The Insanity of God

With JD Greer. There are some things that are so important that a loss of almost anything is not the gospel. One of those things were talking about a message that determines people's eternity were talking about the difference between heaven and hell were talking about the love of Jesus in our enemy quality can somebody's life is depending on you whether or not you will respond boldly in this moment determines their future the Bible teaching ministry pastor Arthur theologian JD Greer.

I'm your host Molly bit of edge. You know, we will experience the hurts and sorrows of life.

I'm sure we all know someone who seems to have more than their fair share of struggles right being punished for doing something really wrong or is it just bad luck today pastor Jenny explains why some people seem to suffer more than others. It's an important part of her teaching series titled if you've missed any of the messages in this study. You can hear them online. When you visit us@jdgreer.com Esther JD has titled today's message the insanity of God. I've been reading a book recently called the insanity of God is the story of a guy who answered the call of God to go to Somalia after he answered the call of God to go to be a missionary in Somalia. Throughout the book he tells you how his life basically fell apart usually story after story where it basically leaves them looking up into heaven save God.

This is what you call me to this is what it means to follow you, love the title.

The insanity of God because I think it captures how some of us feel as we follow God certainly how I have failed at various points over the years, Kurt Allen, who serves as our missions pastor here at the summer church talks about how after he had resigned his executive job in corporate America, right down to carry to go live overseas and in a Muslim unreached people group right after he did that their teenage son developed a medical condition that seemingly came out of nowhere Conti wrote this in their books that they produce that Donna chronicles her journey on this, this is what he said he should wait Lord.

This is not supposed to happen. We just submitted to your will for our lives we sold everything that we have. We are systematically disassembling the American dream that we have built now for years, leaving everything and everyone familiar now are moving our family from the medical capital of the southeast to a place across the world with little to no healthcare and one that is hostile to the gospel so that we can be your witnesses by your command and then you do this every serious Christian I know has asked some form of that question. At some point in their life that we are doing right because what you thought God was going to do.

We didn't do what you expected. He was about to do is just not how it worked out and God's apparent absence left you confused but you disappointed, frustrated, maybe even doubting whether or not there is a God altogether been there a are you courageous enough to admit that or just want to keep watch violence that yes brother, a man got taken out.

We've all been there. I want to show you a few things that happened to Paul right after his conversion, that probably left Paul asking those very same questions.

You see, the apostle Paul in first Timothy 116 is not. We are asked not to be cumbersome.

The one succeeding. Paul said that his conversion of his calling was a pattern for all of ours to see some things played out in Paul's calling that a pretty dramatic, but really they're just there to give you an insight into how God is calling you. Which means there are things about Paul's story that should help you make sense of yours again I cannot.

If you have your Bible, we were there a few weeks ago when we go back there because we pick up the first part of Paul's life he was going out to get the second part, God was telling and I sometimes explained to Ananias not to be scared to go and talk to Paul because if you remember, Paul had been public enemy number one of the church killing people in church. God says Van Nuys 715 go, go, for he is, Paul is a chosen instrument of mine did a lot of stuff in your Bible, you probably should online the were chosen okay hold your finger on it to your blanks been highlighted is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how much he must suffer underlined that chosen and how much he must suffer for the sake of my name mother sitting something to go together today chosen to suffer any suffering.

That's what the enemy causes right to know what happens to you and you doing stuff wrong and try to get your attention and asked him versus her to see that Paul suffers from the very beginning all kinds of opposition all kinds of hardship delay, but here are my three points today. No one Paul was chosen yet he was opposed.

Number two, Paul was chosen yet God took many years to prepare him the number three Paul was chosen yet he suffered this in many ways. Again, as a pattern for you see, my goal this weekend as I want to give some of you hope regarding what God is doing in your life. Hope you see is one of the most powerful forces on the planet and hope enables you to endure some things that you are not able to endure without it matter how strong your character is, or how how how how how strong the support group that you have around you is that there is a legendary experiment conducted John Hopkins University. Nothing of told you about this before but it was a researcher there who wanted to determine how long rats could swim in water before they drowned. So we found out the distal tub of water into a rat in their rack could swim about 10 minutes before he brown but if you would simply take that rat and spare with this course of 10 minutes two or three times lifted out of the water for just a second and put it down. Submit 10 minutes is due that two or three times that same rat could swim for more than 60 hours changing no factory.

He said, except for the introduction of hope gave the rats the ability to swim more than 100 times longer than they could without my purpose is to give God's rats hope this weekend.

Okay, so that life will not drown you so that you can see that in opposition and in delaying and hardship. God has a plan and there is a reason for you to have great hope. If you are not a Christian this weekend. My hope for you is that you will learn a little bit about why those who are around you are Christians. Maybe they're sitting next to you this weekend why it is that they seem to be able to go through certain things differently than you are able to go through them and for you not to look at them and admire them. But for you to ask yourself some questions about you. I had the same kind of hope.

It takes me to the same kinds of chapters in my life there we go where readers can read the passage together begin in verse 19. By the way, verse 19 picks up right after Paul comes out of the water.

The moment this is right after he is just still wet from baptism verse 19 for some days. After that Paul was with the disciples at Damascus and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God and all who heard him were amazed and said this is not the man who wreaked havoc here in Jerusalem. Of those who call upon this name has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them down before the chief priests, all but Saul increased all the horn strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving his reasoning and his logic and his scriptural study proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Now, after many days of past the Jews plotted to kill them, but the plot became known to Saul, Saul, by the way is the name of Paul's and reaching the ball, they were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night, and let it down to an opening in the wall, flooring him in a basket for the story right lower him in a basket.

This is like pure CSI kind of stuff over the city wall at night when you come to Jerusalem. He attempted to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of them because they do not believe that he was actually a disciple.

Number one, Paul was chosen yet he was supposed people rejected his message they impugn his motives and they tried to kill them sometimes. Honestly, this is your biggest surprise when you become a Christian because people were supposed to listen.

They were supposed to be excited about what God was doing in your life.

They were supposed to praise the great decisions that you were making. That's certainly what I experienced when I first began to get serious about God. God begin to do a lot of things in my life when I was in college and I started to share with everybody those around me and there were a lot of people who listen. But there were a lot of people who didn't we started I told you before we start a little Bible study that grew from a handful stated seven rates of several hundred students, and there were meeting with us and that's great right a lot of people come to Christ.

A lot of people can say well it seemed great but then there were a lot of people who started to say things about as I remember when my friends brought me the school newspaper said you guys realize that your latest call on campus that article about us how we become a cult leader called in before the administration several times. They say that what you try to do my work on teach people the Bible God will you be doing something else that you got to 300 students meeting together that's that can't be got wise that not good readers open a Bible with some of the Bible says a big be saved and ended but they didn't be in ended up told you with basically the end of my senior year that school administration bringing those of us who led the study into in the school office telling us that we are not allowed to this day, this man is in place as far as I know not allowed to teach the Bible on that campus. To this day. The college that I graduated from.

I'm not allowed to go there and teach the Bible. It wasn't supposed to happen that way and it leaves you confused. We have you you you would have been the same situation college student or formal college student here at our church who, after he got say because back to his fraternity to tell all his brothers about the things God is doing in his life and he said it first just laughed as they left the Bible guy now makes a lot of sense is done laughing applicable monthly minutes got mad because now I was supposedly judgmental even I will try not to be judgmental. These are now with God and have a good time anymore. They didn't really want to be around me is that I thought they were to be excited about the Melissa visa but they didn't. We have students from our church or just got back from spring break college students when they got home they were expecting their parents and their friends be excited about will gobble during the life, but they weren't. And then some of the students brought up that you were planning on going overseas for the summer maybe for a couple years undergraduate. Your parents said no way you're discouraged because you thought it just wasn't supposed to be that way. Paul's one of his biggest sobbing struggles with this was that the main persecution came from his fellow religious Jews, of all people. They were the ones were supposed to understand. I will tell you that that the worst names I've been called the meanest things that I've ever been said about me have have come from so-called religious people. It was the religious studies department at the college that I went to that were the one to lead in us being kicked off the campus and even the church did not have Paul's back should verse 26 they were afraid of it. I didn't believe that he was even a disciple all going to turn can ask you a question.

Are you ready for this. Are you ready to be criticized, belittled to have your view motives impugn passive written about your blogs and newspapers and what happens are you going to keep on preaching notice on the next few verses how often the word boldly is used at Damascus.

Paul preached boldly. Verse 28 he went in and out among them, a Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name Lord. He spoke for 29 implication is boldly undisputed against the Hellenist is my question for you. What if Paul had not continued to preach boldly, you and I would not be sitting here that's what would happen to my follow-up question for you whose life is depending on you being bold is like a spring on you being bold just how important the gospel is you think it's worth a little maybe a lot of bad things being said about you. Hey, I read a story this week about a woman I'm here in Raleigh-Durham who see our driveways come on an incline and behind were from her house is a fairly busy road cars going up and down at a pretty high speeds which support the car and got out her two toddlers in the backseat, she gets out and starts to help them get out when something went wrong.

The parking brake, so the car begins to roll backwards down back into this busy street. What's all happening in the split second she didn't know what to do. She can get back in the car and and and slam the brakes so the split second she just threw herself under the car and cannot just threw there to try to stop her born in the road that works The car for the Rose saber toddlers live lives, but in the process broke both of her legs tore up one of her hip. Some, ripped up her abdomen, not parents listening so that you know you both admire her and completely understand because you know that the life of your kids is so valuable to you that even if it meant having your body torn apart. You probably do that if it meant saving them. There are some things that are so important that it's worth a loss of almost anything is not the gospel. One of those things were talking about a message that determines people's eternity were talking about the difference between heaven and hell were talking about the love of Jesus and our enemy will do all they can all they tend to silence you. Paul Preaching boldly and thank God that he digs you when I rear somebody's life is dependent on you. Somebody's life is depending on you and whether or not you will respond boldly in this moment determines their future.

Number two, Paul was chosen yet God took nearly 2 decades to prepare him. Paul was chosen yet God took nearly 2 decades to prepare them something you don't immediately see here is that there's a lot of time that passes in these verses you can only see that these articles and cross-referencing verse 23, for example, says after many days he passed from Damascus and then went to Jerusalem many days in verse 23 is three years. How do we know that well. Paul tells himself in Galatians 115). To save Galatians 1.

I did not immediately consult anybody nor did I go to Jerusalem to those were apostles before me and said I went away to Arabia, which is a desert. By the way and returned again Damascus after that. Then after three years that I went to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, it's Peter's other name and reign with him 15 days three years past before Paul met with the very first apostle only three years. We don't know we met with Jesus in the desert. The he led Jews to Christ. One by one. After three years he finally met the pastor Peter Mathur had this conversation with Peter he leaves again for 14 years, but he knows 14 years. While both Wednesday Galatians Avenue verse one. Then, after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with some of Barnabas taking titles along with me. What would happen when there's 14 years we don't know were not sure we get a few clues in his epistles. By the way, pistols, means his letters not mess up the wives of the apostles, people make a mistake that some of them he his epistles were his letters this includes in his epistles here. I'll give you one of them sacredness up 11 verse 24 five times I received a band of the Jews the 40 lashes less one at the hands of the Jews add chapter 13 Paul starts his ministry with the Gentiles with me from 13 on the onesies being beaten by the Gentiles, so that when it's by the Jews. It's got to be happening in the 14 years I took five times that happened three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. That's not stoned in the sense of some of the college students think Bud Light stone is and pelted with rocks until he thought he was dead, the pastor Riedel said if I'd doubled all the sudden pain I might've gotten stoned the other way.

Just tell me there would 3×3 times I was shipwrecked tonight in the day I was adrift at sea. How many times without have to happen to you before you said sailing ships is not part of my mission trip experience anymore right. I was in frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers data from our people danger from Gentiles enter the city to enter the wilderness dangerously danger from false prophets or false brothers and toward and hardship for many a sleepless night and hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Never make the mistake of basketball things going to kill a blogger right with the written autobiography would be call my worst life now right to that's pretty much what is described in verse 2040 27. By the way most of that happened most that happened in that little white space right there between verse 26 and 27,000 most of that little white space that includes all the things you see their integrity is up 11 now listen, I realize that there are some questions that scholars have about what exactly happened when, but here's one thing that we know absolutely for certain was in this there is at least 17 years between the time that God knocked him off his horse and calls him to be an apostle at least 17 years between that and when he's appointed as a missionary in chapter 13 verse 17 years the labors in obscurity, even after verse 27 disappears and the turkey becomes an archer or volunteer something worth even if you recognize you and hold his first church position until Chapter 13 God took a minimum of 17 years to prepare.

But God but God I'm ready put me in the game that kind of delayed preparation is so common in Scripture I would almost say it is standard.

God told Moses to lead the children of Israel.

What emotions do the ascent of the desert for 40 years. 40 years. The herd sheep God called David to be the king of Israel. What happened to David went to the palace and Ron Rhodes note went right back to the pastor to sell sheet done that for many years. He got his first break in the palace. What happened but is love them, put them on another note, they got accused of sabotage and was driven out of the wilderness for a decade. God called Joseph to save his family is to be the ones I did Joseph do that in article bottom on CNN's Albert no no he got sold into slavery and then he gets accused of adultery and then he gets put in prison and we stayed there for years, God called Elijah to be his prophet to stand before Israel what happened got an audience of big micro note got sent down to the brook Sheriff in a famine which literally means to cut down the cutting down for a long time before he ever stood in front of Ahab, Moses, 40 years, David, 15 years, Joseph 20 years Paul 17 years car you really complain about how long God is taking to get you into the game. Billy Graham said this set up. I had it to do over again I spend more time in spiritual nurture seeking to grow closer to God. Try to become more like Christ before I preach is what he say I spend more time in prayer. I was spend more time studying the Bible and meditating on its truth not for sermon preparation before my life doled way east your white space for some of you are right now. I know it's frustrating.

I realize that I am ready codes for me in I will Laura want to position a little recognition. I got these dreams wasted because that's where God is his best work. Your white space for you might be the whitespace of singleness might be the whitespace of not having been recognized might be the whitespace of obscurity might be the whitespace of serving on the rest of her prison sentence. I don't know what is what I'm telling you, God does his best work in the whitespace because of the whitespace is how he prepares you for the ministry that he has for you. Also, Billy Graham essay God takes a long time to repair and service he's going to take time to prepare you. It's in those moments you understand what I'm saying but if you don't it's I got for you children in the 1980s. It's like karate kid Miyake and in Danielson River. This is a summary like I told track of the theology, but now I'm okay. How does Miyake tree train Daniel to fight not in the rain. I saw myself washing cars is where the three learn how God changes me with enjoying you in the arena.

He trained you wilderness for 17 years. How God chose Paul but it took nearly 2 Jackie needs to prepare him to give you hope in your situation may just be using the season to prepare you for something huge you're listening to Pastor Jamie Greer on Summit life. If you've missed any of the previous messages in this series, you can listen again free of charge. When you visit us online@jamiegreer.com God's mission to redeem mankind is at the forefront of the book of acts as followers of Christ. God is still using us today to take the gospel to the ends of the earth that Jenny what if we do hope feel like were qualified for that mission.

Well, welcome to the club right bloodhounds will say God doesn't call the equipped he equips the call.

The call comes precisely because you are unqualified when the apostle Paul was was called by God into the mission he was. He was a mess. Get a bad reputation but but God took time to rebuild him and God took what previously had been used as an instrument of pride and selfishness and harm turn that into an instrument of blessing and love he can do the same thing for you. I think there is so much power available for you the listener that maybe you've never tapped into in the way that you tap into it is by wrestling with the promises and the teaching of the book of acts, and that's why we provided these resources that will help you go deeper you listen to the messages is great but but taking it a step farther to get into the concepts. That's where real transformation can occur. So back in March we offered.

We offer volume 1 that that cover chapters 1 through eight of acts know that volume to the covers chapters 9 to 28.

You can get volume 2 now it's available in JD where.com. If you miss volume 1. You can also get that right there is not too late to reserve your copy of either one of these and I would encourage you to act on it, as I think it'll it'll help you tap into an extraordinary opportunity and talent has for well as Pastor JD said we got a great new companion resource for you, sent the book of acts going to this study guide will help you gain personal understanding. Your part in the great commission and the role of the Holy Spirit in your life and ultimately mission of the church and you notice it's part two of a two-part study. If you miss spelling one too late to.

Don't miss out on getting your copy of volume 2 today request this Bible study devotional when you donate our suggested donation amount of $25 and comes to this ministry so that others can join us each day for life again, thanks. 520 8665 20 or give online Jamie Greer.com hi Molly, that eventually so glad be sure to listen again tomorrow. I don't Friday on Summit my JD