Exhortation to Speak of Dying: Burdened Agency & Imagination | Dr. Sumner Abraham

Adult Sunday School: Death & Dying

In 2017, an iPhone app developer released an app called “WeCroak.” The idea was simple: five times a day your phone will remind you that you’re going to die. Morbid? Probably. Helpful? Weirdly yes. Turns out, users reported a strange perspective shift that made them less irritable about little things and more attendant to little joys in life. Fortunately, Christians don’t need an app to have hope in the face of death. But when the rubber meets the road, we often treat it like a taboo that never gets talked about until it’s too late. This summer we’re going to tackle this topic head on in the hopes of getting help not only for our own eventual deaths, but also some practical advice for those giving care to declining loved ones.

Meets in the sanctuary every Sunday at 9:45am. Taught by Dr. Sumner Abraham.

The Bread of Life | Samuel Husband

Scripture Reference: John 6:1-14, 25-51

What is our natural response when we don’t have enough patience, kindness, faith, resources, wisdom, or humility? How might our response change if we follow Jesus’ pattern?

Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved: “To identify the movements of the Spirit in our lives, I have found it helpful to use four words: “taken,” “blessed,” “broken,” and “given…” These words also summarize my life as a Christian because, as a Christian, I am called to become bread for the world: bread that is taken, blessed, broken, and given… these four words have become the most important words of my life… they speak about the most divine as well as the most human behavior. They reach high as well as low, embrace God as well as all people.”

Sermon Points:

  • Bread & the Bible
  • Living Bread
  • Leftovers

Secure with the Shepherd | Les Newsom

Scripture Reference: Psalm 23

Is there a more appropriately famous Psalm than the 23rd? For good reason God’s people have clung to it in times of distress. But when was the last time we camped out on those images and studied them in hopes of finding new joys of the Christian’s security in Christ?

Sermon Points:

  • The Sheep and the Shepherd (vv. 1–3)
  • The Traveler and the Companion (v. 4)
  • The Guest and the Host (vv. 5–6)

John: The Restoration of Peter & the Conclusion of John | Clay Dabbs

John: Do You Want to Be Healed?
Is the Gospel of John the most important thing ever written down by a human being?  Probably so. And at the readable length of about 60 pages of your typical paperback it is an accessible narrative that contains the most significant truths of the universe. Explore the mystery of a relationship with Jesus offered in the Gospel of John and confront the fundamental question that Jesus asked the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda and continues to ask us today: Do you want to be healed?
Meets in the sanctuary at 9:45am. Taught by Clay Dabbs.