Oct. 29, 2020

God is Still Good Even in Tragic Situations (Part 1)

God is Still Good Even in Tragic Situations (Part 1)

In this episode, we talk about the goodness of God in the midst of some of the terrible situations we face at the abortion centers and even in our own lives. This subject is so vast and so important that we had to break it up into two episodes. Sorry...

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In this episode, we talk about the goodness of God in the midst of some of the terrible situations we face at the abortion centers and even in our own lives. This subject is so vast and so important that we had to break it up into two episodes. Sorry for the cliffhanger ending but stayed tuned for part 2 because we believe it will be a blessing to you.

https://sidewalks4life.com/the-goodness-of-god-fact-or-fiction/

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:05.799 I Am Yours, I am yours, I am yours. Send Me, 2 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:11.390 Lord. I am welcome to the Gospel Center pro life podcast and this episode 3 00:00:11.429 --> 00:00:14.589 we're going to talk about the goodness of God, as God really good in 4 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:17.949 the midst of our suffering, and how can we help abortion minded women to 5 00:00:17.989 --> 00:00:25.059 see that God is good. Stay with us, Lord. I felt show 6 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:37.770 passis touch your heart. Welcome to the Gospel Center pro life podcast. We 7 00:00:37.850 --> 00:00:41.609 appreciate you guys listening and, as always, we appreciate if you guys would 8 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:45.250 share this podcast and the other episodes that we have. We put out a 9 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:50.399 new episode every Thursday morning at five am. So if you're an early riser 10 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:53.679 like Vicki is, she's the one who tells the sun it's time to rise, 11 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.600 you'll be able to get it that early or anytime after that. So 12 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:03.600 every Thursday morning these go out and this is really centered around helping people who 13 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.150 are in pro life ministry or thinking about getting involved in pro life ministry, 14 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:11.709 helping to equip you, helping to encourage you, helping to provoke thought. 15 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:18.150 So we deal with Biblical topics and light of abortion and an abortion clinic ministry, 16 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:22.420 and we deal with practical stuff, just last week we put out one 17 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:26.019 about signs, how to use signs effectively add an abortion center. Pretty practical, 18 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:30.700 also very biblical. And then sometimes we deal with more like heart issues 19 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:36.409 and things like that, and so this episode we're going to deal with the 20 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:38.569 goodness of God. Yeah, I mean we can even think about it in 21 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:44.730 light of sixty five million babies that have been killed in our country and the 22 00:01:45.370 --> 00:01:49.079 countless hundreds of millions, billions of children that have died in the womb and 23 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:55.239 outside of the womb, just all of the the eels in the in the 24 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.200 mess that we deal with as a in a fallen world. Yeah, man, 25 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:00.549 is God still good in the midst of that? But, of course, 26 00:02:00.629 --> 00:02:04.670 again, bringing it home to the issue that we're dealing with, issue 27 00:02:04.709 --> 00:02:07.590 of abortion. Is God still good in the midst of that? Right, 28 00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:13.710 is God still good as we deal with Moms and dad's and these situations day 29 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:17.099 in and day out, and we see just some of the real dire situations 30 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:23.259 that these folks are in and they're coming to an abortion center and sometimes we 31 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:25.900 have to look at those situations, look at those stories and encourage these moms 32 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.050 and dads that God is still good in spite of this in spite of the 33 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:34.169 stuff that you're dealing with. so that's just one facet of this thing. 34 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.810 But, Vicki, if you would, you've written an article like you do 35 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:38.810 often times, and this is actually going to go on our sidewalks for life 36 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:43.210 website and the blog. Are you there? Yeah, but kind of lay 37 00:02:43.289 --> 00:02:46.879 out what was behind this thought, because we talked about a little bit and 38 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.159 you laid out an article here. What was your thinking in these? A 39 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.280 few things. I know what kept me from God for many years, while 40 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:59.110 I was still explore in whether God was real or not, was seeing all 41 00:02:59.229 --> 00:03:02.229 this suffering. It's very common question. There's so much suffering, there's so 42 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:09.349 much evil. If God is good, why does he allow it or or 43 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:15.819 even cause it? You know that I was struggling even with thinking through. 44 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:19.900 Does he cause if he allows it, he could prevent it. He doesn't. 45 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:23.500 So, just at a personal level, that had been my experience, 46 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:29.449 was questioning the goodness of God and having that be a stumbling block in coming 47 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.569 to him. But then as a counselor out on the sidewalk, it seems 48 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:42.159 increasingly God is bringing me people, women who tell me stories that just break 49 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:50.080 my heart, that are suffering from early in life throughout to the point at 50 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.639 which they arrive at the abortion center. And so many of them have asked 51 00:03:54.750 --> 00:04:01.949 me, how can God be good I don't see his goodness in my life. 52 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:06.789 Yeah, so I want to tell you the story of one that really 53 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:11.900 brought this to a to ahead for me. Okay, it was a woman 54 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.459 that I'm at not all that long ago at the abortion center, and she 55 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:20.060 her story was probably the most tragic I've ever heard. She was raised in 56 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:27.490 a socalled Christian home. At Age four she was raped by the father's best 57 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:33.569 friend, but the parents did not follow through on prosecuting him or bringing him 58 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:38.170 to justice because he was the father's best friend. Well, so, right 59 00:04:38.250 --> 00:04:45.079 away here's this four year old who is betrayed by those who are charged to 60 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:49.000 protect her, her own parents, and she not only was she not protected, 61 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:55.990 but her whole concept of justice and the Justice of God. This man 62 00:04:56.230 --> 00:05:00.709 was not brought to justice. So she now has learned two important truths in 63 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:05.389 her little eyes, that her those who were supposed to protect her did not, 64 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:11.860 and there is no justice for people who do evil, terrible things. 65 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:17.660 She's only four and this is her experience. Then, understandably, as she 66 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:24.329 grows up, she turns to some pretty bad things. Drugs, promiscuity, 67 00:05:25.529 --> 00:05:30.129 rebellion, and her parents separated, I believe, divorce shortly after this rape. 68 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:38.000 But she grew up a very troubled young lady, no wonder, and 69 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:41.560 her parents, or her mom I guess, at that point sent her off 70 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.399 to a Christian Rehab after she ran away. I think she ran away as 71 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:50.509 a teenager. She sent her to a Christian Rehab where this young ladies said 72 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:59.589 she really wanted to find God and she was very moved by a wonderful sermon 73 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:06.100 and then an altar call and she said she was determined she was now going 74 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:12.500 to fully submit her life to God. So she said she she asked Jesus 75 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:16.459 to be her lord that that night, after this sermon, and within a 76 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:24.370 week one of the camp counselors at this Rehab Facility, Christian Rehab Facility, 77 00:06:24.529 --> 00:06:29.850 raped her well, and she said that there were several people in that facility 78 00:06:30.050 --> 00:06:35.800 that reported having been sexually abused by this this man, but the facility apparently 79 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:43.000 did nothing. So again repeat of what happened to her when she was for 80 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:46.430 and now here she has just submitted her life to God. So it's not 81 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:53.790 only her heavenly father that didn't stand by our I'm sorry, her earthly father 82 00:06:53.910 --> 00:06:57.230 that she felt didn't stand by her, but now it's her heavenly father. 83 00:06:57.269 --> 00:07:00.029 Yeah, who, here she is, doing everything right in her eyes, 84 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:03.500 and those were the words she used with me when she was recounting this story. 85 00:07:03.579 --> 00:07:06.740 I did everything right and did everything I was supposed to do at that 86 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:12.779 point, repented, turn to God and my life fell into a deeper abyss. 87 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:21.449 Yeah, so, following that she ended up just down a continuingly bad 88 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:29.089 path. Yeah, and she was left, left home and out of the 89 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:33.519 Rehab left home and ended up in working in the sex trade. Well, 90 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:40.079 we're again understandable, given her background, that that's often what happens when you've 91 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:46.870 been sexually abused at a young age. You end up in a promiscuous drug 92 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:51.629 or addiction lifestyle. And she said what she knew it was dangerous. She 93 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:57.790 knew that she was really kind of asking for trouble. But while entertaining in 94 00:07:58.470 --> 00:08:05.819 a private room one of the men, she was drugged by him and I 95 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:11.889 think Babe went unconscious and was raped and became pregnant. Yeah, from that 96 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:18.490 she kept the child. She she didn't want to abort. I guess there 97 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:22.490 was still that in her upbringing that she knew that that was a step too 98 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:26.009 far for her. But she was still working in the sex trade when I 99 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:33.799 met her with a young child, and so I spent a lot of time 100 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.080 talking with her, ministering to her, kind of befriending her, sharing the 101 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:41.429 Gospel with her. And when we would talk about God, her question kept 102 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:46.789 coming back to is God really good? Yeah, I sure haven't seen it. 103 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:50.830 She said that several times. I have not seen the goodness of God. 104 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:58.100 Yeah, and so I I knew where I had been as an unbeliever 105 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:05.580 and where I saw her in asking a question that I think we know the 106 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:11.649 answer as believers. Yeah, the answer is well, Jesus loved loved us 107 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:16.690 so much. God loved us so much that he sent his only son to 108 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:24.720 die this horrific death, brutal torture, and to pay the penalty for sin 109 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:28.759 that we deserve. So is God good? You only have to look at 110 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:35.000 the cross to know how good God is. But I do believe I didn't 111 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:41.029 receive that message when I was looking at a world filled with bad, not 112 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:46.470 good. Yeah, and I felt like this young lady couldn't. She had 113 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:50.190 heard the message of the Cross. She knew the message of the Cross and 114 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:56.700 that was not she was not at a place yet where she could hear that 115 00:09:56.899 --> 00:10:03.139 that demonstrated God's goodness. Yeah. So what prompted me as I started exploring 116 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:07.250 and writing about this was, is there a path through the Bible, a 117 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:13.730 biblical, Biblical example of how do we lead someone to an understanding where they'll 118 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:18.289 end up at the cross? That's ultimately, that's where you have to end 119 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:24.919 up. But are there things in the Bible that can help us as we're 120 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.240 dealing with people who have really experienced very little goodness all? Now? Her 121 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.789 own sins certainly entered into it at at certain points. Not as a four 122 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:41.350 year old, right, and and not as not as a woman who has 123 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:43.710 just given her life to the Lord and she's raped by a Christian, so 124 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:48.710 called Christian counselor so. So that was kind of that's the premise. That's 125 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:54.500 the background of what I was hoping we could explore, because we see it 126 00:10:54.899 --> 00:11:01.899 all the time at the abortion center. I hear this many times. God 127 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:05.009 is not good. God allowed this, this, this to happen to me. 128 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:09.289 How can you call him good? Yeah, and I know one of 129 00:11:09.330 --> 00:11:13.610 the things that for you guys listening, one of the kind of wise or 130 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:20.360 why are we touching on? This harkens back, I guess, to an 131 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.000 episode we did months ago about trust in God. Yeah, helping women, 132 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:28.720 helping abortion minded women trust the Lord, because that's what we want. They've 133 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:33.950 put their trust in abortion. We've encountered them at the abortion center and we 134 00:11:33.029 --> 00:11:37.549 want to try to influence them to convey that, to take that trust out 135 00:11:37.549 --> 00:11:39.870 of abortion and put it in the Lord. Yeah, but when there's this 136 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:46.070 big question of well, how can I trust God? Yeah, is he 137 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:48.779 even good? I mean, look what he's allowed to happen in my life. 138 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:52.659 Look at the things that have happened in my life, and God didn't 139 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:54.620 stop it. So, after all, if God didn't stop it, he 140 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:58.299 must not be good. And so they really have a lack of trust in 141 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:01.929 the Lord. Honestly, he meant there's two questions there. He must not 142 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:05.250 be good or he's not powerful. Yeah, he was unable to stop it 143 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:09.330 and of course we reject both of those. Yeah, but but those are 144 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:16.480 really critical questions for someone to to be asking an answered. It's the big 145 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.080 question, just not even having to do with abortion or dealing with abortion. 146 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:26.279 Minded women it's the question that everybody's asking. Really, if you get down 147 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.279 to it right and you're talking to people who are atheists or claimed to be 148 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.830 atheists, as I've said before, I don't think there are any actual atheist. 149 00:12:31.909 --> 00:12:35.590 I think most atheists take the attitude of there is no god and I 150 00:12:35.669 --> 00:12:39.990 hate him. You know, they're angry at God. And really, if 151 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.990 you get down to the nitty gritty of people that say there is no God 152 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:46.580 and they tell you initially, well, it's because of scientific evidence and because 153 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:48.500 Blah Blah, blah, Blah Blah. But really, and you know this, 154 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:52.820 once you get into the conversations, they're going to start talking about the 155 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:56.740 goodness of God, they're going to start talking about the things that God has 156 00:12:56.740 --> 00:13:00.409 allowed in their lives. are going to start talking about hypocrites and church that 157 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.450 they were raised in and all of this, or the wars in the Bible 158 00:13:03.570 --> 00:13:05.929 and the slaughtering by God. Yeah, are telling you him to slaughter other 159 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:09.009 groups. That doesn't sound good. You know those kinds of question. Yeah, 160 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:15.840 so a lot of it it's relational. It's not scientific or or any 161 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.039 of that. It's just relational. They don't trust the Lord because of things 162 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.279 that they've seen, and mostly it's really things that they've seen in other people. 163 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:26.590 I want. I mean it's often times it's the hypocrisy in the church, 164 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:33.710 and certainly understand that. I've seen hypocrisy. But the reality is in 165 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.350 any system that we deal with, there's going to be some hypocrisy there, 166 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:41.419 right, there's going to be people. Anything that's been touched by human beings 167 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:46.740 is going to have components of sin in it. Right, it's going to 168 00:13:46.820 --> 00:13:52.940 be off track in some way. But we have to trust God's word, 169 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:56.970 and God's word tells us that God is good. As a matter of fact, 170 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:00.129 he is the very standard of what it is to be goods matter of 171 00:14:00.169 --> 00:14:03.090 fact, without God we would have no standard of measure what is good, 172 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:07.129 what is moral, what is what is correct right, what is in line 173 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:11.919 with truth? Yeah, if without God, without the one who is the 174 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:16.600 truth, truth doesn't really matter. It's kind of irrelevant. Yeah, but 175 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:22.000 yeah, that's not really the topic of this podcast. It's really helping folks 176 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.789 sort through we have to sort through these things. You can't give what you 177 00:14:26.830 --> 00:14:28.629 don't have. If you don't understand, have your mind wrapped around that God 178 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:33.230 is good, how are you going to help a mom at an abortion center 179 00:14:33.269 --> 00:14:37.669 see that God is good in spite of her difficult situation and that he can 180 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:39.860 see them through. It's ultimate again, an issue of trust. If you 181 00:14:39.940 --> 00:14:43.940 don't think someone is good, if they if they aren't good as far as 182 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.580 morally trustworthy, then they're not going to be trustworthy at all. Right, 183 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:52.500 right, and if that's who you're depending on to get you out of this 184 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:56.889 mess and you don't feel you can depend on them, then you're going to 185 00:14:56.929 --> 00:15:00.730 take matters into your own hands, which is subortion. Yeah, it's what 186 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:03.370 they choose. Yes, so I I went through the Bible. Will Not 187 00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:05.889 through the whole Bible, but I was. I was trying to come up 188 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:13.200 with biblical examples of lives that endured constant suffering. Yeah, and there are. 189 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.759 There's there's lots of them. Sure, there's lots of lots of examples 190 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:22.029 at least, of people who certainly suffered an entire life of suffering, like 191 00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:26.669 the life I just described in that young woman, not so much, but 192 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:30.269 there are some. I actually did find some. But the first one I 193 00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:33.029 thought of was Jeremiah. Happens to me. I've been working through the book 194 00:15:33.070 --> 00:15:39.820 of Jeremiah. Okay, time so, so Jeremiah was. He certainly endured 195 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:46.820 a great deal of suffering during his forty years of ministry. Yeah, absolutely 196 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:50.169 so. God called him to speak to the he jeremiah five is one of 197 00:15:50.169 --> 00:15:54.250 the scriptures that many pro life folks use. I've used it before, right 198 00:15:54.490 --> 00:15:58.330 where God calls Jeremiah. Before I formed you, I knew you and set 199 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:03.210 you apart as the as a prophet to the nations. Yeah, and Jeremiah 200 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:08.120 is on to talk about how he's a youth and how can he fulfill this 201 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.200 call? And God says, don't say you're a youth if I've called you 202 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:15.840 before I formed you. I knew you and set your part as a prophet 203 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:22.669 to the nation's. So that's the call of God early in Jeremiah's life. 204 00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:27.470 But God warned Jeremiah that you're gonna be rejected in Jeremiah, some refer to 205 00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:30.710 him as the weeping prophet. Right, and rightly so, because he had 206 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:37.139 a pretty sorrowful life. He did he, I mean he he acted out 207 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:42.179 some of God's judgments in in very painful ways. He was told not to 208 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:47.330 marry, he was told he could not go to celebrations, he could not 209 00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:51.809 go to parties. Yeah, he was supposed to be mournful and suffering and 210 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:56.090 sorrowful because he's coming to the Israelites with the message that they are going to 211 00:16:56.129 --> 00:16:59.769 go into the Babylonian the Babylonians are going to capture them and they're going to 212 00:16:59.769 --> 00:17:03.399 be in captivity for what was it? A Long Time? Yes, seventy 213 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:07.160 years. Seventy years. And there were plenty of prophets at the time, 214 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.079 false prophets, yeah, who were saying, Oh, Jeremiah's full of it, 215 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:15.869 he the he's just prophesying lies, this is not going to happen, 216 00:17:15.910 --> 00:17:19.190 and that's what they want. That's what the people wanted to believe. No 217 00:17:19.309 --> 00:17:22.789 one wanted to believe that they're going to be going into captivity, captivity with 218 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:33.859 the brutal Babylonians. But Jeremiah remained remained truthful and despite the ridicule and the 219 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:41.460 persecution, he continued to give God's message to people that did want to hear 220 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:44.730 him. So you said, first of all, he was rejected. I 221 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:48.930 mean, that's a great verse. Yeah, about doesn't this sound like a 222 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:52.049 Fun Gig? I'm going to give you. This is God talking to in 223 00:17:52.130 --> 00:17:56.089 Jeremiah Twenty seven. Okay, Yep, I'll read it. You shall speak 224 00:17:56.130 --> 00:18:00.200 all these words to them, but they will not listen to you, and 225 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:04.839 you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. Sounds Great. 226 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:08.400 Thanks for this called Lord. Thank you that you've called me to a 227 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:12.430 people that are just going to outright reject me. Yeah, and and push 228 00:18:12.509 --> 00:18:17.190 me to the side. And if you guys have been on the sidewalk for 229 00:18:17.269 --> 00:18:19.670 any amount of time, you guys know what this is like. Exactly. 230 00:18:19.750 --> 00:18:25.630 One brother told me, brother Greg and Raleigh. He's just a good brother 231 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:29.619 who reaches out of the abortion centers. There, said brother speaking to me, 232 00:18:29.980 --> 00:18:33.259 you've mastered the Ministry of rejection. That's right. It's like, wow, 233 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:36.500 I've never heard of that way, the Ministry of rejection, because, 234 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:41.329 let's face it, the majority of the women at the abortion centers are choosing 235 00:18:41.329 --> 00:18:44.930 to kill their children. That's right. We may see. We just saw 236 00:18:45.049 --> 00:18:48.650 today, praise God, three babies that were saying as prodortion center here on 237 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:53.210 the trope drive, but there they were. But almost thirty thirty MOMS, 238 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:57.440 something like that, between three five and thirty. There's maybe, in our 239 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.160 natural mind, good reason to be discourage, because is the vast majority are 240 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:06.880 killing their children. Yeah, and the vast majority are rejecting us and many, 241 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:11.069 well, maybe not many, but maybe a good portion. That could 242 00:19:11.069 --> 00:19:15.910 be very discouraging. You're actually not just ignoring what we're saying that some even 243 00:19:17.549 --> 00:19:22.269 being very allowed about their opposition to what we're doing at right given given us 244 00:19:22.309 --> 00:19:26.740 all kinds of vile the finger and yelling terrible things and even threatening yet I 245 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:32.380 mean it is, it is an exercise and how to how to deal with 246 00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:37.180 ongoing and constant rejection. Yeah, and that was Jeremiah's life. He preached 247 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:41.250 forty years. Unless I mistake him, but I believe that's that's how I 248 00:19:41.369 --> 00:19:47.849 can preach. Think that's right. No success. Yeah, no one listen 249 00:19:47.930 --> 00:19:49.410 to him, just like I'd warned him. Yeah, no one. He 250 00:19:49.569 --> 00:19:52.839 was never listened to. I just can't imagine. I've been out on the 251 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:57.599 sidewalk eight years and that the rejection can really get to you at times. 252 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:03.519 Yeah, absolutely, imagine doing that forty years with no visible yeah. Yeah, 253 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.230 and what he was doing the entire time was he was obeying the Lord. 254 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:11.950 Yeah, it was in relationship with with the Lord, constantly getting the 255 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:18.470 message from God. And so, because here's the thing. If we're constantly 256 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:22.819 rejected, we certainly should examine ourselves and think, okay, maybe I'm off 257 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:25.700 base some, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Yeah, maybe I'm doing something 258 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:29.700 wrong right, but if you're doing what you're doing in line with God's word, 259 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:33.859 then you don't need to worry about that. Yeah, but for Jeremiah, 260 00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:37.130 he was certainly doing in long with what he was supposed to do, 261 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:40.329 in line with God's word. He was speaking the very word of God there, 262 00:20:40.369 --> 00:20:42.730 Yep. And yet was rejected. As a matter of fact, again, 263 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:47.210 the Lord warned him, yeah, we'll be racket what will happen? 264 00:20:47.329 --> 00:20:51.920 And along with that rejection he was outright mistreated. Yeah, so he was. 265 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.680 I know at one point he was. He was beaten and left in 266 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:03.240 the stocks. That's in Jeremiah twenty the religious leaders in Jeremiah Twenty Six said 267 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:08.230 that because his message was so aberrant to him, to them, that he 268 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:12.470 should receive the death penalty. He should be killed to get a death. 269 00:21:12.710 --> 00:21:17.670 Yea, when he went to the king with with the word of God, 270 00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:22.460 the king burned his scroll with the word of God, and then I think 271 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:26.180 he came back. I think God said, well, here's another one and 272 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:30.059 go try it again, right, and the King Burns it again. So 273 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:36.009 no one would listen to him. And and then after that episode he was 274 00:21:36.170 --> 00:21:40.250 tossed in a cistern, which I guess is like a deep well, and 275 00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:44.450 it was. He said he sank deep into the mud. Can you imagine 276 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:48.599 what kind of yeah, ikey creatures we're down there in the mud with him, 277 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.400 king and left and left. When a fun place to be that? 278 00:21:52.759 --> 00:22:00.039 Now, now, so you know, Jeremiah, it does foreshadow the suffering 279 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.230 and torment of of Jesus. Yeah, but I can't imagine it was at 280 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:12.710 all fun. And I do wonder how often he wondered God, are you 281 00:22:12.829 --> 00:22:18.380 really good? Yeah, because man, this doesn't feel like goodness. Yeah, 282 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:23.619 yeah, and we think about the call of God and you, I'll 283 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:27.460 tell people, oftentimes the best place to be is in the will of God. 284 00:22:27.859 --> 00:22:32.170 Right, we want to be in the will of God and almost like, 285 00:22:32.410 --> 00:22:36.809 I guess, in some sense in our American Christianity, we sort of 286 00:22:36.930 --> 00:22:41.210 think that Christianity is about us. We're even taught that it's about our comfort. 287 00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:44.880 God has invested in our comfort, but the reality is God is not 288 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.720 invested in our comfort. His commitment to you when you became a Christian was 289 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:52.599 to make you more like his son, Jesus, and that could bring joy. 290 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.480 Jesus seemed to me to be a very joyful man in his earthly ministry. 291 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:02.029 Yeah, he was very joyful, but he also was very sorrowful. 292 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:07.190 He wept over Jerusalem. He was rejected by the Pharisees and rejected by the 293 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:10.990 majority of the people of his day. Right, is it cut a crowd 294 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:14.740 out, crucify him? Right, rejected the son of God himself. So 295 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:19.180 the the Ministry of rejection, is part of the Ministry of the Christian it 296 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:22.940 is. I and I want to interrupt just for a second because just as 297 00:23:22.019 --> 00:23:27.289 you said the Word Comfort, I was writing the word comfort because one another 298 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:33.329 discussion I had with a mom yesterday, as she was we were discussing belief 299 00:23:33.490 --> 00:23:37.609 and faith and Anne, and she said she didn't believe what I believed, 300 00:23:37.849 --> 00:23:44.000 but she understood that it was a comfort to me, and that's something that 301 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:48.759 makes me Bristle. I hear that all the time and this is why I 302 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:56.349 said so much of what God asks of Me Is the furthest thing from comfort 303 00:23:56.509 --> 00:24:02.190 that you could imagine. I'm not comfortable standing in, you know, ten 304 00:24:02.269 --> 00:24:04.470 degree whether in the middle of the winter, for three hours at a time 305 00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:08.589 in front of an abortion center. It is not the that it is comforting, 306 00:24:10.619 --> 00:24:15.019 but it is that I am so grateful for what God has done to 307 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:19.779 me that I am willing to do and want to do to serve him as 308 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:23.490 he desires. Yeah, he to serve him. Yes, as believers we 309 00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:27.089 always have to come from the perspective that it's not about us. Right, 310 00:24:27.369 --> 00:24:32.170 what we do is about the Lord and it certainly God understands. If you 311 00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:36.089 read through the Psalms, you can see David crying out to the Lord, 312 00:24:36.130 --> 00:24:40.640 even in a sense, complaining to the Lord. Yeah, but it's a 313 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:45.079 different type of complaining. It's different than if you look at the children of 314 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:49.039 Israel coming through the Wilderness and Exodus, as their grumbling, grumbling and complaining 315 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:55.950 against the Lord. It's more of this. It's a selfish grumbling and complaining 316 00:24:56.029 --> 00:24:57.869 that the Children Israe are doing, and God judges them for it. Yeah, 317 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:00.430 but if you look at David, it's like an honest I don't know 318 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:03.349 about I don't know if complaining is the right word, but crying out to 319 00:25:03.430 --> 00:25:07.740 the Lord, it's a broken heart. Yeah, that is it. That 320 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:12.740 is crying before God. Yeah, and one preacher said it really helped me 321 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:17.539 a lot. He said reading through the Psalms as helpful because it gives us 322 00:25:17.579 --> 00:25:22.049 an allowance to call out to the Lord, not in a complaining way, 323 00:25:22.769 --> 00:25:26.569 but in a relational way, to bring your petitions before the Lord, to 324 00:25:26.650 --> 00:25:30.490 bring your weakness. Psalms really help us to open up and show our weakness, 325 00:25:30.490 --> 00:25:32.690 because we can kind of, in one sense, hold back. We 326 00:25:32.769 --> 00:25:34.410 don't want to be reverent. That's good, we shouldn't be a reverent to 327 00:25:34.450 --> 00:25:37.119 the Lord, but sometimes we don't want to be honest with the Lord and 328 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:41.240 the Lord sees our hearts. So like Jeremiah, he's calling out to the 329 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:48.400 Lord throughout his ministry, before the Lord. And one point in Jeremiah Chapter 330 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:52.869 Twenty, this is Jeremiah crying out to the Lord and he says in Verse 331 00:25:52.910 --> 00:25:57.230 Eight, Verse Verse Eight and nine, it says, for when I spoke, 332 00:25:57.269 --> 00:26:00.069 I cried out, I shouted violence and plunder, because the word of 333 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:04.099 the Lord has made me a reproach in a derision daily. So he's he's 334 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:07.180 crying this out to the Lord, like your word has made me a reproach 335 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:11.539 in a derision daily, he says. Then I said I will not make 336 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:15.900 mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word 337 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:18.529 was in my heart like a fire burning shut up in my bad owns. 338 00:26:18.529 --> 00:26:22.930 I was weary of holding it back and I could not. So He's saying, 339 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:26.490 I'm dealing with this struggle, I'm being rejected, but I can't help 340 00:26:26.569 --> 00:26:29.809 but speak your words. I tried not to and I could write, I 341 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:33.960 couldn't mean not this sence. He can identify with that right. Can constantly 342 00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:38.519 reject it and you're constantly people are mocking you or whatever you could identify with. 343 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:41.519 Okay, I just I'm not going to speak anymore. I'm done. 344 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:45.720 Yeah, I'm done, but Jeremiah Says No, your word in me is 345 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:47.910 like a fire shut up in my bones as like I can't help it. 346 00:26:48.390 --> 00:26:51.589 I have to speak your word, I have to speak your truth. But 347 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:55.910 there is this fight in Jeremiah and I like the humanness here, because we 348 00:26:55.990 --> 00:27:02.019 can sometimes in our minds as believers, disconnect these biblical figures like Jeremiah, 349 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:07.299 like David, like the Apostle Paul and others, just kind of make them 350 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:15.460 they're like these sort of speak holy priciful superheroes. There parts of stories that 351 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.130 we read about we don't really connect with their humanity. Yeah, but Jeremiah 352 00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:22.930 certainly was a human being. He certainly knew what rejection rejection was not fun. 353 00:27:23.170 --> 00:27:26.369 He certainly knew what it felt like to be rejected and he cried out 354 00:27:26.369 --> 00:27:30.319 to the Lord. So I'll say, just to bring it home for us 355 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:33.960 and again, you can't give what you don't have. So if we don't 356 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:37.160 have that relationship with the Lord and we don't get honest before the Lord and 357 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:41.799 crying out to God in our suffering and our frustration in our rejections, then 358 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.349 we can't encourage abortion. Amount of women and men going into an abortion center 359 00:27:45.390 --> 00:27:51.549 to do that. So the point here is that God is relational. God 360 00:27:51.670 --> 00:27:55.710 knows our suffering, God knows the things that Jeremiah was going through and God 361 00:27:55.750 --> 00:28:00.700 had a relationship with him, and that sort of redeems it all. It 362 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:04.299 does. But but God, despite his love for Jeremiah and the relationship, 363 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:08.500 he didn't let Jeremiah off the hook. Yeah, he didn't say, you're 364 00:28:08.539 --> 00:28:12.490 right, you know, what you've endured is more than any human being should 365 00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:18.009 be asked to endure, and so go home and I'll find another prophet to 366 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:23.690 speak speak my words. He sent Jeremiah back on on the same path. 367 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:30.400 He's a path of really a lot of suffering, and I actually find I 368 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:36.319 know it's kind of a strange comfort to find, but I do because it 369 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:44.309 makes me feel like if I am suffering in following God, it doesn't mean 370 00:28:45.710 --> 00:28:49.750 I'm on the wrong path or I'm sinful necessarily or anything like that. It 371 00:28:49.910 --> 00:28:56.380 could just be that is a road that many have traveled, including Jesus, 372 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:02.380 and why should I be exampt maybe the path of suffering is, for whatever 373 00:29:02.579 --> 00:29:07.460 reason, a valuable and critical path, or God wouldn't set us on it. 374 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:11.170 Yeah, and I know not all suffering is the same and not all 375 00:29:11.250 --> 00:29:17.009 suffering is is like Jeremiah suffering, where God said this is what you will 376 00:29:17.049 --> 00:29:22.849 endure. But there's many other examples where suffering was the way of life and 377 00:29:22.890 --> 00:29:26.799 there was a purpose, which we're going to explore, I think, later 378 00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:32.400 in in why all of these biblical figures endured some of this suffering. Yeah, 379 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:37.680 ultimately Jeremiah was proven right. Everything he said was going to happen indeed 380 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:41.029 happened. Yeah, absolutely, and then ultimately we can say, when it's 381 00:29:41.029 --> 00:29:45.390 all said and done, Jeremiah's with the Lord probably turn ity. Yeah, 382 00:29:45.750 --> 00:29:51.069 right. So that's why we have and I think in speaking to abortion minded 383 00:29:51.109 --> 00:29:56.019 women, we have to for ourselves and then with them to help them see 384 00:29:56.299 --> 00:30:00.900 from an eternal perspective. Right. Yeah, because if always sees what happens 385 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:04.019 here on this earth, we're going to miss a lot of what we are 386 00:30:04.180 --> 00:30:08.650 created for. Yeah, human beings were created for eternity. Yeah, and 387 00:30:08.930 --> 00:30:12.890 created to be relational to the Lord, to relate to him. Yeah. 388 00:30:14.289 --> 00:30:18.730 And of course we're not going to in this podcast figure out all the the 389 00:30:18.890 --> 00:30:22.480 problem of evil, in the problem of suffering that men and women have grappled 390 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:27.279 with since humanity began. We're not going to figure that out. Yeah, 391 00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:30.880 but one of the things that we are going to continually say, and one 392 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.599 of the things, I think that as sidewall counselors and ministers of the Gospel, 393 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.950 we need to point people to, is that God is bigger than it 394 00:30:38.069 --> 00:30:42.230 all. Yeah, that eternity. One preacher says, you're dead a whole 395 00:30:42.230 --> 00:30:47.150 lot longer than you're alive. You might stick been mind, you might spend 396 00:30:47.630 --> 00:30:49.619 eighty years and maybe ninety years, maybe a hundred years on this earth, 397 00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:52.579 but you're going to be dead. I mean, think about George Washington. 398 00:30:52.619 --> 00:30:56.500 He died when he was like, what in his s or something? Yeah, 399 00:30:56.539 --> 00:31:00.099 and he's been dead for what two Hundred Years Now? Maybe I'm not 400 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:03.740 doing my math correctly. You've been dead for longer than he was alive. 401 00:31:03.779 --> 00:31:07.690 Yeah, he's just one example. Everybody is is in that same state, 402 00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:11.410 right. So we need to be thinking from an eternal perspective and we need 403 00:31:11.490 --> 00:31:15.650 to help others to think from an eternal perspective. And Bible tells us God 404 00:31:15.769 --> 00:31:19.480 has put eternity in the heart of man. We know that there's something after 405 00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:25.359 this life. So helping abortion minded MOMS and dad's to help them to see 406 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:30.599 from an eternal perspective really helps that. To look past, not to marginalize 407 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:37.390 or mental minimalize the current suffering and the temporal suffering, but to say that 408 00:31:37.430 --> 00:31:40.869 the temporal suffering is just that. It's temporal. It doesn't last forever, 409 00:31:40.910 --> 00:31:42.829 right, and that's actually we're going to get into that, that idea a 410 00:31:42.910 --> 00:31:48.420 little bit later on and as we're going through this framework. But but also 411 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:55.779 that even in the midst of suffering that we can't always find a purpose. 412 00:31:55.900 --> 00:31:59.740 But I think in all the examples were going to go through there was a 413 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:04.490 purpose revealed. Maybe not in that person's lifetime, although I think in most 414 00:32:04.529 --> 00:32:08.490 cases they were. And when, when you can see that there is a 415 00:32:08.650 --> 00:32:16.720 divine purpose, that is a positive purpose, it makes suffering much more endurable, 416 00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:21.839 like going through an operation that you know when you come out of it 417 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:24.720 you will be healthier and there is a positive outcome. So I think I 418 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:30.470 love what you said and I totally agree that an eternal perspective is absolutely necessary. 419 00:32:30.710 --> 00:32:35.589 But I think in every one of these cases we can also find something 420 00:32:36.069 --> 00:32:40.509 positive even in the midst of what they were going through, even in the 421 00:32:40.589 --> 00:32:45.220 midst of that suffering. For Jeremiah, he was proven right and he did 422 00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:47.579 get to see that day. Yeah, he did get to see that everything 423 00:32:47.660 --> 00:32:58.259 he had prophesied actually came to pass. Give me our love for love, 424 00:33:00.970 --> 00:33:10.009 give me our love for gratitude. I know it will cost me my love. 425 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:17.160 No things too precious in some you