Summary: <p> May 20, 2012</p> <p> Rich Nathan preached this weekend on doubting God’s goodness. In the verses from Ephesians, Paul encourages the early Christians to be “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” by clothing themselves with God’s character qualities. By doing so, they possess the strength to take a stand against the devil. Paul reminds his reader in vs. 12 that their struggle is not against people but against the “powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The passage goes on to compare the act of assuming God’s character by putting on armor as if one preparing for battle. Rich made the point - When we look at the suffering of this world played against the backdrop of spiritual warfare, things make a great deal of sense. Humans and all of creation are in the middle of a war. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be different from the world. Our fulfillment is not in the “American dream” where we are pampered and have no hassles or stresses. Rich plainly stated, “we are not on vacation, we are fighting a war”. This war is against an enemy whose sole purpose is seeking and destroying everything that God loves. Our God loves the world. The enemy wants to destroy everything in the world. That includes you- your character, your reputation, your marriage, your health, and your kids. We know that when Christ died on the cross, it was to overthrow the kingdom of Satan (Col 2: 13-15) and this war will not be complete until he returns (1 Cor 15: 24-26). Until then, we must rely on God’s power where God’s creation is under attack.</p> <p> <a href="/_media/uploads/files/watch_and_listen/Follow-upBibleStudies/2012/DoubtingGod/20120520%20doubting%20god's%20goodness%20life%20in%20a%20time%20of%20war.pdf" target="_blank">Follow-up Bible Study</a></p> <p> <a href="/_media/uploads/files/watch_and_listen/SmallGroupDiscussionGuides/2012/DoubtingGod/doubting_gods_goodnessintimeofwar.pdf" target="_blank">Sermon Discussion Guide</a></p>
