Matthew Lester

Christ follower! Husband, Dad, PopPop! Spreading the Love & Good News of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Kansas State University football fan. Views are mine

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

@CollegeGameDay I agree 😱

[Ross Johnston @revivalistross]

My Muslim uber driver tried challenging me when he heard I was a Christian.

This is how you preach the gospel right on the spot to them!

Notice how Islam can never answer these questions?

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

Why Should I Be Muslim? https://t.co/3o4FR3tX2i via @YouTube

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

3 of 3 Josh 14:10-13 NIV
12 continued) helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”
13) Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. Don’t stop serving our Lord & Savior no matter how old you are! Jesus Christ is my Lord & my Savior!

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

2 of 3 Josh 14:10-13 NIV
11 continued) just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12) Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

1 of 3 Jos 14:10-14 NIV
10) “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, 85 years old! 11) I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out;

[Adam | Faithful Messenger @Adam_FaithfulM]

If God is good, why does He allow suffering?

This is the question that has driven more people away from faith than any other. It deserves an honest answer, not a slogan.

So let's state it at full strength. If God is all-powerful, He could stop suffering. If He is all-good, He would want to. Yet children die of cancer, tsunamis sweep away whole villages, and innocent people are tortured. So either God isn't powerful, isn't good, or isn't there. The argument is usually traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, and David Hume sharpened it in the eighteenth century. Dostoevsky gave it its most painful form when he had one of his characters say that no future harmony could ever be worth the tears of a single tortured child.

Christians who brush this off with "God has a plan" haven't felt its weight. So let's feel it, and then look closer.

First, notice what the objection assumes. To call the world's suffering evil, you need a standard of good that the world falls short of. C.S. Lewis said his own case against God rested on the universe being cruel and unjust. Then he asked where he'd gotten the idea of "just" in the first place. If there is no God, suffering isn't evil. It's just nature doing what it does. The protest against suffering is itself a cry that things are not as they should be.

Second, much of the suffering in this world comes from human hands. Love that cannot be refused isn't love, and a world with real freedom is a world where people can choose cruelty. Scripture goes further and says the whole creation was subjected to futility and groans under it (Romans 8:20-22). The Bible doesn't pretend this world is the way God made it.

Third, "I can't see a reason" is not the same as "there is no reason." Job demanded an answer from God, and God never gave him one. Instead, God asked him where he was when the foundations of the earth were laid (Job 38:4). Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers, said years later, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). He couldn't see that for twenty years.

And here's where Christianity says something no other answer does. It doesn't explain every suffering. It claims that God did not stay outside of it. Jesus stood at the tomb of His friend Lazarus and wept (John 11:35), even though He knew He was about to raise him. Then He went to the cross and entered the worst of it: betrayal, torture, abandonment, and death. We do not have a God who cannot sympathize with our weakness (Hebrews 4:15).

The story isn't finished, either. Scripture promises a day when God will wipe away every tear, and death and pain will be no more (Revelation 21:4).

So if you're asking this question from inside the suffering, here's what I can't give you: a neat reason for your specific pain. But I can point you to a God who has nail scars. He doesn't explain suffering from a distance. He carried it, and He has promised to end it.

Have you ever wrestled with this question?

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

2 of 2 Matthew Henry’s Commentary on 1 Cor 16:13: A Christian is always in danger, therefore should ever be on the watch. He should be fixed in the faith of the gospel, & never desert or give it up. By this faith alone he will be able to keep his ground in an hour of temptation.

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

1 of 2
1 Corinthians 16:13 NIV
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

@DavidJHarrisJr Preach Pastor Myles!! 💯 Truth

[Live Free Podcast @TheLiveFreePod]

The Bible was breathed out by the living God. You should not be surprised to learn there is a verse for EVERYTHING 👇

"I wish someone taught me this when I first started reading the Bible." – Pastor @CarlosErazoGTG

[Kate @kate_p45]

Christians, wake up and vote.

Sitting this one out is not neutrality. It is surrender.

If you stay home, Muslims will not.

They will show up, they will organize, and they will decide the future you refused to fight for.

Your faith, your country, and your children are on the ballot.

Vote like it. Vote RED

Cc:@pastormyles

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

This video of Hillary Clinton saying the quiet part out loud about Christians is going viral again for some reason.

This stuff is only going to grow more prevalent in our culture. Stand firm, Christian.

[Joe Frank Hernandez @JoeFrankHernan1]

Dr. Jay Smith DECIMATES Quran's Credibility & Divine Origin Claims! https://t.co/EV5teD9H9i via @YouTube Ban Islam and other Islamic liars

[JTTCOTM 🇺🇸 @JTTCOTM]

@TRobinsonNewEra Scholar exposes islam/quran's false history
https://t.co/o49wA0ziKI

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

GodLogic: Does “Firstborn” Mean Jesus Was Created? | Colossians 1 https://t.co/xb1RyevqUp via @YouTube

[Dr. Lee Warren @brainmindlife]

I stood outside in Iraq while mortars fell and realized I had zero control over where the next one would land. I felt that same helplessness the day my son Mitch died.

What got me through both was a verse I preached to myself until my mind believed it:

"And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17 (ESV)

That's self-brain surgery. When you can't control your circumstances, your brain sounds the alarm on repeat.

But your mind is in charge of your brain, and you get to choose what it rehearses.

Every time you tell yourself the truth that Jesus is holding this, you strengthen a pathway of trust instead of panic.

The fourth commandment of self-brain surgery is I must believe that my mind is in charge of my brain.

It's hard and holy work.

Save this for the day you need it, and share it with someone who's under fire right now.

I'm your friend Dr. Lee Warren, hopefully your favorite brain surgeon. Hit that follow button for more connections between neuroscience and faith every day.

Click the link in my bio to learn more about The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery.

#selfbrainsurgery #anxiety #control #mentalhealth

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

The Biggest THREAT to Christianity Is Happening RIGHT NOW (ft. Philip An... https://t.co/yavG4AcBDo via @YouTube
I love these 2 men of God! I pray in the Mighty Name of our Lord & our Savior Jesus Christ divine protection over these 2 men of God, their families & their ministries

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

@DScottFritchen D. Scott ‘some fans’ - I think you meant to say ‘some previous fans’. The rest of us KSU fans will not panic and instead stay on the train and see how the season turns out.

[Matthew Lester @MatthewLester24]

@kstatevangirl Agree 💯 a bounce here a bounce there and we leave town with the W