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SOUL SURFER

WORKING ALL THINGS FOR GOOD

Show movie trailerRomans 8:18-30

Soul Surfer is based on the truly inspirational story of BethanyHamilton, a competitive surfer who at 13 years old had her left armtaken off at almost the shoulder by a 14 foot tiger shark at HanaleiBay, Kauai.

Lets allow Bethany to tell her own story.

Amazing isnt it? One of the many things that are accurate in the

movie is that Bethany was back in the water a little over three weeks

after the attack. By January of 2004 (less than three months) laterBethany was again competing. In the movie, while there are

understandable moments of questioning Gods motives and wrestling

with this tragic almost fatal attack, Bethany truly did seem to have an

optimism and a faith that propeled her forward.

The question Bethanys experiences raises is why do we suffer? Why

do we experience bad things in life? What does the Bible have to say

about this.

Let me take you back to the passage of Scripture that was read to usthis morning. Verse 18 says, 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing

compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.Just think about this with me. Youre going through a terrible

time. You want to be a pro surfer. A shark bites off your arm. You

want to have a large family. You cant conceive. You dream of being a

doctor and helping people. Your average is two percent below

admission to medical school. Whats the worst that can happen to you?

How does the Bible answer our suffering?There are THREE

PRESPECTIVES THIS PASSAGES GIVES US. There is the perspective of

the glory that awaits us, the support He promises us and the work he

does in us.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE GLORY THAT AWAITS US. Again verse

18 tells us, Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the gloryhe will reveal to us later. Just think about that for a moment. Whathope can you offer me when life is awful? When things are so bad thatI dont even want to get out of bed in the morning.

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Glory is a perfect physical reality. What Paul is doing is he is painting

this contrast. Heres the world. Heres the impact of the corrupt

influence of sin. Its so bad, its so pervasive the very world that wereapart of groans because of it. In other words we not only suffer but

the world suffers.

This takes us right back to the garden of Eden where the originalman and woman was created to love and enjoy God and they weregiven dominion over the creation that God entrusted to them.

When Adam and Eve broke that trust Genesis 3 tells us this16To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in

childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall befor your husband, and he shall rule over you."17And to Adam he said,

"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of

the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'

cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all thedays of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and

you shall eat the plants of the field.19By the sweat of your face you

shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were

taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Before this the world that God had created was literally theGarden of Eden. The original sin literally impacted the very ground

that we walk on so that instead of being this life giving place, where

actually everyone was at the very least vegetarian, in not vegan, inother words where sharks werent going around chomping off peoplesarms, the earth became a place inhabited by thorns and thistles.

Let me just say Ive been reminded of this again recently. Some

of you know my dad lives in Lantzville in an absolutely gorgeous spotoverlooking the ocean. Hes got about a half acre that he bought about20 years ago from a guy whose life had unraveled. When my dad

bought the place it was like a jungle and buried beneath all the weeds

were cars and all sorts of junk.

But it was really weird because when my dad began to clean out

the junk he discovered all this evidence that this place was oncebeautifully landscaped. My dad loves gardening and soon hed

transformed the place with pathways and arbours and imported

english roses. It was so beautiful that it was annually included in an

annual international rose garden tour.But as some of you know my dads friend of many years developed

Alzheimers disease over the past couple of years. She is now in a care

home and doesnt even recognize my dad. Yet my dad spends anaverage of 5 to 6 hours a day caring for her.

Over the summer Ive been going over on Long weekends after Ipreach and its still obviously a beautiful yard but you know whats

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unmistakable? If were not careful the thorns and the thistles are going

to take over.

How does it give us hope in the midst of suffering? How does it make

Bethany Hamilton optimistic in the loss of her arm? Easy. Verse 20 and

21 tells us, 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to Godscurse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the daywhen it will join Gods children in glorious freedom from death anddecay.

The Bible gives us the perspective, it instills in us the hope that

life is not the way it should be and is not the way that it will be. Thereis the hope of glory, which in this case is pointing towards the day

when God will make everything right and everything as it shall be.

I love what C.S. Lewis says about this. He writes, They say of

some temporal suffering, No future bliss can make up for it, notknowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and will turn

even that agony into a glory.

I would say having that perspective makes all the difference in

the world in the midst of suffering because you can constantly remind

yourself that the best is yet to come and that even the pain of whatyou suffer will be so radically vanquished that what has happened will

only serve to make our future life and joy infinitely greater.

And I dont want us to miss the fact that our future glory will bephysical. Heaven isnt an ethereal place or just a gathering of souls orspirits. At the end of verse 23 we read, We, too, wait with eager hopefor the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,

including the new bodies he has promised us.Yes we can get angry and depressed and go through all the

stages of grief when we experience loss and when we suffer but the

Bible tells us that a day is coming when our suffering shall be no more

and even that all we have suffered will be put right.

THE SECOND PERSEPECTIVE IS THE SUPPORT HE OFFERS US.Let me just ask whats so painful about suffering? Read the book of

Job if you forget. Isnt it often that we feel so all alone.

But notice how Paul encourages us. 26 And the Holy Spirit helps

us in our weakness. For example, we dont know what God wants us topray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be

expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows

what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers inharmony with Gods own will.

A literal translation actually uses the word intercedes. Whenyou intercede youre doing something on behalf of someone else. We

pray and sometimes we have a sense of what it is that God wants us

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to pray for and we pray clearly and powerful. But sometimes,

especially those times of suffering God gives us the assurance that He

is actually praying for us. That the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of usis actually praying through us and interceding for us. In other words

that we can know that were not alone. That even in our darkest

moments God the Holy Spirit is praying through us for us.I just want to say that sometimes these prayers dont actually

give voice but I also believe that this is talking about a God givenprayer language. The same word as is used for the gift of tongues is

used here. Its not obviously a public gift of tongues because this is

personal and private. But I would encourage you to allow the Spirit topray through you as you pour your heart out to God especially in those

moments when you feel so alone.

But there is one last perspective that is literally an entire sermon orseries in itself and that is the perspective of GOD COMPLETEING THE

WORK HE HAS BEGUN IN US. Heres this amazing verse, this amazing

promise from God 28 And we know that God causes everything to work

together for the good of those who love God and are called according

to his purpose for them.Isnt it interesting how Paul introduces this statement? And we

know We know this. I would say it like this if we will look from the

perspective that God gives us we know that this statement that Paulmakes is absolutely true.

What is the statement? God causes everything to work togetherfor the good of those who love God and are called according to his

purpose for them.Let me just ask does this mean that we never suffer or never

feel pain? Does it mean that God doesnt love us if we suffer or feel

pain. Absolutely not. We may feel that way but this entire section of

Scripture is Gods assurance to us through the experience of suffering.

Whats going to help you make it through those painful seasons

of your life when you suffer? You can know that nothing is going to bewasted. You can know that because God called you Hes going to see

you through.

In Pauls very own words at the end of this chapter you can

knowIf God is for us, who can ever be against us?

32

Since he did notspare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, wont he also give

us everything else?33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for

his own? No onefor God himself has given us right standing withhimself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No onefor Christ Jesus diedfor us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place ofhonor at Gods right hand, pleading for us.

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35Can anything ever separate us from Christs love? Does it mean he

no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or

hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?36 (As theScriptures say, For your sake we are killed every day; we are being

slaughtered like sheep.) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming

victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods

love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither ourfears for today nor our worries about tomorrownot even the powers

of hell can separate us from Gods love. 39 No power in the sky above

or in the earth belowindeed, nothing in all creation will ever be ableto separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our

Lord.

What perspective can bring you hope in suffering? That God will notgive up to you. And not only will He not give up on you but He will

make good everything that you experience so that you will become

and you will experience everything that God desires for you.

If you can know that, if you can take that perspective then you too can

be like Bethany Hamilton and endure the greatest of suffering while

shining Gods light in everything you do.