Does God approve of everything He allows? If He is in control of ‘everyone’ and ‘everything,’ how can we justify so many ‘if’s’ in the Holy Bible? Surely this conditional connotation to God’s promises reveals a measure of personal accountability, which cannot be ignored. The Bible speaks of a ‘hedge of protection’ and ‘putting on the whole armor of God’, which is our responsibility, not God’s. Carl shares the powerful illustration of the ‘Storm Warden’ and how this analogy reveals the dilemma God has, in granting free will to humans and getting blamed for all negative outcomes…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend we’re talking about the authority of the believer and I am live in session for part two of my message. This is often an overlooked part of Christianity and friend, we are not ‘weak worms of the dust,’ but we have authority in Christ. Let’s listen now to the broadcast We are co-heirs with Jesus. We’re co-heirs Members of the body so there’s power in that name Philippians 2:9 “wherefore God also has highly exalted him Jesus and given him a name which is above every name.” Name the disease that you want to the name of Jesus is above it, right? There’s something that aired on the radio, probably about a week ago, Jeremiah, we had a friend who was in Denver. He had Crohn’s disease. I met with him for about an hour for coffee, but probably a year and a half ago. The meeting was cordial but I could tell there was something he wanted to talk about, something deeper, but he didn’t go there. I just said, okay brother, I’ll see you again. I put my coat on, he said “look I’ve got Crohn’s disease, I want you to pray for me. I believe I can be healed now.”
His faith was there, he believed that he could be healed. He said it out of his own mouth. So I said listen, I’m gonna pray for you. We’re gonna discuss issues of the soul as well because whenever we go into prayer we need to make sure there’s no soul ‘log Jams’ like unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment. These things can hinder they can steal from us. I had a discussion with Jeremiah. He revealed some pain that he went through in the past and had unforgiveness. We dealt with that first. But then it was time to command that Crohn’s to ‘wither and die in Jesus name’. Amen I prayed for him and he was healed, Amen! he went and had he went and had a screening with a I don’t know the exact term He’s a doctor, but this is a specific term for people who focus on the bowels. Whatever that term is; when he visited lo and behold that entire area was brand-new like a child. The doctor literally said “this is like a child’s bowels.” God literally replaced the bowels. It wasn’t just a healing. It was like he started afresh. He gave his testimony and we shared it last month on the radio. That’s one instance. I was involved with the healing of Celiac’s disease about two weeks ago We’ll call him Dave.
It’s not his real name, but he’s gonna write a testimony about that But God is in the healing business friend. Now. Does God heal everybody are there times when people don’t get healed? Yes, there are but that doesn’t stop us applying the word friend. We’re not theologians. We’re just gonna do what the word says Okay, that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re all ministers, right? How many ministers in this room? The purpose of Ephesians 4:11 the purpose of the pastors evangelists teachers, etc. Is the equipping of the Saints? That’s why they’re raised up. Okay, we’re not the ones who are supposed to be doing everything The pastors don’t get a special dousing of faith when they’re ordained It’s not like that faith comes by hearing right? Philippians 2 verses 10 through 11 says “that at the name of Jesus every bat every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and Things under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” It’s important. We realize that not everything God allows on the earth.
He approves of he allows murder. He allows rape terrible things He doesn’t approve of those things just because he allows them. Okay, we don’t believe in fatalism in Christianity Some faiths talk about it is written or all is as Allah wills it No, not everything is as God wills it friend. There’s good and evil in this world and good and evil are not working together They’re not on the same team. Okay, very important. We understand that God is not the author of evil either He’s not authoring it now.
He can make something good out of a bad situation, but he’s not authoring that bad, right? He’s not giving you cancer so that you can draw closer to him. That is a lie. He’s not doing that He’s not cursing people to teach them the correction of the Lord is with the word primarily right Amen, we have to look at the word if Deuteronomy 28:15, “But it shall come to pass if you will hearken to the voice of the Lord your God to observe To do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day.” They will overtake you if you do not hearken some of the curses involve poverty sickness and death. The curse is already in the earth. When he removes his hedge of protection or his hand of protection That is when they come God is already by default Holding them back when the serpents came in the camp in the wilderness of Arabia The serpents were already in the desert
How many know there are snakes in the desert, but God was holding them back, right? It’s when he removed his hand is when they came in. That is the analogy. I’m trying to create here What about the ifs in the Bible the word if by definition? According to Scripture is the condition that the terms Mentioned in Scripture are met if these terms are not met then the promise will not be fulfilled John 15:7, “if you abide in my word of my word abides in you Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” right if remember the if at the beginning of the sentence there’s 1595 ‘ifs’ in the Bible the book of Leviticus has the most ifs in the Old Testament The book of John has the most ifs in the New Testament first Corinthians has the most ifs in the epistles So you can’t leave up to God what he’s left up to us to do, right? So much in life revolves around the ifs somebody says God is in control
No matter what happens. It’s not my fault God’s in control. What is he in control of? He’s not in control of your choices Now he will work with you to the best of his ability for the best outcome But to honor you as a free moral agent on the earth. He’s gonna respect your choices, right? He respected Adam and Eve’s choices to sin, right? so ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ are conjunctions and conditional elements of God’s Word if God is in control of everything and everybody there can be no ifs Think about that now the next time you read the word just just pay attention to the conjunctions and the conjunctions of the ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ and ‘buts’ and they’re the things that join the sentences together “Whosoever breaks a hedge a serpent shall bite him” Ecclesiastes 10. A the hedge of protection is already around us friend. We don’t have to go looking for the hedge. The hedge is already there. Okay, it’s when we break the hedge ourselves If we’re inside and we break that hedge we can be bitten.
Okay, that is the analogy again It’s a true word tonight It’s a true word. We’re always under God’s project protection If we sin then we have an advocate right first John 1:9,”if we confess our sins He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Amen. That was talking to Christians. It’s in the New Testament It’s talking to believers by the Apostle John. So that is applying to us We do not practice sin as believers. Can we sin or do we have the potential to sin? Yes, we do Yes, we do because we have the flesh and as long as I’m alive the flesh is always there But thank God if we do mess up we can confess and move on right? Amen. Can we get an amen for that? So the analogy is in the New Testament. We have the armor of God. That’s another analogy. The armor is already on We’re not looking for the armor every morning. I got to get out.
I got to put on the helmet of salvation The breastplate is really heavy. I’m gonna put on the sword and the shield and no you’re already under the armor of God You already have the armor with you. Okay, it’s when We get out of fellowship when we get out of relationship with God That’s when we’re on dangerous ground if we get into willful sin, we could be susceptible So our part to play is to maintain Fellowship with the Lord that is our job. Okay. It’s not a job. It’s fun What about word the point is it is our responsibility to stay in fellowship with him Amen, now if you get upset you get angry you get wounded you get hurt in life. Take it to the Lord Don’t stay on the canvas for long. Okay, don’t stay down and just get beat up say Lord. I want to release this I want to get back into fellowship with you So times of refreshing may come a man because the longer you stay down the more condemnation you may feel We don’t want to feel that right? Who’s the condemner? Who’s the condemner? Correct, right? God doesn’t condemn he convicts people he convicts them. Let’s them know something’s not right. He comes in and corrects Satan is the accuser the word means accuser. He’s the accuser of the brethren.
You’re not good enough. You’ll never be good enough I can’t believe you’re struggling with the same thing after five years in Christianity. You were saved 25 years ago You’re still struggling with the same thing That’s not God, right? That’s the enemy The majority of the armor is defensive, but we have the Word of God Which is the sword and we arguably some contend there was a javelin that Roman soldiers had which was a long-distance weapon So we have the sword which is the Word of God and the javelin is prayer, right? So the armor is on us. We don’t want chinks in our armor We want to live a life of peace if I lose my peace. I’ve messed up somewhere I will feel it in my spirit Lord something’s not right. Let’s talk about it Don’t go on and on and on in a feeling where you just don’t feel right on the inside You’re getting convicted by the Holy Spirit take time with the Lord with this primarily Okay, the Word of God he can correct you with this amen So let’s give a story of the storm warden. Let’s say that there’s a tornado coming to a small town. Frank the local storm warden goes around town and shouts from the rooftops, “there’s a severe tornado coming if you remain outside in the streets, you will be destroyed, I ask you to come to the tornado shelter that I’ve constructed for the entire town.”
The Storm warden goes on, “Don’t worry. It’s big enough for everybody I have flashlights food water, etc. to ride this thing out. So please come immediately and you will be safe. However, if you remain outside you will likely die if not be severely injured.” So let me ask you this if some people heard Frank’s warning of danger and chose not to go to the shelter. Whose fault is it now? Did Frank kill those people? No, it was a result of consequence and he allowed them to choose their own fate But he provided a means of escape right he provided a means of escape run to the bosom of the father He didn’t approve of their actions, but they ignored his warnings and unfortunately paid the consequences. That’s where if comes into play the analogy of the president is this many banks are robbed every month in the USA, but you wouldn’t accuse the president in the US of doing it or even allowing it. You wouldn’t say, “it happened under his administration, so we’re gonna blame it all on him or he’s responsible right?” It’s the same with God We do the same thing.
Well God you allow this in my life Therefore you’re responsible and I’m angry you Friend if you’re angry at the Lord and we’ve all been angry at times with the Lord as we perceive it Don’t hang on to that. That’s a dangerous territory to be in you need to release that Okay, Proverbs says anger rests in the bosom of fools. We don’t want anger resting with us We don’t want to get used to anger. You don’t want to do that So he’s not approving of everything that he allows in this life. Here’s another example We talked about healing and why some people may get healed and why others don’t the heart condition can come into play Okay, when light comes into a darkened room, we have two options We can close our eyes and restrict the light or we can gradually become Accustomed to the light you have a choice if it comes on quickly like that. We’re like, whoa, whoa Shut your eyes fair enough, but we can still let the light in Jesus said in Matthew 13 Okay verses 11 through 15 and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “We sayeth by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and not perceive for this people’s heart is wax gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes, ‘they’ have closed,” to what? the light of the truth the light of God’s Word.
The Pharisees wanted to debate they wanted to argue. They didn’t want to receive the truth right lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and Should be converted and I should what’s the very last thing he says heal them heal them the entrance of your word brings light Father God the entrance of your word brings light and it can bring healing as well Just the Word of God with nobody laying hands on anybody So we have a choice Whenever we receive the light of God’s Word, whether it’s milk or meat you have an option of rejecting it or we can embrace it It’s our choice I’m gonna go there Paul’s thorn was not a physical ailment. All right, second Corinthians 12:7 I’m looking for excuses right now why people hang on to stuff? Well, Paul had a thorn, you know, he had bad eyesight the thorn in the flesh is my issue I’m gonna keep this sickness because God is teaching me something etc. friend I’m trying to bring liberty and freedom tonight. Not religion. That’s my purpose.
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