God is Not Silent

June 6-7, 2009
Series: Hope Lives
Speaker: Tom Quaid

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  1. Introduction
  2. God is Not Silent
    1. God is not silent about how He feels about suffering.
      1. Proverbs 14:31 (NIV) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
      2. Jeremiah 22:13-17 (NIV) 13"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.14He says, 'I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.15"Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.16He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the Lord.17"But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion."
      3. Isaiah 10:1-3 (NIV) 1Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,2to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.3What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
      4. John 11:32-36 (NIV) 32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.34"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied.35Jesus wept.36Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
    2. God is not silent about how we are to act.
      1. Psalm 82:3-4 (NIV) 3Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.4Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
      2. Proverbs 29:7 (NIV) The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
      3. Micah 6:6-8 (NIV) 6With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?8He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
      4. 1 John 3:16-20 (NIV) 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
      5. 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 (NIV) 13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality,15as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
      6. James 2:14-17 (NIV) 14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
      7. James 1:27 (NIV) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
    3. God is not silent about how can we get in the game.
      1. I Timothy 6:6-8 (NIV) 6But godliness with contentment is great gain.7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
        1. Simplify your life. Make it possible for God to use more of your time, energy and money.
      2. Acts 4:32-35 (NIV) 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
        1. Look for suffering people around you.
      3. John 5:19-20 (NIV) 19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
        1. Look for opportunities to join with what God is already doing.
          1. Vineyard Church of North Phoenix
          2. Compassion International
    4. God is not silent about how suffering can bring Him glory and show the world that Jesus is Lord!
      1. Acts 4:32-35 (NIV) 32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
      2. John 9:1-5 (NIV) 1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
  3. Conclusion
    1. 1 Timothy 6:9-19 (NIV) 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,15which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

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