The Book of Acts: The Church Meets Needs Acts 1:8 Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. How did they do it? I. They knew Jesus. The personal effect of the man Jesus of Nazareth. II. Powerful truth-claims. Those two alone were not enough to sustain a movement

Changing the World in Our Time III. Moral/Ethical superiority of the Christians. IV. They could successfully answer the hard questions. Intellectual superiority. V. Christianity gave dignity to all people The church had compassion like no one else VI. Because God was with them (Acts 5:39)

The Christian World View 1. The physical world is: a. real b. created out of nothing (ex nihilo) and c. essentially good. 2. There exists an unseen spiritual reality which is not limited to or defined by the physical reality. Human beings have a spiritual aspect to their nature. 3. The creator of both the physical and spiritual realm is the God who reveals himself in the Bible. 4. Human beings have both a physical and a spiritual nature, The spiritual nature is more essential as it is eternal. 5. God is not easily defined but he can be characterized by certain qualities. God is a person. God is love, God is just, God is holy, God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.

The Christian World View (cont.) 6. Although all God’s creation, including the physical world is good, evil does exist. Such evil is the result of freedom of will given to created beings and their subsequent decision to use that freedom to rebel--to “sin” 7. Because of God’s justice and his holiness, those who choose to rebel against him will ultimately be judged and separated from God for eternity. 8. The solution to evil, to sin and its eternal consequences is provided by God through the atoning substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Christian World View Answers the Big Questions How did I get here? Why am I here? Where am I going? Why does evil exist? Why is there pain and suffering and evil in the world?

The Church Met Needs/We Need to Meet Needs Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling… Acts 3:1-10 Silver and gold we do not have, but what we have we will give. In the name of Jesus, get up and walk. What a testimony. We do not have much but what we have we will freely give. Acts 4:32-35 All needs were met. Acts 5:12-16 Meeting needs, healing.

Jesus’ Church Meets Needs Acts 9:36-38 Tabitha Acts 10:2 Cornelius Gal 2:10 All the apostles asked was that we should continue to remember the poor…. Gal 6:10 Especially to those who belong to the family of believers

The Christian World View Has Given Us: Science Abolition of Slavery (Wilberforce) Civil Rights Women’s Rights 8

Julian “the apostate.” (332-363) “Atheism (i.e. Christian faith) has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

What about Pain and Suffering? Haiti, January, 2010

Suffering and Evil: The Apologetic Problem A Summary Most suffering is the result of free will and our choice to sin. It is because God loves us, not because he does not care or is not powerful enough to stop us from suffering. Pain is not evil, death is not evil, suffering is not evil. All of these are gifts from a loving God.

What are the Alternatives? Pantheism/Hinduism Suffering is an illusion Dispassion is the answer. Atheism. Suffering is purely random and meaningless. Islam: Kismet (fate) Inshallah (God wills it) Christians do a majority of the benevolent work in most countries.

The Christian Response: Compassion! Jeremiah 22:15-16 Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? Declares the Lord. James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The Christian Response: Compassion! Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Micah 6:8 He has shown you, oh man, what is good, ad what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.This world is very real and God cares about suffering

Jesus and Suffering John 11:35 Jesus wept. Matthew 23:35 Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem

What Are You Doing? Be like Job. Use your suffering as an opportunity to show empathy. Spend time with the aging Fight addiction Help illegal aliens find justice Alleviate poverty

Compassion is Evangelism Matthew 9:36-38 The best way to prevent and alleviate suffering? Help someone to be saved.

Communion: Jesus and Suffering Hebrews 2:14-18 Hebrews 4:14-16