Rock Church - Why Bad Things Happen to Good People by Miles McPherson

let's see your Bibles this morning's a word very good one more time say word let's see your pants a pants lesson plan let's turn to job chapter one job chapter one this is the very first Bibles that I ever taught in my whole life when I was playing football with the charges and I and they asked me to do a Bible study for the team for the Christians on the team I was new Christian and I knew some guys are getting cut so if all you don't know who job is he's a guy who had some bad things happened to him so I talked about Joe job chapter 1 and after you find it we're gonna all bow our heads and pray so if you found it turnt value heads and pray if you found it if you haven't don't bow your head and close your eyes yet just make sure you find it first very good job chapter 1 Lord thank you so much for this story job thank you for the man thank you for his faith and its courage and lord I thank you that you encouraged us no matter what we go through as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed if you are struggling with a financial issue just raise your hand up real high thank you you can put your hands down there are many of you raise your hand if you are struggling with a health issue raise your hand up high okay all over the room if you have a family issue you have a conflict with a family member or a friend a person raise your hand up real high Wow a lot of you a lot of you okay okay if you have an emotional issues you discovered suicidal depressed just raise your hand up real high okay we'll pray for you some of you have addictions you're dealing with and just raise your hand at real high okay and some of you have a secret something that nobody knows but you and you need to get it off your chest just raise your hand up high just some unknown sin okay very good thank you thank you for all Lord thank you for those people raising their hands and I thank you for their honesty I pray for those who who didn't raise their hand but it's still struggling with those things I pray you encourage all of them today in Jesus name Amen one of the most frequent ask questions I get when I talk to non-christians about God is that they ask why do bad things happen to good people how many of you heard that question before very good some of you probably wondered that why do bad things have a good people whenever you witness to anybody or talk to anybody about God or really anything who has a difference of opinion one of the first things you need to do is to define the terms that you're using in a conversation so if someone says to you why do bad things happen to good people you want to qualify what is a good person and what is a bad thing because there are things that happen to all of us in the past where at the time we thought it was bad come to find out it was the best thing that happened to it's gonna get amen I mean think about someone you used to date you broke up and it's like oh they don't love me I'm gonna kill myself and now looking back on your faith friends that live can I get a read okay okay so you always want to qualify what does it mean to have a bad thing happen and what is a good person in this story we're going to read it's about a guy named Joe bear would say job and the Bible tells us that he's a good person and you may read the story and say that's a bad thing but we have to really find out how Joel feels about it so whenever someone says why do bad things happen to good people one of the things one of the answers you give is look at the response of the good person and that's your answer look at the response of the good person now here's we're going to do I must say job is a good man and when I say good I'm going to shrug my shoulders like that okay so just watches and then when I asked you to do it here a minute job was a good man okay so when I asked you to repeat that I want you to say good man like that okay are you ready okay one two three job was a good man that was real weak you're gonna say with me say Joe was a good man with me when you say good you're gonna throw your shoulders up okay one two three Joe was a good man okay let's try it one more time one two three Joe was a good man okay looking for the next you say I don't want to do this this morning look the person thank you say it's really corny thank you very much now we're gonna do one more time and I want you to look at them when you do it so you can see how corny it does look okay so look the person next to you and just listen to me and on three we're gonna say Joe was a good man and I chose gonna go are you looking don't look at me one two three Joe was a good man all right very good okay let's read it says there was a man in the Land of Oz everyone say us whose name was job and that man was blameless upright one who fear God and shuns evil okay yesterday Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy Alabama first Alabama football player to win the Heisman Trophy and and that he's from Flint Michigan his father actually got a Super Bowl ring he played for the New York Giants and Heisman Trophy is a guy doing this the Bible says that job gave evil the Heisman it says it right there it says there was a man in the Land of Oz I'm gonna say Oz and this man was Joel this man was Nate was hmm whose name was job and that man was blameless upright and he gave evil the Heisman okay so we know that he was a good man the Bible said he had seven sons and three daughters so we know that he and his wife got along okay the first service didn't get that it was like they just went over the head eight o'clock be well y'all grumpy no coming down verse three he said his possessions were seven thousand sheep three thousand camels five hundred yoga oxen five hundred female donkeys and a very large household so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East this is believed to be one of the oldest books in the Bible and one of the reasons they believe that is because they measured wealth and animals they didn't measure wealth in gold or silver they measured wealth and animals and there's no there's no mention of a king or a judge so it was long before a lot of those other errors in the Bible verse four it says his sons would go and feasts in their houses each one on his appointed day and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink so the kids got got together they got along verse five so it was when the days of feasting would run their course that job would send and sanctify them he would rise early in the morning offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all and job said it may be possibly that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts thus job did on a regular basis so here the Bible says a job shunned evil that he was blameless he had ten kids that got along and had parties and whenever they had party he will go out in the next morning and build an altar and sacrifice to God and say I pray on behalf of my kids because maybe they cursed God okay so no more knows good people pray for other people good people regularly pray for other people so job is a kind of God and he's not only going to shun evil himself he's going to pray on behalf of his kids based on what they might have done now I don't know you know you you may say well I pray for other people but I don't know when's the last time your kids went out and then the next morning you got up and built the altar and sacrifice to God you know kill one of the neighbors Cassie said oh god you don't forgive my kids I'm not saying you should ever do that you shouldn't kill cash you shouldn't abused animals but my point is is that what he did was he was constantly offering giving offerings to God on behalf of what his kids might have done not what his kids did but what they might have in their heart this is a good guy just want to establish the fact he's a good guy on three say job was a good man with me one two three Joel was a good man okay very good now look what it says in verse six there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came now imagine God having a staff meeting I promise you no one was late so you have all his angels and all his guys and all of a sudden the Devils in the room imagine the the buzz you know is he coming back to repent you know it wasn't what's up with him and look what it says it says the Lord said to Satan from where do you come from not not not that God didn't know but he's one everyone else to know Satan said from going to an afro on the earth and walking back and forth on it yell a slogan in the original language there was a little-a in front of the Frog okay some of y'all still are not getting that but that's okay it doesn't matter it doesn't matter it's good it's good you know God will reveal it to you and you get home it says the Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant job that there was none like him on earth a blameless and upright man one who fears God and gives evil the Heisman this is the only reason the Bible I don't want to be a godly man because I don't want God saying the devil hey go check out miles he'll never do you do anything you want to him he won't ever curse me ok so the devil says I've been walking around on the earth just you know hey you know ladies you might have met this guy fellas you might have met the female version because there are she-devils ladies can I get amen mm-hm and y'all know before we know ok the Bible says that he was walking around the earth and God says have you considered my servant job he is a good man you can't stumble him and then it says in verse ah nein Satan answered and said does Joe fear God for nothing you have made a hedge around him and his household and around all that he has on every side you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land but if you stretch out your hand and touch all he has he will curse you to your face here's the accusation about fact number two good people live constantly accused by the devil you are constantly accused by the devil now let me say this a lot of y'all raise your hand earlier saying I'm going through this I'm going through this and going through this and by the way everybody in this room is going through something let's verify they may go into something thank you okay we're all going through something we're going to something the question is how are you responding to what you're going through here's what the devil is banking on that he can get you to curse God be mad at God talk behind God's back even though you can't because he's in front of you complain about God how come God's bless that person up me I don't deserve this bla bla bla bla bla bla when when when when when that is what the devil is banking on and one of the devil's names is accuser so when you do that the devil is right before the Lord saying look at that hypocrite that's what he does all day long the devil will put stuff in your head about other people will look at that person look at that person look at that person if they will say oh that person is talking behind your back and that person is doing this to you and you have all these these arguments in your head and all this anger towards other people and it's Satan instigated it's garbage it is garbage it's from the pit of hell and we fall into it and so here's a devil saying listen as long as he says God as long as you bless your people they'll praise you all day long but as soon as stuff doesn't go their way they start complaining that's not a good person what I mean by it's not a good person if you say you're a good Christian all stuff good Christians and people who walk with God that's not how they live now doesn't does it mean you don't get discouraged yeah you get discouraged does it mean not gonna have more times you're gonna have hard times does that you're not gonna say God can you take this from me absolutely we're not talking about that we're talking about you saying god you're wrong god I don't like you I'm not going to church I'm not giving any money I'm not serving on doing all that stuff because you're not blessing me that's what I'm talking about do oh I'm did me tell you me as long with you I have been times of my life when I say god I'm not gonna say I was suicidal but God it would be I would have no problem we're going to heaven today where life gets too hard how many of y'all felt life is too hard very good and here's a here's the amazing thing about it and all you are hope with know exactly what I'm talking about one day one minute you could say life is too hard and in two minutes later it's all good it's all good I all over the I would die here take it and then all sudden your perspective changes God shows you something God does something and you're the happiest person on earth how fickle Kiwi can be and so the point is that the devil is going to the devil's gonna say to God God job is a hypocrite and he is playing you some of us play God when things go our way God is good when things don't go our way we hit the bottle we do pornography we go cheat we yellow screen whatever and we do things that way that is not that's not a person was walking with God let me say it again that is not a person who's walking with God let me say it again that is not a person walking with God that's a person who's whit God when it's going and then say i'ma go now God say over there I don't like what you're doing to me that's not walking with God a devil speaks three times in the Bible first time he speaks is in Genesis second time he speaks is jinn job and third time he speaks in Matthew and every time a devil speaks he has one goal is to destroy your relationship with God because it's only in the context of your relationship with God can you have the peace of God and the bus's of God and eternal life of God so all he wants to do is destroy that relationship in Genesis he tries to turn man against God he tells Adam and Eve God is playing you God told you not to eat from that tree he's lying to you Adam Lee believe it they eat death happens women have pain in labor all you ladies you got the epidural and all that all that stuff you got to go to you need to blame Eve okay and blame the devil the second time he speaks is right here he tries to turn God against man he says God job is playing you the third time he speaks in Matthew he talks to the god man Jesus tries to get the god man Jesus to bow down to him the hole every time he spoke it's the same reason destroy relationship it's only in the context of relationship with God can you be blessed by God you don't get blessed by God because you come to church or you say Jesus or word all kind of stuff no no it's because you have relationship with him that's it relationship eternal life is relationship with Jesus and so the devil is constantly trying to break that relationship and so here he says is that God job's a hypocrite let me assure you the devil is calling you names behind your back and let me assure you in some of those cases he's right got now God knows your and my goal is to prove him wrong because God is going to say the job job will not curse me and the devil's going to say he will curse me and let's see what happens that happens to you every day you lose your job what you gonna do you incur Scott you get sick what you under you on curse god someone has a terminal illness what you gonna do you gonna curse God if God wanted to punish you he would just send you to hell hell is a whole lot worse than any pain you can have here this is elementary school pain this is nothing compared to hell and so you've cursed God just cuz you don't get you away knowing that in the past when you didn't get your way how it always God turn those things into good or could turn those things into good and we forget so as soon as things don't go your way I'm not gonna be faithful to God I'm not gonna serve I'm not gonna give I'm not gonna do this God is bigger than that so let's see what job does it says verse 12 the Lord said to Satan behold all that he has in your power only do not lay your hand on this person and Satan went out from the presence of the Lord now I'm describe to you what Satan does okay but first let me tell you this Satan is a genius compared to you and me now let me let me rephrase that we understand genius in human terms we all know people who are very very smart I'm not talking about that level of genius that's like first great genius compared to devil genius the devil is global and even even bigger than global he was in heaven he was an angel he understands true strategic planning like nobody's business he is strategizing for the globe to bring the globe against God that's what he's strategizing and he's doing a great job so he is really smart he's very patient he's very strategic he's very intelligent so when he comes against you he knows exactly when to pull the trigger with pain in your life to maximize your hatred towards God how many of you ever had something bad happen to you and these exact words came out of your mouth why is this happening now anybody the timing couldn't be worse no the timing was orchestrated by the mass of the season he knows how to get you okay so as you read this I want you to think of the I want you to notice the timing industry the strategy of the devil verse 13 now there was a day when jobs sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the oldest brother's house and a messenger came to JoVE and said the oxen were ploughing the donkeys were feeding beside then when the sabaeans raided them and took them away indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword and I alone have asked a tell you while he was still speaking another also came and said the fire of God fell from heaven burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I alone have escaped to tell you and while they were still speaking another also came and said the Chaldeans formed three bands raided the camels and took them away and yes killed the servants with the edge of a sword and I alone have escaped to tell you and while he was still speaking another also came and said your sons and daughters we're eating and drinking wine and the oldest brother's house and suddenly a great wind came from across the world and this struck the four corners of the house and fell on the young people and they are dead and I alone have escaped to tell you his job sitting on his Ponderosa his land he got 40 acres over here 40 acres to the north to the south and east to the west and he's got his camels over here he's got his ox over he's got a sheep over here and his kids over here and he's watching the Heisman Trophy ceremony on TV everything's going good he's got servants he's got all the stuff his kids a party in there they're getting along his wife are getting along and he's sitting there and out of the blue this guy comes running in the house Joe Joe Joe Joe Joe to County the sabaeans came and he took all the oxen they killed him up and while the words are coming out of his mouth Joe Joe Joe the fire God came and killed of all the camels while the words are coming out of his mouth Joe Joe Joe look at the chaldeans came in a killer and while the words are coming out of his mouth Joe Joe Joe your kids are did the devil not I destroyed everything killed everything except one servant in each of the hit the four corners of his property and left him healthy enough to run to tell job and time the news so that he got it one have another boom boom boom boom now I doubt any of you have had that happen to you I doubt any of you have ten kids maybe if you do is it matter fact is anybody have ten kids anybody you had yeah anybody got ten kids he lost all his money he lost all his employees he lost all his not his property but all the dwellings on his property he lost all his kids in one minute in one minute what's he gonna do what would you do what are you doing now you lost your job and what are you doing you wouldn't you cursing God you found it you're sick you cursing God someone broke up with you you're cursing God what's what's causing you to curse God imagine if you can get to a point in your life where nothing mattered except what God wanted for you and you had the foresight to know that whatever came and in it went out of your life God could use it for good and you just had to trust him because that's biblical fact whatever comes in and out of your life whatever that is God wants to use it in your life sometimes everyone say sometimes everyone say sometimes and I stress sometimes what you go through is God is sending you through again because you didn't learn a lesson from the first time why is this happening me again because you didn't learn from the first time but it's a ten time well nine times you missed the lesson how many of you know that's what's going on you know it and you still blame God it's not fair go can I learn another way no because you are hard-headed will you maybe that way no i didn't i gave you determination and you turned it the hardheadedness liquid job did first wing Joba rose toys rope shaved his head and fell on the ground and worship hmm he worship anybody said naked I came from my mother's womb naked I shall return the Lord gave and the Lord has taken blessed be the name of the Lord and all this job did not send no charge God was wrong now let me say this it doesn't mean you can't say god this hurts it doesn't mean you say God why doesn't mean you can't say God please doesn't mean you can't say that stuff I mean even Jesus right before he got crucified he says Lord is there any other way I don't want to do this but then he said not my will yo will be done doesn't mean you can't you can't have those those feelings and you can't feel pain but it means that at the end of the day God is right at the end of the day God has a plan bigger than you God is doing something more important than what you know and at the end of the day we have to trust God that's that's the bottom line at the end of the day you have to trust God IIIi have this little notepad where I write down questions that I think Larry King would ask me one day I actually been on the show a couple of times but it's it's called my Larry King book and and the reason I say that is because when you're on an interview on television if they ask you a question you have to be able to ask the question really fast and really concise so the person listening can get it and the person who doesn't believe what you believe can get it and one of the things we have to understand is that when someone says well how come what is why this bad thing happened to you are you you know God's not making you happy you have to realize that God has not called you to be happy but holy life is not about being happy but being holy and God has called all of us in here to be holy people and the process of being whole defied or sanctified is painful because we have to get rid of stuff that we hold onto and by the way the tighter you hold the more painful will be if you let it go there are some things in your life God is trying to take from you and you don't want to let it go that the pain is on you the Bible says all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose here's what that doesn't mean just because you go to church things are going to work out that's not what that means it means if you walk with God and you obey God all things will work out for good what is good what's good in the eyes of God not you you may die with twenty diseases and no money and go to heaven that's a good day that's a good day in God's eyes and while you're dying with twenty diseases no money you are praising God all the time saying praise the Lord let me have life and breath and I can't wait to see him that's a good day so you always have to say what does how what does God's perspective God's perspective is this no matter what you're going through today he's got it all you have to do is trust him all you have to do is believe him all you have to do is let your kid the cancel your cancel him because he cares for you you know in James chapter 4 verse 1 2 3 it talks about why we have struggles and man has Wars and anger and frustration for one reason is because we don't get what we want the only reason you ever get frustrated or angry there's only one reason is because something didn't go your way and one of the ways to never get frustrated or to minimize your frustration minimize your anger is to not care what happens as long as it pleases God and if something happened that God allowed to happen you have to say you know what let me turn let me step back and see what God's purpose was because maybe there's something I don't know and trust God your anger level will go down your anxiety level will go down your frustration level will go down don't be that person that things have to go your way for you to be happy don't be that person that things have to go your way for you to walk with God be that person that says God I will do whatever you want however you want it doesn't matter because it's all on you I was watching the show yesterday on TV was it was a terror in Mumbai it was a HBO special on the terrorists in Mumbai to kill like 157 people they just walked in the hotel and shot people up and and they had the recordings of their phone calls to each to their leader who was at another place and the reason those guys had so much power is because they were willing to die themselves so they had nothing to fear they went in there knowing they were gonna die that's why they have someone's problem that fact that's why terrorists have so much power you can't defeat it you can't defeat it unfortunately you can minimize it you can't defeat it because if people and people are willing to die how can you stop them God says I want you to die I want you to pick up your cross deny yourself and follow me what does that mean I want you to stop holding on to your reputation in what you want and what you think and let me have your life and when you let all that go and you say God I'll do whatever Oh then God says let's go he will lead you through the valley of the shadow of death he will get more out of your life and you could ever imagine but if you live in life like I got to control everything and I got to do it my way God's gonna look at you say come back when you're ready I can't work with you but if God confront the Bible says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth looking foot to show himself strong on behalf of somebody who will trust him and be loyal that's what God is doing so God's looking around his room going I wonder who in here I can trust there's a whole world out there going to hell and I need people I can trust like a work do so he's looking around his room he goes nah I can't trust you you're gonna you know once one big I'm not putting anybody in specific by the way he's talking to me and one I never come back this turning he just called me out front everybody please like oh no you know once one thing goes bad you start complaining and you'll never give any money you'll never serve and you'll never sacrifice and you get your feelings hurt too easy and and you always got to be first and it's like issues issues issues does anybody here not care about any of that because if I can find that person that's the person I can use if I can find that person that's the person I can use in a minute we're going to pray some of you only here need to let go and you need to say God I got pain I got issues I got um I'm not joke I'm not at job's level but I want to be I want to be able to worship you through thick and thin I want to be able to let go of all the things I want and I just want to have my hands open and allow you to give me what you want for my life I want to give you my pain I'm gonna give you my fear I'm gonna give you my frustration I'm gonna give it all to you give you my sinn right now today so let's all bow our heads and pray lord thank you so much that you love us thank you for Joe thank you that at the end of the book you gave him more money you gave him all his kid more kids you blessed him after more than he had before but in the end it didn't matter god they all went to heaven anyway thank you that you are so faithful well there's so many people here going through stuff they know what they're going through but they got to surrender it to you they got to stop letting the devil turn them against you they got a sudden stop letting the devil blame you accuse you of doing something wrong to them they have to trust that you are the only hope they have to get through if today you would like to draw on the power of God the peace of God to deal with your stuff pray with me in the privacy of your heart pray dear God please forgive my anger my frustration my sin you know my burden you know my pain please I surrender it to you god be my Savior my strength my joy my Messiah Jesus forgive me please forgive me as our eyes are closed and our heads about if you prayed that prayer I'm gonna ask you right now in this place to stand to your feet and acknowledge God's strength god bless you stay standing god bless you god bless you standing feet acknowledged yes I am surrendering my stuff to god I want salvation I want encouragement god bless you God bless you God bless you god bless you we see all over the room on the balcony every level here god bless you god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you god bless you we see you all over the room god bless you God bless you God bless you some of you have you need someone to pray with we want to pray with you stand to your feet we want to encourage you want to talk to you stand to your feet god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you very good now we're going to ask all of you all over the room in a minute we're going to ask you to come down to the altar if you're in the balcony all you have to do is turn around and walk up and the ushers will bring you down and I'm going to ask everybody else not to start walking out at least until we get everybody down here so we don't lose them so right now I'm going to ask all the people who are standing just to come out of your seat come on down to the altar and let's get them a hand as they come on down amen god bless you god bless you come on skip god bless you I'm blessed unless you say Jesus god bless you god bless you now you welcome you of them it's true it's really true amen amen amen say Jesus like it like it though bless you amen amen hey man give me hailey come on down god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you what's up come forward here we go what's up what's up close up god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you god bless you the good thing about God is that he knows everything and he has a plan for all y'all all y'all he knows exactly what you're going through he's ready you just gotta let him do it let him be the boss it's not it's not a partnership where you're equal partners he's a hundred percent owner of everything and you are nothing let him make all the decisions what I mean don't let him make four and you make two you let him make the decisions and you obey him that's how it has to work because the minute we say I know better the Bible says is the way that seems right to a man but in the end at least to death it may not be you going to grave that day but your relationships will die your finances will die your health will die your opportunities will die that's the death he's talking about and so just let God dictate your life that's how you will be blessed and just know he loves you he he could have killed you a long time ago he's very gracious he's very patient he's not going to lead you down any wrong path ever ever and the only reason you got through what you got through is because of him Lord thank you so much for being the God that you are thank you that you are more than fair you are righteous thank you that you're more than loving you are loved thank you that you work on our behalf in ways we can't even imagine Lord you do so much on our behalf we don't even know it so I pray that all of us would allow you to use us as this holiday season this Christmas season as we prepare for next year that we would be better Christians next year than we were this year and that we would use these next few weeks of this year to really rethink our life our commitment our relationships that we would honor you and that we would be reminded what Christmas is all about it's about a relationship Christmas is a relationship opportunity Jesus came to develop relationship and it's in the context of that relationship that we live thank you thank you for being good to us in Jesus name

Channel: Rock Church

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Keywords: Rock Church, Pastor, Miles McPherson, San Diego, Sunday, message, message series, sermon, sermon series, leadership, Christian, Bible, gospel, teaching, good news, church online, rock live, livestream, evangelism, Jesus, God, non-denominational, megachurch, Southern California, preacher, worship, Point Loma, ministry, outreach, testimony, rocktv, hd, 1080p, sdrock, therocksandiego

Id: mtt2zD_1ZwM

Length: 37min 47sec (2267 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 11 2012