Skip to content Finding God in my Suffering || Pastor Adam Mesa Jul 13 · 49 min ...more
July 13, 2025 · 49 min · Patria Sermons
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492K followers
Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
0:00 Praise God. Thank you to all those that, consider Patriot your home church and partner with us, in your generosity. I'm so excited that all of you are here, whether you're in the Courtyard Cafe. We0:12 got people that sit all over the campus. It's good to see you. Also, we always got people watching online and our campuses as well, Pomona and Alameda. Can we welcome everyone? Whether they're online, Pomona,0:24 Alameda. So good to see everybody. Feel like I haven't been here in a while. So if you've been here in the past 2 weeks, I'll introduce myself. My name is Adam, and I'm the lead pastor here at Patria. But the past0:36 2 weeks, 2 Sundays ago, I was sharing up at our Alameda campus. On the fourth of July, they participated. The city of Alameda in Northern California hosts what goes on the Guinness Book of World record0:48 as the longest parade in the nation on the fourth of July. It goes on for hours. And our church participated. You can see on our Instagram at patria alameda. You'll see on our Instagram, they0:59 participated in the hours long. I think it's like 3 or 4 hours of a parade that just goes throughout the whole city. And they wrapped sung worship and preached Jesus from the platform to1:11 80000 people because that's how many people they passed during the parade. And so it was so cool to see online, but I was with them the week before that they were gonna do it and sharing. And then last week,1:23 I happened to be preaching in Oahu, Hawaii at Inspire Church. And so, you know, someone had to do it last weekend. I I said, Lord, I'll do it if you need me to, but1:35 I'll go grumbling and complaining, sermon prepping in the sand. That was like I said, Lord, do I feel a next season call to Oahu? No. I'm just playing. But a1:47 150 people gave their life to Christ last weekend at Inspire Church. And I got to meet a lot of active duty, the famous army base, the Schofield army base is1:58 about a mile and a half away, 2 miles away from the church. And so probably about a third of the church was active duty military. So I got to meet a lot of individuals from all over the nation who are are familiar with2:09 our ministry and our church. And so many of them shared their love for our church as well, which was really cool to experience and see. I'm excited to dig into the word today. We're in this series called questions for2:21 life. We're almost done. We've been doing it for the past, really, 8 or 9 weeks all the way up until August. And so only a few more weeks left. And today, we deal with 1 that2:33 is either something you've had a question for, but you or you definitely have known a friend who has a question. Today, we're gonna deal with evil and suffering. And before we jump in, people all across our church and2:45 all of our campuses leading up to this series, they picked up a small little phone that had a little USB recorder and they asked questions. And then what we did was we took those hundreds upon hundreds of question2:55 submissions. We put it into an AI system and we asked it what are the 9 common questions that individuals are asking within our community. And it told us here are the 9 things3:07 and today is 1 of them. And then we went back and found all of the audio files for many of those individuals who asked those questions. So, to open up today, we have the video people from our church who have submitted3:18 questions around this topic. Let's check it out.3:20 How do you deal with abandonment from family? Why people like to bully and always do stuff to you? How to deal with fear and3:32 anxiety even knowing that God is with us and even reading our words. Me and my sister recently lost our mom, and I'm questioning faith a little.3:44 How should I go about just becoming fully faithful?3:49 My question is, why did God allow me to go through the trauma that I went through if he's a good God?3:56 Is it normal to have cycles of anger4:00 after grief?4:03 Okay. Let's talk a little bit about this today. Now, I We don't have a few hours. Okay? We have more so minutes. So, I'm not gonna be able to do a deep dive particularly on all of the questions4:15 asked. But everything that was asked deals with 1 of 2 areas. Either it's been an effect of evil. We can see that someone has done evil. Someone has acted in evil and therefore4:27 I'm feeling the effects of evil. Or suffering. Whether it be suffering through creation, some type of earthquake, some type of hurricane, some type of tsunami, or something like4:39 that. Or suffering because of something I've experienced. I've lost someone that I love. Or I've experienced something that someone has done to me that I'm not I'm not happy with. And a lot of times, if4:50 you meet someone, most people don't struggle with a relationship with God or even believing that God exists because of an intellectual idea. I know that's popularized. Whether5:02 you go to school, they'll share with you whether someone's an atheist, which is someone who doesn't believe that God is real, or an agnostic, which is someone that believes God is real, but I don't think he has anything5:12 to do with us. Individuals who you meet might like that, you may know them. You may know people who say, I don't go to church because or I don't believe in God because And 9 times5:24 out of 10, you will not hear them say, I don't believe in God because I've done the math. I've read the books. I've looked at the data. I've looked at the science. They're not gonna say that. Most people will say, I5:36 struggle with God or I struggle with the existence of God because what I have seen in the world. Yeah. Or because what has happened to me. There was a time and 1 time in my life where I5:48 prayed to God, God, take me out of this situation, and he didn't. Therefore, I don't think he's real. Or therefore, I struggle with his existence. And hopefully, today, I can offer some5:59 type of foundation for you, either to be able to share about God by sharing what we're gonna talk about today, or maybe you're here yourself and your own faith or your own relationship with God has been rocky6:11 because of evil and suffering that you've seen or you've personally experienced. But let me say this before we jump in. If you have a bible, you can go to Romans chapter 8. That's where we're gonna be at today. But you6:22 may like this conversation today and you say, man, I I wanna dig deeper in kind of we call this apologetics. It's about sharing your faith in much more of an intellectual way. And so,6:34 we just finished a sprint a few months ago called the apologetic sprint, and we have access to it for free. So, if this is something that interests you and you wanna spend 5 hours into kind of a6:46 conversation around this idea of free will, evil, suffering, creation, atheism, all those type of things, then you can see on our web page, the actual6:58 website is patria sprints dot com. And all of our past sprints are on there. So, not just our apologetics 1, but our men's sprint is on there. Our women's sprint is on there. How to read the bible sprint7:09 is on there. Marriage and family sprint is on there. So, if you're looking for 5 hours of a deep dive of any of those topics, you can find them on patriot sprints dot com. This conversation today will specifically be7:21 under the apologetics sprint that we just recently did. So, here's where we're gonna be at today in Romans chapter 8 verse 18 to 28. The apostle Paul writes this7:33 statement because he's writing a statement about Christians who are not even not just experiencing suffering in their own life, but also they're experiencing an evil age. It's Rome and7:45 some of the Roman empires at this time were some of the most evil and cruel leaders of any nation that existed. And so, it would be very easy for any Christian to think, hey, I thought following7:57 God meant that all of these issues get fixed or all of this suffering stops. And the apostle Paul is giving them hope to say, God will finish suffering, but he will at a8:08 specific time. So, offers encouragement to the church that you and I can see today is still applicable. So if you're ready for the standing of reading God's word and you found yourself in Romans chapter 8, it's about8:20 10 verses today. We'll read it quickly, but you may need to stretch your kneecaps a little bit because I heard some people's ankles crack when you stood up. So make sure you drink water after service. Alright?8:32 Here's what it says. It says, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation, that's our8:44 earth. That's our world that we live in. For creation waits in eager expectation for children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration8:56 not by its own choice. In other words, the world that we see around us, specifically earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, all of the natural disasters, He says, this is a9:08 result of not of its own choice. When God created it, it was perfect. But he says this, but by the will of the 1 who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be will be9:19 liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into freedom and glory of the children of God. In other words, he says, it is God's children being that Adam and Eve welcomed sin into the9:31 world, which allowed the world to begin to decay. But he said, in the same way, through the children of God, God has a plan to re redeem creation. Amen. And specifically, through Jesus. He9:43 says, we know that the whole of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first9:55 fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our body. He says this, I know that there is suffering in this world. But he says in the same way10:07 that you see the pain, the spirit of God is waiting with great anticipation to encourage you when you are down, to encourage you when your faith is struggling. He says, for in this hope, we were saved.10:19 But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they've already seen? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In10:31 the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness, we don't know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. In other words, you don't have to have all the answers because10:42 God does. And he says, if you are a child of the spirit of God through Jesus, the spirit can help you when you are weak. That's an encouragement he gives. And he says, and he who searches our hearts knows10:54 the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. Last verse. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love11:06 him, who've been called according to his purpose. You may be seated. Let's break this down with a few moments that we have today. As we kind of talk11:18 about a little bit of evil that exists in the world and suffering that exists in the world, I'm gonna give you, if you wanna write them ahead of time because I'm gonna move relatively fast for time's sake, I'm gonna give11:28 you the 4 points ahead of time so that if you like writing them down, you can get them down right now. So, today, what we're gonna talk about is first, the reality of pain. We can't have a conversation around evil and11:40 suffering without talking about pain does exist. We're not here to ignore that it doesn't exist. Number 2, the risk of freedom. In other words, in order for God to get create11:52 free will and give us free will, there was a risk attached to it. And God knows what that risk is and we'll share about that. Number 3, the redemption of suffering. God has a plan.12:04 God has not given up on humanity. And lastly, the resurrection of Jesus. Many people are asking, where is Jesus? Where is God in circumstance? Well, we have a resurrected king. And I'm gonna share with you where Jesus is12:16 at and why Jesus cares about the evil and suffering that exists in the world today. Let's look at point number 1. Here's this point today. The reality of pain doesn't cancel the presence12:28 of God. Just because things are painful, just because suffering happens, does not mean that God is not there. In the same way, many of12:40 us, we live in California. Do any of you in your life today have any of you ever spent time consuming your mind trying to figure out how to stop12:51 an earthquake from happening? None of us. I don't think that there's anyone here that's been tinkering in their garage trying to figure out a way where you can prevent13:03 earthquakes. But, as of right now, I know we got people that watch us all over, but as far as all of our campuses, there is something that all of us have that is unique from mostly almost any13:15 other state in America. Is all of us have a policy called the earthquake insurance policy. Believe it or not, other states don't have those because most of them don't worry about13:26 it. Other states may have tornado insurance. They may have flooding insurance. But for us, we have earthquake insurance. And when we build buildings and when we build homes, none of us are13:38 working to invest on how to stop earthquakes because we know they'll come. We know it's gonna happen. We know it. We always hear it. It's only a matter of time before the big 1 comes. So, what do we do when we build13:50 our lives and we build our homes and we build our buildings? What we do buildings? What we do is we make sure that we have such a strong enough foundation and make sure that we have strong enough pillars in our building14:01 that say, when it comes, we will be prepared. And 1 of the thing God wants to do when it comes to evil and suffering, because you'll find out in a few moments, there's a14:13 reason why God allows it. But the reason why what God wants to do in your life is God doesn't necessarily wanna stop all the earthquakes that'll happen in your life. And14:25 we'll share why in a few moments. But what God wants to do is God wants to build a foundation in your life and bring pillars in your life that when those things come in your life,14:37 when a divorce happens, when a breakup happens, when the loss of a loved 1 happens, when the unthinkable happens, you can say this. I may not have been able to prevent it, but I serve a God who's stronger than14:49 me. And I have a relationship with Jesus that is my foundation. So the world are shake, the storms are come, but you are strong. Romans15:01 8 said, you are not strong because of yourself. You are strong because of the spirit of the living God that lives inside of you. Where you are weak, God is strong.15:13 You see, in this bible, this is the amazing thing about God's word, is God's word is not a fairy tale. This isn't a fairy tale. How many of15:25 know the difference between the bible and a fairy tale? What's a fairy tale? A fairy tale, we call it a fairy tale because it happens so perfectly that we say it's so orchestrated,15:37 it's so perfect, it has to be fake. But you think about it. This this, you know, poor girl that's being taken care of by her stepmother and stepsisters, and15:49 she's locked in a broom closet, and a fairy godmother comes into her bedroom and gives her a new outfit and then turns a pumpkin into a car. And then takes this16:01 pumpkin because the prince is holding a ball looking for his future wife and all the who's who are there. And here she walks in with glass slippers.16:13 And she's gorgeous. And she has till midnight to show herself off to the prince. Sure enough, midnight hits. She has her first dance with him. And when she goes to run away, her glass slipper falls off.16:27 And she goes home back to her closet. She goes home back to the pumpkin, and the pumpkin goes back into food. And sure enough, the prince, he's so in love because in 2 seconds, he decided he loved somebody.16:39 And he loves her so much that he scours the whole village. And he puts the glass slipper on every woman he could find. Finally, the little girl comes out who's16:51 sweeping the broom, sweeping the closet, and he says, let's put the shoe on you. And it was her. And within 24 hours, they're married, and they're17:03 having children, and she's been rescued. He's now in love. We go, oh, be quiet. You're like, I'd17:15 be lucky to find a guy who will buy me shoes. I I'd be lucky to be bought a lip gloss, let alone scour the whole village to find me. We look17:27 at it's a fairy tale. But when you read the bible, you don't find stories like that. When you open up to the book of Genesis, you see individuals17:38 that have got a perfect relationship with God, and they think, I wanna be like God. I wanna eat some fruit off the tree he told us not to eat. And then all of a sudden, the first 2 sons that Adam and Eve17:50 have, Cain and Abel, Cain gets so jealous of his brother, he kills him. I mean, this is story number 1.18:01 You go into story number 10, Noah gets delivered from a flood, and it was so emotional he got drunk. You go to the18:13 next story, you got a woman who has to sell herself as a prostitute in order to live. Yeah. I mean, we're just in Genesis. You go to Exodus and you got a corrupt ruler who enslaves an18:25 entire nation and takes advantage of them. In Exodus, you see a man that has anger management issues named Moses, who hits his stick on rocks everywhere18:37 he goes and cusses the Israelites out every chance he can. You go to first and second Kings, you find even godly rulers fall prey to temptation, fall prey to18:49 women, fall prey to finances, fall prey to things, fall prey to man, this we're just on first and second kings. You go to the prophets, and all of a sudden, you start finding individuals who are19:00 speaking for God but are scared of people, that are timid of people. Yes. You have Israelites who are led by God, and they reject God all the time. Yes.19:13 It's like, I'm only in like 5 books of the bible so far. You're like, when does the fairy tale start? And you continue to read on, and then you find yourself in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and19:25 John, it's like, oh, finally, there's someone who's perfect. You're like, oh, well, there it is. Because it's God who came down to creation named Jesus to redeem us. And then you start going to first and second19:36 Corinthians and all the letters, and you find, oh, man. The church doesn't even always get it right. Paul's whole beginning letter of first Corinthians is saying, hey. You guys have so and so in your church,19:49 and he's sleeping with his stepmother. Tell him to stop. Right. You're like, dang. All this is in the bible? Yeah. You you never read it before. It'll blow your mind.20:01 But the reason why all that's there is because God is trying to show you humanity's not perfect. Humanity experiences pain. Humanity experiences suffering.20:14 But the whole point of this is to get to revelations where God says, but I have a plan. I have a plan that in your pain, I have a plan in your brokenness that I can redeem you. He could take he20:26 could take ashes and he can bring it into beauty. God can take dry bones, and he could put living flesh on of it. See, what God is trying to do is not show you that life is a fairy tale,20:38 but God wants to redeem us. That when creation has fallen and pain has created, not only does God have a plan in your plain pain, but also God has a future for your20:49 pain. This isn't a fairy tale. Yeah. So if you ever meet someone that says, oh, I I don't believe in God because I see this in the world. You say, I you can see it in the Bible too.21:00 Right. It's not like you read the Bible and it's supposed trying to show the world 1 way Right. And then you look at the world and you're like, this doesn't match. Actually, about as bad as the world can get, it's in the21:11 word of God. Right. Right. Right. And just because God puts it in there doesn't mean he's cosigning on it. Right. It means he's trying to show you. He recognizes it's there. You ever try to21:23 have a conversation with your parents and they just acted when you were growing up and they just acted like whatever you were saying wasn't a big deal? Well, that's not a big deal. But to you, it was a big deal. Whether21:34 you had your first boyfriend and girlfriend and your crush, and they're like, oh, you'll have 10 more. Don't worry. You're like, I'll have 10 more heartbreaks? Are you kidding me? You see, when you read the bible, God's21:45 not saying, ah, yeah. What you're going through, that's nothing. He says, no. That is something. Right. Right. He cares about it. We're gonna find out why he cares about it. I want you to see Well, here's a couple things21:54 I wanna share is number 1, pain proves that Bible's diagnosis is right. It doesn't contradict it. The groaning of creation points to a broken system, but also the coming healing that God wants22:06 to do. The presence of pain is not the absent of God. It's often the place he's most active. Yeah. I want you to see this in 0.2. The risk of freedom opens the door22:18 to evil. So, not only does God admit that pain exists in the world, but God didn't create it, but he opened up the opportunity for humanity.22:30 And here's why. The risk of freedom opens the door to evil. Alvin Plantego, which was an apologist and a philosopher, says this. A world containing creatures who are significantly free is more22:42 valuable than a world containing only automata. Here's what this means by that. He says this. He says, God creating a world where you have choice is far22:54 more loving than creating you and removing any choice from your life. That would be unloving. That would be unkind. And when God created you and I with the capacity23:06 to choose, it also, because of Adam and Eve's fall, the whole story of the garden is the capacity that Adam and Eve were given free will, and they always chose what they23:17 still wanted to do. And so people will make the argument, why did God create that tree to begin with? If he knew they were gonna fall, why would he do it? Well, because he created23:29 choice for them. That is what is most loving. Let me put it this way. You may say, man, I'm struggling with this. I don't see how this is love. Get giving us choice to sin23:41 and do evil, that doesn't seem very loving. Well, it's actually extremely loving. We put it like this. How many of you guys in here are married by a show of hands? Let me see who married. How many of y'all are dating by23:52 a show of hands? Like to be married? No. I'm just kidding. Just putting some pressure on your boyfriend, girlfriend. There's a lot of people married here. I want you to imagine this. You and I, we sit down. I'm gonna be24:04 marrying you, and you do premarital with me. And we've done it. We've done all the counseling sessions. You've done all the sessions. And then all of a sudden, you and I are sitting down, and I look at the husband and I24:15 say this. Hey, brother. I got 1 last thing that I offer to people when they're about to get married. And out of my back pocket, I pull a little vial. And on it, it says love potion.24:28 And I say, hey. So, if your wife drinks this, here's what happens. Number 1, and I and I and I tell her, you could give it to him as well. But I said, here's what happens. If I give you this love potion, then that means24:40 they will you will never not have to trust them. You always trust them because they can never decide they can never cheat on you. They'll never flirt with someone else. They'll only have eyes free. It's24:52 guaranteed. The moment they drink this, they just they only see you as the most attractive person in the whole world for the rest of your life. On top of that, they they'll never tell you no.25:04 They'll always agree to whatever you say. So as you go in life, however many children you do or don't wanna have, they're gonna say, yes, bae. Whatever you think.25:18 In future goals, she says, oh, I think I desire to do this, and you say, I don't wanna do that. Said, whatever you say, honey. No disagreements. No arguments. No25:29 conflict. No strife. You'll never argue again. You'll never fight again. And and anytime you ever want something, they'll do it. She could work an 18 hour shift and come home, and you say, you know25:41 what? I feel like you baking me a pie right now. She'll get right off the couch and say, yes, honey. Right now. Some of y'all are like, they got this at Costco. Where25:53 do they sell this? What's going on? But you never have to live in fear. Never have to live in fear. What are they doing when I'm not around? Who are they to it's26:04 guaranteed. And you say, okay. I'm gonna give that to her. And let's say 20 years later, I come and I check-in with you. I say, how are things? You're like, oh, it's amazing. She26:16 says yes to everything that I say. She does everything that I say. Anytime of day, anytime. She's in agreement. I've never had to worry about her. 1 time, this guy that looked like Chris Hemsworth walked right26:28 by her, asked for her phone number, and she just looked at me. She didn't even look at him. She finds me the most attractive person in this world. And then I look at her and I say, how do you26:40 feel about it? And she goes, it's great. And then I look back at him and I say, let me ask you something. Does she love you? He'd say, well, I think so.26:53 Well, tell me tell me why you think so. Well, because she's always been faithful. She's done everything I've asked. We've never disagreed. And then if I ask him, well, did she27:05 ever have a choice not to? How do you know? It's I don't know. Good. I I I don't know how to compare love if choice is27:16 taken away. In the same way, I have no way to judge what joy is if I know what lack of joy is. I I don't know how to joy judge sadness27:28 or happiness if certain things don't exist because they're all judged against each other. And so free will allows a clarity. That's why when someone stands up and they say, this is me and27:40 my wife. We're the Johnsons. We've been married 50 years. We would all go, guess, yes. You made it. Because we know that thing had to have been hell at some27:51 point. And if you made it 50 years, it means that you pushed past all the junk. Now if a faithful marriage was28:03 guaranteed, nobody would celebrate that. Let let let's just say the death penalty was attached to not making it through in your marriage.28:17 And then people say, we made it to 50 years. Like, yeah. We're all making it to 50 years. None of us wanna die, dummy. You see, the moment you had certain contingencies, there's nothing to celebrate anymore.28:29 And so by God giving us a free will to choose, and man and humanity creates the opportunity of evil and suffering and disobedience, what this shows is not that28:41 God is inactive, it shows that God is far more loving than he is intrusive. How many of you guys could put a camera in28:53 your children's room to watch them 24 hours to make sure they never do any wrong? But how many of you know, that's just weird. You gotta trust them at some point. You gotta give them opportunity at29:04 some point to make the decision between right and wrong. And that God loves you so much, and God loves his creation so much that he gives opportunity for choice.29:16 And then we'll say, well then, but there's big things. Why doesn't he just intervene on the stuff that I think is big? Well, to everyone else, everyone what what is big to everyone is different from everyone.29:29 We'd have to define then where should God intervene. I want you to see this graphic that I have. You tell me, where should God intervene? It's a barometer. I think you guys got it. There it is. God's intervention.29:41 So let's say, if you say, God, I think you should get involved in cheating. Well, what kind of cheating? An exam cheating or a spouse cheating? Well, you may say, well, I don't think cheating on an exam29:53 at your sophomore year is a big deal. But do you think cheating as an a doctor is a big deal on their exam? Right. I don't want them cheat to30:06 get their license. I don't. So, where should God intervene? Should God intervene that abuse? Well, what kind of abuse? Substance abuse or physical abuse? Or what other type of abuse?30:18 Or God should involve get involved in stealing. Well, what kind of stealing? Stealing a pencil or stealing a car or stealing from a bank. You may say, oh, well, I don't think a30:30 pencil's a big deal. Well, it'd be a big deal if it was your child because you know that it shows signs of something greater. And so what happens is is murder. What30:42 type of murder? War? Retaliation? So the reality is the moment you and I start saying, God, well, you need to intervene in x. You need to intervene in y. We're not God. So what are what level of30:54 intervention should he do? Come on, pastor. Now is God active? Does he intervene? Yes. All the time. Far more than you understand. Far more than we see. But the reality is what we're trying to say, God, you should31:05 intervene 100 percent of the time. Well, if he intervenes 100 percent of the time, now where is faith? If everyone can see God all the time. Right. Right. If everyone can see all these angels stopping stuff all the time,31:16 well, you'd just be like, there'd be no faith. It'd be a forced relationship at that point. There would be no decision. There would be no hope. We read in Romans chapter 8, God says this. When when when the children of31:28 God and the Christians are trying to say, why doesn't God intervene more? He's saying because then it would remove your hope. And if it removes your hope, then it removes your relationship. Yeah. And so what we have to31:39 recognize is God giving us the opportunity for freedom and free will means that it does open a door till evil evil and suffering. Not because God's unloving, but actually because God is far more loving than31:51 we give him credit for. And here's the third point is this is God has a redemption of suffering, and it reveals the power of God. We see all throughout scriptures,32:02 God's hand is in things. His hand is in things. Yeah. Even though we don't always see him, part of reading God's word is to give us an ability to say, oh, he's in so many areas that we don't recognize or32:14 we don't see. Genesis 50 20 is just 1 example. What happened was Joseph was sold off to slavery from his brothers. He was put into someone's home, forced to be a slave, then he was thrown into prison.32:26 He was forced to be in prison. All these things happened to him just because his brothers were jealous. Just because his brothers made him suffer. Yeah. But what happens, Joseph eventually becomes32:38 the right hand of pharaoh and actually the person that when pharaoh's not around, he is pharaoh. And in Genesis 50, he sees his brothers again after a very long time, and he tells his brothers32:50 this. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. What Joseph was saying was33:02 humanity can do evil and people can cause others to suffer, but he says, but God can create a better plan through suffering. What people may mean for evil, God can redeem it for good. What happens33:13 in suffering, God can create hope. Elizabeth Elliot says it like this, God never wastes a wound. And in suffering, we have to remember33:25 that God doesn't waste wounds. He actually weaves them. And he can take your wounds, and he can weave it into something that's far more beautiful than we could create on our own.33:37 So suffering has a purpose in the hands of the redeemer. God doesn't always explain suffering, but he does always redeem it. How do we know? Because the cross proves that God can take what is33:49 worst and use it for what is best. If you look at Jesus, the Bible theologically calls Jesus the suffering servant. Because when God made a decision to come34:01 to earth, he didn't say this, I'm gonna come and I'm gonna inhabit a palace, and I'm gonna sit on a golden throne, and I'm gonna tell people, here is your savior. Follow me. That's for the34:13 movies. What actually, when you see the gospel, Jesus is born into a poor man's home. Yeah. Jesus is raised as a carpenter. Not some elitist34:24 lifestyle, not some elitist occupation. He's a carpenter. He has to raise his own money to take care of, to put food on his own table when he bows and preaches the gospel. On top of that, he goes to34:36 the cross and he bears immense pain by being whipped to the point that his own mother could not recognize him. He experiences so much anguishing pain and so much34:48 anguishing torment that the night before he goes to the cross, he's praying and his his pupillary veins begin to burst. It says he sweat blood because of the anguish he was gonna experience.35:01 So that Jesus, when you experience evil pain and suffering in this world, he says this, I know because I've been there. Jesus came to show you35:13 he will lead from the front. Yeah. He he's he's not a leader from the ground whose boots aren't dirty, whose clothes are kept clean. He's saying this, I came to35:25 earth and I led the pack in pain. So that when you experience pain, it says this. It says, the gospel say that he sympathizes us within our weakness because he's been there.35:37 God's love is for you is so great that he chose to inhabit humanity and experience the very same things that you would experience. God didn't have to do that. And35:49 so Jesus' suffering reveals that God cares about humanity's pain. But more than that, it shows that he has a plan in humanity's pain to redeem it.36:02 And so, oftentimes, we can see, here's some here's just a couple redemptive things of what pain can do and what suffering can do. Number 1 is it can humble you. You know, going through36:13 seasons of suffering, it's humbling. There's times we take advantage of God. There's times we take advantage of his grace. Oftentimes, we connect following God to36:25 just some type of intellectual thing. Well, if God just showed himself to me, then I would believe him and then I would follow him. Just look around at humanity. We we know that smoking causes36:37 cancer. How many people how many of us still do it? We know that sodas and candies and all these things lead to type 2 diabetes, but how many of us still do it?36:50 There's all this data of things that we risk our lives all the time, but knowing we don't always just because we knew better doesn't mean we do better. So someone that just says, well, if God just reveals himself to me,37:01 I do better, we're we're clearly not with certain things. So it's not just knowledge. And so suffering our times is God humbling us. The second thing is God wants to refine you. If you've ever37:13 seen gold being made in a refiner, gold is not pure. The only way you purify it is by heating it in a kettle, and all of the impurities will actually rise to the top because it's lighter and gold is heavier. And37:25 so the gold sits at the bottom of the fire and the impurities rise to the top. And there are times suffering, God is trying to refine you at times. He's trying to take some things out of us. Some anger,37:37 some resentment, some pride. The third thing God can do is he can equip you because your comfort becomes someone else's healing. So, how many of you have ever been through a tough time and you've been able to37:49 help someone else through it because you've been there? There are times God is God's people. He's allowing us just like Jesus to sympathize with other people's weaknesses So that we38:00 could use that as a source of strength to show people, I've been there and God has been there for me every step of the way. And here's the last point is this as we begin to close. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees the38:11 defeat of evil. In other words, no one's getting off scot free. You may say to yourself, well, what about these evil things? What about these evil rulers? What about these evil people? What about38:23 these predators? What about this? So they just get off scot free? Oh, no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Every tongue and every person will stand before God,38:36 and they will give an account for what they've done on earth. And so, people do not get off scot free. Abuse does not get off scot free. Evil does not get off scot free. Those individuals willShow more
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