Posted on 11/19/2013 1:08:36 AM PST by BlueDragon
My Times are in Your Hands A study of God's Faithfulness in Affliction
Sometimes pain is the result of bad decisions, but there are times we suffer through no fault of our own. Alistair Begg looks to the story of Joseph to find instructions on how to handle unfair circumstances. Hear the message, Good News, Bad News, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
[no transcript at web site -- my apologies]
(Excerpt) Read more at truthforlife.org ...
Though I'm not all that well acquainted with his full catalog, this one was a good message for any Christian.
He's often worth a listen. Podcasts runs 25 minutes each. Subject begins with Joseph, Genesis 40, runs to suffering for Christ in today's world, touching upon how pluralists (every "way" is part of wisdom, etc.) increasingly do not tolerate the one "way" of Christianity.
Good News, Bad News (Part 2 of 2) here
partial transcript of part 2
"...do not be surprised when you suffer unjustly... many people are living with the mistaken notion that all will be well, now that I have made my commitment, or I have endeavored to follow after Jesus. ...because after all we've said to ourselves, there is that Roman's 8:28 verse; all things, in all things God works for those who love Him, and we have made that equal, our benifit, and our blessing, and our health, and our security, and our freedom...and everything else frankly we wanted to be. We made the whole package and put it all together in a bundle. And so anyone that is living with that notion 'of what it means to be a Christian' is going to be surprised, by unjust suffering Where did we get the idea? Where did we get a Christianity where Jesus does all the dying? Where did we get a Christianity where Jesus is the only one who bears a cross? A Christianity where Jesus is the only one who wears a crown? I tell you what, we didn't get it in the New Testament...... "...pluralists can only tolerate pluralists..."
"get ready" "don't throw in the towel" "I try to do the right things but get [punished for doing well, etc.]"
the antidote...
Consider him who suffered opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary, and lose heart.What do I do when I face unjust suffering..? First of all, don't be surprised
Secondly, don't throw in the towel
Thirdly, don't take revenge...don't take revenge. This is the most litigated society in the world...there are more lawsuits here on these fair shores than any other place in the whole world."
But one of the reason the society is so litigated, is that people are so vengeful..."
Begg continues, ministering from the Word to not return evil for evil, but return good in it's stead...
but I'm having a tough time typing up his rapid-fire brogue.Trust God...to vindicate in due course ...that may be only when we get to heaven.
Thank you and God bless you!
Alistair Begg has always preached wonderful messages the times I’ve heard him.
Thanks for posting this. Listening right now.
Job 1: 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 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.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”...
His second podcast in the series is already available.
Were you going to post it as a second thread or post a link in this one?
It is always a pleasure to listen to Alistair Begg...
Preaching at odds with the Word of faith movement and much teaching within Pentecostalism, who see trials and suffering as something to be delivered from.
It takes our minds off the spiritual and puts them on the temporal.
Now, mind you, I can see where they develop this mentality, cause really, who wants to suffer? It’s not much fun. Nobody wants to hear *My grace is sufficient for you*,
But they forget the long term and spiritual benefits. Suffering conforms us to the image of Christ, it teaches us, it enables us to comfort others going through suffering by giving us compassionate hearts, God is a God of justice and any wrong done WILL BE repaid by Him.
When I began to format the heading, it wasn't available, so I had in mind posting another thread, when it did. The part 2 is from where the bulk of what I transcribed is from.
During that time I was originally formatting, the second part became available (although I did hear that part on the radio also, yesterday) so I included a link to part 2 in the initial comment.
It did strike myself also, that the message was against the shallowest of those you referred to as "word of faith movement".
Encountering that and more, was part of initial motivation to make mention of the podcast here.
I do apologize again to any and all for there not being better transcript. As for we humans seeking deliverance from uncomfortable, unjust circumstance, Begg did mention Joseph asking the cup-bearer to "remember" him to pharaoh, but of course that one which was prophesied by Joseph to be delivered (while the baker got "the ax" more or less) did not remember Joseph, leaving him to languish for another --- what was it? a year and a half? What's interesting in part concerning that, is that same Egyptian would likely owe his own life to Joseph later, for the preparations Joseph led the Egyptians to make.
And that's how "the Jews" ended up in Egypt, and originally food there when they themselves were starving, yet ended up virtually enslaved in that society.
But God saw it all coming, from a long ways off...for He did tell Abraham that his own offspring would be taken captive in a foreign land for hundreds of years, before being delivered from there to take the land which was promised to those offspring.
It's OK and natural enough to look for a way out, to be delivered. What is or can be difficult, is the waiting, or the not being delivered from unjust circumstance and trial in this world, much at all...even as at other times, the gates of the jail can be miraculously opened.
Some trials, are not our fault. Which is why WVKayaker posted concerning Job.
What can be tough (for myself, anyway) is dealing with what seems the incessant nature of the trials, false accusation and abuse far beyond some mistake, error or failing that first opened the door to those whom would persecute for their own pleasure.
For me, it's almost like having failed to use a turn signal at a then otherwise deserted intersection -- I'm accused of bank robbery, wire fraud, kidnapping and child abuse, etc. The accusations are brought forth as all the proof that is necessary for conviction.
It's get's old, and I am becoming tired. I need a time of refreshing.
But that is the way of men's hearts. Unless the spirit of the Lord open one's eyes, there is no light, just a grasping, selfish and greedy fumbling in darkness, along with sufferings in that same darkness, spreading woe, insisting all partake or it.
Mr. Begg encourages us to persevere. He has, and does, I take it.
I found that to be so. He may not be "perfect"...and I do not idolize himself and others who labor (in the Word) but rather still, are thankful for his efforts, and do wish for him, the best.
Another man who's voice sounds somewhat similar, but more India-British-like accented rather than "Irish", heard on radio, is Ravi Zacharias with such radio-presence shows as "Let My People Think", and more.
He has a fine mind, from strongly evangelical approach. Most people who ever turn their car radio dial to "Christian" stations, I am sure have heard him before.
The thing that’s made it the most difficult in dealing with trials, isn’t just the waiting, it’s the judgment from other Christians who think they know how God should be working in your life and then blaming you if it isn’t happening they way they think it should.
Talk about shooting your own.
Yet in the end, the Lord told Job to pray for his "friends". That's an easier sort of thing to take a stab at, when otherwise things are going well enough.
But to pray for those whom relentlessly persecute oneself, that is "the way" of the cross, with that not a thing to be done in some manner of self-justifying display of religious piety, just to show everyone how "right" one is...
Those re-incarnations of "Job's friends" just love to add that last layer. The insolence of that sort of position are as "fighting words" spoken under cover and camouflage of even Christ himself. But God will not be forever mocked.
There will be a reckoning. For such reason, Job's friends were (and still are) in need of prayer. Nothing much else will remedy the situation. Been there, tried that, didn't get the t-shirt, they ripped it outta' my hands then struck me with it...
Job’s friends is right.
And I do pray for some of those who have done that and have talked to some of them about what that kind of thinking does to people. They are beginning to see the light, but there are so many more who need it.
I am going to have to listen to this one. Sounds good. In our walk with the Lord we will have our "Abraham with knife in hand" moments. The comfort is you know your faith is being tested and you come out stronger for the test.
He is a big improvement over Garner Ted!
Yes. He doesn't try to stretch to fit in Herbert W.'s (hit n' miss?) 'prophetic' shoes, while traipsing around all over the place as some sort of celebrity, for it appears to me that he (Begg) retains the heart of a pastor...
I like to think that does, anyway, as I enjoy the sound of his voice unfolding/displaying how his heart and mind work.
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