Jan and Feb Calendar

Date       Passage         Life Group                 Preaching

Jan 3      Acts 1.8           Vision Discussion        Missional Vision
8-9                                 RETREAT  
10          6..8-29              Disciples/Herod           TBA
17          6.30-56             5000                            TBA
24          7.1-23               Clean/Un                     TBA
31          7.24-37             Gentile belief               Nepal Report
Feb 7      8.1-26               4000                           6.8-8.26
14          8.27-9.1            The Christ                    Call of Christ
21          9.2-13               Listen to Him               This is my Son
26-27                             RETREAT                      9.14-11.11

Retreat 3 Learning Outcomes

Thank you for investing your time in in-depth scripture study and team development this weekend! I know these retreats are costly, and you have many demands on your time, and many other ministry commitments. So my prayer is that the Lord meets us afresh from the pages of Mark, knit us together as a community committed to serious scripture study and application, and equip us to better serve our fellowship in these sermon-based life groups.

We’ve intentionally crafted this weekend retreat to meet specific learning outcomes.

For Friday evening our desired learning outcomes include:

• Tell our group stories from last fall and rejoice in the Lord’s activity among us
• Renew and develop our vision by discussing Lou’s Jan 3 sermon, and reading one article
• Recap Mark pages 1.1-12.21
• Overview Mark 12.21-20.20

At the end of this evening’s session, please jot down a couple of comments about your own learning in these past hours in light of the learning outcomes listed above.









For Saturday morning our intended learning outcomes are:

• Understand the main themes of Mark 12.21-20.20
• Note a main point for each individual story in this section
• Brainstorm and practice an externally focused ministry
• Review our Winter and Spring schedule
• Pray

At the end of Saturday’s session please write your thoughts on your personal experience with these learning outcomes. Please share these thoughts with us by email, of by phone.

The Trivialization of Jesus

Evangelical Free Church of Chico
December 13, 2009:
Mark 6:1-13

The Trivialization of Jesus
Pastor Lou Diaz
Listen

Discussion Prompt Mark 6.1-6

The Text: Mark 6.1-6, Page 12.9-21

• Read the text aloud to each other.
• What impacted us from the sermon on this section?

Discussion Questions:

• Spend a few minutes gathering observations: who, where, what, connections to previous passages, repeated words…
• Talk about the questions people are asking and boil these questions down to just one question – what do you think the people are really saying? And why are they offended by Jesus?
• How do you understand Jesus’ comments about a prophet without honor? Why is Jesus amazed?
• What prevented Jesus from doing any miracles (other than heal a few sick?) What miracle do you think Jesus was hoping to do?

Application reflections

• Have you ever been offended by something the Lord said to you, or allowed to happen to you, or led you into? How did you respond?
• Does our faith really impact what Jesus is able to do for us?
• What makes is so hard to share our faith with those who know us best? Have you found anything that helps in these situations?
• If you have time go back and skim the four miracles that come before this story – the storm, demoniac, sick woman, and Jairus and his daughter – and note everything you can learn about faith. Is there anything that strikes you as new, a different way to express your faith in Jesus? 

Community Building

• Brainstorm a way to share your faith with friends and family that is inoffensive.

Pray

 

The Restoring Power of Jesus

Evangelical Free Church of Chico
December 6, 2009:
Mark 5:21-43

The Restoring Power of Jesus
Ken Anderson
Listen

OIA Mark 5.21-43

Observations

• Who: Jesus, great crowd, Jairus, little daughter, woman w/ chronic disease; disciples, some from Jairus’ house; Peter, James and John; mourners; father and mother
• Where: back on the West side of the lake, by the sea; walking to Jairus’ house; at Jairus’ house; in Jairus home
• When: just after healing the demoniac and traveling back over the Sea of Galilee; one day after the parables?
• What: huge crowd thronging Jesus; Jairus’ desperate request; woman responds to reports about Jesus by seeking secret healing; woman is healed, and has conversation with Jesus; disciples ridicule Jesus for asking who touched me; Jesus perceives power transmission; Jesus initiates personal conversation with woman; Jesus teaches about faith, the woman, and Jairus, and Peter James and John; Jesus restricts the group to see this miracle; Jesus questions mourners; raises the little girl; gets her a snack.
• Repeats: fall before Jesus; faith and believe; fear; daughter;
• Contrasts: dead/alive; chronically sick/restored; Jesus’ perception/disciples incredulity; mourners weep/laugh; crowds thronging/small groups witness miracles; fear/faith; sleeping/dead; laying as if dead/walking; overcome with amazement/ordered to remain silent; dead/eating; man of high social position/unclean woman.
• Connections: two more hopeless situations; falling at Jesus’ feet; begging; thronging crowds miss the point; explicit expressions of faith and definitions of what faith looks like in the kingdom; disciples miss the point; women has ears to hear; connections to clean/unclean
• Responses to Jesus:
• Jairus, in desperation, begs Jesus for help for his daughter; responds to Jesus’ command to not fear but believe; is overcome w/ amazement.
• Woman responds to what she has heard about Jesus; falls before Jesus, and tells her story, and receives shalom
• Disciples doubt Jesus
• Reporters say Jesus’ cannot help anymore; this is beyond hope.
• Mourners: laugh and ridicule
• The 3: come with Jesus, and are amazed by the healing
• Mother and father: amazed
• Little girl: got up and walked, and had a snack 

Interpretation

• These two stories continue Jesus’ demonstration of the kingdom following the kingdom parables. Jesus has, in the kingdom parables, described his kingdom theology, and in these four stories is demonstrating kingdom power.
• Each of these stories shows people in extreme need, in hopeless situations; in each case Jesus restores kingdom shalom into utterly chaotic and hopeless situations.
• A leader of the synagogue: a non-professional, a layman, responsible for taking care of the synagogue building and for planning weekly services. Most likely a respected member of the community, dependable, living a moral life, and perhaps witness to some of Jesus’ earlier visits to the synagogue. Into this man’s life, through no apparent fault of his own, comes a nightmare: his little daughter is dying. Those who study grief and life stress rate the loss of a child as perhaps the worst experience humans face. Hoping against all hope, this man begs Jesus for help. The word ‘implored’ is the same used of the leper begging Jesus, as well as in the demoniac story.
• The woman: it is worth following the narrative here to sense the despair and hopeless plight of this woman: 12 years…suffered much, spent all she had…grew worse…a gripping story of despair and hopelessness. Under Mosaic Law this woman was ceremonially unclean due to this issue of blood (cf Lev 15.19-27) and as such was excluded from the temple, and anyone who touched her was also unclean until undergoing purification rites: for 12 years she had endured this exclusion. Blood loss probably meant she was always exhausted, unable to be productive in her home and work context. (If you like bluegrass, here is a link to a song about this woman: http://new.music.yahoo.com/dry-branch-fire-squad/tracks/touch-the-hem-of-his-garment--1749383)
• This is one of the classic sandwich stories in Mark, A1-B-A2, where the middle story interprets the larger story: these stories are about faith, and its opposite, fear. The woman demonstrates Mark’s definition of discipleship: she hears, and having ears to hear, responds by seeking Jesus and secretly, and humbly, touching his clothes; Jesus calls her ‘daughter’: cf Jesus redefinition of family: those who do the will of God as has this woman by responding in faith to what she has heard. Jesus is so sensitized to human faith that he perceives her healing and not content with only physical healing, deals with the woman’s fear and isolation by blessing her face to face with his confirmation of her faith.
• It is fascination to note that many in the thronging crowd would have touched Jesus’ garments as well: but only this woman of faith connects with Jesus’ kingdom power for transformation. What is it, in our church, our home groups…that makes the difference between a transforming connection with Jesus, and just the casual encounter of the crowds?
• The story of the woman defines the story of Jairus, his daughter and wife, the three disciples chosen to see, and the other disciples who remain part of the thronging crowd: it is a story of faith vs. fear. Jairus has also met Mark’s definition of discipleship: he has eyes to see Jesus (yes, perhaps opened by his desperation, but at last he sees Jesus as his chance for salvation); Jairus demonstrates faith: he throws himself at Jesus’ feet begging for help; he sticks with Jesus during what must have been an interminable delay with the woman, and in the face of those who reported his daughter’s death, and so Jesus’ inability to help. Jairus trusts Jesus’ command to not fear, only believe: the proof: he sticks with Jesus, and sees his daughter raised from the dead, and is overcome with amazement at Jesus’ power to restore.
• All four of these stories – storm, demoniac, Jairus, Woman – end in a way that is curious: normal life: calm seas, sent back home to tell the story, sent off in peace – rest and wholeness, the OT calls this shalom, the girl is given a snack. We expect the kingdom to produce spectacular results; Jesus seems to see the kingdom restoring a sense of normalcy to lives disrupted by the chaos of sin and sickness. Perhaps here is a vision of a kingdom that starts as a growing seed, as a mustard seed: Jesus is willing to let transformation, and impact of his kingdom, happen over time. He does not call for CNN cameras and Oprah: he sends healed people back to a life of shalom, wholeness. How fitting, that most people have an inner sense of a normal life, of healthy relationships, and meaning: yet how often this expectation is thwarted by alienation and suffering. The kingdom offers shalom, normal life that is often inaccessible in our troubled world.

 Application

• The kingdom of God has power to restore people from helpless chaos to normal life.
• Jesus’ kingdom is one of faith, a faith that centers on Jesus and his power.
• Faith and fear are opposites.

 

Discussion Prompts Mark 5.21-43

The Text: Mark 5.21-43, Page 10.27-12.9

• Read the text aloud to each other. Notice the story within a story and be thinking about how the story of the healed woman shapes the meaning of Jairus’ story.
• What impacted us from the sermon on this section?

Discussion Questions:

• Discuss everything we can learn about Jairus in the first few verses: his position, his need, his approach to Jesus…Why do you think Jesus agrees to go with Jairus?
• Discuss everything we can learn about this woman: her condition and situation, her secret approach to Jesus, her fear at Jesus’ seeking her. Why does Jesus have this public conversation with her? Why not just let the woman alone? How has the woman demonstrated faith? Why do you think Jesus calls her ‘daughter’?
• Discuss everything we can learn about the disciples, and the crowds: how does their experience of Jesus differ from that of Jairus and the woman? Why? Surely some of the people in the thronging crowd touched Jesus’ garments – why were they not healed? Why are the disciples so sarcastic?
• Finish discussing Jairus and his daughter and wife. What does Jesus want Jairus to learn from the woman’s story? Does Jairus demonstrate faith? How? How about Jairus’ daughter?

Application reflections

• Are any of us in situations like that of Jairus and this woman – we’ve exhausted all avenues of hope and help available to us and our culture? What does faith mean for us? How can we have faith in Jesus, and not be overcome by fear? Are there practical steps we can learn from Jairus, and the woman, about expressing faith in Jesus and his kingdom?
• What allows people to connect with Jesus’ transforming power? That is to be like Jairus and the woman, and not like the thronging crowds and the sarcastic disciples?
• Mark, in these four stories, presents the kingdom of God as a comprehensive solution to human helplessness and despair, to the failures of science and technology. Do you agree with this idea that the kingdom God is the ultimate solution for human well-being?

Community Building

• Brainstorm a way we can demonstrate faith in contrast to fear this Christmas season. 

Pray