The Harbour

Today, Dave Blow kicks off our new series about the birth of the church as recorded in the book of Acts. What does it mean to be a witness of Christ?

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. What is something in life you find difficult to wait for? Why do you think waiting can feel so uncomfortable?

3. Read Acts 1:1-11 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

4. Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit before beginning their mission. Why do you think waiting was so important? How do we normally respond when life feels slow or uncertain? What might it look like to “wait on God” in everyday life?

5. Jesus calls his followers to be witnesses. What comes to mind when you hear the word “witness”? How is being a witness different from trying to “have all the answers”? Can you think of someone whose life quietly pointed you toward Jesus?

6. Jesus begins with Jerusalem—the place where the disciples already were. What might “Jerusalem” represent in your life right now? Who are the people God has already placed around you? What are simple ways we can reflect Jesus in ordinary relationships?

7. Jesus also mentions Samaria and “the ends of the earth.” Why do you think God continually pushes his people beyond comfort zones? Are there people or situations we sometimes overlook or avoid? What might it look like for our community to become more open, welcoming, and outward-focused?

8. Where do you sense God inviting you to trust him more deeply this season: in waiting, in witness, or in stepping beyond comfort?

9. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Colossians 1:9-14 (ESV)

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

This week, Dave Blow wraps up our series on what it means to be resurrection people by sharing his testimony and how he knows that "Jesus is in the restoration business".

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. What’s a simple or ordinary moment (like a meal or conversation) that has stayed meaningful to you? What made it significant?

3. Read John 21:1-19 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

4. In the story, the disciples fish all night and catch nothing. What do you think that moment represents in their lives? Have you experienced something similar?

5. Why do you think Jesus chose to meet the disciples in such an ordinary setting rather than in a dramatic way?

6. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” What stands out to you about this exchange?

7. Why do you think Jesus focuses on love (“Do you love me?”) rather than failure (“Why did you deny me?”)?

8. What does this story teach us about how Jesus responds to our failures or shortcomings?

9. Jesus restores Peter before giving him a calling. Why is that order important?

10. Do you ever feel disqualified from being used by God? How does this passage challenge or reshape that thinking?

11. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Psalms 23 (ESV)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

This morning was our monthly Community Sunday where we have communion together as well as have time for coffee, snacks, and fellowship after musical worship. This month, Dave offered a brief reflection on what it means for Jesus to be our friend and why that reveals that compassion for others is our calling.

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. When you hear Jesus say in John 15:15 that he calls us friends, what comes to
mind? Does that feel natural or challenging for you?

3. In Matthew 9:36, Jesus is described as having compassion. What do you
notice about the way Jesus responds to people in need? How is his compassion
different from how we sometimes respond?

4. Sunday’s reflection suggested that friendship with Jesus shapes our hearts over time. Have you experienced your perspective or reactions changing as you grow in faith? What has influenced that change?

5. Imagine walking with Jesus and realizing he has stopped to care for someone. What might “keeping walking” look like in your life? What might it look like to “turn back and join him”?

6. Where in your daily life might Jesus be inviting you to notice someone right now (eg, work, neighbourhood, church, family, etc.)

7. What is one small, practical way you could respond with compassion this week?

8. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Psalms 52 (NIV)

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
    Why do you boast all day long,
    you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
You who practice deceit,
    your tongue plots destruction;
    it is like a sharpened razor.
You love evil rather than good,
    falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
You love every harmful word,
    you deceitful tongue!

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
    He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear;
    they will laugh at you, saying,
“Here now is the man
    who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
    and grew strong by destroying others!”

But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Today, Dave continues our series on what it means to be resurrection people with a teaching on Thomas and his doubt. Jesus never rebukes Thomas for his doubt but uses it was a way to invite us all in to the community of faith.

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. Read John 20:24-31 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

3. How would you describe Thomas based on this story?

4. What do you notice about how Jesus responds to Thomas?

5. Thomas says, “Unless I see… I will not believe." What do you think is underneath this statement—intellect, emotion, past disappointment, something else?

6. Thomas waited a full week before seeing Jesus. What might God be doing in seasons of waiting?

7. Have you ever had a season of doubt or uncertainty in your faith? What did that look like for you?

8. What kinds of doubts are hardest to talk about in church settings? Why?

9. How can we, as a group, create a safer space for honest faith conversations? 

10. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Psalms 15 (NIV)

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbour,
    and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person
    but honours those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

This week, we welcome Paul Tuck from Dismas Fellowship Network as he shares on the topic of loving our neighbour. In Luke 10, Christ is asked "Who is my neighbour?" and he replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan. How can this inform how we treat those around us?

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. When you hear the word “neighbour”, what comes to mind?

3. Read Luke 10:25-37 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

4. Who in the story stands out to you most: the wounded man, the religious leaders, or the Samaritan? Why?

5. The expert in the law asks, “Who is my neighbour?” Why does he ask this? How does Jesus reshape that question?

6. When have you experienced someone being a “Good Samaritan” to you?

7. Is there a situation right now where you feel like the priest or Levite—aware of a need but hesitant to engage?

8. What practical barriers keep us from loving our neighbour well (eg, time, fear, assumptions, busyness)?

9. A question asked to Paul after the service… “When is enough enough? Is there a limit to compassionate care when you might feel taken advantage of?"

10. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

John 14:1-7 (NIV)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]