The God Perception Week 3 "Evil for Good"

     Have you ever tried to explain something to someone and they just could not get the point? No matter how many illustrations you used or examples you gave them they just could not grasp what you were trying to explain.  It seemed so simple to you and yet it seemed like rocket science to them. 

     My grandparents will often times call me up and ask me to come over and help them with their T.V.  They have a DVD, a VCR, and a Cable box which all connect into a stereo for the audio and to the TV for the sound.  Each component has its own remote control and requires the other items to be in a specific setting to work.  If this sounds complicated to you, imagine how complicated it must sound to them.  In order to make their TV entertainment simple, I placed a switch box with the name of a component on each switch (VCR, DVD, and Cable).  This switch box simplified things to one remote control.  All they have to do is push the button of the item they want to use and “BEHOLD” it comes up on the screen.  Life has been simplified!!!!!!

     As I explained to them, how to use the TV they just looked at me with complete bewilderment.  No matter how simplistic I made the instructions or how many different ways I explained it they could not understand why it worked.  They did finally grasp what to do, and their reason for doing it that way when asked was, “because you told us too.”  With that I declared “VICTORY!”

     The idea of all that technology was beyond their comprehension.  And as I think about our current series “The God Perception” there are some things about God that are beyond our comprehension as well.  The more we struggle with these things the more frustrated we become and the more resentful we tend to act. 

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8,9

    Last week we talked about how a good God could allow evil.  If you missed our talk you can view the video by clicking on the following link: If God, Why Evil?

     The evil that is in the world creates a lot of pain and heart ache. It is real easy for us to question God’s motives, yet all the while we may never understand “why,” because we do not have the capacity to understand.  We are not God; and we cannot see and know all that God sees and knows.  We can however know that a great God and a good God has the ability to do all things and that He desires good things for us. 

     Looking back at our own experiences we can see how God uses the bad things in our lives for good.  He has this way of taking our pains, our failures, our negative experience and using them for a positive result.  So this coming Sunday we are going to talk about how God uses these things in our lives for Good.  I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at 10:30 AM. 

Blessings,

Pastor Donald

The God Perception Week 2 "Why do bad things happen?"

    Why do bad things happen to good people?  For that matter why do bad things happen at all?  I tend to ask myself this question a lot.  If something can go wrong it will go wrong for me.  It never fails! Never!!!!!!!! 

    We have this inside joke in our family (now your on the inside of it), that names the reason for the bad luck.  We call it the “curse!”  Anytime something goes wrong we blame it on the “curse!”  It has become humorous over the years, as many family stories pivot on the statement, “and then the ‘curse struck again!” Do I really believe that there is a curse, no but it does give us a way of making light of and find humor in some of the mishaps that somehow come our way. 

     There are things that happen in this world and in the lives of people that we can find no humor in.  These things go beyond mishaps and small blunders. Evils such as rape, incest, murder, war, terror attacks such as 9/11.  These are real Evils that impact lives everyday. These are the things that lead people to question God’s motives, God’s ability, and even God’s existence.  The fact of past, present, and future evil compel philosophers, educators, and even theologians to believe and argue against the existence of God. 

     Allow me for just a second to lay out the the popular argument of why evil proves there is no God.

    1.If God is all-good, He would destroy evil.
    2.If God is all-powerful, He could destroy evil.
    3.But evil is not destroyed.
    4.Hence, there is no such God.

     This same argument occurs with us regular people as well.  Yes, even me as a pastor have moments that I have said, “If God, why this?”  Moments that I was completely unable to understand why something happened and for many of those moments the reason still remains a mystery. 

     I am sure that in your life there have been experiences and events that have happened that you caused you to just say, “If God, why this?”  Let me assure you, that doubt is a natural part of life and it is a mandatory component of faith.  Without some level of uncertainty, faith would not require trust in God.  God desires you to depend on and trust in Him.  Doubts actually help us as we journey and experience life.  When properly handled they actually grow our faith and relationship with God. 

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: Isaiah 1:18

     Listen, God wants to discuss with you and help you work out your doubts.  And for some of you this idea of Evil has really got your doubts in God pretty high.  So I would like to walk you through a couple of points now and prepare your mind for our talk on Sunday morning. 

    Because we are talking about “God is Good”  this Sunday.  I am going to hold off on addressing Premise 1 (If God is all-good, He would destroy evil), until then.  Now, let’s reason together starting with Premise 2.

Premise 2- (If God is all-powerful, He could destroy evil.) This we talked about last Sunday.  The God who is powerful enough to create the universe out of nothing is powerful enough to reach in and stop evil.  The Bible says: You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! Jeremiah 32:17. 
 

(The link to the Talk from this past Sunday is: God is Great (Video of Sunday's Talk) 

Premise 3- (But Evil is not destroyed) The fact that evil still exists does not provide proof that there is no God. It does however, provide proof that evil has not yet accomplished and fulfilled its purpose, and therefore it still remains.  That’s right you heard me say it, evil has not accomplished its purpose and it still remains.  This does not mean that God lacks power to defeat it, nor does it mean that God desires it to last for eternity.  It simply means that evil serves a purpose right here and right now. 

(Sneak peak into the future, evil is defeated and God's purpose does prevail.) 

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28

     The evil that occurs in your life is not good in and of itself.  But God uses those things to work out a good result.  We may have doubt as to why God is allowing certain things to occur in our lives and we may have some real questions for God as it pertains to those events.  Let me challenge you to change the question from “Why God?” to “What God?”  “ What do you want me to learn from this? What do you want me to change as a result of this?  What do you want me to do with this?”  When we change the form of the question we transition our heart from doubt to faith. 

So then let me close with a counter to the argument that was given above:

    1.God is good and desires to defeat evil.
    2.God is all powerful and is able to defeat evil.
    3.Evil is not yet defeated.
    4.Therefore, it will one day be defeated. 

    This Sunday we will talk about why an all good God permits evil to continue in the world.  I look forward to seeing and talking with you Sunday morning at 10:30AM.


Blessings,


Pastor Donald

Crossroads Baptist Church
4540 Technology Dr.
Wilmington, NC 28405

www.crossroadsofwilmington.com

The God Perception Week 1

     I picked up my boys from school this afternoon and on the way home Matthew began to tell me about the plans he was making with his friend.  As he was telling me about these plans he stopped and said with a very low and defeated sounding voice “its probably not a good idea though because of school work.” 

     Now under normal circumstances I would be cheering “That’s my Boy!” but not this time.  He was inquiring about his friend spending the night and the day he was planing for was not a school day.  I stopped him and said, “you just told me that you didn’t have school.”

     How many times in life do we stop short of our dreams are because we are not sure what others will think or if those in positions of authority will agree?  How many times do we dismiss a goal as unachievable because we cannot see how it could ever work. 

     Matthew’s perception was that I would not agree and because of that he stopped short of asking me to grant his request.  What he didn’t know was that I thought it was a great idea!  I wonder how many times I have stopped short of asking God to grant my dreams, because I didn’t think God would agree, and all the while God was excited and waiting for me to ask.

    There is this guy in the Bible named Jabez who had such a different perception of God than all others in his generation and generations before him.  Jabez’s understanding of who God was led to a pause in scripture, so that God could make mention of him.

There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. 10 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request. 1 Chronicles 4:10

     Jabez had every right to think that God would not grant his request.  His life up to this point had been full of struggles and misery. Even when Jebez would have a good day he was reminded of how miserable his life was. 

     How do I know this based on this small excerpt from the Bible?  Because his name was a constant reminder.  The name Jabez meant to grieve.  And every time someone called his name it was a reminder as to how bad his life was and how bad he had made his mother’s life. 

     In some ways we are all like Jabez.  There are reasons and excuses that we can make for why our lives are not all that we would hope them to be.  There are also reasons that can be made why we don’t think God cares or can do anything about our situation much less grant us the gigantic dreams that we have.  Our life experiences may have built this perception of God that stops us short of even asking God to listen to our desires much less grant them. 

    Jabez however, had a different perception of God that compelled him to ask God.  And God answered! Here’s the point, our perception of God directly affects our faith in God. 

     This Sunday we will begin the first of three weeks called “The God Perception”  We are going to lay out a biblical understanding of who God is and what He wants to be in your life.  I look forward to seeing Sunday at 10:30AM




Blessings,

Pastor Donald