The Harbour

This morning, Dave Blow starts us into a new series looking at what it means to be resurrection people. What do we do know that Christ has risen and death is defeated?

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. Describe a time when something made sense only in hindsight. What changed your perspective?

3. Read Luke 24:13-35 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage? What emotions do you notice in the two disciples? What surprises you about how Jesus interacts with them?

4. The disciples say, “We had hoped…”. What does that reveal about their expectations of Jesus?

5. Why do you think they were kept from recognizing Jesus at first? What might this teach us about how God works in our lives?

6. Jesus opens the scriptures to them before revealing himself. Why is this significant? What does it say about how we come to understand Jesus?

7. Have you experienced a “we had hoped” moment in your life? What did that season feel like?

8. Can you think of a time when you later realized God was present… but you didn’t see it at the time? What does this story teach us about doubt, confusion, or disappointment in faith?

9. Where might Jesus be walking with you right now—even if you don’t fully recognize him?

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]

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 (NIV)

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

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Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: [email protected]

Today, Dave Blow offers a brief Easter Sunday reflection on the meaning of the resurrection. We had a lovely meeting this morning with music, coffee and refreshments, and communion in addition to this teaching. We hope that we will see you out for our Sunday gatherings whenever you are able to join us in community and fellowship with one another.

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. How was Easter for you? Is there an area in your life right now that might need
resurrection—hope, healing, or new beginnings?

3. Read Matthew 28:1-10 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

4. What does the phrase “love that rose” stir in you personally?

5. How does the resurrection change the way we understand suffering and loss?

6. Do you find it easier to relate to Jesus in his suffering or in his victory? Why?

7. What would it look like for you to live as someone who truly believes that love has already won?

8. In what practical way can you embody risen love in your family, church, or community?

9. How can we, as a church and community, reflect resurrection life rather than just talk about it?

10. Where do we see signs of “new life” already happening among us?

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]

This morning, we had a special Good Friday service. As there will also be an Easter Sunday teaching that home church will likely use for their weekly discussion, we are including a few individual reflection questions to go along with today's teaching. You can find them below.

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

Personal Reflection Questions:

1. Where do I see myself at the cross? Am I avoiding it, observing from a distance, or willing to stay and receive the truth about both who Jesus was and what that means to me personally? Is God's mercy calling me to follow Jesus?

2. What feels “dead” in my life right now that needs the hope of resurrection? Is there an area where I have given up, lost hope, or stopped believing God can bring new life? How is the resurrection inviting me to live differently this week?

3. What would it look like for me to move from simply believing the story to actually living as a witness of hope, grace, and new life? What might it mean for us as a community?

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

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

1 Corinthians 15:20-27a (NIV)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.”

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

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

Today, Will Dyer offers a Palm Sunday teaching to kick off a three-part Holy Week series. Why do all four gospels provide an account of an otherwise unremarkable event? Perhaps there is a deeper truth to be found here. Please join us on Friday and Sunday for our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services, both starting at 10:00AM in the Newmarket SilverCity.

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

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from Sunday’s teaching?

2. How can all four gospel accounts be true if they aren’t the same? 

3. Read John 12:12-19, Luke 19:28-40, Mark 11:1-11, and Matthew 21:1-11. What stands out to you from these passages?

4. Why do you think the ordinary people in the crowd were able to see the truth about Jesus easier than the religious leaders?

5. Where in your own life do you find yourself acting or thinking like the Pharisees?

6. There is an apparent inconsistency between a king riding on a donkey while also being victorious. How can we reconcile this?

7. What does it mean to you that love has arrived? How might it help us understand the rest of the Easter story to frame it this way?

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]

Job 19:23-27 (NIV)

“Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
    or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!"

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

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

This morning, we are taking a break from our in-person teachings to watch the short (35min) documentary film Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

If you missed the screening in the theatre on Sunday or would like to see it again, please find the film here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from the film?

2. Are there contexts where you don’t want to be known? Why is that?

3. Read Jeremiah 6:16-19 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

4. Alan Torrence had an a-ha moment when he realized the scale of Jesus’s life and ministry. Why does it matter that Christ’s life and ministry was embodied?

5. The people in these villages know one another and know their family history and others’ family histories from memory. This is not typically our experience here in more densely populated areas with lots of movement and migration. How does the way of life represented in the film shed light on how the gospels were written and passed down?

6. What is the value of rootedness and stability?

7. “I wasn’t there to give people the good news, I was there to be a part of their life.” What does that mean?

8. What is the value of travelling at 3 m/h (4.8 km/h)? Why might we find slowing down frustrating? 

9. In the film, we’re told that if we want to walk like Jesus, we have to slow down. What does that mean to you? Christian thinker John Mark Comer urges the “ruthless elimination of hurry”. How might that apply here?

10. Do you find any inspiration in this film for us as a church community? How can we apply the principles of this film here at The Harbour?

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 22:1-8 (NIV)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

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

This week, Will Dyer offers an epilogue to our Beatitudes study looking at the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. Being people of the Beatitudes is about more than listening to Jesus's words but about putting them into action.

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

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from Sunday’s teaching?

2. Why is it important to have a Christ-centered hermeneutic? Why is it important to have a community hermeneutic?

3. Brian Zahnd says that, “God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus. We haven’t always known this, but now we do.” What does this mean and what significance does it have for understanding the scriptures?

4. Read Matthew 4:17, 5:1-7:29. Take turns reading 2-3 sections at a time. This will probably take a while! 

5. What stands out to you from these passages? Feel free to apply the community hermeneutic as we try to understand Christ’s teachings together by raising questions about what is puzzling, offering various angles or perspectives on the text, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the conversation.

6. Bonus (optional): read Luke 6:17-49, 11:1-13. What stands out to you from these passages when compared to the same teachings in Matthew?

7a. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world. Ask the Lord to form us into people of the Beatitudes.

7b. If you would like to pray the Lord’s Prayer together…

Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Be in touch. Send us a text here.

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