For some reason, it’s hard for me to share my faith – it almost seems scary.  The problem is, I can share other things I love with people super easily.  Why is that?  This week, I want to shift the way you think about sharing your faith and help it to feel more natural – […]

Website Copy:Did you know that 26% of Americans are now claiming that when it comes to religion they are “none?”  Sociologists are calling this The Rise of the None’s.  I believe God has put you and I in the middle of one of the most important moment in America’s history to reach these people, but how do you do that? […]

Website Copy:This is the first week in our series “Well Seasoned,” where we are taking a look at how to become a fully developed follower of Christ.  This week Kent targets our desires and challenges us to bring them in line with what it is that God desires.   Need prayer? visit my.oswegochristian.com/pray to post a request.Subscribe […]

Website Copy:There is so much confusion in our culture about what a man or woman is and how do we function.  This week, I’m going to look at what the bible says when it comes to the role of men and women and the nature of our relationship together.  DISCLAIMER:  If you don’t listen to the […]

Ummm….  this is one tough topic to preach on.  Today, I tackle the subject of homosexuality and the bible.  Tune in and be sure to listen all the way to the end… Need prayer? visit my.oswegochristian.com/pray to post a request.Subscribe to our podcast on your phone to automatically have new messages downloaded weekly: in iTunes (https://my.oswegochristian.com/iTunes) or […]

This week we are tackling the question of is it ok for a Christian to get a divorce?  Be sure to stick through to the end because the final part of this message is the most powerful of it all!  God has a future for you and I want to help you get there.  Need prayer? visit […]

Today we start this series, “Ummm… Stuff the bible says about relationships you didn’t know” and we are starting off with a doozy!  Today, I’m conquering the topics of sex in marriage and what about being single?  Tune in this week and each week in February to get some of God’s advice for making your relationships killer! Need prayer? […]

Are there things in life that not matter how you try they seem to keep tripping you up?  You can find freedom from those things, God wants to help, tune in to learn how!

 Need prayer? visit my.oswegochristian.com/pray to post a request.

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MEMORIZE: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13SCRIPTURE STUDY: 1 Corinthians 10:6-12, Exodus 32:6, Numbers 25:1-9, Number 16-17————————-

SCRIPTURE:1 Corinthians 10:12-1312 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.THE QUESTION:Can I ask you a question? What is it that trips you up in life?Where are your “hang ups”?Another way of asking this isWhat is the thing you keep doing even though you know you shouldn’t?ILLUSTRATION:You ever hear your kids yelling at the other kids and think, “ooh, that was totally me…”  I usually high five them for sounding so cool like their old man :)You see yourself in your kids a lot, don’t you.  One of the things a few of my kids have started to do is be sneaky.  It gets me, because that’s something I can struggle with, I’m smart enough to be sneaky and try and hide my disfunction.  We are pretty intentional about how much we let them get on devices or just watch tv.  We guard what goes into their minds.  On a pretty regular basis, we will find one of them sneaking onto a device or doing something they shouldn’t do online.Every time we talk about how hurtful of a habit that is…But, the reality is, I see myself in them.I feel like Paul nailed it when he said…Romans 7:17-24 (THE MESSAGE)For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?ILLUSTRATION:In 1997 the people of Taipai had put together a massive tug of war contest to celebrate the end of the colonial rule of Japan.  1,600 people wrapped their hands around the rope, not knowing the danger that lie ahead.  The rope that had been chosen could only stand the force of 26,000kg, but the people would exert and estimated 80,000kg…  Almost instantly the rope snapped and came hurling back at the people who were tugging on it.  It came back with such force, it severed several peoples arms…It was gruesome…You get what it’s like to have that rope snap, right?To feel what Paul is saying”Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.”Every person has a tug of war going on in their soulDo you feel like you are you winning or losing?I love the honesty of the bible, I love that Paul looks at it and goes,I

How do you get into heaven?  Grab a piece of paper and answer this question, “If I were to die tonight, I’d go to heaven because?”  Now that you’ve got your answer – take some time and listen to this challenging message to help you see if what you wrote down holds water!  Don’t miss the end… Need prayer? visit my.oswegochristian.com/pray to post a request.

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Everybody grab a pad of paper and a pencil, I want you to answer this one question for me:If I were to die tonight, I’d go to heaven because?I want you to write down as many answers as you can think – I’ll give you a moment…If you are online, watching on Facebook or listening later on a podcast – go ahead and open a notes file on your phone or grab a scrap of paper and write it.  What are the reasons you’d go to heaven…Let me give you a little music while you’re waiting[Play “Good Ol Boys” (JO LYNNE add this to a slide that plays when they click on it) song]Are you good dad?Do you pay your taxes?You stop to help people change a tire on the side of the road?Give your extra change to homeless people?You work hard, don’t get into other peoples business?[fade out the music as Kent pulls them back in]Ok, let’s trade papers and grade them…  Ha, no, don’t do that!Actually, I want you to fold those papers and hold onto them – but I want you to remember what you wrote on them…Let me ask you a question?What criteria do you use to determine if you are good enough or not?and specifically, I mean, if you are good enough to get into heaven?My guess is your are using comparisonBecause when we say we are a good ol boyWhat we really mean is,I’m not as bad as that fella over there…right? Here’s what I meanTHE BELL CURVEDo you remember back in school where if you got an F, you actually got an F-back in the day, there was a thing called, the Bell Curve for grading – they called itGrading on a Curve (Normal Distribution)[Draw the Bell Curve]Here’s the quick and dirty of how the curve worksThe middle of the curve, called the “Mean” accounts for 38% of the peopleThese are your C Students – let me hear it for the C StudentsOn either side of the mean you have the “Standard Deviation”, this accounts for 24% of the peopleThese are the B’s and D’sOn either side of that you have another 7%this makes up your A’s and your F’sA’s = take Kent to Disney LandF’s = Kent is not long for life in this land…Stick with me here…[Plot out some people]Ok, so, I’m a murderer – where do they fall on this curve?Yeah…What about a child molester?  yes…Guy who steal pens from the office?Kid who lied to their parents?Person who had an affair?I think most people in America are grading themselves on a curve when it comes to their perception of their eternal relationship to GodBWe’re Good Ol’ Boys, how could God not let us in?I want to show you what Jesus does with this assumption…Check this out…  Luke is just coming out of a parable about prayer to tell you to never give up praying – and Jesus is going to bounce off that subject to address another issue…Luke 18:9-149 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ILLUSTRATE:Can you imagine the moment Jesus starts telling this parable?  The instant Jesus starts to talk and says there’s a Pharisee and a Tax Collector going up to the temple – it sounds like the start of a joke, right, Rabbi and a Priest

Don’t you ever get tired of trying to figure out life?  It feels like you run from this thing to that, from this promise to that, and still – it rarely feels like “life”.  Jesus had something special to say when it came to filling that insatiable desire for life – He had a special way of presenting it.  Tune in this week to learn about the life Jesus offers. Need prayer? visit my.oswegochristian.com/pray to post a request.

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It’s Christmas Eve and my wife and I are out in the yard in the middle of the night trying to put together a trampoline.  I’ve got a little head lamp on and we’ve got some lights in the back yard on.  But from the beginning, it was destined to be a disaster.  I start reading the directions and they say, “This should take you about 2-3 hours, unless you are super man”  and I think, “Ha, good, should only take me an hour and a half” and I did what all the rest of us do in that situation.  I threw the directions in the chair that was near by and got to work…  Jenni came out and I had that bad boy all put together, the ring was on the ground, I was starting to put the legs on and screw them in.  I’ve put together my fair share of trampolines in my time, never in the freezing dark, but I’ve done it.  My wife, God bless her, still thinks the instructions are important and she starts reading the instructions and that’s when it all went down hill.  I had put all the springs on and she says, I think these posts aren’t on right…  Listen, I’ve got a deadline here of 1.5 hrs.  No joke, we put the springs on and took them off 3 times.  It took us 5 hours, in the dark – and it still wasn’t completely put together.Turns out you shouldn’t try and put together something in the dark, without the instructions in the freezing cold…Can I tell you, as I look at our world, it feels to me like there are a ton of people out there who are trying to put their lives together without the instructions and in the dark.I don’t know how many people I know who are trying to figure out life-we are confused about what Gender we are-we grab ahold of memes and little pithy statements and write our lives by them-we bounce from essential oils, to salt lamps, to eating clean to a million other fads that are all playing on this insecurity thatWhat I call life doesn’t feel like lifeIf you google “How to be happy” you will get nearly 10 billion results… 10 billion…That tells me, NO one has the answer…We want to fix ourselves, but we are all bumbling around in the darktrying to figure out the solutionsYou may stumble on to some partial solutionsPeople try to meditate and center themselves, they try to find balance, but what I see is it all coming up emptyHere’s the deal, you don’t have to be in the dark – you don’t have to live life without the instructionsOne of my favorite passages comes at the beginning of John’s Gospel – this is the story of Jesus coming into the world…  He says thisJohn 1:1-5In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.I don’t know how much you know about Jesus-maybe you know he’s was a person – you’re not sure who he was exactly or what He was doingJohn, who was an eye witness, lived with him, cooked with him over a fire.John said, Jesus was God – He was literally the Word of God in the form of a person – the instruction of what Life wa