Fall Family Focus - The Life of David in 1 & 2 Samuel

The Life of David in 1 & 2 Samuel
The Fall 2015 NCPC Family Scripture Focus

I'm excited to offer weekly blogs encouraging people in this opportunity to grow in faith this fall, reading the biblical story of the life of...

 






Reading Schedule
Click here

Bible Reading Guide: Dr. Sara Koenig, Seattle Pacific University
http://blog.spu.edu/lectio/

New! Book Reading w/ Group Discussion

Grow in your faith by reading this book during the fall season (Oct - Dec)...

Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians

by Eugene Peterson (HarperCollins, 1997)

I'm especially challenging MEN to take up this opportunity - "Guys, you can do this!"  I'll be setting up a few “Pub Chats” for men to gather and share with each other insights and questions that arise from their reading.  Sign up today!

How to start:

1. Sign up ONLINE
2. On the sign up page, you'll have the opportunity to decide whether to buy the book on your own or have it ordered it for you ($13, cash/check to NCPC).  For books the church orders, we'll affix a special sticker to the front of the book to remind you of all those reading along with you (we'll send you the sticker if you buy your own copy).
3. Stay tuned to email updates and invitations to Pub Chats.

Deadline: No deadline, but act TODAY!…we start running with the David story on Monday, October 19.

A Personal Invitation from Kurt

To get the flavor of what you'll discover in the book, read these excerpts from Chapter 1: "David & Jesus" 

“What do these stories tell us about living this human life well, living it totally? Primarily and mostly they tell us that it means dealing with God.  It means dealing with a lot of others things as well: danger and parents and enemies and friends and lovers and children and wives and pride and humiliation and rejection and siblings and sickness and death and sexuality and justice and fear and peace – to say nothing of diapers and emails and breakfast and traffic jams an clogged drainpipes and bounced checks. But always, at the forefront and in the background of circumstances, events, and people, it’s God.”

“The David story immerses us in a reality that embraces the entire range of humanness, stretching from the deep interior of our souls to the farthest reach of our imaginations. No other biblical story has this range to it, showing the many dimensions of height, depth, breadth, and length of human experience as a person comes alive before God – aware of God, responsive to God. We’re never more alive than when we’re dealing with God…David deals with God.”

“(The gospel writers) keep introducing Jesus as ‘Son of David….’ The David story anticipates the Jesus story.  The Jesus story presupposes the David story. David. Why David? There are several strands that make up the answer, but prominent among them is David’s earthiness.  He’s so emphatically human: David fighting, praying, loving, sinning.  David conditioned by the morals and assumptions of a brutal Iron Age culture. David with his eight wives.  David angry; David devious; David generous; David dancing.  There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, that God can’t and doesn’t use to work his salvation and holiness into our lives. If we’re going to get the most out of the Jesus story, we’ll want to first soak our imaginations in the David story.”

Next Week:

We set the stage for the David story (1 Samuel 1-15)

• Hannah: A Cry from the Heart
• Young Samuel: God Calling
• Hungry for a Human King, God's People Get Saul