watershed: a community church

This week we're exploring the question, "Who are we as followers of Jesus?"

• What does it mean to be members of his kingdom?
• How does God see us in Christ?
• How does that affect how we see ourselves?
• How does that affect how we see others?

What do we learn from the Scriptures about these questions? Some things to consider might include who we are in Christ and the "one anothers" of the New Testament...how are we to live with "one another"?

 

For a couple of weeks now we've been wrestling with some big questions - about God, about our world. As a follower of Jesus I am convinced that what I believe about what God is like and how this world works play a crucial role in how I live my life and understand my faith. God is doing something in our world, and he invites you and me to discover our place in the story. But it seems that there are a lot of different ideas floating around out there about what the means.

So this week we're going to wrestle with those ideas...and explore what the Bible has to say about them. A few topics to consider: God, Jesus, salvation, sin, judgment, heaven, hell, who's in, who's out, good news for who?, the gospel, following Jesus, being born again.

 

It's been great to have so many of people coming with thoughts on these topics, and searching the scriptures for direction. I look forward to hearing what you've discovered this week. If you'd like to help us get the conversation going ahead of time, please offer your comments below.

 

I've found the last few weeks to be incredibly encouraging as we've wrestled with questions together. You've been very transparent and thoughtful in thinking about what these questions say about how we can best live life with God.

This week we'll explore the question, "What is this world like?"

In other words: is our world supposed to be like this, or is something wrong? It seems that to many of us, we have a sense deep down that this is not how things are supposed to be.

How is it that our world can be filled with such beauty and such order and such good, and yet at the same time filled with such heartache and such pain? How are we supposed to relate to God in the midst of this kind of world? How does our faith inform how we live?

How does the Bible begin to answer some of these questions?

If you'd like to begin sharing your thoughts before Sunday, please use the comments below.

It was good to be together on Sunday. I appreciated our discussion and look forward to continuing it in the coming weeks. As we discussed, life is full of questions, and yet our greatest need is not for more information, but for a relationship with the One who is true and good and beautiful.

what is God like?

As we work through/wrestle with the questions you have posed, we are driven to the question, "What is God like?" In order to approach the other questions we must consider what we believe about who God is and what his character is like. So, at our next gathering we'll dive into questions like these:

 

• How do I live as You desire (love You - love others) when there is so much else that must be done to live here? Err - maybe I know the answer - give me the ability to execute ...
• Why do you allow suffering especially of the innocent?
• How do I know when You are pleased with me? How do I know when I'm good enough?
• How do I know what God has planned for me?

searching for answers

These are questions about how we relate to God - about what he is like. We agreed together on Sunday to spend some time on our own this week considering that question: what is God like? Consider your own experiences, but also please spend some time searching the scriptures, asking God for a deeper understanding of what he is like.

While this may be a "big" question, please don't be overwhelmed by it. Maybe a way to approach it would be to consider the themes and stories of the Bible you are already familiar with...what do they show you about what God is like?

plenty to talk about

I think we'll have plenty to talk about on Sunday. :) If you'd like to begin sharing your thoughts before then, please comment below.

Tonight I've found myself glued to the news, watching the toll of the multi-vehicle crashes on Interstate 39/90 near Madison. At least 2 people were killed and dozens more injured in the accidents blamed on foggy driving conditions. (See the story at Channel3000.com). The obvious damage and unexpectedness of it reminded me how unpredictable life can be. Lori and I immediately thought of our friends and family and of the many times we've traveled that stretch of road.

We thought of all of you and prayed for your safety and the safety of your families and friends, and I'm learning to not just watch the news, but to pray for everyone whose lives are being affected.

Please join me in praying for the rescue workers, those involved in the crashes, the loved ones who are waiting for news, the doctors and hospital staff, and for the wisdom of those who will have difficult decisions to make during these events.  If you would like us to pray for you, please send us a note via the Contact Us page and our prayer team will pray.

In the midst of life's unknowns, I'm so glad for the hope you and I can have. As a follower of Jesus I am confident that this life is not all there is and that when my life on earth is over, whenever that is, my Savior will greet me with arms wide open. This week we will all be presented with opportunities to give reason for the hope we have - as the topic of the crash comes up around Stoughton, in our workplaces and in conversations with people who have important questions about life and its meaning.

These moments are opportunities for you and me to speak into people's lives at a moment when they seeking answers. We don't have to have it all figured out, but we can join them in the search for answers, and share with them the hope we have found in knowing and following Jesus - hope for both this life and life after death. As a church family, please join me in praying for those who have been impacted by today's accidents and for those with whom we have an opportunity to share this week.

Psalm 62:6-7 says, "For He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken."

With hope,

Jeff

We had a good gathering last Sunday. With the beginning of the year, we took our time together as families for prayer...and we had several interactive family friendly prayer stations set up around the building that gave us each a chance to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming year, asking God for his direction.

questions

One of the stations invited people to write questions that they have...if they could ask God something, what would it be? There were some very thoughtful questions, and we're going to use these to provide direction for our times together over the next several weeks. I'm looking forward to some good discussion as we explore the scriptures together and see what they say about our questions.

We'll take 1+ questions each week and wrestle with it together. Some of these may have some clear answers, while others may propel us to embrace mystery and the unknown. We'll also talk briefly about the whole idea of having questions and doubts, and what that means to our faith. Here's a 2 sentence preview of what I'm thinking:

Questions are central to our faith - they acknowledge that we don't have all of the answers and need to look beyond ourselves for guidance. Questions propel us to search for and discover more of God.

What do you think?

the questions

Here are the questions that you wrote last week - from adults and kids alike:

1. How do I live as you desire (love You - love others) when there is so much else that must be done to live here? Err - maybe I know the answer - give me the ability to execute ...
2. Why do you allow suffering especially of the innocent?
3. Can you help me ride my bike?
4. Why do you make hiccups?
5. How do I best work through decisions with co-workers in a kind but not door-mat way?
6. How do we live a life like Jesus showed us in a world that is so different and often so far from God?
7. How can I become like a child in your presence without losing my ambition?
8. How do I know when You are pleased with me? How do I know when I'm good enough?
9. How do I know what God has planned for me?
10. How do I stay focused on serving you when I'm so easily distracted and exhausted?
11. What does it mean to be who you created me to be? How can I grow more confident in Christ?
12. How do I let go of my need to be liked by others?
13. Where did God come from?
14. What is heaven like?
15. What does "salvation" mean? What does the Bible really say about it? (from a previous discussion)

more questions

And, some questions about the questions: Are there any recurring themes here? What do these questions tell us about ourselves and how we think about God?