from Him or His love. Not now. Not ever.

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On this day celebrating fathers we look at the amazing access God grants us to Himself using Romans 8:9-19 (NLT).

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We are in a complex and mysterious, adventurous and powerful, permanent relationship with the Spirit who lives within us to anoint and nudge and save and remind and inspire and empower and equip and comfort and counsel and reform and transform and reshape and renew and ultimately resurrect us just as He raised our Older Brother from the dead.

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We continue to look at Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 11. After He teaches His disciples “The Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus goes on to use humans in everyday situations to illustrate God’s care and attention to our prayers. A human in bed will get up in the middle of the night to help his neighbor. A human father will not give his child a snake instead of bread. If humans can act so well - in spite of their motivation - surely God will act even more kindly. He then tells us to ask and thus receive, to knock and thus have the door opened. We examine more closely these promises that seem to guarantee our desires, but find they have a greater purpose and context.

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Luke 11:1-13. Today we look at two different episodes in Jesus’ life with His disciples. First is His teaching them “His” prayer in Luke 11, with a key focus on the prayer that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Then in Luke 8, we look at the disciples’ fear of the storm and find ourselves with them. Also with them, though, is Jesus. If we focus on Him instead of the storm, our hearts and minds will be as calm as theirs.

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Shepherd Brenda Wilusz discusses the many ways God shows His love.

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Oakhaven Church founding member Deb Cleveland shares a special Mother's Day message featuring the women of the bible.

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We complete today our year long journey through the Gospel of Mark with a summary of his masterful storytelling. We focus on two of his primary themes: identity and expectation. Our identity is built upon that of Jesus’ the King of kings come to bring His kingdom on earth. We are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father, and the younger brothers and sisters of the King. We also check our expectations of Jesus, as His followers in Mark have a skewed view of Who He Is or should be.

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