Secret Church: The Cross and Suffering Part 1

I can't imagine a better way honoring Good Friday than spending 7 hours going through the entire book of the bible. Yes, it is extreme. Yes, it is odd. Yes, it is amazing! Seriously, I left last Nov. wanting more, and I left last night wanting more. Hungry for God's truth. I am going to type up some of the things I underlined. I am doing this for me to process what I experienced last night. I am doing this for you in case you missed it and what to know Why there is suffering?!

This is NOT a complete outline. Some of this stuff might not make sense in this context. These are just PIECES of the outline and study that I underlined and thought were good! 

Mystery: An assumed truth which the human mind cannot comprehend but which we accept by faith.

"Where are the men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap, and be faithful even unto death, who will lose their lives for Christ's, flinging them away for love of him? Where are those who will live dangerously, and be reckless in this service?"- Howard Guinness

"Believing that further delay would be sinful, some of God's insignificant and nobodies in particular, but trusting in our Omnipotent God, have decided on certain simple lines, according to the Book of God, to make a definite attempt to render the evangelization of the world an accomplished fact. ... Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time for waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! In God's holy name let us arise and build!  We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock sayings of Christ, and the gates and minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man.  And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and then of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff to talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.

Example of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility:
When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.  Psalms 105: 16-17
The responsibility of man cannot be ignored.
The will of God cannot be thwarted. 

We have a Lord who is WITH us.
God is with you in your exaltation.
God is with you in your humiliation.


God's providence is only the foundation for embracing life's pain.

God takes evil and turns it into good.
God takes suffering and turns it into satisfaction.

God is ever-present.
"But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, "But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you; when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve god on this mountain." Exodus 3:11-12

Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So were every man on earth to become atheist, it could not affect God in any way. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him takes nothing away." - A.W. Tozer

He is God!

Old Testament: Blessings and Curses.
God promises blessing for obedience.
"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and bless shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and  your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out." Deuteronomy 28:1-6

God pronounces curses for disobedience.
"If you are are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sickness grievous and lasting. And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. Whereas you were numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. Ans as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it." Deuteronomy 28: 58-63

New Testament: The Cross and the Curse.

• We are under the curse of God's law.
• Christ came under the curse of God's judgement.
• We can stand within the grasp of God's grace.
• We can ignore the curse.
• We can work to overcome the curse.
• We can embrace the curse and run to the cross!!

Again...This is NOT a complete outline. Some of this stuff might not make sense in this context. These are just PIECES of the outline and study that I underlined and thought were good!