Hebrews 11:10

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“He was looking forward.” The future was not closed off to Abraham, nor is it shut for us. One marker of the Jewish faith has been the idea that time is actually going somewhere and is not a monotonous cycle of unchangeable events.

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“He did not know where he was going.” Yet he knew who was going with him: the God whom he trusted. Because of his faith — his trust — (our first Core Value), he could make this risky decision.

Psalm 105:8-9

He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Abraham’s life was a signpost that pointed well into the future! “A thousand generations” is the Hebrew way of saying “for a very, very long time.” The God who called Abraham would remain faithful to “his covenant” and to oath” he swore. To take this journey into the future means trusting God’s faithful past as the basis for His hopeful future.

Psalm 41:9

Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

So, the offer of friendship by the church to newcomers can be risky for them. We don’t always know what experiences newcomers bring to their encounter with us, which would include incidents in previous churches or loss of confidence in a friend they once trusted.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We, the church, have been given the ministry of showing other people how God wants to make them His friends! That’s what Paul means by “the ministry of reconciliation.”

Job 19:21

Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

So we come back to the Core Value of Friendship in the life of the church. People come through our doors all the time, and we don’t have the permission or the freedom to decide in advance what Job-like experiences they will bring with them.

Job 6:14-21

¹⁴ “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
    as the streams that overflow
¹⁶ when darkened by thawing ice
    and swollen with melting snow,
¹⁷ but that stop flowing in the dry season,
    and in the heat vanish from their channels.
¹⁸ Caravans turn aside from their routes;
    they go off into the wasteland and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look for water,
    the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
²⁰ They are distressed, because they had been confident;
    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
²¹ Now you too have proved to be of no help;
    you see something dreadful and are afraid.