Reason to Believe - Oasis Church

An Identity that Doesn’t Crush You or Exclude Others

October 15, 2023 • Dustin Funk • 2 Corinthians 5:21

The message of modern society is “you become ‘yourself’ when you are true to your deepest desires and dreams.” This message looks at the major problems associated with trying to build your identity in this way - while also exploring the unique resources Christianity offer us. Christianity gives you the only identity that is received and not achieved. 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

A Meaning That Suffering Can’t Take From You

October 22, 2023 • Dustin Funk • 2 Corinthians 5:21, John 11, John 6:35

The message of modern society is “you become ‘yourself’ when you are true to your deepest desires and dreams.” This message looks at the major problems associated with trying to build your identity in this way - while also exploring the unique resources Christianity offer us. Christianity gives you the only identity that is received and not achieved. 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. See John’s Gospel, Chapter 11: John 11:35 Then Jesus wept. John 11:33 “a deep anger welled up within [Jesus]” John 11:57 The leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him. John 11:25-26 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. John 6:35 “I am the Bread of life.” – Jesus

Happiness that is Not Based on Circumstances

October 29, 2023 • Dustin Funk • Psalm 1:1–2, Jeremiah 17:7, John 6:35

Regarding happiness, the message we receive from our culture says: “You don’t need to believe in God to have a full life of satisfaction.” But, does that work? Is it livable? This message explores the famous words of Augustine of Hippo “to Worship You [God] is the deepest desire of humanity, for you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest and fulfillment in you.” ---- “my sin I realize consisted in this… that I sought pleasure and sublimity, not in God, but in Creation. In myself and other created beings” -Augustine (Confessions) “to Worship You [God] is the deepest desire of Humanity, for you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it finds its rest and fulfillment in you.” -Augustine (Confessions) Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. “I am the Bread of life.” – Jesus, (John 6:35)

Freedom More Than Selfishness

November 5, 2023 • Dustin Funk

The main message regarding morality held by our culture says “no one has the right to tell you what is right and wrong for you, and: you should be free to live as you see fit, as long as you don’t harm others.” But, does that really work? The message explores the idea that true freedom comes in submitting to God’s laws, that lead to a deeper and larger freedom. Galatians 5:15-16 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Psalm 119:32 I run in the path of your commands because you have set my heart free. Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

A Religion That Should Not Create New Oppressors

November 12, 2023 • Dustin Funk • John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8–9, Romans 10:13

A message that circulates in our culture: religion itself poses a danger of creating division or intolerance between groups of people. This message explores how Christianity, when lived properly, does quite the opposite because at the heart of the Christian faith is a man who died for his enemies. Ephesians 2:8-9 it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Romans 10:13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. John 14:6 “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - Jesus

A Hope that Can Face Anything

November 19, 2023 • Dustin Funk

Most modern secular people at one level believe their worldview and yet they have indelible (& stubborn) intuitions that don’t fit it; they have fleeting senses of beauty or “transcendence”— that suggest there is something more than just this material world. You can’t live without some form of hope for the future. Christianity offers a hope that can enable you to face anything with poise, even death. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.