Services | God Continues to Work

Bulletin

Hymn # 481 “Just a Closer Walk”

SCRIPTURE READING – 1 John 1:5 - 7
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“House of the Lord”
“Echo Holy”
“Home Coming”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“God Continues to Work”

“Hoe Great Is Your Love”
“The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”

Acknowledgements and Announcements

Sermon Notes
Romans 8:28 God causes everything to work for good if you love Him and are called to His purpose
Romans 8:29 & 30 God working to make you better
Romans 8:31 If God is for us nothing is against us
Romans 8:32 Since God did not spare Jesus there is no wayf He will not give you good things
Romans 8:33 Wo will bring an accusation against us because God justifies
Romans 8:34 Who can condemn because Jesus intercedes
Romans 8:35 – 39 Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Paul gives a list showing no separation from God’s love

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

The Bible discusses a topic, especially in the book of Job, that you've probably observed in your life. That good things happen to good people, bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to bad people, as well as good. However, the Scriptures talk about another group of people and the promise that God makes to them. Come and listen to who that group of people is and what the promise of God is.

If you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to Romans, surprise chapter 8, surprise starting with verse 26. I'm sorry, yeah 28, I'm sorry 28. And it says, "And we know," right off the bat, it's not that we suspect, it's not that we hope, it's not that we're kind of grasping onto. We, and Paul is including you and I, not just him. He doesn't say, "And I know." He goes, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good."

Now, I'm gonna stop there because it does not say that all things are good. It says that he causes all things to work together for good, and then most people stop there. Because then they say, "Well, God causes all things to work together for good, so this thing is going to be okay." We need to read the rest of the verse. God is going to cause all things not, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, he's going to cause all things to work together for good to those who love God. I'm gonna stop there. So the first thing is that you must love God for God to cause all things to work together for good. Now, all too often people think that they love God, but in reality we don't. We love to come to church, for those of you who come to church, and we sing some worship songs, and we think that we have expressed our love for God, and then we go out and not think about him the rest of the week. That's not loving God. Or what we tend to do is when we have a decision to make, we decide what it is that we want to do, rather than what God has called us to do, and that is not loving God. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, all our strength. Absent that, we're only partially loving God. And as I often let's say, like the unfaithful husband who says, "I've been faithful to her several times." We tend to be faithful to God several times, but not consistently faithful to God, and not consistently not only saying that we love him, but showing and expressing that love by our actions and our deeds. So we must first off love God. But then there's a, if you will, a connection, and, but it does say and, to those who are called according to his purpose. They are called according to his purpose. Now again, there are going to be a lot of churches out there, and if you go and listen to the messages on TV or online or whatever, they're going to talk about all kinds of things. They're going to talk about your dreams, your desires. Now God wants you to have your dreams and your desires. It didn't say that. It says to those who are called according to his purpose.

So this is where I'm going to be a little narcissistic. When I was seven, I wanted to be a lawyer. And I wanted to be a lawyer not because I wanted to be a lawyer. Talking about a big dream. A poor kid from East Los Angeles wanted to be a lawyer whose mother didn't think he should go to law school because he couldn't get there. So maybe he should do something else like drafting. I'm going, "Mom, have you seen how I can't even draw a straight line, let alone draft?" But she thought my dream of being a lawyer was kind of out of reach. But that wasn't the dream. The dream was to be President of the United States. And the reason I wanted to be a lawyer is because it seemed that the most guys who got there were lawyers. So I thought the pathway to get to being President was to be a lawyer. Pretty big dream. I'd been accepted to two law schools, decided to go to one. And it started in August and before August, somewhere in the spring, I felt a call to the pastorate.

And I argued with God. I go, "God, that's a lousy idea. I mean, number one, I don't see me being a pastor. Number two, I know who you are. And you'll send me some red-neck church in the middle of nowhere and I'll be miserable." And I fought with God and fought with God and fought with God, telling him I thought it was a lousy idea. And since, and maybe God, you made a mistake by even thinking about calling me because I don't fit the bill. And finally, I came to the conclusion that if I called God Lord, that means my boss, and I do what he tells me to do. So I literally said, "Okay, God, I will be a pastor. I think it's a lousy idea, but I'll agree to do it." And then I had a sense of God saying, "Go ahead and go to law school and we'll talk later." And a few years after graduating law school and becoming a lawyer, I felt called to the ministry again. And one of the things I later discovered was God had it planned all along because, number one, as I read later in the scriptures, it's not a good idea to be a pastor when you're 22 years old, married, but at that time no kids. Because if I'd have been a pastor at that period of time, a gun, whatever, that while I was trying to raise a church, I was trying to raise a family. And the scriptures tell us one of the ways we know whether we should call somebody as a pastor is how have they raised their children. The other reason why I think it was a good idea later is that my

concentration on the scriptures and those types of things have definitely affected me having gone to law school. Because when you go to court and when you're making arguments, the judge doesn't care what you think. What is the law? What does the law say whether it's a statute or a court case or whatever? And then you might argue how that law fits into your case and maybe it's a new concept and you're trying to show how it fits, but you're arguing the law. And I, from my perspective, I don't really care what I think about the scriptures. I don't care what you think about the scriptures. What do the scriptures say?

So unfortunately, when we are spoken about our dreams and our desires and whatever, then I want to use this little example. You're going down a road and then there's a fork in the road. And on one side, it's a paved highway with a limousine there waiting to take you to your dreams. And on the other road is kind of a narrow dirt road with a lot of ruts and problems. And there's a little

shed that says, "Pick up your cross and take it with you." Now my advice, unless there is a cross in the limousine, take the other road. It may accomplish your dreams and your desires, but it has been my observation. It doesn't matter how rich you are or how famous you are, how important you are. If God hasn't called you, you end up filling that with drugs, sex, rock and roll, whatever it may be to try to find that purpose. And God has told us that He will cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And so those people who do both things love God and are called according to His purpose, God is going to cause all things to work together for good. Good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad good people, bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to bad people. This is a different group. God says, "If you love me and have called according to my purpose, then I'm going to take bad things and good things and work them together for good for you. Now I'm going to give you some information here that is going to save you money and time because there are lots of books that have been written and are being written now about your purpose. And you'll see colleges say, "to come and discover and live out your purpose." And there are books that talk about how to have a purpose-meaning life and how to have a purpose-meaning church and whatever. And everybody's looking for their purpose.

So I'm going to save you the cost of a book and I'm going to save you, however fast you read, an hour to days. Okay, you ready for this? Your purpose is His purpose. Your purpose is His purpose. Your purpose is His purpose. Your purpose is His purpose. My purpose is His purpose. Why are we one around one or what our purpose is? Our purpose is His purpose and then He uses us as He pleases to use us. If He wants to use us as President of the United States, then let Him use us as President of the United States. If He wants us to use us as some person who works with the poor and the lonely and the outcast that no one ever knows and that's His purpose, then that's their purpose. It's not fame and fortune, it's His purpose. And we should be looking and so, unfortunately, we're not told about this until we are adults, until we made a lot of bad decisions and we find it, "How do I get off this road and get to the road that He intended for me to do?"

So if you are under the age of 20, I personally think this message is very important to you because it allows you to decide what His purpose is and then make a decision based on that. Not as like a seven-year-old who says, "I want to be a lawyer so that I can be the President of the United States." Now you may think that I'm bitter about that, I am not. Why am I not? Because in my life I observed that I was ultimately not willing to sacrifice what it was to even have a chance to be President. I would not sacrifice my wife and my children for my dreams. Kind of like Jesus said, paraphrasing Him, "What good is it that you gained the whole world and lose your soul?" To me, what purpose was it to gain fame and power and lose my family? I also saw the type of people who were leaders. I was unimpressed because they were all about them. Talk about being narcissistic. I remember a school board member in West Spencer many years ago was upset because they didn't go in the front of the line to get their cake and punch. I'm going, "But you're a civil servant. You should be serving the cake and punch, not complaining that you're not at the front of the line." So I just didn't like those people. And I like my grandkids and my kids. I don't care that much about yours. I don't want to kiss babies. And the other advantage, I discovered that it doesn't matter how great a President it is, after his or her administration, the next person messes it up. At least here I get the opportunity. I'm not saying the result, but I get the opportunity to affect eternity, not just four or eight years. So being called according to his purpose gives you meaning and purpose that is real. I heard the other day the only thing better than being rich and famous is being rich because then you get to do whatever you want to do and nobody knows you. But that's what everybody's seeking, rich and richness and fame and power until they discover it's meaningless. But God is still at work because he says he works all things out together for goods of those who love. So he's working, but he's working more than that because notice what it also says, "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren." Now let's face it, I don't know about you, but I suspect it's true in your life as well as mine. That is a hard work to take me from whom I am to being in the image of Christ. God's going to have to roll up his sleeves and get to work making me like Jesus and making you like Jesus. So when people want to know, well what's God doing? God's working for those who love him and are called according to his purpose to cause all things to work together for good. He's also working on the believers to make them like Jesus and not a small task. "And these whom he retestined," and notice it wasn't going to be, it's past tense, "for those whom he predestined, he also called," again past tense, "he called, and to those whom he called, he also justified." Notice it's past tense, it's not we're having to wait to see if we're justified. Jesus justified us. We are innocent when we go before the throne, not the white throne because but the bemeche, God says you are innocent because of the blood of Christ. I am justified. I'm not just excused. "And these whom he justified, he also glorified." It's past tense. God is going to accomplish this. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"

Look at what he's doing, look at the work that he's doing on our behalf. And if God is working on our behalf, then who can be against us? When I was in a small firm, they hired a secretary, and she didn't work out, she was a Christian, and they told me I had to fire her.

Thanks a lot, I didn't hire her, how come I got a fire and they thought it was give me experience? So I fired her, and she left a card, and the card said,

"Please forgive me, God's not done with me yet." Now the sad thing is the senior member of the firm said, "Yeah, God may not be, but we are." And unfortunately, we have this attitude that God's not done with us. Other people aren't that patient, but God is. So who can be against us?

"He, God, who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?" Now I want you to think about that for a moment. It's kind of obvious. If the Father sent the Son to die on a cross with the pain and suffering

and shame of that, if he sent Jesus to die for us, then to use a simple analogy, why wouldn't he lend us five bucks? Why are we thinking God has stained you with his grace and his mercy if he sent Jesus to die for us? And we're so concerned that God is so mad at us that he won't do whatever, and Paul is making it an obvious observation that if he sent his Son, what is he also going to withhold? If God loves you that much, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. It doesn't matter what you think of me. It may matter to you what you think of me, but your opinion of me should have no relevance to me, because my daddy loves me and has justified me, and I'm going to be with him.

So he thinks I'm okay. He's working on me to make me like his son, so God's not finished with me yet, but he's still working. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. So when the enemy, whether it's Satan or other people, say how lousy we are, Jesus says, "My blood paid for it." He intercedes for us. We are not condemned, just as we took a look early on in the messages.

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God doesn't condemn us because of the sacrifice of Christ, and Christ, the one who paid for our sins, is interceding for us. For us. If you think that there's someone who would condemn us and accuse us, it would be Jesus. He goes, "I died for you, and you can't stop doing that." But no, he goes, "My blood covered it. It's finished." Who will separate us from the love of Christ? It's a good question.

And unfortunately, a lot of people think that there are a lot of things that will separate us from the love of Christ, but Paul tells us differently. Will tribulation, either the big T or the little T, will adversity and accusations and persecution about being a Christian, will that separate us? Or distress, having anxiety or difficulty, or time to figure out how to work, or persecutions to actually being persecuted for who we are, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Will any of those things separate us from the love of Christ? Just as it is written, "For your sake we are being put to death all day. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." You see, God tells us way in advance in the Old Testament

that when you decide to follow Him, the world will hate you.

But the world hating you doesn't mean God does. Actually, it means the opposite. We need to untie the results from what God is doing. God is at work. Let God finish the work in the midst of the work. But in all of these things, whether it's distress or persecution, or nakedness or peril, all of those things, but in all these things, we are overwhelmingly conqueror through Him who loved us. Now, that doesn't say we get by by the skin of our teeth. It doesn't say that we just barely win. That at the last second, we win by one point. We are overwhelmingly conquerors. We are so victorious that when we leave this field called earth,

it'll seem like the opponent had no chance at all. Even though it seemed during life we were behind

by an insurmountable amount of points. But we are overwhelmingly conqueror, not because of us, but because through Him who loved us. So nothing separates us from the love of Christ. Not all of these things, and not only the love of Christ not separates us, but causes us to be overwhelmingly victors. For I am convinced, which means He doesn't suspect it. He's not hopeful of it. He knows it. I am convinced that neither death. Now I want to stop there. He says that neither death.

I find this interesting because of how my faith has been refined.

I would have rather him have said the prospects of death. He didn't. So I'll get to that one. Because in essence, my death doesn't separate me from God. It puts me in the bosom of Him.

That it shows me His love. So the prospect of my death doesn't separate me because it's going to have me absent from the body and present with Him. So much so.

I think the death here also includes the death of other people.

That when other people die it doesn't mean that God is through with you or hates you, or why you're wondering why He took your loved one.

Now those of you in this room know and those of you who don't. My wife of almost 52 years

passed away about five months ago. And I miss her.

And there are times as you hear my voice I get a little emotional. And I dream about her. It's funny I don't dream about her in her sick condition. I dream about her when she was well.

And she was part of my ministry. And when we sing worship songs, sometimes I get a little emotional because I can see her praising God while we're praising God.

And that separation has caused me to know not only that I love her and show that I love her, but I was in love with her. But when God takes me,

I'm not looking to see her. I know she's there. I want to see the face of God.

That's where I want to be.

Her being there is a cherry on the top and it's wonderful. And we're going to see the people that we've loved and are part of our family, whether it's through blood or DNA. And it's going to be a wonderful time of reflection and celebration, just like we sung the last song in worship, which happened to be one of my wife's favorite songs there at the end.

But heaven is heaven because of God, because of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the reason that she's there and the reason that when I breathe my last, or if Jesus comes beforehand, I will be there is because of the love of God. And so death, hers, or mine does not separate us from the love of God. It only shows us how much he loves us. That because how much he loved us, we get to be in his presence and not where we deserve. How infinite is his merciness and his loving kindness. And so his death is not, our death does not separate us from the love of God. It magnifies it. Nor life. No matter how much this life causes us pain or hardship or whatever, it doesn't separate us. And there are times, and I know Libby, there were times she goes,

"I'm ready to go home, and my selfishness is, but I want you here."

So her life wasn't a struggle of, "Well, does God love me or not?" She was just ready to go home. I just wasn't ready for her too. Nor angels. Doesn't matter about what the angelic force is, nor principalities, that tends to be more the kind of the demonic or the spiritual powers.

Nor things present. It doesn't matter what's happening in your life. You may think you can't get out of it. It doesn't separate you from his love. If anything else, it may show you his love even more. Nor things to come. Lord knows that the future is uncertain. We live in a time

that recorders the world as anxious.

I guess those who aren't aren't Christians just don't know how bad it really is. That's why they're not anxious. But for those who are believers, we're not anxious because we know who's in control. We know that we are overwhelmingly conquerors to him who loved us. It doesn't matter. You can tear this place down. My God has built another building for me in heaven.

Nor powers. Nor heights. Nor depth. Nor any other created thing. So you think it doesn't matter whether it's a mouse or a spider or a tarantula or a bear or a person.

Anything that is created is not able to separate us from God's love.

Because God's love is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what do I want you to get out of this message? I want you to get out of this message that God is at work. Is that work to call you? Is that work to change you? Is that work to glorify you? And that nothing, no matter what it is that you're facing in your life today, tomorrow, or the next day will ever change God's love for you. And therefore,

I don't know how confident you could be in the future or whatever, but you can be confident in God. And you'd be confident in His work. And you'd be confident that when this is all over, not only do we quote unquote win, not only are we dwelling in His presence, not only are we overwhelmingly conquered, but that in the end we will be in the image of Christ. So my challenge to you is two things. One, realize those things. And two, give God a little help.

Don't make Him change you from absolute disgusting to like Jesus. Just to be disgusting and like Jesus. Be on the move toward holiness. Be on the move for being sanctified. Be on the move so that people see that you're justified. Be on the move so that people one day might see that we'll be glorified. Be on the move. Get into the game. Walk according to His light. For that is the message that we've heard from Him. And that is the message that we are to give to one another. And yes, even to ourselves. That God loves us. Always will. Always has.

And He is at work. Now God's people said.