Tag Archives: God

Dec 14 2012

Newtown, CT: How did our God allow this to happen?

newtown ctThe breaking news from Newtown, CT is heartbreaking to say the least. I literally cannot even imagine what the families, that town, the authorities, and the churches are going through. A while back we had a single-person school shooting in our city, and it was devastating to say the least. I cannot imagine being involved in such a tragedy on this level. My prayers go out to all of those involved.

How do we respond when people ask “How did our God allow this to happen?” What are some of the best Scriptures to refer them to? Can God really be both all-powerful and all-loving in such tragedies? Does this bother God when there are tragedies happening all around the world?

When answering questions like these in tough times, we must keep in mind both emotion and truth. We cannot forget what people are feeling and the answers they are wanting to hear. So how do we respond? How do we defend our great God? Not to diminish or minimize this horrific event at all, but there have been countless terrible and tragic events throughout history that have left people wondering these same types of questions. Honestly, God does not need our defending. He is Creator, and we are all His creation. But God has given us wisdom to make sense of these type situations in accordance with the truth of His Word.

We know that horrific tragedies like these involving sin and death always break the heart of God (Genesis 6:6, John 11:35, Ephesians 4:30). Then if God hates sin and is powerful enough to stop it, why doesn’t He? That is a very difficult question to answer. We see throughout Scripture that there are many sins, tragedies, and deaths that God did not stop. Yet He ended up using them and turning them somehow for the ultimate good of His will (Genesis 50:20). Does that mean that God planned this to happen in any way? of course not! God’s Word is very clear that He never even tempts anyone with sin (James 1:13). The point is, God is so holy and removed from sin that He would never tempt with sin much less cause sin to happen. But out of His grace, God can use the sin, tragedy, and death to bring about His glory and some kind of good on the earth in the overall bigger picture and scheme of things. I can’t explain that, and I don’t even pretend to understand how good might come out of this. But that is how powerful, wise, and victorious our God is!

God turned the greatest tragedy and injustice of all history to His greatest good to ever happen. Continue reading →

Apr 3 2012

CBSM Clip: What’s The Best Motivation for Your Daily Devotions?


As we talked about Jesus as Prophet, we have to come to grips with the way Jesus speaks into our lives today…through His Word. So not opening our Bibles on a daily basis is like telling Jesus to shut up and not speak into our lives. Its like refusing to go listen to Jesus if He was speaking in your city on a daily basis. Check this clip out.

Feb 21 2011

CBSM Sermon Video “CBSM on Cutting: When Pain Feels Good”


Since we hit the tragedy of suicide hard last week, God directed us to take one more week in the hard issues of teenage life…and talk about cutting, self-injury, self-abuse, and self-harm. God surfaced so many struggles in the lives of the students through this sermon. I literally stayed for an hour after the service just counseling teens who were hurting and admitting struggles. I was up past midnight responding to all kinds of texts and emails over the topic. I believe many times, youth ministries aren’t coming close to scratching the surface of the real issues in students lives. And at other times, the student ministries who do focus on all the immediate issues…aren’t pointing them to Jesus thru the gospel. There has to be a real balance here of being proactive and reactive. Proactively letting the Holy Spirit deal with issues from the Word, and reactively preaching the issues that we’re aware of when they become urgent. Feel free to check out and use all of our media on cutting and self-abuse for your own life and ministry.

Feb 17 2011

CBSM on Cutting: When Pain Feels Good


Free files for youth pastors and small group leaders:
Cutting (mp3).mp3
Cutting (handout).pdf
Cutting (ppt).ppt
Cutting (notes).doc
Cutting (small groups).doc
Cutting Teen Testimony.doc
Cutting (service).doc
We used a “Teenage Cutting Story” from youtube as our sermon intro video.
Since we hit the tragedy of suicide hard last week, God directed us to take one more week in the hard issues of teenage life…and talk about cutting, self-injury, self-abuse, and self-harm. God surfaced so many struggles in the lives of the students through this sermon. I literally stayed for an hour after the service just counseling teens who were hurting and admitting struggles. I was up past midnight responding to all kinds of texts and emails over the topic. I believe many times, youth ministries aren’t coming close to scratching the surface of the real issues in students lives. And at other times, the student ministries who do focus on all the immediate issues…aren’t pointing them to Jesus thru the gospel. There has to be a real balance here of being proactive and reactive. Proactively letting the Holy Spirit deal with issues from the Word, and reactively preaching the issues that we’re aware of when they become urgent. Feel free to check out and use all of our media on cutting and self-abuse for your own life and ministry.

Feb 14 2011

CBSM Sermon Video: “CBSM on Suicide: The Let Hope Rise Movement”


We have had a devastating week with two teens in our area ending their own lives by suicide. There have been at least two other teen suicides in the past two months, and statistics tell us that there are another 100 attempts for ever suicidal success. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP! So we’re going to do everything we can at CBSM to start a movement on spreading the hope of Jesus Christ. We did our best to hit the topic of suicide head-on last night and talked straight-up about why it happens, how to help, and where hope can be found. Feel free to check out and use all of our resources for your life and ministry dealing with suicide as well.

Feb 10 2011

CBSM on Suicide: The “Let Hope Rise” Movement


Free downloads for youth pastors and small group leaders:
Suicide (mp3)
Suicide (handout).pdf
Suicide (ppt).ppt
Suicide (outline).doc
Suicide (small groups).doc
Suicide (service).doc
.
Service Intro Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7piEIaJvIo&playnext=1&list=PLC4151AC193407BC6
We have had a devastating week with two teens in our area ending their own lives by suicide. There have been at least two other teen suicides in the past two months, and statistics tell us that there are another 100 attempts for ever suicidal success. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP! So we’re going to do everything we can at CBSM to start a movement on spreading the hope of Jesus Christ. We did our best to hit the topic of suicide head-on last night and talked straight-up about why it happens, how to help, and where hope can be found. Feel free to check out and use all of our resources for your life and ministry dealing with suicide as well.

Jan 28 2011

CBSM Sermon Video: Proverbs 10-20 “Get Smart: When Life is Ridiculously Random”


God was crazy on the move last night as we went through Proverbs 10-20. We kicked off the sermon with another “Jay Walk All-Stars” video, and got to ask tough questions to the smartest man in the world for our game. Then we moved straight into worship, and just praised Jesus for who He is and what He’s done. Then we moved into our message where I tried to communicate that the reason God wrote Proverbs in such a random style is because our lives are ridiculously random! And because our lives are random, we have to be on our toes, think quick on our feet, and be on our guard for momentary decisions and choices we make. Wisdom from the Proverbs has to be ingrained in us, so we must soak in it. In order to communicate this, I let the students decide on the fly…which Proverb they wanted me to preach. Those chose Proverbs 18. I went with it. You can listen to see what happened next.

Dec 31 2010

“Where God and Satan Agree” (2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:6)

Free files for student pastors and small group leaders:
Where God and Satan Agree – 2 Cor 3-4 (mp3)
Where God and Satan Agree – 2 Cor 3-4 (handout)
Where God and Satan Agree – 2 Cor 3-4 (commentary)
Where God and Satan Agree – 2 Cor 3-4 (outline)
Where God and Satan Agree – 2 Cor 3-4 (small groups)
This was our final CBSM worship service of 2010, which is why God chose for us to study this passage and challenge us in this special way. Could you imagine God and Satan agreeing on anything? They actually do! They agree on the key to all of life. God is sovereignly working towards it, and Satan is trying to stop him from it. So then the question is…what is the key to all of life? Listen and find out!

Aug 19 2010

framework #31: the doctrine of general revelation – Is the man on the island INNOCENT of sin?

Free files for youth pastors and small group leaders:
2 – MOTI – Innocent (mp3)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (handout)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (ppt)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (sermon)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (notes)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (service)
2 – MOTI – Innocent (small groups)
Sermon Intro Video: Clips from the movie “Castaway”
Last night was another BEST NIGHT YET! Two words that come to mind to describe last night are: EXCITEMENT and GENUINE. All night long the students were truly pumped up to praise Jesus, and the worship just seemed to be more genuine than ever. So the sermon was on “Is Moti INNOCENT of sin?” This is one of the most prominent answers I get from teenagers who think that Moti goes to heaven when he dies (Moti is a man on a deserted island who has never had contact with any other human being, missionary, etc.). So, does God reveal to Moti the existence of sin? Does Moti know that he is a sinner? How in the world does Moti sin? Is he cussing out the island koala bears? Is he drawing dirty little pictures in the sand? Is he torturing any bird he can get his hands on? This is an important message to understand how the entire world is cursed with sin, and how the only cure for sin is the gospel of Jesus!

Aug 12 2010

framework #30: the doctrine of general revelation – Is the man on the island IGNORANT about God?

Free files for youth pastors and small group leaders:
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (mp3)
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (handout)
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (ppt)
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (sermon)
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (notes)
1 – MOTI – Ignorant (small groups)

I literally didn’t sleep at all the night before because I was so nervous and excited to start up this series and preach this message on Romans 1. This is a series on the Doctrine of General Revelation which says that God reveals Himself to everyone, everywhere, at all times so that they are held responsible and without excuse. So the question is: say there is a man somehow (HYPOTHETICALLY) born on an island, and now he is 30 years old. He dies tomorrow. He’s never been reached or contacted ever in his life by another human being. No boat, no plane, and no message in a bottle has ever come by. He dies tomorrow. Where does he go? Does God allow him into heaven or send him to hell? How does the Bible answer this question? What is God’s answer? What is your answer? Your answer will tell you so much about what you think about God, Jesus, humanity, sin, salvation, eternity, etc. Check out this mp3 and these notes to learn more about…is MOTI ignorant of God? (Disclaimer: I heard this series by one of my favorite pastors and professors of all time, Dr. Russell D. Moore. I have taken much of his lecture on this, made it my own, used many of his illustrations, and have come to many of his conclusions. So all credit to RDM!)