Fairfield Presbyterian Church
Connect with us
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Programs
  • Contact

"HAVE YOU STILL NO FAITH?" - from Sunday, June 24, 2018

6/24/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Stormy seas in our personal lives can make our journey rock and roll in troubling ways. How does calm and peace get restored? And why are these storms blowing up our lives anyway?

Psalm 107 is a variety of reasons for giving God thanks for actions bringing relief to those in dire straits. Those hungering and thirsting find food and drink. The imprisoned find liberation. Sinful fools find healing and forgiveness. All should give thanks to the Lord for his wonderful deeds!

Our selection focuses on one other group, mariners at sea in a fierce storm. As experienced seamen as they may be, they're "at their wit's end" with the doozy of a storm that God cooks up. They cry out for deliverance and God responds by stilling the storm, and then guiding them to safe harbor.

The storm on the water draws some parallel from Jonah's experience when his shipmates demand that he cry out to his god for salvation. Of course, Jonah has some issues with his God.

In Mark's account, Jesus and his disciples get slammed by a squall in crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is asleep in the stern, oblivious to the storm (Again, see Jonah who also was sound asleep in the storm.)

You know how this is going to work out, right? But why do the disciples fear Jesus?

And still unanswered is: why does God bring these storms into our lives?

Learn more in the sermon video below, and from the downloads below the video panel.

06-24-18-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 24 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

06-24-18-have_you_still_no_faith.pdf
File Size: 194 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

THE KINGDOM BY SEEDS - from Sunday, June 17, 2018

6/18/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Neat things happen when you plant seeds, but you don't necessarily know what's going on underground that brings a shoot. Without any care in the right conditions, it can keep growing until it bears fruit.

​Our scriptures talk about God's Kingdom growing from modest beginnings. Ezekiel talks about taking the "crown" from a cedar while Jesus talks about seed growing. How is this about the Kingdom? And most importantly, what's that seed?

In Ezekiel 17, an allegory about the "crown" of a cedar tree describes the recent history of what the "eagles" - Babylonian emperors - have done to God's people. Our scripture picks up the last verses that describe how God will form God's Kingdom. 

In Mark 4, Jesus has been talking about the word of God and its relation to God's Kingdom. From the chapter's beginning, he has used parables, and uses two more in our selection. The parable of the growing seed focuses on the hidden and carefree nature of the seed's growth to bearing fruit. 

Then the parable of the mustard focuses on the small size of the seed and its ability to grow a large plant that, just as in Ezekiel, provides shelter for all kinds of little ones in its branches.

Those questions remain - how is this about the Kingdom? And most importantly, what's that seed? Find out in the sermon video below, noting the downloads also available below the video panel.

06-17-18-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 23 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

06-17-18-the_kingdom_by_seeds.pdf
File Size: 150 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

THE KINGDOM VERSUS THE RELIGIOUS - from Sunday, June 10, 2018

6/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Sabbath is sacred in Judaism - no work on this sacred day. Yet Jesus seems to flout the prohibition on work. His answers to his Pharisee accusers seem really odd. What's he doing?

Deuteronomy 5 (see also Ex 20) lays out the Ten Commandments, and the fourth commandment has to do with observing the Sabbath. It's rather long since it includes all of the kinds of people and things that are not to be employed for work - in other words, don't try anything weasel-like to try to profit from the Sabbath! Then the question is: what is work? That's where interpreters of the Torah-Law come in.

And that brings us to the end of Mark 2 when Jesus gets challenged by the Pharisees about the failure of his disciples to observe the Sabbath prohibition on work. The disciples had plucked grain from a wheat field while passing through. Jesus' response seems odd; it doesn't refer to the Sabbath at all.

It doesn't get any better in the next story when Jesus is about to heal someone on the Sabbath. Before acting, he poses his own legal question to the Pharisees. But this question also seems to have nothing to do with the Sabbath. What is Jesus' point in these tactics?

Watch the sermon video to see why Jesus is being so roundabout as he talks about the Kingdom while the Pharisees talk about religion.

06-10-18-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 22 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

06-10-18-the_kingdom_versus_the_religious.pdf
File Size: 198 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

AUTHORITY FOR NEW TIMES - from Sunday, June 3, 2018

6/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Things change, and who has authority in new times can change, too. The struggle for authority can teach us about true authority, God and Kingdom.

When God's people seek a king from Samuel the Judge (i.e. no more judges), their motivations are doubtful, and they're forewarned of the consequences. They don't care; they want a king.

When Jesus casts out demons, his family thinks that he's lost his mind, but the scribes from Jerusalem get there first. They call him "Prince of Demons." Jesus makes the scribes look like fools, and when his natural family arrives, he redefines what family means in the Kingdom of God.

Check out these great stories and hear the demons shriek in the sermon video below.

06-03-18-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 29 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

06-03-18-authority_for_new_times.pdf
File Size: 190 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly