How many Christians died
because of this earthquake?
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Most of the 40 building of the
Church of Christ where
destroyed
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Roberta Edwards
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Why Me
Lord?
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 I walked a mile with Pleasure
She chatted all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne’er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned
from her
When Sorrow walked with me!
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How can God be all powerful
and all loving and allow
suffering?
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1 John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love.
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 Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve
Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will
serve; whether the gods which your fathers
served that were beyond the River, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye
dwell: but as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord.
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Foolish choices can have
devastating consequences
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So do bad choices cause God
to bring about
“Earthquakes”?
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Genesis 6:5
And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:6
And it grieved Jehovah that he had made
man on the earth, and it grieved him in
his heart.
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Genesis 6:7
And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the ground; both
man, and beast, and creeping things, and
birds of the heavens; for it sorrowed me that I
have made them.
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Question
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Because of
“Sin”
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No Rain, No Hurricanes,
No Tornadoes, No Earthquakes
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Thus it was “Sin” that brought
God to cause the Flood
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Sin caused God to bring about the
Flood, and with the Flood mans earth
now has many problems
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Romans 3:23
for all have sinned, and fall short of the
glory of God;
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Sin caused God to bring about the
Flood, and we all must bear the
consequences
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We must turn to the loving God
who created us
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Suffering:
Insight into Sin
The Bible clearly teaches that
this planet has been heir to
suffering as a consequence of
man’s sin.
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Romans 5:12
Therefore, as through one man sin entered
into the world, and death through sin; and
so death passed unto all men, for that all
sinned.
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Suffering highlights that we are frail
human beings.
We are not God
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“We are the masters of our fate,
and the captains of our souls”
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When we suffer,
we are forced to focus upon
our own weakness
It is hard to be haughty when you
are hurting.
Pain can be humbling
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Suffering:
A Reason to Call upon the
Lord
Suffering can draw our interests
toward the true God
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 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God
of all comfort;
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that
we may be able to comfort them that are in
any affliction, through the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God.
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Psalms 18:6
In my distress I called upon Jehovah, And
cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of
his temple, And my cry before him came
into his ears.
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Suffering:
Real Value of Things
Suffering aids us in seeing the
real worth of things
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As the poet John Dryden said:
“We, by our suff’rings,
learn to prize our bliss”
He that hath an ear, let him
hear what suffering whispers to
the soul.
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Suffering:
The Seed of Compassion
Suffering prepares us to be
compassionate to others.
There is an old saying
“Do not judge a man until you’ve
walked a mile in his shoes.”
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I suggest another proverb:
“One cannot comfort effectively
until he has lain in the bed of
suffering.”
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Hebrews 2:18
For in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able to aid them that are
tempted.
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The song lyric
“Are you weary? Are you
heavyhearted? Tell it to Jesus;
tell it to Jesus,”
Can we truly say:
Been there, done that!
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Suffering:
Making Us “Homesick”
Suffering sharpens our
awareness that this earth is not
a permanent home.
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1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and
pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lust, which
war against the soul;
Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be
revealed to us.
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Suffering:
Teaches Us How to Pray
Praying is an instinctive human
response to severe hardship.
But effective prayer is a learned
exercise.
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Luke 22:44
And being in agony he prayed more
earnestly; and his sweat became as it were
great drops of blood falling down upon the
ground.
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When do we see people most
often in prayer?
When suffering occurs
A song Suggest:
“Pray when you’re happy;
pray when in sorrow.”
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Suffering:
Grooming the Soul for
Eternity
Suffering tempers the soul and
helps prepare it for eternity.
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 1 Peter 1:6-7
6 Wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a little while, if need be, ye have been put
to grief in manifold trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, being more
precious than gold that perisheth though it
is proved by fire, may be found unto
praise and glory and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ:
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Suffering:
Nurtures Virtues
Reflect for a moment upon the
quality of courage.
Civilizations universally perceive courage to be
one of the prime traits of humanity, and, by way
of contrast, cowardice is considered to be
utterly reprehensible.
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 Ralph Sockman wrote:
 Without danger there would be no
adventure. Without friction our
cars would not start and our spirits
would not soar. Without tears, eyes
would not shine with the richest
expressions
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Suffering:
Builds Character
Suffering separates the
superficial from the stable
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 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
12 But
if any man builds on the foundation
gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 each man's work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because it is
revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove
each man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work shall abide which he built
thereon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet
so as through fire.
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So, while no one actively seeks
suffering in his life
Honesty compels us to admit that
hardships do have great value
Certainly, the existence of
suffering is not a valid reason for
rejecting the Creator
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Suffering: Insight into Sin
Suffering: A Reminder of Our Infirmity
Suffering: A Reason to Call upon the Lord
Suffering: Real Value of Things
Suffering: The Seed of Compassion
Suffering: Making Us “Homesick”
Suffering: Teaches Us How to Pray
Suffering: Grooming the Soul for Eternity
Suffering: Nurtures Virtues
Suffering: Builds Character
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What is your reason for
rejecting the creator?
What is your reason for
rejecting Jesus?
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Jesus suffered for
you
Why not come to
Jesus
now?
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