Is God In Control? | Ron + Hope: Unfiltered

Foreign.

Hello, everybody. I'm tickled.

What?

I'm still tickled thinking about John G.

Tell everybody. Hey, let's keep it rolling.

Camera guys. Hey, guys. This is running Hope. Unfiltered, real raw, relevant. But one of our camera guys is named John G. John G. And.

And the women love John G. Our.

Other camera guy said, oh, the women love John G. He was like, no, Pastor, no, it's not true. It's not true. Ron said, it's a cross you have to carry, John.

It is.

It's just when you're.

When the women love you, you just have to bear it. You do just have to bear it.

You do. Okay. It sounds like a DJ name. DJ John G. Mm.

I should get a T shirt. The crossbearers.

Oh, my gosh.

Anyway, the men who are chased by too many women. Is that cross bearers?

Mm.

Because there's nothing you can do. Really. People can't help who they love, can they? Can't help it.

Water wasn't open.

Can't help it.

You're just a good looking man, Ron.

I wasn't talking about me. It's talking about Junji. We better be laughing. You picked the saddest topic today.

It's not sad. It's very relevant.

You told me I got like, Ron.

It'S relevant to every.

Yeah, but I want a podcast to be happy. I have to preach about all kind of stuff. It's real podcast. To be happy.

It's relevant. So I guess you're wondering what we're gonna talk about today.

Yeah, but to talk about this, you can't just talk about it casually. That's my thing.

I'm not talking about it casually.

I got to get into some stuff, which means you gonna make my brain work. And I can't just be funny and I gotta hunker down and I gotta think.

I just told you earlier this morning, I said it's not sad. It is the truth. I. I said everybody in the world suffers from time to time. We all go through things that are painful.

Why do the righteous suffer?

Or period? Why does anybody have to suffer?

There is hope.

So many.

I'm going to be honest with you. There is. There is an. There is an explanation for human suffering, but it is a cataclysmic doctrinal debate. I mean, the highest and greatest minds in the world sit on stages and debate it before theologians, but I don't think it's that it is. Well, you try and define the origin of it and get understanding from it, not just how do you respond and what can it do in your life? And God will heal you and restore you. Those are all the things we say about the sufferings in our lives. And though all those things are true, I'm not belittling that, but the origin and the why behind human suffering. I mean, there's been books written about that that can line up Barnes and Nobles for rows. And I do believe, I'm not a theologian. I don't want to debate anybody. I'm not an apologist or a defender of the faith. I've not given myself to that kind of study. I love to go YouTube and watch these guys who can and see the way their mind works. But I do believe there is a biblical answer to human suffering. And I'm like you, I think especially since my move to the west coast where there's a lot less church culture and that's being conservative to say it like that. You do have a, you know, I can't. Why would I serve God? You know, there's too much bad and heard a guy said there's too much bad blank in the world. So God. So he thinks God calls the crap if God. I've even heard it in Joe Rogan's earlier days. Joe Rogan, who is the podcast king, has really come a long way. I've heard some great things, I've seen some great. I think he's very open minded. Some say he's even started attending church. I don't know, I haven't verified any of this, but he's the most recognized voice among podcasters and even he used to approach this. You tell me there's this good God and there's all this human suffering and this killing and this war and famine and disease. And even the mayor during COVID the mayor of New York City looked right in the camera and said, why has God done this to us? And hope. I wanted to shove my head through the tv. I, I remember, I mean, just because God gets blamed, he does for things he had nothing to do with. And let me go back this far. If you guys got the stomach for it, I'm going to take a couple of shots at it.

Do number one. Let me just ask you a question, just a point blank question. Do you believe God is responsible for the suffering in the world?

God created a world where men have choice because God is love. Love is reciprocal. There's no such thing as love that's not reciprocated. If you love me and I say I love you, but I reciprocate nothing. There's no such thing as that. Love is active.

Love gives.

Love is active. And when God created man, it's like, well, why did he create the potential for evil and sin? Because love, by its truest definition and purest form, is a choice. You cannot force love. I can't make you love me. You chose to love me. I hope 35 years later you're happy with your choice because you're kind of stuck here with me. But you chose to love me. You had 4 billion choices, and you chose me. I chose you. Love is a choice. How long have you heard me use this illustration? But I think it's a great one. I've heard a lot of people say, man, that illustration hit me if I'm coming home. And I've been gone preaching for three days and my kids are in the house, and you say, all right, your daddy's here. Now I need you to go give him a hug when he drives up. I don't want that hug. That hug's meaningless. But if they hear the car shut off and they hear my car door open and Chandler blasts out that door, daddy, Daddy, Daddy. My boys come through the arm. That is the greatest thing ever. Why? Not because you told them to do it, but because they chose to do it? God created Adam and said, I love you. You can choose to love me back. If you choose to love me back, why do you call me Lord and not do what I say? Love will be proven. And keep these commands right. It's all yours. Don't touch this one. But, Adam, the choice is yours. But if you touch this one, all hell's going to break loose. That's right.

Consequences.

All hell's going to break loose. Adam chose not to love back. And because of that rebellion, every vile evil thing known in the earth come through that portal we call sin. So evil exists because of sin. Sin exists because of choice.

Right.

Evil is in the world because man chose evil. Man chose it. The potential for it was there because love can accept you or love can reject you. So God didn't want the hug. Okay, go give God a hug. I will equate that to our modern day praise and worship leader. Okay, everybody, I want you to lift your hands. I wonder if that means anything to God.

When you're told to do it and you just do it.

If I got to tell you to praise, if I got to tell you to shout if I got to tell you to sing if I got to work you and torque you and I got to. I got to prime the pump because the Bible Talks about acceptable worship. In Romans 12, I told people, if there's acceptable worship, then there has to be unacceptable worship. To me, unacceptable worship would be the worship that I told you to give him. Yeah, that's what accept. I don't, I don't want that. If I were God, I don't want the hands that somebody be begged them to raise. If you can't raise your hands because you love me and honor me enough and I've been that good to you, I don't want you to raise your hands. So that is a very elementary. But it's the seed bed fundamental argument. How did it get in the work?

Is he responsible for suffering?

No, no sin is responsible for suffering. We live in a fallen world.

Yes.

And in that fallen world, we don't.

Live in Eden anymore.

No, no.

We were cast out of the heaven.

You can use your keys to the kingdom that Jesus told us and we can release heaven into our life. But the fact is whatever we experience from heaven, we're going to do it while we're in the earth. And the Bible says that a kingdom life suffers violence. There will always be a headwind blowing against kingdom living.

Always.

Always. You know, there's always unrighteous that's fighting righteous. There's always wrong, that's fighting right. And you know, the poor hate the rich and the unsuccessful hate the successful and you know, racial. There's always this, there's always this tension that exists because we live in a fallen state. Because God gave man a choice. God didn't make us live in suffering. Man chose to live in this suffering.

So because we are living in a world that's in a fallen state, there will always be sickness, disease.

There's always a struggle. There's always a struggle, always a struggle.

And you have to occupy. Right.

But here's the thing.

Kingdom territory.

Here's the thing. And this is when you said this, I knew I would have to go here. And I'm like, man, I don't like to throw things out, maybe that are right. I know you don't, but that I don't have the time to develop and wrap it up. The reason God gets blamed because of this age old religious cliche. God is in control. We sing it, we say it, preachers preach it.

And I think that's why people outside of the church blame God for so much because we have taught this wrongly.

If God is in control and my life sucks.

Right. Then God did it.

Yeah, God sucks.

Yeah.

If God, if he's in control and he's Doing all this, then I don't want anything to do with that. God.

Right.

And the Bible specifically says. And I mean, this is this hope. You talk about me throwing gas on an inferno. Yeah, but I'll just. I'll roll the dice. I can. I can clean this up and back it up Biblically. I don't have time to do that. And that's not what this is for. But somebody's suffering. And you want to know how did I get here? And probably how did I get out? I'll tell you how to get out. The Bible teaches in Mark 11 that the earth is on a lease. There's a parable Jesus taught, but he's showing us how the kingdom operates. The Earth is owned by the Lord. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world is opposite of the earth. The world is the kingdoms of the world. The world is the governing systems. And for God so loved the world, he sent his son. Earth is not the problem. Everybody's trying to save the Earth. The Earth don't have a problem. The world is the Earth problem. The world is corrupt. The government system, the authoritative system, the judicial system, maybe even the lawsuit.

The people run it.

The financial system, the business system, the educational systems, because it's not corrupt. The kingdoms of this world will one day have to become the kingdoms of our God. But right now, the Bible says Satan is the God of this. He's running the systems.

Yes.

Why does your life suck? Because Satan is running the systems that you live in. But we say God is in control.

But when you say Satan's running it.

He'S the God of the systems.

He's running it through people, the gates of hell.

People are the gates of hell or the windows of heaven. You will be an opening for one or the other your whole life. So what are you going to release into the earth? Are you going to release heaven or hell?

Right.

So the Bible says that Satan is the God of this world and that the earth is on a lease. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Ownership of the earth is not in question. But everything I deal with and every system I deal with is corrupt. All of them. I don't care what your political view is. All of them are corrupt. I don't care where you went to school. All of them are corrupt. Because Satan is the God of the systems, the cosmos, the cosmetology, the makeup of the earth. He's in charge of that. Okay? Now, I've always said this. The Father and Jesus are One Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Father of the three are one and they cannot contradict each other. So if God, you know, we have, you know, Covid, why has God done this to us? And a tsunami. Why has God done this to us? And you know, tornadoes sweep through the Midwest, wipe out subdivision. Why has God done this to us? And a hurricane comes to Florida and it's an act of God by the insurance company. So the fact is, if all these natural disasters and things are, God is in control. Then when the tempest came the storm and it was sinking the boat, Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the waves. If God were controlling the natural disaster, then Jesus would have been rebuking his Father. And Jesus specifically said, I only say what I hear my Father say. I only do what I see my Father do. I and the Father are one. You will never see any part of the Godhead contradict each other. Period. Okay? And Psalm 8 says, you have made man and you have given him dominion over the works of your hands. And you have put all things under his feet. You gave him dominion over what you did.

So basically we're sitting back waiting on God.

Waiting on God in a bottle, waiting.

On God to fix everything. And we do nothing.

God, when are you going to fix this mess? Not understanding, he uses us that now you are the anointed in the earth. Yes, Jesus went back to heaven and left the anointing. So we are now God's anointed in the earth. And the Bible says in Romans 8, yes, I believe in a second coming of Jesus and I want to be out on the first load. But the Bible says the corruption is run by the world systems, by Satan, the God of this world. And the Bible says, but the earth shall be delivered from its corruption into the glorious hands of the children of God.

So good. Delivered out of the cross, the earth.

Is in the pains of childbirth, eagerly awaiting the sons of God to be revealed. It's hurting tsunamis, earthquakes, floods. It's in the pains of childbirth. Why? Awaiting a people who will deliver it from corruption.

Right.

So Jesus comes to his people and says, I'm giving you the keys of the kingdom. Bring heaven into earth back.

Yeah. So suffering is inevitable because we are living in a sin sick world. But the sons of God are the answer.

That's why I was always troubled. I would not trade places with the way I was brought up theologically with anybody. I really wouldn't. But there were probably four or five things about it that I look back on that troubled me and Number one of it was the constant. Sitting behind stained glass windows, praying for Jesus to hurry up and come get me from a life that I feel powerless to change. That posture. Yeah, that posture bothered me. And when I read the Bible, the Bible was so empowering. And in Jesus name you shall cast out devils. And in Jesus name you shall drink deadly poison. It shall bind. No, no. Means harm you.

I mean, let me stop you right. Let me stop right there. That's a. A good thing. That triggered in my head. Okay, so when the Christians evoke the name of Jesus over a sick body, that does not get healed. Okay, we're evoking the name of Jesus over a sick body, trying to be the sons of God in the earth.

Okay, I'm reaching. I'm reaching. Because those are hard to explain. Number one. I'm just going to admit to everybody, I think there's something about healing we don't know.

I do too.

There's a key. There's a key. There's a key to everything. There's a key to peace. There's a key to overcoming. There's a key. I mean, everything in the kingdom, there's a key that unlocks it. There is something. Not saying it's a prescription. I'm not saying it's an abcd. There's something to healing. We don't know. Because if you read it in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is the atonement, which means all of that stuff should be in the atonement. And it says, you know, we're wounded for transgression, bruised for iniquity. They said by stripes, I'm healed. So healing should be just as sure. Salvation.

Right. I agree.

Okay. But the reality of it is my flesh is my furthest point from God.

It is.

My flesh is most susceptible to corruption over anything else. And so the place of us, my spirit is. Is God. My spirit's born again of God.

My soul is being renewed.

My soul is being renewed a second. It has this God consciousness. My flesh, the Bible says, does not change until I get a glorified body. So the part that the enemy attacks with sickness is the part of you that is furthest from God.

The furthest from God. It's the hardest to reign.

So to bring salvation and atonement into my flesh is the furthest trip.

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I do. That makes sense. But you know, the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will.

Fit all of that, and I won't back off.

However, like you said at the beginning, love is Reciprocal. He's given us the if thens. If you do this, then I'll do that. He's already sat down. His work is finished. We have to occupy until he comes. But we eat terribly. We don't take care of our bodies, stuffing sugar in it. We don't have supplies. I mean, all of the natural things. But then we want to come to the altar, 350 pounds and say, God, heal me.

Hope I could have an altar call for healing Sunday. And easily, without begging or without much effort. Have 500 people come forward. Okay. But if I said tomorrow night, Monday night, we're going to start a class on healthy living, I wouldn't have ten. Shall I?

No, no. Because our flesh, that's a part of our flesh, like you said, it's the furthest away from God. It's the hardest to reign in. Right. And we want God to do everything and us not to be partners with him for our healing.

Right. So I know, I've talked in my series on words, I talked about planting the heavens. I do believe when it comes to your body, the Word, there has to be a process where you just keep bombarding your flesh with word and you plant. What does a plant? Plant is seed, time and harvest. If you keep saying it and you keep planting it, there'll come a time that you'll harvest it in your bodies. A lot of the Word of Faith guys have proven that. You know, some of them Word of faith guys are 85, 90 years old, still kicking it. I mean, their mind is keen and they riding around on Harleys.

Right.

I mean, it's just crazy. But you know, getting back to the thing about, you know, God is in control. That is where God gets blamed for human suffering. Because we have tacked everything that's going on. God is the author of it. He's behind all of it, and all of it originates from Him. The only thing where I can bring where God says he inserts himself into control is that Proverbs, Solomon said this. The plans of men are many, but the purpose of God ultimately prevails. So even though God in his. This is what we can't wrap our mind around. This is the all things work together thing.

Yeah.

Romans 8, 20, that even though man's plans are so corrupt, the heart of a man is inherently evil. Who can know it? But when it's all said and done, what God wanted is ultimately what's going.

To happen, because he'll take it all and use it all.

And that's the God element that cannot be human. Explained.

I think that's what people mean when they say God's in control, is that at the end of the day it works out. But I do not believe.

But non Christians don't. All they believe is God did this.

Yeah.

Why in the world would I serve your God? Look at this mess.

What about the element, Ron, of the thorn in the flesh that was sent by God to buffet him? What about that element that.

Do you know you're picking up some of the most difficult things?

I know, but people need to hear this.

I'm going to do a podcast in 30 minutes.

There is an element I do believe of taking up your cross. And a cross is nothing more than dying and suffering, of taking up your cross and following God. I do not believe that just because you serve God, you are the kingdom in the earth, you're the governor of your life, that you'll never have trouble.

Hope. God is so good. God is so powerful. Grace is such a deep river, an ocean. The blessing of God can't even be described. All of Deuteronomy 28 just talks about blessings and he can't even cover them all. That God will take a thorn in the flesh to tether you to your humanity. If all you had was goodness and goodness and goodness and goodness, you wouldn't need God. You would be so out of touch with human suffering. Those that suffer and empathizing to need. For instance. Now, I don't believe God makes people sick. I don't believe God makes people sick. Why would he take stripes on his back and turn around and.

For our healing?

So that don't even make sense.

No, it doesn't.

But let me give you an example. I used to have people come up in the 90s and early 2000s all the time distraught. I'm having panic attacks. Pastor, would you pray? God's got to break this. So filled with anxiety. But. And I.

You would pray.

I would pray.

But you had no point of reference.

I don't want people to take this wrong. Not that I wasn't sympathetic, it's just. But I just laid hands and moved on to the next.

But because you had no point of reference.

Yeah, I got 100 people to pray for.

And then until you had a panic.

Attack, you know, out of my own traumas and. And things I went through, I started having uncontrollable. When I tell you uncontrollable. I'm a control guy and I would feel it coming on and there was no way to get on top of it. Or you like. So what's it's one of the worst feelings. If you've never had it, it's unexplainable because you can't make it stop. Now, when somebody comes up and says, I'm having a panic attack, they get a whole different level of attention. Yeah.

Your prayer is very fervored.

Did God give Ron panic attacks?

No.

No. But did God use that thorn that I. Three to five years. I had to overcome that to cause me to empathize with my brother.

No doubt to allow you to empathize.

And, you know, people come up and say, I got this or I got that, and it's something that has buffeted my flesh before. Then there's a whole different level of compassion.

Well, you know, that whole scripture is, you know, there was a thorn in his flesh sent by God to keep him, it goes on to say, to keep him from thinking too highly of himself.

Tether you to your humanity.

Yes.

Like I said, God is so good. There's got to be something.

He knows what we need.

There's something that's got to tether.

Like our natural parenting. We love them so much, we know what they need.

See, I'm so far from being in my salvation experience. That's what I was 18, 19, the fall of 1986, a long time ago. You can get five, 10 years down the road chasing God and experiencing blessings. And you only now you praise for a new car and you praise for the loan, and you praise when you had favor and you praise and you don't even think about. Only on Easter do you think about praising him for that. But somehow or another, God will tether you and make you still grateful, just that he saved you. Grateful for sleep, grateful for peace. I sat in my home. And me. And you remember days where there was nothing but heartache in our home. Heartbreak, heartache. Not knowing even where one of our kids were. I mean, nights where you may as well not go to sleep because you're going to get a call at 3:15 in the morning. We have lived that. So when we experience peace, we're very grateful. Lord, I thank youk, Lord, I do not take this for granted. Thank youk. We know what it is to constantly have cars broke down on the side of the road and don't even have money to get it towed and wondering, can somebody come and help me? So when I drive in a car that don't break down, sometimes you just hear me say, lord, I thank youk. Lord, I thank you. So I believe the thorns in the flesh are the tethering to our humanity, which allows us to continue to operate in a posture of gratitude. Because I've always said ingratitude is the first step toward baptism.

But it helps us to realize, like that scripture, we're not all we think we are and that we need Jesus every single day.

He's not going to bless you out of your need for him. There will always be something in your life that will remind you how much you need him and just how good he is. So we're a little bit over a half hour into this thing. I want you to know something, guys. Two of these things, she brought up human suffering. And what was the other one you brought up? You brought up another one. I said, baby, you bring, oh, the thorn in the flesh, hope. I sat in a theology class where that one scripture was debated amongst Bible school students for about four days. So that's what I'm telling you when you come in and talk about it in a podcast. Because everybody's trying, there is everybody trying to marry this incredibly holy, pure good God with some crappy things. I mean, how do you reconcile that with sex slavery and human trafficking and bombs dropping on your family in Ukraine?

I cannot say that that's God, but I think a lot of people. It's an easy out too. It's an easy out. Just blame it on a God you can't see, a God you don't trust, a God you don't know.

And you certainly don't serve and obey.

Right. And you take no responsibility. It takes all the weight, all the responsibility off of you to blame all the bad in the world on God.

So much, if not most personal suffering is self created.

It is, I know mine has been self created.

Self created. Most of it didn't come from the outside. No. Yes, there are people from my deceased experience, yes, there are people that got hit by a drunk driver maybe right now and you're, you know, you're having paralysis in your left leg of no fault of your own.

But God didn't do that.

Right? The driver didn't. But I'm saying, I'm saying my support for my thing, most of it's self inflicted. There are people that something outside of them happened to them and they're having to deal with it the rest of their life. However, when most people look over the landscape of their life, the majority I think I could support of the things that they do not like about it.

Were self inflicted sewing and reaping.

So, so anyway, good, I. It wasn't laughing. It was kind of thick and Deep, but. Except for John G. John G made it light.

John G Had me tickled.

John G made it light. He started it off.

DJ John G. So what do you.

Want to tell our audience today? I want to tell them about AI.

Do it.

Go, go, go to Ron Carpenter.

People are loving that app.

Yep. It, it wasn't. This is, this is about 2 months old now because I haven't gotten. We've had so many meetings and so much going on. March, I think this was March. I talked to Pastor Tommy on our east coast student pastor who helped me create the app with the companies he brought in and he said that I think it was the month of March. There were 27,000 hours hours communication with the AI app. That much?

That's crazy.

So you're talking about. I only answer in 280 word responses. How many of those you have to have to get to 27,000 hours. And there have been people saying, I've been talking this app for the last three and a half hours.

That's crazy.

So the fact is there's not many topics that at some time in my life I haven't preached on. Not many I'm not talking about. I've preached every page in the Bible.

What's the beautiful about the app is that it's not some computer somewhere generated thing. It's pulling straight from everything you've taught.

The AI Part of it is reach in there and pull everything from Ron and pull it together. Yes, it knows how to do that. That's the AI part. But it does not create the content. No, the content is mine. It assembles the content in an intelligent response to the question it's been asked. And that's the beauty of it. In fact, I'm doing a conference in Atlanta the end of next month, I think, and it's called Kingdom Technology.

Love that.

And one of the things they're wanting to talk about is how to be innovative with everything that's coming out and use it for Kingdom expansion. I got the AI. It's free. No shame in my game. I'm going to tell you, all this stuff costs money, does a lot of money. A lot. Creating it and maintaining it. That's free. Just download that. Ron Carpenter AI however, the 280 word responses are pulled from the Vault. The Vault is my archive of all my messages that I've preached dating back into the 90s. They've been digitally remastered and that does have a subscription. So you can get the answer and the app will tell you what message it's pulling from the app from the app to give you the information. And so if you want to go listen to an hour of it, then that is subscription based, but the app is free. Tell them about Inner Circle.

You tell them about my inner circle.

Inner Circle. If you want to be coached, if you want to be developed, if you want next level information, she has developed something called the inner circle, which is basically a coaching network. I don't know if you call it that, but it's a coaching network. And when you become a part of this inner circle, you basically are going to get a side of hope that nobody else get. I think it's next level information. I think sometimes it's information that maybe can't be done to the public, but it can be done in that forum and it's a more appropriate forum to release it.

Right now we're studying the fruit of the spirit all year, and it is so convicting, yet so powerful and empowering. So go to hopesinnercircle. Com and you can join today.

All right, guys, we love you. And until next time, this is me hoping John G. Saying this is Ron and Hope Unfiltered, real ro Relevant. All right, we'll catch you soon.