Secret Church: The Cross and Suffering Part 2

Finishing up the Old Testament from Secret Church with David Platt.

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!  

The Redeemer...

He seeks the outcast as his family.

"With goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack??- A.W. Tozer

He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. Job 37:11-13

Possible Questions to Ask in the Middle of Suffering...

• What areas of my faith are being refined through this suffering?
• What is God revealing about Himself through this suffering?
• How can I rely on God more as a result of my suffering?
• What sin(s) do I need to repent of and renounce as a result of my suffering?
• How can this suffering drive me to find deeper reward in God?

Confidence Amidst Suffering...Psalm 27

Do we find God useful for our circumstances, or do we find Him glorious regardless of circumstances?

Suffering drives us to God's Word.
To learn it.
To believe it.
To obey it.
To love it.

"I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the Word of God as now [in prison]. The Scriptures that I saw nothing in before are made in this place to shine upon me. Jesus Christ also was never in before are made in this place to shine upon me. Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now. Here I have seen him and felt him indeed. ... I have seen such thing here that I am persuaded I shall never while in this world be able to express. ... Being very tender to me, God hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one scripture and another strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, were it lawful I could pray for greater trouble for the greater comfort's sake." John Bunyan

Remember my afflictions and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to and end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." Lamentations 3:19-24

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust- there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of this steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:25:33

"When we see this love at work through the heart of Hosea we may wonder if God is really like that. But everything in the Word and in experience shows us that He is. He will give man the tress of the forest and the iron in the ground. Then He will give to man the brains to make an axe from the iron to cut down a tree and fashion it into a cross. He will give man the ability to make a hammer and nails, and when man has the cross and the hammer and the nails, the Lord will allow man to take hold of Him and bring Him to that cross, and in doing so will take the sins of man upon Himself and make it possible for those who have despised and rejected Him to come unto Him and know the joy of sins removed and forgiven, to know the assurance of pardon and eternal life, and to enter in the prospect of the hope of glory with Him forever. This is even our God, and there is none like unto Him." Donald Grey Barnhouse

God's capacity to forgive is greater than our capacity to sin.

God uses painful experiences to accomplish His sovereign purposes.

God is our satisfaction.
God is our strength.
God is our victory!
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength, he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. Habakkuk 3:17-19

Sin is too subtle in us.
Sin is too seductive to us.
Sin is too strong for us.
We are desperate for a Savior!

The problem of evil and suffering in the world is ultimately a problem with people's heart.
Only Jesus can change the hearts of evil people. 
Therefore, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus is the foremost fundamental, necessary, nonnegotiable way to address evil and suffering in the world. 

THE GOSPEL IS THE ANSWER. 

 

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!  

It is finished.

Last year was my first Easter to actually understand what all was going on. My eyes were opened to the sacrifice Jesus made for ME. This year is no different. I still am so new to this and can't believe this is what happened.

Ryan showed this video at The Cellar on Wednesday and I thought it was perfect.

Once and for all

Once and for all
You offered up Your life
For one and all
For one and all
The perfect sacrifice
Atoning blood was shed
Love conquered when You said...

It is finished
It is done
To the world salvation comes
Hallelujah, we're alive!
Hell was silenced when You cried:
It is finished
It is finished

Who is this king
Who is this king
So mighty and so strong
He is the one
He is the one
The earth has waited for
God's remedy for sin
With mercy for all men

It is finished
It is done
To the world salvation comes
Hallelujah, we're alive!
Hell was silenced when You cried:
It is finished
It is finished

Well the earth shook and trembled
The sun bowed it's head
The veil of the temple was open for men
As Jesus went down in the cold of the grave
Defeated the darkness when He overcame
The keys of the Kingdom were placed into hands
Of children and priests and of fishers of men
Through all generations His voice will be heard
Creation resounds the victorious words!

It is finished
It is done
To the world salvation comes
Hallelujah, we're alive!
Hell was silenced when you cried:
It is finished
It is done
Now completed, the work of Love
Hallelujah, He's alive
Join the song of the ransomed Bride
It is finished
It is finished
It is finished!

Goodnight Tree Hill!

Oh the end. What a great ending to a great series. One Tree Hill has been my jam for as long as me and Ryan have been together. There were a few seasons I didn't see live because we lost the CW, but one summer in college I caught up via two episodes a day!! I really don't think there is an episode I haven't seen. NINE SEASONS! Wow. In honor of a great show ending....

I thought this was the perfect ending!

This song will always take me back to highschool and One Tree Hill!

Real life Y'all.

Yesterday was a reality check for me. I had two different occasions when I was hit in the face with the real life reasons we are pursuing adoption. My first experience was with a girl we will call "R". R's mother considered given her up for adoption. R is now a young teenager living a life far from happy. She constantly gets moved around to different family members that are in her words "not right". She has no security and is expected to focus at school? R told me she wished we would have been adopted because her life is so bad. Y'all...break my heart! It took everything inside of me change our age range up to 13!! As if R's story wasn't enough. I met another girl last night, we will call her "B". B has been in and out of the foster care system since she was 8. B has a loving foster mother now and from the outside looks like she is thriving. B hasn't had it easy. Im sure she has a lot of hurt inside of her, but she is safe and receiving the love she deserves.

It was just a very real day yesterday. I had been having some confusing thoughts as to why the heck I am adopting a baby, and last night God reminded me why. There are real kids out there that need loving, stable families. I have love ready to pour out and engulf a child. I know that I can provide a secure, stable family for a child that would otherwise get lost in the "system". These kids are real that need families. They are real.

I am not sure I have ever felt more sure of our adoption decision than I do today. Ryan and I are called to do this and I can't imagine passing it up.

If you feel even the slightest tug at your heart while reading this, please look deeper at that tug. That is the pull of God starting something in your life that you don't want to miss! I would love to talk more to you if you need some advice! You can email me at Arin19@aol.com

Created for Care

This past weekend was a great weekend! I attended the Created For Care Retreat in Atlanta, GA. Me and one of my besties, Beth, that is adopting domestically had a great time together!

Ahh! Driving in Atlanta in this HUGE (haha) SUV!

I would say I had two three four highlights of the actual retreat. It was totally great, but these things realllly were the icing on the cake!

Yes we were only gone for the weekend...

Speaking of cake, lets talk about food! These ladies knew what women want. FOOD! They had great meals, but even better snacks! We had all the sodas and candy we could want for free all weekend. They even had one of those candy shelves that they have at candy stores filled with some healthy and some not so healthy treats! Every night they provided multiple types of cakes and desserts. At one point during the weekend, they even had free ice cream bars! Yes. The food alone would have been worth the trip!!

Although...it gets better!!  Not only was there great good but they had some awesome ministries represented. I was a little excessive the first night there and bought something from just about every booth. (Well maybe not, but I did buy a lot!). It was just as cool as I had imagined seeing and meeting some of the women behind these ministries!

 I was pretty pumped I met and talked to Kelly Putty from Ordinary Hero.

Here is a run down of the ministries we got to support!

Light Gives Heat 60 Feet Sole Hope 147 Million Orphans 

WIPHAN Ordinary Hero Visiting Orphans Mwana

My African goodies :)

Our new t-shirts!

On a more serious note the next highlight was the experience of worshipping with over 400 women who have a heart for adoption. Sometimes I would catch myself just staring around the room thinking these women all know what I am going through. All these women get it! Most of the worship songs were cleverly geared towards trusting God and his timing. It was so much more powerful to sing those songs with these women that clearly have had to trust in His great timing and release their plans to God.

Adoption Friends!!

The last highlight was the most personal one to me. If you have read anything about this retreat you have probably heard of the Date with God session. I was very apprehensive about this because I thought it was corny. However, we got into the room and the leader explained that we shouldn't talk to anyone else. It would be like being on a much anticipated date with  your hubz and  your chatty friend comes up and talks the whole meal. Something about that picture whipped my mind into the mindset that this was in fact a "date" with God. So for the first time (maybe ever) I just sat and released myself to God. I just really felt like God wanted me to talk about myself. He wanted to hear everything I was holding in, He wanted ME to talk, He wanted all the attention on ME.  I know that sounds weird and kind of not really the way God works, but it was something I needed. It was really cool and I am glad I went and had that experience on a Date with God.

 Overall. Great retreat!

The trouble with IF.

Ryan and I have some great things going on in our lives right now. Some of those things are public knowledge and some of them aren't ready to be shared. All of the stuff we have going on is really exciting, IF it all works out. IF....that is a word that has been haunting me the past few months. I have been caught off guard by how much I let the implications of that word harden my heart. I have started not allowing myself to get excited because what IF it doesn't work out? The IF has really crushed my spirits and so not typically my style. I think because I want this stuff to happen so badly that I am trying to guard myself from disappointment. One example is our adoption. I am really so excited about it, but I haven't even let myself go to the true excitement of becoming a mom. I just keep thinking what if Ethiopia closes the doors to adoption? What if the wait gets even longer? Will I ever get my Ethiopian baby? Then comes the doubts of what will happen IF I get a baby... What if he has too many issues for me to handle? What if he doesn't attach to me? What am I doing!! It is a deadly spiral and the devil definitely steals my joy, kills my excitement, and destroys my mood! And this my friend, is not the way I want to live my life. I want to rest in the fact that my God is working for my good. I was created to do GOOD works that he has prepared in advance for me to do. He will sustain me and be my rock. He is who I want to focus on and be excited about! So that is what I am trying to do. Focus on God and know that whatever does happen is going to be for GOOD! I am going to try and let myself get excited and break past the wall of doubt because I was created to enjoy life and be the light of the world! How can I be the light if I am afraid to shine?!