Answering Difficult Questions Non-Believers Ask

Hey, let's turn to our Bibles to John chapter 9, the title of today's message answers

difficult

questions

that non-

believers

ask shortly after I became a Christian. I had the opportunity to pray with someone to accept Christ. This was a big shock to me. I told you the story before, I was only a couple weeks, maybe three weeks into my faith and I went out to the beach in Newport armed with a copy of the four spiritual laws and basically read them word for word to a lady there. and she prayed except from the Lord and I felt, hey, I'm pretty good, you know, Billy Graham, move on, there's a new kid in town and I was full of zeal and enthusiasm and I wanted to reach lost people well anyway. , I had a group of friends that I used to hang out with before I became a Christian and after I accepted the Lord.

I remember telling them, guys, don't worry about me. I'm not going to go crazy. I know you've seen other people. they become Jesus freaks and carry Bibles and say things like praising the Lord that will never happen to Greg Lori. I said, You'll never hear me say praise the Lord. I will never carry a Bible publicly or wear it as a cross around my neck. I'm not going to be like that, so a few weeks go by and after I have led this lady to the Lord, I'm walking down the street and who comes walking towards me, but one of my old friends is also named Greg Greg and we spent many years together in primary school we knew each other very well he looked at me and I looked at him and we both started laughing why because in my hand was a Bible in public hanging from my neck there was a cross a little too big I might add and before I could holding back I said praise the Lord, that's all we laughed and I said Greg, I know this is crazy.

Here I am, you've known me all these years and now here I am doing this, but but I have to tell you that God has really changed my life and so we started a conversation and I started sharing with Greg some of the things that the Lord had been doing in me and how things had changed for me and there's this guy. I didn't even notice that he was eavesdropping on our conversation but he walks in, interrupts me and says hello Christian, I have some

questions

for you. I look at him like I've known the Lord for four weeks. he very far away and he hit me with about four or five questions.

I don't even remember what they were. Now all I know is that I was shocked. Where is Dinesh D'Souza when you need him? And he was great last week too, right? The way I really appreciate Dinesh, well, Dinesh wasn't there and neither was Ravi Zacharias or Josh Mcdowell ER or anyone else with the answers he needed. I was shocked and thought I have to start preparing for this kind of thing because I need to know. What are the answers to the questions people ask? I don't claim to have all the answers, but I think there are answers to many of the questions that people will present to us and point out to them that we, as Christians, need to give. an answer to every man who asks us according to 1 Peter 3:15 and remember that phrase giving every man in the answers of the Greek word apologia we will get our English word apologetic, it means that a legal defense is in a court of law, so It is as if you are presenting your case in the courtroom as a public opinion with a person who is listening to you, but keep this in mind in this courtroom, so called, there is not a prosecutor, but a witness, go to a fiscal. he's going to win, he may even be wrong, but he's still going to win.

A witness simply tells what he has seen, and at times I have seen Christians, armed with all the information they can get, attack non-

believers

and effectively drive them off the field. Water here, I would smoke that person, yeah, they don't want to hear about this again. You won the argument but you lost your soul and that is not the goal when we go to a person, even though we know much more than they know that we must present this information with love, grace and humility, in fact, we are told in Second Timothy 2:24 that the Lord servant should not fight but should be kind to everyone and gently teach those who oppose the truth so that God will change their hearts and they will believe the truth and come to their senses, okay, so when you are telling others about Christ, you will often be bombarded with questions.

Now sometimes people ask questions that they really want answers to and when you give them the answers. the answer that they will say that really clarified it for me thank you very much, but many times these questions are like a smokescreen, they are there to get you off the path, basically, they are there to make you shut up and walk away. and we saw the example with Jesus and the woman at the well as he engaged her and began to speak to her heart, she tried to talk to him about a secondary topic about the technical place where God should be worshiped and he gave her a basic answer. to that and brought her back to what really mattered, so when we grapple with these questions it is important to address what they are asking us, but remember that our central message to non-believers is the gospel, so what are those questions?

I wish I could address all the questions we heard. We covered some of them last week with Dinesh, but here are the questions we'll address in the short time we have together. Number one: how do you know that the Bible is the Word of God? God, you mention the Scriptures and people say, well, I don't believe in the Bible. I think it was written by men, in fact, it is full of contradictions. I always love to ask them to show me one or two and rarely can they mention them. with a half-hearted attempt to bring up any contradictions from the so-called Bible, they simply say number two people will say how can a loving God send people to hell you say you believe there is a hell, how could a loving God send someone?

There they may also ask you what happens to the person who has never heard the gospel, well, God send them to hell and then the question you hear probably more often than any other, if God is all good and God is all love, Why does he allow tragedy and injustice? life's problems, so let's take a look at some of these questions, let's start with the one about the Word of God, how do you know that the Bible is the Word of God? How many of you brought a Bible today? I want to take it. just hold it right now this book this book that you have in your hand is the most amazing book ever written please leave it that's it enough is enough this guy who lasted too long no chebika I'm kidding it's the most amazing book ever written it's literally the God's message to us, technically speaking, the Bible is not a single book, but 66 books written over a span of 1,500 years by 40 authors, each inspired by the Holy Spirit, coming from all walks of life, including kings , peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets.

Statesmen and scholars, however, have a theme that resonates from Genesis to Revelation and that is the redemption of humanity and each of these men was led inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words and we say that, but how can we know the Bible? it's really true let me give you some reasons number one I know the Bible is true because it gave me the experience it claimed it would give me I repeat I know the Bible is true because it gave me the experience it claimed it would give me Now that's not the only one which is why I believe it and may not even be the most compelling reason for the skeptic, but it certainly has helped me personally believe: Isn't that true for you?

I know it's true because everything happened to me, for example, me. I read in the Bible that if I confessed my sin God would forgive me my sin and take away my guilt. I confess my sin and guess what my fault was. The Bible promised that I would have a peace that passes all human understanding and I have. I experienced that over and over again the biblical promise that God would answer my prayers and I have prayed for certain things and I have seen God faithfully answer all these years the biblical promise that God would never give me more than I could handle and I have gone through through

difficult

ies in life and discovered that the Word of God is true and has sustained me, in fact, it has sustained me during the worst crisis of my life to date and that is the death of my son yesterday which marked the second anniversary of The day he left us to go to heaven was a very difficult day for us and you know right now people don't come around that often and say things that probably feel like they've already been said and maybe already over.

Listen to it and listen, you know, on behalf of all the people who are grieving and have lost a loved one, especially a child. We are not over it and, frankly, we never will be over it. In fact, do us a favor and don't do it. Don't ever ask us if we're over it, you don't get over something like that, but you do get over it day by day and I have gotten through it day by day thanks to the Spirit of God who sustains me through this Scripture as I read the Scripture. When trusting the Word of God, my emotions don't always cooperate so I have to apply my mind and my heart to believe what the Bible says and there are times when I feel it, there are many times when I don't feel it. but I have discovered that God's Word is true CS Lewis put it this way quote: You never really know how much you believe something until truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death for you.

End of the quote that was observed in this book of pain. that he wrote after his wife died, yes, that's true, you can say, oh, I believe this, but what about what's wrong with you?, oh, I believe my loved one is in heaven, he'll even say that Someone is doing well, they are in heaven. Well, yeah, we know, but when that loved one was with you yesterday and they're not with you today and someone says, well, they're in heaven, it's like, we know, but you know how much we miss them, okay, but even when yourself. Are they thinking about it?

Yes, I know they are in heaven, but do I really believe they are in heaven? Do I really believe they are there and do I really believe I will see them again? The answer is yes, I believe it and yes I will. I have discovered that the Word of God is true. God has kept his promises, but that is not the only reason I believe the Bible is true. The Bible is true because it is confirmed by science and we touched on this a little when Dinesh joined us. and how science and the Bible sometimes conflict but are often in harmony, for example, it is the Bible that first said, long before science realized, that the stars and the heavens are countless.

We read in Isaiah 51 that God stretched out the heavens to a limitless expanse that can never be measured and filled it with stars that are as numerous as a sans on the seashore and for years astronomers, scientists and so on, the Bible says that there are more stars than you can count, it's like sand on the shore, how absurd you can count the stars they will look like 1 2 3 then they invented the first telescope well, maybe there are a few more than we thought 300 400 500 then one more telescope powerful good, good 3000 4000 5000 and then even more powerful telescopes appear and now Science and astronomy agree that you literally cannot count the stars in all the galaxies that exist and, in fact, they have said that they are so numerous like the sands of the coast; in fact, estimates vary between 200 and 200 stars today. billion to 70 sex Tilian 76 billion is 70 million million some of you are still thinking about Jyllian from the 70s some guys woke up they say sex no it's okay I'm not talking about sex palak chileno the bible said this the stars were beyond To tell it was the Bible that said that the things we see are made of things that cannot be seen Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed by the command of God and what we now see did not come from anything that was I can see what a strange statement, what do you mean it comes from something that can't be seen?

I can see this microphone stand or this monitor here, no, it's made of other things, oh, now we know that everything is made of protons, neutrons and electrons, what we see is made up of what we don't see, the Bible is He said that way before anyone else noticed. I could go on, but let me point out something that is very important: the Bible is not intended to be a textbook on science. per se, if it were, it would be much thicker than it is and much less understandable when the Bible addresses scientific or historical facts, it is always accurate, but the Bible is primarily intended to be a book of redemption, its primary purpose is not tell us how. the heavens go but rather to tell us how to go to heaven then the Bible can address a scientific topic it can address a historical topic but the goal of the Bible is not to be a science textbook or a historical book as its main objective the objective of Scripture is to reveal God to us, but when it refers to those things it is always accurate and it is always reliable, which brings me to the third reason why I believe the Bible is the Word of God because it is confirmed by archaeology, is confirmed by archeology on the For years, countless critics have challenged the teachings of the Bible, but recent archaeological finds confirm again and again that the BibleIt was reliable.

For years people questioned the biblical account of the crucifixion. Well, there is no historical evidence of the crucifixion. We have no archaeological evidence of that. No crucifixion ever took place and you can see how a statement like that strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith because we talk so often about the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross, but this criticism was silenced in 1968 when the remains of A crucified man in his 30s was discovered north of Jerusalem with a 7-inch iron nail still embedded in his heel. The state of his bones indicated that those of the condemned man were extended.

The feet have been placed sideways and then nailed through a small block of wood and then through both heels and then onto the cross once again, the Bible tells it. said before that the so-called experts, the critics have come over the years saying, well, we don't. I believe the Bible is true because it talks in detail about a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate, but there is no historical and/or archaeological evidence to confirm that a man named Pontius Pilate ever lit, that was until 1961 when they found what is now known like the Pilate Stone in Caesarea which confirms that Pontius Pilate did indeed exist and dedicated an amphitheater in memory of Caesar himself the critics are also Alpine oh the Bible cannot be true because it talks about Caiaphas the high priest and there is no archaeological or historical evidence of a man named Caiaphas once existed, that is, until 1990, when they found the tomb of the high priest Caiaphas.

The Jewish historian Nelson Glúteo made this statement that I quote: it can be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever disputed a biblical reference. Dozens of archaeological finds have been made. a fact that confirms in clear outline or exact detail the historical statements made in the Bible and quote number four. I believe the Bible is true because it is a book that dares to predict the future now, not once, but hundreds of times with 20/20. In retrospect, we have all the prophecies that spoke of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, among other things, and we can look back and realize that those prophecies were fulfilled exactly, but then, of course, the Bible talks about our future, it was the Bible that told us that the Jewish people would be there in their land and would be dispersed to the four corners of the earth, it was the Bible that told us that they would be gathered together again in their land and They would be isolated from the other nations of the world.

It was the Bible that tells us that Jerusalem would be at the center of the world conflict in the time of the end. Some people were seeing this happen before our very eyes. I mean one of the possibilities that all of this could be a coincidence, think of all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled a scientist discovered the probabilities of only eight prophecies of Jesus being fulfilled by mere coincidence he said that the probability of Jesus being born in Bethlehem 1 and 280,000 the probability said that he would have been the forerunner announcing this coming in a thousand the chance that he will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver one in 10,000 the chance that his hands will be hurt one in 10,000 the chance that he will ride to Jerusalem on a donkey one in a thousand, adding everything up, what are the possibilities? that Jesus did these things coincidentally, he said 1 and 10 to the power of 28, that's almost as crazy as a sextillion to illustrate it, he put it this way, he said, if you covered the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep , then dial 1 and throw it at random and blindfold someone and have them walk across the state of Texas.

The chances that they will bend down and pick up the marked silver dollar are the same chances that Jesus could have made these things happen by coincidence. That's just eight of the prophecies there. There were many, many more, yes, the Bible is the book you can trust. I heard a story about a girl who one day was sharing her faith and a few people gathered around her in an atheist place were eavesdropping, she thought she would humiliate this young woman and with her big booming voice she said young lady, you believe in the Bible, she said, well, yes, sir, I do it right.

I have a question for you, so if you believe in the Bible, she said, okay, do you believe in all the miracles in the Bible? She said yes, I believe it, oh, she believes it. so you must believe the story of Jonah and the whale and a man was swallowed by a whale and then he lived three days and was spit out by the whale, do you think she said yes, I think it's in the Bible now, how did that happen? How could such an event occur? It's impossible she says I have no idea when I get to heaven I'll ask Jonah the atheist said well and if he's not in heaven she said well then ask him how many of you have heard that The previous story was brought up, we thanked you for those laughs courtesy just when I started the story, you leaned over and said I was going to do that boring story again, just laugh, it makes him happy, now he's getting old, okay, what's up with this one, how could a God? of love send someone if your God is all love the person will say how could he send a person to a place as horrible as hell now by the way I will try to start a dialogue with a person when they say things like this and say No, wait, The question you ask there is interesting.

Do you think there is a hell? Well yes I do and who do you think would go there. Well, no, I don't do what they say. I will involve them, why do you mention that? and and then it's interesting that you say why would God send a person so you know there's a god, you think there's a hell. I'll try to bring it up a lot, frankly, these are things that people say because they've heard other people say. They parrot this information and when you actually respond with a logical argument, they back off. Well, what's up with that?

How could a God of love send someone to hell? Well, the simple answer is God doesn't send anyone to hell, we effectively send ourselves there. It is not an evasion, it is an accurate statement because hell was not created for people, hell was created for the devil and his angels, that is what Jesus said and God does not want anyone to go to hell, he wants everyone. humanity believes in him. and go to heaven second Peter 3:9 God does not want anyone to perish but for everyone to come to repentance that is why he sent his son to be crucified on a cross and murdered in cold blood and the Bible says if we neglect this sacrifice of Jesus and his offer of forgiveness how can we escape if we neglect such a great salvation so that no one will accidentally be in hell and no one will accidentally be in heaven? people will be in heaven and hell because of a deliberate choice the result of a choice they made CS Lewis said quote no one goes to heaven deserving and no one goes to hell unintentionally end quote Timothy Keller made this statement about hell quote the People only get in the afterlife what they want most, whether it is to have God as Savior and teacher or to be their own saviors and masters.

Hell is simply a path once freely chosen that continues forever. He wanted to get away from God and God in His infinite justice sends us where we wanted to go yes, a person will say, but what about the person who has never heard the gospel, will a loving God send them to hell? Here is a brief answer to the fact that God will judge us according to the light we have received. In other words, God will not hold you responsible for something you have never heard before. What does that mean? that means you will be held accountable for what you know and everyone knows something now, some know much more than others, some have heard entire messages in which the gospel was presented, they will be held accountable for what they have heard, others have heard.

They did not hear the gospel, there are people today to whom no one has ever spoken about Jesus Christ, so they are blameless, it is ignorance, happiness for nothing, they will also be judged according to what well, here is what we It says Romans 1 and let me read it to you and this is from the New Living Translation which is very helpful in this particular passage. It says that God chose this anchor of heaven against all the evil and sinful people who kept the truth from themselves because they know the truth about God. God has instinctively placed this knowledge in his hearts from the moment the world was created.

People have seen the earth and the sky and everything that God made. They can see his invisible qualities, his eternal power and his divine nature, so they have no excuse for not knowing. God, then what this means is that they have the testimony of nature. No, nature does not present the gospel of Jesus Christ, but nature declares the existence of a Creator God and only a fool would ignore that you look around you and go, there is a God and furthermore there is a God. It's an internal compass that we instinctively know what's right and what's wrong.

People say well, no, no, I have my own rules, I live by my own standards and I believe that the good lord of the man upstairs or however he wants them. call will judge me according to the standards that I have set in my life and live by, here's the problem, boy, you don't even live by your own standards and you know it, you break your own rules all the time, well, it's because That's why I keep writing new rules, yes, going down. the bar all the time so you instinctively know what is right and what is wrong, even a toddler knows that once he misbehaves, meet my granddaughter Lucy, she is so little she is just learning to walk but He knows when he will do it. something bad because you are right before she does it she looks like we have that internal compass within us Paul writes in Romans 12 God will punish sin wherever it is found, he will punish non-believers when they sin even though they never had the written laws of God because they hear in their hearts they distinguish good from evil evil the laws of God are written within them their own conscience accuses them they see so they instinctively know good from evil they have broken that not to mention they have broken The commandments of God this is what it boils down to if a person is a true seeker of truth, the Lord will reveal Himself to him.

I think there are a lot of people who say they are looking for the truth but that's not the case because if they were really looking for the truth they would find their way to Jesus Christ, so you find someone who is in a cult or some weird home version of what They believe that religion should be a little bit of New Age mysticism mixed with a little bit of Christianity and a little bit of Buddhism. a little bit of this a little bit of that and they say well no this is my truth you know what they've done is they don't want to change our lifestyle so they found a religion that fits well that's the bottom line .

Jesus said that people don't come to the light because they don't want their bad deeds to be exposed so they can give you all these reasons. I'm going to tell you the real reason, the reason is that they don't want to change, so they make up some nonsense. what to believe in so that they feel better about themselves, but if they are a seeker of truth, if they really want to know God, God will reveal Himself to them because the Lord Himself says in Jeremiah 29:13 you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart I will be found by you the Bible tells the story of a man called Cornelius a Roman centurion this was a powerful man he had a great responsibility an intelligent man to rise to such a rank however unlike most of his fellow Romans , he did not worship the false gods they had adopted from the Greeks nor did he worship Caesar himself as was the custom of that day.

Cornelius, to the best of his knowledge, believed in the God of the Jews. the land occupied by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, although he was a Gentile, he believed in the God of the Hebrews, he wanted to know God in the depths of his heart and he prayed to the God he knew and guessed what God heard his prayer and sent Simon Peter to to personally deliver the gospel to him and when Cornelius heard it, he believed immediately. Anyone who really wants to know God, the Lord will reveal himself, he will reveal himself to them, okay, let's go to our last question and this will use. the rest of our free time I wish I had more time to deal with it, it is such an important and vast topic, how could a God of love allow suffering?

People will ask why there are illnesses, even deaths, tragedies, etc. Well, for the answer, let's see John we are going to read verses one to seven here there is a story of a man who was healed now as Jesus passed by he saw a man who was blind from birth and his disciples asked him saying rabbi that this man sinned or his parents that he was blind from birth, Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned but that the works of God be revealed in him I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day the night comes when no one can work while I m in the world I am the light of the world and when he said these things he spit on the ground he made mud with the saliva and anointed the eyes of the blind man with mud and said John go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam which is translated sent and then he He washed and came back seeing that this is a crazy story here is a guy who is blind Jesushealthy.

How do you cure it? Spit on the ground. I love the fact that Jesus never healed two people in exactly the same way. one person touches them another person touches another says the word another touches the hem of his garment this guy spits on the ground can you imagine coming and asking the pastor for prayer, pray for me, surely there is no problem? how good it is in the Bible maybe the Lord very this methodology because he knew how prone we are to obsess over things, we would form a whole denomination around it, no, Jesus mixed it up so that we would simply remember that it is God who does the healing. that is not a certain technique or this or that like that but here is the question that is asked of whose sin was this man's disciples or his parents this really comes back to the essential question why does God allow suffering what is it like? that this guy is blind?

Why did this disability occur? Who is guilty? Is it his own fault? Did it come as punishment for something bad he had done? Was it his parents' fault and that is why the Lord judged them through his son? Jesus can't stop, it's no one's fault. This man did not send his parents, he did not sin and we always want to blame sin or the repercussions of life's difficulties on God. You already know the problem of pain. CS Lewis is atheism, "it is the most powerful weapon against the Christian faith and it is true because life is full of justice, things happen that just don't make sense and sometimes people distance themselves from God because of this because of a tragedy in life , you know their parents got divorced or a parent dies or a sibling dies or they get cancer or something horrible happens to someone close to them and They say I can't believe in a god like that and they turn away from God or we look at tragedies that we all witness, like the latest earthquake here or a song, a tsunami that just hit there, or a typhoon or the World Trade Center is attacked in those towers that collapse with such a horrible loss of life or a plane crashes or a train crashes. derails or a friend of ours who is a Christian gets cancer or a child is born with a disability or a young man dies in a car accident and we wonder why he sees it, because our human intellect and our notions of justice reject the apparent contradiction between a Loving God and a world of hurt, it just doesn't make sense to us and then sometimes it seems wrong because there will be the drunk driver you know coming home from the bar who has a collision with the family of four on their way to church and the christian family dies and the drunk driver isn't even hurt, well now there are times when it's cause and effect there are times when someone does something evil and reaps the repercussions they make a mistake in a bank they get arrested they go to prison everything you see Yuri thinks to himself yes, that's true, there are many times when things make sense, but then there are times when things don't make any sense, so what do we do as we see it?

You know everything is good, but he is not all-powerful, therefore, he cannot stop evil, or maybe God is all-powerful, but he is. Everything is good, therefore he does not stop evil. Here is the answer. You may or may not like it, but it is the answer. Jesus is saying that neither this man nor his parents sinned, which means that in this particular case there is no correlation between his condition and Jesus' sin. is saying that bad things happen and are inexplicable every disability every illness every pain even death itself are the result of sin now when I say I don't mean because of the sin that one person committed I mean because of sin in general sin has contaminated the human race because our first parents ate the forbidden fruit sin entered the human race Romans 5:12 says says it came into the world through one man and death spread to all men because all men sinned and so now for the effects of sin we don't live forever we weren't supposed to grow old we weren't supposed to lose our memories what was he saying just no we weren't supposed to have illnesses or diseases and we certainly weren't supposed to die but the sin has entered this world and God gave our first parents Adam and Eve us a free will but we ask why these things happen, you know, after the attack on the World Trade Center.

I remember a lot of people asking. Why, of course, did some preachers say well? This is God's judgment on America. You may remember that I was not one of those preachers who said that because I totally disagreed with that statement because to me it had all kinds of theological problems to begin with, if that. was God's judgment on America, why was that God's only judgment on America? And if it was this judgment, why is that really the only place where God would judge us there, in the World Trade Center? Listen, there were Christians in the twin towers, so what's up?

I will tell you what happens with that, it was not God's judgment against the United States, it was a sinful act and by evil Islamic terrorists in the name of their false god, they were evil and they did it for evil reasons. God allowed it, we don't know why. what but bad things happen earthquakes happen tragedies happen murders happen why I don't know but one day some people came to Jesus and asked him about a tower that fell apparently this was an event that was known by many it fell on a group of Gentiles simply they overturned, fell and killed a group of people, so the question answered was they were the worst sinners in Jerusalem, in other words, Lord, that tower fell on them because they were worse sinners and everyone else, and I love the answer of Christ, he said no.

I tell you, unless you repent, you will perish, in other words, they said Lord, is it because these guys were so horrible? This happened. Jesus says don't let anyone die and that's it and you better be careful because you could die, that's all people die for. you could be driving home today and die, you could have a heart attack today, find a lump in your breast and be diagnosed as cancer and only have a short time to live, you could slip in the shower at home and hit your head and dot Greg , this is the most depressing message ever, I know, okay, but I'm dealing with a topic here, okay, everyone dies, there are no exceptions, that doesn't mean God is unfair, doesn't mean it was a judgment . it just means it was time for that person to leave this earth and it will come to everyone some die young others die old some die slowly others die quickly but everyone dies this is the point Jesus was making, you don't know when it's going to happen so be prepared to go, but why does God allow suffering?

I can't give you an answer that will probably satisfy you because I could, I would and I have searched for answers to that question and there are times we can say well. something good came out of it and I can see how the Lord is using it and frankly there are times when we say I don't understand this at all. This really doesn't seem good but I am trusting God in this word and that in the end all things will make sense and work together for good for those who love God, but here are some things to consider in closing God I allow suffering and illness draw our attention he can allow suffering and illness to draw our attention you know when everything is going well in life many times we simply do not believe that we need God now we do know many times the crisis is the wake up call something dramatic something big something momentous awakens us to our need for God as the psalmist said in psalm 119 67 before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept your word so it can be something like that that wakes you up sometimes God will use the worst to achieve the best but then there are tongues when these things happen we don't understand it we just have to trust in the Lord people will say well when I get to heaven I have many questions to ask God but I suggest that when you get to heaven you take a look at his saint face and say it doesn't matter and that day you will know how you are known maybe not until certainly not until you know some, but not all the numbers: suffering helps us grow spiritually and makes us stronger and our faith, sometimes you know . people will say: well, do this crisis.

I lost my faith, respectfully, I can say that maybe you never had faith because your faith is real, it will not be destroyed by the crisis, it will only get stronger and if your faith cannot withstand the crisis and it is not like that. Genuine faith, so when people say they lost faith, I suggest that maybe they never had faith in the living God, but it is never too late to have it, but this will strengthen you. What you fear the most could be the best for you. your spiritual life whether you believe it or not James 1:2 says that when all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, do not treat my brother's as intruders, but as friends, realize that they have come to test your faith and produce a quality in you. of resistance and let that process continue until that resistance is fully developed and you will find that you become men and women of mature character, men and women of integrity, without weaknesses, the third suffering can bring glory to God, can bring glory to God, how good sometimes when God takes it away that's what happened to the blind man hey who sinned this man or did his parents say he was willing to be born blind he no one has sinned but so that the works of God can be exhibited he heals to the man then Jesus said: look, don't worry about how this happened, just look at what I will do and there are times when the crisis comes and we call on God and God appears and the crisis disappears, it happens, you know, you get that bad news from the doctor, you pray and you come back for a test and whatever was bothering them is no longer there, we can't believe it, we've never seen anything like this before, you have that situation where there's no way you're ever going to get out of resource to pay these bills and boom, you have the resources, you have this other problem, there is no way we will ever fix it and boom, it's fixed.

God comes to say, look what my God did and people say, wow, that's a powerful God. you are serving but then there are times when you pray and the dead person is not resurrected the siege is not restored the crisis is not averted in fact it even gets worse, then you can glorify the Lord through your suffering and understand something that is a powerful testimony of a lost world see anyone can be happy when the sky is blue and the sun shines see people look at us as Christians say you know you're a Christian too weird your little smiling Christian faces you understand your little Christian cars and drive to your Christian church and go out and eat your Christian food and praise the Lord this and hallelujah because you don't live in the real world, then one day the crisis hits that little Christian family and they still continue to church and they are still praising the Lord and the unbelieving system, maybe There is something in that, yes, there is God can be glorified in our suffering, a good example of this when Paul and Silas were imprisoned for preaching the gospel and they were whipped and put in a dungeon, it was not like the cell they were in. finds Lindsay Lowen in this moment, where when she comes out of her cell, everyone's locked up, all the other prisoners are upset, and you know, I hope Lindsey Lowen comes. put her faith in Jesus Christ because that is what she needs to get out of the mess she is in.

I hope she doesn't end up like another one of these Hollywood statistics of young girls made even worse by a drug, you know. in a drug overdose or whatever, pray that the Lord saves your soul and maybe God will use these circumstances, but here are Paul and Silas, they are in hell, they are in a dungeon, they are in pain, but I love how In the book of Acts it says but at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises to God so Silas what do you want to do, how about a little two-part harmony let's go bam bum bum bum and start worshiping God what the other prisoners say the Bible says listen and that list of words can be translated listen with pleasure have you ever heard something you liked maybe a song on the radio oh I like that song turn up the volume yes, that's my song that's how people listened to it, they had never heard singing in a Before that, in the dungeon an earthquake comes and the walls collapse and the jailer who is in charge of all this and actually whips Paul and Silas was ready to commit suicide because the penalty in those days was that if If you lost your prisoners, you would be sentenced to prison. death, he's ready to stick the sword into his chest and Paul and Silas say: wait, wait, wait, don't do it, we're all still here and this guy says gentlemen, what do I have to do to be saved?

Paul says, listen, believe in the Lord Jesus. Christ and that man believes and takes Paul and Silas home gives him a good meal cleans our backs his whole family comes to faith why because they had earned the right to share the gospel with him rejoicing in the time of calamity and when they worship. God, through the difficulties in life, will give you a platform to reach people in a different way. Yes, God can use these things to bring glory to his name and lastly, your suffering will not last forever. I know it seems good, but 2 Corinthians 4:17 says that our current problems are quitesmall and will not last long, but they produce for us immeasurably great glory that will last forever, so let us not look at the problems we can see right now.

We look forward to what we have not yet seen because the problems we see now will soon end but the joys to come will last forever perhaps tragedy has recently knocked on your door you have had a brush with death or with a friend or loved one one has died but you are very sick right now oh you are getting old and you know the clock is ticking the fact is the pain and the joys of this life are all temporary but eternity is all that lasts forever and Jesus Christ suffered and He died on the cross so you could live forever.

You may have come here today with some of the questions I have posed and I hope I have been able to answer them in some way. You probably have other questions. Okay, but you know? When you become a Christian, you take that step of faith and believe, and there may be some of you here who have never asked Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, you don't have that assurance that when you die. You will go to heaven but you want it. Maybe you are going through a difficulty right now and you want God's help.

Come to Christ and believe in him and he will forgive you everything you have ever forgiven. The Bible promises that you will do this. find this to be true for you, but you must say Lord, come into my life and, as you close the prayer, if you have never asked Christ to come into your heart and life to be your Savior and Lord, do it now, Let us pray, father, thank you. you by your word to us now and now I pray for anyone here who doesn't know you yet, they are still living in sin, riddled with guilt, terribly afraid of dying, lonely, empty, scared, Lord could you help them see their need for you and help? so that they come to you right now, we pray now with our heads bowed and our eyes closed and we pray if you want Jesus Christ to come and live in your life, if you want him to forgive you. your sin if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want Let the guilt be taken away from you I want you to stand up right now and I will lead you in a prayer God bless you just get up, stand up stand up and stay standing if you want God to bless you yeah well stand there on the balcony, stand up if you want something good to come into your life today, God bless you there on the side, God bless you behind, above. the balcony god bless all those who understand he knows you are not alone if you are standing right now don't worry about it you stand up don't be ashamed you are among friends and family here today is okay, you want Christ will come into your life stand up if you're outside in the amphitheater you stand up I can't see you but it doesn't really matter if I see you this is between you and God if you're up in the court building looking at the big video screen, stand up right now and I will guide you in a prayer to ask Christ to come into your life, simply stand up wherever you are in this final moment, if you haven't stood up yet, stand up now.

If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and guide you in this prayer, may God bless you and everyone else, get up. God bless you, Lord, up there on the corner balcony and God bless you and everyone else in this final moment, stand here, feet that god bless you and anyone stand up god bless you god bless you i will write to everyone standing i want you to say this prayer out loud after me this is where you are asking christ to come into your lives and forgive you of your sin again as I pray, pray this out loud after me, if you could pray this now, Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, I ask you to forgive me for my sin right now, come into my life, be my Savior. be my Lord be my god and be my friend I choose to follow you now Jesus from this moment forward thank you for accepting me and forgiving me in the name of Jesus I pray amen god bless each one of you who stood and prayed that prayer god blessed you