Make Room in Your Heart

In one paragraph

This message was week three of a series called Pack Your Bags, built around preparing the Tribe fam for a twenty-one-day journey to develop a heart for Israel. Pastor Brian walked through two passages to lay a foundation, then called the congregation to make a public commitment, written on a card and laid at the front, about what they would fast or deny themselves starting September 8. The series...

Read together

1. 1 Samuel 16:7-12 Read aloud to encourage Lissa and the worship team that God looks at the heart, not outward appearance
2. John 8:31-43 Main text for the sermon, used to introduce the theme of making room in your heart for Jesus's message
3. Matthew 6:19-21 Used to show that hearts follow appetites and that treasures should be stored in heaven
4. Proverbs 27:7 Used to illustrate that a full person refuses honey but bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry, applied to making room through fasting
5. Romans 11 Referenced in Brian's paraphrase about Gentiles as wild olive shoots grafted in, and Israel being grafted back in
6. Romans 11:29 Quoted as 'God's gifts and his calling can never be withdrawn' in discussion of God's covenant with Israel

What was said

• Fill out the 21 Days for Israel card, write down what you are committing to fast or deny yourself starting Friday September 8, and take a picture of it so you remember your commitment.
• Sign up for the text blast so you receive the 21-day prayer guide PDF that the staff will send out later this week.
• Find one or two people from your life to share your commitment card picture with so you are not doing these 21 days alone.
• Go back and listen to all three weeks of the Pack Your Bags series if you missed any of them, especially last week's sermon on fasting.
• Plan to watch the three Covenant and Controversy documentary films produced by FAI Frontier Alliance, one per week, with your Shabbat group or some friends during the 21 days.

Talk about it

1. Brian read from 1 Samuel 16 about God looking at the heart rather than outward appearance. Where in your own life do you find yourself judging by what you can see rather than by what God sees?
2. Jesus was speaking to people who already believed in him when he said there was no room in their hearts for his message. Is there an area where you follow Jesus genuinely but still feel resistance when he steps on your toes about something specific?
3. Brian used Matthew 6:21, 'wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be,' to make the point that our hearts tend to follow our appetites rather than the other way around. What appetites are currently shaping where your heart gravitates?
4. Jay raised the question of why Israel deserves special focus when Jesus came so that all nations could be saved. How did the conversation that followed land with you, and what questions does it leave you still sitting with?
5. Brian asked everyone to write down something they would fast or deny themselves for the 21 days for Israel. What made it hard to decide what to put on that card, and what does that resistance tell you about where your heart is right now?