A Riddle About Prayer and Praise

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:08.000
Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

2
00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:19.399
making Theology Central. My head feels
like it's going to explode. I have

3
00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:26.199
a horrific headache right now, like
it it is so bad. I don't

4
00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:30.760
even know if I should be broadcasting. I mean it hurts. I mean

5
00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:35.759
I don't even have words for it
right Like even light is hurting my eyes

6
00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.159
right now. So I probably shouldn't
be broadcasting. But I have a question

7
00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:41.719
for you. What should I do? What should I do for this like

8
00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:47.159
horrible headache? Oh, someone said
that they will pray for me? All

9
00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:53.079
right, well, thank you very
much. Now how does that exactly work?

10
00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:58.759
You're gonna pray to God to help
my head and you believe God can

11
00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:07.359
actually intervene and help my headache.
Have you ever thought of a possible difficulty

12
00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:12.359
or possible possible contradiction or maybe kind
of a riddle about that very thing?

13
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.959
If I tell you I have a
headache, you're going to pray to God

14
00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:23.000
to lessen my headache? Do you
not see a possible kind of like a

15
00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:27.480
difficulty with that concept? Maybe kind
of a riddle? Can you think of

16
00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:33.040
one? Okay? Okay, if
you can't. That's okay because we're going

17
00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:36.359
to be talking about that very thing. But just remember just remember my headache.

18
00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:41.000
Okay, just remember my headache because
I'm using it as an illustration,

19
00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:44.799
but it's very real. It's very
very real right now, but I want

20
00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:49.719
you to just remember it. Many
of you know I have obviously neurological issues

21
00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.799
because what happened to me in the
military, and also a seizure disorder with

22
00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.680
it, and the headaches are just
you know, I always make the joke

23
00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.680
I have had a migraine since two
thousand and three, and that's not really

24
00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:07.680
an exaggeration. It never goes away. Ever, It's constant and consistent every

25
00:02:07.759 --> 00:02:12.319
day, every hour since two thousand
and three, all right, because of

26
00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.719
what happened. But I'm not going
to get into that. Just remember that.

27
00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:19.360
Just remember it, okay, just
remember it, right? You got

28
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.599
that? All right now? With
that said, good afternoon everyone. It

29
00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:27.919
is Saturday, July the twentieth,
twenty twenty four. It is currently two

30
00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:31.319
fifty one pm Central time, and
I am coming to you live from the

31
00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:43.800
Theology Central Studio located right here in
Abilene, Texas. A riddle A riddle?

32
00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.719
Do you like riddles? Do you
do you like someone to hand you

33
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:51.080
a riddle and you sit there and
you spend hours thinking about it, trying

34
00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.199
to figure it out, trying to
come up with a solution. Do you

35
00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:57.319
like the process? Or do riddles
kind of irritate you? You're like,

36
00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.520
whatever, I'm not going to spend
much time. It doesn't really matter.

37
00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.400
Some people think like them. I
think some people they just kind of irritate

38
00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:06.560
them. And some people just kind
of look at you like, I don't

39
00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.120
care about your riddles. Go away, right, I don't know how you

40
00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.560
feel about them. But for the
next ever how long I'm going to broadcast,

41
00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.280
we're gonna be talking about a very
important riddle. Now, before I

42
00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:22.759
tell you what the riddle is,
let's start with a definition. Does that

43
00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.199
sound good? Are you ready?
A riddle is a type of puzzle or

44
00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:39.439
problem that presents a question or statement
requiring thought and ingenuity to solve. All

45
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:43.199
right, did you hear that again? Riddle is a type of puzzle or

46
00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:49.039
problem that presents a question or statement
that requires thought and ingenuity to solve.

47
00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:53.639
Do you have any ingenuity? Do
you have the ability to give some serious

48
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:58.240
thought to a problem that I need
you to solve? A problem, a

49
00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:04.039
riddle that I need you to unravel. It often involves a play on words

50
00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:15.519
or requires lateral thinking to arrive at
the correct answer. Riddles can be in

51
00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:25.480
the form of a question, a
description, or a scenario that contains clues

52
00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:31.759
to its solution. Often designed,
often designed to be challenging and entertaining.

53
00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.680
Now, in this particular case,
I have no desire to be entertaining.

54
00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:39.240
I do want it to be challenging, but I want it to be challenging

55
00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.639
because I want you to be confronted
with a reality that, if you are

56
00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.000
a Christian, you've been living with
this reality your whole Christian life. I

57
00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:51.000
don't know if you've ever been confronted
with this reality or if you've ever noticed

58
00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.639
it, because when I hear Christians
talk, I feel that they've never either

59
00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:58.839
been confronted with it and they never
give it any thought. But there is

60
00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.279
this riddle that's just been existing right
there in your Christian life, day in

61
00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:09.120
and day out, and it usually
shows up when and even though it's there,

62
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:11.720
nobody wants to acknowledge it, nobody
sees it for someone it's like,

63
00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.439
I guess it's like it's invisible.
I don't know but anytime you hear Christians

64
00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:20.639
talk about prayer or Christians talk about
praising God, there is a riddle.

65
00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:27.720
There is a riddle there, and
nobody seems to catch on when you If

66
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.879
you were to tell me, Hey, I'm gonna pray for your headache,

67
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:36.279
I'm gonna pray for your seizure disorder, I'm gonna pray for your neurological issues

68
00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:40.920
that you encountered because of what happened
to you in the military. That's very

69
00:05:41.079 --> 00:05:46.360
kind of you, that's very generous, that's very loving, that's very compassionate,

70
00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:53.360
compassionate, that's very empathy empathetic.
However, it does not take away

71
00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:59.600
the riddle. The riddle is sitting
right there. The riddle is right there.

72
00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:05.120
How do you do you not see
it? And I've been really struggling

73
00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:15.040
with this kind of riddle because,
first of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

74
00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.639
After the assassination attempt, a lot
of people were like, praise God,

75
00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:25.759
We praise God because he spared Donald
Trump's life. Oh, we praise

76
00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:30.160
God. He stepped in, he
intervened, he spared him, he saved

77
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:33.120
him, he protected him, he
covered him in his arm arms, he

78
00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.800
covered him in the armor. All
the different phrases and ways I've heard it

79
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.920
stated and people have spoken of it, but they praise God because God did

80
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.279
something. Then they also say,
now for the people who were wounded,

81
00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:51.240
let's pray for them, or for
the man, for those who actually mentioned

82
00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:55.720
the name of the man Corey who
died, I mean, for those who

83
00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:58.480
actually even remember him or mention him, They'll be like, we need to

84
00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:03.199
pray for his family. So God
stepped in spared Donald Trump, and we're

85
00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.879
gonna pray for those who We're gonna
praise God for that. We're gonna pray

86
00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:11.920
for those who were wounded, and
we're gonna pray for the family of the

87
00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:17.079
man who was killed, of Corey
who was killed. All Right, nobody

88
00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:21.279
sees a riddle there, Nobody.
Nobody is a little like, wait a

89
00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:27.959
minute, this seems kind of odd. So that's one reason I've been thinking

90
00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:30.120
about So I've been thinking about it
since the assassination attempt. Right, I've

91
00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.680
been thinking and we've been talking about
things that are that philological issues that have

92
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:42.879
arisen from that discussion about the assassination
attempt, primarily and mainly God's providence and

93
00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:56.120
God's eternal decrees, but let's continue. A four alarm fire Friday evening caused

94
00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:05.920
significant damage and roof collapse to the
historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Dallas,

95
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.519
Texas. Now, I don't know
for those who don't live in Texas,

96
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:15.000
First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas
probably means nothing to you, but

97
00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:20.720
it's very has great historical significance,
and it is very well known. That

98
00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:24.560
church is very well known because they
moved from their the historic sanctuary to this

99
00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:31.080
new what they call campus that cost
millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to

100
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.080
build. You can look up the
actual figure. It's insane, how much

101
00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.639
did it cost to build the new
sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Dallas,

102
00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:43.159
Texas. When when the numbers first
came out, it was a big talk

103
00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.759
all around. I was going to
say the state of Texas, which would

104
00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:50.600
be incorrect. SAE am having horrible
headache today. The great country of Texas.

105
00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:56.120
Everyone in this country of Texas was
talking about it and discussing it because

106
00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:01.039
we were like, that's insane for
that much money, they I mean a

107
00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:05.000
million things they could have done.
But we can have that discussion at a

108
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.519
different time. But the issue is
a foe alarmed. Fire happened and the

109
00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:13.279
historic part of the sanctuary. Nothing
new, the historic it's it collapsed,

110
00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.120
okay, so and as far as
I can tell, it's probably for the

111
00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:24.039
most part, it's gone all right
now. This church, First Baptist Church

112
00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.159
in Dallas, Texas, is an
influential Southern Baptist mega church with connections to

113
00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.919
many prominent Christian leaders. We can
now, and this is a quote,

114
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:41.519
We continue to praise God for his
hand of protection on our church. We

115
00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:45.639
are grateful that no one was injured
today and are thankful for the first responders

116
00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.399
who helped contain the fire to our
historic sanctuary. They continue working, but

117
00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.360
the primary fire has been extinguished or
one way or another. We intend to

118
00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:58.039
meet for church this Sunday. More
details to follow. We hope to see

119
00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:03.720
you there and Rescue Cruz responded to
a call and it goes you know,

120
00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:05.879
can give you some of the information. The red brick building, known as

121
00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:11.000
the church's Old Sanctuary, was built
in eighteen ninety was the church's home for

122
00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.159
a long time before it involved.
It moved to its new worship center about

123
00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.039
twelve years ago. First Baptist Dallas
has been led by pastor Robert Jeffris,

124
00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:22.440
a Fox News contributor and host of
the daily radio program Pathway to Victory,

125
00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:28.320
which has aired on hundreds of stations
nationwide. On social media, Jeffris urged

126
00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:37.120
prayer for the church. So we
have two situations. One obviously extremely tragic,

127
00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:41.840
the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and
those who are wounded and the man

128
00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:46.440
who actually die obviously a tragic,
tragic, tragic, tragic, tragic situation

129
00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:52.720
here is kind of a catastrophic situation
in the sense that a historic church sanctuary

130
00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:58.279
is gone and all the month,
you know, the damage that is done,

131
00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:01.919
you know, all the money may
cost, and all the things that

132
00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.159
will go into the church. But
two very I think you know, one

133
00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.679
is kind of a catastrophic as far
as material possession being destroyed, and it

134
00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:13.399
obviously it can probably bother at people
greatly that they're you know, part of

135
00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:18.200
their church burned down. But so
that's obviously difficult. The assassination attempt is

136
00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:24.480
obviously extremely tragic and extremely horrible.
Both situations, though depending on your involvement

137
00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.919
in it, will impact you in
different ways, but we can all see

138
00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:35.559
them as very negative, difficult,
painful, tragic, catastrophic financially significant situations,

139
00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:41.879
however you want to label them all
negative. And in both cases we

140
00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:48.919
talk about praising God and praying to
God. And I could go on and

141
00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:54.600
on and on with situations and circumstances, because every time there's a difficulty,

142
00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:01.159
there's pain, there's sickness, there's
death, there's tragedy, no matter no

143
00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:05.200
matter how negative it may be,
Christians will say something about praying to God,

144
00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:09.519
and when the idea of praying to
God is that God will intervene.

145
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:13.559
Look when you pray about a situation, andevitably, the way Christians pray,

146
00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.360
they're praying for intervention. They're praying
for God to do something, to intervene,

147
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.600
to make it better, to stop
it, to fix it, to

148
00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.639
help to do something. Almost inevitably
there's a prayer for intervention and then praising

149
00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.759
God, as you're always praising God
for whatever positive came out of the situation,

150
00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.799
or that it wasn't as bad as
it could be. So prayer and

151
00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:41.240
praise is common and difficult circumstances,
tragic situations, catastrophic situations, pain,

152
00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:46.519
suffering, death, financial loss,
whatever the case may be, no matter

153
00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:48.919
how significant it may be, no
matter how small. It may be it

154
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.600
could just be me suffering from a
horrible headache, and people will say I

155
00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.639
will pray, and I understand that. Again, very compassionate, very empathetic,

156
00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:05.559
wonderful that people would do that.
But all of this leads me to

157
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.279
my riddle. Now I kind of
put this riddle kind of in a question

158
00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.039
for him. It's kind of a
statement slash question. All right, are

159
00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:20.080
you ready? You may want to
write this down. Here we go,

160
00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:35.919
as Christians we pray to a God
and whom we cannot see. As Christians,

161
00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:43.759
we pray to a God and whom
we cannot see, to act in

162
00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:54.799
some way to help with circumstances that
we can see. Even though so I

163
00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:58.440
want this is going is a long
statement, all right, so you can

164
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.320
you can clean it up and make
it more grammatically correct if you so desire.

165
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:07.360
I wanted to just capture how all
of these circumstances and watching Christians talk

166
00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:11.039
about them online in some of the
comment sectioned under some articles, and watching

167
00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:16.840
some of the argument and fighting,
and seeing how some non Christians are asking

168
00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.279
some very very difficult questions about these
situations. It made me then kind of

169
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.799
put this all together. So as
Christians we pray to a God and whom

170
00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:31.200
we cannot see, to act in
some way to help with circumstances we can

171
00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:39.399
see. And we do this even
though the God whom we cannot see,

172
00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:50.159
at the very minimum, knew the
circumstances would happen before he created the world,

173
00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:58.480
and he allowed those circumstances to happen, and he did absolutely nothing to

174
00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.960
stop them. Now, this is
just the first part of it, right,

175
00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:03.000
So I want you to think about
that. Really, hear what I'm

176
00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.240
saying. As a Christian, you
pray to a God in whom you cannot

177
00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:09.360
see, and you ask that God
to act in some way to help with

178
00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:13.759
circumstances. And you can see those
circumstances, and you're asking that God to

179
00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:20.360
intervene to help, to comfort,
to do something about this particular circumstance,

180
00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.960
to to you know, help heal
the people who were shot, or to

181
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.120
fix this, or to help here
or comfort here, or do it.

182
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.559
You're asking God to intervene in some
way, shape or form involved in these

183
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:37.720
circumstances which you can see, and
you're praying to the very God who,

184
00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:46.759
at the very minimum knew that all
of those circumstances were going to happen,

185
00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.279
and he knew that before he even
created the world, and at the very

186
00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:56.759
minimum, not only did he know, he did nothing to stop said circumstance.

187
00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:03.440
So you're praying to the God,
let's say one of the people who

188
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:08.639
was shot during the Trump assassination attempt. So you're praying for God to what

189
00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:14.600
intervene, help that person, kill
that person, strengthen that person, help

190
00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:18.519
that you're asking God to intervene in
a specific way, but you're asking him

191
00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.600
to intervene in the very circumstance that
he knew was going to happen before he

192
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.519
created the world, and he did
absolutely nothing to stop the shooting from happening.

193
00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:32.000
Happening, and he did absolutely nothing
to stop that individual you're praying for

194
00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:37.000
from being shot. And you're going
to go to the very God who knew

195
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.399
it, who did nothing to change
it, to stop it or prevent it.

196
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.759
Now you're asking that God to intervene
in the very circumstance he did not

197
00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:52.919
stop, and he did nothing to
interfere with. Now that's at the very

198
00:16:52.039 --> 00:17:03.759
very minimum, he knew and did
not act. And at the very most,

199
00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.359
you're now going to pray to the
God whom you cannot see to help

200
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.240
with circumstances which you can see.
And at the very most, that God

201
00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:18.000
that you're praying to, not only
did he know, not only did he

202
00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:25.000
not act, That God decreed the
very circumstances. Not only did he decree

203
00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:34.039
them, he guided and directed them
to happen. I haven't gotten to the

204
00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:37.640
question part yet. So I want
you to consider all of this again.

205
00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:41.720
As a Christian. You can write
this out in a much more simpler form,

206
00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:44.079
but I want you to write this. Look, you may not want

207
00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:45.400
to hear this, you may not
want to talk about it, but trust

208
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:52.160
me, I've seen this comment.
I've seen people on Christian post articles raising

209
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:56.799
these very same questions. I think
Bill Maher on his program as a Real

210
00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:00.359
Time with Bill Maher HBO, I
think, which you know, obviously not

211
00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:03.799
coming at it from a Christian perspective, I think he raised the same questions

212
00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:07.480
to about Trump supporter, saying,
you know, God stepped in and God

213
00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:11.960
protected Trump and he and so he
asked some of these very same questions.

214
00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.480
So whether so people are asking the
question. Christians don't like to talk about

215
00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:19.519
this, Nobody wants to discuss this
in church. But it's a riddle that's

216
00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.119
always been there. Every time you
say, well, let's pray about this,

217
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:23.920
we're gonna pray for this, or
pray for so and so, and

218
00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.640
pray for so and so. Well, we're gonna pray to the very God

219
00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:32.799
to enter, to intervene, to
get involved in a circumstance that at the

220
00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:36.960
very least, that very God you're
praying to he knew those circumstances were going

221
00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:38.880
to happen before the foundations of the
world. And not only did he know,

222
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.480
he allowed it to happen. He
didn't intervene to stop the circumstance.

223
00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.039
He didn't intervene to prevent the circumstance. He allowed it to happen, just

224
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:51.799
the way I played that. Now
you're gonna pray to that god to now

225
00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.079
intervene. Well, if he didn't
intervene to stop it, why would he

226
00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:03.599
intervene now. And if you're asking
him to intervene now to change the to

227
00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:10.359
either change the circumstance you're currently involved
in, or to fix the situation that

228
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.119
was the result of the circumstance,
well that seems odds. It's that the

229
00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.640
God you're praying to is the god
who knew it was going to happen and

230
00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:18.720
did nothing to stop it from happening. Does that feel a little weird?

231
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:25.279
Oh but wait, depending on your
theological background, he did more than just

232
00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:29.200
know it. He did more than
just not do anything to prevent it.

233
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:34.200
He decreate it. Not only did
he decree it in his providence, he

234
00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:41.440
guided and directed the very circumstance to
occur. And now you're going to pray

235
00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:45.279
God to get involved in interview?
And what changed the circumstance that he decreed

236
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:51.480
to fix the consequence to make the
consequence better than the very circumstance that he

237
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:57.559
decreed. So then, ultimately,
after I wrote all that, I just

238
00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:03.559
wrote this down, what then are
you praying for? What are you praying

239
00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.000
for? Hey? God? Because
this is how you would have to have

240
00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.079
the conversation you like, if you
were if we were to try to make

241
00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.319
this in a more fleshly way.
Right, this is by no means to

242
00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:17.440
demonstrate any irreverence, but it's to
try to put it in a way that

243
00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:21.559
you can understand. Right, So, you're facing a circumstance. It's something

244
00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:25.880
bad is currently going on, or
there's bad consequences of something that's just happening,

245
00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:27.039
and you're like, Okay, who
do we go to. Well,

246
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:33.119
let's run and knock on the door
of the God who knew it was going

247
00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:36.160
to happen, didn't stop it.
Or we're gonna knock on the door of

248
00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:37.880
the God who not only knew it, who didn't do anything to stop it,

249
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.119
but he decreed it and he guided
and directed it by his providence.

250
00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.079
Now we're gonna run knock on the
door and say, hey, God,

251
00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:48.359
God, God, sorry to bother
you, but you know that circumstance,

252
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.839
You know that tragedy. You know
that situation that you didn't do anything to

253
00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.599
stop. You know that situation that
you decreed to happen, and you and

254
00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:59.880
your providence guided it to happen.
Hey, we need you to stop it.

255
00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.839
We need you to make the circumstance
better, stop it, just end

256
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.039
it. Oh, we need you
to Now, we need you to fix

257
00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.359
this and this and this and this. Even though those are the circums,

258
00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:18.119
those are the consequences of the very
circumstance you ordained to occur. What are

259
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:30.880
we praying for and what should we
be praying for? How do you handle

260
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.799
this riddle in your own Christian life? All right, let's just try to

261
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.920
throw out some circums. Let's try
to throw out some circumstances. Right,

262
00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:42.480
let's try to throw out some circumits, some some scenarios, some illustrations,

263
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:48.559
some examples. All Right, it's
it's Saturday. It's fast approaching. You

264
00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.880
know, it's well Saturday afternoon.
It'll be late Saturday afternoon going insert Saturday

265
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:56.319
evening relatively quick, so it won't
be too long that many of you will

266
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:57.680
be waking up. You'll get in
a car and you'll drive to church.

267
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:02.720
And let's say you walk into church
and the pastor's like, hey, everyone,

268
00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:07.039
come to the sanctuary. We have
an announcement, y'all know. We'll

269
00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:11.279
just call the person John. Y'all
know John, he has a seventeen year

270
00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:15.319
old daughter. Well, that seventeen
year old daughter was hit by a drunk

271
00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:21.599
driver last night and she's in the
hospital and she's currently paralyzed. Now,

272
00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.279
immediately the church said, well,
let's pray for her. Now, wait

273
00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.880
a minute, so let's just make
sure we get this right. We're going

274
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:30.079
to pray to the very God who
knew she was going to be on an

275
00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:34.599
accident on July the twentieth, knew
that she was going to be on that

276
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:40.160
accident. And did absolutely nothing to
prevent it or stop it from happening.

277
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:44.920
And that's the God you're going to
pray to to now get involved and intervene.

278
00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.319
No wait, no, wait,
okay, let's say your church has

279
00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:55.519
a higher view of God's sovereignty.
Right, so, hey, everyone knows

280
00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:57.000
John has a seventeen year old daughter. She was hit by a drunk driver

281
00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:00.400
last night. She's in the hospital
and she paralyzed. All right, so

282
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.759
now we're gonna pray wit a minute, We're going to pray to the very

283
00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:07.000
God who not only knew it was
going to happen, did nothing to prevent

284
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.519
it from happening. But we're going
to pray to the very God who decreed

285
00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:22.440
it to happen and and his divine
providence guided and directed it. Does that

286
00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:30.039
not seem weird? You would think
you would not want to pray to the

287
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:33.519
God who knew it and did nothing
to stop it, or pray to the

288
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.119
God who ordained it, decreed it, and then his providence guided and directed.

289
00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:38.640
You would think, no, no, no, no, no no

290
00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:41.279
no no no no no no no, you wouldn't want to pray to that

291
00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:47.680
God because you would you need someone
else to step in who didn't decree it,

292
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.359
didn't know it, didn't want it, it had no it would I

293
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:55.079
want to be theological in the way
I state this, someone who would be

294
00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:56.920
not had nothing to do with it
in any way, shape or form.

295
00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:03.240
Maybe I can put it that way. We could get into Well, God

296
00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.079
wanted it to happen, didn't want
it to happen. Well, if he

297
00:24:04.119 --> 00:24:07.279
didn't want it to happen, then
it wouldn't happened. Right. Are you

298
00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:11.200
gonna say God wants things and he
doesn't get what he wants, Well,

299
00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:15.160
then that would mean God is being
defeated by what something outside of himself.

300
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:22.400
That leads to some major philological issues
with God. How do you reparente?

301
00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:26.400
So now let me go back to
my how I start. Well, that's

302
00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.960
one set of circumstances we could go
with. Hey, ladies and gentlemen,

303
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:37.480
thank you for being here this morning. We just got news yesterday that y'all

304
00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:41.400
know. Y'all know Kimberly, Yeah, I know Kimberly. Well, Kimberly

305
00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:47.759
has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She has six months to live. Nobody

306
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.599
say let's pray. Wait a minute, we're going to pray to the God

307
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.160
who knew that Kimberly would get terminal
cancer and did nothing to stop it from

308
00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:02.880
happening. So now we're going to
pray. What are we praying for?

309
00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:07.000
And if you have a higher view
of God's sovereignty, then we're going to

310
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.960
pray to the very God who not
only knew, who did nothing to prevent

311
00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:17.359
the cancer from happening, but decreed
and guided and directed it through providence.

312
00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:19.880
Are you going to say God does
not decree everything that comes to pass,

313
00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:30.680
Well, then now you're you're denying
God's sovereignty. So what are we going

314
00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.960
to pray for? For God to
now go against what he decreed? For

315
00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:41.119
God to now go against what he
or ordained, what he directed? What

316
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:51.480
exactly are we praying for? Now? Here? Those are two. I

317
00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:53.519
could give a thousand more examples.
I think you get the idea, and

318
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:59.920
we can go back to how I
started this entire episode. I have an

319
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.319
absolutely like I can't even put into
words how bad my head is herting right

320
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:14.160
now, God, before the foundations
of the world, knew that on July

321
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:18.440
the twentieth I would have this horrible
headache. He knows if I'm going to

322
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.160
possibly have a seizure in the next
couple of hours. He knows that,

323
00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:26.839
and he did nothing to prevent the
headache. And he did nothing to prevent

324
00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:30.359
the very thing that happened to me
to cause me to have a seizure disorder,

325
00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:34.440
did nothing to prevent it. So
now are we going to pray to

326
00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:40.920
that God to do something now?
And it depending on your view of God's

327
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:45.759
sovereignty. God knew before the foundations
of the world that I'd have this headache.

328
00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:48.160
He knew exactly what would happen to
cause me to have a seizure disorder

329
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:52.319
and neurological issues, and he did
nothing to prevent it. And if we

330
00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:57.000
go a step further, he decreed
it and in his providence, guided and

331
00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:03.319
directed it to happen to me.
So do I pray to God now to

332
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:17.359
intervene to take away from the very
circumstance that he decreed. Now I have

333
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:22.440
in front of me. I have
in front of me and my notes on

334
00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:29.000
my iPad a thing called Prayer and
Tragedy. And it's a lengthy trying to

335
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:33.160
discuss how Christians throughout Church history have
tried to kind of answer this very riddle.

336
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:37.759
Now, I'm not going to talk
about it right now, I'm going

337
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.880
to possibly talk about it in the
first hour at Victory Baptist Church tomorrow morning.

338
00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:48.079
Nobody's gonna like it, because I
think every theological stream that's tried to

339
00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:56.640
answer this question, I think their
answers have been ridiculous, circular reasoning,

340
00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:03.680
or just literally denying the fact,
denying the very reality of the problem.

341
00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:07.440
Now, for most Christians, I
don't think it bothers you. For most

342
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:11.119
Christians, it's really interesting. I
don't think this bothers most Christians. I

343
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:15.319
think most Christians go, well,
you know, I don't understand it,

344
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.039
but I'm going to pray to God
anyway. But you may be praying to

345
00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:23.160
God to go against the very circumstance
He decreed and his providence is put together

346
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.319
and direct. Well, I don't
care about it. I'm not going to

347
00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:27.319
try to figure all that out.
I'm just going to pray to God,

348
00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:33.759
Okay. But is it possible that
we then could be praying against God's very

349
00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:37.240
will because we're praying against the very
thing he decreed. Maybe then that should

350
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.440
change the way we pray. Now, if you don't know this, in

351
00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:45.920
church history, there were very different
views on prayer, especially those in the

352
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:51.079
Reform world who held to a high
view ower view of God's sovereignty, at

353
00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:56.079
least in theory, I'm not saying
in practice. In theory, their theology

354
00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:03.359
called for a different way of praying, right because they believed everything was ordained,

355
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.160
everything God has decreed whatsoever comes to
pass, as the London Baptist Confession

356
00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:11.640
of Faith says, and as the
Westminster Confession of Faith says. So they

357
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:15.960
they had a different and very a
different way of pray now and practice.

358
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.559
I'm not saying they always prayed that
way, okay, because I think when

359
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:22.039
things are going bad, you don't
know what else to do. You start

360
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:25.200
crying out to God, God do
this, God do this, God do

361
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:29.200
that? But how does how does
that? How does it supposed to work?

362
00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:36.480
Like sometimes you know, I get
I get constantly, you know,

363
00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:40.759
emails from ministries. You know,
please pray for us. Pray that God

364
00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:45.039
will provide the finances we need to
keep this radio broadcast going. Please that

365
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:52.160
God will provide What if you're having
financial difficulties, do we pray for God

366
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.920
to fix those financial situations? Since
God knew the situation was going to arise,

367
00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:00.279
he did nothing to prevent that situation
from arising. And even possible.

368
00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.119
He has decreed it to occur,
and he has and his provision guided and

369
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.640
directed it. I don't how do
you work that? I don't know.

370
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:10.799
I mean I could sit here and
say, hey, guys, in six

371
00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:18.440
days, in six days, I
will be charged sixty dollars for broadcasting on

372
00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.440
the Church one app and the Sermon's
two point zero app and the sermonaudio platform.

373
00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:26.680
I'm going to be charged sixty dollars
in six days. Would anyone like

374
00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:30.559
to cover that? Or do I
simply say, hey, pray that God

375
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.759
will provide? But will God provide? Well, if God's going to provide,

376
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:37.720
it's either been decreed or not decreed, So then do I even mention

377
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.480
it? Now? I know this
gets into a big discussion of well then

378
00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:45.039
and if if God doesn't provide,
then do I just take that as well?

379
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:47.680
He didn't want the broadcast and end
the podcast and just be done.

380
00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:51.960
Do I just do? Is that
the way I just do it? Just

381
00:30:52.119 --> 00:30:56.240
go with that direction? Well,
that leads to really disturbing circumstances that we

382
00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:59.759
have seen play out in the history
of Christianity. That's why some people say

383
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.359
going to take any medicine, not
going to go to the doctor. If

384
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:07.759
God wants me to be healed,
I'll be healed. Well, that usually

385
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:12.400
has people dying of something that was
easily fixable. So I'm not obviously advocating

386
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:15.960
that position in any way, shape
or form, but you see, like

387
00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:19.279
and then and then the weird thing
is, well, if you're praying that,

388
00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:23.039
even even for those who hold that
very strong view that hey, we're

389
00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:26.960
not going to do anything, God
will intervene, they still will ask for

390
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:30.160
prayer. Well, that just is
just as ridiculous. What you're praying to

391
00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.920
the very God who did not stop
the disease from happening, and possibly ordained

392
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.720
it and directed it in his providence. So praying for it just seems just

393
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:49.720
as ridiculous as going to the doctor. Then, from that perspective, nobody

394
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:55.599
has any good answers here. I
think this is one of the major difficulties

395
00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:57.720
and trying to understand. So I
think many Christians, like you know,

396
00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:00.559
I'm not going to try to figure
that all out. And you know what,

397
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:02.200
in some ways, if you cannot
try to figure it all out,

398
00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:06.119
you're probably better off. I'm just
gonna be honest with you, You're probably

399
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:10.119
better off because if you really start
digging into this, You're just gonna get

400
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:13.799
into a bunch of I don't know, I don't know, I don't know,

401
00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:16.200
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, and I

402
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:20.279
don't know. I don't know,
I don't know. I have no clue

403
00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:23.000
I do. The reason what I
want to know is I do think maybe

404
00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:30.799
our prayers, maybe our prayers should
be different. See, it's one thing.

405
00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:36.319
If I'm going to a god who
didn't know that it happened, didn't

406
00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.839
allow it to happen, and a
god who didn't ordain it to happen,

407
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:45.119
decree it to happen, but has
the potential and power to intervene to stop

408
00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:46.960
it and change it, well,
then that's easy to pray to that God.

409
00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:49.880
Hey, God, I know you're
not aware of what's going on,

410
00:32:50.039 --> 00:32:52.920
but we need you to intervene right
now. We know you didn't decree it,

411
00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:54.960
we know you didn't ordain it.
We know you didn't you didn't allow

412
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.279
it. You just this just happened
apart from you in any way, shape

413
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:01.279
or form. We need you to
intervene. Okay, that makes sense.

414
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:04.960
But the minute I go to a
god, I'm like, well, I

415
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.720
know you allowed it, but I
need you to change it. Well,

416
00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:09.400
then why did he allow it if
he's going to now change it? Now,

417
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:15.039
you could argue he allows it so
you will be driven to prayer,

418
00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:19.640
that he only allowed it to drive
you to prayer. But then you know

419
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.559
how disturbing that can get. Now
you're going to look at people who are

420
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:25.480
suffering great tragedy. Well, God
allowed this so that you'll pray more.

421
00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.920
That's okay. That that can be
a little sadistic if you think if you

422
00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:36.559
take that too far. Hey,
your daughter is in the hospital paralyzed because

423
00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:38.160
well, God just wanted you to
pray more, Okay, he allowed it

424
00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:40.960
so that you'll pray more. Well, I don't see people say well that's

425
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:51.640
a great thing. I don't see
that's a great thing. How do you

426
00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:53.640
what do you do with this riddle? How do you unravel it? How

427
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:57.839
do you unpack it? Now?
I think more important I said, I'm

428
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.799
not even really looking for you to
answer it. I'm looking for you to

429
00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:05.839
do is for you to be confronted
with it. And what I'm looking at

430
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:12.360
is to just know how do you
handle this riddle in your own life?

431
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.840
So let me kind of go through
it one more time as a Christian,

432
00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:21.920
You and I pray to a God
and whom we cannot see. We asked

433
00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.360
that God, whom we cannot see, to act in some way to help

434
00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:30.239
with circumstances which we definitely can see
and we can definitely feel. And we

435
00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:36.920
pray this even though the very God
whom we cannot see, the very God

436
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:43.079
and whom we are praying to.
At the very minimum, that God whom

437
00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:46.920
we are praying to, knew those
circumstances would happen before he even created the

438
00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:52.880
world, and he allowed those circumstances
to happen, and he did absolutely nothing

439
00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:00.760
to stop them. At the very
most, the very God, the very

440
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:07.880
God you're praying to, he decreed
those circumstances to occur before the foundations of

441
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:15.320
the world, and he has guided
and directed those circumstances to happen just as

442
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:23.840
they did according to his divine providence. So the question is why are we

443
00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:36.960
praying for? Why are we even
praying? Now? I can go through

444
00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:39.920
the history and tell you the different
ways people have approached this question. I

445
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.440
don't really know the question. I
don't know if any of the approaches are

446
00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:45.400
really that good. I really I
don't know if any of them are truly

447
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:58.360
satisfying. And I know that I
know this is this leads for many to

448
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:01.320
open theism a God who does not
know what's going to happen, does not

449
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:08.559
decree everything to happen. That that
really is a different kind of God than

450
00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:13.400
the God that I believe the Bible
reveals. But the Bible the God reveals

451
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:21.599
it because it leads us to a
kind of a mental logical crisis and trying

452
00:36:21.639 --> 00:36:24.159
to understand, well, wait a
minute, I just don't I don't know.

453
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:28.320
You want me to pray to the
very God who knew it was going

454
00:36:28.360 --> 00:36:32.000
to happen, allowed it to happen, and that at the very most decreed

455
00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:37.800
it to happen, and then guided
it through divine providence. And that's the

456
00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:47.880
God you want me to pray now
for your situation. Now, I wish

457
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:53.760
I had an easy answer here,
but I don't. I don't know if

458
00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:58.199
we'll find it. See this goes
directly to kind of what our focus for

459
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.960
all this week has been God's providence, God's eternal decrees. Right, We've

460
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:05.280
been talking about this all week.
I've been giving you specific things to look

461
00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:07.880
at, specific things to consider.
Well, as you've been considering it all

462
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:13.559
week. I don't know if you
if this part of this equation has come

463
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.199
to your mind. I know I
think I've mentioned it numerous times. I've

464
00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:21.280
been I've talked about my struggles with
prayer, and this is one of the

465
00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:34.000
reasons I struggle because I can't wrap
my mind around this love. To get

466
00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:39.559
your thoughts, you can email me
at news I F at yahoo dot com.

467
00:37:39.880 --> 00:37:45.760
That's news. I F at yahoo
dot com. NEWSI F at yahoo

468
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:54.199
dot com. Now my headache has
gone from bad horrible to now it's really

469
00:37:54.239 --> 00:38:04.199
really bad. But my headache right
now serves as a great example. Are

470
00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:07.599
you going to pray to the very
God who knew it, who allowed it,

471
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:16.199
the very most decreed it guided me
at this very moment to have what

472
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:24.199
I'm experiencing right now? What are
you going to pray for for it to

473
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:37.400
go away? Would that be against
God's will or for it? I don't

474
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:43.360
necessarily have a good answer, and
I know that this question makes Christians very

475
00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:49.400
nervous and gets them upset. But
I'm someone who's a fellow believer, and

476
00:38:49.480 --> 00:38:52.400
I'm saying we have to be confronted
with this because whether you like it or

477
00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:57.639
not, I know many Christians just
have the attitude towards lost people. Well,

478
00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:00.000
they just don't believe that's their problem
because we don't want to. But

479
00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:04.760
you know what, I think that
sometimes maybe some of them use it in

480
00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:07.400
a very sarcastic or snarky way,
and you just kind of want to fight

481
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:12.880
with them. But I think in
some cases there's some legitimate reasons. Maybe

482
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:16.119
there's some deep pain and confusion about
things they've experienced. I think before we

483
00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:20.760
just blow them off as well they
don't believe who cares. I think we

484
00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:23.079
may want us try to see their
pain and that you know, that's a

485
00:39:23.159 --> 00:39:30.559
really that's a really rational thought out
question that all of us should be bothered

486
00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:37.679
by. So I think it's better
for me to say, hey, guys,

487
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:42.920
guys, I'm on your team,
quote unquote, but as believers in

488
00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:45.880
God, we have to deal with
this very kind of difficult thing to wrap

489
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:50.599
our minds around and try to see
if what we can come up with.

490
00:39:52.039 --> 00:40:00.840
All right, news Yah dot com, News dot com. I'm going to

491
00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:07.840
stop broadcasting now, but I am
glad see in this case, this was

492
00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:14.159
perfect timing. My first opportunity to
record corresponded perfectly with a headache that should

493
00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:19.320
tell me not to record, but
the headache serves as a good illustration for

494
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:29.440
this message, so in some ways
this worked out perfectly. Thanks for listening, God bless