http://www.fchope.com Giving Hope. Changing Lives. Sun, 13 May 2012 21:56:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Giving Hope. Changing Lives. Fairview Church no Giving Hope. Changing Lives. http://www.fchope.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.fchope.com http://www.fchope.com/archives/1030 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1030#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 14:53:31 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=1030 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1030/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1016 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1016#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:57:40 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=1016 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/1016/feed 0 Sermon Notes by Pastor Jon *I can’t answer this question philosophically because I’m a pastor who deals with pain daily… - *Some look at suffering & say “THERE IS NO GOD…” but they can mean 2 different things: Sermon Notes by Pastor Jon *I can’t answer this question philosophically because I’m a pastor who deals with pain daily… *Some look at suffering & say “THERE IS NO GOD…” but they can mean 2 different things:                 -Skeptic: NO WAY there can be a God & this happen (at least God of the Bible), OR                 -This is SO horrible I don’t know where God is & I feel abandoned (Psalmist; godly people) *Some DESPAIR in the tough times B/C think Christianity is about their “Best Life Now…”                 -They come to God in order for God to give them what they want (health, wealth & happiness)                 -As we’ll see, Satan accuses Job of such cheap faith (Job 1:9-11)                 -When things go bad these people get mad at God & walk away                 -We NEED a stronger faith than God as personal GENIE if we’re to get thru tough times                 -B/C suffering WILL COME to ALL of us! Even if we aren’t going thru them now… *So, how should we understand suffering (bad things, good people)? *There is a famous story from the Bible of a good man who suffered much…let’s look there. READ JOB CHAPTERS 1-2 & PRAY…  A.      HOW DO PEOPLE DEAL WITH SUFFERING?   1.       God is punishing you for your sin (Job’s friends/John 9 > superstitious almost) *God is ready to zap you b/c you did something wrong -Job 4:8-9: Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity & sow trouble reap the same. 9 By the blast of God they perish, & by the breath of His anger they are consumed.                 -ILLUST: Boy who looked at Playboy was diagnosed w/ need for glasses the next week… *Let’s be clear: there are TIMES when suffering is a direct result of our sin (affair, drunk driving, etc.) *BUT, there’s a TON of suffering in the world that CAN’T be explained that way *Jesus corrects this view in John 9 (Neither!). God corrects it here in Job (not mad at Job)   2.       God is NOT powerful or loving enough to stop it   *Some will re-imagine/re-create God > CHANGE view of God to understand their experience                 -[You want a God who can transcend your experience] *The Problem of Evil: If God is ALL-POWERFUL & ALL-LOVING then why is there suffering on Earth? There is suffering on earth (no one can deny that) So, either God isn’t loving/fair enough to WANT to stop evil & suffering OR, God isn’t powerful enough to BE ABLE to stop it… *Teaching of Rabbi Harold Kushner in his bestseller “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”                 -His son was diagnosed w/ “rapid aging” & died at age 14 after terrible illness                 -He says: God isn’t able to stop suffering (God doesn’t answer prayers for surgeries) -“He doesn’t want you to go on having it, but He can’t make it go away. That’s something which is too hard even for God…” *There’s a LOT we could say BUT I don’t want this to become a philosophy discussion (his pain is real) *BIG PROBLEM > answer to dealing w/ the “problem of pain” doesn’t DEAL w/ it AT ALL. NO HOPE!                 -Answers the question “Why is there suffering?” w/ “B/c God CAN’T stop it!”                 -But doesn’t deal w/ the pain; the suffering is still there & no hope it’ll ever be finally dealt w/   3.       There is no God (this is the objection > again this is HOPELESS > survival of the fittest)   *BIG HELP! Again it doesn’t deal with the problem, just the intellectual issue…(suffering remains) *NONE OF THESE WORK! NONE OF THESE MATCHES W/ THE BIBLE > so how should we UNDERSTAND?   B.      HOW SHOULD WE UNDERSTAND SUFFERING? *There are a couple things the Bible says that we need to hold together   1.       Suffering is a part of life in a fallen world *ALL SUFFERING IS THE RESULT OF SIN, just not a person’s specific sin (rather the ORIGINAL one)                 -You hair is gray b/c Adam sinned (fall brought sin, death & curse so nothing works right)                 -BREAKDOWN/DECAY: disease, Fairview Church no http://www.fchope.com/archives/1012 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1012#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:56:38 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=1012 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/1012/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1008 http://www.fchope.com/archives/1008#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:28:54 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=1008 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/1008/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/987 http://www.fchope.com/archives/987#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:44:50 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=987 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/987/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/983 http://www.fchope.com/archives/983#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:34:40 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=983 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/983/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/998 http://www.fchope.com/archives/998#comments Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:22:16 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=998 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/998/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/991 http://www.fchope.com/archives/991#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:53:58 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=991 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/991/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/977 http://www.fchope.com/archives/977#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:21:39 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=977 Continue reading →]]> http://www.fchope.com/archives/977/feed 0 http://www.fchope.com/archives/964 http://www.fchope.com/archives/964#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:06:44 +0000 kbanks http://www.fchope.com/?p=964 http://www.fchope.com/archives/964/feed 0