Reading Challenge

Hi Ladies,

Don't forget our reading challenge. For those those would like to study God's story "unabridged" - I encourage you to follow along in one of two ways:

The Super Duper Reading Challenge: Read the books that we are covering in each lesson as listed in the table of contents in the workbook. You'll find that next week, we will be covering Exodus through Deuteronomy. (That's why this one is called the Super Duper Challenge).

The Also Super Reading Challenge: Read the specific passages listed in each lesson workbook page page. So, for next week, we'll be looking at the following passages in detail:

• Ex. 12:1-13
• Ex. 19:1-6 (we might also refer to Ex. 20:1-17)
• Ex. 25:8-9
• Lev. 16: 5, 7-10, 20-22

You can see, we have much to cover next week, so reading in advance will give you better footing as we traverse the marvels of God's Story together.

*I might also have some surprises for those who complete their reading.....

See ya next week!

Melissa

Lesson 3

What an amazing time we had together today, ladies. I enjoyed spending time with each of you and hearing your contributions to the lessons and insights into the biblical text.

We have only had three lessons, but we are already knee deep into God's story - and isn't it beautiful? One of my hopes for this study is that you will grow in your appreciation for the literary beauty of God's Word. The inspiration of Scripture was not a wooden process. Rather, the working of the Spirit with men to record God's Word was a beautiful and creative process. The Spirit clearly used the gifts, strengths, and personalities of each of the human authors.

And isn't the inspiration of the Spirit clear in the unity of the story? So far, we have only looked at one book in the Bible - Genesis. But we can already tell that the author used a specific literary device by which to propel the reader through all the different stories of God's Kingdom - God's "seed" of salvation. In the first part of God's story, we've learned that the 'seed' will come through Eve, through Abraham and Sarah, through Isaac, and through Judah. We've also learned that the seed will be a royal and commanding figure with an eternal outlook. We will see that Scripture continues to speak concerning the identity of the seed.

I can't wait to see you all next week. We have another full lesson in store for us. This week we uncovered the promise of the king in salvation from sin by substitution. Next week we will be looking at the grace of the king in the sacrificial system, the tabernacle, and the law. Wow - "grace" and "promise" - that sounds very "New Testament-y" doesn't it??????

See ya then!
Melissa

Lesson 2

The rain almost washed us away yesterday for Lesson 2. We ferried as many people as we could from the parking lot to the Faith Building with umbrellas - so sorry if we missed a few. Thank you to our wonderful nursery workers (Lynn, Sherrie, and Pilly) for taking such good care of our kids, for unloading and loading all the toys in the rain, and for waiting outside to direct newcomers to the study. (Lynn, we hope your feet dried out!)

But the weather left us with a refreshing surprise as we left the study - cool weather! It was so nice to come out of the church and feel that cool fall air. The weather certainly served as a reminder for us that God has such good things in store for us.

For those that missed lesson 2, we really missed you. But we hope to see you again next week. Email me if you would like for me to send you the notes for lesson 2. I will post the entire workbook to the right shortly - so check back!

See you next week!
Melissa

Lesson One

Hi Ladies,

Thank you for coming to the first Brown Bag Lunch. I had a wonderful time sharing with you and hope that everyone enjoyed it. Overall, I hope each one of you came away from the study refreshed with the discovery of the pattern of life that God intends for us to live.

If you were overwhelmed by the information, hang in there! I only have my poor presentation skills to blame, but as we move along in our lessons hopefully my communication skills will improve. So hang in there with me!

We are in debted to our wonderful childcare workers who took such loving care of all our little ones. Thank you for turning two empty rooms into a joyful playroom of toys and fun!

To the right, you'll see a tab with resources. I'll try to include different handouts and books that I've used in preparing our lessons. That way you can do some additional study on your own or at home. I've also posted the lesson 1 workbook page, so that anyone who was absent may download it. If you missed a lesson, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll email you the full lesson so that you can read it before next time.

Come back next week and we'll study Genesis 3. It will help us understand why that the pattern of a 'restful' life God intends for us to live doesn't always come true. In fact, sometimes life feels more like a nightmare, right? But Genesis 3 will also give us a glimmer of hope for how we can overcome those nightmares and get back to living a restful life in Christ.

Remember, if you have questions about the study or something we covered in the Brown Bag Lunch, leave it in the comment section. Everyone else free to weigh in!

See you next time!

Melissa

The Countdown Begins

Hi gals!

The countdown to Tuesday is on! The 15th will be here before we know it, so here are a few details concerning next week:

Location: Room 3110 in the Faith Building (the middle building on campus, first floor)

Time: 12:00 pm sharp!!!

What to bring: Your lunch and drink and your Bible

Childcare: in the 3110 suite of rooms. If you are taking advantage of our free childcare, please arrive a few minutes early to give you time to check your child in. We will begin out study at 12:00 pm sharp, so you don't want to be late!

Continue to invite your friends and co-workers. We have plenty of room for everyone. However, registration is required for childcare. We want to make sure we have plenty of workers.

For those of you who are study geeks like me, you can prepare by reading Gen. 1 & 2.

Leave a comment here if you have any questions! Otherwise, see ya next Tuesday!
Melissa