Thanks for joining us today! Follow this link to a simple online "Connection Card" where you can let us know you were here and share any prayer concerns.

Bob Utley, "1 Corinthians 15" from the series Paul's Letters to a Troubled Church: I and II Corinthians.

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

What does the Bible say about death? OpenBibleInfo website.

Photo Gallery with brief biographies. "Celebrity Deaths in 2017" Entertainment website.

Stranger than Fiction is a 206 American film starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson. The plot follows Harold Crick (Ferrell), an IRS worker who begins hearing a voice narrating his life as it happens – seemingly the text of a novel in which it is stated that he will soon die – and he frantically seeks to prevent that ending. Roger Ebert called it thought-provoking and moral, writing, "Such an uncommonly intelligent film does not often get made... [it] requires us to enter the lives of these specific, quiet, sweet, worthy people." Wikipedia article.

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I’m not afraid but the sensation is like being afraid…" A Grief Observed is a collection of C. S. Lewis's reflections on the experience of bereavement following the death of his wife Joy in 1960. The book was first published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk as Lewis wished to avoid identification as the author. It inspired a 1985 television movie Shadowlands, as well as a 1993 film of the same name. The entire book is available at this link:

"The Bible contains much warning about death, speaking as frequently on this subject as it does about any other. In the garden of Eden where death had never entered, Adam and Eve were instructed by God to refrain from the forbidden fruit with an accompanying warning…" — Lehman Strauss, "Death" from the series Death and Afterward, Bible(dot)org.

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and, more recently, J.K. Rowling address the problem of sin and death through their works of imaginative fiction. Interestingly, all three identify Christmas (and thus the Incarnation) as a defining moment in their stories in which those in bondage find redemption and salvation. Here's a fascinating article called The Lord of the Hallows: Christian Symbolism and Themes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia.

Visit and like the StoneBridge Facebook page.

Thanks for partnering with us in our mission to reach people with the good news of God's love, to make disciples, and to send them out. Secure online giving via PayPal.

Subscribe to the StoneBridge Community Church podcast on iTunes and you'll never miss a message. Updates automatically.

Miss a message? You can always catch us on YouTube. We invite you to subscribe to our channel.