September 12, 2021 (2021-09-12)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's the lord good morning city sanctuary in this place [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] celebrating [Music] this world is not my home i am just passing through early transition will fade but i found my hopes [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] you are forever the is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] give me jesus [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] just give god some glory in this place aren't you grateful for the lord oh we praise your name for the lord is worthy of all glory and praise he deserves our worship he deserves our praise for he woke us up this morning to give him glory if you're not ashamed to bless the lord why don't you open up your mouth and just honor him in this place father in the name of jesus receive our hearts thanksgiving for your worth your glory you're worthy of honor you're worthy of praise you're worthy of it all we come before you this morning lord anxious ready to give you our praise you alone are worthy [Music] in [Music] worthy of it all [Music] you deserve the glory peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all the elves [Music] you are worthy [Music] you deserve the glory of it [Music] you deserve the glory [Laughter] from the rising of the sun [Music] to the setting of the sun you are worthy of all of our praise lord we lift our eyes up to you that's where our help comes from [Music] day and night night and day day and night night and days day and night night and day and night night and day let incense arrive [Music] day and night night and day is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] [Music] praise god [Music] please please continue to praise him please understand the foreshadowing in the old testament was the incense that the priest would come into the holy of holies with it was that uh alter a prayer that had the incense that you see in revelation let me tell you that in even in the old testament psalm 141 verse one says i will lift my hands hallelujah as the evening oblation is incense before you because you know it's easy to give a animal sometimes but to lift up your hands and to say lord i give you all the glory it's hebrews 13 15-16 let us offer the sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of our lips [Music] giving thanks into his name would you right now just begin to praise him [Laughter] oh you're worthy lord you're worthy lord so worthy lord so worthy lord your worthy lord hallelujah you're worthy lord you're worthy lord so worthy lord so worthy lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah you're worthy of it all lord you're worthy you're worthy of it all i've been to some entertainment performances from sporting events school performances and and many times you feel compelled to clap because of a nice performance and i want to tell you there is no performance like the performance that jesus christ gave when he gave his life can you give him clap your hands all your people oh we shout we shout unto god we clap our hands and we shout unto god oh hallelujah hallelujah [Music] [Applause] praise god amen and amen today man praise god amen hallelujah let's stand another minute to pray this is 9 11 weekend pray for our nation pray for the families of those who lost loved ones during that 9 11 or lost them in afghanistan in the battle there lost them in the war on terror if you would just remember america that god would bring america back to those posts 9 11 days churches were packed people were calling on god and praying and people who are drawing near to god may god you restore unto us a healthy fear of god a reference for you may you restore unto our nation a love for you and a desire to pray remember those in our own church family that need our prayers several in the hospital several that are battling covet out of the hospital remember them in your prayers remember again this war against covent 19. god psalm 91 lord may indeed you deliver us from the pestilence deliver us from this pestilence in jesus name or we hide ourselves in the secret place of the almighty keep us god a thousand followers sign ten thousand right hand but it shall not come nigh us god we pray deliver your people from it let's pray father in jesus name we pray hallelujah we thank you that you are the almighty god four different names for you in the beginning verses of psalm 91 lord you're the almighty god you're the all-powerful god you are the promised keeper god lord you're the shepherd god you're the healing god we praise you o god we magnify you o god far above the pestilence far above lord what's going on in this world we magnify you and lord today we pray lord as we hide ourselves in the secret place of the almighty god in the secret place of the almighty god your almighty lord oh we hide ourselves in prayer we hide ourselves in praise and we thank you that we abide under the shadow of the almighty oh lord deliver your people lord those that are badly covered we curse it from the root in jesus name get it out of their body out of their lungs we curse it from the body of christ get it out of them lord let it not come nigh into the body in jesus name by your blood we are healed by your stripes we are healed we are delivered by you we praise you waymaker we praise you mighty god so in jesus name lord we pray today you would please revive america lord bring america lord you're the master potter put us back on the wheel god we're marred lord we are sinful god but please put us back on the potter's wheel lord please would you please reshape us according to as it seems good to you we fashion our heart god reshape us god to seek your face once again lord in jesus name give us revival give us renewal awaken the church god lord in jesus name these days are preparation for your last days outpouring god we thank you for another great awakening in america we claim america for you we declare the outpouring of the holy spirit in america we thank you for revival in america lord in jesus name we give you our praise god you are the god who founded us and we are your people crying out to you and lord you said if my people call by my name will humble themselves and pray seek my face and turn from wicked ways then i will hear them from heaven oh hear us today oh god please hear us today oh god and heal our land god heal this land heal the wound of your people heal the wound of this nation heal us oh god heal our leaders heal our leaders god heal our leaders god heal our churches god heal your people lord heal our land o god heal us we pray in jesus name we thank you for that we give you the credit all the compliments all the honor goes to you so may in every way you receive the glory in your name we prayed everybody said amen praise god amen praise his name one more time we thank you praise the name of the lord hallowed be your name but wave to somebody with the voice of victory the wave of victory before you're seated how to hide it that's a way to say it in some sort of state seven states i've been in amen praise god not to name them well praise the lord for you being here in the house of god god is good and all the time amen praise god we need to confess that we need to believe that [Laughter] praise god well we like to stay connected we do that a number of ways by coming to church also by being online by being in the class or team but also by connecting on our church sanctuary app the favorite app on your phones that's right the number one app in your heart i'm waiting for the rim shot the guy's sleeping up there i don't know what you're saying come on man just kidding you go on to that city sanctuary free app and then press the check in tab and then also excuse me preston i've been doing this too long i need a replacement check forget it god bless you oh thank you a little late but you were worth waiting on that's good all right all right it's time to give too praise god i'll probably mess that up too but anyway time to give and you can do that by many different ways i try to tell you but i'd probably mess that up so it's on the screen the main thing is to do it from your heart god always looks in the heart we look on the outward appearance but god looks on the heart god loves a cheerful giver so everybody laugh when you get amen really smile because god wants you to give because you love him and you want to thank him for all he's done for you father we give you praise oh do we ever give you praise you are worthy lord that song you're worthy of it all day and night night and day let the incense arise from us what a beautiful beautiful worship song lord may it be the heart song that's in our hearts today bless your people as they worship you in giving the tithe the freewill offering let it all be done in love let it all be done in worship and lord may you prove to them your love and may you give back good measure press down shaken together running over running over lord made it run over run over lord may it run over i just pray run it over so people can see you're good and love love it lord i thank you for that in jesus name everybody said amen amen god bless you as you get hey good morning city sanctuary family let's take a couple of minutes to make sure you're staying connected this week there's still time to be a part of our get out of your cave small group and ministry team launch some classes started last week others will begin throughout the next couple of weeks you can sign up right from your city sanctuary app just go to the connect button and find all of the groups right there you can read about them and sign up take a look at this quick video it's another group that's getting kicked off this week hello i'm chris and i'm sarah and we are the leaders of the divorce care group which starts next week divorce is one of the most painful experiences you can go through in life but the good thing is you don't have to go through it alone divorce care is designed to help you find answers find healing and learn to walk through this process with other people who are going through it or have gone through it as you do yeah and some of the topics we're going to discuss are emotional healing dealing with stress and one of the bigger topics how to deal with relationships going forward you don't have to again you don't have to go through it alone come join us next wednesday at seven o'clock in the conference room candy land is back join us on october 16th for our annual outdoor fall festival featuring interactive slides bounce houses obstacle course and for the first time ever candyland's very own sugar rust falls a 90-foot slide that the whole family can enjoy we'll have family blitz for kids of all ages in the sanctuary we would love for you to join us but what we need from you is to volunteer we need help at registration we need help for the interactive games for parking and security so if any of those peaks your interest visit us in the lobby today between services to sign up we also want to let you know that registration is now open online so if you are interested in attending visit the city sanctuary website or on facebook [Music] amen candyland is coming we need your help we'd like to reach the community it's our largest outreach of the year so please be sure and consider signing up to be a volunteer you can wear a mask and again socially distance as you do that but we certainly would love to have you help us reach our community we are switching up the messages today as we begin you asked for it we were supposed to do uh how to live positively in a negative world but that will be postponed until next week the uh the lord redirected me yesterday morning before funeral before all day nine hours here praise god with the praise and prayer so i've got notes here that are still wet from the ink so uh again i'm gonna have to look at notes here today just to give you uh the things that the lord has put in my heart to give you this came from our teens our team submitted this email or this this question uh when you ask for we advertise what do you what would you like to hear about and they said they'd like to hear about the problem of evil so we're going to talk about the problem of evil here on this 9 11 weekend we're going to do it from romans chapter 8 and verse 18. for i consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us father we pray that today you would have your anointing upon us to both preach and to hear and receive we pray lord that you would in every way do your work and your will within our hearts we pray for those online as well as those that will see archives as well as those present all by divine appointment that god you would uh totally break up strongholds of the enemy and you would set people free so we declare freedom and faith in every heart in jesus name and everybody said amen amen you've probably seen this on occasion this weekend if you've watched anything from media you've seen some of the 20th anniversary pictures of what happened on september the 11th 2001 where the twin towers were hit by two hijacked airplanes one the north tower one the south tower and then also another hijack airplane flew into our pentagon and then a fourth hijacked airplane was again taken back over by the passengers and crashed before it would hit the capitol building or the white house again these killed about 2751 people and then there was another 225 people who also died because of all of the toxins and the dust the toxins of asbestos lead and mercury that affected them bringing the total to 2976 who lost their lives on that september 11th attack it left us all feeling vulnerable for the first time we felt a little bit invincible i think as americans and we all felt a little more vulnerable than we had been used to uh experiencing even though uh our terror is nothing to be compared like to nations like sudan and and other rwanda and other genocide areas where millions are losing their life and and not just 2 000 or nearly 3 000. not to diminish the lives that were lost at all but just to say that 2011 showed us how sheltered we were how that we had been so blessed and protected from having things happen on our own soil and nothing this horrific took place since world war ii and so when we entertained that we basically tried to try to come through it and struggled with it in fact also there was an aftermath of people from the literal then there we'll talk about the emotional the literal was that there are also over 1100 who contracted cancer from the toxins the dust and the various things that were breathed in during that debris time in new york city so for some it infected them and later killed them as it infected their body with the toxins of what took place on that traumatic day so many times we go through a traumatic event and we are in shock and awe and then later we see that we haven't gotten over it that there are signs of anger withdrawal depression anxiety fear different things that crop up in our lives or emotions that are evidences that we haven't fully recovered from whatever that traumatic event was in our life to give us a little silver lining in this dark cloud we know that there were also survivors there were 15 who survived in the north tower before it collapsed and got out 18 that escaped and survived from the south tower before it collapsed and 23 people who made it out of the fallen debris alive and again survived the fallen debris so when we look at surviving trauma let me first tell you that it is possible for you to get through and over whatever trauma you have gone through even though the enemy wants you to smell the toxins and keep breathing that in and out and make yourself sick the more you repeat what happened in your mind or in what you say to yourself about it the lord has ordained your complete victory and recovery from that in the name of jesus when we look at trauma then trauma then is one of the greatest tools in the enemy's toolbox trauma is something that is a deadly weapon that he tries to bring remember the greatest story in the book of job right where he comes and he tries to afflict his wealth and then afflict and takes out his kids and then afflicts his body and so again this threefold chord that is not easily broken ecclesiastes 14 12 we understand that this threefold attack is the most intensive uh personification of the enemy's desire to absolutely destroy your life and sometimes in that trauma people can mistake what's going on they can falsely accuse god they can as the devil plan for job to do his wife did it they can curse god and basically accuse him of being the one that was behind the evil obviously we know that again the enemy was behind that evil the bible says in the last days in matthew 24 and 12 that because iniquity shall abound that the love of many will wax cold or grow cold that because of trauma because of the increase of violence and look for an increasing military state not only in our country but around the world but because of all of the wickedness that is going to take place that the love of many for god and for others will begin to wax cold that people will begin to lose it they'll be so anesthetized with violence and evil and hatred and division that they will begin to pick up those kind of characteristics and lose their love for god and for the world around them that's why it's important for you to be here next week when we talk about how to live positively or live by faith in a negative world so we understand that suffering suffering will either push us away from god or it will pull us toward him you and i have to decide suffering will make you choose suffering and evil will make you decide on what you are going to do with that or you're going to allow that to pull you closer to god or pull you further away from him in blame and disgust we understand that the problem of evil is a problem because it causes many christians to turn back from their faith these are two examples of that the first person who raised this question about the problem of evil was epicurus and i'll mention him more in just a minute but you see there on the right hand or left hand side charles templeton charles templeton was a fellow evangelist with billy graham he was as popular as billy graham in the 1950s he did eventually advances the crusades with billy graham and separate from him and had a very large following you would think this christian evangelist would be very well set in his faith but no he was not he saw a life magazine which had hunger a child that was emaciated with hunger in a foreign country and he began to wonder about the love of god he began to wonder about this is god good and he would eventually defect from the faith saying i see disease i see death i see people who are criminals or evil dictators who live long lives and good people who live short lives and i'm basically going to leave my faith and he resigned his evangelistic ministry because of the problem that evil caused his head he couldn't figure out how he could reconcile a loving god with the evil that he saw bart erdman who is also on the screen on the other side was a born-again believer as a young person he was someone who was with youth for christ on fire as a young um young teenager for the lord and young adult he would go into uh christian ministry go to christian college of wheaton he would go to moody bible institute he would then go to princeton and get a master of divinity and a doctorate phd in new testament yet all that education and all of those former experiences did not stand up in his heart and his head to the problem of evil he would be another one like charles templeton who would point to the fact of all of the good things or bad things rather happening to good people and he would lose heart in the god that was proclaimed in the bible and he would turn away from his faith when we look at the problem of evil in our mind first of all evil presents a problem for our mind we can't figure it out sometimes we don't know why god supposedly allowed this or why that happened or why god didn't do this good when he could have done that good we don't comprehend that we don't fully understand because we can't comprehend it many times we are left to be in a state where we are confounded by the problems of evil in our mind three centuries before christ greek philosopher epicurus raised these three issues he said is god willing and able to prevent evil if he is and he does not then if he's not able then he is impotent he is not able with strength to restrain evil is god able but not willing and if he is able but not willing then he has malice toward mankind and is not good is he both unwilling and unable to restrain evil if he is then he is like the greek pantheon of gods he is not omnipotent or all-powerful and maybe he doesn't exist at all he raises those questions because of dealing with the problem of evil when we look at again today the problem that this prevents for presents for our heads as believers we just have to go over those things today to first of all deal with the problem that evil brings to our reasoning first of all we have to underscore the fact that god is unequivocally able to restrain and in fact from ii thessalonians chapter 2 he is now restraining evil and he's also able to deliver you and anyone from evil what we find in the bible in the old testament is again genesis 18 14 he says is anything too hard for the lord jeremiah 32 17 all our god behold you've made the heavens and the earth by great power stretched out arm there is nothing that is too hard for you to do let's go to the new testament luke chapter 1 verse 37 matthew 19 26 there is nothing that is impossible with god let's go to daniel 3 17. the three hebrew guys there before the the nebuchadnezzar and the possibility of going to the fiery furnace and they said oh king know that our god is able to deliver us but if he does not deliver us we still are not going to bow before this big statue that you have put up what we see is the bible definitely proclaims that god is indeed able but many times that is limited also by us ephesians 3 and 20. remember this that he is god is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power his power that is at work in us sometimes that power that wants to work in us is that power of faith in the word of god that power of faith in god to believe that he is able and to continue to stick to our guns that i'm going to keep on praying and believing that god is able because here it says he's clearly able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think but god will not contradict himself he will not contradict what he's set up and he has set up free will he has given to all of us a free will and with that free will god will not make you obey him god will not make a murderer not murder he will not make someone do good because he's given them a free will to choose to love him to choose to obey him to choose to do what he created them to be which was good and to again bless the earth and subdue it from evil not be a perpetrator of evil but because god made us with a free will he will not contradict that and so indeed the the natural evil is because of the sin of adam and eve and the moral evil is because of the sin of adam and eve and then because of our sin people do evil because people choose to do evil yes i know there are mental illnesses that sometimes take people out of their right mind but excluding that we know that again people all have a choice and also god's foreknowledge does not cause evil this is addressed also in chapter 8 of our text about whom he foreknew he did predestined they would be conformed to the image of jesus christ he four knew that would respond positively choose christ he pre-planned predestined them to be conformed then to the image of christ and that's all good right well again god's foreknowledge of adam and eve's sinning did not mean that he caused them to sin because god it says in james chapter 1 that god cannot be tempted by any person neither does god tempt anybody god doesn't tempt anybody to evil he didn't tempt adam and eve but he gave them a free will to choose and so we have to understand that god is able and what god does do is that god does initiate the things that need to prevent evil from coming to pass what does that mean well we said from first thessalonians chapter 2 that again the holy spirit is restraining he is now restraining and if he wasn't restrained there would be total antichrist pandemonium and chaos in this world if we the church and the holy spirit were not restrained but then god's will is ezekiel 22 and 30. one example of many he said i sought for a person to stand in the gap and make up the hedge so there wouldn't be evil that came to god's people he was looking for someone to pray looking for someone to agree with him and pray like jesus taught us to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven well there's no violence in heaven there's no murder in heaven there's no rape and no abuse in heaven right there's no disease in heaven what does god want us to do he wants us to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven everything that happens on the earth is not god's will somebody think well i believe god's sovereign will you know he permitted this everything that happens on the earth is not god's will why would jesus tell us to pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven if it was automatically done so he would also jesus would also participate as he now hebrews 7 25 ever lives to make intercession for us what we find out in luke chapter 22 verse 30 31 peter satan has desire to do evil in your life but i have prayed for you right that when you are you're going to come through this and when you do i want you to use this as a testimony to strengthen those around you so we see god looking for someone to partner with him we see jesus saying i'm going to pray for this evil not to destroy you and so we see that he now lives hebrews 7 25 he ever lives to intercede for us so let me assure you today when you go home jesus is praying for you he's praying that evil won't befall you he's praying that the devil won't get the best of you he's praying that you will come through everything you're going through today and so we know that and then he wants us to partner with him matthew 6 13 jesus said pray this father lead us not into temptation but deliver us from some evil lead us not into temptation but father we pray deliver us from all evil can i tell you that's god's will to deliver you from all evil come on somebody amen praise god god deliver us from all evil we pray in your name so number one we have to say yes god is able but number two we have to ask is god willing is god does he have a heart for us well let me just point you to hebrews it's not hebrews praise god to revelation chapter 13 verse 8 get this brain to work in the right got a few hours less sleep trying to get this together and so revelation 13 8 what does it say it says this it says that before the foundation of the world that christ was the lamb slain before god ever made this universe before he made the world he saw what would happen adam leaves sin he saw the various things that would take place but he also saw what he was willing to do to avert evil to again deliver us from evil and once and for all to obliterate evil for all time and eternity and that was that he sent jesus christ his only begotten son to die on the cross and take on the world's worst evil the most unjust punishment all the various things the devil wanted to do to us he did to him he sent his only is he willing yes i believe god's willing to deliver you from evil because when he sent his son he proved that he was willing it's isaiah 53 that he jesus was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed was he willing i think he was more than willing why is that hebrews 4 15 it says so that he can be a compassionate high priest who is moved who is moved who is moved with a feeling about what we go through if you've ever thought nobody cares well you're wrong jesus cares he always cares it doesn't even matter if you're not a christian he cares he cares about the suffering in this world and now judges chapter 10 17 it says that he could hardly bear he could not bear the suffering of his people it is exodus three and seven i have seen the misery and the oppression of my people so i am willing i am going to come down and i'm going to deliver them friend don't ever doubt the fact that god cares about what you go through and don't ever doubt the fact that god wants to deliver you from the evil because it's unjust he never created it he doesn't want it in your life he wants you to trust him to deliver you from that evil so understand the devil's a liar if he accuses you and says god doesn't care god doesn't good he doesn't want you to get something good he's mad at you he thinks you're no good don't believe the lie because he's the father of lies believe the book and the book says that god does care and that he came down to show that he did finally is is god good is god really good can we really trust that if he's all powerful who uses power in the right right way can we trust that if he's willing that he will indeed come down and he will do good things for us well this is what we have to understand from what the bible tells us we know that jesus said this in matthew 19 17 there is only one good and that is god there is only one good well wait a minute wait a minute i know my mama she's good i know that i know she's good right hey i know that there's a lot of good people in this world right i know they're good people what do you mean because he's saying there is only one person who is perfect in goodness oh yes yeah there's a there's a chance that any of us that are that feel like we're good might mess up one day and do something that's not so good think something that's not so good or again uh do something that maybe doesn't turn out so good but never ever ever ever is that the case with god god is the perfection of goodness well how come he didn't do this you know as a parent sometimes guess what as a parent sometimes you you know that there is a there is something your kid wants but then there's something that's best for your kid right that's how god is god is the ultimate abba father he is the ultimate good he is the ultimate one who defines goodness and everything that he does is done through his goodness that means nahum 1-7 hey the lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble the lord he says is good james 1 17 every good gift comes down from the father of lights in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning that means there's no shadow of god doesn't wake up one day and have a bad day well i just got up i'm in a bad mood let me zap somebody in some country pow pow take that i feel better you know no he doesn't get up because he had a bad hair day he broke a nail he's on i-4 traffic and he's frustrated with road rage he doesn't ever have a day where he is upset with you he has always got a day where god's love is upon you he always has a day where every day he's good all day long from morning till evening your mercies are new every morning great is your faithfulness unto me oh god he is good all the time all the time he's good devil get behind me get under my feet because god is good now and forever come on and praise him in the house amen hallelujah evil is a problem to my head sometimes we can't figure it out evil is also a problem to our heart sometimes it hurts so bad that we can't get over it there's some church signs here that tell us about how we think about pain this church sign says this this too shall pass it might pass like a kidney stone but it'll it's going to pass that's a little bit of pain right a church sign keep using my name in vain and i'll make rush hour longer god some people think that i've done so many bad things that god's just waiting to zap me and i feel like he's always i'm always under his condemnation wrong again here's another one there are some questions that can't be answered by google all right that's exactly right some questions have to be answered only by god you see when we look at the problem that evil is to my heart we have to note that the number one reason probably up there with lust but the number one reason with lust and sin is probably trauma for turning people back on god the four atheists that i'm going to show you on the screen then they're all atheists famous ones they all were raised in christian homes or had a christian background some of them were in christian boarding schools but they all had a foundation of christian principles and teachings about god bertrand russell most famous uh atheist in britain he was raised presbyterian and puritan but he had trauma in his life his mother died at age two his father died at age four and his grandfather died when he was six and he was raised by his grandmother who was presbyterian and puritan and very strict and hard on him and never had an ounce of joy so he thought religion was not for him that god was angry god was exacting god was again going to hit him over the head if he didn't live just right and so he became an atheist because he didn't want any part of that next to him is richard dawkins richard dawkins again was put into an anglican boarding school again a christian-based school but when he was nine years of age he was sexually abused by his latin teacher in that anglican school and he said from that day forward i always had negative feelings about religion daniel dimmitt daniel demet was another atheist who was raised with christian principles but when his father died when he was only five years of age in a plane crash and he was raised by various relatives he basically developed a hatred for religion and a disbelief in god after all if god was good why did he take my father christopher hitchens who is also a famous atheist he was raised baptist and his father was a naval commander very austere rough guy very mean to him not only was he mean to him but he just didn't want anything to do with him because he put him in a boarding school from age 8 to 18 years of age during that time again he developed a very negative view of god that god was harsh god was not relational god was like his father uh very exacting and demanding but yet no love he was married different times became an alcoholic as well in his hatred for god can't can't but think that that alcoholism was to drown a trauma that was never healed when we look at the problem for our heart evil is not just a problem for my head it's a problem for my heart because if there's something happen when i was young if there's something that happened when i was a teenager there's something happen when i was a young adult an adult something that happened that i saw a hypocrite in a church something happened where a pastor or minister treated me badly or some christian treated me badly there's some kind of trauma that took place in my life then some people will equate that person and that experience with god now there's nobody here that's perfect in fact the bible says that philippians 3 16 that none of us are perfectly mature we won't get there until we get to heaven so obviously we can miss it right but many people look at the church and equate the church with god the church god's coming for is without blemish but we still got some blemishes right now so when we look at this problem what we have to understand here is three things one pain warns us of danger the hurt that we have is a warning of the choice that we have to make the hurt that we have is a warning that we could make a choice to believe the wrong things about god and listen to the accuser and we could choose to then step away from our faith from that point on or for a season in the pain that we are going through if we accuse god of being somehow responsible for that pain but just like parents sometimes parents allow their kids to go through the consequences of some of their own actions so that they will learn valuable lessons but jesus taught in john chapter nine verses one through three with the blind man that he was not blind because of any sin that he or his parents had and also in luke 13 with the trauma of the fallen tower at siloam that killed people or again herod that went into the synagogue and slew people innocently he was saying that this was not because of their sin calamity and evil did not happen to these people because of their own sin now what we understand on the other side of that is yes we we know that jezebel is going to be put on a sick bed revelation 2. we understand that in first corinthians 11 that if we don't discern the body of christ and we don't repent of our sins and take yes god can bring us judgment but what we do know is that the the lord jesus is telling us here that that this warning of pain does not mean at all that bad things happen because god is mad at us that because god is willing to zap us god is not behind evil at all he can't be tempted with evil he tempts nobody the evil he doesn't initiate that evil in your life it is again something that we must understand that god is good he is love number two again it makes us more like jesus athletes have a phrase no pain no gain psalm 119 verse 67 and 71 talks about it was good for me to be afflicted because then i would study the law it was good to me to be afflicted then i'd stop wandering away from you that is to say that god is not the one who's trying to put evil on you to go through to build you some spiritual lesson but again it's a choice that you have when adversity or evil comes to you that you can choose to grow like i said in the earlier slide uh adversity and pain can either pull you closer to god or push you away from god it's an opportunity for you and i to draw closer to him joni erickson tada who again had a paralyzing accident when she was 17 diving into a pool of water basically she would say that a short-term evil can produce a long-term good she didn't get bitter at god she got better and she realized that god was still good and then god used joni erickson tata a quadriplegic to minister to so many people who had gone through the same kind of paralyzing debilitating diseases in their life to again fulfill their god-given purpose she was able to even to paint with her mouth uh do paintings she was again an amazing person so it is that saint john of the cross would talk about in the 12th century that he had the dark knight of the soul and he thought god had abandoned him and he felt depression and he dealt with all kinds of negative emotions and moods but yet he wrote about how that he realized that that was just an invitation for him to draw closer to god not go further away from him not just to feel isolated and like god had gone away from him but to understand by the word that god had never i will never leave you nor forsake you that it was an invitation for him to draw closer to him not to move further away from him even martin luther's wife one time had dressed up in black and when he came home he said who died and she said apparently god has by the way that you're acting he got the message that he had been living with all the persecutions all the people trying to kill him how bad it was and he was moping around in discouragement all the time and it's like god had died and his wife wore that black dress to snap him out of it that hey god is still alive he's still for you not against you and you need to not be so captive to all the circumstances you're going through but be captive to the truth of the word of god so we look at this whole idea about why the heart why the heart why did jesus have to come well jesus had to come in hebrews chapter 2 verse 17 and 18 and suffer because he had to redeem the heart he had to also redeem the actual physical and the spiritual bondage of evil and so he came and suffered jesus came and suffered even though he was sinless and the sinless son of god he suffered so that he could number one help us when we go through suffering so that we would not be in incarcerated to bitterness and backsliding and again having anger and unforgiveness in our heart he came father forgive them on the cross father forgive them they know that what they do he came redeemed all of the negative that can be thought and brought into our hearts and minds when we go through trauma he came and reversed it all forgiving and overcoming and that's why paul says that we are not the ones that are overcome with evil we are the ones that overcome evil with good just like our savior did so he came and left us an example hello about how we overcome evil in this world and so we go on to understand second corinthians chapter one verse three and four now here's the plan that god the god of all comfort will comfort you in all of your grieving your loss your so that you can comfort others who go through their time of the problem of evil let me tell you it's time for us even in a coronavirus time it's time for us to get the spiritual pacifier out of our mouth god's trying to burp us and comfort us and hold us all through this thing it's time for us to realize we need to grow up we need to be ones that know the answer and we need to go out there and comfort other people and we need to give them the hope of that we have in jesus christ come on and give god a praise if you believe that today let's come to the piano please my brother final thing here is not just the problem evil is to my head some of you may get stuck trying to figure out why did that happen why didn't god do this the problem of evil goes over and over in your head some people here may be battling or online maybe battling the the problem evil is to your heart a hurt a disappointment that you feel god is somehow responsible for it the enemy has convinced you that the lord could have and should have done something that he didn't do and you in your heart have been hurt at him ever since you see he's come to destroy every stronghold he's come to tear down every evil thought he's come to obliterate every lie that the enemy is trying to keep you and i in bondage too you see the third thing is evil not only provides a problem for our minds our heads our hearts but also for our hope hope's about the future so if the body of christ in the time of coronavirus is saying well you know what huh god hasn't done this yet or i've lost somebody to coronavirus and archer i just yesterday at funeral in daytona 42 42 funerals as of as of yesterday from january 1 this year we've lost some great people but then again if they're believers we should be rejoicing that they're with jesus and we should be thinking about the people that don't know jesus that may be getting ready to leave this world oh come on somebody problems for a hope so first of all the question is god there is god anywhere in this coronavirus is god there for me you know we've been here before plagues the plague of antonin 165 to 180 a.d 5 million died the plague of justinian 541-542-25 million died the bubonic plague 1346-1353 100 million 20 percent of the population died cholera pandemics in 19th and early 20th centuries claimed a million lives the flu syndrome 1918 spanish flu 50 million died asian flu hong kong flu hiv aids claimed 32 million west nile virus ours h1n1 ebola you name it we've been here before and yet in these times usually people are storming churches to pray because pain not only can warn us but pain can also transform us [Music] how has america responded during these you know president trump in march of 2020 did call a national day of prayer for coronavirus and there's been some tanzania kenya africa but by and large very few national leaders have called their countries to a state or a day of prayer i'm just saying what about us [Music] trauma can either pull you closer or push you further away it seems pushing america further away how can there be a coronavirus if there is a loving god well there are a hundred million viruses in the earth a hundred million and you might be surprised to know that almost all of them are good that they carry these hundred million viruses carry needed nutrients both to the human body the animal kingdom and all living organisms and they are the unsung heroes heroes in the strand of life did you know that there's only 21 viruses that are pathogens or that are harmful and of course the coronavirus is in that 21. you realize that that is less than one percent of all the viruses that are in this world today less than one percent are detrimental to your health all the rest of them are positive for your health well pastor couldn't god have created a world without the 21 pathogens pastor couldn't god have created electricity but yet let not let anybody be electrocuted pastor couldn't god have made fire but let nobody be pastor couldn't god made humans and let nobody be bad [Music] i believe he did that in genesis chapter 1 anybody remember that and then our ancestors even adam i say that in the order that they send for all the ladies benefits i know ladies i can hear you out there well we only sin because adam wasn't there to protect us so saw your men's fault at least that's what my wife always tells me yes god could have created a robot world where nobody could sin but true love is only possible when there is a power of choice god created created robots that we all just marched praise the lord praise the lord i love you jesus praise the lord praise the lord i love you jesus praise the lord praise the lord i love you jesus right let's march in here and do our thing and march out [Music] but he created [Music] free will so that we could choose to love him free will so you could choose to marry and love somebody free will so you choose and love a family love your friends and and even love a country right free will because then it would mean something but that free will brings the possibility of evil if we choose wrongly so when we look at the fact that god gives us choices to develop us humans inhabited paradise but that paradise had a possibility of evil that doesn't mean that god was evil in creating the possibility so why doesn't he wipe out all evil right now well then i guess if he did that i guess he'd have to wipe out all of us i'm just waiting to see how many people are going to buff your halo not me i'm good all the time let me talk to the lord about that see if you're good all the time even though we're redeemed we all stumble in many ways it's by grace that we're saved why does he allow this there's a day when he's going to bring theodicy the odyssey is justice to every wrong evil thing that he's going to judge every evil work whether hidden or exposed he's going to bring judgment upon every everything that needs to be judged that was never judged in this world or wasn't properly judged and he's going to like our text said that he's going to reward he said that the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that's going to be revealed to us amen i'm telling you there's not one injustice that man and woman will suffer there's not one bad thing that we that we didn't get justice for that god won't make right on that day that there's a judgment day coming and there's a day of remuneration and there's a day where you're going to get a crown and maybe several crowns and there's a day where there's going to be where everything that was wrong it won't even be worthy won't be worthy to be compared to the glory that god does in you for you and through you and gives you paradise to live in there's coming a day when all the tears will be wiped away from our eyes it will be no more sorrow no more pain no more death for the former things are passed away there's coming a time when god will make all the wrongs right there's coming a time beloved when justice will prevail there's coming a time when the redeemed will come gathering in with hearts on fire and praise for him so we have to choose what are we going to believe well we say god's in control [Music] god's in the control of what is god in control of you is seeing control of everything you ate yesterday is he in control of everything you said is he in control of the fact that you washed your car or you didn't make your bed is he in control well apparently from hosea chapter 8 verse 1 he said that he wasn't in control he said you have rebelled against my law i'm not in control i wish you would choose rightly but you've rebelled is god in control of our politics hosea 8 and verse 4. he said that you have you have elected kings but they weren't from me you have appointed princes but i wasn't aware of it at all you have set up idols of your silver and your gold and you've worshiped other things than me was god in control of that he gave them free will he gave them a choice the coronavirus has infected worldwide over 225 million people and nearly 7 million people or just over 7 million people have perished but did you know that over 221 million people have also recovered do you know that that's a 98.54 recovery rate by usa today praise god praise god praise god you choose well i'm gonna be all depressed about it well you choose almost 99 of people recover does that mean we don't mourn desperately for those that we've lost absolutely but it also means that we keep it in perspective praise be to god praise be to god praise be to god we're not living in the bubonic plague we're not living where millions have died we're living where god's grace is still about it and by the way where did coronavirus come from well some people think it was man-made out of the wuhan china lab there it may not have even been a natural evil it may have come from some kind of accident or some kind of biological warfare again it's a choice that man made not god let me tell you god is good you choose i'm gonna believe that god is good i'm gonna believe that god is my refugee strength i'm gonna dwell in the secret place of the most high god i'm gonna believe that he's gonna deliver me from the pestilence he's gonna deliver us from all the things that can come again i believe god and i am going to praise him all day long because he is the waymaker he is the one that deserves my praise amen let's stand together beloved we choose deuteronomy 30 verse 11. i put before your life and death blessing and cursing choose life that you might live [Music] can i tell you today you can choose life or you can choose death you can choose faith and you can choose doubt you can choose to believe or you can choose to doubt the god who's able the god who's willing and the god who has the goodness to bless you on september 11th when flight 93 went into the ground todd beamer was one of those who rushed the cockpit to rescue it from going down into the white house or the capitol building lisa beamer said that this tragedy has deepened my faith what you lost your husband she said yes she said i don't like it but knowing that god loves me and knowing that he has a plan for my life makes it okay can i tell you that everybody that's going through trauma is not becoming bitter can i tell you that everybody that's going through trauma is not accusing god of being bad can i tell you that everybody that's going through trauma is not saying that i can't use this to be a witness to multiple millions of americans and as she was to testify that i'm okay god is good he's got a good plan for me he loves me yes i'm gonna testify to god that's good fanny crosby was blinded by a doctor at age six weeks she could have been bitter all the days of her life and blame that doctor cursed every doctor told everybody rehearse how bad it was curse the day it happened she could have nursed the grudge all those kind of things but she reversed it fanny crosby who was done wrong by a doctor penned 8 000 worship hymns to god and she said the greatest thing about being blind is that the first face that i'll see will be the face of my savior jesus [Applause] [Music] that's why paul says romans 8 28 but beloved we know this we know this come on somebody we know this that god works all things together for the good to those who love him for we know that god works all things together for the good we know [Music] we know that god works all things we know that we know that god works all things together for good to them that love him put you by your head with me please if you're here online or you're in this auditorium i i know that there is someone here maybe more than one that's lost their love for god because of the trauma in your life and this is really personal you're here but [Music] you've lost the love you've lost your love for god [Music] you blamed him [Music] you don't trust him like he used to this is really hard this is really what tough i tell you that god is reaching for you can i tell you that he is he is reaching for you today he is reaching for you today maybe you've never given your heart to him because you felt like he didn't love you maybe you've gone back on him because you felt like he didn't love you the way you wanted him to love you the devil's trying to destroy your faith he's trying to destroy your life as long as you let you believe that lie it's going to be destructive [Music] so i ask you right now the head's about [Music] the pastor that's me [Music] i just haven't felt like god has loved me but i want to i want to draw closer to him today if that's you and you mean i want you to lift up your hand hold it up pastor that's me i believe god is drawing me back into a closer relationship with him [Music] i never saw one hand lifted and online you can let our hosts know that you are in that category and that you want to come closer to jesus today [Music] for that one person i want you just to pray a simple prayer let's pray lord jesus i'm sorry i've listened to the lies of the enemy today i repent and ask you to forgive me for falsely accusing you of ill will when you are good all the time forgive me and restore my soul come into my heart and fill me with your love i receive you now and i commit to loving you the rest of my life in your name i pray i want to pray a prayer before we go with all of you and we have our prayer partners here to pray with you individually this can change your life or it can be just another service it's up to you first of all as i just prayed with that one person i pray with all of us if we have falsely accused god because the devil wants you to curse god accuse him of wrongdoing if we have falsely done that we need to repent ask god to forgive us we are not his judge he does all things well as for his way it's perfect psalm 18 30. so lord we repent and ask you to forgive us for accusing you of joining with the enemy and accusing you of wrongdoing number two we renounce every hidden work of darkness that is the depression that came we renounce the resentment that came we renounce the unforgiveness that tries to come into our heart we renounce every work of darkness come on somebody and now with the authority of christ we break it we break it in the name of jesus [Music] and we ask you lord to bless us with a fuller faith bless us with praise and in our heart because every every sorrow is a is an emotion of the curse you shall reap and eat your bread and sorrow god promises you joy and god promises you peace god promises you power you're not going to live in the negative curse of emotions right so i want you to pray with me right now father in the name of jesus we come repenting come on everybody we repent we ask you to forgive us of our accusing you falsely of wrongdoing you are perfect goodness you can do nothing that's not good we confess our sin we falsely accuse you we repent in jesus name forgive us o god forgive us for our false accusations forgive us for holding resentment against you and now we renounce we renounce every hidden work of darkness that the enemy has tried to get into our personal lives we renounce every unforgiveness toward you or others we renounce every resentment towards you or others we renounce every spirit of fear in the name of we renounce depression and anxiety and that we renounce panic attacks we renounce the discouragement in the name of jesus we renounce a low self-esteem because we don't think you love us lord we renounce unbelief we renounce unbelief we renounce unbelief and in jesus name we break it in the name of jesus we break it in jesus name we break it in jesus then come on we break it in jesus name in jesus name we will no longer have any stronghold of depression we will walk in joy we will no longer have any stronghold of fear we will walk in peace we will have no stronghold of the enemy accusing that god is accountable and he is he is the evil one we rebuke it in jesus name we release ourselves in the name of christ and we thank you lord for the freedom of victory in jesus and right now lord bless us with joy bless us with peace bless us with the love of god bless us with perfect faith bless us oh god with worship we take off the heavy garment of a sorrow and we put on the garment of praise oh hallelujah bless us oh god oh bless us oh god bless us so god we receive the blessing of the holy ghost we receive the blessing from your presence today oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah give him an ovation of your love and praise today come on and praise him today hallelujah praise god these also workers are here to pray with you individually and online as well so please come and take advantage of them may the lord bless you may the lord keep you may the lord cause his face to shine upon you oh may the lord bless you with shalom and that destroys that one that causes chaos in jesus name we pray amen and amen god bless you have a great lord's day come if you want more prayer [Music] you

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Id: 7WAbvgrPw6I

Length: 88min 27sec (5307 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021