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www.teamchurch.wordpress.com

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On the Journey with You,
Scott

What are you toughest questions for God?  Let me guess…you have some tax questions for Him, right???  Seriously, I know you have questions for God.  So what are they?  Let us hear them during this current series called Habakkuk:  When God Seems Unfair.  Share some questions in the comments of this blog, share them on facebook, or share them at church.

The kinds of questions you have about God may be different than the ones I’m asking right now.  But we all have questions.  However, few people take them to the right Source…God.  God is the One with all the answers. 

Be prepared.  God doesn’t always answer our questions.  In fact, he likes us to wrestle sometimes for our own good.  But remember that it’s okay to question God, as long as you’re willing to listen when He answers!

This is a special series that allows us the freedom to say, “I don’t know why God would do that.”  So a word of warning!!! Be careful when others around you are asking questions.  Don’t play God.  Just let the question linger out there for a while.  In other words, don’t give pat answers for questions that can’t be answered.  I’m sure you wouldn’t appreciate it if some jerk just tells you that “everything will work out” when it’s not that simple.  Some questions can’t be satisfied without God’s input…so think before you try to answer divine questions with some cliche you just opened in a fortune cookie.

Let’s depend on God to speak into the toughest mysteries we face because He really does have the answers, and He really does care.  See you Sunday…bring your questions!!!

Sunday’s “Black & White” Service was a welcomed kind of Sunday for me and my family.  We were just getting back after taking a road trip to Colonial Williamsburg last week.  The trip was nice, but it was a lot of driving…fourteen hours in a minivan over two days.  It probably would take others less time, but with little kids and motion sickness we required some extra stops if you catch my drift.

After this trip you could say that we were glad to get “down to basics.”  And that is exactly what Sunday’s message was all about…getting down to the basics of what Christ demands from Christians. No flair, just a raw and penetrating call to follow Christ’s example to serve people.  First Scott said it, and then he modeled it by taking a group to serve a friend in need.

Let us never forget the mission that Team Church is here to do in the Kershaw Area…it’s simple really… to reach out to people where they are and lead them to full devotion in Jesus Christ.  How do we do that?  We reach them, first, by serving them.

Next week, expect our setup and service to be the “not so basic” norm, but don’t see it as overly complicated either.  The things we provide with children ministries, connection cafe, and fun and awesome worship is merely serving those who need a place to walk straight into from life and meet Jesus without feeling like they’re intruding on a family meeting. I hope that communicates.  I know from my personal experience that walking into a church for the first time in a long time is a lot of pressure.  Some things we do on Sunday is for our own comfort and preference, but a majority of what we do is to serve those whose names we don’t even know yet!

I’ve made up my mind to serve the Kershaw community through Team Church…for Jesus Christ.  And that’s pretty black & white to me.

Sometimes I hurt.  I am not talking about pain in the joints or headaches (although I have those too), but about emotional discomfort, mental weariness, or just soul-scorching, hard biting pain.  Sometimes I feel that pain within myself, but often it is cast upon me by listening to the pain of others.  And it sucks.  It sucks worse than anything I can imagine.

I am by nature a sympathetic person.  I usually root for the underdog.  I like rags-to-riches success stories.  But those are so rare.  People talk to me and I listen and they share some great stories that inspire me to be more.  But they also share their pain.  And let me be absolutely clear: that is perfectly fine.  Please share your pain with me, and if not with me then with someone.  I cannot tell you I have answers to heal you on the spot, but I can listen and hold you up and pray that it will all work out.  I can do that.  And I will do that.

You see there is a lot of talk about living like Jesus.  “What would He do?” and that kind of thing.  I wonder why we never ask ourselves, “What would He feel?”.  He hung on a cross and that is bad enough.  I cannot imagine hanging on a cross with railroad spikes in my hands and feet.  But even worse is the pain of having every sin ever committed past, present or future on my shoulders.  I would absolutely collapse under that weight.  And rising from the dead after an epic struggle with Death and Hell?  Forget about it.  I will be sleeping a lot when I am dead because I am worn out now.  But Jesus set an example there.  The world is not easy and people are even harder.  But we must bear with one another.  I will hear of your pain.  Will you do the same for me?