
COMPLETED DISTORTED Truth: Everything Happens for a Reason
Truth: Everything Happens for a Reason
November 5, 2023
disˈtôrtid
adjective
• Pulled or twisted out of shape; contorted.
• Giving a misleading or false account or impression; misrepresented.
“his report gives a distorted view of the meeting”
Big Idea: The longer we look at distorted truth as truth, the more likely we will BELIEVE it as a truth.
1. There’s an invisible world that impacts our visible world every single day.
2. The Bible says there is a distorter of truth. He distorts the truth just enough to get us in trouble, but not enough to scare us away.
John 8:38
What are we really saying when we say, “Everything happens for a reason”?
1. DETERMINISM Nothing happens without the determination of God.
Matthew 10:28-29 - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
2. DOMINION
Genesis 1:1-5 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.
Genesis 1:26-27 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Would people use the dominion he gave them to carry out His good order? Or would they choose their own way, defining their own “good?”
Genesis 3:1-6 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Matthew 6:10 - …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
• The HOPE and His name is Jesus!
Revelation 21:4 - He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Key Thought: God will use EVERYTHING that happens for the good.
1. God’s PROMISE
Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
* What it doesn’t say: It does not say all things are good. It does not say all things work out the way I want them. It does not say all things have a happy ending here on earth.
* What it does say: “And we know…”
2. God’s PURPOSE
Romans 8:29-30 - For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
How?
God’s number one purpose for our life has never changed: To shape us to be like CHRIST
1 Corinthians 15:49 - And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
BIBLE * CIRCUMSTANCES
3. Our RESPONSE
Romans 8:31 - What, then, shall we say in response to this?
A. TRUST Isaias 43:1-2
B. Submit Luke 22:42
C. CONTENTMENT Philippians 4:6
D. Thankfulness 1 Thessalonians 5:18
E. PRAISE Philippians 4:4
F. Teachable SPIRIT