The Problem with Evil and God's Plan to End It



The seven-week Wednesday evening series entitled The Problem with Evil and God's Plan to End It concluded on March 29, 2006.

Steve Pickett and Jeff Miller developed and presented the material each week to a regular group of members and visitors. Each session was also recorded for future availability on our church website.

In addition, handouts that included Bible texts and commentary enabled participants to readily follow the presentations, make notes, and have a printed copy for later personal study. Pastor David Fish, who strongly encouraged the two laymen to develop their insights into such a program, welcomed attendees each night and enthusiastically supported the sessions in whatever way possible.

An excerpt from Part II, entitled "The Cost of Freedom-The Creation and Fall of Lucifer," follows.

Freedom has boundaries. For freedom to work, all must respect the freedoms of others. Love seeks the happiness of all and willingly makes itself subject to the desires of others. What Satan desired was not so much freedom as independence. He wished not to be limited by the will or desires of others. Independence has no boundaries.

Leaving the warmth of the circle of give and receive, he shot out on his own, desperately grasping, taking what he could to please himself.

If God has allowed sinners the freedom to have their way, should we be surprised that bad things happen to us? Is God the cause when bad things happen? It is not only the will of men being acted out on this earth, but angels on both sides of the controversy are working their wills as well. And we to various degrees fall victim.

How far would God allow freedom to go? Does He always allow sin to hurt the innocent? Does God sometimes interfere on behalf of those suffering? Yes, some times He resorts to emergency measures such as with the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. So, when does He step in and when does He not? We may not be able to answer this while still on this earth. However, we know that He cannot stop ALL evil or freedom would not reign, and we would be mere robots. Eternity would not be truly secure, and love would never realize its full potential.

Not only are the end results of sin to be demonstrated, but it will also be shown that love, though it takes longer, will always win out in the end. Satan has lost his case, especially in the death of Christ. But the demonstration of love among God's people will be the last exhibition before God brings sin to its final end.

Recorded Sessions

1. Love and The Godhead (1 Hour 16 minutes)
When we see God's love as revealed in Jesus, we begin to realize how much we have misunderstood what love is. God is love and we will only know love as we learn it from Him. Handout for Love and The Godhead

2. The Cost of Freedom (1 Hour 10 minutes)
Love is concern for the best interests of others. But it cannot be forced. Can you have love without freedom? How free is free? Through freedom's door, sin (self-centered thinking) entered into Heaven. Handout for The Cost of Freedom

3. Guilt and The Fall of Man (1 Hour 19 minutes)
Why is this world such a mess and who is responsible for it? Why has God taken so long to do something about it? Handout for Guilt and The Fall of Man

4. God Provides (1 Hour 16 minutes)
Though God has done nothing that would provide a cause for sin, He has provided every means to remedy the problem. He will not force or control us, He will teach us a better way. Handout for God Provides

5. The Wilderness (1 Hour 18 minutes)
Though sin has left us cut off from the rest of God's universe, God has promised to lead us through this wilderness of sin and on to the Promised Land. He has revealed Himself in the Sanctuary of the wilderness. Handout for The Wilderness

6. Jesus The Christ (1 Hour 19 minutes)
Never has the love of God been revealed as it is in the life and death of Jesus. He gave His all that we might understand both what sin would do and what His love would do. Handout for Jesus The Christ

7. The End of Sin (1 Hour 18 minutes)
Sin will not last forever. The glory of God is His love and this is revealed in the way He has dealt with the problem of sin in His Universe, saving as many as He can before all the works of sin are destroyed. Handout for The End of Sin

These files are in MP3 format ranging around 13 MB. If you have a dial-up connection to the internet or if you would like to copy a sermon and listen to it later; right click the sermon title and click "save target as", choose a place to save it on your hard drive where you can find it (could take up to an hour with dial-up), then open it with Windows Media Player or other MP3 player.

The handouts are in pdf format and much smaller.
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