Living Stones Church

Review of Sunday August 31

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:30:00 -0600

The 9:30 Sunday School class continued its study on the book of Revelation. Click here for the audio. You can get a copy of the study guide here.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a good recording of the 11:00 sermon again this week. Roger should be able to fix this and we should get back on track next week.

Sunday Preview for August 31

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:31:00 -0600

At the 9:30 Adult Sunday School class we will be exploring the vision of John as he saw Jesus in a very different way than he first saw him in Galilee:

Revelation 1:12-16 (NRSV)
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

Why would Jesus some as a little baby and die on a cross, weak in the eyes of the world, and then appear to John like this?

At 11:00 we continue in Luke to find that Jesus’ work has come to the attention of Herod and Herod doesn’t quite know what to make of him.

Review of Sunday Aug 24 08

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:31:00 -0600

At the 9:30 Sunday School we continued to discuss the book of Revelation and talked about 1:7,8. Here is a copy of the study in PDF. Here is a link to the MP3 recording.

At 11:00 the sermon was on Luke 9:1-6. Unfortunately something happened in the recording process of the sermon so I don’t have an audio recording. Sorry. I have posted the a PDF of the Power Point thought if you are interested.

Preview for Sunday August 24

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:43:00 -0600

At 9:30 in the Adult Sunday School class we will be looking at Revelation 1:7-8:

Revelation 1:7-8 (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.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

What we find in these verses may surprise you.

At 11:00 we’ll see Jesus delegate his mission to his disciples in a training exercise.
Luke 9:1-6 (NRSV)
Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Hmmm. Sounds spooky and scary, not like any mission trip I’ve ever been on. They usually give us a list of things to take, not things NOT to take.

You might think what Jesus does is startling, but the audacious truth behind it is ever more surprising!

Review of Sunday Aug 17

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:34:00 -0600

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.

Preview for Sunday Aug 17

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:50:00 -0600

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?

Media from Sunday Aug 10

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:47:00 -0600

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.

Living Stones is on Facebook

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:54:00 -0600

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.

Upcoming Events

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:36:00 -0600

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.

Preview for Sunday August 10

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:05:00 -0600

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?

Luke

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:39:00 -0600

Holy Week

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:30:00 -0600

Luke

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:39:00 -0600

Sin and the People of God

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:14:00 -0600

Jeremiah

Thu, 17 May 2007 21:41:00 -0600

Sermon Series on the book of Jeremiah

May 13: The Life of a Prophet
May 20: God's Dilemma
May 27: What is a temple for?
June 10: Founding Hell in the Promised Land
June 17: The Subversive God
June 24: New Branch, New Hearts