Duration 4 Weeks
We asked people to submit questions they had regarding faith or the Bible or theology that they’ve struggled with or about which they have wrestled. The pastors then sifted through these questions to put together a four-part sermon series - and were astounded with the depth of questions! Some will be turned into complete sermon series: “Who is the Holy Spirit?” Some were more political and more appropriately tackled at an adult forum: “Because of our division, will God punish the USA like he did ancient Israel?” And some, quite frankly, stumped the pastors: “Where does our soul go immediately after we die?” (I have no idea!) But of the remaining questions, we lumped them into four categories, each one aptly suited for a sermon. Below is that list of questions you have for your pastors.
At the top of any survey among Christians we find somewhere the question of prayer. How do I pray? What does it mean to pray without ceasing? What can I legitimately pray for? Why pray if God knows my needs better than I do myself? How does prayer work? Pastor, teach me how to pray because I want to get this right.
This question is one of the oldest questions humans have had, first articulated in the Bible by Job. From mass shootings to atrocities of war, if God is all powerful and there is suffering in the world, then God must not be good. If God is all good and there is suffering in the world, then he must not be all powerful. Since there is suffering and evil in the world, is God not good or is God not all powerful? Because it cannot be both.
Seems like a simple question, but at the heart of it, this question dissects the various components of worship. Why do we confess every week? What is the purpose of sharing the peace? What is the role of the sermon? Where did the words of the benediction come from? How often should we receive communion? The answer is better than simply, “We’ve always done it that way.”
Numbers 6:22-26 (NIV); John 4:20-24 (NIV)
Appropriately, we save this one for the end because that is the true question, “What happens in the end?” Scripture says that we will be judged by every careless thought and deed, as if our entire embarrassing life will be up on the jumbo screen in heaven for all the angels and my mother to watch. If Jesus took away the sins of the world, will believers have to go through a final judgment? If Jesus destroyed the power of death, is there still a hell?
Romans 8:31-39 (NIV), 2 Corinthians 5:6-11 (NIV), Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV)