Wonder Why?
Hi Harvest South Bay!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week. If you have a chance this weekend, take a peek into the storage room just off of the main meeting room (shall we call it the sanctuary from now on?). You’ll notice that the old, worn out, energy hogging refrigerator is on its way out and that Chris and some of the guys moved in a new (used) fridge in. YAY! Please give your appreciation to Chris and the moving team since they arranged SAME DAY pickup of this new fridge and got it up the stairs and into place. Now we can store snacks and other goodies with the confidence that they will be the appropriate, non-disease growing temperature!
Kudos to my wife, too, for arranging the donation of this fridge from a co-worker who no longer needed it. Thanks Christine!
With that, here are the notes from last week’s shortened sermon.
(Oh, and thanks for the good turnout to the congregational voting meeting.)
Byron
Harvest South Bay September 28th 2008
Wonder Why?
Great Expectations, The Gospel of Mark: Mark 6:1-6
The Condescension of the Nazarenes
They looked down on Jesus because of His
1. Profession (He was not a trained Rabbi, but simply a carpenter to them)
2. Pedigree (Their were rumors that He as illegitimate… and so they called Him the “Son of Mary” instead of the more culturally appropriate “Son of Joseph”)
3. Prominence (He was simply the same boy that they grew up with- who had brother and sisters that they knew)
Two principles to Increase our Faith
1. Submit (The Nazarenes failed to have faith because they failed to submit their idea of what a Messiah ought to be to God. We fail to submit because we say that we will obey only under certain circumstances which is not true submission at all)
2. Wonder (The Nazarenes held no sense of wonder at the person of Jesus. We need to continue to wonder at God’s power, goodness and love in order to be motivated to obedience)
Weekly Application Exercises
1. What conditions do you place on obedience when it comes to sharing the Gospel? What internal scripts are familiar to you when you face a situation where you might be able to share with others?
2. Spend some time meditating on the attributes of God’s immensity, power and mercy. How does your daily schedule shrink your perspective on God and Jesus’ role in your life?
Additional questions and applications
1. Reflect on memorable times when God instilled a sense of wonder within you for Him. What attribute of God were you meditating on at the time? What can you do in your daily routine in order to regain a sense of wonder for God?
2. What new steps of faith can you be taking which will stretch you? God is glorified when we give from what do not have and rely on Him for provision: what resources do you find scarce and therefore something that God might want you to give (time? money? energy?…etc)
3. Spend sometime outside this week (it is NICE AND WARM) looking up at the sky. Even in light-polluted Southern California there is enough to wonder at as we look heavenward. Meditate on God’s immensity and take that experience into your week.
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