Broken Resolutions…
Good Morning Harvest South Bay!
Thanks for all your prayers concerning this nagging cough of mine; I know that many of us in our congregation are going through a cold or flu of some kind (or have so recently). I’m at about 80% today and hacking here and there, but with patience I hope to be better by this coming Sunday! As always, here are the notes from this week’s sermon. If you missed the sermon itself because you were teaching Sunday School or missed service, go ahead and click through and listen online!
Byron
Harvest South Bay January 18th, 2009
Broken Resolutions
Great Expectations: Mark 10:1-12
The Trap:
The Pharisees want Jesus to run afoul of either the conservatives who permitted divorce on only the strictest grounds, the liberals who permitted divorce for almost any reason or Herod himself who imprisoned John the Baptist for preaching on the immorality of his marital infidelities.
Jesus’ Answer
Jesus affirms God’s design for marriage- that it is permanent. He explains that Deut 24:1-4 does not permit divorce so much as it addresses how to handle the cultural practice of divorce that is happening at the time.
Application:
Tests to not cut corners with God
1. Am I interpreting God honestly?
2. Am I following the spirit of God’s Will?
3. Do I suspect the “can do” attitude?
Weekly Application Exercises
1. Recall a New Year’s resolution which you did not fulfill. What was the process of your failure? How is that process instructive to fulfilling future resolutions?
2. What are some of God’s “big themes” which do not occupy a big part of your life? Which of God’s “majors” have become “minors” and vice versa? How can you be more diligent in fulfilling God’s greater priorities?
Some additional questions for this week!
1. Recall the successful changes that God has made in your life as you have grown in your faith. How has God accomplished those? What character traits in particular has He helped you overcome?
2. The sermon talked about an attitude that asks “what can I get away with?” as a Christian. In what dimensions of your life do you see this attitude displayed? How can you change that attitude from self-centered and self-willed to one that is focused on doing the best for the Lord in excellence?
3. Take some time this week to focus on your personal devotional life. You’d be surprised what 10 or 15 minutes of planning can do in transforming your daily habits for the rest of the year: make a prayer calendar, restrategize your approach to reading the Scriptures, make a list of 12 memory verses to work on (1 per month)!
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