Last Updated 8.31.10

September 5 - Expensive Oaks

(Hope in Grief - Abraham buys burial plot for Sarah)

Sunday Morning: Daybreak & Refresh

Hebrews 11 will be used heavily in the message in its final form — added Monday 8.31.2010
Genesis 12:1-3 will be the Scripture reading. Would be great to use this in conjunction to the offering at both services, but make sure that everyone knew it was also connected to the message. We are blessed, not to have or to hoard, but to be a blessing!
Genesis 23 -- sweet grief, weird negotiations reveal Abraham's passion and commitment to getting property and believing God's promise in the spite of overwhelming evidence that it isn't going to happen.
Background Genesis 12-15 on the promise of a land and a great people. In the face of hardship, faith triumphs ... over everything
Romans 4:18-25 - what is dead can be brought to life by God!
Hope in the darkness, the worst of darkness, is faith ... and a long line of stories where faith triumphs.
Those stories find their light, for both sides of the mountain, in Jesus: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
[Dad's graveside]
Focus: We face a reality that we cannot escape: we will die here and not have achieved or received all that is promised to us -- so do we trust that there is bright future that we cannot really see?

Sunday Evening: Sundown

Title: "When You Believe in God: Living as a Recovering Christian Atheist" Matthew 7:13-29; 23:1-12; James 1:22-25

From Craig Groeshel's book Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist.
Introduction to the series. Focus on the importance of "walking our talk" and putting into practice the things we say are important to us

Use the "A Letter to the Reader" & "Introduction: A Recovering Christian Atheist"