Controversial Faith: How can a Good God Allow Evil and Suffering? - Suzy Silk

This Sunday, we had the opportunity to hear from guest teacher, Mark Sayers, with a teaching out of Revelation 3 on how to become a pillar for God despite living in a "platform society”, and our culture’s need for spiritual revival.

This Sunday, Pastor Tim Brown continued our Fall sermon series, Formed, an exploration of the key doctrines surrounding a believer’s transformation from being dead in sin to being alive and formed in the image of Christ, with a teaching on election. This has been considered one of the most controversial and unsettling doctrines of the Christian faith, but Pastor Tim’s goal was to present the Scriptures with clarity, and allow his teaching to orient us around what God says instead of human opinion. Being rooted in truth, he encouraged us to go forth and seek God on this topic for more understanding.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon Tyson kicked off our Fall sermon series, Formed, where we will be journeying through the key stages of a believer’s transformation process from dead in their sin to being formed into the image of Christ and sent out as His image-bearers. We are all being formed in one way or another into someone, and Pastor Jon called us to begin this season by leaning into intentional, not accidental, formation in the way of Jesus. Out of His love for us, Christ invites us into a life long journey of being transformed into His image by His power, not our own.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon Tyson closed out our Come & See series with Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11 to come to Him. After spending a whole Summer unpacking the seven I AM statements of Jesus and the signs He performed to back up His claims in the Gospel of John, Pastor Jon extended Jesus’ call to come and receive everything our souls need in Him. In a world full of pressure and exhaustion, Jesus is the only one who truly cares for our souls, offering us true rest and satisfaction at His table of grace and mercy.

This Sunday Pastor Suzy Silk continued our Summer sermon series on the words and deeds of Jesus in John’s Gospel with a teaching on the ultimate sign Jesus preformed, His Resurrection. In John 2, Jesus declares that He is the new temple, meaning He is the new primary way for people to access God. It is only through belief in His words and following Him that we can have a relationship with God and spend eternity with Him. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus demonstrates that He has full authority over life and death and is the only way to true, eternal life.

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our Come & See sermon series with a teaching from John 11 on Jesus’ sixth miraculous sign — raising Lazarus from the dead. Similar to Lazarus’ story, we are deeply loved by Jesus, but spiritually dead and unable to save ourselves. Yet, Jesus was willing to die for us and save us from our sins and transgressions. By hearing and receiving the good news of salvation, we, as children of God, are brought back to life in Christ. Just like Lazarus, our new lives in Christ become our defining characteristic and should ultimately point to glorifying God. When troubles arise in the world we live in, we can rest in Jesus’ loving presence, knowing that we are deeply loved by the God of all creation who has conquered the grave.

This Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Come & See series by teaching through the healing of the man born blind in John 9. We live in a world obsessed with trying to see things rightly. From identity and sexuality, to justice and sustainability, humanity has looked to all forms of science, religion, and psychology to explain the world around us and the longings inside us, but everything seems to come up short. In this story, we see Jesus claim to be the light of the world, the only one able to give the sight we are longing for.

This Sunday, Pastor Tim Brown continued our Come & See series with a teaching on Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 in John 6. This sign concludes with Jesus declaring, “I am the bread of life,” emphasizing that Jesus does not only provide physical nourishment, but offers eternal, spiritual sustenance. While all other sources of fulfillment will ultimately fail, His true bread provides lasting satisfaction.

This Sunday, Pastor Ralph Castillo continued our Come & See sermon series with a teaching on Jesus’ healing of a nobleman’s son in John 4. The story of this sign hinges on steps of faith taken by a desperate father as he moves from despair to hope, seeking a sign to seeking Jesus, and finally from unbelief to belief. Breaking down the nobleman’s journey, Pastor Ralph encouraged us that no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in, there is always an invitation before us to take a step of faith.

This week, Pastor Jon Tyson continued our Come & See series by teaching on John 5:1-18, where Jesus heals a man at the pool of Bethesda. This controversial sign is still relevant in our world today, and calls us to ask the question, who has the authority and the ability to bring healing to humanity? Whether it’s physical healing, healing of our hearts, or healing in the world around us, we don’t have to earn it on our own strength or efforts. Jesus calls us to surrender to Him, receive His healing, and join in His mission to restore the broken world.