Scripture Talk by Grace Church

God as the potter and us as the clay doesn't just mean that God made us once and then stopped. A potter starts with a lump of clay and slowly (and occasionally forcefully) shapes it into something beautiful. If it starts to get a little out of shape, the potter will work it back into shape. It's the same with our journey in God. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott talk about what it means for God to actively shape our souls.

God and God’s people have not always had a smooth relationship. God has always been faithful, but they people certainly haven’t. Still, when the people run up against disappointment of their own making, it still hurts. Isaiah 64 is one of those places where the hurt bubbles up, and the prophet, speaking for the people, cries out. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy explore how the people (and us) land in this predicaments and what it means that God sticks with us anyways.

People don’t always treat the Good News like it’s all that good. Or, at least, people don’t always treat the purveyors of the Good News all that kindly. In Mark 6, even Jesus Christ himself gets rejected in his home town, and he passes that warning onto his disciples as he sends them off to do ministry of their own. It’s a stark reminder of what all Jesus went through for us and what following in his footsteps really means. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy connect Christ’s own rejection with our need to support the ministry of others.

Jesus healed a lot of people. Of course, he did. It’s one of the headline things that we know about Jesus, but if you think about it, it doesn’t make a ton of sense. He really didn’t have a lot of time. His whole earthly ministry only lasted three years. He was and is the most important person on the planet. He couldn’t of “had the time.” Yet, he took it anyways. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy talk about how Jesus set an example for us that real love and care often happen in the interruptions.

Paul went through a lot for the sake of the Gospel. He got imprisoned, shipwrecked, executed, physically afflicted, attacked by mobs, and much more. Every time he reflects on it in his own writing though, he doesn’t dwell on the suffering or the pain or what he lost, instead, he zooms in on what he has and cannot lose - Christ in him. It’s a hopeful reminder of what our salvation truly means. He have something that can never taken from you. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy talk about how Paul and other testify to the power of Christ by what they’re willing to do for the Gospel.

Turns out, Jesus throws the party that you want to go to. At least, that’s what the story of Levi in Mark’s Gospel seems to say. Jesus calls Levi, a reject tax collector. Levi gets a group of other previous rejects together, and all the Pharisees can seem to notice is that everyone is having a better time with Jesus than they would be with the Pharisees. When the literal Son of God and source of salvation is present, the party really gets going. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott point at the fact that the same thing is true in the church today. Party on!

Sin had to start somewhere. In the Bible, it starts with Adam and Eve. A snake helps them give into something that was already in them, and they messed up. You might think that you would not give into a talking snake, but we all give into temptation at some point or another. As soon as we could make our own choices, there was always the chance that we'd fail at them. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy connect our failures with God's faithfulness and forgiveness.

One of the great existential questions that humans face is, "Who am I?" Sounds simple enough, but the amount of ink spilled trying to answer that exact question boggles the mind. Yet, as people of faith, the answer is simple enough. Who are we? We are children of God - chosen, adopted, and given a fully inheritance. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott explore the nature of our divine part who chose us.

It's Pentecost time, once again. The Holy Spirit descends - as promised. The Church is born out of people being gathered together and empowered. The era that we still live in, where the Holy Spirit is present with us, is inaugurated. The early church did a ton with this Spirit. Christians around the world today are doing a ton with this Spirit. Pastor Trey, Pastor Scott, and Sister Brandy ponder aloud whether we too are doing much with that same Spirit.

Christ's ascension into heaven left the early followers in a weird place. What happens next? They get given a mission, but even that sounds impossible. Carry the word to the ends of earth? How? They're given a promise, the promise of God's Spirit. But, what is that? When will it come? They know the promises of God that have come true but have to trust in them now. Pastor Trey and Pastor Scott look at how we as modern Christians find ourselves in a similar moment of uncertain and still have a similar mission.