It's Not All Bad

want to welcome everybody watching online on the internet right now I want to especially welcome all of those watching a Zion Church right now those of you in Zion Church in Woodbridge and and those views on Church and land over at the Ministry Center I want to thank you all for being with us I know the suit is throwing you off I keep it for special occasions like passage incas might ask me to come over and preach for him I never know just keep one in the closet just in case as you may know is mostly known pastor Jenkins lost his mother and a cousin this week and had two funerals to attend this week and so he's wisely and deservedly taking a rest from preaching today in fact let's pray for him and his family now and for our time together in the word father thank you so much for a great leader in the pastor John gingka and the person who passes John Kay Jenkins senior and thank you for his wife Trina and their entire family we thank you for the support that they've had from family and friends during this time we thank you for their safety we pray that this time might be a time of rest and refreshing for him and thank you that all things are well that this church is well run and well staffed and the team is stepping up and doing everything in his absence that needs to be done we pray for this time in your word or father we pray that you would speak to us in very personal ways we need to hear from you there's not a week or a data goes by that we don't need your direction and your insight in our lives so we ask you to give it to us now is this name and all God's people did agree said amen hey I want to talk to you about this debate that I've been having in my own mind over the last several years and it is around the question why do good things happen to bad people and why do bad things happen to good people that is a question that crosses the mind of some people I personally believe that the question itself is in error because at the end of the day people are assuming that if you're bad then bad stuff should happen to you and if you're good then good things should happen to you my problem with that premise is who really is good at the end of the day we're all just grace cases I don't know about you but I am so grateful that I have not gotten what I deserve because if I had gotten what I deserved I would not be in front of you right now so the tension is based on this premise that good things should happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people and then when you throw into it the theocracy of God and his sovereign rule and you throw into it the presence of a God who is providential then now he is responsible for all of this so then the question now is why does God allow bad things happen to good people and good things to happen the bet is he not fair what is God doing and and I have wrestled with this question in my own mind because of circumstances that I've experienced and witness over the course of my life sometimes life just doesn't make sense and just doesn't add up when you're doing what you're supposed to do I mean you're not good but you did what you were told to do and then didn't get the results you were expecting you know this is come come located and it started for me it started for me and I've shared this message that I'm about to share with you in different parts of the country and it always turns up some kind of tension and debate because a lot of times people who are wanting to protect God never want to raise questions about him at all I don't know if you know people like that don't ever question God don't ever question him don't ever call God on the carpet God is baby don't ever question him but there are people throughout scriptures who had plenty of questions for God who who were concerned about God's agenda and God what are you doing and why are the mighty fallen and why is this going on and why is that going on in fact questioning God does not mean you have a lack of faith in God it actually means you have a lot of faith in God because I'm not asking you what's going on I'm asking him up I know that ass no I'm asking somebody who hasn't asked he doesn't have to answer me but I would like to raise some questions he knows my heart anyway and since the question is stirring in my heart there is nothing that I can hide from him I might as well express what he already sees so nursing these questions about God and people are saying no you can never say that God caused anything bad to happen because happy the bad stuff happens because of evilness in the world this world is full of evil and darkness that's why bad happens and it's because of the Fallen depraved nature of man that bad things happening bad is just in our society then people are simple and I get that a lot of bad stuff happened in my life because I did it it's my fault that this stuff happened I'm putting myself in this situation I get all of that but I also see this and this is where I am frustrated because I also see I can go to a courtroom and watch one guy get sentenced to 10 years for doing a crime that he did and he deserve to get 10 years and then see another person in the same courtroom on the same day get a probation and get community service who did some worse so what I'm saying is sometimes God is good to people and sometimes God is gracious to people and many of us in this room right now would have to say the reason why I'm even here right now is because he's been good to me and gracious to me but that's not even my prophecy this what I need you to understand my problem is not the goodness of God I know he's good and I know his goodness is unbelievable and undeserved that's not my problem that God is good we all don't have problem that we don't ever have God why are you so good God why you so good no we just said thank you Lord for your goodness our problem is he's so good that we're spoiled and because he's so good to us we can't handle a flat tire we kicked him to a headache we can't handle prayer problems with our children we cannot impose God what you doing what you doing law you see I'm struggling up over here what he been reaching your day after day after day after day after day morning by morning new mercies you're seeing and did all of a sudden as soon as one thing goes wrong we got a hit whether I'm condemned Oh busy God was not gone so the problem is not with the goodness of God I need to calm down the problem is with look the problem is with when God allows bad to happen because certainly even if he didn't cause it but have stopped it or you don't believe that okay he could have stopped it how about this how about this you and I have done things that deserve consequences greater than we got but because he stepped in okay that wasn't good enough have you ever fallen asleep behind the wheel that means you should be dead but the fact that you are not dead and now means he stopped you from dying okay you ain't getting that have you ever been so high oh no sir Rosa you ever been so high you don't even know how you made it home but somehow you made it home you shouldn't even have made it home you should have got beaten up and all that but he stepped in and covered you what I'm saying is somebody did fall asleep behind the wheel and did die and somebody didn't make it home and some child was killed and somebody did bury their mother and what I'm saying is why did you let that happen this all started for me about 15 years ago I'm sorry I'm confused it'll get it'll get clear I hope about 15 years ago I was teaching Bible at a high school and here in the state of Maryland I'm teaching Bible and high school Bible teacher and I had a student 11 graders about 16 years old and one day after school I was in my classroom and he and another student came in they all came in just to joke around but this day this kid opened up his name was Josh and Josh said to me his father by the way was an elder Church and he was an administrator to school and he was dying of ALS Lou Gehrig's disease he came into the room in his day and he started opening up to me and he said mister god oh I am so angry he said I watched my dad go in a short period of time from being able to do everything to not even being able to talk and not being to do anything on his own he says there were times when he would walk in Chapel when he was getting sicker and he was stumble and he would fall and other students would laugh at him and he said I am so angry and he went on to talk about all these things that his fat was going through that he had no control over and then he said this this will blew me away he said mr. battle it seems like my family had two brothers his mother and his father he said it seems like my family is in a car and we're headed downhill into a brick wall and it's about to destroy our family and he says and God could stop it but he won't and he didn't say anything else so now I Here I am mr. Bible teacher mr. Bible college education and I know that God can do anything but fail my spiritual reflex wanted to tell him there is no failure in God that God does all things well that's what I wanted to say to him I wanted to say to him that his arm is not too short that he cannot heal but while I was sitting there I was conflicted as I looked at this little boy who was wondering why God wouldn't stop this and two months later while he didn't stop it the man died I was asked to pray a prayer of comfort at this family and I saw them sitting on the front row and I and and I tried to you know when you're preaching you know he's just a script in your head there's certain things you say the funeral like the Lord don't make no mistakes and you know he's now absent from the body and present the Lord all that's true I prayed all of that God is good he lived the Honorable I prayed all of that but inside have you ever been conflicted with your faith I was so conflicted because I couldn't understand God I was like God these are good people why would you allow something terribly painful to happen to good what why does God allow things like that to happen and then I started thinking about other things like there's somebody in my neighborhood whose grandchild was hit 10 years old by a drunk driver and killed 10 year old girl why didn't God stop dead why didn't he protect her from danger seen and unseen what why does God if God and see you all may not ask these questions but you need to understand in the world which we live this question is being asked it is paralyzing people's faith it is making atheists out of people and making people not want anything to do with organized religion because if God is so good and how great is our God and they hear a singing about all of that but if God is so good why would he allow Hurricane Katrina to happen doesn't he have the power that the Bible says in one day there was a storm and he spoke to the wind and the wind stopped blowing and he spoke to the sea and the sea stopped moving and the water was like glanced couldn't he have stopped Katrina people are still recovering from that what about Haiti and what about Chile and what if God is so good and if he's so powerful and if he's so loving what was he doing September 11th well forget about something left what was he doing on September the 10th when they were planning to enter towers what was God doing when these innocent people went to work at the Pentagon and at the Twin Towers and these people lost their lives and some loved ones will never even have after having the decency of seeing their loved ones body to be able to generalize them not even knowing come on God y'all came killed I see you this is gonna be River where was God when your mother died or when your child got sick some people are asking that question why God why would you allow I didn't say you caused it but why wouldn't you stop it there are people in this room who have been molested as a child and abused and some sick uncle touch you in the wrong way couldn't why didn't God protect you when you couldn't protect yourself why don't they go in the other room why didn't it just the other child why don't they ever touch you why does God allow painful hurtful the support things to happen in our life why if God has the king's heart in his hand can't he turn a husband and a wife hard to get back together why does families have to be ravaged apart by divorce why I wish I had time but one thing I love about God is that if God has ever called to the witness stand he's more than capable of defending himself I believe God must have thought about this question before was ever raised because he gave an answer to me this clear right in the book of Romans chapter 8 in Romans chapter 8 he gives an answer to me to the role beautifully in answer to why he allows we know why he was good he's just good because he want to be good but while everywhere why are there times when bad things are allowed by God to enter our lives listen to this Romans 8:28 you probably heard it before if you've been in church it says and we know that all things work together for the good of those that love God and those and then are the called according to his purpose this is the answer here's my point for the day here's my point only at one point God allows terribly difficult and painful things that happen into our lives because of this was just because there is something good inside of every bad situation there is something good inside of every bad situation it is no matter what it is and we need to know that because sometimes we can only see the bad situation and we can't see the good that's inside of it there's a when Paul wrote this to the believers in Rome he's writing to Christians and he onion you know you need to understand right up front when the verse says and we know something when that word know is critical because it lets us know that this passage and if you read this entire chapter this chapter in this passage is written in the context of confidence and certainty this is when he says we know that all things work together for good that means he's saying the verdict is not still out on this we're not wondering about this we're not we're not pondering whether or not this is the case we know this we are certainly in fact that in verse 38 he says I'm persuaded that neither death nor life Angels or principalities thing is present things that come height depth any other creature shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus this is a text of certainty he says we know watch this that all things all things everything there is nothing outside of the realm of all things divorce and painful marriage all things tragedy and sickness all things conflict and debate all things depression and cancer all things whatever you can put in in a certain way were children all things headaches in the morning all things difficulties in life all things we know that all things work together for good now here's the deal some people are not in the saying Amen to it but the verse would make more sense to me because I'm linear like this the verse will make more sense to me if it says and we know that most things or just about everything works together for good mono verse says all things all things watch this work together for good it does not say that all things are good it says that all things work together for good I'm since I'm a teacher I'm a steel pastor jinkers illustration here I still all this stuff anyway it don't matter I have here this is a battery a car battery whoever has that silver BMW outside we'll get it back to you we we just needed it for this sermon I learned it I wasn't good at science I wasn't good at school period to be honest with you but on every battery this is what chirps mail every battery there's a positive side and a negative side you're seeing the positive sides read negative size black it's a little plus sign and minus sign trips me out every battery I don't care if his non-vote double-a or one of these suckers has always got a positive and negative side on it and I don't know why but for some reason that's the only way to think in charge and cause something to be empowered I wouldn't have made the battery like that I would have made the battery double positive I don't want nothing negative in my life first of all top positive positive ah mm easy but but you have to understand in order for this battery to have power there must be something equally negative and something equally positive happen together because if you get in your car and the negative is not working with the positive you can sit there all day but it ain't gonna start up but if you're gonna get power if you go get Wow yeah if you get some power I decide read it for y'all if you're going to get that you've got to have both things working together in order for it to happen the problem with this generation of believers is that we want everything to be positive we want naming and claiming spit it and get it blabbing and gas grab it believe it and receive it we want a new car new house jury new weave rims on the car all that stuff we want all the stuff and all the trappings of being but we don't want any pain any effort today any trauma any trials when those are the negative things that give us power Gavin a nice color and give you power but going through hell will give you power having a new watch is not gonna give you power but having difficulty in your marriage with y'all ain't ready but it will give you power so in order to have power it's gotta work together and it's working together watch this for good so the question is well what is good in the Western world in which we live good is always connected to material things but in the economy of God good has to do with us being shaped verse 29 you had to jump down to verse 29 it has to be with who he's trying to make us look like see he says he says the reason why all things are working together for good for those who love God and called Corner's purpose is because watch this in verse 29 he says for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren so watch this the reason why things are working together for good and the reason why they must be difficult things is because those things actually ultimately are intended to make us look like act like talk like and respond like Jesus because what God is looking for is Jesus twins he is the first born amongst many brothers and sisters not that we would look like him externally but we would look like him in character and so no matter what I went through no matter how bad it was if I came out of it acting like talking like thinking like and responding like Jesus it was good even though it was bad God is more concerned about my character than he is my cash my maturity than he is my money he is more concerned about the intended goal of making us look like Jesus and he says back in verse 20 he says work together for good watch this but he narrows the scope this doesn't apply to everybody all things work together for good to them they love God hmm and not a call according to his purpose two ways of saying the same thing we love God because he called us according to his purpose called us out of darkness into his marvelous light he made the first move we love him because he first loved us it's talking to believers right and then verse 31 we're gonna be done verse 30 says and whom he predestined this is important he also called and whom he called he also justified and whom he justified he also glorified now watch this he gets a pattern of what God has done notice the process and the pronouns in verse 30 he watched us he predestined us that means he chose us beforehand and then he called us which means he reached out to us with the light of the gospel he predestined us he knew beforehand those who would cross the line of faith he then didn't just stop with that but one day he called us and we responded to that gospel when we responded he justified us which means we are made right with him justified just as if I'd never sinned and then he says and he's glorified us which means we're made perfect and righteous in glory now watch this is four things he predestined us beforehand chosen beforehand then he called us reached out to us with the gospel he justified us made us right with God then it says he glorified us and in Paul and with Paul is writing all four those things have already happened he's writing as if all four those things have already happened but if you're sitting here at best only three of those things have happened you've been predestined you've been called and you've been justified that's all it could have happened you would only time you get glorified is when you're asking from the body and present with the Lord so what he's saying is he's saying don't trip over what you're facing right now because whatever you're facing cannot disrupt the plan the plan is he predestined you he calls you he justified you and he already sees you is glorified so nothing can come into your life that can't work together for his good because it's all part of his plan so here's the message here's the message in a nutshell there's something good inside of every bad situation so our job is is to discover what the good is here's where we got to work we always discover what is the good in this bad situation it's like coal miners when they go into the earth and they dig for the deep treasures and things is what Gary Smalley calls pearl finding if you ever know where a pearl where pearls come from pearls come from pain they're the result of the pain that an oyster experiences when an oyster gets a piece of sand inside of it that oyster instead of ejecting a piece of sand the oyster responds by making secretions around the sand and these secretions can happen for months and what happens is these secretions keep going around the sand keep going around saying keep going on saying and before you know it what comes out of the oyster is a pearl some of you women are wearing a necklace at some oysters expense right now some hey cool Easter and so what you have to do what your pain is you have to find a pearl in your pain there's a pearl and every painful thing you've ever been through so how do you discover it you got to ask the right questions here's one question it's a relationship pearl question who have I met that I wouldn't have met if I hadn't gone through this situation that's a relationship pearl you got to write that down what do I know then I wouldn't know if I hadn't gone through this trial that's a wisdom pearl you got to write that down how much more sensitive in my now as in light of what I went through I usually didn't care about this issue until it came into my life but now this in my life I'm more compassionate about it I'm more sensitive to it so now you have a greater understanding sailors that now you have a greater that's a compassion pearl what greater capacity do I have now to minister to others because of the difficulty that I've gone through that's a ministry capacity / so you've gone through great difficulty because there's a great call on your life because the measure of the call on your life must match what you've gone through because if you get through into your platform you will have anything to say because you won't have been through anything that's a ministry capacity pearl see some of you should have a whole necklace full of pearls by now about all you winter you deserve to have a necklace of pearl but all you've been through how close how much more closer to God are you now as a result of your pearl as out of your pain I'm sorry you got to add all that up how many more conversations with God have you had because of their child because of that pain because of that situation that's a prayer light pearl you got to add all that up see it ain't all bad some of us got saved because of our pain some of us got serious with God because of our pain some of us got committed to a ministry because of our pain it ain't all bad some of us are wise up because of it we're stronger because of it we're smaller because of it we're more connected because of it we're more committed because it it ain't all bad I had a show growing up the nicer love is called The Beverly Hillbillies I love granny on the Beverly Hilton grannies my girl I just love wild people like that and the reason why I bring up the Beverly Hilton is right now is because um to me The Beverly Hillbillies screams Romans 8:28 strings it to me just listen to the theme song now listen to a story about a man named Jed a poor Mountaineer barely kept his family feed and then one day he was shooting at some food and up from the ground came a bubbling food oil that is black gold Texas oh the next thing you know jazz a millionaire kinfolk said Jed move away from here face California is the place you oughta be so they loaded up the truck and the mood Hills that is swimming pools movie star the Beverly Hilton and I'm an inanimate in the room I can get better on his literally hey is it just me or does anybody else realize that Jed Clampett missed this is where over here I have an announcement y'all Jed Clampett missed okay you got let me back up this is a slow service I see that let me tell you story about a man named Jan poor about named Betty Kevin's benefit then one day he was shooting Nestle the man was hunting to feed his family he came home with no food he missed when he was shooting for but when he hit was far greater all things work thing Oh y'all there you have missing I don't know what you've been shooting that I don't know what you been aiming that maybe you been wanting to hit it but if God wanted you to hit it you would have hit it by now but the reason why he let you hit it is because he got something better for you because of you to hit that you when they got this all things work together if you can just see I'm glad I missed that was the greatest miss of his life let's break all thank you so much for this truth may it help us when we experiencing the most difficulty help us to dig beyond the pain and see the pearl in every painful situation regardless of what we're facing if you let it happen there's something good inside of it maybe we get the most out of every experience in our lives we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Zion Church

Views: 19,272

Rating: 4.9678283 out of 5

Keywords: Zion, Church, zionchurchlive, Keith, Battle, Bible, Bad, Good, Situations, zionchurchonline

Id: P5EXK2y6qUg

Length: 29min 39sec (1779 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2012