Oak Pointe Church • Novi

Can We Know God1 John 2:3-11The Peavey AT-200 Auto-Tune electric guitar sounds as pretty as it looks. It offers solid basswood construction, so it plays beautifully enough on its own, but the secret sauce of this guitar lies in its auto-tune technology. You simply strum and push the button for an immediate, perfect tone. Beyond that, the Solid-Tune Intonation continues working for you to correct each note as you play. Amazing! Somewhere an old-school musician is grumbling about technology ruining music, but you have to admit it’s pretty cool.Unfortunately, our Christian walk isn’t so easily adjustable. There’s no magic button to correct our attitudes or behaviors, nothing that kicks in as we’re about to make a big mistake to bring us back on course. How can we test if we’re “in tune”? Let’s hear tomorrow morning from 1 John and learn the secret sauce of Christianity that keeps us in check.

Can You Know God1 John 1:5-2:2Pastor Jon Morales A common misfortune that can happen amongst toddler girls is when they pull up their shorts under a dress and sometimes the back of the dress ends up getting tucked into the shorts. It’s hilarious and endearing and they have no idea when it happens. They walk around with an abundance of confidence, clueless of what’s going on in the back. Meanwhile, everyone around them sees the truth. It would take some honest self-inspection for those girls to see how they actually are and not just what they think they are.Jesus calls us to a similar self-inspection to see if we are truly walking in righteousness, or if we just think that we are. Claiming to be righteous isn’t enough; our lives must match our speech. So, how can we figure out if our walk matches our talk? Tomorrow morning we will see what Scripture teaches us about it.

Pastor Jon MoralesCan You Know God? (Part 1)1 John 1:1-4If you have flown on a commercial flight, then you’ve sat through the well-known “pre-flight safety briefing.” The flight attendants crowd into the narrow aisle and demonstrate how to operate all the safety equipment and exits. Now imagine that instead of the safety equipment demonstration, they spend the whole time talking about how to order the food, choose a movie to watch, and what’s going on in all the cities you’ll be flying over. Would that information make you feel safe and secure if an emergency were to happen?Certain situations demand a certain level of assurance. The more important something is, the more you want assurance about it, right? God knows this and He has met that need abundantly through His Word. Tomorrow morning, we will begin a new series in 1 John, “Can We Know God? Assurance About What Matters Most.”Come, ready to listen in. Everything else John tells us in the letter hinges on the things he tells us at the outset.

The Question That Changed EverythingJohn 8:2-11A small little boy waited until his mother left the kitchen when he snuck in and stood before the plate of fresh-baked cookies. Her earlier admonishment echoed in his head, “No cookies before dinner.” But as he gazed at the cookies and smelled their sweet scent, her voice grew faint and he reached out and grabbed a cookie. One wasn’t enough however, and soon he found that he had eaten all but one cookie. He panicked and heard his mother walking back to the kitchen. Before he could hide the evidence, she walked in.For most of us, our mind fills in the rest of the story with the little boy receiving some sort of consequence because of his disobedience. But how would we feel if his mother hugged him and told him not to do it again? Tomorrow morning we will hear how Jesus handles a delicate situation with mercy and justice.

Ruth: Meditations on God's KindnessHebrews 11:6Philanthropy in the US began in the colonial period with the Puritans. They believed in not just supporting the poor and needy but strove beyond that to help the colonies as a whole. Men such as Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere exemplified this model and had tremendous impact on the development of the country. When these men gave aid and helped ensure the hungry were fed, children were looked after, and education was accessible, no one turned away their gifts.According to Psalm 119:68, God is the greatest Benefactor, for all He does is good. Again, in Romans 8:28 it says that He causes everything to work for good for those who love Him. How often do you find yourself asking for and accepting His goodness? Do you feel too undeserving to accept His gifts? We wrap up our series Ruth: Meditations on God’s Kindness tomorrow morning with one final look at God’s hesed towards His children.

Ruth: Meditations on God's KindnessRuth 4:13-22A popular fantasy book series that began in the late 1990s featured a young boy who soon discovered he was a wizard. He attends a school for wizards and soon after his arrival he puts a special hat that will sort him into his dormitory. This hat looks inside to the character of a person and puts them where they will fit best. Every new student undergoes this process at the start of their school journey, and they remain with their dormitory the entire time.We too will face a sorting ceremony, only instead it will take place at the end of our journey. The sorting will depend on what is found in our hearts: will we present with our good deeds to earn God’s favor, or will we present with the work of Jesus to pay for our iniquities? Join us tomorrow morning to hear how we can be living right now for the sorting that is to come.

Ruth: Meditations on God's KindnessRuth 4:1-12When Michigan Central Station opened in 1914, it quickly became very popular, peaking at 4,000 passengers a day by 1944. After its closure in 1988, it lay abandoned for 30 years and fell victim to vandalism and neglect. Ford Motor Company later stepped in and bought the property in 2018. After renovating for 6 years, the station was re-opened on June 6, 2024, and it did not disappoint. The grandeur and beauty inside and out made visitors gasp and marvel.In our own lives we can see tragedy and suffering and wonder if it will remain this way forever. We know God is good, but in the moment, despair wins over hope. But God, being rich in mercy and lavish in love, pulls us out time and again and restores us to a place of beauty that makes us gasp and marvel. Come and hear more tomorrow morning about how God fights for His children.

Ruth: Meditations on God's Kindness Ruth 3:1-18The Airforce has an official elite flying team known as the Thunderbirds, representing the best of the best of our country’s pilots. Operating the F-16 Falcon, Thunderbirds show off their unmatched skill in dangerous exercises. The commander of the team takes the position as lead and the other pilots mark their positions based off the commander’s location. They are traveling so close to each other that they cannot take their eyes off their commander. This is why they have adopted the phrase, “Blind trust!” to represent their team; they have no choice but hold their position and trust that the commander is leading them correctly.God calls us to trust where He is leading us, and He has given us abundant evidence that we can fully trust His plan. He has proven that He will lead us to still waters and care for His sheep. Tomorrow morning, we will see this demonstrated in the lives of Naomi and Ruth.

Ruth: Meditations on God's KindnessRuth 2:17-23Certain retailers have a policy for when large merchandise is purchased, and it can’t fit into a bag. For example, you want to buy a vacuum: you take it to the register in its large box and pay for it. To prevent the customers from getting harassed at the door, cashiers will place a sticker on the item purchased that says, “Paid in Full.” With that sticker in place, customers can walk out with the confidence that they own the item free and clear.God is a Redeemer by nature, and when He paid for your sins through the death of Jesus, you received a sticker that read, “Paid in Full.” Your debt has been erased, and you belong to the Father. Tomorrow in our series in Ruth, we will hear about the beautiful redemption coming to Ruth and Naomi.

Ruth: Meditations on God's Kindness Ruth 2:1-17Sitting on a farm in Northern California is one of the world’s largest corn mazes. Boasting 42 acres of corn, visitors flock to the farm year after year to have a go at the challenging maze. Upon entering the maze, the path feels sporadic and random at best; guests don’t have the proper perspective to see that an intricate design has been carved into the field. While some maze-goers can feel lost and unsure at times, the farmers know exactly where they are and where they need to go to work through the picture. Life can feel similar to walking through a corn maze. What we see as dead-ends and endless circles are actually purposeful steps God has ordained to lead us exactly where we need to be. Maybe we expect to go right but end up needing to go left or must double back to move forward. God has the sovereign top-down view to see it all, and our job is to trust and obey as we walk through it. Tomorrow morning come and see just how God works this out for Naomi and Ruth.

Ruth: Meditations on God's Kindness Ruth 1:8-22There is a common expression that asks the question, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” Someone who says the glass is half-empty is said to have a negative outlook. They only see what’s missing or lacking, they have a generally pessimistic perspective. The other side is someone who looks at that same glass and declares that it is “half-full”. This view indicates someone who sees the potential, or what is already in possession. They are generally optimistic and hopeful, able to encourage and boost the morale of others.As believers we are equipped with God’s own Spirit that enables us to perpetually see the glass as half-full. There is always hope, always a reason for joy and peace beyond understanding. But what about when life circumstances leave us feeling empty? When it seems there isn’t any hope to be found? What do we do and where do we go? Tomorrow morning, come find out what truth God has for you and how you can find true hope when all else seems empty.

Ruth: Meditations on the Kindness of God (Part 1)Ruth 1:1-7As one of our primary senses, hearing comes from a complex system that turns sound waves into something meaningful in our brain. Starting with the outer ear, sound waves are collected and funneled towards the eardrum in the middle ear. From there, tiny bones called ossicles transmit and amplify the vibrations into the inner ear. Inside the inner ear, the cochlea is filled with fluid and lined with special hair cells which convert the vibrations into electrical signals that the brain receives and interprets. Amazing! Hearing plays such a significant role in our body that it’s no wonder Scripture uses the word “hear” almost 800 times. When God calls us to hear, however, it is more than a command to use our ear drums; it is a call to respond to His revealed truth and kindness. We will hear tomorrow morning of a woman who did this very thing when she heard what God had done for His people as we begin our new series Ruth: Meditations on God’s Kindness.

Daniel: Patterns As We Speak to God Daniel 9:15-23A recent survey of 2,000 Americans sought to learn about their criteria for asking for help when starting something new. The results showed that 73% don’t ask for help until they feel it is absolutely necessary, and 13% admitted that they never ask for help. Of that same group, 53% said they feel held back from reaching certain goals in their lives because they try to go it alone. For whatever reason, it seems most Americans would rather not ask for help.It begs the question: is this how we approach asking God for help? Would we just rather not? Or do we swing the other way and come at Him with a list of demands? When it comes to praying, many are confused on what to even say. Thankfully, God Himself has given many examples for us in Scriptures. Tomorrow morning, we will conclude our series on prayer and discover what it looks like to come to God in the right way.

Daniel: Patterns of Praying to GodDaniel 9:1-14Cause and effect: the principle of causation; the direct relationship between an action or event and its consequence or result (Merriam Webster).When we put water into a freezer, we are not surprised when it comes back out as a solid block of ice. When we then put the block of ice out in the summer sun, we are not surprised when it returns to its liquid state. We call these events cause and effect, and they make sense.What about when God commands His people to do something and says there will be severe consequences when they disobey? Does that throw us into an uproar of anger and confusion? Or are we able to say, “Yes Lord, you are right. You said this would happen.”? Tomorrow morning, we will look further into how we respond to God through prayer.

Daniel: Patterns of Praying to GodDaniel 9:1-11There was a woman who needed help on her health journey. She had tried to do all the “right” things but was frustrated in her lack of progress. Seeing ads for a well-known weight loss app, she decided to give it a try. After downloading the app, she worked her way through all the questions; she finally finished and was ready to see their predicted date when she would reach her ideal weight: “You will reach your goal in two days.” Excitement was quickly replaced with confusion. How was that possible…?What she failed to realize was that she hadn’t entered her data accurately. She didn’t acknowledge the reality of her situation and thought she was better off than she was. Because of that, she couldn’t get the help she needed.When we go to God in prayer, are we coming in confident of our good efforts and ready to meet our goals? Or are we humbly admitting that we fall short every time and need the Holy Spirit to help us? We will begin a new series on prayer tomorrow morning where we’ll learn how important it is to have a reality check first.