Evil (TrueCrime.#7.2024.08.04)
In this episode of Beholding Bible Truth, Scott addresses the complex issue of understanding God's sovereignty and righteousness in the face of evil and suffering. He talks about comprehending God's unchanging holiness, righteousness, and justice and why it's essential for navigating troubling times. Drawing on biblical references, Scott explains how God is sovereign over both natural and moral evil and uses these events to fulfill His greater purposes, particularly highlighted in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Scott also talks about the emotional and spiritual challenges people face in response to calamity and trauma. He touches on personal narratives and the struggle to find meaning in unexpected events. Keffer underscores the importance of seeking professional help for serious trauma, while also offering spiritual guidance. Throughout the discussion, he encourages listeners to find hope, assurance, and comfort in God's enduring presence and ultimate justice, emphasizing that God's plans will always work for the good of those who trust in Him.
Download the Insight Sheets Here:
Insight Sheet Blank: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zFB2TAB0tt1WyFqKSOOqasnGiODWlK-D/view?usp=sharing
Insight Sheet With Answers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vN2CDK2i9pUieTWd9gk3d5IDzDD3fW4K/view?usp=sharing
Key Topics Discussed:
- Understanding God's sovereignty and righteousness
- Natural and moral evil
- God's greater purpose through Jesus’ crucifixion
- God's patience in allowing evil
- Seeking help for trauma
- Personal narratives in response to calamity
- Finding hope and comfort in God's presence
Transcript
Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.
Speaker B [:I've experienced the fact that sometimes life seemingly punches you in the gut, doesn't it? Sometimes it feels out of nowhere, and it takes your breath away as you kind of figure out what do I do with this. So we're gonna that's what we're gonna talk about today. Evil, calamity, and trauma. Evil, calamity, and trauma. So if you look at the entry sheet, on the left hand side, you see from Ruth chapter 1, because there was what? A famine in the land. A certain man, Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn the land of Moab with his wife and 2 sons, Elimelech and his wife Naomi, his 2 sons, Mahlon and Chileon, and they entered the land and remained there. Right? Naomi's husband died, left her with her 2 sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives, Orpah and Ruth, and they lived about 10 years then.
Speaker B [:Meilan and Julian also died, and the woman was bereft of her 2 children and her husband. Famine, foreign land, loses her husband, loses her 2 sons. How would you feel? Write it down. How would you feel? Abandoned. God. You feel abandoned, distraught. Who else? Pregnant? Yeah. For sure.
Speaker B [:Foreign land? No husband? Overwhelmed. Lots of options for women. Right? Overwhelmed? Yep. Anger. Use some anger in there because Yeah. Like, what the heck? What's the heck? Yeah. Yeah. What you'd be saying, like, what the heck? Unloved.
Speaker B [:Yes. Alone? Isolated. Isolated. Yeah. Alone, afraid, isolated. How do you feel about God? Disappointed. What's gray and furry and lives in a tree? Right? What Johnny's saying? Well, sure sounds like a squirrel, but I know the answer is Jesus. Jesus.
Speaker B [:Right? I don't So So we know the answer. How are you supposed to feel? Right? How would you feel? Disappointed. Disappointed. Abandoned? Yeah. Disappointed. We'll certainly come in. Disappointed. Abandoned.
Speaker B [:What the heck? Right? What I mean? You then flip over to the 2nd column. Joseph Bluff found his brothers in. Before he got there, they saw him coming, and they made plans for his good, like brothers. You know, they made him good. Right? You know, they made plans to kill him. They said, well, now look. Here he comes. The hero of those dreams.
Speaker B [:Let's kill him. Throw him into a pit and say that some wild animals ate him. Then we'll see what happens to those dreams. Joseph came to his brothers. They pulled off his fancy coat. They threw him into a dry well. When the Midianite merchants came by, Joseph's brother took him out of the well and for 20 pieces of silver, they sold them to the Ishmaelites who took them to Egypt also for his good. Oh, so how would you feel if you're Joseph?
Speaker C [:It's right.
Speaker B [:Copy and paste that column on the left. Yeah. I'm not. Let let's go. So, Sam, how would you feel if you're Joseph? Give me one Abandoned. What's your first? Abandoned. Abandoned. Okay.
Speaker B [:What was the first one? Betrayed, abandoned, anger. Why? And what are you angry at? Brothers. Brothers. Yeah. Angry at the brothers. Okay.
Speaker C [:Again, asking God why. Why? Like Dave like Dave said, let me copy and paste.
Speaker B [:Yeah. Yeah. But the very first is abandoned and distraught. What's the first what's the first one that comes up here? Each of them. It's great and angry. Why? What's the difference? I guess What will happen over here?
Speaker C [:It wasn't someone doing something to you or a person. It was beyond her control.
Speaker B [:Yeah. Circumstantial. So this was famine and Natural calamity. Death. Right? Sickness. Right? Okay. What was this? Manage. Personal? Purposeful.
Speaker B [:Man made. Right? This was devised. Difference? Difference how you feel? Yeah. It's not the same feeling, is it? Yeah. Mhmm. Not the same feeling when somebody when somebody carries out evil that had plans for you, right, against you. Right? What's that?
Speaker C [:You're going after.
Speaker B [:Yeah. So what do you wanna do?
Speaker C [:You wanna retaliate.
Speaker B [:You wanna revenge. Right? I mean, you think about all that stuff that goes through here. So I have what's the difference? There is a difference, isn't there? There's a difference. So if all of me, it could go through here. So I put on there, what are these both? Evil. They're both evil. They're just different kinds of evil. They're just different kinds of evil.
Speaker B [:So three kinds of evil. There's natural evil. Diseases, accidents, disasters. Who's that? That's rude. Right? Things didn't work. Right? Then there's moral evil, injustice, oppression, violence, man made. Right? Man intended. Right? Then there's supernatural, which is Satan plus Satan plus.
Speaker B [:So trauma, which we're gonna talk about today, is a is a severe emotional or mental distress. It's caused by that evil. Would that be true? We have an event happen. We get trauma various levels of trauma depending on the the depth and breadth of the evil done, which which would tend to have more trauma to it. It could be both, but certainly this because of the evil intent behind it. Yeah. Maybe, maybe not. Right.
Speaker B [:So he says it there. I thought this is interesting. He said, we construct a personal narrative. It's your bigger story. It's your metanarrative for us to to think about how life should be. We all have a story about how life should be. Certainly, it should be happily ever after and then happily all along the way. That's my story.
Speaker B [:Right? So we all have a meta narrative. We have a personal narrative. And he said, then we struggle with an unexpected event challenges the story underlying what we've created for ourselves. It's our own personal story, isn't it? We've created the story for ourselves. Hi. You have cancer. Boom. Oh, lord.
Speaker B [:That wouldn't be my story. Right? Wouldn't be my story. That's on sort of this side. They carried that out. And as a result, you lost money, you lost reputation, you lost well, that wasn't in my story. So I put on there personal narrative. So when you experience calamity in your life, how many have had calamity? That's exciting. Okay.
Speaker B [:Who didn't understand the question? Yeah. How many would raise your hands no matter what I asked you? Right? Of course. We all have had calamity. So one of the things I thought about is, first of all, when I have calamity, when a calamity shows up in my life, what is my first response? How long is it gonna last? Anybody think what's this doing in my life? Like By me. You know? Yeah. Yeah. What, like, what is this here for? What is this here for? So we have this tend to have this response because we have a narrative around it. Right? What is this here for? And, of course, we forget the fact that when I start, there are always chapters in a book.
Speaker B [:And there are all there are all often, whole new sections in a book, particularly if you're looking at, the a a a nonfiction story. You know? If you're or even if you're looking at a fictionalized story, there are sections. Okay. Right? And then we're we forget that we're we're at the beginning of the chapter. We're at the beginning of the section. Right? And we we get lost in that. So is your natural response to expect something good to come out of it or expect the worst? Isn't it natural to suspect the worst? In fact, you take it and you go down this this spiral. Right? So the the event occurs here.
Speaker B [:Right? This crashing event occurs. Something happens here, and it's either one of these 2. And this is our natural, isn't it? This is just gonna get bad. It's going bad to worse. First of all, we're totally surprised because we say, well, I what the heck? It's like, what the heck?
Speaker C [:That's not what I planned for. That's not what I want.
Speaker B [:What the heck? Why is this in my life? Right? And then, of course, we go down to the worst. How is this going to get worse? So when you think about it, I'm guessing you're either in 1, just came out of 1, or about to enter 1, most likely. Some natural moral or supernatural. So what is that for you that you're facing right now? Is it a natural, moral, or is it a supernatural? 1st 2 can include the 3rd. And then if you were to describe your story of your life, right, your expectation, your presupposition about how your life should be, what would it be? How do you explain calamity in your life? What's the picture of your story? What's the picture of your story? Right? How do you explain your life? Because he talked about your personal narrative about the nature of life. First story, but the wind always behind my sail. So in your story, does the wind always come behind your sails or is the wind in your face? You think about inside of us, there is a narrative that we have about life, what we expect in life. Isn't it true? I may have had events in your life that were not what you expected.
Speaker B [:I mean, we all have. Right? Some really challenging. So I think what, of course, scripture has us do is reexamine. Right? So we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind, but even more importantly that we change our soul about it. Right? How we how how we deal with evil. So we're gonna look at, J Morgan Wallace, and he's gonna talk about real evil, murder. Right? And then we're gonna come back like we always do and look at what does this mean for me because he's gonna talk about, a murder, which certainly would be the some of the evilest evil. Oh, challenging.
Speaker B [:Put a note on there. It's not a late topic because trauma has right? Calamity has I mean, there are scale, right, of difference. Someone relative being murdered is very different. Right? Some calamity against you, abuse, other things have deep deep wounds. So I put on their note, trauma requires help to heal. It it you cannot you should not heal alone. Trauma requires help to heal. And, serious trauma requires skilled professional help.
Speaker B [:It's important to keep that in mind. This is not a light subject. So I put on there, here's what we wanna know. Like, that
Speaker C [:Why? Why.
Speaker B [:And we wanna know why. Right? Why why me? Why now? Why it all? All the why questions. Right? We wanna know why. And so it's beside that right there, who's asking? Right? The phrase, who's asking? So a couple weeks ago, like I said, Porky's in his seventies mid seventies. He had really challenging diabetes along with Parkinson's, and he's just really struggling. And the fear, he said, I wake up just panicked in the middle of the night. Like, where is this disease going, and where are we gonna end up? And as a result of that, it sent him on a journey. His kids are are Christians.
Speaker B [:Oh, no. So he said to me, my son said, you know, God sent this to you to get your attention. And he said to me, what do you think? Did God do this to me? At that moment, I remembered the answer to that is not does not change, but how we answer that does change. The answer doesn't change, but how we answer that changes depending upon who's asking. Are they asking because he's trying to essentially argue against God? Yeah. The other believers say, what about this? What about that? Right? What what is he asking for? He's trying to make sense for him. And I said, well, let me ask you a question. I said, as a result of this and the fear that you have, what's been the result of that? He said, well, I started reading the Bible, and now I'm coming to you.
Speaker B [:We're coming on a regular basis. I said, is that good? He said, oh, it's very good. But I said, well, here's what you can know for certain. God causes all things to work together for good. You can have absolute confidence moving forward. So the answer to that, of course, is deeper deeper depending the level of you answering that depends on who's asking. Right? And where where they are in terms of their faith. And I just thought if God told you the answer, would you understand it? Right? We say, god, why? Why now? Why here? Why this? Right? So I remind myself over the underlying depth.
Speaker B [:So there is a limitless mind, if you will, a deep goal behind. What is it of? The wisdom and knowledge of God. And his judgments are what? Unsearchable, and his ways are unfathomable. What does that mean? You won't understand, but I still no. Tell me. Tell me. He said, okay. My understanding is infinite.
Speaker B [:Your understanding is finite. K? It's different than mine. Then he said, my understanding is beyond what does scrutiny mean? Question. I'm gonna put your answer under my microscope, and I'm gonna test it to see whether I think it makes sense, whether it's good, whether it's right, and whether it's true. Isn't that right? Tell me your answer so I can test it. I'm gonna put it in my beaker, and I'm gonna put stuff in there. Right? He said, well, remember that my thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways.
Speaker B [:How high are they? 90,000,000,000 light years between you and me. Something like that. So I have to remember, what am I looking for? Lord, tell me why so I can test it and see if it makes sense to me. Isn't that what we're doing? Because it really comes out of this question that you said. What the heck? Like, what the heck? What the heck? And that reminded me of Adam and Eve in the garden. Two trees. He says you can eat of the tree of life. You can't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Speaker B [:We wanna have the knowledge, Good and evil. We still wanna eat from that tree. So, Lord, tell me why. Tell me why. So I put on there, right, a reminder that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. He saved those who are crushed in spirit. God wants you to come to him for comfort and guidance. For comfort and guidance.
Speaker B [:Comfort and guidance. He wants you to eat the degree of life. He's life. So if I'm being asked by somebody who's in trauma, I'm not gonna answer with the depth. I'm not gonna answer the answer for them. Like, why is this happening? What's going on? Right? What you wanna do is point them to the comfort, and sometimes you are the comfort. Right? If they're depending on where they are with the Lord, we're the comfort. We bring words of comfort.
Speaker B [:We bring, you know, hugs of comfort, whatever that is. We are the comfort. They're looking for answers. I don't have to answer. I don't wanna answer that. I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is this. That God is near to the brokenhearted.
Speaker B [:He's crushed in spirit. Right? When my friend Bob reaches out and he says, right. What's her name? Sophie. I go
Speaker C [:Oh, Bob Jordan?
Speaker B [:Yeah. Bob Jordan. Yeah. Sophie, right, who you should pray for. He says, what I mean, like, what's going on? I don't know. But God is near to the broken heart. He's first to those call out to him. Right? He's not a believer.
Speaker B [:I'm not gonna answer what is God doing because it's a different level for somebody. Does that make sense? So that we become God's agents of comfort and and guidance. That said, if it's you, he reminds us, my philosophy is always go through the
Speaker C [:Go to the.
Speaker B [:Go to the core. Always go to the core. Go to the center. The the center of the bull's eye where it's absolutely positively certain. The further we go out from that, the further our questions go out from that, the more confused you're gonna be. The more confusing. We're gonna talk about we're talking about a subject that that people have debated and given thoughts on for years years years. I'm not gonna bring anything new, but I'm gonna drive you to the core, to the foundation, to the center because that's all you can do.
Speaker B [:Go to what you know. Right? And the very first thing is we have to go to that which is the foundation to me is who God is. He's unchangingly, holy, and righteous, and just, and pure, and good, and true. God is light, and there is no darkness. Have to cling to that. There's no darkness in it. Your eyes are too pure, it says, to approve evil. For thou art not a god who takes doesn't take pleasure in wickedness.
Speaker B [:This would be moral. Right? This would be moral evil. Right? No evil dwells with thee. No evil dwells with thee. And that's at the that's at the very foundation that God is not evil. And then my feet are sunk deep, deep, deep into the footers of his sovereign reign tee. God's sovereign reign tee. He's sovereign, reigns overall.
Speaker B [:If we don't have that footer in our life, everything else is confusing. He is he has been he always will be sovereign overall. How do you know it? He says it. Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules overall. How about nature? Who makes the lightnings for rain? He brings forth the wind from his treasuries. Oh, he does. How about chance? The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from Lord. Oh, he is.
Speaker B [:How about rulers? Except in the US. Right? The most god is ruler over the realm of mankind. Who who gets it? He bestows it on whomever he wished. And the king's heart, by the way, is in the channels or like channels of water in the hands of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. Or does that give a lot of questions. Right? Well, if that's true, then how come how come? How come there are natural disasters? How come there are wicked kings? How come there are right? So we have to remind ourselves, god reigns sovereign and, supreme the sovereign over evil without being evil. So explain to me how that's possible.
Speaker B [:I can't explain it. All I can do is exclaim. I can't explain. I can explain what's true. I can't necessarily explain it. However, here's a good thought. If God is not sovereign over natural evil, if he's not sovereign over it, what would that mean? Natural evil is more sovereign than God. That means it's just happening.
Speaker B [:Wonder if he's not sovereign over moral evil. That means evil men are more powerful than God. Wonder if he's not natural over supernaturally? It means Satan will reign because Satan is more powerful than God. If you just the if you the answer is a better question. Alright. Let's assume that's not true. God is not sovereign over natural disasters, diseases, and what what does that mean? That there will always be natural disasters because he can never bring it to conclusion. What happens if he's not sovereign over moral evil? Means moral evil will be sovereign over God and never disappear.
Speaker B [:Well, he says there is shalom. Shalom is peace, prosperity, and there's calamity, evil, not moral evil, but adversity. And then he says that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that I'm the lord and there is no other. The one forming, light and creating darkness. So darkness is in opposition to light, and the one pausing well-being, shalom, and creating calamity. I'm the Lord who does all of these. Again, not moral evil, but calamity. God doesn't shrink away from that.
Speaker B [:He says in Amos, if if calamity has happened in the city, who is it? So God is sovereign over evil, yet he never ever is evil himself. He never ever is evil himself. He cannot be tempted by evil. So he is sovereign. There's verses you can go look at. Satan's evil plans. He's sovereign over supernatural evil. And you're gonna see in there, in one verse, it'll say, Satan prompted.
Speaker B [:In the other verse, it'll say, god prompted. Same event. What does that remind us? God is sovereign over supernatural evil. How about moral evil? Men's evil plans. Joseph says at the end to his brothers, you dogs, I'm gonna throw you in the dungeon. I'm gonna beat you to a pulp. I'm gonna rip your skin off. That's what I wanna do with you.
Speaker B [:I'm gonna stick you in a well. He says, no. You meant it. You meant evil against me, but god meant it for good. Same verb literally to weave, to think, to account, to compute. They computed. They wove it together. They bought, planned, purposed, and executed it, executed evil.
Speaker B [:God, planned, purposed, and executed for good. So it reminds us. And then, of course, Luther said when god works in and by evil men, evil deeds result, yet god cannot act evilly himself. How may we find that confusing?
Speaker C [:Yes.
Speaker B [:It's very confusing. Right? It doesn't seem like it could both be true. How could that be true? It's perplexing. Well, of course, it is. His wisdom is infinite. He is working not 3 d chess. He's working infinite d chess. Right? And then, of course, I remind myself ultimate evil, the ultimate evil was perpetrated against his son.
Speaker B [:It's that Jesus was delivered over. What was he delivered over by? Yep. Predetermined plan and foreknowledge of god. That is god meant it. He wove it. He purpose, planned it, and executed it for good. Was it good? No. You nailed Jesus to a cross.
Speaker B [:You were godless. Like, godless men, put him on the cross, nailed him to the cross. He says, god purposed it, predetermined it for good for good. Then he says, gather together against your holy servant, Jesus, Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and all the peoples of Israel. Who was against him? Like, everyone. Right? Which is all, right, to do. What were they doing? Whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Let's see.
Speaker B [:Let's go to that list. Herod, did he mean it good for Jesus? Didn't care. He just didn't care. Pontius Pilate, want the good things for Jesus? The Gentiles, the people of Israel. No. So it reminds me the ultimate evil, the ultimate injustice in the world, evil plans, the highest moral evil of all was the lord Jesus at the cross. He was sovereign over. So why does he allow evil to continue to exist? I'll put on there.
Speaker B [:First of all, god is patient to save. Patient to save. He's not slow about his promise as some kind of slowness, but he's patient toward you. Why? Not wishing for any to pay. Right? For any to perish. And this is what struck me and reminds me to think differently. So So he says in Roman time, what if god, although willing what's he willing to do? Demonstrate. Demonstrate his wrath.
Speaker B [:And above wrath, you can say justice. His righteousness is justice. That's what rap is. Right? It's he's willing to demonstrate his justice and to make his power known, which means he's willing to be righteous and bring to justice everyone who sins, which by the way would mean what happens when what happens when you sin? The wages of sin is Yes. Yeah. So the minute the minute a person sins, they should they should die. They should be executed immediately. Executed in righteousness and justice.
Speaker B [:I forget that. Right? If God was doing that, the minute, every person, the first sin, then God bring you to justice. You've got that would be justice. Well, what is he doing instead? He's enduring. He's enduring? What does that mean? He's enduring with patience. It means when I see the evil around me and I experience evil in my life, I'm annoyed, frustrated. What the heck? God sees it all every second of every day throughout the entire earth, and he's enduring it with patience. He's seeing it, and he's enduring it with patience.
Speaker B [:Why is he doing that? Shouldn't he carry out his justice immediately? Well, not on me, but everyone else. What's it say? He's enduring with much patience, vessels of wrath, those who will be brought to justice, prepared for this garbage. He did it to make known the riches
Speaker C [:Okay. Of
Speaker B [:its glory, vessels of mercy. God endures evil for a time to make known his mercies. God endures evil for a time to make known his mercies. That your pipe has spoken for a while. So God is enduring. Right? We are annoyed by it.
Speaker C [:Sometimes we are accepted by it,
Speaker B [:but he's enduring at all times. So is God working in your natural moral and supernatural evil? And actually, I put in parentheses, how is God? Because we're asking, is God really worth? Right? Is he really worth? Well, I remind myself all things that concern you. All things. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Isn't that a great promise?
Speaker D [:Amen.
Speaker B [:That means he has plans and purposes. He will accomplish them. And and and all things that concern me, he's working all for good, all for good. Here's the problem. My definition look good.
Speaker C [:I've I've faxed it to him.
Speaker B [:I texted it to him. I've I've sketched it out. I've done a visual. You know? I've I've I've pointed some movies or songs. Just, Lord, this is my definition of good, and I found his definition is different than mine.
Speaker C [:Yeah.
Speaker B [:Which one is better? Depends where I am in the story. Right? It depends. Am I at the beginning of the story? Am I in the middle of the story? Or am I at the end of the story? Right? So I have to remember the rest of the story. There's some of you that won't even get that. Right? Allheart used to say, but, Roscoe, the story. So he tells a story and he'd say the rest told the story. And so stories, god is writing a story, and there's would depend on where am I? Right? The beginning
Speaker A [:of the story and
Speaker B [:the middle of the story. Right? And is the story done? God's story is never done until it's done. So I remind myself. Boaz took Ruth. She became a wife, enabled her to conceive. She gave birth to a son. Blessed is the lord who has not left you without a redeemer today. What a great picture.
Speaker B [:Just left you. So we remind you, you didn't leave her. She wasn't alone. She wasn't abandoned. She wasn't on her own. Right? All our all our feelings are false, are they not? All our feelings are false prophets. Our feelings are false prophets. And we have to realize that.
Speaker B [:So we go to God. We go to God. The righteous cry. You should cry out for sure. Don't don't bear it alone, not not only on the human level, but don't bear it alone. The lord hears, and he's near. Who's he near to? The brokenhearted. Right? So you look at this.
Speaker B [:How will this turn out good for Glenn? I don't know. I don't know. He's brokenhearted. I don't know where seemingly within this short period of time, his wife is gone. He's at the beginning of that chapter. In fact, he's at the new section in his life. He's at a new section. So be sure you cry out.
Speaker B [:And remember that through him, we can overcome. We can overcome. So depending on where you are if you're at the beginning, if the the section of your life has started and somebody or you are at the beginning of the chapter, you're looking for comfort. Somewhere in the journey, you're gonna ask the question, what next? What next, Lord? Not at the beginning. Because the beginning, you're punched in the stomach. You're you're you're out of breath. Right? You're not gonna ask what next there. It's appropriate to understand different questions for different times.
Speaker B [:Does that make sense? You know, we're we're we're thriving through it, not just you know, sometimes we're just surviving. Sometimes we're moving to thriving. At some point in time, we can ask, like, she did what's next. And all these things we overwhelmingly, but not instantaneously, is it? Not instantaneously. We're just too microwaved. We just want I want the 60 second solution. I want, you know, I want 10 minute ads. I want, you know, health without actually right? I want all this stuff without but the god is in that.
Speaker B [:And a reminder that he says, we don't have a high priest who has not experienced everything that we have yet without sin. He's been tempted in all ways as we have. So he says, therefore, come boldly Come boldly before the throne of grace that you may receive mercy and grace to help. Mercy because I've fallen. Grace to help because I need him to pick me up. Mhmm. Does that make sense? So write down a insight from today, calamity, and drama. Same side thought.
Speaker D [:Scott, I'll start here. The list of comments on this lesson is long, but I'll condense it to 3 simple ones. The last part of Jay Werner Wallace's video sounded like pastor Dave's sermon this weekend, the end of the sermon of what it means to live as the new self of life in Christ. So I just sounded it just sounded like pastor Dave's sermon. Secondly, on the oversight of your page, about a third of the way down, you make reference to Isaiah 4567. For those who sometimes encounter objectors, it's the verse 7 that objectors use to explain the existence of evil. As the King James version says, god creates evil. So they take that passage out of context and try to build the case that God is evil because he creates evil because of this passage.
Speaker D [:I just share that with you because we can see in your lesson here the context for which this passage is made. So don't let anybody suck you down that drain. K. The 3rd item, as Wallace was talking about what happened with Andrea and then Kelly's journey, I kept thinking this is what happened 4 years ago with the COVID crisis. Kind of the same thing in terms of people were looking for answers, and it became a screen. And I think the last number that I heard, 30% of the regular churchgoers before COVID never returned. Mhmm. So they dealt with it as a way out, so to speak.
Speaker D [:However, on the other side, it brought to life a lot of questions and concerns and curiosity and appetite for the mortality question. And I don't know. It was about a year and a half into the COVID, and I had a conversation with with Ron Moore. And and I was kinda talking to him about these things, and he said, well, understand that the profile of our congregation has changed because many new people who are inquiring are showing up that were not never there before. So this was an opportunity that presented itself for that that flourishing part that Jay Warner Wallace talked about. In conjunction with that, and some of you may remember, but this was a real interest to me is how people responded to the COVID issue. And you were gone one week, and I don't know how, but I got I got the podium seat there. And I did a lesson on Psalm 77.
Speaker D [:This is Psalm of Asaph, and he's asking in the first six verses. He's asking all these questions about the trauma that has happened. It's never identified what it is, but it's only after he asked these questions deeply that then in verse 10, it becomes a hinge point. Then he comes to this point that on your sheet here, on the second part of your sheet here, he comes to this realization that god is sovereign in his ways and, parks on my house were even questioning this. And and so it's okay to have the questions, but as I think Werner, Jay Werner Wallace points out that you got to have the objective view, perspective of your world view. Look at it in terms of, objective measures, not subjective ones. So, I just if anybody's interested in that lesson, I still have it. It's meant a lot to me.
Speaker D [:I don't think at the time I did it very well, and I don't think I had people tracking with me. But as time has unfolded, I think there was a lot in that lesson in Psalm 77 that speaks to our world both at that time in terms of the COVID lockdown, but in terms of any other trauma. So alright to go on here, but there's much in this lesson. Don't miss it.
Speaker B [:Not sorry. Good good points, Roger. Good points. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing. We can indeed. We can indeed. And I think embracing the fact that God's story is a flourishing story Mhmm.
Speaker B [:That is actually not just thriving. It's not just surviving, but it's thriving. God has a flourishing story for you, a shalom story, a peace and a wholeness that's beyond that. And I think that at some point in time, we start to ask what next because God is was using it, preparing you for for more as a result of that. Good. Hopefully, you're encouraged today, with a challenging subject that we all are dealing with on a day in, day out basis. Sir, would you close those in part, please? Sure.
Speaker E [:Father god, we are thankful for this morning. We're thankful for Scott for his teachings. Lord, I think of when I think of evil, I think that I am grateful, 1st and foremost, that you have overcome evil. And, Lord, we're grateful that you've won the battle. Lord, you promised that all things would be to our good for those who love you and and your or yet there are many questions, father. We a trauma, we find ourselves often on the floor with trauma. And, Lord, we ask that as we as we pick ourselves up off the floor that we would we would be asking you questions, Lord. What is it that you wanna teach me from this? How is it you wanna grow me? What do you want me to know? What do you want me to do, Lord, that we would we would look at evil and trauma and and know that in the end, you have won the battles and that you have great things for us eternally.
Speaker E [:But that, Lord, we would keep all that in perspective with the word of God and the truths of your word. So, Lord, a difficult topic, one with a lot of pain for many here, some going through this even now. Lord, may we trust you. May we love you. May we seek you. Lord, may we also look at how trauma how you wanna use that to change us and to to find parts of us that you wanna grow? Hard hard discussion, hard topics, Lauren. So may we take this and, simmer on it. May we may we seek your word and look for how we can learn and grow from these teachings.
Speaker E [:And, Lord, we ask that you would be with us today. We ask these things in the name of your precious son, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Speaker B [:Amen. And may the god who works all. May he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause its space to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you shalom, prosperity, and wholeness in your soul both now and always. May he bless you and keep you. Amen.
Speaker A [:Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.
