I’ll be concluding the message series “What’s the Difference?” this Sunday with Islam. If you’ve missed one or more of the messages, you can click here and download them. I’d especially suggest Isaac Leimeister’s message on August 15th if you haven’t heard it. It was terrific!

See you Sunday!

1. Am I so busy that I no longer enjoy life?

2. Life happens – are you living in the moment?

- Do less

- Be present

- Capture the moment

- Appreciate God’s creation

3. This life will end – what is your destination?

“This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for people to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toil – some labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them – for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives people wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil – this is a gift of God.” Ecclesiastes 5:18, 19

Remember, our VBS closing program is during second service on July 25th. So if you want to hear the answers to the questions, you’ll need to attend first service. Life is hard!

What happens when the world comes to an end? With so many books and movies claiming to know what will happen, it can be difficult to have a secure understanding. Join us beginning June 27th as we set out to discover what the Bible says about the end of the world and how you can survive it all. Are you ready?

6/27 - Signs of the Times (Matthew 24:1-28)

7/4 – The Day of Christ’s Return (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11)

7/18 – Judgment Day (Matthew 25:31-46)

7/25 – End of the World Q & A (You can submit questions on Sunday morning or by leaving a comment here. Deadline for questions is 7/18.)

Note: I’ll be preaching first service only on 7/18 and 7/25 because of community worship service (7/18) and VBS closing program (7/25). Ralph Eichelberger, Camp Coordinator at Round Lake, will be preaching a stand alone message on 7/11. Thanks!

I’m starting a new message series this Sunday entitled “Revolutionary Parenting.” I stole the title from George Barna’s book. In fact, many of the ideas for this series come from that book. It’s a great book! I’d highly recommend it to every parent. I hope you’ll come this Sunday for the first message. Bring a friend too! We’ll be talking about four conditions for success as a parent. It’s going to be highly practical and hopefully equip every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. to influence the next generation to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. Below is a synopsis of the series. See you Sunday!

Description: Whether you have kids or are thinking about having them, you won’t want to miss this five-week message series that explores the common denominators to parenting success. Want to raise a spiritual champion? What does it take? If you’re like most parents, you think you’re doing an okay job – and you probably believe you’re doing better than most. But if your goal is to raise kids with a life-impacting faith, that may not be good enough.

Message Dates & Titles:

4/18 – Conditions for Success

4/25 – Putting First Things First

5/2 – Planning for Spiritual Champions

5/9 – The Rules of Engagement (Mother’s Day)

5/16 – Real Life Stories (Graduation Sunday)

I preached a message on baptism this past Sunday. One person responded to the invitation second service and I was privileged to baptize another person this morning. God is evidently at work, which is awesome to see. If you were unable to attend OCC on Sunday, you can order the audio CD and/or click on the link below to read the manuscript. “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16)

Baptism Message

I’m starting a new message series tomorrow. It has a NASCAR flavor to it. We’ll be looking at five spiritual practices over the next five Sunday’s.

Here are the dates and titles:

1/3 – The Ragged Edge (Solitude)

1/10 – The Power Source (Prayer)

1/17 – The Pits (Bible study)

1/24 – The Groove (Service)

1/31 – The Winner’s Circle (Celebration)

Imagine if every Christ-follower made the SHIFT in 2010 to implement these practices!

Hope you’ll join us at OCC.

Once an arrogant young preacher delivered a sermon in our church that contained almost no Scripture. My mother, who rarely spoke a negative word to anyone, said to him afterward, “I remember what D.P. Shaffer used to say about preaching: ‘Whenever you preach, always use a lot of Scripture, because that’s one thing you know is true.’” (p. 25)

Fellow preachers, how much Scripture are we using in our sermons?

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2

I’m starting a new message series this Sunday on prayer. We’ll spend eight weeks unpacking “The Lord’s Prayer.” I asked Beth if eight weeks was too long. She said, “Not if the sermons are good.” No pressure, right? Below are the dates and titles. Hope you’ll join us at OCC.

3/8 – Lord, Teach Us to Pray

3/15 – Our Father

3/22 - Hallowed Be Your Name

3/29 – Your Kingdom Come (Round Lake Sunday)

4/5 – Give Us Our Daily Bread

4/12 – Forgive Us Our Debts (Easter Sunday)

4/19 – Deliver Us From Evil

4/26 – Your is the Kingdom, Power, and Glory

David Faust, one of my college professors and current President at CCU, writes a weekly column in the Lookout magazine. This magazine is available at OCC every Sunday for FREE at the south Welcome Center. Anyway, he wrote an article a few weeks ago that connects really well with my message from Sunday. Click here to read the article. It’s all about relationships!

What would it look like for OCC to become more and more of a generous community?

I referred to a news story in my message Sunday about a couple that had sex for 101 consecutive days. Click here to read about it and watch an interview from the Today show.

It doesn’t appear that this couple are Christ-followers. However, some of the things they learned from their experience is really good stuff.

I heard of a church that did a campaign called 30 Days of Sex. They encouraged married couples to have sex every day for 30 days. They also encouraged singles to abstain from sex for 30 days. I considered doing this at OCC, but thought it was a little much. Sorry guys!

We live in a sex-saturated society that pretends to know everything there is to know about sex. But God knows more because He created it in the first place! Join us as we ask questions and begin to expose the myths and confusion about sex.

2/8 – The Best Sex You’ll Ever Have

2/15 – The Language of Lust

2/22 – What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Stay in Vegas

Tomorrow I’ll be starting a new message series called “Abide.” We’ll be focusing on John 15:1-17 for five Sunday’s. Below are dates and titles. Overall “seed thoughts” for this series originated in Bruce Wilkerson’s book Secrets of the Vine. Hope you’ll join us at OCC.

1/4 – Fruit-Bearing

1/11 – No Fruit

1/18 – Fruit

1/25 – More Fruit

2/1 – Much Fruit (Vision Sunday)

This Sunday I’m starting a new message series called “Through the Eyes of…” We’re going to look at the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of Mary (12/7), Joseph (12/14), the shepherds (12/21), and God (12/24). Hope you and your family will join us at OCC this Christmas season. See you Sunday!

We continued our journey through the Gospel of Mark on Sunday. I’m really enjoying it. Hope you are too. Click on the link below to view my message outline. This is what I carry in my Bible to the pulpit. The yellow highlights are for the guys running PowerPoint. They follow along and make sure the right slide is on the screen. “The Golfing Preacher” joke is not included. I added that at the last minute.

Marks of Jesus – Mk 7:1-23 Outline

I want to encourage you to participate in the 4 Week Bible Challenge. We must get in the Word of God daily. If you need a bookmark, please drop by the church office or you can download it below. Be sure to hear from God today.

4 Week Bible Challenge Bookmark