Answering Difficult Questions Non-Believers Ask

hey let's turn in our Bibles to John chapter 9 the title of the message today is answering difficult questions that non-believers ask shortly after I became a Christian I had the opportunity to pray with someone to accept Christ this came as a great shock to me I've told you the story before it was only a couple of weeks old maybe three weeks old of my faith and I went out on the beach in Newport armed with a copy of the four spiritual laws and basically read it verbatim to some lady there and she prayed in except of the Lord and I was feeling hey I'm pretty good you know Billy Graham move over there's a new kid in town and and I was full of zeal and excitement and wanted to reach lost people well anyway I had a bunch of buddies I used to hang around with before I was a Christian and after I accepted the Lord I remember telling them guys don't worry about me I'm not going to go off the deep end I know you've seen other people become Jesus freaks and they carry Bibles around and say stuff like praise the Lord that will never happen to Greg Lori I said you will never hear me say praise the Lord I will never publicly carry a Bible or wear like a cross around my neck I'm not going to be that way so a few weeks go by and after I've led this lady to the Lord I'm walking down the street and who comes walking toward me but one of my old friends also named Greg Greg and I spent a lot of years in elementary school together we knew each other very well he looked at me and I looked at him and we both broke out laughing why because in my hand was a Bible in public hanging around my neck was a cross a little bit too big I might add and before I could catch myself I said praise the Lord that's all we laughed and I said Greg I know this is so crazy Here I am you've known me all these years and and now here I am doing this but but I have to tell you that God has really changed my life and so we started a conversation and I began to share with Greg some of the things the Lord had been doing in me and and how things that had changed for me and and there's this guy who was eavesdropping on our conversation I didn't even really notice him but he walks right in interrupts me in turn to me and says hey Christian I have a few questions for you I look at him like I've known the Lord for four weeks far away and he hit me with like four or five questions I don't even recall what they were now all I know is I was dumbfounded where's dinesh d'souza when you need him and he was great last week too wasn't he by the way really really good appreciate Dinesh well Dinesh was not there nor was ravi zacharias or josh mcdowell ER or anybody else with answers that I needed I was dumbfounded and I thought I need to start getting ready for this kind of thing because I need to know what answers are the questions that people ask well I don't claim they have all the answers but I believe that there are answers for many of the questions that people will bring before us and we pointed out to you that as Christians we are to give an answer to every man who asks us according to first Peter 3:15 and you remember that phrase giving to every man in answers from the Greek word apologia will we get our English word apologetic it means a legal defense is in a court of law so it's sort of like you're making your case in the courtroom a public opinion with a person who is listening to you but keep this in mind in this courtroom so-called you are not there is a prosecuting attorney but a witness see a prosecuting attorney is going to win he might even be wrong but he's still going to win a witness just says what they've seen and sometimes I've seen Christians armed with all the information they can get assault non-believers and effectively blow them out of the water here I'd smoke that person yeah they don't ever want to hear about this again you won the argument but you lost the soul and that's not the objective when we go to a person even though we may know a great deal more than they know we should present this information with love and grace and humility in fact we're told in second Timothy 2:24 the Lord servant must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone and gently teach those that oppose the truth so God will change their hearts and they'll believe the truth and they'll come to their senses okay so when you're out telling others about Christ you will often be barrage with questions now sometimes people ask questions they actually want the answers to and when you give them the answer they'll say that really cleared that up for me thank you so much but a lot of times these questions are like a smoke screen they are there to get you off track basically they are there to get you to shut up and go away and we saw the example with Jesus and the woman at the well as he engaged her and began to speak to her heart she tried to get him off on a secondary issue about the technical place where God ought to be worshiped and he gave a basic answer to that and brought her back into the thing that really mattered so when we're dealing with these questions it's important to address what we are being asked but remember our core message to the non-believer is the gospel so what are those questions well I wish I could deal with all the questions we hear we dealt with some of them last week with Dinesh but here are the questions we'll deal with in our short time that we have together number one how do you know the Bible is the Word of God you'll mention scripture and people say well I don't believe in the Bible I think it was written by men in fact it's full of contradictions I always love to ask them to show me one or two and rarely can they even come up with a half-hearted attempt to bring any contradiction from the Bible so-called they just say that number two people will say how can a God of love send people to hell you say you believe that there's a hell how could a loving God send someone there you might also get ask what about the person who has never heard the gospel well God send them to hell and then the question you hear probably more often than any other if God is Allgood and God is all loving why does he allow tragedy injustice all the problems of life so let's take a shot at some of these questions let's start with the one about the Word of God how do you know the Bible is the Word of God how many of you brought a Bible with you today I want to grab it just hold it up right now this book this book you're holding in your hand is the most amazing book ever written please put it down that's it that that's long enough this guy that was way too long no chebika I'm kidding it's the most amazing book ever written it is literally God's message to us technically speaking the Bible is not one book but it's 66 books written over a 1,500 year span from 40 authors each inspired by the Holy Spirit coming from every walk of life including Kings peasants philosophers fishermen poets statesmen and scholars yet they have one theme that that reverberates from Genesis to Revelation and that is the redemption of mankind and every one of these men was directed inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words and we say that but how can we know the Bible really is true let me give you a few reasons number one I know the Bible is true because it gave me the experience it claimed it would give me I repeat I know the Bible is true because it gave me the experience it claimed it would give me now that's not the only reason I believe it and perhaps it's not even the most convincing reason to the skeptic but it has certainly helped me to personally believe isn't that true for you I know it's true because it all happened for me for instance I read in the Bible that if I would confess my sin God would forgive me my sin and remove my guilt well I confess my sin and guess what my guilt was removed the Bible promised that I would have a peace that passes all human understanding and I have experienced that time and time again the Bible promise that God would answer my prayers and I have prayed about certain things and I have seen God faithfully answer over all these years the Bible promise that God would never give me more that I could handle and I've gone through hardships in life and it found God's Word to be true and it had sustained me in fact it is sustained me through the worst crisis of my life to date and that is the death of my son yesterday marked the two-year anniversary of the day he left us for heaven it was a very hard day for us and you know at this point in time people don't come up as often and say things you know that they probably feel like it's been said and and maybe there are over it and well listen you know just on behalf of all people who are grieving who have lost a loved one especially a child we we aren't over it and frankly we'll never get over in flack in fact do us a favor and don't ever ask us if we're over it you don't get over something like that but you do get through it day by day and I've gone through it day by day because of God's Spirit sustaining me through this scripture reading the scripture trusting the Word of God my emotions don't always cooperate so I have to apply my mind and heart to believe what the Bible says and there are times when I kind of feel it there are a lot of times when I'm not feeling it but I have found God's Word to be true CS Lewis put it this way quote you never really know how much you really believe anything until it's truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life or death to you end quote that was in this book of grief observed that he wrote in the aftermath of his wife's death yeah that's true you can say oh I believe this but what about what it happens to you oh I believe that my loved one is in heaven will even say that someone does well they're in heaven well yeah we know that but when that loved one was with you yesterday and they're not with you today and someone says well they're in heaven it's like yeah we know but you know what we miss them okay but then even when you yourself are thinking about it yeah I know they're in heaven but do I really believe they're in heaven do I actually believe they're there and do I really believe I will see them again the answer is yes I do and yes I will I have found the Word of God to be true God has kept his promises to me but that's not the only reason I believe the Bible is true the Bible is true because it's confirmed by science and we touched on this a little bit when dinesh joined us and how science and the Bible sometimes conflict but often they are in harmony for instance it is the Bible that said first long before science figured it out that the stars and the heavens are beyond counting we read in Isaiah 51 that God stretched forth the heavens into limitless expanse which can never be measured and filled it with stars which are as numerous as a sans upon the seashore and for years astronomers scientists and so forth month about the Bible says there's more stars than you can count it's like the sand on the shore how absurd you can count the stars will look 1 2 3 then they invented the first telescope okay well maybe there's a few more than we thought 300 400 500 then a more powerful telescope well okay 3000 4000 5000 and then even more powerful telescopes come along and now science and astronomy agree that you literally cannot count the stars in all of the galaxies that are out there and they've actually said they are as numerous as the sands on the shore in fact estimates range of the number of stars out there today from 200 billion to 70 sex Tilian 76 trillion is 70 million million million some of you are still thinking 70s jyllian a few guys woke up they say sex no it's okay I'm not talking sex Chilean palak's the Bible said this that the Stars were beyond counting it was the Bible that said that the things that we see are made up of things that cannot be seen Hebrews 11:3 by faith we understand the entire universe was formed at God's command and what we now see did not come from anything it can be seen what a weird statement what do you mean it comes from something that can't be seen I can see this microphone stand or this monitor here no it's made up of other things oh now we know everything is made up from protons neutrons and electrons that which we see is made up by that which we do not see the Bible said that way before anybody else figured it out I could go on but let me point out something that is very important it's not the intention of the Bible to be a textbook on science per se if it were it would be much thicker than it is and much less comprehensible when the Bible addresses scientific or historical fact it is always accurate but the Bible is primarily intended to be a book of redemption its primary purpose is not to tell us how the heavens go but rather to tell us how to go to heaven so the Bible may address a scientific issue it may address a historical issue but the objective of the Bible is not to be a science textbook or a historical book as its main goal the objective of Scripture is to reveal God to us but when it refers to those things it is always accurate and it's always trustworthy bringing me to the third reason why I believe the Bible is the Word of God because it's confirmed by archaeology it's confirmed by archaeology over the years countless critics have challenged the teachings of the Bible but recent archaeological findings confirm time and time again the Bible was it is reliable for years people disputed the biblical account crucifixion oh well there's no historical evidence of crucifixion we don't have any archaeological proof that a crucifixion ever took place and you can see how a statement like that strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith because we talked so often about the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross but this criticism was silenced in 1968 when the remains of a crucified man in his mid-30s were discovered north of Jerusalem with a 7-inch iron nail still embedded in the heel the state of his bones indicated the condemned man's were outstretched his feet have been placed sideways and then nail driven through a small block of wood and then through both heels and then into the cross once again the Bible said it before the so called experts had it critics have come over the years saying well we don't believe the Bible is true because it speaks in detail about a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate but there is no historical and/or archaeological evidence to confirm that a man named Pontius Pilate ever lit that is until 1961 when they found what is now known as the Pilate stone in Caesarea confirming that Pontius Pilate indeed existed and dedicated an amphitheater in the memory of Caesar himself critics also alpine oh the Bible can't be true because it talks about Caiaphas the high priest and there is no archaeological and or historical evidence for a man named Caiaphas ever existing that is until 1990 when they found the tomb of the high priest Caiaphas Jewish historian Nelson glute made this statement that I quote it may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail the historical statements made in the Bible and quote number four I believe the Bible is true because it is a one book that dares to predict the future now once not ice but hundreds of times with 20/20 hindsight we have all of the prophecies that spoke of the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ among other things and we can look back and realize that those prophecies were fulfilled exactly but then of course the Bible speaks of our future it was the Bible that told us that the Jewish people would be there in their land and they would be dispersed to the four corners of the earth it was the Bible that told us they would regather again together in their land and would be isolated from the other nations of the world it was the Bible that tells us that Jerusalem would be at the center of world conflict in the end time some folks were seeing this happen before our very eyes I mean one of the the possibilities that this could all be coincidental think of all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled a scientist figured out the odds of just eight prophecies of Jesus being fulfilled by mere coincidence he said the chance of Jesus would be born in Bethlehem 1 and 280,000 the chance said he would have been the have a forerunner announcing this coming one in a thousand the chance that he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver one in 10,000 the chances he would have his hands wounded one in 10,000 the chance that he would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey one in a thousand put it all together what are the chances that Jesus did these things coincidentally he said 1 and 10 to the 28th power that's almost as crazy as sextillion to illustrate he put it this way he said if you were to cover the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep then mark 1 and randomly throw it out there and blindfold someone and have them walk across the state of Texas the chances of them reaching down and picking up the marked silver dollar are the same chances that Jesus could have had these things happen coincidentally that's only eight of the prophecies there were many many more yes the Bible is the book you can trust I heard a story about a girl who was uh sharing her faith one day and a little crowded gathered around her in an atheist was eavesdropping thought he would humiliate this young girl and with his big booming voice said young lady you believe the Bible she said well yes sir I do well I have a question for you then if you believe the Bible she said okay do you believe all the miracles in the Bible she said yes I do oh you do then you must believe in the story of Jonah and the Whale and a man was swallowed by a whale and then lived for three days and was spit out by the whale you believe that she said yeah I believe it's in the Bible now how did that happen how could such an event actually take place it's impossible she says I have no idea when I get to heaven I'll ask Jonah the atheist said well what if he's not in heaven she said well then you ask her how many of you have heard that story before raised it we had thank you for that courtesy laughs right when I started the story you leaned over and you said he's gonna do that lame story again just laugh it makes him happy he's getting old now okay what about this one how could a God of love send someone out if your God is all loving the person will say how could he send a person to a place as horrible as hell now by the way I will try to engage a person in dialogue when they say things like this and says they won't whoa it's interesting question you ask there do you believe there's a hell well yes I do and who do you think would go there well no I don't whatever they say I'll engage them why do you bring that up and and then it's interesting that you say why would God send a person so you know there's a god you believe there's a hell I'll try to draw him out a lot of times frankly these are things that people say because they've heard other people say them they parrot this information and when you actually respond with a logical argument they back away well what about that how could a God of love send someone to hell well the simple answer is God doesn't send anyone to hell we effectively send ourselves there that is not a cop-out that is an accurate statement because hell was not created for people hell was created for the devil and his angels that's what Jesus said and God doesn't want anyone to go to hell he wants all mankind to believe in him and go to heaven second Peter 3:9 God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance that's why he sent his son to be crucified on a cross and murdered in cold blood and the Bible says if we neglect this sacrifice of Jesus and his offer of forgiveness how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation so no one is going to be accidentally in hell nor will anyone be accidentally in heaven people will be in heaven and in hell because of a deliberate choice the result of a choice they made CS Lewis said quote no one goes to heaven deservingly and no one goes to hell unwillingly end quote Timothy Keller made this statement about Hell quote people only get in the afterlife what they most wanted either to have God as Savior and master or to be their own saviors and masters hell is simply once freely chosen path going on forever he wanted to get away from God and God in His infinite justice sends us where we wanted to go yeah a person will say but what about the person who has never heard the gospel will a God of love send them to hell here's a short answer to that God will judge us according to the light we have received in other words God will not hold you responsible for something you have never heard before what does that mean that means that you'll be held accountable for what you know and everybody knows something now some know a lot more than others some have sat through entire messages where the gospel was presented they'll be held accountable for what they've heard others have not heard the gospel there are people out there today who have never had someone tell them about Jesus Christ so are they off the hook is ignorance bliss not at all they will be judged as well according to what well here's what Romans 1 tells us and let me read it to you and this is from the New Living Translation that is quite helpful in this particular passage it says God chose this anchor from heaven against all sinful wicked people who pushed the truth away from themselves for the truth about God is known to them instinctively God has put this knowledge in their hearts from the time the world was created people have seen the earth and the sky and all that God made they can see his invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature so they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God so what this is saying is they have the testimony of nature no nature does not present the gospel of Jesus Christ but nature declares the existence of a Creator God and only a fool would ignore that you look around you go there is a God plus there is an internal compass we instinctively know what is right and wrong people say well no I don't I have my own rules I live by my own standards and I believe the good lord of the man upstairs or whatever they call them will judge me according to the standards that I have set in my life that I live by here's the problem buckaroo you don't even live by your own standards and you know it you break your own rules all the time well that's why I keep writing new rules yeah lowering the bar all the time so you instinctively know what is right and wrong even a little child knows that once a child when they're misbehaving they know my little granddaughter Lucy she's so little she's just learning how to walk but she knows when she's gonna do something bad cuz you're just before she does it she looks over like we have that internal compass inside of us Paul writes into Romans to 12 God will punish sin wherever its found he'll punish the non-believer when they sin even though they never had God's written laws for listen down in their hearts they know right from wrong wrong God's laws are written within them their own conscience accuses them see so they know instinctively right from wrong they've broken that not to mention that they've broken the commandments of God here's what it comes down to if a person is a true seeker of truth the Lord will reveal himself to them I believe that I think there's a lot of people that say they're seeking truth but they aren't because if they were really seeking truth they would find their way to Jesus Christ so you find someone that's in a cult or in some weird you know homemade version of what they think religion ought to be little New Age mysticism thrown in with a little Christianity and little Buddhist a little of this a little of that and they say well no this is my true that you know what they've done is they don't want to change our lifestyle so they found a religion that suits okay that's the bottom line Jesus said people don't come to the light because they don't want their evil deeds exposed so they can give you all these reasons I'm going to tell you the real reason the reason is they don't want to change so they come up some gobbledygook to believe in so they'll feel better about themselves but if they're a truth seeker of truth if they really want to know God God will reveal himself to them because the Lord Himself says in Jeremiah 29:13 you'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart I will be found by you the Bible tells the story of a man named Cornelius a Roman centurion this was a man who was powerful had great responsibility an intelligent man to rise to such a rank yet unlike most of his fellow Romans he did not worship the false gods that they had adopted from the Greeks nor did he worship Caesar himself as was the custom of that day Cornelius to the best of his understanding believed in the God of the Jews this was the land they were occupying the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob even though he was a Gentile he believed in the God of the Hebrews he wanted to know God deep down in his heart and he prayed to the God he knew and guess what God heard his prayer and sent Simon Peter to personally deliver the gospel to him and when Cornelius heard it he believed right on the spot ever person really wants to know God the Lord will reveal will reveal himself to them okay let's come to our last question and this will use the remainder of our time up I wish I had more time to deal with it it's such a vast important topic how could a God of love allow suffering people will ask why is there sickness even death tragedy and so forth okay for the answer let's look at John we're going to read verses one to seven here's a story of a man who was healed now as Jesus passed by he saw man who was blind from birth and his disciples asked him saying rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind jesus answered neither this man nor his parents sinned but that the works of God should be revealed in him I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day the night is coming when no one can work as long as I'm in the world I am the light of the world and when he said these things he spit on the ground made clay with the saliva and anointed the eyes of the blind man with a clay and he said John go wash in the pool of Siloam which is translated sent and so he washed and came back seeing this is a crazy story here's a guy who's blind jesus heals on how does he heal him he spits in the dirt I love the fact that Jesus never healed any two people in exactly the same way one person he touches them another person they touch him to another he speaks the word another touches the hem of his garment this guy he spits in the dirt can you imagine coming up and asking for prayer from the pastor's pray for me sure no problem all right what well it's in the Bible maybe the Lord very this methodology because he knew how prone we are to get hung up on things we'd form a whole denomination around it no Jesus mixed it up so we would just remember it's God that does the healing that's not a certain technique or a certain this or a certain that so but here's the question that is asked whose sin asked his disciples this man or his parents this really comes back to the essential question why does God allow suffering how come this guy is blind why did this disability take place who's at fault is it his own fault did it come as a punishment to him for something bad he had done was it his parents fault and thus the Lord judged them through their child Jesus is a no stop it's nobody's fault this man didn't send his parents didn't sin and we want to always blame sin or the repercussions of the hardships of life on God you know the problem of pain right CS Lewis is atheism 'he's most potent weapon against the christian faith and it's true because life is filled with in justices things happen that just don't make sense and sometimes people turn away from God because of this because a tragedy in life you know their parents divorced or a parent dies or a sibling dies or or they get cancer or somebody close to them has something horrible happen and they say I can't believe in a god like that and they turn away from God or we look at tragedies that we all witness like a the latest earthquake here or a song a tsunami that just hit there or a typhoon or or the World Trade Center is attacked in those towers come crashing to the ground with such a horrible loss of life or a plane crashes or a train goes off the rails or a friend of ours who's a Christian gets cancer or a child is born with a disability or a young man is killed in an automobile accident and we wonder why you see because our human intellects and notions of fairness reject the apparent contradiction between a loving God and a world of pain it just doesn't make sense to us and then sometimes it seems wrong because there'll be the drunk driver you know coming home from the bar that has a collision with the family of four on their way to church and the Christian family dies and the drunk driver doesn't even get injured okay now there are times when there is cause and effect there are times when someone does something wicked and they reap the repercussions they go wrong a bank they get arrested they go to prison all you see Yuri put yourself yeah that's true there's a lot of times things make sense but then there are times when things don't make sense at all then what what do we do the way we see it you know there's all good but he's not all-powerful therefore he can't stop evil or maybe God is all-powerful but he isn't all good therefore he doesn't stop evil here's the answer you may like it or not like it but it's the answer Jesus is saying neither this man nor his parents sinned meaning in this particular instance there is no correlation between his condition and sin Jesus is saying bad things happen and they're inexplicable all disability all sickness all pain even death itself are the result of sin now when I say that I don't mean because of sin a person committed I mean because of sin in general sin has polluted the human race because our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit sin entered the human race Romans 5:12 says it says it came into the world through one man and death spread to all men because all men have sinned and so now because of the effects of sin we don't live forever we weren't supposed to get old we weren't supposed to lose our memories what was I just saying no what we weren't supposed to have disease or illness and we certainly weren't supposed to die but sin has entered into this world and God gave to our first parents Adam and Eve n to us a free will but we asked why do these things happen you know after the World Trade Center was attacked I remember that a lot of people were asking why of course some preachers said well this is the judgment of God on America you may remember that I was not one of those preachers that said that because I heartily disagreed with that statement because to me it had all kinds of problems theologically for starters if that was God's judgment on America why was that God's only judgment on America and if it was this judgment why there is that really the one place that God would judge us there at the World Trade Center listen there were Christians in the twin towers - so what's with that I'll tell you what's with that that was not God's judgment against America that was a sinful act and by wicked Islamic terrorists in the name of their false god they were wicked and did it for wicked reasons God allowed it we don't know why but bad things happen earthquakes happen tragedies happen murders happen why I don't know but one day some people came to Jesus and they asked him about a tower that fell apparently this was an event that was known by many it fell on a group of Gentiles just tower tipped over fell and killed a bunch of people and so the answered question were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem in other words Lord that tower Fallen them because they were worse sinners and everybody else and I love the answer of Christ he said no I tell you unless you repent you will perish so in other words they were saying Lord is it because these guys were so horrible this happened Jesus says say no people die period and you better be careful because you might die - that's it well what people die we could be driving home today and die you could have a heart attack today you to find a lump in your breast and it's diagnosed as cancer and you only have a short time to live you could slip in your shower at home and hit your head and dot Greg this is like the most depressing message ever I know I know okay but I'm dealing with a topic here all right everybody dies there are no exceptions that doesn't mean that God is unfair it doesn't mean it was judgment it just means it was time for that person to leave this earth and it will come to everyone some die young some die old some die slowly others die quickly but every one dies here's the point Jesus was making you don't know when it's going to happen so be ready to go but why does God allow suffering well I can't give you an answer that will probably satisfy you because of I could I would and I've searched myself for answers to that question and there are times we can say well this good thing came out of that thing and I can see how the Lord's using it and frankly there are times when we say I don't get this at all this really doesn't seem good but I'm trusting God in this word and that in the end all things will make sense and work together for good to those that love God but here are some things to consider as we close God me allows suffering and sickness to get our attention he may allow suffering and sickness to get our attention you know when everything is going well in life a lot of times we just don't really think we need God now do we a lot of times crisis is the wake-up call something dramatic something big something earth-shaking wakes us up to our need for God as the psalmist said in psalm 119 67 before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept your word so it might be something like that that wakes you up sometimes God will use the worst to accomplish the best but then there are tongues when these things happen we don't get it we just have to trust the Lord people will say well when I get to heaven I have a lot of questions to ask God down that but I suggest you when you get to heaven you'll take one look in his holy face and say never mind and that day you will know as you are known maybe not until certainly not until you might know some but not all number - suffering helps us grow spiritually and makes us stronger and our faith you know sometimes people will say well do this crisis I lost my faith respectfully may I say maybe you never had faith because you've your faith is real it will not be destroyed through crisis it will only get stronger and if your faith cannot withstand crisis and it's not genuine faith at all so when people say they lost their faith I suggest maybe they never had faith in the Living God but it's never too late to get some but this will strengthen you the thing you fear the most could be the best thing for you in your spiritual life believe it or not James 1:2 says when all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brother's don't treat them as intruders but it's friends realize that they have come to test your faith and produce in you a quality of endurance and let that process go on until that endurance is fully developed and you'll find you become men and women of mature character men and women of integrity with no weak spots third suffering can bring glory to God it can bring glory to God how well sometimes when God removes it that's what happened with the blind man hey who sinned this man or his parents said he was willing born blind he no one's sinned but in order that the works of God might be put on display he heals the guy so Jesus said look don't worry about how this happened just watch what I'll do and there are times crisis hits and we call on God and God comes through and crisis goes away it happens you know you get that bad news from the doctor you pray and you go back in for a test and whatever it was that was bothering them isn't there anymore we can't believe there we've never seen anything like this before you have that situation where there's no way you'll ever of the resources to pay these bills and boom you have the resources you have this other problem there's no way we'll ever be fixed and boom it's fixed God comes through in his say look at what my God did and people say wow that's a powerful God you're serving but then there are times when you pray and the dead person isn't raised the site isn't restored the crisis isn't averted in fact it even gets worse well then what then you can glorify the Lord through your suffering and understand something that is a powerful witness to a lost world see anybody can be happy when the sky is blue and the sun is shining see people look at us as Christian say you know you're also weirdy Christians your little smiling Christian faces you get your little Christian cars and drive to your Christian Church and go out and eat your christian food and praise the Lord this and hallelujah that you guys don't live in the real world then one day crisis hits that little Christian family and they're still going to church and they're still praising the Lord and the non-believer system maybe there's something to it yeah there is God can be glorified in our suffering a good example of this as Paul and Silas they were thrown in prison for preaching the gospel and they were whipped and put into a dungeon wasn't like the cell Lindsay Lowen is in right now where when she comes out of her cell everybody's put in lockdown all the other prisoners are upset and I'm you know what I hope Lindsey Lowen comes to put her faith in Jesus Christ because that's what she needs to get out of the mess she's in I hope she doesn't end up as another one of these Hollywood statistics of young girls young boys who get even worse through a drug you know end up in the drug overdose or whatever it is it pray the Lord saves her soul and maybe God will use these circumstances but here's Paul and Silas they're in a hellhole they're in a dungeon they're in pain but I love how in the book of Acts it says but at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises to God so Silas what do you want to do how about a little two-part harmony let's go bump bump bump bump and they start worshiping God what the other prisoners the Bible says listen and that word listing can be translated listened with pleasure have you ever heard something you liked maybe a song in the radio oh I like that song turn it up yeah that's my song that's how the people were listening they'd never heard singing in a dungeon before then an earthquake comes and the walls collapse and the jailer who's in charge of all of this and it actually whip Paul and Silas was ready to kill himself because the penalty in those days was if you lost your prisoners you'd be put to death he's just ready to thrust the sword into his chest and Paul and Silas says wait wait wait don't do it we're all here still and this guy says sirs what must I do to be saved Paul says hey believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that man believes and he takes Paul and Silas home gives him a nice meal cleans our backs up his whole family comes to faith why because they had earned the right to share the gospel with him by rejoicing at time of calamity and when you worship God through hardships in life it'll give you a platform to reach people in a different way yes God can use these things to bring glory to his name and forth and lastly your suffering will not last forever I know like it seems it well but it won't 2nd Corinthians 4:17 says our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever so we don't look at the troubles we can see right now rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen for the troubles we see now will soon be over but the joys to come will last forever maybe tragedy has recently knocked at your door you've had a brush with death or a friend or a loved one has died but you're very sick right now oh you're just getting old and you know the clock is ticking the fact is the pain and the joys of this life are all temporal but eternity all that lasts forever and Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross so you could live forever maybe you've come here today with some of the questions that I've raised and I hope that I've been able to answer them in some way shape or form you probably have other questions that's okay but you know what when you become a Christian you take that step of faith and you believe and there might be some of you here that have never asked Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin you don't have that assurance that when you die you will go to heaven but you want it maybe you're going through a hardship right now and you want God's help you come to Christ and believe in him and he will forgive you of everything you have ever forgiven the Bible promises this you'll find this to be true for yourself but you need to say Lord come into my life and as we close down prayer if you've never asked Christ to come into your heart and life to be your Savior and Lord do it now let's pray father thank you for your word to us now and now I pray for any here that may not yet know you they're still living in sin plagued by guilt terribly afraid of dying lonely empty scared Lord would you help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you right now we pray now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying if you want Jesus Christ to come and live in your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want your guilt taken away I want you to stand to your feet right now and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer god bless you just stand up stand to your feet and stay standing if you would god bless you yeah good stand up there in the balcony stand to your feet if you want nice to come into your life today god bless you over there on the side god bless you in the back up in the balcony god bless all of you that understand he know that you're not alone if you're standing right now don't worry about that you stand up don't be embarrassed you're among friends and family here today okay you want Christ to come into your life stand to your feet if you're outside in the amphitheater you stand up I can't see you but it really doesn't matter if I see you this is between you and God if you're up in the court building watching the big video screen stand to your feet right now and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of asking Christ to come into your life just stand up wherever you are this final moment if you haven't stood yet stand now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and I'll lead you in this prayer god bless you anybody else stand up god bless you sir up there in the balcony in the corner and God bless you anybody else this final moment stand up here feet god bless you and you anybody else stand up god bless you god bless you I'll write all of you that are standing I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me this is where you're asking Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin again as I pray pray this out loud after me if you would please pray this now Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner I ask you to forgive me of my sin right now come into my life be my Savior be my Lord be my god and be my friend I choose to follow you now Jesus from this moment forward thank you for accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen god bless each one of you that stood and prayed that prayer god blessed you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 145,662

Rating: 4.8277912 out of 5

Keywords: Greg Laurie, lost people, Lord, God, Jesus, Jesus freak, Bible, Praise the Lord, disciple, share, questions, faith, belief, hell, heaven, good, loving, tragedy, injustice, truth, prayer, defend, reason, evidence, apologetics, predict the future, john 9, heal, miracle, health, life, suffering, glorify, preach

Id: GCwuOJt5gnM

Length: 51min 31sec (3091 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2010