Everyone has questions, the big questions about life, the universe and everything. The Q series is about beginning to explore the Bible’s answers to some of the big questions about God: WHO is God? WHAT is God all about? WHEN can I connect with God? WHERE do I find him? WHY is there so much hurt in the world? HOW can I experience a life in relationship with the God of the Bible. Through the series, we’ll discover that the God of the Bible is a God of love, seeking to reclaim his creation from its brokenness through people who live in the constancy of a 24/7 relationship with him and are encountering him through community with others in order to together reflect his love to the world. All of this can only be experienced through the cross of Christ. Those are answers that, experienced deeply, can satisfy a seeking soul.

Jan 3, 2010 – Who?
It has been said that God is like an elephant. Some religions grasp only his trunk and think he is like a snake. Other religions touch only his leg and teach that he is like a tree. Still other only feel his side, or tail, or ear and understand him to be a wall, a rope or a fan. But none grasp what God is truly like. What is indisputable is that God truly is the elephant in the room and none of us totally understand him. So, how would the God of the Bible describe Himself? Who is God, really?

Jan 10, 2010 – What?
If you were asked to summarize Jesus’ message into a single sentence, what would you say? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? “Make love, not war”? “Take care of yourself and each other”? “Your best life now”? “Repent and believe”? There are lots of [mis]conceptions about the message of Jesus out there, but the most popular is probably that Jesus taught that we should “be forgiven and go to heaven”. What did Jesus really come to teach and to do? What is it that God is really all about?

Jan 17, 2010 – When?
I assume that, if you’re reading this, it is because you are considering attending church at Southridge on Sunday, January 17, 2009. Why is that? Why do you “go to church”? Some people might say they go to church to be inspired or up-lifted. Others might say they go to catch up with friends or to hear the teaching. Many would say that they go to connect with God, to encounter an experience with him. Is that really the purpose of going to church? When is the best time to encounter an experience with God?

Jan 24, 2010 – Where?
Ask people what they think of when they hear the word “church” and from many you’d likely hear about a building with stained glass, pews and a steeple (or an old school building with none of those things!). To many people, church is where you go to meet with God, at a specific time of day on a specific day of the week. It is a place where people dress up and speak in hushed tones because it is God’s house, the place where God lives. Is that really true? If not, where can we go to truly encounter God?

Jan 31, 2010 – Why?
If God is all powerful and all loving, then why does he allow suffering in the world?” It is a question that biblical scholars and faithful followers have grappled with for centuries. It is also probably the most significant question that emerges from these conversations. If God is a God of love whose purpose for our world is to bring healing, hope and restoration to a broken, hurting, dying planet, the why does he allow suffering in the world? How do we make sense of a God who won’t answer our biggest “why”?

Feb 7, 2010 – How?
The vision of the Christian faith that we’ve been exploring is an amazing one: a loving God, heaven-bent on healing our broken world, wants to live in a 24/7 relationship with us, surrounded by loving community, in order to use us to change the world. That is a very different vision of Christianity than many of us are familiar with. It is a vision of Christianity worth considering. But how is God doing what he’s doing in the world? And how do regular people like you and me get in on it?