Under The Oakes

I love witty sermon titles… I’m not sure why, but I get such a little kick out of sermon titles that make me chuckle or are creative….. Some would say I’m cheapening the gospel by doing this, but that sure isn’t my intention….. I understand the gospel doesn’t need some new creative way to be shared, & thankfully the gospel is the only timeless thing we have on this earth! But, I enjoy creating different sermon titles. Here are some of the ones I’ve come up with over the years:

“From fast food to forever food”

“Water Cooler Evangelism”

“Nick @ Night: A pharisee’s late-night theology lesson”

“The Prodigal Son – The Everlasting Father”

“Family Matters”
“No Shoes, No Problem!”

“The truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth”

“Throw-down on Mount Carmel”
“Hindsight is 2020”

One of my most proud ones is the last one.I got to preach it on the last Sunday in 2020, so I was very proud of that one…. What was the sermon on? Honestly, I have no clue….. I had to go back & look at my notes… I preached on a question that Dr. David Jeremiah asked in his book, “10 questions Christians are asking”, which he compiled out of the most asked questions he gets as a pastor. The question was, “Why don’t my prayers get answered?”. I challenged our congregation to look back at the past 12 months through God’s lens. If you have blocked it from your mind, 2020 was the year that changed our entire world as COVID hit us all in some way, shape or form that year. There were LOTS of unanswered prayer that year, I’m sure!

I sometimes look back on that year & it doesn’t seem real. It seems like a scene out of a post apocalyptic movie…. But it was real, it was long & painful, & here we are, 5 years removed from it. What have we learned from it? The two biggest things COVID taught me were that 1) God is always in control, even when it doesn’t seem like He is. The second was a reminder of the fragility of life. I don’t know a single person who didn’t lose someone to COVID. It may have been a coworker or neighbor, or it may have been someone in your home. It affected us all in some way. One of the blessings of that season was the added time I got to spend with my family, & how we all kind of slowed down for a season & I was able to spend even more time with the Lord. I don’t wish COVID back upon us, for many reasons, but it was nice to have a slower pace of life to be with my family & with my savior. 

As we close out 2025, I want to challenge you all, are you living life so fast that you don’t have time for God? Do you live life so fast you don’t have time for family? I can admit, at times in my life, I have said yes to both those questions. I can even be too busy with a good thing… As a teacher/preacher, I am in God’s Word ALL WEEK! I love it, but I have to caution myself. I can’t spend all my time in God’s Word for others, preparing lessons/sermons & then teaching/preaching them. I need to spend time in God’s Word first & foremost for myself. This is one thing I need to do better, for my own spiritual health in the new year. 

What about you? How would you describe your spiritual walk? Is it on life support? Non-existent? Healthy & vibrant? I want to challenge you to spend time in God’s Word daily in 2026. Don’t call it a resolution, then it’d bound to fail. Don’t spend the time you should be in God’s Word reading christian books. It’s good to read those in addition to your daily reading. It is important you spend time reading God’s Word which HE inspired & wrote every word! (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Maybe you don’t know where to start in reading your bible. Or maybe you feel like the book is too difficult to comprehend. I want to encourage you to get a version that uses language you use. There are a variety of versions of scripture, & some are more readable than others. Others are more literal, but harder to read/comprehend. I personally use the English Standard Version (ESV), which is a very healthy balance between reliability to the original text as well as readability. Start with the gospel of Mark. It’s short, sweet, to the point & Jesus is front & center. Spend each day reading a few chapters of scripture. Read with a pen & notebook handy & write down your questions. Then comes the hard part. Finding a bible preaching church to help you grow in your faith & that will help you as you grow in Christ. 

Truthfully, the American church as a whole, is in shambles…… It pains me to write that, but I see so much in American churches that hurts my heart. Churches preaching what people want to hear, or churches changing their Sunday morning worship time to an entertaining show…. There is so much straying from God’s Word. I pray you can find a good, bible preaching church in your community to join & be a part of. Pray for discernment & wisdom on what to do. Don’t go where your heart wants you to go, trust in God, not yourself! Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!