Questions about persistence

Good Morning

Mark your calendars Sunday August 1st is our outdoor worship and picnic. If you plan on attending the picnic please email myself or Ellen Grunsell with how many hot dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers you and your family will eat so we can relay that information to Anconas who is donating the meat. You can also sign up on the sheet in the community room. For the worship please bring lawn chairs or blankets and a salad or dessert for the picnic.

This week’s book of faith puzzler is: Who was the reigning emperor of Rome when John the Baptist began his ministry?
Last week’s question was: There are two times in the Old Testament when animals talk, can you name one of them. Those two times are The two times were the serpent who talked to Eve in Genesis 3:4-5 and the donkey who warned Balaam in Numbers 22:22-30.

This week our text are about persistence. Abraham being persistent with God when trying to save Sodom and Gomorrah and Jesus telling us to be persistent in prayer.

The first lesson is Genesis 18:20-32. This Sodom and Gomorrah are most well known in debates about homosexuality, however this text Abraham bargains with God to save the cities for a few righteous people. How many righteous people did Abraham believe were in the city? When have you bargained with others? Have you been successful? When have you bargained with God? Have you been successful? How can this text be both a good and bad example for how we should communicate with God? Do you believe that we should bargain with God?

The second lesson is Colossians 2:6-19. We often talk about baptism being a new life in Christ, but in this lesson, Paul talks about how we are buried with Christ in baptism. How is baptism both a death and a new life? Paul warns about philosophies and traditions that can keep us from faith, what are some of those modern philosophies and traditions?

The gospel is Luke 11:1-13. This version of the Lord’s Prayer is slightly different than what we say in worship every week. Does hearing the Lord’s Prayer in new language help you better understand what it means? If so google “Lord’s Prayer international” for many different versions of the Lord’s Prayer said in various denominations throughout the world (my personal favorite for beautiful language and opening up the meaning is from the Anglican Church of New Zealand). The second part of this text is a parable about a friend at midnight. At what time do you lock the door to helping friends? Do you sometimes give in to others solely because of their persistence? The third part has the poetic verse 9 “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” When should you be persistent? When is it difficult to stop asking, searching and knocking?

Have a great week!