Broadening the Disciple Scope of Ministry

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark opened the service on September 11, 2022 by walking through a stretch of Matthew 15 and Mark 7-8 that shows Jesus deliberately moving his disciples past the borders of what they knew. The question underneath the whole passage is whether God's compassion stops at the edge of your own people, and the answer Jesus gives, in action more than words, is that it does not. Pastor Mark started...

Read together

1. Psalm 34 quoted in passing as the source of 'Taste and see that the Lord is good' before the congregation stood
2. John 8:12 introduced before singing 'King of Kings'; Jesus says 'I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light that leads to eternal life'
3. Matthew 15:21-38 identified as the primary passage for the sermon covering the Syrophoenician woman and the feeding of the 4,000
4. Mark 7 identified alongside Matthew 15 as covering the same events including the deaf man healed in the Decapolis
5. Mark 8 identified as part of the passage covering the feeding of the 4,000 and the return to Magadan
6. Mark 7:31 quoted to show Jesus leaving Tyre, going through Sidon, and arriving in the region of the Decapolis

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about how Jesus was patient with his disciples, showing them the same lessons repeatedly rather than all at once. Where in your own life have you seen God extend that same patience toward you?
2. When the Syrophoenician woman came to Jesus, the pastor suggested that Jesus was being sarcastic with the disciples to expose their own prejudice, not to push the woman away. How does that reading of the passage change the way you understand what Jesus was doing in that moment?
3. The pastor pointed out that when Jesus healed and fed the crowds in the Decapolis, the people there glorified the God of Israel even though they were polytheists who had no background in the Old Testament. What does it say about Jesus that his works could produce that response in people who had no prior knowledge of who He was?
4. The disciples asked where they would find enough bread in that desolate place, even though they had watched Jesus feed 5,000 just one chapter earlier. The pastor asked, 'Don't you remember how you got the bread last time?' What keeps us from remembering what God has already done when we face a new need?
5. The pastor closed by asking whether there is a segment of the world or a culture we are missing because we feel favored or self-centered. Who or what comes to mind for you when you sit with that question honestly?