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When bad things happen – Part 3 – when evil acts.mp3

Hi, everybody, this is Penny Thomas again, and welcome to this next session of Get Sellers Calling You with Beatty Carmichael. Beatty is the CEO of Master Grabber, creator of Agent Dominator and one of the top marketing experts in the real estate field. Beatty, I’m excited for our listeners today. I’m excited to be chatting with you. What do you have for us today?

[00:00:24] Well, I’m really excited about today’s call for two reasons. Number one, we get to do another radical faith call. And so for those of you who may just be joining in on our podcast, if you’re joining in for real estate marketing, this is not going to be one of those episodes. This is where we’re going to be talking about living as a Christian. And so if you don’t want that, go and get this episode and go to the next one. So that’s number one reason I’m excited as we get to do a radical faith call. The second reason I’m excited is as I was preparing for this call, it dawned on me that the conclusions that the scriptures talk about that we’re going to talk about today are opposite of what most people expect. And so it’s kind of like one of those. Wow. Is that really in scripture? So this is going to be a really exciting call.

[00:01:18] I cannot wait to dive into this.

[00:01:21] Yes. Me, too. So as we dive in, kind of alluding to that last comment I made. We’re talking about when bad things happen. Is it God’s will? Okay. And this is actually part three of our series. And today the subtitle is When Evil Acts. Okay. So in the past, if you recall the previous sessions, our first session, we talked about that God directs our every step. And so when bad things happen, sometimes it’s God’s will directing us toward our destiny. That’s I actually put the second call was about as we talked about the life of Joshua. Excuse me, Joseph in the life of Esther and how the bad things that seemingly were bad were actually all furthering God’s ultimate destiny for the will of their lives. So sometimes when bad things happen, it’s actually good. Sometimes you have to back up and see it. And once you have a bigger, bigger perspective today, I want to talk on the topic of when evil comes in. By the way. Are you aware that there is evil in the world?

[00:02:38] Yes. Is evil good? No, no.

[00:02:44] So we have to include this when bad things happen because there is evil. And as I mentioned just a moment ago when I started preparing for this, I had kind of a conclusion that I thought was the right conclusion. But I tried to support everything through scripture. And when I started researching it, I found out I was wrong. So I kind of took a huge U-turn on this topic for today. And it’s just really exciting. So let me set the stage. Okay. So when bad things happen, there’s essentially four things that could be going on. This is what we were talking about earlier. It could be God’s destiny for you, moving you toward your ultimate place. And that’s the case. All those bad things ultimately are a good thing. Or it could be God’s discipline. God’s discipline is when you do something wrong and he comes involved to correct you. It says that he corrects every child. So things that could be bad or could be parts of discipline. The third thing that could be going on is, is we talked about through scripture that God directs our every step. But we have the ability to disregard his direction and stumble. This is what Psalms talks about. And when we do that, then sometimes these bad things are simply a consequence of us making our own decision rather than following God’s leading. Does that make sense?

[00:04:09] It does. Okay. And then the fourth thing, and this is what we’re going to be talking about today is evil when evil comes in and actually impacts our life. But here’s what’s really interesting.

[00:04:20] If you take these four things, destiny, discipline, consequence and evil, it’s it’s basically gradient of how closely were aligned to God’s will. The more we’re aligned to God’s perfect will, the more everything is destiny, the less we are aligned to God’s perfect will, the more everything becomes evil. Does that make sense? As we talk about evil in my church, I often hear and I’m going to use this term and I use it not critically, but kind of just descriptively, God being accused of being. The source of every bad thing, they don’t really believe it, but they do believe and let me see. Let me share this. Here’s the idea. This is kind of how it comes out. The idea is because God is sovereign, God is in control and because God is in control, all things that happen must be his will. Does that logic make sense? No, that’s not what we’ve we’ve accomplished through scripture. But does that make sense how people can come to that conclusion?

[00:05:26] Absolutely. And so therefore, here so here is the implication of that conclusion. I’m sick and suffering. It must be God’s will. Have you ever heard someone say that? Okay. Or if a loved one dies, gets killed in a car accident at an early age, well, it must be God’s will.

[00:05:48] And then if it must be if it’s God’s will, then maybe God’s trying to teach me something. Does that you’d say that logical string. Okay. So God’s word says that man’s wisdom is folly to God. Right. And so what happens is we try to put our wisdom into this and it’s all folly and we come to wrong conclusions. There’s an element of truth, but there’s more of an element of truth here. And I wanted to see if I can back up in scripture. What’s actually going on. So let me ask you a few questions. A real story. The cousin of a family friend is a 23 year old young woman. She’s, uh, she’s actually the only Christian in her family. She was recently in a car wreck and those injuries were fatal. But they were able to keep her alive on life, support the hospital until their sister could arrive and say her final goodbyes. And then they pulled the plug and she died.

[00:06:48] So here’s the question. Did God cause her to have that wreck and die? What do you think? No. I don’t think so. Was it God’s will for her to die young?

[00:07:01] No. Is that accent somehow part of God’s master plan for her life?

[00:07:13] Yes, and now it could be. So right now, here’s kind of where we sit. We don’t really have enough information to come to an absolute conclusion. Does that make sense? Yes. But it appears from all that we know about God and from Scripture that generally speaking it doesn’t sound like this is what God’s plan was.

[00:07:37] I would agree with that. Generally speaking, everything I want to talk about today is kind of. Generally speaking, because there are some very clear absolutes in the Bible where we’re now treading, it’s going to be not quite so absolute. Okay. So let me give you another real story. A woman had a very important meeting in downtown New York, and it was critical that she be there on time for her career. But she wasn’t for whatever reason, she got to the train station late and missed the train.

[00:08:14] Now she’s late. She misses the meeting completely. She’s fuming inside because she’s so upset and frustrated and stretched out. She’s concerned that she may actually lose her job and ultimately by her job was actually gone. So the question is, did God cause her to miss that train and this meeting?

[00:08:39] Was that bad? Yes.

[00:08:44] Okay. You’re laughing, you know, I’m probably setting you up. Okay. So we really don’t know at the moment.

[00:08:56] Is it really good or bad because we can’t discern it. But let me give you the rest of the story.

[00:09:05] She ends up going back home. Her meeting was in the World Trade Towers, and that was the day the towers fell.

[00:09:13] Now, let me ask, was missing the train good or bad? Do you think it could have been guided by God’s hand that she missed it? Absolutely. OK. So now this is kind of what we talked about on the last session. Once you have a further enough away perspective of everything, you can start to piece things together. But in the midst of it all. Sometimes we just don’t know. Does that make sense?

[00:09:39] Yeah. Okay. So now here’s a bigger question. Was the crash of the World Trade Towers and the huge loss of lives. God’s will? In other words, did he cause it to happen or did evil cause it to happen?

[00:09:56] Yeah, I think so. I want to talk about how that happens and also partly how do we discern it. There’s another story I want to share. This actually happened very recently. I was talking with a Christian lady named Joanna and she’s been suffering from depression all of her life. And sometime this cloud, that’s her entire life, there’s a cloud hanging over there. Sometimes it has a crippling effect in her life.

[00:10:28] Is that God’s will for her to have depression? No. Do you think God somehow is the cause behind that depression? In other words, he is God. Do you think God authorizes that depression upon her? No. Okay, so here’s the issue. If you’re going through really tough times, how do you handle it? How do you make sense of it?

[00:10:53] Do you blame God, accused God or attribute to God? Well, it must be God’s will. Do you ask God? Why do you even know what’s really going on? Because so often in our little perspective, we just don’t know. There’s a lot more at play, and the more you understand what’s likely going on, then the better you can manage these things in your life. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. So today I want to give you that better understanding of what is going on. My little disclaimer on this, this is a really complex subject. I don’t claim to have all the solid answers, but I want to give you what I see in scripture and kind of my interpretation of that. So take this for what I’ll call not for what it’s worth, but for what I think. Scriptures generally teach us.

[00:11:51] So there’s a passage in the Gospels that we call the Lord’s Prayer. Are you familiar with the Lord’s Prayer? Okay. So let me ask you a question. If God is sovereign and in control, is everything that happens God’s will now cut you on this one, the first set on our first session. So what do you think the answer to that is?

[00:12:20] No, I don’t know.

[00:12:23] But some of my conservative friends who use the logic God is in control. God, a sovereign God is in control. He’s all powerful and therefore everything that happens must be his will. Otherwise he would have stopped it. If it was his will. So our logic. Okay. So if that is, where are some of our friends who are listening in on right now? I want to show you just one very simple verse that creates some very complicated questions about that logic.

[00:12:53] Turn, if you would, to Matthew 6 9 3 13. This is the Lord’s Prayer and let’s use the living version on this is just kind of cleans and makes it simple. So Matthew, 6 9 through 13, the Lord’s Prayer. Go ahead. Okay.

[00:13:13] All right. This, then, is how you should pray. Our father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debt, as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

[00:13:36] Okay, so this is Jesus basically giving some nation prayer. Here’s how you should pray. These are the things you should be praying for, and all these are real important and they basically encompass what’s important in life. As a believer, before I get into what I want to comment on this one, I was going through this. I remember some what I call my Lord’s Prayer funny’s 3 year old Reese, the way he prays.

[00:14:01] Our father, who does art in heaven, Herald is his name or a particular four year old, prays it this way and forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets and forgive us our trespasses. Right.

[00:14:22] This is from a mother teaching her 3 year old daughter, Caitlin. The Lord’s Prayer. First, she says for several evenings at bedtime, she would repeat after me the lines of the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo all by herself. And the mother says, listen with pride. She said each word right up to the end of the prayer lead us not into temptation. She prayed. But deliver us some e-mail. I share that to make a point. It’s funny sometimes when the children misunderstand the Lord’s Prayer, but how often do we misunderstand it?

[00:15:05] You say that this makes sense. For example, if everything that happens on earth is God’s will. Then why does Jesus tell us to pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in heaven unless it’s not always done on Earth? Does that make sense? Yeah. So we have this challenge. So let’s now move into the real me to what I want to get into. I want to talk about calamity when bad things happen. Calamity. Question Does God cause calamity in people’s lives? No. Does God send the evil spirits to attack people and cause in their lives? Okay. Now let’s turn real quickly to Jobe. And we’re going to read Jobe One Twelve.

[00:16:05] And in chapter 2, 3 through 6, chapter 1, verse 12, Chapter 2, 3, 3, 6. All right, so one verse twelve, then the Lord said to say to be before you, let me just give the background for those who may not be okay. So this actually Jobe is most scholars believe is the oldest book in the Bible thar pre-dating Abraham. And if you’re familiar with J-O-B toward the end, God is talking to Jobin says. Ask him all these questions showing God’s sovereignty and superiority. And he talks about an animal called Leviathan. And he says This animal’s so powerful that a spear can’t pierce it skills and it breathes out fire and smoke.

[00:17:02] So this is an animal that we’ve never experienced in our life and we don’t see it anywhere in scripture.

[00:17:09] So this is a it’s a real old book. And what’s happening at this scenario that we’re just about to read is God is in his court room in heaven, and Satan comes up. God says, where have you been? He said, I’ve been roaming around the earth. Very vague, almost like a teenage son. Where are you, Ben? I’ve just been out. What’ve you been doing with friends? And then God says, Have you considered my friend Jobe?

[00:17:41] And Satan says, Oh, he just loves you because you bless him. Let me touch him and he’ll curse you. OK. So that’s kind of where we pick up. Pick up now on verse 12.

[00:17:55] The Lord said to Satan. Very well, then. Everything he has in your power. But on the man himself, do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

[00:18:08] All right, then go to job to verse three and six. And as you go there. So what’s happened now is Satan goes out and destroys everything that Joe has, kills all of his children and destroys all of his business.

[00:18:24] And now everything he’s got is totally gone. And now we pick up in verse three of chapter two.

[00:18:34] Then the lord said to Satan. Have you considered my servant job? There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity. Then you incited me again to ruin him without any reason. Skin for skin. Satan replied, a man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face. The Lord said to Satan. Very well, then, he is in your hands. But you must not. Sorry, but you must spare his life.

[00:19:12] Let me ask you a question. Did God send an evil spirit to attack J-O-B?

[00:19:23] This scripture.

[00:19:25] Yes. Boy, that’s not what we expected, is it? Does that sound like a loving God?

[00:19:37] Scripture.

[00:19:40] Did God have any reason to do it? It says, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Does this seem like almost an arbitrary act?

[00:19:56] Do you think this is a different view of God than most people have? Yes. Yes.

[00:20:03] Does this one, I might add, if people if this is someone’s only view of God. I can see how they would not want anything to do with God.

[00:20:15] You know what? If someone’s only view of me is one little part of who I am and they don’t know me as a whole. I can always find some part of me that someone would be detested about. Yes. So this is the purpose of what I want to do today. A lot of times we have wrong conclusions based on who we want God to be and what we want things to be. Everything must be God’s will because God is sovereign and powerful and controlling. If it wasn’t his will, he could have intervened. And the fact that he didn’t intervene must mean that it was his will.

[00:20:54] That’s the logical conclusion. The logical conclusion about God. God is a loving God. He would never hurt someone. Would he send calamity on someone? Absolutely not. He you sent an evil spirit upon someone? Absolutely not.

[00:21:04] And yet, right here in scripture, we see it happening right in front of our eyes. And if we’re going to truly follow the Lord and make sense of things, we have to understand all aspects. Okay. So now let me ask you. What good could possibly have come out of God allowing Satan to attack? What good could possibly come out of that?

[00:21:37] Wow. A lot of spiritual maturity and growth and jobe. All right. What else? Mitt increased faith in Joe and just the fact that he would have to really. Rely on the Lord to take care of.

[00:21:57] All right. Those are all possible, but I think they’re missing what I think is the biggest impact. What do you think the biggest impact might be?

[00:22:07] Tell me. It has nothing to do with Jobe individually. Can you imagine how many millions and billions of people have been impacted to trust the Lord and learn more about the and large character by reading about what happened and imagine the impact? Could it be that what God did with Joe was not for Joe’s sake, but for God’s holy purpose to use to impact millennia of followers of the Lord Jesus?

[00:22:41] So sometimes we have to get further far enough back in perspective to see what’s going on. Sometimes we will never understand it. But I think we could come to that conclusion. All right. So God doesn’t cause calamity and he doesn’t send evil spirits to attack people is what I think I heard you say earlier. And I think we’re starting to see that what most people believe about God may not be quite so accurate, but this is just one instance, one one instance. Maybe that’s not really God’s character. So let’s turn to Isaiah, 45, verse 7.

[00:23:21] Love the book of Isaiah forty five seven. I formed the light and create darkness. I bring prosperity and create disaster. I, the Lord, do all these things.

[00:23:39] Read it also in the E.S.P. Version.

[00:23:43] Forwhich.

[00:23:49] All right. Verse 7 I form the light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.

[00:24:01] This God bring calamity on people.

[00:24:03] According to that verse, yes, he did it to.

[00:24:07] According to this verse. God’s trying to tell us something maybe about part of his character. All right. Now, the amplified in the notes, it makes a really great clarity and comment. And here’s what the note says. It says, God brings physical calamity or physical evil, but moral evil comes from man’s heart, not God. I think that’s a good differentiation to discern. But gosh, surely that’s all.

[00:24:43] But wait, there’s more. Let’s turn to Limitations Lamentations, Chapter 3.

[00:24:51] And if you read this one in i.v versus 37 3:39 Lamentations 3:37 3:39.

[00:25:04] All right. Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good things come?

[00:25:18] Keep on one more.

[00:25:19] Why should a living why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

[00:25:25] So say that God brings calamity. Sure. Why does God bring calamity? What does this say in this section?

[00:25:41] I’m going to reread it. Who can speak and have it happen if a Lord has not decreed it? It not from the mouth of the most high, those calamities and good things have come. Why should they complain when punished for their sins? Well, according to verse 37, the Lord decreed it.

[00:26:00] According to verse thirty nine to see decree it.

[00:26:06] Because they’re being punished for our sins.

[00:26:10] So now we have something to do with sin. And when sin happens, there’s a decree that could go out that brings calamity of some form. Does that make sense? But wait, hold on. We’re forgiven for our sins, right?

[00:26:29] That’s right. I was just thinking of it now. Praise Jesus.

[00:26:34] Okay. So we’ve been forgiven of our sins. Remember a few sessions back we talked about no longer under law, but under grace.

[00:26:43] Does that mean we’re no longer under consequence for sin? No. Okay. So we find that calamity.

[00:26:53] And I’ll put the word sometimes has root and sin. Okay. The calamity for Jobe was not based on sin. So this is why I’m saying this is really complex. It’s not a black and white. Here’s a simple answer. We got to understand the bigger picture of all the things going on at play. And the more we understand, the more we see this picture of who God is. And by the way, we haven’t even begun to get into the depth that we’re about to get deeper. So let’s. But wait, there’s more. Let’s go first, Samuel. Let’s see if we can blow our minds even more. First, Samuel, sixteen vs. fourteen. Do this and they give you a background. Okay. God calls Saul to be king of Israel. The first king. And so becomes king and Sol starts to disobey God, and essentially that’s kind of where we pick up here.

[00:27:53] All right, verse 14. Now, the spirit of the Lord had departed from soul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him, a tormenting spirit.

[00:28:08] The Lord, the Lord God that we know of or the way the God that we have thought about now.

[00:28:17] No.

[00:28:18] Is it right? And holy that a holy God would send an evil spirit against somebody.

[00:28:30] Now, it’s not according to this, he did it.

[00:28:36] It doesn’t seem like it’s right. Let me say it’s not. It doesn’t seem like it’s right from the human standard. But here’s the impact.

[00:28:47] If we form a picture of God, that is not true based on our own human logic and desire, could it be that we end up not honoring the Lord as much as he wants? Could it be that we end up missing out on a lot of things the Lord has for us because we have a wrong view of God?

[00:29:10] Absolutely.

[00:29:13] So is this.

[00:29:15] Hyper warping your view of God and changing it is just starting to rain is just going in a million different things. All right.

[00:29:27] That way we’re not through yet. Oh, it’s gone. You think this is change is warping. Wait till we get to a couple more verses. Okay. So now let’s go to First Kings. Twenty to. Versus 23 22. So let me give you the backstory on this. Saul was king.

[00:29:52] Then David took over. Then David’s son Solomon and then his son Oboma. Belmondo Kingdom was split between Judah and Israel, and Israel was the king was jeroboam and jeroboam was an evil king. And I think right after jeroboam or one or two, right after is another king named Ahab. And Ahab is the most wicked king, according to scripture, by that time in Israel. And so now we pick up Ahab has made an alliance with not forget the King of Judas name, but the king of Judah, who is a righteous king, makes an alliance with Ahab, the unrighteous king. And Ahab wants to go into battle with Ramus, Gilliard and Ramus chiliad, or battle with the enemy at Ramus. And so they are the king of Judah says, well, let’s check with the Lord first before we do this. And so all of these prophets of Ahab start telling him, you’re going to have victory, you’re going to gouge them, you’re going to win.

[00:31:13] And then a prophet of the Lord by Judas request comes in and gives a contrary message that says, if you go to this battle, Ahab, you will die. And then one of the prophets of Ahab’s says, know what happened? When did God Spirit leave me and go to you?

[00:31:39] And that’s basically the scenario where we are right now. And this is the prophet of the Lord relaying what actually happened in the heavenly, heavenly realm. So now with that as a backdrop, I’ll let you begin. First Kings 22, starting with verse 20.

[00:31:57] And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramus chiliad and going to his death there. One suggested this and another that finally a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. By what means? The Lord asked. I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. He said, You will succeed in enticing him, said the Lord. Go and do it.

[00:32:31] Told me that she is deceiving and lying. The same thing.

[00:32:39] Generally speaking, no, I mean, they’re right on the line, right on line.

[00:32:46] Okay. Okay. So my translation says I will be a lying spearritt in the mouth of this profits, a dissaving spirit, a lion spirit. But here’s the point where I’m going. One of the Ten Commandments says thou shall not lie.

[00:33:04] Is God sending a lying or deceiving spirit?

[00:33:11] To a Hartington, there is a lying or deceiving spirit.

[00:33:17] Evil God is actually sending an evil spirit to attack someone. According to the scripture, to mislead. According to the scripture. Sounds like you are trying to disqualify your answer. Every single one of these scriptures is true and infallible. Is that correct? Yes, absolutely. So then, is God sending an evil spirit against somebody? Yes or no? Okay. Okay. Let’s don’t try to be equivocate. Alright. Well let’s don’t try to explain it away. Let’s read it for what it is, what God is telling us and then let’s understand what he’s actually doing. Makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. So God is about to bring calamity upon Ahab, is that right? God is directing it. Because he’s sending a deceiving spirit to see they have Ahab will go to the battle. So God can kill him. Is that guy bringing calamity on someone? Yes. That’s amazing. Not only is God bringing calamity, but he’s sending an evil spirit to cause it to happen.

[00:34:40] Wow. Let’s look at another first. We still haven’t gotten to the big one. We’re about to hit the big one. These are just kind of teeing it all up. So Psalm 44, do this one in the living Bible.

[00:34:54] We’re going to go to Psalm 44. We’re going to read two sections, Psalm 44, eight, nine and 10, and then jump over to 17 and 18. Eight, nine, 10, 17 and 18.

[00:35:11] My constant boast is, God, I can never thank you enough and yet for a time. Oh, Lord, you have tossed us aside in dishonor and have not helped us in our battles. You have actually fought against us and defeated us before our foes. Our enemies have invaded our land and pillaged the countryside and then 17 and 18. And all this has happened. Lord, despite our loyalty to you, we have not violated your covenant. Our hearts have not deserted you. We have not left your path by a single step.

[00:35:50] Why did God bring calamity upon his people? Does it sound like he was cruel and harsh? They didn’t do anything to deserve it. Was there any reason they knew of. On why he did it? No. Kind of sounds like a joke to a degree, doesn’t it?

[00:36:09] It does.

[00:36:12] Now, here’s the big question. Could there be a reason that they don’t know of? Absolutely. So now we’re starting to get into. We don’t know everything. There’s a lot more to the law than what we understand. So now let’s get into the big one. This is just setting the stage and I’m hoping we can get all this done in one session. It may end up having to go. Let’s go to let’s go to Matthew. Matthew, 18. Versus 21 3:35.

[00:36:57] Now, this is a real interesting story. Read the first verse or so about. Peter, one of the apostles asking about forgiveness. I just want to make a comment before you get into the parable.

[00:37:12] Verse twenty one. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked Lord, How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who stands against me up to seven times?

[00:37:23] Don’t you think Peter was just. He was being so proud. We’re going to forgive my brother sister up to seven times. That’s a lot. I’m holy. We’re up to seven times. That’s a lot of time to forgive. Okay. Now here we have man’s logic doesn’t really match God’s truth. So let’s now read what Jesus says. 22 through 35, 35.

[00:37:57] Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his bets as he began the settlement. A man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay. The master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had sold to repay the debt. This the servants fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged. I will pay back everything. The servants master took pity on him. Cancel the debt and let him go. But when the servant went out, he found one of his one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred silver coins. He grabbed him, and they began to choke him. Pay back what you owed me! He demanded. His fellow servants fell to his knees and begged him, Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged, and they went and told their master everything that had happened. Master, right there.

[00:39:12] Right there. Let me let me give you the short scenario. Just put some things in perspective. The king goes to his servant, number one servant. No one owes him in today’s dollar about sixteen billion dollars. That’s an amount. When it says ten thousand bags of gold or ten thousand talents. Ten thousand was the largest number that they had in the Roman counting system. This is Jesus saying he owed the absolute most anyone could ever, ever own. So in today’s dollars, it works out to about 16 billion. The guy says, I can’t pay. The king, says Romans. Throw you into prison. The guy says, please have mercy on me. So the king says, OK, have mercy on you and I forgive you. So then servant number one goes his servant. Number two, who owes him about ten thousand dollars?

[00:40:06] Pay me. I can’t. So he throws him into prison. So that’s the magnitude that we’re looking at. OK. And now let’s finish up with versus 34 and 35.

[00:40:19] Okay, let’s say I think I was I am 32 in all this. Yeah. Perfect. Then the master called the servant and you wicked servant. He said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant? Just as I had on you in his anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed. This is how my Heavenly Father will treat you. Each of you, unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

[00:40:56] How is Heavenly Father going to treat us? What does it say? Wow.

[00:41:04] We will be handed over to be tortured.

[00:41:09] Does that really sound like what it sounds like?

[00:41:13] That’s what it says.

[00:41:15] All right. Now, there’s another thing that Jesus talks about forgiveness. Let’s turn there real quick. Matthew, 6, 14 and fifteen. And let’s see if we can maybe connect some dots. Matthew 6, 14 and 15 4.

[00:41:31] If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.

[00:41:43] What does this mean, do you think? This is talking about salvation. Going to heaven or hell? Or do you think it could be talking about something different?

[00:41:54] I think it’s probably talking about.

[00:41:58] Something different. I think it’s just talking about forgiveness.

[00:42:01] All right. But if it says it to, my father will not forgive you. What’s the implication of that? Well, then we have. Then turn real quickly to Ephesians 2 8 and read effusions to a.

[00:42:21] Psm. Some dots for us real quickly. The parable of the master of my heavenly father do to you. Take you and send you to the torturers unless you forgive your brother. Then in Matthew 6 here, it says if you do not forgive others, your father in heaven will not forgive you. We know that salvation is through the forgiveness a sin. So we make this connection that this must be talking about. Probably something related to salvation or going to hell. Does it those dots make sense?

[00:42:58] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So now let’s read evasions to wait for it is by grace.

[00:43:04] You have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourself. It is a gift of God.

[00:43:13] Not as. Or maybe the first time. Keep going.

[00:43:17] Not by words, not by words so that no one can boast.

[00:43:23] So it is a gift of God. There is nothing we have to do for it. Is that correct?

[00:43:29] Hmm.

[00:43:30] Not by forgiving somebody b something we do.

[00:43:38] So if we don’t forgive and our father doesn’t forgive us.

[00:43:44] Could that really be talking about losing salvation or based on this passage and others by grace, through faith, believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Whoever believes on the sun will have everlasting life. All these things talk about believe, not forgiveness.

[00:44:08] So is it safe to say that this passage of the parable about forgiveness and torturing is not talking about salvation?

[00:44:21] Yes. Okay. Did you say scripturally why that’s true? Yes. Yes. Okay. So then let’s see who is she’s talking about. Obviously, he’s talking to the non-believer about God torturing them. Right.

[00:44:40] So go back to Matthew, 18, verse 21.

[00:44:46] Who was asking the question to Jesus?

[00:44:52] Peter Right.

[00:44:54] Peter Then Peter came to Jesus and asked Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sends against me up to seven times?

[00:45:03] Okay, then read Matthew 1835.

[00:45:10] This is how my heavenly father will treat you. We’ll treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

[00:45:17] So is he talking to the non-believers or is he talking essentially to the believers, his disciples?

[00:45:23] His disciples, the believers.

[00:45:26] Wow. Does this sound like a loving God to want to send someone to the torturers?

[00:45:33] No.

[00:45:35] Does this change your thinking of who God is? Does this expand your thinking? Got it. Okay, okay. Okay. So we got a problem, don’t we? Mm hmm. So let’s let’s ask a few more questions. Who authorizes the act of torturing and that parable? The master, the master and the master is a parable representing God. Would you agree? I do, yes. God is authorizing that torturing. Who does the act of torturing? Does the King or one of his servants do it? The jailer’s, one of those are one of the servants. Okay, so now try to picture that gaoler in your mind, this guy who tortures people. First off, do you think this guy who tortures people? Likes inflicting pain on someone.

[00:46:38] I mean, it’s his job. He’s gotta like it a little bit.

[00:46:43] Yeah, okay.

[00:46:44] Try to picture an image of that torture in your mind. Now, do you come up with someone who’s handsome, debonair, sort of a princely young man who would grace the social circles of the king? No.

[00:46:58] Or do you maybe come up with some evil, hideous looking type of beast of a man and some sort of dark dungeon that just takes pleasure in exacting pain in people’s lives? Yes. So from what you know about God’s kingdom, the spiritual being, do you think would more likely play that role of the torturing trailer, an evil bear?

[00:47:24] Oh, the same thing we’ve been reading about in all these other passages. Is that what you’re telling me? Oh, wow. Okay.

[00:47:34] So an evil spirit is actually there. What I see what you did there. Do you think that evil spirit is a friend of God?

[00:47:49] Might be. Do you think that gaoler is a friend of the king? Yes, you do.

[00:47:56] In a social circle, oh, well, not in the social circle. I just met him. He knows that and has a relationship with them over.

[00:48:06] Let’s clarify friend versus servant. Do you think that gaoler is a friend of the king or simply a servant of the king? Servant? Do you think that evil spirit is a friend of God or simply a servant of God? Servant? Was he created by God? Yes.

[00:48:28] Is he being used by God as part of His Holiness and righteousness and all those other attributes that God has about him?

[00:48:38] Okay, so now we’re starting to see a different side of God that most of those probably turn our eyes from, because we can’t comprehend a God that does this. But God has made it very, very clear multiple times. And these aren’t the only times there are others. But he makes it very clear that this is kind of what things are set up. Okay, so here’s what’s going on. Jesus is saying that we’re going to be given over to the torturers if we don’t forgive our brother. These tortures are most likely these evil spirits, as you mentioned, and their whole purpose is to torment us. Okay, now keep in mind we’re talking about when bad things happen. Is it God’s will? How do you how do you handle evil in the world? Okay, so we’re now starting to move that direction a little bit more. Let me ask you a question. Do you recall any other places in the Bible where God gives people over to evil spirits?

[00:49:50] We just write a whole bunch of it more. Okay, so here’s the question is being tormented good or bad?

[00:50:00] Not a trick question. Good. You think so?

[00:50:06] Yes. Because it’s bringing about the end. Result that God’s looking for him.

[00:50:13] So if someone dies a premature death. Is that what God is looking for?

[00:50:24] Maybe not by someone.

[00:50:27] If someone commits adultery against his wife, is that what God’s looking for?

[00:50:32] The act? No. Then being tormented. Good or bad?

[00:50:42] Do you want to be tormented?

[00:50:44] I do not. It’s okay. But going back to what you said. Did I say the big picture? What does it bring?

[00:50:58] It’s all it’s all part of God’s holiness and righteousness.

[00:51:02] But that doesn’t mean it has to be good, because evil is not good. Evil is bad. But here’s a big question. Is a tormenting spirit authorized by God?

[00:51:21] According to these scriptures, yes.

[00:51:23] Okay, so now we have this really big challenge. Evil is bad. But it’s authorized by God. How can a loving good God authorize evil?

[00:51:41] I don’t have a great answer for that, by the way, but that’s a question that we ponder on. So let’s go in and ask a few more questions.

[00:51:51] So Peter originally thought if he only forgave his brother seven times, he’s doing something really, really great. Would you agree? If he had done that, is it possible that he could have incurred a tormenting spirit without even knowing why?

[00:52:09] Possible. Is it possible that if bad things happen to us? We could actually be incurring some sort of a tormenting or evil spirit of some sort. That’s been authorized by God. For violating some law that we may not clearly understand. Yes. Is God to blame if we do that? No. OK. So now we’re starting to get greater clarity. This kind of making sense of where I’m going now. Okay.

[00:52:44] So God set up the rules. We don’t understand them.

[00:52:52] But blaming God is saying, hey, God, I’m innocent. There’s no reason I should be going through this. Right. And if he set up the rules and we broke them. Who’s to blame? We are.

[00:53:07] Does it matter if we know that those rules exist or not?

[00:53:13] No, it doesn’t really matter now. Romans I Romans 1 tells us that they’re already written in our hearts. So we know them, but we don’t. We can’t clearly articulate like you’re driving 70 miles an hour. You hit a speed zone. You don’t even know it. The speed limit sign is down or behind a bush. It says 45 miles an hour. You’ll still get a ticket even though you don’t realize that you’re doing wrong. Right. So then does that mean that everything that bad, everything that happens that’s bad is our fault?

[00:53:53] Is it our fault? Is it always because we violated something? I’m extrapolating at this point I’m kind of going to the point of saying this parable that Jesus did. Can you extrapolate this into all things?

[00:54:10] I don’t think you can. This is one of those things. I don’t think you can. Let’s go back real quickly. The Lord’s Prayer. You don’t have to go back to. I just want to repeat one part of it. The Lord’s Prayer is kind of a summation of things. Right. And that we are the high level things to be praying for. One of those is Lord forgive us for our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And there’s something really important about forgiveness. It’s in the Lord’s Prayer. It’s in this parable. Jesus talks about tormenting. If you don’t forgive, my father will authorize tormenting against you torture. And I won’t share this quick story to show you how this starts to illustrate and come out in our lives. I remember listening to this guy who was ministering to someone. He’s praying for healing. The man that he’s praying for has really bad back pain and he prays for healing. Nothing happens in this guy’s name is Todd. And usually when he prays a lot of time, most of the times people are getting healed. And then the Lord gives Todd what’s called a word of knowledge. Okay. Supernatural knowledge of what’s going on. And the word of knowledge was the man has bitterness against his mother, unforgiveness for his mother. So Todd asked the guy, hey, tell me about your relationship with your mother. And the guy responds immediately, why do you ask that? I hope she dies and writes in hell. I mean, really horrible. So Todd starts working with him, leads him to Christ essentially, or at least leads him to forgiveness of his mother. And then top price for his back and he’s instantly hill. Could it be that there is unforgiveness in our lives that’s causing some sort of a tormenting spirit that causes bad things and we don’t even realize it because we didn’t forgive someone over here, we did something over on this other spot, some violation of God’s law. But the implication of that law is it opens the door to. For evil to somehow come, come in and impact our lives. Does that make any sense, what I’m asking?

[00:56:40] Yes, absolutely.

[00:56:42] All right. If we look at how people are tormented and wanting to get off of tormenting, but I’m just using this and using it as an example, because what I find is God works in patterns. The pattern articulate in this parable about tormenting is a similar pattern that works in other areas in how God works and where I know we’re at an hour and we’re going keep on going because I’m wrapping up and there’s no good, good place to stop. So this is going to be a longer call than normal. But let me pause real quickly. Is this exciting stuff so far?

[00:57:18] Yes, absolutely.

[00:57:20] Is it blowing your mind?

[00:57:22] It is a solid ending.

[00:57:25] It’s expanding my thought process and I get it.

[00:57:32] So think about the ways people are tormented in life. In other words, if we receive a tormenting spirit because we have unknowingly or knowingly violated some spiritual law that God, God’s holiness and righteousness.

[00:57:54] What does that look like? I’d like to suggest mental anguish can be part of it. Stress and anxiety. Depression. Health issues. Our dreams and aspirations falling apart. Say, Jesus says that the enemy, by the way. Would you agree that tormenting spirits are the enemy? What does the enemy’s purpose and goal in our lives?

[00:58:28] Do you remember what Jesus says to say the enemy comes to destroy, to steal and to kill?

[00:58:42] To kill? Come sit still. Kill, steal, kill and destroy. Do you think those could be acts of torturing? Yes. Okay, let’s start wrapping this up so the Lord created everything that’s been created. Would you agree with that? Yes. Are Satan. Demonic spirits, evil spirits and evil as a whole. Are all those part of God’s creation? Yes.

[00:59:14] But they weren’t created as Satan and the ones that wasn’t created that way. Granted, but we don’t. So this is one of those mysteries we don’t understand, but we do understand everything that’s been created. Somehow God created it. If evil exists, somehow it’s part of the creation. We can’t comprehend it. It makes no sense. We have no framework or fabric to put it together. No grid. But we understand that all things were created by God. And that includes evil. And we don’t understand it. Okay. I’ve got some ideas, but they’re only opinions. I won’t go there. Not everything that is evil is good. But evil exists in some mysterious way as an act of God’s will. Because it’s been created and everything of evil is there for a purpose. We don’t understand it. But if God created it, it’s got to be for some purpose. All of this kind of connecting, making sense.

[01:00:31] A lot of questions I don’t have answers to. This is where I’m saying my disclaimer. Okay. So then you have God is sovereign over all of creation.

[01:00:42] And just as the torturer in the parable with the king is not a friend of the king. Evil is not a friend of the Lord’s. But just like the king used the torturer as part of how he governed his kingdom. God uses evil as part of how he governs his kingdom. Understanding the existence of it and understanding the reason behind it are two different things. I’m just right now clarifying the existence of this done mean I had the answers as to why, but we have to come to the conclusion it exists for a purpose because it was created then and this is where this starts to get even more complex. This whole issue is multidimensional. It’s very complex. There’s not one simple, easy answer to it. But here’s the big picture of everything. Just kind of give us the big picture view. God created some sort of a legal hierarchy, an organizational structure in the spirit world. This is powers and rulers and authorities and Dominion’s, which are not speaking about evil structure. God created the structure and an evil always copies what God does and then tries to subvert it. So all of this legal hierarchy that we see in Ephesians and the structure God created, it’s much more complex in the heavenly rule than anything in the earthly Rome. And all of heaven is operated by laws and covenants and ordinances.

[01:02:28] Does that make sense so far? This is why the name of Jesus is powerful, because it’s a legal authority. Everything is governed by that spirit. The demons, these fallen angels are all subject into this hierarchy of organizational legal structure that God has in place. And within that structure, evil has a legal authority to operate. This is what we’re experiencing. It has a legal. This is what we’ve read in all of these things. They have a legal authority to operate. Satan had a legal authority to operate against Jobe, but only by God’s authority. When God withdrew the authority, Satan cannot attack. This is what we see with the parable that we just went through, the Jesus and the torturer. There is a legal authority to act. So we see that is legal authority. That legal authority is either God decreeing a thing. One the passage we said nothing happens except by the decree of God. So either God decrees blessings or calamities or what I call on autopilot because it’s part of God’s spiritual laws. And when a law is violated, then there’s a subsequent consequence that’s already predetermined. That kind of making sense. Okay. So this is the kind of things that we’re we’re involved with when bad things happen. We’ve got to look at this at this higher level structure.

[01:04:02] We don’t understand the laws. We do understand their existence. And probably an easy way to explain this because we see this all the time, but we don’t really understand it. Imagine you’re sitting in a room and there is a window on your right hand side and there is a wall on your left. You’re reading a book and out of the corner of the eye, you see a shadow go against that wall instantly.

[01:04:25] You know, something went by the window. Would you agree? But you don’t know what. It’s a shadow of something that passed by. You recognize the existence of something there because there’s a shadow that moved and when we look at our lives and we see and we look at all these things going on, what they show is a shadow of the spirit realm, the shadow of these laws we can’t make. There’s not a whole lot of concreteness to it for us. We can’t write it down. We don’t really know what it is. It’s shadows. We see it in existence and displayed throughout scripture. We see the shadows displayed in our fiscal lives. But none of it is clear. We just know it’s there making sense. And so this is why we say God authorizing saying to touch sending a tormenting spirit upon Saul and all these other things. There’s something there. And so I want to give one other interesting thing, because it kind of ties up. And I want to be real sensitive on this because I don’t want to freak you or any of our listeners out. But this whole realm of the spirit realm is real. This whole idea of evil spirits is real. Absolutely. Jesus cast out demons and that was real. So I was doing a deliverance with a lady named Alexis. She’s a born again Christian. And in that deliverance session. Okay, so this was one of those really wild and crazy things where Alexis’s personality actually goes into a trance and the personality that is now speaking is an evil spirit manifesting through her. Okay. So I’m interrogating, if you want to call it Who Are You? And one of those spirits was a spirit of depression. Why do you think depression was there? Do you think that was tormenting her?

[01:06:34] Absolutely. And she was a Christian and she had depression. And that is a spirit. And I commanded it out and it left. Then there was another spirit. It was a spirit of fear.

[01:06:49] And it had this I’ll call it this interrogation.

[01:06:54] It had 25 other junior spirits in its kingdom within Alexis. And you know what the spirit here said why they were there to keep her from getting ahead. In other words, to prevent her from achieving the destiny that the Lord had for her holding her back. They were holding her back, causing everything she did to fall apart, constantly causing it to fail to keep her from getting ahead. That was the spirit of fear. And then there was a spirit of suicide. And it had. I was asking how many how many demons in your kingdom? Said 80. And then it volunteered this information to make sure she kills herself. Wow. I mean, this is real stuff. I know we’re not supposed to. Don’t don’t get truth from a demon. I get that. But what I’m saying is, is this is real stuff. These things do exist. They do exist. And Christians. I’m not saying a Christian is demon possessed by any means. Christ possessed your spirit. But let me ask you a question on that. And we’re going to do this whole session on healing later. Is sin evil or good? Then as evil does exist in your flesh.

[01:08:25] Yes. Are you a Christian?

[01:08:29] Yes. So that means that you are born again, but evil exists in your flesh. Does that make sense? That’s correct. Why can’t a spirit that’s evil exist in your flesh as well? Because a lot of people say, well, if you’re a Christian, you can’t have an evil spirit, well, you have sin and all these spirits are evil. Depression is evil. Fear is evil. Suicide is evil. These are thoughts and attitudes. So I’m driving. I’m getting sidetracked. But the bottom line is this. All these fears are evil. And in some mysterious way. They were allowed to be in her life. I don’t know exactly why, but my assumption and expectation from what we’ve read is there are some spiritual laws that were being violated. Somewhere along the line for life, they gave him authority. Does that make sense?

[01:09:28] Yeah. Okay. Okay. So now the question is, doesn’t God love the Lexus? Do you think God loves a Lexus?

[01:09:35] Oh, absolutely.

[01:09:37] If God loved Alexis, why would he allow her to suffer?

[01:09:45] That is a big question.

[01:09:48] That’s a huge question, isn’t it?

[01:09:52] Can I give a suggested answer? Yes. All right. So let’s look at an illustration. A man and a judge are friends. The man breaks the law and he comes before the judge. The judge’s personal will list his said his friend free. But his judicial responsibility is to enforce the law. And the judge has the power to do either one. If the judge is righteous, what does he do?

[01:10:24] Does he violate his judicial responsibility to enforce his personal will? Or does it violate his personal Wiltern Borse his judicial responsibility? What do you think?

[01:10:39] Wow, that’s a big question, too.

[01:10:42] All right, let’s call it this way. Think about the Supreme Court. Do you think every justice on the Supreme Court has a desire of how they wish a law would have been written? When they render a judgment, if they’re following their oath of office. Are they? Inputting their personal desire, regardless of what the law says or they interpreting exactly what the law says.

[01:11:15] To the best of their ability, I think the latter.

[01:11:19] So if you look at a judge, if he’s a righteous judge. Does he violate his personal will?

[01:11:29] To perform his judicial responsibility or does he violate his judicial responsibility to perform his personal will? The farmer.

[01:11:39] He’s going to do his judicial responsibility, and that’s the same with God. He has the power to do his personal will. But just generally speaking, he doesn’t violate the laws he’s put in place. Sometimes we see him do it so. But usually he says judicial process. So sometimes when bad things happen, it could simply because there is evil in the world. Other times we may have sinned. And even though we’re no longer in the law, but under grace, there’s still a legal ramification of violating the law. And I guess that’s kind of summing it up. I want to wrap up one last thing. There’s a lot of other stuff, but I want to clarify one thing. And this is a message I texted with a friend. Give you the story on this, because I think this kind of shows how all of this kind of plays a part in one’s life. I’m praying for a lady named Francis. She’s been a missionary for 55 years. They’re about in the last 11 year. She’s been stuck in a wheelchair. So I prayed for her. She was instantly healed. She began walking around and she was in a wheelchair because of extreme pain. It was a surgery gone bad 11 years ago. And the doctors couldn’t correct it. So now she’s walking. There’s no more pain.

[01:13:05] She’s walking around. And then the pain comes back and she’s has to get back in the wheelchair instantly. When that happened, I knew of the spirit. Because once healed your heel. Okay. Okay. You don’t lose your healing. There’s something else there. I think that’s the message of all of this. There’s something else there. It’s not quite such a pat answer that we like to give. The pain came back. I knew it had to be a spirit. So following the process that there’s some legal ramifications, some legal authority, that that spirit has to be there. We went through different things about repentance. She’d been forgiven for her sense. But in going through this, there was she remembered that there was a an organization many years that that she was involved with in high school called Rainbow Girls. I think it’s kind of a subset of Freemasonry and it’s basically kind of a cult. She didn’t realize it at the time. She wasn’t a Christian, but there was some sacred oath that she took as part of Rainbow Girls. When she mentioned that, I said, well, we need you need to repent of that. She repented of her involvement with Rainbow Girls and any oath that she took. And then we come in and dispirit out and guess what happened.

[01:14:22] She started walking again. The spirit instantly left everything we tried to do prior to that.

[01:14:28] The spirit and the pain would not leave as soon as she repented of her involvement with Rainbow Girls and we prayed again. The spirit left. Can you see a legal cause and effect on that? Absolutely. Okay. And then the pain came back. Wow. What happened, right. Okay. Then she says, well, Bury, her husband, says, well, God is trying to teach you something. So this is the train of thought. A lot of Christians have. This is why I talked about at the beginning all these bad things happen. God must be trying to teach me something because God is sovereign. God is in control. God is all powerful. Therefore, if anything bad happens, it must be as well. Therefore, something bad happens. He must be trying to teach me something. That’s of a train of thought. So this is my text to her. I just want to read it because I think it really summarizes, as I said, I want to clarify something I said last night when your husband Barry suggested that the Lord might be bringing this pain upon you to teach you something. I said that God does not bring sickness upon his children. I believe that is true. But he does authorize spirits to attack us. I don’t know how much that authorization is to attack us physically or simply in other areas, such as what happens in our lives.

[01:15:50] I’m still learning, but the simple fact that a spirit is attacking you means that within the spiritual laws the Lord has created. The spirit has authority to attack. Does that make sense so far? And since all of 30 is granted by the Lord. Ultimately the Lord has authorized it. If not directly, then at least indirectly by setting up those laws in the first place. That law is given jurisdiction over us at the fall. This is what you and I spoke about. No longer under law, but under grace that at the fall we became jurisdiction underneath the law. And so I said that law was given jurisdiction over assess the fall. So it’s tied to the fall and not tied to the Lord. Trying to teach you something the Lord can and will teach you through it. But is not the purpose for why you’re being attacked. I think that’s the message. Another message I want to make sure we all understand when these things happen. It’s not the Lord trying to teach you something. There’s evil in the world that evil has authority. So let me tell you the rest of the story I was asking the Lord. Why did the spirit return? And the Lord said something happened between the time it left and the time it returned. They gave it the authority to return.

[01:17:16] And I said it’s the Lord’s share that I thought I knew what it was, I called Princeville backup and I started to explain this story, you know what it was?

[01:17:25] This will blow your mind. I said almost, yes. Yes. It was tied to doubt. So you’ve been in that wheelchair for 11 years. I bet. Unbeknownst to you, you’ve created an identity of being in pain and being in that wheelchair. And when that spirit left and you’re no longer in a wheelchair. It was so unusual for you. It was. It wasn’t who you’ve experienced yourself to be all these years that probably knows you. You kept that identity of pain and you invited it back in because that identity of pain is thin, because it doesn’t conform to the image of God. So she said, let’s repent of that. So you know what she did.

[01:18:17] By the way, before I do this, I said, Spirit, get out, pain get out. And she said, it’s going, but it’s not going all the way. It did stuck. It’s not leaving.

[01:18:26] So then she said, Okay, we pray, Lord, I repent my identity. Your pain. And then we prayed again and instantly it left.

[01:18:39] That familiar spirit?

[01:18:41] Yes, that’s exactly right. So here’s the bottom line.

[01:18:45] Not everything that happens is God’s will, but nothing happens outside of his authorization. And once we understand that there is a legal framework and authorization, then it helps us to start to understand maybe what’s going on and maybe how to fight it in our lives. Here’s the other thing I find the more you seek the Lord, the more you are in the center of his will. And therefore, the more that everything that happens to you is part of him guiding you towards your destiny. This is what we talked about last session, I believe. On the contrary is true. The more you ignore the Lord, the more you’re out of the center of his will. And then the more everything that happens is evil trying to thwart you. And in some mysterious ways, both of all of this is tied into God’s authorization. And so that when evil happens, that’s how we start to understand what’s going on. Was this a cool lesson?

[01:19:51] This was so great. Yes, absolutely. I love it. And just just being reminded of me, I was thinking of the word test a lot. And I know that gets a bad rap with believers. They don’t like to think of God as being. Well, he’s going to test me on that. But I also understand the reason behind it. And I think a lot of this to me was just an eye opener to recognize a lot of those moments in those seasons, in those circumstances as a test like Joe going to be faithful and trust the Lord. And I know that working this out for my destiny, I would say yes.

[01:20:32] But I like to make sure one more thing is understood, because last session we talked about was Joseph and with Esther. And a lot of that was part of God’s plan moving in towards a destiny, which is kind of where wilderness is a test. But I think the thing if I could underscore one thing from today’s session, it’s. There are legal. Rules in place that give evil the authority to act in our lives and if we understand those rules. More were more likely to keep evil out of our lives. If you think about speeding. If you understood that the speed limit was 45, you would slow down to 45 before you got there. But if you’re ignorant of it, you go barreling through at 7 and you get a speeding ticket.

[01:21:30] So the quote unquote, knowledge is power. Not really a spiritual term, but the more we understand how God has set up.

[01:21:40] His kingdom, the more we can operate in accordance with how it’s set up and therefore we can avoid a lot of the hardships. A lot of the trials we can understand. There is some relationship and a cause and effect and we’re not just at a mystery of what’s going on. Just like with Princeville. She’s been prayed for for years to get the wheelchair. One until I came on to my home because I understood the process better. She’s able to walk free now. That’s the implication.

[01:22:23] That’s great. Obeidy, I think we’re about out of time for today, we’d probably need to wrap up our call, but thank you so much for your time and your expertise and just all the time. I know the sacrifice of your time that you put into preparing this for today and this is a great call and I know it blesses all of you listeners out there and remember to share the podcast with your friends. Do you have anything else you’d like to share?

[01:22:49] Beatty, just have a very blessed day. Absolutely.

[01:22:53] Absolutely. All right, guys, we’ll see you on the next one.

P020

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