I MUSTACHE YOU A QUESTION Part 2 – 10-1914 - Pastor Chuck Bernal
QUESTION 1: WHY DOES GOD ALLOW EVIL & SUFFERING – WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? There are times in our lives when we are overwhelmed by tragedy and pain. It is in those difficult times that God can be more real and speak more clearly than in any other time in life. C. S Lewis once said, “Pain is God’s megaphone.” It is a sad thing that it often takes tragedies and pain for God to get our attention and it is even more sad that when He calls out to us in these situations that, even then, we don’t listen to Him. (Chuck Swindoll)
We are ________________________________ in our __________________________________________ about God and life Now we see a blurred image in a mirror. Then we will see very clearly. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me. (1 Corinthians 13:12 – GW) “I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work. For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (Isaiah 55:9 – Msg)
God created humans with a fantastic but frightening quality called ____________________________________________ “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – NLT)
The “ _________________________ ” Principle
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The “ _________________________ ” Principle
The “ _________________________ ” Principle
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The “ _________________________ ” Principle
Some have estimated that 95% of the world's suffering results from our own sins or the sins of others - the pain and suffering that comes when we choose to be selfish or arrogant or uncaring or abusive or hateful and hurtful toward others. (Bill Hybels)
God never ____________________________________ bad things to happen, but He can _______________________them! And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose . . . (Romans 8:28 - NLT) Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:6-7 – GNB)
God ____________________________ us and is always for us – even when we can’t _____________________________ it! What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? . . . For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 31-32, 38-39 - NLT)