Suffering Takes Us to the Edge of Eternity, Lesson 3

Psalm 73:17-26

Worship brings us to an understanding of our final destiny

Through our troubles, if we allow God to guide us, we have hope.

Although our heart and flesh will fail, God is the strength of our soul and chief over seer.

Moses, Paul, Samson,

What happens during suffering?
Acutely aware of both the suffering and hope for the future. Most of the pain I experience are the result of my own decisions and regret from making them, as well as the consequences. In times of worship, there is peace and an understanding of the transcendence of God's presence and power.

God and eternity should impact my decision making more than it does. To broaden my perspective and becoming more aware of eternity in decision making means taking more time to make decisions, regardless of the time allotted. How will this benefit the kingdom, ministry opportunities and my relationships?

Acts 2:28

Romans 8:18-19

Matthew 5:3 - make this more and more of a reality, Lord.

Heaven occurs in its singular and plural form over 600 times in the Bible.
1. Habitation of God
Isaiah 57:15
1 Kings 8:30
Psalm 103:19
Daniel 4:37

God hears prayers and accepts praise. All activity worthwhile centers around His throne.

2. Home of departed Saints
In Christ's Presence Luke 23:42-43
Philippians 1:21-23
2 Corinthians 5:6-8

The Holy City
2 Peter 3:10  Home transformed

Revelation 21:1-2

The new Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem are the same city but seen at different stages of redemptive history.

Three Aspects of the Heavenly Home
1. Present Location (Hebrews 12:22) Possibly near the North Star? Psalm 75:6 and no stars have been found around the North Star.

2. Place in the Millennial Kingdom - above the earth as a satellite city?

The residence of the saints in heaven while ruling on earth is much less of a problem than that of a businessman whose office is in a city while his residence is in the suburbs.

Will the heavenly Jerusalem be visible to earth dwellers? Revelation 13:6 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. City was already in existence before it made it descent to earth.

Revelation 21:1-3
Revelation 21:15-16
1500 miles long and wide, which means at its ground it covers more area than India and if placed in the United States, it would reach from tip of Maine to tip of Florida and from the Atlantic Ocean to Denver.

3. Home of Beauty

Revelation 20:11
2 Peter 3:10

Jasper Wall - translucent so light can pass through. Wall is 216 feet high
Jeweled Foundations - 12 layers of different stones stretching all around the city.
Pearly Gates - Revelation 21:12, 21)
Beauty Within - Golden streets (purity), Crystal River, Tree of Life

Two responses
Renewed determination to place top priority on the eternal rather than temporary
Renew our hope when becoming discontented with life and discouraged about the future.

The Effects of Sin Removed  Revelation 21:4

• No Tears 
• No Death 
• No Sorrow
• No Pain 
• No Night (Revelation 21:23-25)
• No Defilement (Revelation 21:27)
• No Curse (Revelation 22:3)

Man's Destiny Fulfilled

We will know God perfectly
We will worship and serve God
We will reign with Him

Faith On Trial, Lesson 2

Lesson 2

There isn't much bumping of the hot chocolate to reveal what's in my heart. It takes very little to churn me up and reveal. An ongoing commitment and goal is to have a godly response to adversity.

A Torah scroll was rescued from a Warsaw ghetto

1. Suffering Comes with the Freedom to Choose

Overprotection is intuitive but ultimately counter productive to personal and corporate growth.

Ravi: Love is the supreme ethic but isn't possible without the freedom to love or hate. With that freedom comes the possibility of rejection, evil and wickedness.


1 Peter 1:6-8

Great rejoicing? Suffer grief in all kinds of trials, protected and shielded by God's power.

Result? Faith proved genuine

Is the temporal testing of fire and the joy and glory of Christ's return incompatible? 1 Peter 1:8-9 say no.

The way I maintain a mask of control in the midst of troubling times:
Flee and run from God, rarely to him.
Go to that which I can control - temporal value

This hinders my ability to trust and rest in God. There must always be a laying down of arms and a "yes, Lord" attitude.

Romans 5:3-5

What stresses are keeping me from experiencing abounding joy God desires me to have?
Work related items I have not been 'excelling' in

More is never enough. Discontent destroys any possibility of personal peace.
1. Possession Expectations -

Poverty consists not in the decrease of one's possession but in the increase of one's greed.

The increase of things creates an appetite for more. When God provides what we need, they aren't enslaving.

2. People Expectations
If you are not satisfied with the people around you, you are probably even less satisfied with yourself.

3. Performance Expectations
Our worth becomes identified with our work and no spot on the mountain is high enough. Whatever our game is, we will constantly lose if we have to win. It's enslaving to always have something to prove and there is no rest from that. It is the mortal enemy of peace. 1 Timothy 6:6-8

Is there value in stress?
Potter's clay when "fired" it can be touched. Until the clay is "fired", it cannot be touched. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Fire increases the value of something precious. But not the heat brought about by my decisions, only the fire of God. My heat burns, God's heat beautifies. We won't escape the stress, but we can multiply the peace (Hebrews 12:7,11)

Hardship defined as Training. Can the pressure train us?

1. Get rid of the Cargo you don't need (Acts 27:18-19) and board up the windows and doors of that which is precious.

2. Get busy with things that really matter (Acts 27:22-24) The ship didn't matter. People do.

3. Get Desperate with God (Acts 27:30-32)
When self rescue isn't enough, go to God. Supernatural vs Religious (Psalm 94:19)

4. Get back to a healthy Routine (Acts 27:33-34). Daily routines are usually lost when storms come.

Clouds arise and blow by order from Thy Throne

When storms come, change is usually needed.  The storm that Paul and the crew experienced blew them aground on the island of Malta, which sits off the coast of Italy, the ships original destination. The whole time they were "out of control", they were right on course in God's sight. (Nahum 1:3)

Job 13:15-16

Job 1:20-22

2 Corinthians 4:6-12

2 Corinthians 11:23-30

10 Reasons To Believe In A God Who Allows Suffering - Lesson 1

As a parent, do you help or hurt your children by continually protecting them?


There is little doubt when we do that which can be done by our sons and daughters, it does harm. There are some people who will do all that which is in their power to shield their children from perceived harm. God isn't obligated to protect us from our poor decisions.



How can you protect them from danger without shielding them from the necessary consequences of their wrong choices?


The best way is to clearly show the natural consequences of decisions by letting the decisions run to their logical end. I don't want my sons to necessarily find out the harms of poor decisions, but if we can do due diligence of presenting the consequences, perhaps it can be noted and avoided.


1. Suffering comes with the freedom to choose


God takes the risk and considers it worthwhile to allow man to make his own decisions. We wouldn't like to be paralyzed and without ability to make a choice each time a bad choice presented itself. Being human means being free to choose right or wrong. That's the deal God gave us.


2. Suffering reveals what is in our hearts


Israel cuts 60% of the diamonds in the world and the number one export of Israel. Yet, they mine the raw diamond from other continents. Like our character, it forms with pressure and time, cutting, grinding and polishing.


Responses to adversity and suffering range from more faith in God to anger and bitterness. Goes back to the nature of the soul.


We really can't tell what is in our hearts until there is suffering/adversity. Which many find disconcerting, including myself. Nobody wants to suffer. But it does reveal us and introduces ourselves to each other.


The box cars in Auschwitz would carry 30 head of cattle but it was reported as many as 300 Jewish people would be packed into those cattle cars to be taken to their death.


How does God allow that?


In the first place, we are brought to the edge of eternity when we reflect on these circumstances in each of our lives.


3. Suffering takes Us to the Edge of Eternity


Those who find themselves and God through suffering have not wasted their pain. Our thoughts turn to God and the condition of our soul, not our bodies. Matthew 5:1-12 and Romans 8:18-19


Psalm 73:24-26


4. God turns suffering around for our good.


The Holocaust took roughly 1/3 of the Jewish population at the time yet resulted in the rebirth of a nation. WW I prepared a land for the people by giving the British control over the Holy Land and WW II prepared a people for the land by placing in their hearts a desire for their own homeland.


Genesis 50:20


Do we really know the "good" God intends to bring about through suffering? Our definition of good and God's definition of good are particularly different. We are utterly dependent upon God and there is no other way around this life but through suffering. Gulp.


God Is Working the Nightshift!


If you want wisdom, go to someone who has suffered through much and whose faith still remains strong. Amen.


Psalm 42


We are not toy soldiers programmed to tell our parents "I love you" each hour on the hour. We must be free to choose to love.


I wouldn't exchange my freedom to choose in order to enjoy freedom from pain. Pain would be meaningless and without content. We wouldn't even know the difference between pain and joy.


Atheists and others who rail against God about human suffering often forget much of the suffering we see in this world could be alleviated by other humans making better choices.


Genesis 2:15-17

Privilege - God put man in the garden of Eden

Responsibility - Work and Care for the Garden

Boundaries - Free to choose any tree from which to eat except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.


Genesis 3:1-8

Serpent distorted God's command by noting God only wants to keep them from eating because then their eyes will be opened and be like God, knowing good and evil.

Eve distorted God's command by seeing the fruit was indeed good for eating (Good never said it wasn't good for eating!) and why not gain more wisdom?


Bottom line, God said if they ate of it, they would die. Serpent said "nah, not going to happen" and Eve forgot about the death part and only saw wisdom.


There are natural consequences to our choices, both the good ones and the bad ones. Once Adam and Eve made the free will choice to eat of the fruit, it set in motion what God had set up- death, work, pain. It didn't have to be that way.


My personal suffering due to bad choices:

Where to start? So much needless time wasted because of poor choices. If I could go back in time to change so much, I would.


I like Piper's ANTHEM to avoid poor choices, but perhaps the best thing to ask is, "Is this beneficial for me and/or others?"


Psalm 40:11


Psalm 91:14


John 17:14


Ezekiel 18:23-32

The Unexpected

Sports offer some a sanctuary where the circumstances in their lives must yield to the moment at hand. For others, it is merely a social event, rich with fellowship. These aren't the only two descriptive parts of why athletes enter in. Yet in competition, there can be no escape from the exultation or the agony. It is great preparation for the events in our lives that manifest unexpectedly. 

The best game plans from scouting can be meticulous and detailed but cannot account for what is actualized. I spent the better part of Thursday scouting our Friday playoff opponent and felt comfortable with what I saw. So comfortable that I felt if our team executed, we would be able to advance. 

I know the game is unpredictable. I didn't know to what degree until we experienced the unexpected last night. For most of us, it would be safe to say we've seen something different we'd not seen before. We couch terms like heart, will, desire and use these terms to explain victory while using terms like lack of focus, preparation and choking to explain losing. None are fully adequate nor entirely useful at the end of competition. The terms certainly assuage us as coaches when trying to make evaluations. However, there are moments when the simplest description is we weren't good enough. 

Summed up perfectly last night as we were visiting on the mound was a quote from one of our guys: "I don't know what is happening". None of us did. It was the unexpected. We don't plan for that. 

I wasn't good enough. 

In a participation age where it seems everyone must get something, it's good to be able to have some place in which there is no ambiguity- sports. The allure is found in "what if" or "we could have" or even "if I could do this over". The beauty is it stays in romantic notions that must give way to reality. 

The reality in the unexpected. 

We've read about the fight or flight response in adversity, sudden change, etc. In the midst of either, there is a surreal quality I cannot explain. But courage must be present. There is no place to run to when competing. Sometimes we just have to take it, stand tall and keep moving. That is so very similar to loss in our lives outside the competitive arena of athletics. 

Breath. Exhale. Pray. Breath. Exhale. Next 200 feet. 

No team or athlete has to do any of that when on the other side the gut punch. There is excitement, anticipation, confidence and freedom. That's all manageable, especially in leadership. The best test of leadership, within the team members and elsewhere, is what happens when it goes down. The reflection of the best we hope to be is in the gut punch, the unexpected. 

Our guys did an admirable job and in an inning where 19 batters came up, our team had no place to go, no place to hide- they just had to take it. This is where just being associated with a team has its advantages- one can detach emotionally and escape from situation and focus on something else. However, identifying and having an investment in a team is costly. One cannot simply detach; you must go through it and stand tall. We had to finish as well. Heads were high and tears shed. That's natural and evidence of investment. 

I know our parents hurt for their sons. We were in it together and there was simply no other choice but to continue competing. This is where identity is so important. Who we are cannot change and its glorious when we come through gracefully with an intentional effort to keep what's important important. 

I hurt for our guys, my son and for our program because this wasn't expected. But I'm grateful for what happened because it was an opportunity to reflect Christ when it wasn't easy to do. 

Our guys didn't forget their identity and stood tall on a night when it would have been easy to shrink back. For me, when evaluating this team, that is a hook with which to hang greatness. 

There were plenty of good moments and those should and will be celebrated. 

Last night should be as well. 

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75 ESV)

It's easy to read this passage and ascend intellectually to some corner of ones mind in thoughts of, "Not me. I'd never deny him."  

Truth is, I deny him daily where it really matters- Actions. 

"The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable"

Brendan Manning

As Lewis wrote, "My moral history of late has been deplorable"

I'm so over me. 

Sights and Sounds

After the workout today I tried to pay attention to the sounds around me and here's what I heard:

Wind blowing strong out of the North. The flagpole supports clanging on and off the flagpole. Students on the playground playing, howling and cackling with freedom. Planes starting their ascent from DFW airport into the sky, engines humming. My own breathing along with my slowly recovering heartbeat. 

Good to stop and pay attention for awhile. 

Sunday Reading / Musings on Luke 11-12

The very first thing I am reminded of in Chapter 11 of Luke is when Jesus is teaching the disciples to pray and he reminds them to have impudence - persistence. 

Persistence requires some tenacity on our part. I know that when I pray, I many times I think, "one time is good enough and God hears and begins to work."

So Jesus elaborates on it further by saying ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be open to you (Luke 11:9-10)

Persistence in prayer requires trust on our part that we do not lose heart and give up so easily. But if God knows what we need, why do we have to keep on asking? I think that goes back to trust and in Hebrews the writer says that if we are diligent, God is going to reward us. 

The next thing I'm reminded of in Luke 11 is Jesus was not passive. His words in Luke 11:23 drew a pretty good line in the sand when he said, "whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." This is not the voice of a meek, humble servant. Rather the voice of one who has authority and is asking you to make a decision. 

The men of Nineveh are going to be able to be at the judgment and condemn the generation and subsequent generations able to hear and see and respond of the voice of Jesus and his call. 

The next passage was firmly convicting in this: our eyes are the lamp on our body. When our eyes healthy, our whole body is going to be full of light, but when it is bad, our body will be full of darkness.  Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness 

I read the following passage replacing the Pharisees with my name and it was pretty accurate. "Now you, Andy, you clean the outside of your cup and your dish, but inside you're full of crud." Luke 11:39

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus is staying pretty aggressive with the Pharisees and he warns everybody to not fear those who can kill the body and do nothing after that; rather fear the one, who after you have died, has the authority to send you to hell- "But why would Jesus send me to hell?"

Do we really need to go over this elementary teaching again? We are sinners sinning in a sin cursed world. 

The next thing that jumped out at me in Luke 12:15 was a gentle reminder my life and your life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, awards, accolades, wins, championships, etc.

And then Jesus goes on to talk about our hearts and anxiety, reminding his disciples and us that life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. We are more valuable than the things God has created that fly and are on the ground and grow. 

Finally, Jesus gives a solid charge: "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes in and knocks" 

Luke 12:35-36

There are days where we have sat around our house in pajamas and there comes a knock on the door. We scramble to go give the appearance that we are indeed ready by dressing in the days clothing. Jesus is saying, "When I knock it's probably going to be too late for you to change your clothes." 

We've all seen comedy shows and movies of the person in the room scrambling and trying to buy time to either clean up their apartment/house or go and get on their clothes. It's funny and we all know what that person is doing but Jesus wants us to be clothed and ready, proactive. 

He says in Luke 12:40 to be ready for he is going to come at an hour we do not expect. 

That is sobering. 

And perhaps finally at the end of chapter 12 Jesus says something that is a bit disconcerting: he did not come to bring peace, but division. 

"I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled... Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts and people have said that he is a gentleman, but I do not see that here. I see a savior full of passion and it burns for you and I. He does not mince his words and he clearly tells us there is going to be some friction in our lives and tension when we come to the crisis of belief in Him. 

Jesus closes up chapter 12 by somewhat ironically pointing out that we know how to read the signs in the sky, such as when there is going to be rain or a hot day but we cannot figure out how to interpret the appearance of this present time in terms of eschatology. 

It has been said that I do not read the Bible, but the Bible reads me-it continues to be true and is always convicting, encouraging, illuminating, and sobering.