Peter had a question for Jesus.  Matthew 19:27: “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?”  Right after the rich young ruler left in sorrow, Jesus commented, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”…

Today, I want to begin a new series in which we will explore some of Jesus’ teachings that we readily accept today, but that others might find scandalous, offensive, or even outrageous.  Most of us believe in being fair. If you treat me well, I will treat you well. If you help me, I will…

Over the past four weeks, we have been exploring what suffering can do to our faith. We began with Acts 12, where James was killed while Peter was miraculously rescued. We asked why two faithful disciples experienced such different outcomes and whether prayer gives us control over what happens. We concluded that suffering exposes the…

For the past few weeks, we have been exploring what suffering can do to our faith. Every one of us will experience suffering at some point in life. God is not the author of suffering, but we cannot assume that He will always rescue us from it. So when suffering comes, especially when deliverance does…

Last week we talked about suffering and endurance. Joseph was given a dream of exaltation, and then his life turned upside down. He was not immediately rescued from betrayal, slavery, false accusation, or prison. He had to keep living faithfully while the outcome remained uncertain. We argued that although God did not intend Joseph’s suffering,…

Last week, we started with a question: What does God do with suffering when He does not remove it? We argued that one thing suffering can do is expose our illusion of control. Peaceful periods of our lives give us an illusion that our future is predictable. But suffering has a way of showing us…