The Augusta Church

Have you ever been invited to something that you thought would be boring, but you went anyway and had a great time?

Read Mark 4:1-25

• What measure is Jesus referring to? 
  • The more effort you put into something, the more you will get out of it. The more you invest your heart and time into Jesus, the more you will get out of your relationship with him. Jesus promises to give to you way more than you can give to Him: that is the measure that is "pressed down".
• The Soils
  • In this passage, Jesus paints a picture, and asks you to look at it.
  • What you see here is Jesus's view of the world.
  • The measure with which you retain this worldview blesses you more than you expect.
  • The words and conversations of Jesus are kinetic and full of life. They grow and shape the world apart from your own efforts.
  • At any time in our lives, we can switch from one soil type to the next
  • We don’t have to remain in the condition of bad soils, we can put work into changing our soil
  • Good news, we can weed the paths, beat the paths to make it better soil
  • Good news, we have a whole lifetime to learn learn different lessons
  • Good news, the farmer already put the seeds in the soil, so we can make effort to change our situation, even if it takes time
  • When I engage with Jesus and put effort into it, I will get so much more out of my relationship with Jesus
  • God is generous and gives us the ability to make good judgements to strengthen our convictions about how we should live and allows us to take time to investigate Jesus further
  • God perseveres with us and helps us in every situation. We don’t have to quit because God is super generous with his love
  • Hosea 10:12- reminds us to take time to prepare in my life now. God uses every moment we are weak to strengthen us

• Hearing Jesus’s Words
  • John 5:25- We live by hearing Christ and making sense of what He says.
  • Ephesians 3:2-6: How did the Jews learn about the mystery of the past? Jesus revealed it to them
  • Romans 16: 25-27: the mystery of Jesus was revealed to some, and not to others
  • Psalms 78:1-2: Mysteries from old will be revealed, some will hear and some will not hear
  • Mark 4: 11-12:He spoke in parables to allow those who really wanted to hear, will hear
  • In order to understand what Jesus was saying, you would have to go ask questions
  • Mark 4: 21-22: When we put effort into something, it shows
  • Although Jesus’s teachings are a mystery, he wants everyone to know what he has to say. He wants to proclaim who He is. He wants to have a strong relationship with each of us.
  • His foot is always on the gas, ours is on the brake.

Sunday Lesson Notes from August 15, 2021

How has spending time with Jesus this week change your life in a positive way?

Read Luke 10: 38-42

• Mary took time to listen to Jesus and it changed her life
• Martha was full of distraction and missed out on something great, spending time with Jesus
• God has already taken care of the “to do” lists in our lives therefore, we can take time to spend time with Jesus as we go along in our day
• Mary sat at Jesus’s feet to learn, which was something against cultural norms for women in her time
• Remember that sitting at the feet of Jesus is about allowing God to do His will through you. Our relationship with God is not about trying accomplish a list of things that we think God wants us to do, but it is really about allowing God to use us to do his will

• Jesus is THE BEST example of someone who asked God to do His will through him

• Spending time with  Jesus will help us to remember what is really important: things like taking care of widows, orphans or the foreigner among us; instead of performing religious acts to feel close to God
• When we spend time with Jesus, we get to remember how righteous he was and learn about what God truly wants from us
• Spending time with Jesus can also help us to enjoy the simpler things in life and see how Jesus is present in these everyday life events. For example, when we spend time taking care of our family members or providing for the needs of others, we can imitate Jesus and the way he did these things, naturally and with a righteous heart, as he went along his daily life.
• How are you going to allow God to use you to do his will this week?

Sunday Sermon Notes 6/13/2021

Read Genesis 2:23-24, Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 5:30

• When a man and woman get married, they become one flesh, after the man leaves his parents
• Jesus, who had ultimate supremacy, left his Father in Heaven, and came to earth to show us how to follow God and married the church, that is us
• We are members of the church, the one body, the bride of Jesus
• So now, when God looks at the church, he sees us because we have been reconciled to Him through Jesus’s sacrifice

Read Deuteronomy 22:13-21

• In Jewish custom, the women had to prove virginity in order not to be stoned
• Remember, Mary was pregnant with Jesus before marrying Joseph?
• Jesus was willing to be born of an unmarried woman, which was a lowly stigma in that time
• When we were still sinners, Jesus died for us anyway, this is outside of the culture of Jewish tradition

Read John 1:11 and Matthew 15:24

• Jesus went to his own people, they rejected him
• When we say “no” to Jesus, he keeps returning to help us reconcile back to him
• He was willing to go against Jewish tradition and even helped a Canaanite woman, he makes exceptions to meet needs when necessary. 
• He goes above and beyond laws to take care of people

Read Hosea 3:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Hebrews 5:7

• Hosea had to buy back his wife
• This is how God feels about “buying” adulteress people
• Hosea had to love his wife the same way
• We were bought at a price, so we should honor God with our bodies
• Jesus paid for his “wife” the church, with his very life
• Jesus was submissive to God’s plan of reconciliation for his people
• What makes you drop to your knees and cry out to God like Jesus did?

Read John 10:16, Isaiah 53 and Ephesians 6:25

• Jesus went against tradition again, and brought Jews and Gentiles together
• He was willing to do anything to save us, like give up his life and come here to earth