Monday 18 August 2008 at 4:34 pm
At our 9:30 Adult Sunday School class where we are studying the book of Revelation we only got through chapter 1 verse 5, 6. We spent a fair amount of time discussing how Jesus is the “firstborn of the dead” and the hope that this brings us. You can download to listen to an audio recording of the Sunday School here. To see a PDF of the study guide handout click here.
At 11:00 we asked 4 questions of the Luke 8 text on rescue:
Who needs rescuing?
What is the context of our rescuing?
What is the pre-condition required for our rescuing?
What must we ultimately be rescued from?
You can download to listen to an audio recording of the sermon here. You can see a PDF version of the slideshow here.
Friday 15 August 2008 at 4:50 pm
At 9:30 the Adult Sunday School Class we will continue to explore the book of Revelation. We will look at what it means that Jesus is: the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kingdom of the world. Depending on the time we will also explore what it means that he makes us a kingdom of priests and how to understand the tricky verse 7:
Revelation 1:7 (NRSV)
Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
At 11:00 we will explore two intertwined stories in which two very desperate people come to Jesus needing rescue. You have undoubtedly heard me say that Jesus has saved the world, is saving the world and will save the world. How does that salvation of the world involve us? Most of us I think would confess that various things in our lives need saving. How does that work?
Monday 11 August 2008 at 6:47 pm
At our 9:30 we continued our study of the book of Revelation discussing verse 3 and 4 of chapter 1. Audio MP3, PDF study guide. I also started a file of pdf versions of the study guide handout I give to the class.
At 11:00 we compared some of our own assumptions and expectations of how God works in our lives and in this world to save it with the story of Jesus saving the Gerasene demoniac. MP3 audio.
Friday 08 August 2008 at 7:54 pm
Facebook is a free social networking site that was started by a college student who wanted to keep up with his friends. Organizations can have “pages” on the system where others can register themselves as “fans” of that organization. The site is mostly used by young people but of course anyone is able to create their own account if they have an e-mail address.
Click here to find us on facebook. If you are on Facebook stop by and check it out.
Friday 08 August 2008 at 6:36 pm
Here are some upcoming events at church for your calendar:
Aug 10: 9:30 Adult Sunday School and Prayer Group. 11:00 Worship Service (You wouldn’t think I’d need to include this one, but some of you can’t seem to remember. :) )
Aug 10: 6:00pm. Prayer for the Renewal of the City
Aug 20: 6:00pm at church. Community meeting where we will hear the latest plans of the developer who wants to develop the ball field next to the church. This plan changes again and again and again. The latest plan is for the Longs Drugstore currently by Bel Air just across Freeport to relocate to a brand new, larger facility next door. I don’t know how many other stores they are planning to build with it, but a larger Long’s Drugs will be the anchor.
October 26 at 6:00pm. Ordination service for Eric Dirksen. Eric just arrived in July to serve a two year residency with Sacramento City Life (Marc Holland) with the plan of planting a church in Davis beginning in July of 2010. We hope to have participation from the leaders and members of our sister congregations here in Sacramento.
Friday 08 August 2008 at 6:05 pm
At 9:30 we will continue our study of the book of Revelation.
We’ll begin this week with 1:3 and move forward.
At 11:00 we’ll read
the second story in Jesus cross-lake expedition. Instead of a storm of wind with evil intent he encounters a storm of a man with evil intent. Here’s a teaser:
We harbor subtle and often erroneous expectations about God and his restorative work in our lives and in this world:
1. It will be pleasant.
2. It will be welcome.
3. It will be obvious, popular and widely accepted.
4. It will be understandable.
Instead we will see some very strange things:
1. God’s work seems wildly inefficient.
He crosses the lake to save one pitiful man and not even to take him back over to “God’s country” at the end. Jesus’ actions create fear in the hearts of the villagers and they ask him to leave. Was this how his mission trip was supposed to end?
2. God’s mission is a strange combination of ruthlessness and graciousness
The man doesn’t ask to be saved but Jesus saves him anyway. Jesus shows mercy to demons. The town’s pig economy literally goes into the drink. Jesus acquiesces to the request of the fearful townsfolk and heads home. “Mission Accomplished”. Jesus once again seemingly launches a fully convinced disciple to do Gentile missions while his chosen 12 remain clueless despite an astounding God appearance.
3. Even his results are both miraculous and inscrutable at the same time.
Jesus’ newly minted star witness is sent without the benefit of the discipling, teaching, experience, support, exposure to give a full explanation of “what God has done for me”. In the end, however,
the Luke 4 manifesto once again bears fruit and is proven to be spot-on.
Where do you fit into this story?
Friday 08 August 2008 at 4:54 pm
This Sunday night (Aug 10) a few of us will gather for an hour or so to pray for the renewal of the city. All are welcome. 6:00pm here at church.
Wednesday 06 August 2008 at 10:29 pm
At 9:30 we began digging into the book of Revelation. We only got as far as the first two verses of the book but we had to take a look at Daniel 2 to understand those. audio mp3
At 11:00 we continued our work in the gospel of Luke. We begin a new set of stories, this time Jesus coaxes his disciples into crossing the late overnight and while he's asleep in the boat they are hit with a terrifying storm. audio mp3
