The First Baptist Church is excited to announce that we now have a new pastor. His name is Brother Dwain Pollard and if you haven’t heard Bro. Pollard preach before, you should make a point to attend this coming Sunday morning. It is sure to be a blessing.
A Misunderstood Truth
Very often, part of Romans 8:28 is quoted in times of trouble, and especially when a loved one dies. We often hear quoted “…we know all things work together for good…” [and leave out the rest of the sentence] “…to them that love God, and are the called according to His purpose!” The ensuing verse gives us the purpose, God is trying to make us more like Jesus! Truth is, the word translated “love” in English is a verb in Greek! It is something that requires work on our part. It’s easy to say “I love Jesus” when all is well and we are enjoying life and so many blessings, but events and situations inevitably come along that are not so grand and glorious! A real truth is that we, as Americans, live in the greatest land on earth. We know very little of the suffering of people in other places.
According to BBC News, 100,000 Christians are martyred every year. Fox News places the number at 90,000. Using the smaller number, it means a Christian is martyred every 6 minutes! And, guess what! Virtually all their families keep following Jesus, trying to win others to Him! Many of them live in horrible places and cultures and the Good News of Jesus brings them Hope of a different life someday, which lasts forever! Jesus warned His disciples, and us, as He neared the Passion. “In this world system, you will have trouble and tribulation,”warned Jesus, saying in the same breath ” in me you can have peace, so be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!”[John 16:33] Many believers in the world are living those words of prophecy today.
Wise Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 8-9, that good and bad things happen to good and bad people alike, and sometimes really terrible things happen to people that surely seem to deserve much better – and it troubles us, just as it did Solomon. So, it really comes to this truth – you can’t always judge God’s love for us by circumstances in our lives. You judge His love by what He did to pay for our sin and save us eternally! 1 Corinthians 2:9 is awesome: “Eye has not seen,nor ear heard, neither has it been imagined in the hearts of men, the things that God has prepared for them that love Him!”