Sermon Wrap-up December 9

Here are the sermon wrap-up links for December 9:

Audio Link is here. (By the way, I just realized that the podcast service has not been feeding the whole sermon into iTunes. So, if you listen through iTunes and thought the conclusions were lacking….they were. Checking on that this week.)

Here, again, is the video:

Daniel 2:44-45: The hidden hope of faith

Overall Sales Results for the Entire Holiday Shopping Season 2011:

• Between November 1, 2011 and December 26, 2011, Consumers spent $35.3 billion online, according to market research organization ComScore. This is 15% more than consumers spent online in the same time period in 2010.
• There were nine days in 2011 in which online sales were more than $1 billion, according to ComScore.
• Clothing chain discounts were an average of 7% higher than they were during the 2010 Christmas shopping season, according to an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
• According to an ICSC-Goldman Sachs survey, 18% of gift purchases were gift cards, which is 3.4% higher than 2010.
• Between December 1st and December 24th, consumer retail spending rose 4.7% over the same time period in 2010, according to ShopperTrak research.
• Consumer Confidence rose to 64.5 in December 2011, which is 10 points higher than November's consumer confidence level according to the Conference Board.
• In November spending rose 4.1%, according to the research organization, ShopperTrak

Set the Stage:

1. Daniel: in exile, the loss of the "good country" and the blessed lands

2. Daniel: in service to the country of his residence, but not the home of his heart

3. Daniel: waiting

4. Nebuchadnezzar: Hears great news about his kingdom but likely misses what the real message is here:

5. Christmas is coming: the outbreak of the final kingdom of his vision: the Rock that fills the whole world

6. What do we look for? 

7. Do we have faith that Christmas has come, and the Rock has been established? 

8. Do we live as part of that kingdom? Even though we must dwell in a lesser one?

9. What do we do to spread the Rock Kingdom throughout the whole world?

10. Christmas was the revelation of the plan of God and we live in fulfillment of His declared plan.

Questions:

1. How many kingdoms did Nebuchadnezzar see in his vision?

2. Was Daniel sent into exile in 587/6 BC?

3. Do people have faith in Christmas even if they are not Christians?

4. Has the Rock Kingdom fully come into this world?

5. Who is in charge of the Rock Kingdom?