The SUN home church is still collecting diapers, wipes and empty plastic shopping bags to benefit the Crisis Pregnancy Center. SUN will accept donations THIS Sunday only. The goal is to fill the Oasis trailer, so look for it in the parking lot when you bring your items. Thanks for serving moms!

On Sunday, we continued our four-week series, Building a Healthy Home. If you missed the first message on God’s Plan for Marriage, or this week’s message on God’s Plan for Parenting, you can hear them by clicking here.

When I see young children misbehave, I remember that the problem with most kids is their parents! We let our kid’s behavior define us, which leads to manipulation. Some of us tend to be controlling, and others tend to be permissive. Either way, our kids pay for our unwillingness to hold them accountable for their own actions.

So, how do we let our kids become responsible for their own choices and prepare them for life?

1. Model a godly life. Far more is caught than taught, so choose to love your spouse and be consistent. Apologize when you fail.

2. Spend time with your kids. Make memories and have fun together!

3. Offer real encouragement. Call out your child’s beauty and strength. Tell them you love them.

4. Prepare them for life. You are your child’s spiritual leader and life trainer. Teach them what they need to know in order to succeed in life.

3. Provide consequences for disobedience. Give them a dose of reality when they rebel. Let them taste the pain of the real world in a safe place.

The SUN home church is collecting diapers, wipes and empty plastic shopping bags to benefit the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Tucson. This ministry counsels pregnant mothers and provides job training and assistance to new mothers. They have a great program that gives mothers free access to diapers, wipes, clothes, etc. along with training and classes that are crucial for establishing a nurturing home for their child. SUN will accept donations before and after church on April 29, May 6 and May 13. Their goal is to fill the Oasis trailer, so look for it in the parking lot when you bring your items. Thanks for serving moms!

On Sunday, we continued our 14-week series, The Key to Happiness: A Journey through Ecclesiastes by tackling Ecclesiastes 11.9 – 12.8 (Real Happiness). If you missed the message, you can hear it by clicking here.

The teacher challenged us to consider the fact that death is certain and all of us will one day stand before God. Therefore, as St. Augustine said, “love God and do what you like!”

Here are four ways we can do this: 1) Enjoy God’s gifts. Everything in this world is a temporary gift. Enjoy it while it lasts. 2) Find work you love. Life’s too short to live for 5.00pm or the weekend. Do something you enjoy doing. 3) Treasure people. Value people more than anything on this planet by making the most of the time you have. 4) Honor God’s boundaries. If you don’t live within God’s boundaries, you don’t really love him. You’re just fooling yourself. Love always requires obedience. Always.

On Sunday, we took a break from our 14-week series, The Key to Happiness: A Journey through Ecclesiastes to celebrate Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Tory shared with us the power of Christ’s death. If you missed the message, you can hear it by clicking here.

Tory shared the powerful idea that life (ironically) comes only through death. First, Jesus had to die in order for us to know real life. Second, we have to die in order to live. We have to give up finding life apart from God if we want to live the life Jesus offers us, rather than the counterfeit life we make without Him.

So, accept the path that Jesus walks – a path of pain, loss and death. Recognize that joy comes only through walking into pain with your heart wide open, in order for God to heal your broken heart. All other paths offer less pain now, but there is no joy at the end. Joy – and real life – require confession, repentance and healing. But it’s well worth it!

This Sunday is the most important Sunday of the church year. Easter Sunday is also one of the two times in the church year when friends and family are most open to joining you for worship. So, don’t come alone! Pray right now that God will reveal someone you can invite to worship with you this weekend, particularly someone who needs to know that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection offer hope – hope that we can be forgiven, we can change, and we can live forever!

Our home church is dedicated to building healthy marriages and healthy families. Marriage is not easy. Parenting is maybe even harder. But the SUN Home Church is dedicated to coming together once a week to discover a few things:

1. What love really is
2. How to love our spouses better
3. How to love our children well
4. How loving God is the key to all the above

We refuse to become a statistic. We refuse to let the outside world be the biggest influence on our children. We will surrender to God, but we will never surrender to the devil or this world! If you are looking for a place to belong with an emphasis on marriage and parenting then join us every Sunday night from 6-7:30pm at the home of David and Callie Hobeck. Call Tory and Judy at 520-398-4784 to get directions and for information about on-site child care. Hope to see you there!

On Sunday, we continued our 14-week series, The Key to Happiness: A Journey through Ecclesiastes. We covered Ecclesiastes 7:13-29. If you missed the message, you can hear it soon by clicking here.

The Teacher reminds us that neither God nor His world can be manipulated to suit us. Therefore, we must learn to completely abandon ourselves and our future to God alone. We can learn to do this when we: 1) Recognize anger for what it is: evidence of a blocked goal (unless it’s righteous anger). Ask yourself, what illegitimate goal did someone just block? 2) Take your longings to God in prayer and ask him to either give you what you desire or change your heart. 3) Refuse to take shortcuts. If God says, “no,” learn to wait. Trust Him. Don’t take matters into your own hands. If you do, you just may get what you want and pay the price of God’s discipline!

Sunday is our fifteenth anniversary as a church! Hope and I arrived here on March 21, 1997.  Since then, we’ve watched God grow the Oasis and change lives in the process. At times, it’s been difficult and discouraging work, but we’ve also had the opportunity to watch God do amazing things in your lives. That makes it worth all the pain, sweat and effort! So, join us this Sunday as we celebrate this important milestone with a birthday cake and our annual servant of the year award.

Right now, our home churches are focusing on part two of our mentoring path: Learning to Love the Master (or Experiencing God). This Friday evening through Sunday (noon) retreat equips you to practice the spiritual discipline of remembering. The men’s retreat is this weekend (March 9 – 11) and the women’s retreat is May 4 – 6. The cost is $75/home church members ($150/non-members). The deadline for men to sign up has passed, but if you contact us immediately, we can still make room for one or two guys. Women, you’ll hear more about your retreat next week…

On Sunday, we continued our 14-week series, The Key to Happiness: A Journey through Ecclesiastes. Tory covered Ecclesiastes 7:13-29. If you missed the message, you can hear it by clicking here.

Tory reminded us that God made us for Himself, but we prefer to dig our own wells. Our hearts are deceitful, and – apart from God – hopeless. But the good news is that in Christ, we have been given new hearts that desire to please God and have the capacity to please God. But we must recognize that we are new creations and exercise the new hearts God has given us. Here’s how:    1) Engage in meaningful spiritual community. Are you in a home church? Are you sharing your story with your home church and inviting them into it?  2) Make time for silence every day. Turn off the radio or go for a walk. Get away from the noise and listen to God. Invite him to give you the strength you need to live from your new heart.

On Sunday, I challenged you not to let materialism steal your heart from God, the only one who can satisfy your deepest longings. Here are four practical steps to contentment: 1) Enjoy what you have. Too often, we don’t take time to enjoy what we already have with the people we love. So, stop and smell the flowers. 2) Share with others. We possess many things, but God owns everything. And he wants us to share what we have with others. 3) Pray before buying stuff. Avoid impulse purchases. Wait, pray, and talk about it with others first. 4) Give generously. Begin with 10% of your gross income. Then give to other good causes. And if you save another 10% of your income, you’ll need to learn how to live on 70% (or less) of your net income. That’s where you’ll find true contentment. So, how are you doing so far?

We have a couple of important activities coming up in the next few weeks. Creating Healthy Home Churches, part four of our mentoring path, is March 3 from 9am to 3pm (at the Oasis office). Lunch and materials are provided at no charge. This seminar will show you how to make and keep your home church healthy. Sign up on your communication card this Sunday or contact the church office at 207-6635.

The second big event is the men’s Learning to Love the Master retreat (part two of our mentoring path) March 9 – 11 (the women’s retreat will be May 4 – 6). The cost is $75/home church members ($150/non-members), but additional scholarships are available. Men, please RSVP as soon as possible. Don’t miss this life-changing weekend!