Here are the notes from this last week’s sermon and some discussion questions/exercises!

Harvest South Bay
November 16, 2008
Death Becomes Us
The Gospel of Mark: Mark 8:22-36
Having a Clear Vision of God: In order to see God fully we must be fully submitted to Him

Three Instructions to Clear our Vision
1. We need to change our values
2. We need to change our perspective
3. We need to change our plans

Weekly application exercises
1. Pray for those experiencing loss from the fires here in Southern California. Find one way that you can meet the need of someone in crisis that involves personal cost.
2. Ask a mature believer in Christ what steps you can take in order to stretch your faith and grow deeper in maturity in your faith.

Additional Questions/Exercises
1. Take an accounting of your expenses for the last month. How do you finances reflect your heart, your insecurities, and what you value? Evaluate if your values have been impacted by the recent financial crisis in our country.
2. Christianity Today ran an article several years ago on Saint Ned: Ned Flanders from the TV series “The Simpsons.” The magazine touted Ned Flanders as a great example of Christlikeness (minus some of the hijinks that he encounters later in the series): he is devout, he is extreme, and he reflects virtually every fruit of the Spirit to an uncomfortable degree. We observe many pious Christians in the same light: as objects of ridicule or people who are too extreme, yet Jesus calls us to have an extreme change of values and perspective. How can we be more extreme in the development of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives?
3. What plans for your life (and  your families’ lives) do  you hold onto tightly? How free is your soul to be steered by God in the direction that He would require?

2. Here’s the link to directions/labels for families packing shoe boxes at home and bringing them to church this Sunday:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/pdf/PackABoxwithLabels.pdf

3. Here’s the link to the Donation Form for $7 and labels:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/pdf/one_sheet.pdf

Byron

As always, here are the notes from last week’s sermon. I hope that the many teachers who minister to our kids especially have time to listen to the sermon on line. Consider tuning in via the web during your lunchtime at work or some time after you put your kids to sleep. It’s vital that we all “eat” spiritually- which is drawing sustenance from God’s Word on a regular basis!

Byron

Harvest South Bay                November 9th, 2008

Say Again?
Great Expectations: The Gospel of Mark
Mark 8:1-26

God repeats Himself because we are hard of hearing

Exposition:
The feeding:
Mark records the feeding of the 4,000 because it shows that Jesus repeats certain actions because we have learned the lessons He seeks to teach.
The disciples:
The disciples failed to learn the lesson that Jesus could and would provide whatever food they needed- and so Jesus was obviously teaching a spiritual lesson instead of physical one when He referred to the “leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod”
The blind man:
Jesus two-stage miracle was given to indicate our lack of clarity in seeing God and His will. It encourages us because Jesus eventually touches us to the extent that we can see His lessons rightly.
3 lessons that bear repeating

1. Have faith in Jesus’ supernatural power.
Live as if God exists and can be depended upon.

2. Look for Jesus’ supernatural power.
Have a spiritual perspective which is constantly waiting and watching for God’s guidance.

3. Understand Jesus’ supernatural lessons.
Be concerned about how God is informing our lives spiritually rather than being consumed by the pedestrian affairs of daily life.
Weekly Application Exercises
1. Have a discussion with a fellow believer about what God is teaching you about Himself.

2. Do something risky this week for God, depending on His power and wisdom.

Recommended reading
1. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
2. How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
3. Children’s Thinking, Robert Siegler

Additional Questions:
1. How often do you have a productive spiritual discussion with other believers- where you have the opportunity to share about God and His will and directions rather than simply church or work or school? How can you improve on the frequency of these discussions OUTSIDE of formal settings (small group/church)
2. Spend some time assessing the trajectory of your life that God has willed. Where would God want to move you next in terms of your life’s circumstances? How would He want to reshape your soul if you were willing to change?
3. How open are you to change in the church and change that impacts your family and friends? Are you part of a larger vision for God’s people which is exciting and faith stretching and based on bringing more people to the Lord?

Let’s continue to pray for all of our nations leaders, the spiritual state of our government, and the direction of our communities. Continue to thank God for the many blessings He has afforded us in living in the United States!

byron

Harvest South Bay                November 2nd, 2008
Hearing Aid
Great Expectations: The Gospel of Mark
Mark 7:31-37

Narrative: Jesus takes a deaf man with a speech impediment aside and heals him while people disobey Jesus’ commandment to keep the miracle a secret.
The lack of understanding of the disciples: The disciples keep displaying a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus and His mission. He tells them on 3 different occasions of His persecution and death (Mark 8:31;9:3; 10:33,34) and each time they display their lack of understanding. This is the reason why we understand Jesus’ healing miracles in this section (Mark 7:31-37;8:22-26;10:46-52) as more than simple healings: they also serve as parables which illustrate the need to hear and see Jesus for who He truly is: the suffering Messiah who comes to redeem us of our sins.
3 prerequisites to hearing God
1. Realize that Jesus is the one who opens our ears
2. Understand our hardness of heart.
3. Challenge conventional wisdom.

Weekly Application Exercises
1. Memorize some part of the Bible this week and seek to think on what you memorize throughout the day- seeing how God challenges you with that piece of His instruction.
2. Identify a part of the Bible which you have previously thought as impractical in it’s application. How would God want to challenge you in implementing that Scripture in your life?

Recommended reading
1. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
2. How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
3. Children’s Thinking, Robert Siegler

Some additional questions from the sermon:
1. Recall some sins that you continued in for some time but now have rejected. What was that process like? What circumstances made you hold on tightly to those sins? What kind of excuses did you hold to internally which kept you from giving  up those sins? How does that experience of breaking from from sin inform any present processes in your life in identifying, breaking from, and being victorious from sin?
2. In your life, what has hearing God’s voice and experiencing Him been like? At what times has He spoken to you and in your pursuit of Him, have you simply tried to recreate those experiences rather than recognizing His authority in revelation?
3. Rate your countercultural-ness on a scale between 1-10 (1= very much like society around me, 10= very different than everything!). How does your conformity to norms interfere with pursuing God’s will for your everyday actions and overall plan for your life?

Byron

Here are this week’s notes. I know that I’ve been delinquent in getting out not only a POST sermon blogpost but also a PRE sermon blogpost since our second child popped into the world. Now that Christine and I are getting into more of a rhythm I’ll redouble my efforts!

Byron

Hold On!
The Gospel of Mark: Mark 7:24-30
Exposition:
The Contrast between Pharisee and Syrophoenician
IN seeking Jesus: the Pharisees demand that Jesus conform to their opinion
the Syrophoenician to humbly supplicate
IN faith toward Jesus: the Pharisees have none even though await a Messiah
the Syrophoenician awaits no Messiah but doggedly pursues Jesus
IN access to Jesus: the Pharisees can see Jesus at any time, but squander their access
the Syrophoenician breaks every taboo in coming to Jesus in order to gain access to Him

The Controversial Statement of Jesus
“it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”
This statement is most likely a figure of speech from that time period: it seems worded as such. As such, Jesus is not directly referring to the woman herself as a dog- or even to the gentiles as dogs. He is using the proverbial statement to show the importance of priority: that the Father’s plan is to reach Israel first and then those outside of Israel. The woman sees an exception to the proverb: that while first priorities are important, so are lesser priorities- especially in God’s economy where there are no lack of resources!

The One Lesson of Victorious Faith
Victorious Faith is TENACIOUS

Two Instructions to Having Victorious Faith
1. Believe in God’s Reach (That nothing is outside of God’s reach)
2. Believe in God’s Plan (That God’s timing in answering our prayers is appropriate)

Weekly Application Exercises
1. Ask a more mature Christian about their spiritual journey and how you can grow in your own faith.
2. Think of an area of your Christian life which has not progressed as it should: in character, in depth of faith, in depth of love for others, or in practical application. Resolve to bring this area of your life before the Lord more consistently and with greater perseverance.

Harvest South Bay
October 26th, 2008

Have a great week!
By

Bad Religion
The Gospel of Mark: Mark 7:1-23
The Purpose of the Pharisees: To oppose Jesus even though they themselves were the leaders in their community of faith.

Exposition:
The Practice of Corban: Individuals were allowed to dedicate their wealth or property to the synagogue but retain all rights over the use of said wealth or property. This allowed the religious establishment the ability to increase the offering given to it. At the same time, the individual could claim that whatever resources they owned were not available to lend aid to parents in need.

What makes us unclean: The overwhelming view in the first century was that ritual cleanliness- the practice of obeying certain regulations to maintain a “clean” status before God- was godliness. However Jesus says that it is not the outward adherence to rituals which make a person clean or unclean: it is the state of our heart and how much we love God.

Central Warning: Beware Hypocrisy
We think of hypocrisy as saying one thing and doing another. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was more sophisticated than that: their hypocrisy was having an outward show of religiousity with no real love for God.

Two Hallmarks of Hypocrisy
1. Selective Obedience: When we choose what to obey and what not to obey from God’s Word, we are not acknowledging Him as Lord or loving Him. Instead we are simply serving ourselves.
2. Shifting Blame: Hypocrisy happens when we focus on external sources as the great evil in our lives- other people, the political climate, the sinful state of the world, the state of the church leadership- rather than seeing the sin in our own hearts as the central issue.

1. Weekly Application Exercises
Take some time to evaluate the centrality of love for God in your life. How often does it occupy your thoughts and concerns in contrast to the mechanics of both your whole life and your spiritual life?
2. How has your heart changed over the course of your Christian life? Can you trace a growing love for Christ as well as a decreased presence of the sins listed in our passage this morning?

More Application Questions
1. How fastidious are you concerning purging your life of the things that offend God? Are there sins which you consider “little” or “not worth paying attention to?” Financial sins? Sins of thought? Gossipping or other sins of the tongue? Realize that all sin is a wounding of God’s heart, confess and make a concrete plan to invite God’s power into  your life to overcome even these sins.
2. In  our sermon this last Sunday it mentioned that honoring one’s father and mother was in large part taking care of them financially in their old age. Have you a plan to honor your parents in this way if somehow their resources were stretched? Would you be willing?
3. What radical commandments in Scripture do you read and come away with a feeling that they are too difficult or impractical to carry out (much like the commands concerning church discipline that we talked about in Matthew 18)? How can you take a step of faith in carrying out those difficult commands?

Here are the notes from last week’s message as well as a couple more application questions! Hope all is well; don’t forget to register to vote so you can go to the polls this November!

GO LONG
The Gospel of Mark: Mark 6:33-56
The Incident of the Loaves
What is the lesson that the disciples have not learned? That God goes to great lengths to love and provide for His people.
Two applications
1. Jesus Goes Long: He goes to great lengths to provide for His people- despite His tiredness and the apparent lack of resources, Jesus takes the time an effort to feed the 5,000+.
2. We Need to Go Long for Others: Following Jesus’ example, we need to give until it stretches our faith because God provides for us to minister to others.

Weekly Application Exercises
1. Recall at time when someone did something extraordinary for you- above and beyond what you deserved or expected. How did  that impact your life and opinion of the giver?
2. Think of someone in your life- or perhaps OUT of your life- who you could  impact in the very same way.

Additional Application Questions
1. What resource do you feel is lacking in your life? How might God be calling you to share from that resource?
2. In what ways have you seen your faith stretched in a proactive way in the recent future: where you took a step of faith by giving beyond your means in order to trust in the Lord?
3. Make a list of people who you know as in need who you can give to- if you have a hard time making that list, purpose to befriend someone who does have genuine needs.