Four Oaks East Podcast

Speaker: Pastor Joshua HughesText: Colossians 2:16-23
Big Idea: To truly grow spiritually, we must recognize and reject the ripoffs while clinging to and contemplating the Christ.
Three Markers of False Teaching:1. A Conscience-Binding Code of Conduct2. A Showy, Swaggering Spirituality3. A Plausible Yet Powerless Personal Optimization

Speaker: Pastor Joshua HughesText: Colossians 2:13-15
Big idea: We can rest in full assurance that we have all of Christ for all we need, because the cross has reversed our death, our debt, and our defeat.
Reversal #1: At the cross, death gives way to life.
Reversal #2: At the cross, destitution gives way to riches. 

Speaker: Pastor Funmi OjetayoText: Colossians 2:6–12Big Idea: The Christian life begins in Christ, continues in Christ, and is complete in Christ. So don’t be captivated by counterfeits, but walk, filled and raised, in the sufficiency of Christ. 
I. The Call – Walk in Christ (vv. 6–7)
+ The Gift Received – Christ Himself is the gospel’s great gift.+ The Call Issued – As you received Him, so walk in Him.+ Three Pictures of Growth – Rooted, Built Up, Established in the Faith.
II. The Caution – Beware Captivity, Cling to Christ (vv. 8–10)
+ The Warning – Don’t be taken captive by empty deceit.+ Two Sources of Deception – Human Tradition and Elemental Spirits.+ The Sufficiency of Christ – All the fullness of God dwells in Him, and we are filled in Him.
III. The Covenant – Buried and Raised with Christ (vv. 11–12)
+ Spiritual Circumcision – At the cross, Jesus was cut off so we could be brought in.+ Baptismal Union – Buried with Him, raised with Him through faith.+ Covenant Identity – Marked not by ritual but by faith and the Spirit’s seal.

Speaker: Pastor Funmi Ojetayo Scripture: Colossians 1:24–2:5
Big Idea:
 God grows His people to maturity through faithful ministry and gospel community, where Christ is proclaimed, love is displayed, and assurance is firmly laid. 
I. The Goal: Maturity in Christ for All God’s People (1:28b)+ The aim of gospel ministry: “to present everyone mature in Christ”+ No JV and varsity Christians - maturity is for everyone
II. The Method: Proclaiming the Mystery with Suffering and Toil (1:24–27, 29)+ Marked by Suffering: Paul rejoices in suffering for the gospel and the church’s sake (2Cor. 11:23-28; Phil. 2:25-30)+ Centered on Christ: “Him we proclaim” - not gimmicks, but Christ in you, the hope of glory+ Sustained by the Spirit: Toil and struggle carried by God’s dunamis power
III. The Result: Gospel Communities (2:1–5)+ Encouraged hearts: strengthened from the inside out+ Knit-together love: sacrificial, not sentimental, guarding against deception+ Full assurance in Christ: confidence that steadies and unites

Speaker: Pastor Joshua Hughes
Text: Colossians 1:15-23
Big idea: Since the Christ we confess is sovereign over all and his work is sufficient for all, we must hold fast to him through it all.
I. Who Christ Is
A) Christ is Truly God
B) Christ is Supremely Great 
II. What Christ Accomplishes
A) Christ's Work Propitiates
B) Christ's Work Purifies
C) Christ's Work Perseveres

Text: Colossians 1:1-14Speaker: Pastor Joshua Hughes
1. A Church Worth Emulating- Faith- Love- Hope
2. A Prayer Worth Lifting- for knowledge of God's will- for a worthy, pleasing, fruitful walk- for a joyful strength
3. A Salvation Worth Savoring

Speaker: Kyle KraeftText: Revelation 21:1-8 
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:42-44).
BIG IDEA: Jesus is Returning to bring Glorious Restoration, so be Roused to Readiness and Renewal
I. Be Roused to Readiness for the Day of the Lord 
13.  The Restoration of All Things. We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:10)
2 Cor. 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
II. Be Readied through Renewal in the Delight of the Lord
(APPLICATION)1. Return home to God now and always2. Reorder your vision and values in Him3. Renew your heart through love

Speaker: Pastor Joshua Hughes
Text: Luke 22:14-20
Article 12: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. 
Big Idea: The Lord's table is where God's re-storied and reconciled people remember, receive and reharse what God has provided and promised in Christ. 
1. We are Re-storied
2. We are Reconciled
Jeremiah 31:31-34
3. We are Remembering
4. We are Receiving
1 Cor. 10:16
5. We are Rehearsing 

Speaker: Funmi Ojetayo
TITLE: Beholding the Baptism of JesusTEXT: Matthew 3:13-17
Article 12: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. 
What Jesus' baptism teaches about baptism: 
1. A Command to Obey (v. 15)* In his baptism, Jesus models obedience* Baptism is not optional for disciples—it's the first step of obedience
2. A Cleansing by Immersion (v. 16)* The word for baptism in scripture means to plunge, submerge, or immerse* Immersion symbolizes death, burial, and resurrection
3. A Confession of Faith (vv. 6, 11a)* Baptism follows repentance and belief * It is the visible sign of invisible faith.
4. A Covenant Union with Christ (v. 15)* In his baptism, then sinless Son of God identifies with sinners.* Baptism publicly affirms our union with Christ's death and resurrection.
5. A Celebration of the Trinity (vv. 16-17)* The Son obeys. The Spirit descends. The Father delights.* Every baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit is a celebration of the Triune God.
Respond:Have you believed? Then why wait to be baptized?Have you been baptized? Then remember what it meant.If your joy has dimmed—behold him again. 

Speaker: Joshua HughesText: Ephesians 4:1-16
Article 11: God’s New People. We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each “local church” is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members' love for one another and for the world. Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world.
Big Idea: Since we are not our own but we belong to Jesus and to one another, we find our place and purpose with God in the community of his church.
1. What we are- a "we"- a body- a family- a bride- a building- universal- local
2. What we do- we behold- we belong- we become