Southwest Harbor Congregational Church

Southwest Harbor Congregational Church

Nine disciples are unable to cast out demon in boy. Jesus rebukes them for their little faith. We look at what faith is in the valleys of our lives and how mountaintop experiences don't secure a firm faith.

Paul shares his concerns with the Galatians over adding things to the Gospel such as works and performance. In so doing the Galatian church began to nullify the work of Christ "for if righteousness were through the law then Christ died for no purpose.

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a mountain and is transfigured before them. Here we have one of the strongest confirmations of who Jesus is, namely God. We also explore the reaction of the disciples first when Jesus is with Moses and Elijah and after the Father speaks and declares that Jesus is His beloved Son.

After declaring that Jesus is the messiah Peter discourages Jesus from fulfilling the suffering prophesied. Jesus rebukes Peter saying that he is setting his mind on things of man rather than of God. Afterward Jesus states that "whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Jesus inquiries His disciples of who they think He is. Peter answers Him saying that He is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus proclaims the foundation of His church and grants authority to it. We explore this foundation and the importance of the proper use of the Church's authority.

The Sadducees and Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus. Jesus rebukes them and later warns his disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. We explore the different kinds of leaven we ought to be aware of in our own lives.

Jesus feeds the four thousand. We find here that while this miracle resembles the feeding of the five thousand, one major difference is that here Jesus feeds Gentiles showing the greater call of God on the nations.

Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for letting the traditions of men become greater than the scriptures. We look at what true religion is and what it's views are on scripture, sin and the heart.

Jesus comes to the disciples during the fourth watch of the night as they strain against the wind and the waves. Peter asks in faith to come to Jesus on the water but, when Peter reaches Jesus he becomes fearful of the storm and begins to sink.

Jesus feeds the five-thousand and in so doing shows who He is, namely God. We see the parallels with Jesus' compassion and the compassion showed to Israel in the old testament and how the giving of the mana is also reflected in the abundance of Christ's dividing of the five loaves and two fish.

We compare and contrast these two literal storms form the Bible looking at both Jonah and Jesus. We go over what kinds of storms we face in our own lives, whether literal or spiritual, and how Jesus uses, guides, and keeps us through them.

We observe the radical nature of the gospel as seen in the transformation of Paul from zealous persecutor of the church to preaching to the Gentiles.

An examination of the heart of Herod the Tetrarch. We see that he is a conflicted man in that while he respects and fears John the Baptist he also wants to kill him for saying that it was not lawful for Herod to have his brother Philip's wife. We find that our hearts are often full of weeds that conflict and choke out holiness and sanctification.

Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth and teaches. There he marveled at then ultimately rejected by the people he grew up knowing. We find that familiarity can lead to contemptment, that in our own lives sometimes consistent love for Christ becomes a numb behavior and even gets left off for other "more important" things.

We take a look at one of the hardest tests of faith anyone in scripture has gone through, consider the questions it raises and the implications it has in our own lives.

A look into the opening of Paul's letter to the Galatians. We reflect on the grace of God in the formation of His covenant with Abram and how this weaves into the grace that Paul speaks of saying "Grace to you and peace from God... who gave himself for our sins..."

We continue to look at some of the parables that Jesus used to describe the Kingdom of God. Here we find that the Kingdom has small beginnings and that the growth is slow but sure, that the roots go deep. Secondly it is seen that the Kingdom is worth everything and should hold the highest priority in our lives, above family, friends, properties, anything.

Jesus tells many parables showing what the Kingdom of God is like. We see that the Kingdom did not come in the ways that many expected, but rather it is obscured and at times hard to discern. We see that while there are many who claim to be Christians, Christ tells us that only some "seeds fell on good soil and produced grain."

We take a look at the life of Solomon and the pursuit of all his desires and how they ended up only a striving after the wind. We find that nothing in this world will be totally satisfactory, fulfilling us ceaselessly. From this we know that only the worship and praise of God will bring us eternal satisfaction.

Jesus uses an opportunity to show the value of the Family of God showing that it holds a place like our physical family and sometimes even takes priority over our physical family.

Jesus give us a measuring device for our hearts, telling of how our words reveal how we truly are.

Jesus gives warning to the pharisees and to us as well stating that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. We dive into what this means and what He does not mean.

Jesus paints a picture of His mission to overcome Satan and death.

Jonah flees from the Lord in a rejection of His word. In many ways we can see ourselves in the actions of Jonah in that we often object to the word of God and deceive ourselves thinking we are still being obedient.