The Goodness of God - Part 6 - Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?, Part I

THE BATTLE'S WON IN VICTORY WE'VE OVERCOME THE BATTLE COMES OUR WAY YOU'RE WORKING JUST THE SAME WE'RE LIVING IN VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST HELLO THIS IS MIKE KENNEDY WITH THE LIVING IN VICTORY BROADCAST WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE OUR SERIES TODAY ABOUT THE GOODNESS OF GOD IF YOU WOULD JOIN YOUR FAITH WITH ME HEAVENLY FATHER WE COME TO YOU WE HONOR YOU LORD FATHER HELP US TO UNDERSTAND YOUR WORD TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO LIVE IN YOUR GOODNESS TO EXPERIENCE YOUR GOODNESS THAT YOU GET GLORY FATHER FATHER WE ASK YOU FOR IT SHOW US CHANGES EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US NEED TO MAKE TO LIVE THIS LIFE IN THE FULLNESS OF YOUR BLESSING IN THE NAME OF JESUS AMEN WELL THIS IS PART SIX OF THE SERIES THE TITLE OF THE MESSAGE TODAY IS WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? THIS IS AN ANSWER TO MANY OF YOU YOU'VE ASKED WHY DID THAT HAPPEN TO THEM? THE SERIES IS BASED ON TWO VERSES PSALMS 34 8 OH TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO TRUSTS HIM WELL RIGHT THERE IS AN ANSWER IF YOU DON'T TRUST HIM YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO BE LIVING IN THE BLESSINGS OF GOD BUT WE'RE GOING TO GET INTO SPECIFIC SCRIPTURES AND EXAMPLES JOHN 10 10 THE THIEF DOES NOT COME EXCEPT FOR THREE REASONS TO STEAL TO KILL AND TO DESTROY I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE AND THAT THEY MAY HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY THIS IS PART OF THE ANSWER AS WELL WE KNOW THAT THE ENEMY COMES TO CREATE HAVOC TO CREATE ISSUES FOR US BUT JESUS CAME TO GIVE US LIFE SO IF WE REJECT JESUS AND ALLOW SATAN TO OPERATE IN OUR LIFE WE WILL HAVE SOME OF THESE ISSUES AMEN BUT YOU SAY GOD GAVE US A FREE WILL WHAT DOES THAT MEAN HE GAVE US THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE HE COULD HAVE CREATED US AS SLAVES ALMOST HE COULD HAVE CREATED US WHERE SIN COULD NOT ARRIVE WE HAD TO DO EVERYTHING HE SAID SPECIFICALLY LIKE A ROBOT

BUT HE GAVE US A FREE WILL TO CHOOSE WITH THIS FREEDOM INCLUDES THE ABILITY TO MAKE WISE CHOICES AND UNWISE CHOICES BUT THE CHOICE IS UP TO US AMEN YOU CAN CHOOSE BLESSING CURSING ISAIAH 119 ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCRIPTURES NOW THERE'S A LOT OF GOOD SCRIPTURES IN HERE ON EVERY PAGE BUT THIS ONE IS ONE THAT I REALLY LIKE CAUSE IT ANSWERED QUESTIONS FOR ME YEARS AGO WHENEVER I UNDERSTOOD IT IF THAT MEANS THAT THERE'S A CHOICE HERE IF GOD WAS IN TOTAL CONTROL CONTROLLING EVERYTHING YOU DID IN YOUR LIFE THERE COULD BE NO IF HERE IF YOU ME ARE WILLING AND THAT MEANS OUR HEART IS OPEN AND WILLING TO DO WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO IF WE ARE WILLING AND OBEDIENT IF WE HAVE THE HEART TO DO IT AND WE ACTUALLY DO IT THEN YOU SHALL EAT THE GOOD OF THE LAND WELL WHAT'S THE GOOD OF THE LAND THE BEST THIS LAND HAS TO OFFER THE BEST VEHICLES HOUSES AMEN BUT IF YOU REFUSE AND REBEL IN OTHER WORDS DISOBEYING GOD IN HIS WORD IT'S A FORM OF REBELLION BUT HE GIVES US THE CHOICE TO EITHER SERVE HIM TO HONOR HIM WITH A RIGHT HEART OR TO REJECT HIM DENY HIM AND DO WHAT WE WANT TO DO

WE ALL HAVE FLESH WE'VE ALL MISSED IT SO I'M NOT JUDGING YOU AMEN IN OTHER WORDS WE'VE ALL REBELLED I MAY NOT HAVE DONE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU'VE DONE YOU MAY NOT HAVE DONE SOME OF THE THINGS I'VE DONE I'M NOT HERE TO JUDGE THAT WE'LL GET INTO JUDGING IN THE FUTURE MESSAGE BUT IT GOES ON TO SAY YOU SHALL BE DEVOURED BY THE SWORD FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HAS SPOKEN SO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEVOURING THAT'S LIKE CONSUMING RIGHT YOU WILL BE CONSUMED OR YOU WILL CONSUME YOU'LL CONSUME THE GOOD OF THE LAND OR YOU WILL BE CONSUMED BY THE BAD OF THE LAND IF YOU OBEY GOD WITH A WILLING HEART you will prosper amen if you are not enjoying the good of the land you're not experiencing this then you've disqualified yourself in one way or another i've disqualified myself so many times amen you probably have two years ago i worked for a man he was a brilliant man uh financial man he was also an engineer multi multi-millionaire and he was the ceo of the company that i worked for but he kept searching for peace for joy in all the wrong places he looked for love in all the wrong places amen you've probably done that i've done it he had multiple wives he kept partying always trying to be seen kept buying toys thinking that his new bentley or motorcycle would provide peace and joy for him kept going to bars things of that nature over time he could never find satisfaction he ended up getting depressed and dying by taking his own life early that is not the goodness of god see the goodness of god is long life amen you will not do the will of god and be obedient until you get a willing heart amen you need to check your heart if you don't you won't end up experiencing all the goodness god has for you if you refuse you will be devoured consumed live in pain god does not do it his protection and blessing leave we're going to get into that today if someone does not want to spend time with me i don't hang out with them amen see i enjoy spending time with my beautiful wife because she enjoys spending time with me but if somebody does not want to be around me why do i want to

impose upon that and force myself into it they're not happy i'm not happy amen i want to be around people who want to be around me people say oh but god is in control most of the time that's taken out of context god is in control ultimately of his plan for eternity being done amen but it's he's not controlling everything you do everything you eat every place you go every word you speak see that's a lie it's incorrect amen he gave us a free will a choice we must choose jesus prayed lord let we ask you for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven if his will was being done man this place is already messed up if this is his will no it is not his will see in heaven there's peace there's joy there's financial provision there's food there's no lack amen why would jesus pray this if it was already being done why would he ask for it because we must ask for it because adam sinned and allowed sainten to be lord of this earth you and i have sinned we don't want to judge adam we've done the same thing in deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 15 in the good news translation it says today i am giving you a choice between good and evil it's a choice good and evil that word evil a lot of times today you could say bad i'm giving you a choice choose good or choose bad amen between life and death if you obey the commands of the lord your god which i give to you today if you love him obey him and keep all his laws then you will prosper and become a nation of many people prosperity god will bless you he will make you wealthy amen you say oh that can't be of god oh yeah it's of god a strong and mighty people a nation amen this is that whether you choose good or bad obedience or rebellion god or sainten goes on to say the lord your god will bless you you know we water down that word bless you to somebody who goes at you no that's not the blessing of the lord the blessing of the lord is prosperity life increase protection not some wishy-washy hatch you all gesundheit no it's the blessing there's empowerment in it the lord your god will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy but if you disobey and refuse to listen and are led away to worship other gods you say oh i don't i don't worship other gods your god God may be money, it may be a motorcycle, it may be eating, it may be shopping. What is really your God? Is God, the Creator of heaven and earth, truly who you are serving? There's more for all of us to come up, amen? It goes, you will not live long. Oh, let me back up.

But if you disobey and refuse to listen and are led away to worship other gods, you will be destroyed. I warn you here and now, you will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you're about to occupy. In other words, I'm about ready to bless you, but if you rebel and turn from me, you won't be blessed long. I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse. And I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. And then this is an open book test. He gives us the answer right now. He says, choose life. You choose, amen? Glory to God. You may say, I know a dictator, I know heathens that have lived to their hundred years old, and man, look how wealthy they are. You don't understand, this life is the shortest thing we will ever do. If you're a hundred and eighteen years old, that's a blink of an eye for God. A hundred and twenty years in God's time is about 2.4 hours, because the Bible says, he truly understands time, that a thousand years is to a day. That means that a hundred and twenty years is about 2.4 hours, amen? So I care not just this life, but eternity, millions of years from now, the life I'm going to be living, amen? I have eternal life, and I have tremendous rewards in front of me. Years ago, I was an executive in the software industry, doing well. I chose to leave that because of the call of God and to serve Him. So when I left, I was making a fraction of the income that I was in the software industry, to serve in the kingdom. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to serve, amen? I wouldn't go back for any amounts of money.

My retirement program is out of this world. My retirement program is eternal, man. I got rewards in heaven. I'm going to invite you up to my house, amen? I have heard that God is not available. You know, He will do the same to you, that if you put Him first and obey Him, it doesn't matter whether you are supposed to be a pipe fitter, an electrician, a dishwasher, you obey God and do what He's called you to do, and you're going to get major, major rewards. He's not a respecter of people, amen? It's better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to be a king on this earth, amen? I have heard people say that God is not available. He doesn't care about me. That's a pity party. It's not true. He sent His own Son to die for you, amen? The Word says, seek and you will find. You just need to start seeking Him, praising Him, and reaching out to Him, and He will be there for you. The problem is that things like TV or fleshly desires, they're more important than us spending time with God. If you're not enjoying it, you're not doing it right, amen? Matthew 6.33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. In other words, put God first, and blessings will come your way. It's part of the goodness of God. Then it goes on in Deuteronomy 1, verse 6. Be strong and of good courage. Don't be afraid. Build yourself up. Do not fear.

That's a command. Nor be afraid of them, people who attack you. For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. He didn't leave. The question I have is, did you depart from Him? Did you get disgruntled, get your priorities out of place? I've done it. God will not leave you, amen? God wants you protected. He wants you blessed. Many people don't understand some of the Levitical law because of the old British King James terminology. In the current language, it can be kind of hard to understand at times. In Leviticus 26, it comes across like God's out to get you. Let me enlighten you to what the word actually means, amen? It actually means Satan will get you if you make unwise choices. Let's take a look at this. Leviticus chapter 26, verse 2. says you shall keep my sabbats and reverence my sanctuary i am the lord so there's a command saying hey i'm god i'm lord obey me be holy in my sanctuary verse 26 if you walk in my statues and keep my commandments and perform them then i will give you rain in its season rain is good we get to eat because there's rain on our crops the land shall yield its produce and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit now keep in mind you could be totally rebelling against god but still eat but eating fruit because of the goodness of god on us that are serving him because we are children of god and he has blessed us amen your threshing shall last till the time of vintage and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing in other words man we are going to have food to eat in every season that's the goodness of god you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely that's the blessing and goodness of god i will give you peace in the land and you shall lie down and none will make you afraid lying down with rest peace

oh man thank you lord you will chase your enemies and they will fall by the sword before you five of you shall chase a hundred and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight your enemies shall fall by the sword before you my my my thank you lord you know i thank the lord for putting us in a nation with a good strong army as well that we can protect ourselves leviticus 26 9 for i will look on you favorably god is going to look on his favor what that means is he's going to give us favor and when god's on your side and giving you favor you're coming up you're living in goodness amen and make you fruitful prosperous multiply you and confirm my covenant with you you shall eat the old harvest and clear it out the old because of the new that means you got so much left over you got to take the old out to put the new in that's my wife gives away a lot of clothes she blesses people with clothes my goodness i'm gonna have to build a new house keep her clothes in if she keeps blessing people with food with with clothes with shoes because she reaps but i can't say that because i've been blessing people with motorcycles oh glory to god and i don't mean hondas continuing on i will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you i will walk among you and be your god and you shall be my people glory to god i am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt that you should not be their slaves thank the lord that we are not slaves amen we have freedom i have broken the bands of your yoke and made you upright verse 14 but if you do not obey me and do not observe all these commandments and if you despise my statutes and if you're so abhors my judgment so that you do not perform all my commandments but break my covenant oh my this is a problem what he's about to tell us is that there's numerous bad things that's going to come upon you not that god is bad and out to get you it's like you had an umbrella over you in the rain and you chose to leave the umbrella and go get wet you left the protection amen what he's saying is hey when you blessed me when you honored me when you served me you were under my protection you were under my favor you were under my blessing but i gave you a choice you could stay in the blessing or you can go do your own thing and step out from underneath that protection and then the enemy gonna come in and he gonna attack amen god wants to bless you but he gives you a choice he gives me a choice i am may invite you to dinner and if you don't show up you ain't gonna eat the good of the land from my plate that night amen verse 20 verse 16 of leviticus 26 i also will do this to you i even appoint terror over you wasting disease and favor which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart and you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemy shall eat it i will set my face against you and you shall be

defeated by your enemies defeated by your enemies because his favor and protection is no longer on us amen the last thing you want is the creator of heaven and earth to be against you to to not protect you from the enemy there are two families on earth and only two it's the family of god and the family of saint and evil amen you choose which family you want to be a part of Amen. I want to be part of the good God family. Amen. Not the bad, evil, devil. Amen. Oh verse 18. And after all this if you do not obey me then I will punish you seven times. He's trying to wake us up, giving us opportunity. If you don't obey me after all this, there's more coming. If you don't obey me after that, there's more coming. In other words, he's saying I want to bless you. I want to have mercy on you. Wake up. Amen. See, and then it goes on to say, and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, nor the trees of the land yield their fruit. Protection left because of the rebellion. Many don't understand some of the terminology because of the way it's written, but basically it's saying, hey, you choose. You want the blessing or the cursing? You want the good life or the bad life? You want my protection or do you want the open door for the enemy to come and attack on you? Amen. If we walk away from God, it opens up the door to the enemy. See, God has no evil, no bad in him, no darkness. He doesn't have a mean streak. Amen. I remember not long ago a 1% outlaw biker asked Sherry, he goes, you gonna preach to me and try to get me saved? I was at a funeral speaking and she said, no, only Jesus can save you, but I'm here to love you. He kind of looked at her and thought, huh, he gonna get saved. I remember another time I was talking to another 1%er. He goes, you out here trying to get me saved because I'm going to hell. And he laughed. I said, no man, you want to go to hell? Go straight to hell. He did a double take, like what? No one ever said something like that. I said, man, if that's where you want to go and you think it's a party, I'm not here to stop you. It ain't gonna be a party. They call it hell for a reason. People say, I'm going through hell and it's a real rough time. You have not experienced anything like what hell will be after millennia. Oh my, you don't want to go there. It shocked him. I turned around and left. Later he came back and said, you know, I really want to know more about

this Jesus and I don't want to go to hell. Glory to God. Thank you, Father. Leviticus chapter 26. The next few verses are all about how the enemy will come in. They will attack. They will steal. People will die by the sword. So they rebelled. God gave them a chance. They rebelled. God gave them a chance. They continued to rebel. But if they confess their iniquity in the iniquity of their fathers with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, then that they also have walked and that they have also walked contrary to me. In other words, after all their sins, after all their rebellion, after all the evil things they did, after they served idols and worshiped other gods, Jesus said, if you confess it, say, hey, I admit it. I messed up. I sinned. I was rebellious. I did it my way. Amen. I did it my way. Now I got AIDS. I did it my way. Now I'm broke. I did it my way and I've got all this calamity, all this issues. I'm in prison. But Lord have mercy on me. Amen. He will do it. It goes on in verse 41. And that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies. If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt, just humble yourself. Say, yep, I did it, Lord. It's truth. I ask for your mercy. I plead for mercy, Lord. Verse 42. Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham. I will remember. I will remember the land and the land also shall be left empty by them and will enjoy its Sabbath while it lies desolate without them. Then they accept their guilt because they despise my judgments and because their soul abhorred my statute. Yet for all that when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away nor shall I adhore them to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them for I am the Lord their God. Even after all they did that He's not going to destroy you. He's going to give you blessings. He's going to give you mercy. You can receive Him as your Lord and Savior. It doesn't matter how many people you've killed. It doesn't matter what you've done. The blood is powerful to wash you clean like you didn't do one thing. Oh glory to God. My my my. See Satan wants to get in. He wants to attack. He wants to kill. He wants to destroy. And then He wants to put you under

condemnation and make you feel bad that you did it. Make you feel like you're a loser. Well He is the biggest loser of all time. He got a big L tattooed right here. Amen. A big ol' L. You may say, well I got a tattoo that says 666 on the side of my neck. Amen. On my road to highway to hell. That's just a tattoo man. If you want Jesus, He's here for you. So you shouldn't have done it. Big deal. Get right with God. Amen. I remember an outlaw biker. He had 666 tattooed right here. But during that situation, I walked up to him and I tried to talk to him. You know, I knew it wasn't the right time. A little while later, car drives up. He gets off his bike. He's sitting under a tree on his bike. Walks up to the car, opens the back door, and picks out a little baby boy. I walked up to him and I said, man, is this your son? Oh man, he got a big ol' smile. Yeah. And I said, dude, do you mind if I pray over him for protection, for blessing, for you to have wisdom how to raise him, for you to have prosperity to raise him, to keep him. And he said, you do that? So I prayed over him. He said, man, you know, I need to get right with God. And, but he pointed to his forehead and he said, but what about this? I said, why do you do that? He said, to freak people out. And I said, what probably did that. But I said, do you want to go to hell? No. Do you want to serve Satan? No. I said, then put a big red circle around it with a line through it and let's get right with God. He got saved that day. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Man, what a good story that is, right? Who knows what he has done, had done in his life, but it does not matter. Amen. It's washed away like he didn't do any of it. Glory to God. There's a guy, he texted me today, some scriptures. And the first time I met him, he said, man, you talked to me or some of my guys about God, I cut your throat. And he held a knife up to me. I cut your throat. Had a nice blade on it, man. A nice little hand on there made from a deer antler, a deer horn, antler. It was a sweet blade. He is now serving God. Glory to God. And man, he had spent 40 years as an outlaw biker back in the 60s, 70s. He did some stuff, things that you and I don't want to know about and we don't need to know about because it's washed away like he never did it. Glory to God. Well, this is Mike Kennedy with Living in Victory. Hallelujah. Jesus loves you. And if you want to get right

with him, all you have to do is say, Heavenly Father, I believe that you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross. He went to hell, rose from the grave, seated in heavenly places with you. Jesus, I ask you into my heart to forgive me of my sins, to cleanse me. Father, I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I am right with you. I have eternal life. In the name of Jesus, amen. Brother, you and me going to have eternal life together. Glory to God. Have a blessed day. Glory, glory, glory.