Why Do Hardships Happen to God's Chosen?
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 Just before my mother passed away, she asked me this question: "Mike, why do bad things happen to good people?" In Christianity why do hardships happen to God's chosen? As believers shouldn't we be immune from hardships and trials? Pastor Mike covers this tough topic in this 5-week series. Click on any title below to listen to a message.
1. THE FOUNDATION -- (HEBREWS 12:4-11) (9/27/2009) -- So why do hardships happen to God's people? If I am one of God's chosen, one of His elect, if He has His claim on me, then shouldn't He have a hedge of protection around me? Shouldn't I be immune to the trials, the pain, the suffering, the heartache, and all the hardships in life because I'm a believer?
2. PERCEPTION -- (JOB 2:11-13) (10/4/2009) -- Theodicy is the defense of God's justice in the midst of calamity and man's suffering. Unfortunately Job and his friends had no clue about the dialog that happened between God and Satan. But God knew there were going to be many lessons learned from this event. God had something he wanted Job to learn about Him.
3. PUNISHMENT -- (2SAMUEL 11:26,27) (10/11/2009) -- God may choose to punish us for our sins. Even though we are believers and are His chosen, we will still fail—we will still sin to some degree. Sin needs to be dealt with. Sin needs to be corrected. King David found that out.
4. PREVENTION -- (2CORINTHIANS 12:1-6) (10/25/2009) -- As a loving and caring parent, you placed boundaries and restrictions on your children to protect them from things you knew to be dangerous, harmful, or sinful in some way. That's what loving and caring parents do. There are occasions when hardships happen to God's chosen because God is preventing something sinful or harmful happening to us.
5. PROMISE -- (1PETER 1:3-9) (11/1/2009) -- Fitness and aerobic clubs can be found just about anywhere offering you the equipment to turn that body of yours into what you would like it to be. But the big question is this: Are you willing to go through the pain in order to achieve the gain? As Christians, as we go through our pain and hardships in life, do we ever focus on the promise? Do we ever focus on our eternal destiny? Our salvation? Our spiritual inheritance?
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Being truly saved is more than saying a prayer, signing a card, or walking to the altar. A true believer becomes a new creation in Christ. In this 5-week series Pastor Mike explains the benchmark of what it means to really be saved. (5 messages)
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As a Christian how important is my behavior (my conduct) in an unbelieving world? Do I make a difference one way or the other? I know I should be "good" but isn't that only to please God? This 4-week series looks at our conduct from an office situation where one person's Christian conduct is on display. (4 messages)
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Around Christmas time the secular world thinks of gifts and decorations and the Christian world thinks of the birth of baby Jesus. The Bible teaches us that there is much more to all those things than what we celebrate. Ready to find out? (3 messages)
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