Dr. John Oakes is now leading a church planting in Merced, California.  His lessons and sermons will be posted here.  There is another, earlier article, with many sermons and lessons from 2022 to 2025.  Here is the link:  Earlier Merced Sermons       More  recent sermons are below. 9/23  Hermeneutics Audio III 9/20  1 Thess […]

Dr. John Oakes gave two classes at a conference “ONE” in Portland, Oregon 8/22/2026.   The notes, power points and audio are below (audio for the first class will come soon): Apologetics and the Christian World View Notes     Apologetics Class: Defense of the Christian Worldview PPT        Dealing With Difficult Topics Biblically PPT  […]

Dr. John Oakes gave a series of sermons from the Book of Ruth summer, 2026.  Themes include hesed: covenant love, salvation history, messianic prefigures (Jesus as kinsman-redeemer) and God’s love for the poor, the outcast and the foreigner.   Notes, ppts and audio are included. Ruth I A Love Story Notes    Ruth I A Love […]

Question: Christian Apologists often combine two separate facts to create a false impression: they point out that the earliest fragments date to the 2nd century, and then state that there are over 5,000 manuscripts. This leads people to assume there are thousands of 2nd-century documents. In reality, the earliest centuries are represented by a mere […]

Question: Jesus said: “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.” Doesn’t it mean that later Christian writers removed the combat teachings of Jesus from the Gospels? Answer: This is an egregious example […]

Question: The concept of a “Second Coming” is not prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. The only prophecies without the required interpretation were about the Human Messiah (not God’s Son in any sense) who would bring world peace, defeat Israel’s enemies, rebuild the Temple, and gather all Jewish people back to their land. How did NT […]

Dr. John Oakes is giving a class at a Jubilee Conference in Queretaro, Mexico July 31 and Aug 1.  The notes in English, as well as the Power Point in both English and Spanish are here.  I will upload the audio after teaching the class. Answering Calvinism Notes    Answering Calvinism PPT      Respondiendo […]

Dr John Oakes preached a series of eight sermons from the Book of Joshua in Merced, Winter, 2026, as well as six sermons from Judges Spring, 2026  Notes, PPT and audio are available here: Joshua I Be Strong and Courageous Notes    Joshua I PPT    Joshua I Strong Audio    Joshua II Preparing to […]

Dr. John Oakes gave a series of sermons from 2 Peter March and April, 2026 for the Merced Christian Church.  The notes, PPTs and audio are here! 2 Peter I The Knowledge of Christ Notes    2 Peter I PPT    2 Peter I Audio    2 Peter II Confidence In God’s Word Notes    […]