Posts by Jared Bridges

Politics, prayer, and people. Those three things make for a volatile mix. Corporate prayer in itself can be a difficult skill for the people of God to master. Both those who vocalize prayers and those who participate have challenges, including -- but not limited to -- boredom, aimlessness, and even sermonizing during prayer. As we continue our journey through Paul's first ...

What does it mean to live as people of truth in a culture that's so often less than truthful? As we continue in our series on the Sermon on the Mount, this last Sunday we looked at Matthew 5:33-37, where Jesus teaches about oaths, vows, yeses and nos. As disciples of Jesus, we must understand what it means for us that every word we say is captive to God's truth. Listen ...

Repentance is a churchy word that's seldom heard or understood out in the world. In Jonah 3, we find repentance in the most unlikely of places. I invite you to listen to this last Sunday's sermon from Jonah 3 as we encounter a God who does not follow formulas, who uses people for his purposes despite their dispositions, and who overturns our hearts with his overwhelming ...

Sermon discussion questions for chapter 1 of Jonah....

Church programs can be dangerous. Most of the time, the danger lies in that many programs tend toward losing purpose, and often begin to serve the program itself rather than its intended purpose. We've probably all been a part of church programs that have long outlasted their relevance or effectiveness. That's how (as an example) a church ends up spending thousands of dol...

On paper, we Americans are all about putting children first. You see it everywhere from politicians who perennially promise "to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren," to people who step out of public life to "spend more time with their children," to otherwise divorcing couples who vow to stay together "for the children." We want our children to have the...

Hey Brother, Can You Share Some Change? It's probably happened to you. You're at church one Sunday morning and see a face that doesn't look familiar. Wanting to be a good host, you approach and introduce yourself. "Are you new to OBC?" you ask. "Well I've been attending for about 6 months," they reply. After overcoming your initial embarrassment for failing to recogniz...

Taking your child to the Sunday worship service can be jarring, but helpful! Pastor Jared Bridges, Elder over Family Ministry at OBC, believes this is helpful for discipleship, education, tradition, and opportunity....

We invite you to reread Jared's helpful post "How to Help a Child Attend a Worship Service," as weget ready for the upcoming change to our Sunday morning schedule. With that transition and the holidays approaching, please take note of schedule for the next few weeks: December 11 18 (Worship Services and Sunday School at 9:30am 11:00am) December 24 (Christmas Eve Servi...