The Reality of the Resurrection

Hi Harvest South Bay!

MANY MANY MANY thanks to everyone who not only brought guests to our “Bring A Friend Sunday” but also to all of you who took special effort to make our visitors feel at home! Keep praying that God speaks to the hearts of everyone who came and continues to work in us to make  us an outward focused, evangelistic congregation!

I’d also like to thank all of you who prayed for our retreat speaker for our upcoming Harvest Summer Retreat. Thankfully he has responded positively and has agreed to preach the Word of God to our congregation! His name is Dr. David Timms and this is his brief bio:

Australian by birth, and born into the home of a pastor, David has planted churches, pastored churches, and trained pastors for churches since 1983.

His initial commitment to Christ came in 1970. For several years after High School, he worked in banks and construction before sensing the call to ministry, traveling to the United States in 1982 to undergo formal ministry preparation—doing his undergraduate studies at Johnson Bible College, and Master’s degree work at Emmanuel School of Religion (both in Tennessee).

In 1985, David married a California girl (Kim). After completing his graduate studies in 1988, they relocated to Australia and spent nearly 13 years doing church planting and then Bible College teaching. He also earned his PhD (in New Testament studies) from Macquarie University during that period.

Shortly after the 2000 Olympics, David, Kim, and their three sons returned from Sydney to the United States where David continues to teach in the graduate school at Hope International University, Fullerton, California and supervise the ministry training program.

Over the past 6-7 years, David’s spiritual mentors have included Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Thomas a Kempis, Brennan Manning, Eugene Peterson, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and David Benner. These, and others, have nurtured the deep yearning of his soul for authentic spiritual formation—being with Christ, to become like Christ, to better live for Christ.

Since 2001 David has also published numerous articles in The LOOKOUT magazine, and produced a regular e-zine titled “In HOPE” which shares his reflections on Christian leadership and spiritual formation. As part of that journey, he recently authored Living the Lord’s Prayer (Bethany House, June 2008). His latest book, Sacred Waiting: Waiting on God in a World that Waits for Nothing, is due for release on September 1, 2009.

Annnnnd…. Here are the notes from last Sunday’s sermon!

Byron

A Dose of Reality
Great Expectations: Mark 15:42-16:8

The Purpose of the Passage:

To tell us of the Reality of the Resurrection.

2 Responses:

1. Believe in the Resurrection: Mark’s account is spare in order to emphasize the factual nature of the resurrection: that it is a historical occurrence, not some religious fable.

2. Be Changed by the Resurrection: The resurrection of Jesus, as the firstfruits of what will be to come revolutionizes how we think and act on a daily basis.

4 Fundamental Beliefs in Following Jesus

1. God is Holy

2. We are Imperfect

3. Jesus died to Rescue us and Free us of sin.

4. We need to personally Respond to God.

Weekly Application Exercises
1. Take some time to review your investment of resources, a resource a day: one day reviewing your time, one day your finances, one day your storage space, one day your emotions, etc… How are your investments different or the same in light of the reality of the afterlife?

2. Regardless of where you are in your faith, review the fundamental beliefs above. To what degree does your life conform to those realities? How do you see them reflected in what you see from day to day?