“To love God with all your mind, you must put God’s words into your mind…Left to itself, your mind will drift toward anxious or selfish thoughts. The truth of God’s Word has the power to change the channel of your thinking.” (58)

Holladay goes on to say that one of the most powerful verses for turning our thoughts toward God is Philippians 4:8. It says: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

Memorize Philippians 4:8 and begin to “think about such things” as described. You will grow in your capacity to love God with ALL your mind.

I hope you’re keeping up with the readings every day. If not, catch up. Be challenged and blessed!

Below are verses from the message on Sunday that you can memorize and meditate on. Click on a reference, print it off, and put it around your house, office, car, etc. Don’t be weird, but be bold about hiding God’s Word in your heart.

Matthew 22:36-39

1 John 4:8

1 John 4:20

1 Corinthians 13:13

1 John 3:18

Galatians 5:6

Ephesians 5:2

Galatians 6:10

Proverbs 3:27-28

“Love Haiti” is the name for the Orrville community collection project to be held from February 21-24 at OCC. We are donating much-needed items to the Haitian Christian Outreach to help the Haiti people that were affected by the tragic earthquake. The following items are needed:

- Peanut Butter

- Adult & Children’s Tylenol (generic brands accepted)

- Adult & Children’s Vitamins

Items may be dropped off in the OCC south lobby on: Sunday, February 21 from 8 a.m. – 12 noon and Monday – Wednesday, February 22-24 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 4 – 8 p.m.

Someone will be in the lobby to assist you at these times. Click below on “Love Haiti Flyer” for more information and/or if you’d like to make copies and give to others. Please email your friends and family about this. Let’s get the word out and “Love Haiti” with our donations.

Love Haiti Flyer

We had a great kickoff to 40 Days of Love on Sunday. I hope you came forward and got a “heart” to symbolize your commitment to learning how to love.

I’m enjoying The Relationship Principles of Jesus book by Tom Holladay. Below are a few things I’ve highlighted over the past three days. (If you need a book, please call OCC at (330) 682-3686. It’s FREE to OCC members and regular attendees.)

- “Priorities become most important when we must make choices.” (24)

- “A life without relationships may well be a simpler life, but it is also an empty life.” (27)

- “The only way to change your priorities is to begin to make different choices in your relationships.” (30)

- “Jesus chose meeting a person’s need above following his schedule of tasks for that day.” (36)

- “It is your faith in God’s principles that changes your life!” (42)

If you’re already behind on the reading, set aside time to catch-up today before you get too far behind. You can do it with God’s help!

“Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire love…” (1 Corinthians 14:1, Amplified Bible)

How can we “meditate” on the Word of God “day and night” if we don’t have it memorized and in our hearts? Below is another quote from Dallas Willard’s book The Great Omission.

“The primary freedom we have is always the choice of where we will place our minds. That freedom is enhanced by the practice of solitude, silence, and fasting. We can then effectively fill our minds with the Word of God, preserved in the scriptures. To that end, memorization is vital. It is astonishing how little of the Bible is known by heart by people who profess to honor it. If we do not know it, how can it help us? It cannot.” (p. 155)

What is filling your mind today? Scripture? If not, you have the choice to change.

What verse and/or passage will you choose to fill your mind with today?

I’m going to do a few posts on the importance of memorizing Scripture. Check out the new poll to the right.

I took a class called “Spiritual Formation” at Cincinnati Bible Seminary a couple years ago. One of the books we read for that class was The Great Omission by Dallas Willard. Below is a quote from the book:

“Our concentration on Jesus will be strengthened by memorization of great passages (not just verses) from scripture. Passages such as Matthew 5-7, John 14-17, 1 Corinthians 13, and Colossians 3 are terrific soul-growing selections. This practice of memorizing scripture is more important than a daily quiet time, for as we fill our minds with these great passages and have them available for our meditation, quiet time takes over the entirety of our lives.” (p. 126)

Wow! How are you doing? What verse or passage can you begin to memorize today? The four mentioned above would be a great place to start!

More later…

If you want to “know Christ” (see Philippians 3:10), then humbly serve others like Jesus. Deny self (Mark 8:34-35). Fully appreciate the sacrifice of Christ (Philippians 2:3-8). Trust that God will take care of your interests and needs as you serve (1 Peter 5:5-7).

Who will you serve today?

- The OCC elders, deacons, and full-time ministerial staff (Tom and me) went on a retreat this weekend. Gary Dolan, Executive Pastor at RiverTree Christian Church, facilitated the retreat. We began work on a vision statement and also reviewed our mission, values, and key initiatives. Thanks to Gary and RiverTree for hosting us! We had fun and great discussion. I’ll be sharing more about the retreat on Sunday, February 7th. That’s our annual Vision Sunday.

- We started another “Discover Maturity” class yesterday. 8 people were in attendance. We’re talking about 4 habits or disciplines for ongoing spiritual growth. It connects with the current message series nicely. We got started on the first habit – time in God’s Word. We’ll be meeting the next two Sunday’s. If you want to attend, just show up! We’re meeting in the conference room.

- Many people attended the visitation and funeral for  Bob Tschiegg. It was a great time of celebration and remembrance. We do not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Please keep Mary and the family in your prayers this week.

- It was good to see the Colts and Saints make it to the Super Bowl. Please respond to the new poll question to the right of this page. There was a part of me that wanted to see Brett Favre make it to the big game again. Hopefully he’ll be back next year to give it another try.

- How did you like my piano playing yesterday? The sad part was that I even had to practice that! I hope you’re spiritual life is more advanced and deeper than my version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Be sure to “Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit” this week (1 Tim. 4:7, Phillips).

More later…

OCC has hired Kevin Leimeister as part-time (15 hours per week) Interim Youth Director. Kevin will provide overall leadership for OCC’s youth ministry until we hire a full-time person. He will work with our existing adult volunteers to plan, organize, and supervise ALL youth activities. We’ve hired Kevin, at least initially, for 90 days. If we haven’t hired a full-time Youth Minister (birth through 12th grade) at the end of 90 days, we hope to keep Kevin in this role until someone is hired. Kevin’s long-term goal is to get a teaching job at a local school. He graduated from the University of Akron in December with a teaching degree.

We really appreciate Kevin’s willingness to “stand in the gap” for us during this transition period. Please welcome Kevin to our staff.

Feel free to email me with questions or leave a comment.

How do we love our enemies? One way is to pray. We love when we pray. Not only that, but God begins to do something in our heart. We pray so we can love. There’s little chance we can love those we’re inclined to hate without God’s power in prayer.

It would do us well to add “enemies” to our prayer list. Our prayers are an act of love and our prayers give us the power to love. This is hard stuff, but it’s the way of Jesus who loved his enemies. How? He prayed. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

- OCC was the only church represented at the YMCA Health Fair on Saturday morning. Thanks to my assistant, Val Leimeister, for getting our display organized. It ROCKED! See pictures below.

- Hundreds of people continue to come to our facility on Saturday’s to watch their children/grandchildren play basketball. It’s great to partner with OABGC. I know of at least one family that has come to our Sunday worship services because of this partnership. Yea God!

- Greg Allen, worship leader at Southeast Christian Church, met with the elders, staff, worship volunteers, and other leaders at OCC this weekend. He also attended our Sunday services. The purpose of his coming was to consult and advise us on our full-time worship minister hire. Greg has been at Southeast for 27 years! That means he has a lot of experience and wisdom about worship ministry. I was very pleased with the visit. Greg confirmed some things we were thinking and gave us some new insight. He’ll be sending us an official report in a couple weeks. I’ll share more specifics when we received it. As I’ve mentioned, we’ve narrowed our list of worship minister candidates to two. Continue to pray as we get to know these candidates better and discern the best fit for OCC.

- Loved this quote from Matt Chandler in yesterday’s message: “When the illusion of control disappears we become men and women of prayer.”

- Got home last night a little before 6. By 8:30 I was sound asleep on the couch! That felt good!

- Hoping it starts to warm up a little. I think the cold and snow has hurt us the first two Sunday’s of 2010. Attendance has been down some. If you haven’t seen someone in a couple weeks, give them a call. If that’s you, hope to see you this Sunday!

Check back this week for a series of posts on prayer.

“Power Up!”

It’s obviously not a requirement, but Jesus chose (at least in this instance) to have His quiet time with the Father in the morning. Let me give a few reasons why the morning is a good time. I find it’s best for me.

- It starts the day off right. What a way to set the tone and focus. You can do things like pray through your schedule for the day.

- If not the first thing, then when? I’ve learned that if I don’t do it when I get up, it probably won’t happen.

- It’s quiet – at least until the kids wake up. There’s not a lot going on early in the morning while it’s still dark. Distractions are limited as opposed to the rest of the day.

- You’re rested, even though you may not be fully awake. This is where a nice cup of Starbucks coffee can really help! I highly recommend it.

Bottom line is finding the time when you’re at your best. Don’t give God the leftovers of your day.

When is the best time for solitude for you? What are the advantages?

There are many “solitude stealers” in our lives. So many things are vying for our attention and allegiance. One of the big ones these days is technology. It’s a blessed curse. Surfing the net. Email. Texting. TV. Twitter. Facebook. All of these things have their place, but without boundaries they can consume time and steal solitude.

If we’re going to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7), then we have to turn off the technology and turn our face toward God.

What are some other “solitude stealers”? How can we overcome them?

Why?

It seems to me, at least in part, that Jesus’ capacity to love and continue His mission was dependent on His times alone with God.

For example, in Mark 1:35ff, Jesus goes off to a quiet place to pray. Simon Peter and others go looking for Him. When they find Him, they ask Him to stay in Capernaum where He had healed and helped many people the night before. It would have made perfect sense for Jesus to stay. But He didn’t. He said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43)

Why was Jesus able to keep His focus and continue His mission on earth? One word – solitude.

If you feel like you’ve lost focus or a sense of mission in your life, it’s probably time to get away and have some time alone with God. Refresh. Recalibrate. Refocus. And do it often so it doesn’t slip!

What are some other benefits of solitude?