Our Blog

Student Ministry - July

Dear Church Family,

This year has been marked by change and adjustment. I can say confidently that no one’s plans for 2020 have come to fruition the way they thought they would. And that is the strange thing about plans. No matter how well you map things out, they can change on you in an instant without your consent. While that is generally true, it has been especially the case this year. With COVID-19, quarantine, social uproar, and election year, 2020 is sure to be one to bring monumental and lasting changes.

As Christians, however, we are not overwhelmed by this. These things surely cause much anxiety, but we know that “The Lord is near.” So we are “anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” we will let our “requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard” our “hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7)  We trust in God who is in control over all things. When we get overwhelmed, we cry out and He hears our prayers and comes to our aid. He is with us and guiding us as we continue to follow Him.

Over the last weekend of June we took a group of students on a Summer Retreat. We had about two weeks to plan it. We decided to theme the weekend: If the Lord Wills. It seemed to be an appropriate theme considering our context. We stayed at a wonderful AirBnb, went tubing on the lake, played tons of corn-hole, and had God glorifying worship. The retreat certainly lived up to its name, because none of our plans went exactly how we thought they would. But it went precisely how God planned it, which was the whole point. In order to convey the idea that Christians don’t need to be overwhelmed by change in life, we went over the following passages.

From Proverbs 16:9 we learned that: We are not in control. But God is, and we can trust Him with our life plans. From James 4:13-17 we saw that: We walk the balance of making plans and trusting God by holding our life with open hands and following Jesus as He directs us in the next right step.

Jesus had this attitude because He loved God and knew that God would turn even the worst possible thing into the greatest possible good. In the garden He prayed that the cup of God’s wrath would be removed from Him, but He knew that God’s will, no matter how difficult it was, would turn out to be His ultimate good (see Romans 8:28). So He prayed “not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)  It is because Jesus trusted the Father through the worst possible circumstances that we now have access to God and are forgiven of all our sins! Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father in all His glory. God’s will turned out to be awesome! And now, we who are in Christ can also have this attitude of love for God and trust in His plans no matter how hard they may be.

We all need to remember this truth. But students who are still in the formative days of their youth desperately need to be shown that change happens, but God’s plans and His love for us never change.

Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren 

Worship - July

First of all, let me just say how excited I am to be a part of the pastoral team here at Oakhill.  Even though we have only been here for two weeks, we have already been incredibly encouraged, challenged, supported, and loved.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but God has been good, and He has displayed His goodness to me and my family through Oakhill.  I firmly believe that God has created the Church to be a "family for life", and I am so thankful that my family is now a part of the Oakhill family.

As I was thinking about what to share with you all in this newsletter, I figured that a good place to start would be to talk a little bit about, you guessed it, music.  The main point I want to focus on about music (or "worship" as we often refer to it) is that it is all about God.  Hopefully when I say "Worship is all about God" this is not a surprise to anyone, but to assume that we know this and to not take time to emphasize its importance would be a mistake.  Just because we know this to be true does not mean that it is always our motivation. We must  examine our hearts. God created us for His glory, He saved us for His glory, and He has placed us within a local fellowship that exists for His glory (in reality, every verse of the Bible testifies to this truth, but here are just a few to get us started: Isaiah 43:6-7, Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 42:8, Habakkuk 2:14, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Ephesians 1:5-14).  God has also made it clear that He is not impressed with outward displays of "worship", but what pleases Him is a heart that is tender toward Him (1 Samuel 15:22, Hosea 6:6, Psalm 51:16-17).  It is God who dictates how we are to come to Him.  It is God who has given instructions for what we are to do as a church and how we are to do it, and that includes our music.  True worship is all about God, and true worship always comes from the heart.

Now, when it comes to New Testament instructions on music within the church, we are not really given a whole lot of details.  Nothing is said about instruments, styles, ensembles, worship leaders, or any of those things.  It is clear from the New Testament that we are commanded to sing together (Colossians 3:16. Ephesians 5:19, Hebrews 13:15), and it is abundantly clear that we are to sing for God's glory.  With all of that in mind, there are two commitments that I want to make to you.  My first commitment to you is that absolutely every time we gather together for worship as the Body of Christ we will sing for God's glory.  Whether we are singing a traditional song or a contemporary one, whether it is old or new, whether it is accompanied by piano, electric guitar, or not accompanied at all, we will sing it for the purpose of praising, honoring, worshiping, and loving God.  Beyond that, I believe that we have a lot of freedom, and I look forward to creatively exploring those freedoms with you in the years to come.

The second commitment that I want to make to you is that everything we do as a music ministry team, and everything that I do and every decision I make as a pastor will be guided by scripture.  Even though we are not given a whole lot of explicit instructions for music in the Bible, God’s word is infinitely applicable and relevant to every part of life.  God has given us more than enough instruction on how we are to love and serve Him and love and serve one another. These Biblical principles will be our guide as we seek to honor Him and build up His church.

There is a whole lot more that I want to share with you, and I know that I will have the opportunity to do so soon.  For now, I hope that this letter is just a small reminder that we must constantly examine our hearts and our motivations when it comes to worship, because God's glory is that important. We were created to worship and glorify The Triune God, and Him alone.  As we read in Hebrews 13:15 this past Sunday morning: "Through him then let us  continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name."