Marked by Mercy

Every mid October, our family has a pumpkin carving contest. My husband, our 3 kids, and myself all choose designs, carve pumpkins, light them, and then post a picture on social media giving our friends and family the ability to vote for their favorite without knowing who carved which pumpkin. There's no prize at the end but the victory of saying that your design had won. As the kids get older, the designs get more intricate and every year we try to "one-up" each other. This year as I even went as far as the prideful moment that the picture I posted of them got voted on more than anyone else's pictures. A fleeting moment of victory! 

Although this is just a fun family tradition that we do, it does bring to mind the many times and ways that we as humans try to not just "one-up" each other, but also "one-up" God. The story of the tower of Babel is just that kind of story. 

After the flood, God told Noah and his children to fill the earth with people again. But the people stayed together and they united. In being united they realized that together they could accomplish anything THEIR hearts desired. So they decided to construct a temple to the heavens. In their hearts was a longing and desire to "one-up" God and show Him what they could do. They built for themselves their own personal kingdom and in doing so, continued the spread of evil that began with Adam and Eve. This continuation of sin with this tower troubled God and He came down and confused their language and spread the people across the earth. In God's judgement of their hearts desire to be great, He marked them with mercy. The mercy in the story is that His judgement brought a slowing of sin. Can you imagine the type of world we would live in today if for thousands of years, men were united in heart and language to accomplish all of their desires!

Yet, God had a plan. Thousands of years later, at Pentecost, God tore down the language barriers so that the people would scatter and make great His son's name! The name of Jesus. Take time this week to point your kids towards God's better plan: His plan not for people to reach up to Him, but His plan to reach down to people by sending His son Jesus! 

Sin and Rescue

Two by two....and then the door closed....then the floods came.... the dove found land and a rainbow of promise lit up the sky! 

That's the gist of the way I grew up knowing the story of Noah and the great flood. Every time I heard the story, it felt the same.. two by two, flood waters and rainbows. It's a beautiful story of God's rescue of Noah and his family. A courageous story of Noah's obedience during a time of such ridicule. A gracious story filled with a promise, the hope of our ultimate rescue represented with a rainbow. Although always presented with cute animals and colorful rainbows, the backdrop of sin rarely seemed to be the point of the story. The rescue was rarely presented as THE story within the story. Yet, when we add in the Christ connection to this story, we see it brilliantly with sin and rescue at the very core of it. 

The story of Noah and the great flood is such a rich picture of the greater rescue to come. "Jesus, the only perfectly righteous person, came to take the punishment for sin. We trust His act of obedience and are saved from the punishment our sin deserves." (The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook). When Noah and his family stepped out of the ark, on to dry land, instead of condemning the world again, God gave hope! A hope that would come through His son, Jesus,  who would come in the form of a rescue to all sinners. 

As we continue through the Word of God, using the Gospel Project, we pray that the Lord would help you clearly communicate THE story within the story. The story set with a backdrop of sin where Jesus would give up his life to rescue all sinners and give hope for all to come! 

Blessings~

Rhiannon

This weekend in Tree House Children's Ministry: The Tower of Babel

Real-life discipleship

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A short thought inspired by Matthew 4:19 and Jim Putman's, Real-Life Discipleship.

Jesus says in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

                                 Follow Me

                            ^          /\        v
                            ^         /  \       v  
        Fishers of men  /__\    Make You
                                     < < <

Discipleship starts with deciding to follow Jesus. Then, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the one doing the "making." He says, "I will make you." And into what? "I will make you fishers of men." We are to bring people into following Jesus as fishers of men and continue the process of allowing Jesus to "make" all of us into who we were meant to be.

And we were not intended to do this alone.  If you aren't in small group right now, I would love to help you get connected! Send me an email!

Jonathan
Small Groups Pastor

jhaage@fiveoakschurch.org

Connections Ministry … what is it, and what do we do?

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Connections exists to help make the weekend services happen, to create a warm and welcoming place for all who attend, and to continue to offer our lives to God in worship in many different ways. That includes caring for others around us, and to love one another as we love ourselves. When we make the time and effort to meet each other’s needs, we are creating space in our lives to see Him work in amazing ways.

Connections is made up of teams of volunteers in the areas of:

  • Greeting Team
  • Information Center Team
  • Ushering Team
  • Acorn Cafe Team
  • Security Team
  • White Glove Team (light housekeeping between weekend services)
  • Tour Guide Team (offering information to visitors)

  If you have ever been new anywhere (and everyone has), you know how much it can mean when someone sees YOU and makes an effort to make you feel comfortable / special / noticed / cared-about / heard / appreciated……you get the idea. YOU have the ability to give that gift to someone else, and Connections Ministry would love to help you do that. 

    To talk more about how you might like to be that blessing, talk to someone serving on a Connections Team at church. They can tell you how to get more information, or they can invite you to serve with them for a service time to see if you like what they do. Or contact the Serving Coordinator at Five Oaks Church. Her name is Jennifer Clemens, and her email is jclemens@fiveoakschurch.org.  Either way, you have some really great conversations ahead of you, and you’re about to see how God is going to use you in ways you may not have imagined. 

Thanks for reading,

Carol Jorgensen, Connections Manager
cjorgensen@fiveoakschurch.org
651.459.7485

 

Fall Fun Fest features Friday night fun, friends…fr-eats!

Remember how much fun you had at last year’s Fall Fun Fest?  It’s back this year — new and improved of course, brought to you by your Five Oaks FUN Team.  The Fall Fun Fest will be on November 4, 2016, 6:30-9 pm.  This carnival-style event (geared for kids pre-K-grade 5) will feature Minute-to-Win-it, Cake Walk, Ring Toss, face painting, and crazy hair,  plus NEW this year: Giant Jenga, donut on a rope, mountain dice, and prize wheel, to name a few. This is an easy invite for your kids (or moms and dads) to offer to friends and neighbors.  

Are your kids too “old” for Fall Fun Fest? Consider coming to volunteer at the event, or with set-up or clean-up. This is a great way to serve as a family.  Questions, please contact Pam Hawley, phawley@fiveoakscurch.org.  

Who's Sid?

Mom to child: "I hear you learned about sin tonight at church!"

Dad: "Who's Sid?"

Isn't that, so often, how the conversations go on our ride home from church? You hope for some deep meaningful dialogue about the lesson your child learned, only to be derailed by 'Sid'.  'Sid' comes in many different forms and many times with the label of too busy. But can I take a moment to encourage you? Continue the conversation! 

I heard an example this week of how the brilliance of the Word of God and our need for Jesus shines brightest against the backdrop of sin. Like a good fireworks show that needs a blackened sky to show its true radiance. 

It's scary to have the conversations with our kids about sin, especially our little ones. I remember feeling like as soon as I had the conversation with them that then they would be aware of that sin and I wanted to protect them from that part of the world. Yet, without the reality of sin, we can't see our need for Jesus, and I so desperately want my children to understand their need for Jesus. It's so important to continue having the conversations with our kids. 

Each week in the Tree House, your kids will be given a take home activity sheet and a collectable card. These resources are available for you to continue the conversations at home and throughout the week with your kids. 

I don't know how the family conversation ended, but needless to say, I am sure their conversation about 'Sid' continued and explanations were made. 

Take time this week to observe and talk about the radiance and brilliance of who Jesus is against the backdrop of a sinful world and keep the conversation going!

~Blessings,

Rhiannon

 

Be a Representative of the Lord Jesus

“Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.”
— Colossians 3
 
 

Keep this as a reminder with you all week.
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