The OOC

Sunday Sermon (Matthew 5:33-37)

We live in a society that counts on the power of the oath to hold us to our word. Who hasn’t made a promise, “cross my heart and hope to die?” In the sermon series on the Gospel According to Matthew, Ron Lutjens explores Jesus’ injunction against taking up meaningless oaths. He shows us that instead of needing to be held to what we say we are going to do by the formality of an oath, kingdom Christians should be of the character to keep their word, for God’s sake.

Sunday Sermon (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:1-12)

Ron Lutjens continues his look at Jesus teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage from the Sermon on the Mount.

Sunday Sermon (Matthew 5:27-30)

If it is true that Christians are those who desire Jesus, then any time we desire anything over him, we are sinning. Mark Tucker expounds Jesus’ teaching against adultery in the continuing series on the Sermon on the Mount.

Moment for Missions–Sunday August 20, 2006

Hurvey Woodson reports on his recent trip to Brazil to visit Luciano and Luciene Pieres.

Sunday Sermon (Matthew 5:31-2; 19:1-12)

Pastor Ron Lutjens, Senior Pastor, Old Orchard Church

What are kingdom Christians to make of Jesus hard teaching on divorce, especially given the ease with which marriages are tossed aside in our culture? Pastor Ron encourages viewing marriage from the perspective of eternity and the perfection that awaits us. This perspective helps us to endure the inevitable pain that comes in devoting oneself to another in the here and now.

Interesting story out of the UN. W’ve discovered a $100 laptop for the poor. I want to avoid cynicism, and so I’ll say this: What other things might we be able to produce more cheaply than we do now that will bring even more benefit to the world’s poor than a laptop with all its bells and whistles? Food supplies? Human care? Practical education?

What do you expect? I’ve posted an article and a link on my blog about teens and chores, and about why “science” proves that teens can’t be *truly* lazy or careless when it comes to carrying out instructions. It’s just interesting that Mardi Keyes’ article makes this very observation.

At the retreat (which my family also enjoyed thoroughly by the way), Jerram Barrs spoke about parenting, and he mentioned an article written by Mardi Keyes on the topic of adolescence. Ron Lutjens mentioned that there is a copy in the church library, and there is. I also found a .pdf file at Ransom Fellowship’s site. click the link below to read this outstanding article.

Youth Culture and Growing Up

You may be interested in reading others of the wealth of articles at Ransom Fellowship. You can find a list of all the articles here. (There’s a link at the top of most of these pages to get .pdf files.

STLtoday – Entertainment – Movies

The P-D had this review about the last installment of the “Star Wars” hex-ilogy. I’ve never been a fan of these films (I actually never saw any of the original three in their entirety until they were re-released before the first of the prequel movies), but this seems to sum up what I’ve expierenced of all of them.

Any other thoughts about this series? Any ruffled feathers?

TheStar.com – Why Schiavo case worries the disabled

This is an interesting article from (of all places) Canada. Read it and comment away.