Summer Reading Series 2023 Week 4
Sharable notes for the July 30, 2023 message. You can post these notes on your social platform!
Scriptures used: Matthew 27:41-54; Romans 8:20-23; 28; 31-39
Passages referenced: Matthew 5:43-45; Romans 8:18-39; 12:15; 1 Peter 3:15; Luke 23:46
The reason the world exists is to experience the glory of God our creator. The enemy intended to separate us from God, but God never acted without a plan, so now we taste of his glory through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our hope is the eternal glory and the promise of total restoration we have through Christ. We have an everlasting, unshakable glory in Christ, and a future beyond the suffering of this world.
We have two options every time we experience pain - we can hate God or hate sin.
When God’s people endure pain, suffering and evil with love and joy, while grounded in their faith in Christ, then we will reveal the glory of our amazing God.
Even though the struggles we face are big, the God who stands with us is even bigger.
If Jesus puts the kind of investment He put into you, which was His life, you can trust that everything you need in this life despite the pain, the suffering, the evil, is found in Him.
The fullness of your life is not found in the evil you avoid, it’s found in what Jesus has done for you through the cross.
The who of your salvation is greater than the who or what of your opposition.
Pain, suffering and evil may affect your situation, but they can’t touch your identity or your eternity.
Reflect or meet with someone to discuss:
Has pain, suffering or evil ever caused you to question the goodness of God? Are you willing to tell the story behind your experience?
How have you heard the Christian faith make account for the goodness of God despite evil in the world? Was it different than the way you heard it in this message? What are your thoughts
How does Jesus coming to our world and enduring pain and suffering so we can have life through him affect your view of the goodness of God?
Are you able to do what Peter encouraged his readers, and that is share the hope you have in the middle of a world without a lot of hope?
Click the image to start a new 12 day devotion in YouVersion:
As Christians, we believe that God is almighty and good and that He hates evil. However, we see bad things going on all around us! This raises the question why God permits evil to happen. Why does He not intervene? This reading plan searches for answers in Bible stories about people who wrestled with these very same questions.