Hey Harvesters!
Here are the notes from last Sunday’s sermon! It’s my hope that, while many of us have been believers for a long time, that we continue to push forward with a proactive faith in God’s power and goodness!

Byron

Harvest South Bay                September 21st, 2008

Don’t Stop Believing
Great Expectations: The Gospel of Mark
Mark 5:21-43
Context and Narrative: Jesus returns to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and is greeted by crowds. Mark recounts a narrative here concerning persevering in faith in order to encourage his 1st century readers who will endure intense persecution under the reign of Nero.

Jesus’ One Lesson:
Keep On Believing: do not cease to believe in the power and goodness of God when circumstances urge you to give up, lay down, or cease being proactive.

2 Applications
1. Don’t Look Back: Do not base your expectations of God’s work solely on what He has done in the past. Jesus was known to only have power to heal, exorcise and control the weather. Here He demonstrates His power over life and death.
2. Don’t Give Up: Do not become frustrated and give up faith. Jairus was tempted to “not bother the teacher anymore.” However Jesus bade him to continue to believe in God’s goodness and strength.

Weekly Application Exercises
1. Recall a prayer request that you may have abandoned praying for or a prayer that you should be praying but have neglected. Purpose to continue to pray for that request with faith that God will answer.

2. Remember the prayers that God has answered in surprising ways: perhaps by denying a request or by changing your own heart through redirecting your desires. How does that history inform how you should continue to have faith?

More Questions to ponder!
1. What new thing would God have you do or believe in which might stretch your faith?
2. Often getting into a rut in life is a symptom of acquiescing to an onslaught of demands: we do a routine because if we break out of it we think that we will break under the strain. How might God be calling us to get out of our rut? What kind of faith would it take and what would be at risk if we lived life differently?
3. Jesus was laughed at in the exercise of His power: Jairus must have felt even deeper ridicule for continuing to bring this preacher to the bedside of the corpse of his daughter. Who’s ridicule do you fear? How does seeking the approval of others figure into the lack of the exercise of our faith?

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever…”
The loss of all of our previous content reminds me not only of the delicate nature of all that we do, but that in this world the only constants are the Lord and His Word.

It also reminds me to back up stuff, because the cloud can’t be trusted (shakes fist at imaginary cloud)…

Well, here are the notes from this week’s sermon, I’m glad that our audio files are preserved!
Byron

Fear No Evil
Harvest South Bay September 7th, 2008

Three Themes:
1. A story of Darkness: Both the setting is dark and the soul of the demonized man is dark.
2. A story of Power: The power of the demon is impressive, but the power of Jesus dominates.
3. A story of Transformation: The man is found completely transformed by Jesus.

Two reminders
1. Jesus has power over all evil: All demonic and Satanic evil as well as the evil intent in the world.
2. Jesus has purpose in allowing evil: All evil is allowed for a reason in this world in God’s greater plan.

Weekly Application Exercises
1. CS Lewis states insightfully that we either have a morbid preoccupation with evil and the demonic or an unhealthy apathy toward Satan’s dealings. Examine  how you can think and live more biblically concerning this area of spirituality.
2. Think of the difference that it would make if you were more conscious of the fact that Satan is a real power working to undermine your spirituality and godliness. How will you this challenge?

More questions for the week!
1. Think of how you would respond if someone were to come to you for help because of an alleged demonic oppression/possession. If you eventually came to witness that circumstance as being credible through many proofs, what, then would be your reaction? How would you proceed and what would your emotions be?
2. Pay attention to the circumstances that you disdain in your life- especially the ones where you feel someone has evil intent toward you. What does this say about your trust in God’s power over evil and in His plan in allowing evil to impact our lives? How can your attitude change toward those circumstances?
3. There is evil in our world and in our own personal environment. If we co-exist with that evil, we cope with it in any number of different ways: we give up on conquering that evil and tacitly admit that God has lost control, or we accept that God has a plan for that evil being in our lives, or we ignore the evil altogether and resign ourselves to simply living in a world with evil without regard to it’s source or purpose. How do we reconcile and cope with the evil that impacts us?

Well our web host provider totally dropped the ball.  We are up and running again but we lost all our previous content.  Oh well, life goes on…