New Life 新生命

January 23 Garden of Prayer and Sermon Summary

I hope you are doing well as we face another week. We do not know what is ahead of us, so we need to spend more time with our heavenly Father both to pray and to meditate upon His word.

Please include the following in your daily prayers:
Rachel G. – thanksgiving last Sabbath, Reuben (her husband) had met an accident on his way to the church but the Lord had kept him safe

Ryan von Dolson – please pray for his dad, who has back pains

Mr. Munsey – pray for his dad, too, who is battling with cancer

Others not included in the list;
1. Please pray for the Bible study class with my Catholic friends in Academia Sinica every Wednesday night
2. Continue to pray for the Haiti victims and ADRA volunteers, they need help there
3. Pray for sister Pilimi and her family, especially her mom

Sermon this week: “Discover Prophecy: Bible Prophecy’s Answer for Human Suffering”

Pastor Robbie expounded on this issue and open before us the answer from the Scriptures.

Why are there so much suffering in the world? If God is real, why did He allow evil and sufferings to exist?

These and many other thought provocative questions might give doubt to one’s mind. Unguided by the Scriptures, any one might think that evil  were the lot of every man, and that God was a mean and cruel being, who took pleasure in the sorrow and suffering of His creatures.

But aside from the Bible, there could be no true answer for the things that’s going on our planet.  God clearly delineated the facts and explained the root of evil.

He, who made everything “good” from the beginning, and beheld and pronounced them “very good”, could not have made evil, could He? But where did these things come from? “An enemy hath done this.” (Matthew 13:28). Who was the enemy? “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelations 12:9)

The covering cherub, nearest to God’s throne in heaven, was cast out of the heaven. He rebelled against  God and His government, and coveted the position that was the prerogative of God to give to His only Son. The “light-bearer” became Satan, the archenemy of Christ. The desire of this being to be worshiped not only  by angels but particularly by God Himself was recorded in the temptation Jesus: “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8, 9)

But why did God allow this angel to brandish such rebellious act? Because  God is love. A forced allegiance is against the principle of God’s government. In all His creations, God demonstrates His character. God rejoices only in voluntary act of service from His creatures, prompted by love and a true appreciation of His character.

In the great controversy between good and evil, the central issue is worship. Satan exults in any way he gets it. Here is where God and Satan differ. Satan does what God does not: deception and force. God never forces or deceives any one. He clearly lays out the issue before us and allows each to make his or her intelligent choice. Satan wanted worship but he does not deserve it. Only the Creator, who is also our Savior and Lord, deserves to be worshiped.  “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 2:8) The cross of Jesus is worthy of our deepest thoughts and meditations, as well as our unswerving and unflinching loyalty.

God does not take responsibility of the evil, the sufferings and the sorrows that are happening in this world. He allows them, yes, because this is the only way to manifest to the whole world the true character of sin and the magnanimity of God. “Love in order to be true love must be able to say ‘no’.” It was a big risk on the part of God to bestow upon His creatures the freedom to choose. Yet this is God. Though it was the choice of man (Adam) to sin, God did not leave him there. Because of love,  all the evil on our planet will end. This world is not Satan’s, Jesus won and redeemed it at the Cross.

When Jesus expired the words, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the destiny of this world was secured and Satan was defeated – forever. We are  now just waiting for the fulfillment of all things. There is hope for this dying world. Yet, we need to take a stand – each one must make his final decision.  As God neither forces nor deceives any one, He reveals to us what shall happen so that we can make our intelligent choice.  And these are written down for us in His word – the prophecies concerning Christ. We should not take for granted the Lord’s admonitions because “how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him.” (Hebrews 2:3)

Which side shall you be? Let us ponder these things and take our salvation seriously. The sacrifice God made on the cross is for all – for you and me.