The Goodness of God - Part 7 - Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?, Part II

We're living in victory The battle's won in victory We've overcome whatever comes our way We're working just to see We're living in victory Through our Lord Jesus Christ Hello brothers and sisters, this is Mike Kennedy with the Living in Victory broadcast. This is part 7 of our series titled The Goodness of God. God is good whether we experience it, whether we believe it, whether we see it. He is good. Amen? This is the second portion of a message titled Why do bad things happen to good people? We know why bad things happen to bad people. Why do bad things happen to good people? It's actually the same answer. Let's get into the word. The series is based on Psalms 34 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. John 10 10. The thief. That's Satan. That's the devil. Dirty, rotten scoundrel. The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. That's all he's about. I have come. Jesus has come to give us life. That they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Too excessive. Amen? Till it overflows the good life. Amen? We're going to look at Job. The book of Job. A very misunderstood book by a lot of theologians even. See, the book of Job is about Satan getting access. And many people say, well, I don't understand Job and what is going on. So, Job chapter 1. Amen? Let's turn there and read it.

It's about how Satan wanted access to hurt brother Job. Man, what a good man. A godly man. A man who wanted to do things right. Who served the Lord. It starts out stating this. It says, there was a man in the land of Uz. Not Oz. The land of Uz. We're not talking about the Wizard of Oz. We're talking about a good righteous man in the land of Uz. Whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright. And one who feared God and shunned evil. He was against evil. Bad things. He honored God. He feared God. Amen? And this whole book is about Job's life and how he got off and how he got right with God. Amen? See, the summary of it is don't fear. Don't quit. God does not fail you. God restores. He increases. Don't quit and He will double you. He will protect you. He will bless you. Amen? See, Satan tried to get Job judged. To get the hedge of protection off of him. To get it removed. We can get our hedge of protection removed and become vulnerable based on our bad decisions. We talked about that in the previous message. You're proven by God when you don't understand or know why these bad things are happening in your life. But you still trust God. Amen? Even when you don't know why. When it's unknown. Trust God.

Always stay on God's side. No matter what is going on and He will bring you up. He will bring you out. Job was a good man. A righteous man. An honorable man. He abhorred or resisted. He shunned things that were bad. Another word for bad is evil. Amen? Verse 4. And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send an invite to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. He's trying to get their sisters plastered. So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons may have sinned and cursed God, our hearts. Thus Job did regularly. What's wrong with that? First, Job was trying to offer burnt offerings to God out of fear, not out of being led, not out of faith. See, fear-based offerings can be dangerous. They're not of faith, and anything that's not done in faith is not of God. It's sin. Job's sons partied. Amen? I used to party. My parents, you know, they told me not to, but I still rebelled. I went to, grew up in the church. I rebelled. That's what his sons were doing. But Job did this out of fear. See, fear opens up the door to the enemy. The Bible says your fears come upon you. You don't want to open up a door to the enemy. So, you know, many parents today, they homeschool their kids. I'm not saying homeschooling in itself is wrong, but if you're homeschooling children because you're, oh no, they may be around some people. They may hear some things or see some things. Oh no, not my little baby. That's out of fear. Keep kids out of that

environment, sure, but don't do it based on fear. Check your heart. Be led by the Spirit of God. Amen? They may need to be examples to people in that environment so that they can get saved. Hallelujah. Our fears will come upon us. It opens up the door to Satan. See, Job did not do any of these actions in faith. Verse nine, so Satan answered the Lord. Satan went to the Lord and said, does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge of protection around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Glory to God, that's happening to me. My possessions are increasing. My hands are blessed by God. What about you? You need to declare that over you. Amen? I'm coming up. I'm coming out. God is blessing me. He's prospering me. Amen? Verse 11, but now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. Satan is saying, hey God, your servant Job, man, he's only serving you. He's only faithful because of what you do for him. Man, you're bribing him. He's doing it because he wants the good life. As soon as you stop giving him money, he's going to turn his back on you. He's just using you. Amen? And so he's over here accusing God that God, the only reason he's doing it is because of what you're doing. You're paying him off, more or less. And so it's not about love, is what Satan's saying. He doesn't really care about you. He doesn't love you. He just wants what you can do for him. Amen? And then he says, come on, let me attack him. I'll prove it to you, God. And God knows the beginning to the end. God says, all right, yeah. You think you know it all, you bad boy? You think Job is going to be unfaithful to me? Oh, he may make a couple of mistakes. He's man. But all right, let's, let's do what you ask. So verse 12, and the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on this person. In other words, you can't kill him. You can't take him out. But you think you're so smart. Let's see what he does. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. What did he do? He went out to attack him to come after Job, the righteous man that was resisting evil, that abhorred it. He immediately started attacking him from his children to his home, to his assets, just a polyp technique, one thing after another, to the left, to the right, every place he turned, man, there was a sucker punch. Ever got sucker punched by the enemy? See, that's what he will try to do. But he will set up tactics and he will try to pile it on one thing after another. He is a loser.

If you don't quit and trust God and stand God's side, he will bring you up in out. The problem is many people quit. They don't trust him. They don't have faith. Amen. So Satan attacked Job's health and he failed. He attacked his health, but he couldn't take him out. He attacked his finances, his family, his assets. His friends said, man, you're just a loser. Man, even God doesn't help you. It's because you have sinned. You have done things. You tried to act like you were holier than thou, but you're just like us. You know, theologians have studied this, historians have, and they said that All the things in the book of Job, all 42 chapters, was in about nine months. Job had a bad year. Ever had a bad year? People say, oh I'm like Job in the last 10 years. Man, they've been broke. No, that's not Job. That's schemes of the enemy and you not doing Matthew 6.33. Not doing things his way. And so at the end of this, we find out that Job, he repented. He got off for a while. He repented and God doubled what he used to have. He became very, very rich. Very wealthy. You know what? But the hedge of protection was opened up because your fears come upon you. He stepped out and was doing things in fear. Fear that his kids weren't doing right. Your fears open up the doors to the enemy. Don't live in fear. Resist fear. Amen? Say, fear get out of here. It's a spirit. Amen? So one reason why bad things happen to good people is first, there's a devil and he's trying to figure out how to get in. Secondly, his fears come upon us. We open up the door because we do things unwise. Oh no. Oh no. Sharon and I did that financially once. We had an attack from a company. A lawsuit. And oh no. We're like, oh man. This here could cost us. We better leave Colorado. Move to Texas where there's a homestead. We protect our home. Man, that company dropped their charges because they realized they didn't even have anything to base it on. We didn't need to move. We walked away from a home that we

had put a lot of money down on and we're building. We ran in fear. Lord, forgive us. He's blessed us. But I'm just telling you the truth. We did it in fear, not in faith. God still blessed us. We repented. We got it right. But that wasn't a plan of God. It wasn't a blessing of God. We did it based on fear. Remember Miriam. Remember Moses. You may not know who Miriam is, but remember Moses. Ten commandments. He spread through the direction, the Word of God. The ocean spread its water so they could walk across, talk to the burning bush. Well see, he had a couple family members that were very, very disrespectful. And Numbers chapter 12 verse 9. I'm going to back up. I'm going to get my Bible out here and go back to the book of Numbers and back up. Hallelujah. Let's get the situation of what's going on here in Numbers 12. Glory to God. It says in verse 1. I'm going to get a real small print here on this Bible. It says, Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married. Uh-oh. He married an Ethiopian woman. May have been a dark-skinned lady, but the biggest thing was she was not one of them. She was not a Hebrew. Oh no. He married somebody that wasn't one of us. So they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Actually yeah. Has he not spoken through us also and the Lord heard it? God speaks to me. He speaks to many people today, but they don't listen. But see, Moses was the person that God showed up at the bush and spoke directly to him. Amen. So they got pride and arrogance. Verse 3. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth. You know what? He was also the most used man by God in his time in all the earth. Humility doesn't mean weakness. It's actually strength.

Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out you three to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. In other words, God's saying, Bring me a switch. Come out here. Meet me out back. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. Didn't call Moses. And they both went forward. Then he said, Hey, hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision. In other words, talking about Moses. I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. Uh-oh. If it's a prophet. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to faith even plainly and not in dark scenes. And he sees the form of the Lord. Remember that he sees the form of the Lord. We're going to get into that in another message. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? We need to guard our words. We don't guard our WORDS, THAT'S AN INDICATION, WE'RE NOT HONORING THE THINGS OF GOD. WE DON'T FEAR GOD IN HIS WORD. AMEN? THEY WERE SPEAKING OUT BECAUSE OF PRIDE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU'RE GONNA MARRY THIS WOMAN, WE DON'T AGREE WITH THAT, SHE'S NOT ONE OF US. WE DON'T APPROVE OF HER. WELL, GOD DID. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. AMEN? OH GLORY TO GOD. VERSE 9, SO THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS AROUSED AGAINST THEM, AND HE DEPARTED. UH-OH, THE LORD LEFT, HE DEPARTED. MY, THAT WE TALKED ABOUT THIS IN THE LAST MESSAGE. YOU STEP OUT UNDERNEATH AN UMBRELLA, YOU'RE GOING TO GET WET. YOU STEP OUT FROM THE PROTECTION OF GOD, THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. HIM BE GONNA COME IN AND ATTACK. AND LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENED. VERSE 9, SO THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS AROUSED AGAINST THEM, AND HE DEPARTED. GOD GOT OUT OF THERE. AND WHEN THE CLOUD DEPARTED, WHEN GOD LEFT

FROM ABOVE THE TABERNACLE, SUDDENLY MYRIAM BECAME LEPROUS AS WHITE AS SNOW. WHOOPS, GOD LEFT, SATAN CAME IN TO ATTACK. WELL, WHY DID GOD LEAVE? BECAUSE OF THEIR REBELLION. HE WAS GIVING THEM AN OPPORTUNITY HERE. PROTECTION LEFT BECAUSE OF DISHONOR, REBELLION, STRIFE. AMEN? SEE, STRIFE IS A MANIFEST PRESENCE OF SATAN. HE SHOWS UP IN STRIFE AND HAS THE ABILITY TO MOVE AND CONVINCE PEOPLE TO DO THINGS, TO GET OFF. THERE WAS NO DISEASE ON HER UNTIL PROTECTION LEFT HER. GOD DID NOT PUT THE DISEASE ON HER. HE DEPARTED BECAUSE OF HER DISHONOR, BECAUSE SHE DID NOT FEAR THE LORD. SHE DID NOT REVERENCE HIM. SO HE LEFT, AND AS A RESULT, LEPROSY CAME. SEE, LEPROSY WAS A DEATH SENTENCE BACK THEN. THERE WAS NO MEDICAL HEALING FOR IT. NO CURE. SHE'S DYING. THERE AIN'T NO WAY UP. THERE AIN'T NO WAY OUT OF THIS. SHE'S ABOUT DONE. AMEN? VERSE 10, THEN AARON TURNED TOWARD MIRIAM, AND THERE SHE WAS A LEPER. SO AARON SAID TO MOSES, O MY LORD, WELL, THAT'S A CHANGE OF HEART. THEY WERE JUST GOSSIPING ABOUT HIM. THEY WERE JUST UPSET ABOUT HIM. NOW HE'S LIKE, O MY LORD, MOSES, HELP US, HELP US. CHANGE OF HEART. REALITY CAME AND SAT IN. STARTED TO GET HUMBLE. LAID DOWN SOME OF HIS ARROGANCE. AND IT SAYS, PLEASE DO NOT LAY THIS SIN ON US, IN WHICH WE HAVE DONE FOOLISHLY, IN WHICH WE HAVE SINNED. SO WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? BECAUSE OF LACK OF HONOR. BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT TREATING GOD'S THINGS, GOD'S PEOPLE PROPERLY. HIS WORD PROPERLY. THEY OPENED UP A DOOR TO THE ENEMY. BECAUSE OF THEIR ACTIONS, THEIR ATTITUDE, THEIR HEART. PLEASE DO NOT LET HER BE AS ONE DEAD, WHOSE FLESH IS HALF CONSUMED WHEN HE COMES OUT OF HIS MOTHER'S WOMB. SO HE BASICALLY SAID, WE'VE SINNED.

THAT'S TRUTH. THAT'S HUMILITY. REPENTANCE IS A GIFT OF GOD. IT MEANS CHANGE. HEY, I MISSED IT, MAN. PLEASE, LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US, MOSES. HELP US HERE. NOT THIS ARROGANT ATTITUDE OF JUDGING. AND, OH, WE'RE JUST AS GOOD AS YOU ARE. GOD WILL TALK TO US TOO. YOU KNOW, IF YOU AREN'T CALLED INTO THAT POSITION, AND YOU AREN'T HONORING THE THINGS OF GOD, HE'S NOT A RESPECTER OF PEOPLE. BUT IF YOU DON'T HONOR HIM, IF YOU DON'T SERVE HIM, IF YOU DON'T SEEK HIM, AND SOMEBODY ELSE IS, DON'T EXPECT TO HEAR FROM GOD THE SAME WAY THEY ARE. AMEN? IF THEY'RE PUTTING HIM FIRST IN THE DAY, FIRST IN THE WORD, FIRST IN THEIR LIFE, AND YOU'RE JUST LIKE, YEAH, OKAY, I'LL SHOW UP AND GO TO CHURCH AND MARK OFF ON A CHECKLIST, YEAH, I DID THAT THIS WEEK, I DID THAT, VERSUS TRULY THIRSTING AFTER HIM, HUNGERING AFTER HIM, GETTING IN HIS WORD, COMMUNING WITH HIM, PRAYING, TALKING TO HIM, IT'S GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT RESULT. SIN IS A HUGE DEAL, BUT THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE IS A BIGGER DEAL. IT WASHES AWAY THE SIN. AMEN? THANK YOU, LORD, FOR YOUR REPENTANCE THAT YOU'VE GIVEN US, THE ABILITY TO REPENT, TO RECEIVE FORGIVENESS, TO BE MADE CLEAN. THANK YOU, LORD. LEVITICUS 12-13, SO MOSES CRIED OUT TO THE LORD, SAYING, PLEASE HEAL HER, O GOD, I PRAY. THIS IS INTERCESSION. SEE, THIS IS LOVE. MOSES DIDN'T SAY, HEY, SHE JUDGED ME, SHE JUDGED MY WIFE, SHE GOSSIPED, SHE WAS CREATING STRIFE, SHE DESERVES IT, MAN. LORD, TAKE HER OUT. AMEN? THEY GOT WHAT THEY DESERVE. THEY GOT SOME THINGS COMING AND THEY GOT IT. WHOO, DOGGIE. No, he said, Lord, I love her. Have mercy on her. This is why Moses is in this place. AMEN? Then the Lord said said to Moses if her father had but spit in her face Would she not be ashamed for seven days?

Let her be shut out of the camp seven days and afterwards. She may be received again in other words Hey, she did some things wrong. She's gonna have to pay some price. She ain't we just can't wipe it clean She's gonna have to humble herself Amen, she's gonna be cast out of a camp for seven days Living in the situation. Everybody knows you hear what happened to Miriam, man So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days and the people did not journey to Miriam was brought in. That's mercy They didn't just say but catch up with us. They waited for her That's because their leader Moses was a humble man of love He said nope, let's wait for then we will go where we need to go You know sometimes out of ignorance people say they got what they served or they got that Situation in their life happening because of all their sin all their evil deeds. Well sin is sin. Amen Some denominations try to come up with all these levels. No any sin will keep you out of the blessings of God It's death. Amen sin produces death either you are sinless or you're going to hell Unless you receive Jesus and have been washed free You have been redeemed or bought back be either way No matter what you've done because of the blood of Jesus without that we'd all be dead and going to hell But thank you Lord, you know, there's a situation in the New Testament a few years ago during a hurricane I heard people saying it's hitting New Orleans and taking New Orleans up because of all the sin in that city. That's evil That's wrong. It's Ungodly, let me let me give you an example in the word turn with me to Luke chapter 13 verses 1 through 5 And we'll take a look at it It says there were present at that season some who told him about the gala Galileans Whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices evil and Jesus answered and said to them in other words They're saying look how evil this is how bad it is and it is but they're saying oh, he's worse than us We are better than he is arrogance pride Amen, and Jesus answered and said to them Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners and all the other Galileans? Because they suffered such things I tell you no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish

hmm Are those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them a tower fell? It's like a grudge falling in on people our house falling in a hurricane taking people out a tornado Do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I? Tell you no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish Thank you Lord for this gift of repentance This gift of repentance is a gift for protection back into our lives Amen back into the goodness of God right standing with God Hallelujah, man. It is the mercy of God Think of that Jesus came and went to hell for us some people say oh, it's cool to serve Satan. No, it's not Protection is a gift You know insurance companies when people say oh, it's an act of God No It's an act of Satan due to our sin your sin my sin the sin of mankind These are acts of Satan not acts of God They opened up the door due to sin just like you and I have opened up the door To Satan due to our sin the sin of mankind Amen it started with Adam, but you and I have failed to Live righteously without sin our whole lives as a result. We deserve death But my my my because of what Jesus did we don't have to die and go to hell. Mmm Glory to God 2nd Timothy 1 12 says for this reason. I also suffer these things nevertheless I am NOT ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have Committed to him until that day in other words part of the problem Is that we aren't committing our ways to God and things to God and he will keep it for us if we commit it to him Satan is a loser Man, he is such a loser You know, yeah, the only way you have a testimony is if you pass test Satan is an arrogant Puny loser. You know it reminds me of this video from a movie from the Marvel Studios from

distributed by Walt Disney. Watch this little 20 second video. Enough! You are all of you beneath me. I am a god you dull creature and I will not be bullied by puny god. Yep he whooped that little demon. That little so-called god. Now this is just an example of a of a story you know a movie but Jesus. That's the way satan is with Jesus. Boom puny little god that people think they're worshiping. He is about ready to be tied up by an angel and put into hell and everybody on his team will be put into hell with him. But if you join the right team the right side amen you may take some mind renewal but if you receive Jesus as your lord and savior my your name's written in the books of heaven with eternal life no god is not mad at you because you sin that's a lie you know are you going to reject your children because they've made a mistake no god he opened up a door by sending Jesus his son to die for you and me but it's up to us to choose wisely to choose to receive him amen gospel means good news people think they're not good enough to go to church they're inferior to be around those people those religious people don't be religious i hate religion i want a relationship with the creator not be all religious holier than now that's just lack of humility arrogance pride pride comes before a fall nobody wants to be around that amen you need to humble yourself if that's you the gospel is good news good news of what that you don't have to go to hell don't have to burn in the fire amen because of what jesus did for us amen glory to god well this is mike kennedy with living in victory if you don't know jesus you can receive

him as your lord right now just say heavenly father i believe that you sent your son jesus to die on the cross he went to hell he rose from the grave and is seated in heaven lord i ask you to be lord of my life my savior cleanse me forgive me of my sins i receive you in the name of jesus amen glory to god you and i are going to spend eternity together hallelujah have a blessed day