Sure. Let’s stand together in the book of Romans, if you will.
Romans chapter 8 versus 28 to 30. I’m not look. I said 28 to 30.
We’ll get it we’ll get into the first few words of verse 28, to be honest with you.
Our Christian faith church on all accounts, you need to know if you don’t, is not a religion.
I I let people say that in the world.
I understand it when you hear it in in a book or you you read it in the book or you hear it in media.
You know, the the Christian religion and the religions of the world. And yeah. Yeah.
I get what I get what you’re trying to say.
You but you simply do not know that there are religions by the thousands all over the world, but there’s only one that actually resists and cannot function as a religion.
It’s not possible for biblical Christianity to be a religion.
That may sound like a shock to you because religion is, um, what do you do?
What do you love to do on a routine basis.
Is it like you have to have something at a certain time or place or whatever?
Do you is it this shoes? Is it the food? You, somebody would say, oh, he eats spaghetti religiously.
You ever heard that before? Oh, they go to church religiously.
It simply means that this is what this man or this woman does on a regular basis.
It could be the beach. It could be working out or not.
I do not work out religiously. Okay. But here’s the deal.
When it comes to Christianity, The world clumps it into the definition of a religion, but it’s anything but that to actually experience what is called Christianity, which I don’t like the term.
It’s a derogatory term given to us by those in Antioch, They make fun of us by calling us Christians.
We are believers. And it’s as pure and as innocent as it sounds.
We are believers in the god of the Bible, and we do not follow any religious activity or conduct.
We live with him. We exist with him. We follow him.
And this is a very powerful truth.
Roman chapter 8, we now come to one of the most famous verses in all of the Bible, one of the greatest comforting passages in all of scripture.
And, uh, we’ll we’ll pull it apart together here in a moment.
Romans chapter 8, I’ll start in verse 28, and this is it.
And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love god, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he fore knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of this son, that he might be the first born among many brothers Moreover, whom he predestined these he also called and whom he called these he also justified and whom he justified These, he also glorified.
Father, I pray, lord god, that your holy spirit would speak to us, these deep truths, This is top shelf theology.
Lord, we are looking at printed words. We’re looking at English words.
We’re looking at it either on the paper of our bibles are on the screen right now And even this manifestation of the truth of being represented full short, We will spend eternity discovering what all this means So we come today, lord, if there was ever a time for us to take our shoes off where we stand on holy ground, it is now.
We give it to you. We praise you, and we thank you for loving us.
In Jesus’ name in all god’s people said, Amen. Amen. You may be seated.
You may be seated like a like a spiritual wave.
You could probably sense that in Paul’s writing.
I’m I I would have loved and and and do do follow me with this, uh, to set it up.
Imagine for a moment you’re wearing a cloak? Are you wearing a robe or a outer garment?
You might even have some sort of a shawl, uh, or a mantle draped over your shoulders.
Depending upon the time of the year it is. You certainly have sandals on.
And, You’re near the apostle Paul. He’s in Corinth, by the way.
He’s in Greece when he’s writing this letter to the believers in Rome. And, he’s writing this.
And if you were leaning over and watch watching or listening or reading what he’s writing, You would probably without exaggeration, the the wave or the crescendo that’s building would have probably caused the apostle himself to be animated in some way, shape, or form.
You can’t say the things that he says right here and be unmoved.
For you to be unmoved by what is said here probably because you would be dead.
What he is saying is so powerful that over the course of the next several weeks, as we look at the meaning of all of this, your faith, your position in Christ, your value, your boldness, your assurance should go off the church if you’ve ever grown before in this church I pray that it it’s nothing compared to what’s about to happen to you in these few verses over the course of these next few weeks.
Mark it down, if you would, regarding this. As we, yes, it is true.
We are in a series now. Didn’t plan on it turned out to be. A series titled.
We’re on our way, and we’ve reached the high watermark.
And before we dive into that, write this down, if you would. Matthew chapter 18 verse 20.
Jesus said for where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, There, I am in the midst of them.
Think about that right now. John chapter 20 verse 21.
And Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the father has sent me, I also send you.
And when he had said this to them, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
So you’ve got Jesus Christ in the midst of us.
We’ve got the Holy Spirit as we’ve been learning possessing us as believers you know, this, uh, passage from last time, John 16 verse 5, but now I go away to him who sent me and none of you asked me where are you going, but because I have said these things, sorrow has filled your heart.
He that is, uh, he told them that he’s leaving. So they’re all bummed out.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage. It’s to your development. It’s better for you.
Nothing better could happen for you than for me to go away.
And if I do not go away, the helper that is the Holy Spirit will not come to you.
But if I depart, I will send him to you. Acts chapter 1 verse 8.
But you shall receive power. Jesus said, when, uh, it’s a time statement.
When, When am I gonna have power Jesus when the Holy Spirit has come upon you?
And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and an old judea, Samaria, notice, and to the end of the earth, which defines or explains why you’re here today.
You are a byproduct of the gospel going all the way to the ends of the earth.
Did you know from Jerusalem to where you’re at right now is to the ends of the earth?
Pretty pretty epic. I love that.
And then finally is acts chapter 4 verse 31, when the Bible there says, and when they had prayed, the the place where they were assembled together was shaken.
You know, if you wanna see things shaking, you gotta go to a prayer meeting and then expect god to shake things.
Sometimes he shakes things physically, and sometimes he most often, anyway, he shakes things spiritually.
And they’re all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of god. What’s the word?
With boldness. That’s the key. Boldness. So we’re on our way.
We’ve seen the heartbeat of heaven. We have seen the hope of heaven and all this teaching of this series.
We studied last week the help of heaven. That is the Holy Spirit himself.
And now we look at our 4th argument versus 28 to 30 and that is the host of heaven.
The host of heaven. Uh, whenever you hear the word host, I’m curious, uh, what you might think about, the host of heaven.
The Bible says that he is the lord of hosts. Did you know that? That’s one of his titles.
God’s title is the lord of hosts. Isn’t that sound nice? Oh, like, host? Like, like, what?
Like, come and sit down? No. The lord of host is the lord of armies. The lord’s armies.
That’s awesome. Why? What does it mean?
It means the lord of the assembly and the lord of hosts the lord of, uh, the heavenly forces, the lord of hosts.
When you think about the host of heaven, you can also find in scripture that there’s a host of angels.
Look, we’re coming up on Christmas, and you’re gonna hear the Christmas story.
And, Part of that Christmas announcement is that on the on the day that Jesus was that the Christ was born in Bethlehem, uh, the shepherd saw the host of heaven, and it was all the angelic manifestation.
The angels were proclaiming that born this day in the city of David is Christ the lord. Angelic hosts.
The Bible tells us about mankind people.
The hosts that are a vast gathering.
There’s the gathering of the saints in heaven above.
The Bible tells us about the gathering of the believers that there’s a host of believers that will come out of the great tribulation period.
The Bible tells us regarding the rapture of the church that it is in fact a host because those that are taken up to meet the lord in the air.
The Bible says they are taken to the father’s house.
And there, Jesus said, I’ve made a place for you. That in my father’s house are many mansions.
And by the way, that host is summed up in a very powerful picture.
And I’m gonna tell you, I’ll be honest with you right at front.
Um, there’s various books you can read on this.
I’ve read many, many, many, I’ve read enough, and nobody knows the exact answer to what I’m about to tell you.
If you have the answer, uh, no, you don’t.
Great theologians that have gone before you, they argue about the meaning of this. Are you ready?
This is all introduction to what we’re looking at here.
The host of heaven Hebrew chapter 12, beginning at verse 1. We are surrounded.
This is the author to the book of Hebrews.
He is saying earth time, right, when he’s riding 2000 years ago, we are surrounded.
That’s in the present tense. By so great a cloud of witnesses, what does that mean?
Well, whatever it means, it doesn’t mean that they’re on earth because verse 2 says looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
The word that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, one group of scholars will say that it’s believers cheering each other on because the scene demands, uh, an Olympic setting, uh, the the stadium.
And when the runner comes in, Uh, or when the event’s taking place, the crowd rises and they’re cheering and they’re clapping and they’re going, uh, you know, all out for that moment.
And some authors will say, some scholars will say, that’s what it means. It’s the church cheering on the church.
I don’t think so. I agree with the other group of, uh, scholars who say it simply means this.
And this is what’s hard to handle sometimes. That heaven looks on.
The host of heaven looks on upon the host of earth, the believers.
And why is that the case?
Because, uh, Christ is the one to whom we are looking to, who’s the author and the finisher of our faith.
The context is that Christ began our faith in our faith journey, and he’s gonna finish it in our lives And that’s not only happening right now in your life, but heaven above looks down.
For them, it’s already been finished. And, uh, you you you’re you’re gonna ask me later.
Jack, can they see me? Can my mom who loved Jesus see me right now?
Nobody knows the answer to that.
People who write in books, oh, you’re, you know, don’t do this and don’t do that because you might have set your grandpa.
Forget about that. Don’t do this and don’t do that because you might have upset god.
Your grandpa might have been a nice guy, but he’s not god. The point is this.
Uh, if if we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that looks down from us from heaven, I don’t think any of them are weeping or crying or when you and I miss the putt, they go, oh, man.
How could that happen? I don’t think they see things like you and I see things today.
They’re not like you and I are now because their sin nature’s completely gone.
They might even, I’m guessing now. Again, nobody knows the answer.
The host of heaven might look down upon earth and see all of the mayhem on earth, and they may not be viewing it the same way that we do here.
We view stuff on earth, and we lose our we lose our minds. We panic and freak.
It appears from the Bible that when earth from that if heaven looks down upon earth, they are grieved over unrighteousness they’re grieved over timing.
They say things like, lord, how long will this continue before you intervene?
They’re interceding, perhaps, but it’s quite interesting.
So listen, we’re looking at this, and that is the host of heaven.
Number 1, write it down if you would. And that is heaven is at work for us.
Heaven is at work for us. Verse 28.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love god to those who are the called according to his purpose.
Now let me tell you what this is not saying.
It is not saying all things work together for good. That’s not what it is saying.
It’s there’s 2 qualifiers here. Follow-up along with me on the screens.
We know that all things work together for good to those who what? Number 1 qualifier. Love god.
Mark that down. Not all things are working together for good, unless you are a lover of god.
Number 2, all things work together for good to those who are the called according to his purposes.
Are you don’t answer. Are you a lover of god?
And do you know that you’re called to his purposes? Are you called?
Do you know that you’re in the family of god? Friends, listen.
It would be a wicked sin for me to give you comfort where you ought not to have comfort.
If today, you’re here and you’re not a follower of Christ, but you’re religious, And you leave this building today thinking, oh, I just did my time.
In fact, I’ll go to Calvary Chapelino Hills.
I’ll do extra time because there’s sermons and worship’s extra long from most churches.
So if I’m really into works, I’ll go to that church, punch the clock. Look at this.
I’ll get it now. 90 minutes. Look at that god.
I just did 90 minutes versus a church down the street. You get in get in.
Get out 59 minutes. And yet we’ll get in line to go to the theater and watch some knucklehead bring dead movie for 3 hours.
You know? My point is this. That’s not how it works.
All things work together for good to those who love god.
And today, if you leave this building thinking you’re okay because you did your Christian time, I would argue with you today you’re not a lover of god.
See, Jack, that’s a horrible thing to say.
Not if I’m wearing a white coat and I have a stethoscope, And I walk up to you.
I go into your examining room, and I and I examine you, and then I tell you, guess what?
You know what? You have cancer. That’s the loving thing to do is to tell the patient.
Can you imagine a doctor examining you and he thinks, I’ve seen this before. It’s not good.
And you say, doc, you okay? I’m fine. It’s good. I’ll see you next month.
That doctor should go to jail.
So I’m telling you here right now, the most wonderful verse that everybody knows, and everybody uses has got 2 key qualifiers.
And that is do you love god?
And do you know that you’re called in your life according to his purposes.
This is all about discipleship. It’s all about following him.
And what we realized, first of all, is that heaven is at work for us.
It’s not and I don’t mean it to mean that it’s at our beckon call. No.
I mean that heaven is at work for us, meaning that all that is needed for you and I to live a victorious Christian life through thick and thin, blood and guts, poverty and wealth, hardship and ease comes from heaven.
This is one of those most beloved verses, as I said earlier, but it’s a very technical verse because of what it requires.
And that is this. It’s very un I’d like you to write this down in your margins right next to verse 28.
Writes small. You should write this down that the verse is very exclusive and highly qualitative.
The verse demands a qualifying, and the verse makes it very clear that it’s exclusive.
It’s not to all people. And that’s what we wanna make sure that we know.
So the word no for we know So the believer, this is what we know.
The word in Greek is, and it means this in the past tense. It’s very important.
This is so great. This is what the believer knows. It we know this. Now we have seen.
It means that to perceived pestence, to have experienced the believer.
This is what we know We know knowledge now. We’ve got that.
It means to bear witness to or to be testified of to have recognized or to have come to discover.
This is what that word know me. Judd a circle it because it’s super important.
Can you say today? I know that what I’m about to read is absolutely true in my life.
This is so, so diagnostic. This is kinda cool, I think.
Could you think about, no. How do I how can I know this?
Because you might be tempted by thinking, and we know that all things work together for good.
Well, pass So, you know, religion, faith, it’s a mystery, and you really can’t know And, you know, all in the end, we’ll see.
Look, I told you before, I’ll say it again. Uh, you should just go to Vegas.
You’ll have a better chance of winning because that’s that’s not how heaven is That’s not that’s not how we’re having this managed.
My friend, the word no here, uh, implies that it’s something that you literally come to experience so that from this moment forward, you can talk about it in the past tense.
I don’t know if that’s sink in for a moment. And we know.
We know. Have you ever talked to someone?
You may not know them, but you’re talking to them.
Somebody might say something like, oh, I’d like oh, what a beautiful cross?
Do you have a beautiful cross on your your neck or your I see your car as a Christian.
It’s got a sticker on your car. Um, can I ask you where you got that sticker?
You know, you just start talking, or maybe it’s not even that overt.
Maybe it’s it’s something that is You start talking and you’re wondering there’s something different about them. There’s something different.
Um, I’ve had this happen. Maybe you have 2.
I’ve had this happen internationally where I was talking to somebody who, and I I couldn’t even talk to them.
They we didn’t even speak the same language.
Uh, but the per but there’s a translator trying to help out and you find out, you’re a Christian?
I’m a Christian. There’s this unexplainable bonding that you have in seconds with a total stranger who doesn’t speak the same language.
How does that happen? This is the foundation to that word.
The house of god, the believers, the family of god, No.
We have come to know. We have perceived.
We have now been able to testify of this truth. We know this.
I read this this week, and it was a description of having this word.
1 of the authors began to unpack the word, and it’s a uh, to know is something that is, uh, experienced.
Christians should be experiencing. Listen.
I I I’m I’m not I don’t think pastors should fight against what I’m about to say.
A lot of them do. I don’t buy it.
Not only is our faith real, but our experiences with god judged against the word of god judged against the word of god, ought to be real also.
Experiences are something that should be qualified or examined by the word of god.
But you don’t build your faith on experiences. Are you hearing me? Yes.
But some people throw the baby out with the bathwater. And they’ll say that experiences are wrong.
Now I think if you know god personally, you’re gonna experience things in your life.
And I think you’re gonna know it.
So there’s a guy that you probably have forgotten about, archimedes, remember archimedes in school, anybody?
I mean, go look him up, not now. Look him up later.
It says that he’s an astronomer, philosopher, mathematician, physicists. I mean, it just goes on forever.
Arcomedis. This is a great story.
Archimedes was battling with a problem, uh, and in his lab, and he went to go take a bath.
He’s this is a famous story.
So he fills up his bathtub, and he slips into his bathtub, and the bathtub overflows.
And then he gets out. He puts his foot in.
He noticed that the water moved a little bit. Then he put both feet in.
Then he squatted down and put his knees and a thies in, and with every time he moved down lower, the water went up.
And then he just went all the way in, and the water goes out over the side.
He jumps up and runs out of the bathroom through the laboratory out into the streets, archimedes naked, shouting, a famous word for us in California here.
It’s on our state seal. Eureka. You ever heard that word before?
You thought that was a a California word. Eureka, archimedes shouted. Eureka, and people are saying, you’re naked.
You’re naked. And he basically said, I don’t care.
You have no idea what I just discovered and archimedes by observing the fact that he dipped into water He displaced the volume of water where it took up the capacity of the bathtub, so much so it overflowed the bathtub.
And it’s from his science that we’re able to build ships and deal with things of aquatics or buoyancy.
He’s the father of the science of Voyency. You say, what has that have to do with Romans?
It has a lot to do with Romans in this capacity.
He experienced truth that was already in existence, but he didn’t know it.
And when he was immersed in it, it overflowed.
It’s so thrilled him that he ran out.
Now don’t don’t run out naked telling people how great god is.
But, uh, it’s so affected and that he couldn’t contain himself be because he had gotten the answer to his dilemma, and he was thrilled.
And, listen, he could repeat it, he could qualify it, and he became a great science.
Because it’s a it’s a law of physics. He just discovered that.
Church’s family When the Bible tells us that, and we know we could technically stop this sermon right now, pack up and go home, and leave you, I would pray with the 9 eating question that god would, I hope, would say to you constantly, What do you know about me?
Watch this? You might say, well, you know, I that’s that’s a god’s a mystery.
God has revealed enough of himself for you when he says What do you know about me?
You ought to be able to say something accurate about his characteristics and as attributes, even if you’re a brand new believer.
Somebody might say, explain to me god.
Well, the brand new believer can say this.
I don’t know if I can explain god to you, but I can tell you this.
I once was lost? Now I’m found. That’s insanity due to an unbeliever.
But it’s perfectly sane to the believer. Why?
Because this person has come to know. And what do you know?
Psalm 46 verse 10 says, be still and No. No. That I am God.
The rest of the verse is beautiful. I don’t really care about that part right now.
Be still and know that I’m god. Listen to this, everybody.
If we were to line up ten people, so to speak, I’m gonna unremove this morning. I apologize.
Usually, it’s 3rd service that gets abused. I now I’m abusing first service.
Be still and know that I am god.
If you were to line up ten people and you had asked them, The Bible is gonna judge your answers.
Who is god? What is god like? What does god love? What does god hate?
What does god say? Who is god?
And you get an answer from all those ten people?
Their answers will either be true, false, or somewhere in between, and it’s all predicated upon.
Their answers are predicated upon being still knowing that he’s got In other words, you can’t know who god is unless you are still And we hate the words still.
You wanna know why so many people are so deficient in their Christian experience, they’re never still.
Is the corporate executive, Wheeling and Dealing ever still Is the housewife with flour on her face and babies on each hip?
Does she ever get a chance to be still? Listen.
The answer is the same for all of us, and no one’s exempt from it.
It means that we must carve out a moment to be still, to divorce ourselves from all things of life that distract and say god, I am right now coming to you.
I’m asking you to receive my silence and to receive my stillness.
I want you to reveal yourself to me, god.
And god, when god reveals, he will always reveal himself based on his word.
And that how believers all around the world will come to the same answer. Why?
Cause it’s the one same holy spirit speaking in them. And to them. Be still and know.
The word is different in Hebrew. Here, the word, no. It’s not the Greek word.
It’s the Hebrew word yada, y a d a. And I’m gonna want you to write this down.
Are you guys okay, everybody? Yes.
Gonna This is a very, very great word for you to know for the rest of your life.
Be still in Yada. Why is it important? Be still and acknowledge.
Be still and be acquainted with. Be still and be aware of.
Be still in see what is or what has always been archimedes.
His science has always was always around him. He just didn’t know it.
Be still and see the hand of god in every situation from every angle of life.
I love that. Be still in comprehend what is incomprehensible? Be still.
When you’re still my friend with god, you really wanna go grow with god?
Do you really wanna expand your relationship with god?
Then instead of running ahead, you need to back up and sit down.
Look. We’re all busy. We’re all busy.
I’m I’m going through I’ve I’ve I’ve asked for you to pray I’m going through a serious, uh, a life right now, a crisis in my life right now this way.
Is Number one thing I’m supposed to do as a pastor teacher is be alone.
Did you know that? My calling is to be alone.
And for years, it was never a problem for somebody to say, hey, can you guys come over?
I can’t come. Or Lisa would go and do something with Jack wasn’t there. Where’s where’s the picture?
Oh, he was at home. That’s just that’s ministry.
If god is gonna speak and grow a church and disciples are gonna grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, someone’s got to be alone to get the bread the manna from heaven.
Are you hearing me? Yeah. But with all the busyness of life, listen, just like your life as being pressured from every angle, we all have different pressures coming from different angles in our different callings.
And so for me, now it’s this and this and this meeting and that meeting, zoom here, zoom there, this Skype that, this thing, and it’s like, wait a minute.
I’ve gotta be alone. I’ve gotta be alone.
And then you know what happens when you say, I can’t do it? Oh, well.
Too good for us. And you know what? I just I’ve given up.
I’ve just said, that’s it.
God god has to be your def friend, you cut out time to go be alone.
And unless it’s in the middle of the night, which ain’t a bad idea, by the way, and nobody misses you the middle of the night.
You gotta be alone.
If you if you come to me after service and say I’ve got this problem, I’m gonna say, have you been alone to god with it?
Don’t come to me unless you’ve been alone to with god with it.
Because what am I supposed to do? Contradict him? What what do you want me to say?
This is serious stuff. It’s very important stuff.
Be still and discover that I’m god in the situation you’re in. Some 4610.
It’s also this. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23. You know this.
We read this verse a couple of weeks ago. This is why it matters to us. Proverbs 4 23.
Keep the word is watch, guard, secure your heart.
With all diligence, for out of it, out of your heart, out of the core of your being, springs the issue or issues of life.
The keeping of your heart and of your life. So vital. All things work together for good.
We know this. The believer, Philippians 4 verse 6 and 7 says be anxious for nothing.
So that’s impossible. Yes. It is. It is impossible, but not without god.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to god, And the peace of god, which surpasses all understanding, I love that.
Well, guard. There’s the word. It’s the same word. Guard your heart.
Guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That’s a great that’s a great promise.
That is a great statement. So knowing this, knowing that Paul is speaking about here in Romans, it’s a noble work that god does in us.
It’s a quantitative work that god does within us. We can mark it as a Christian.
We take our Christian walk seriously. We can see our growth. Listen.
Uh, here’s an o here’s a open book test. Uh, we’re coming up on the end of the year.
How’s your faith now compared to what compared to January 1st.
How what do you know now about god versus January 1st?
If you can’t say much then you’ve been in the wrong church, and I have done you wrong.
If you’ve been listening, I prayed, you’ve been growing.
Somebody just last Wednesday night said to me, after service, I oh, it’s like, this is how Satan gets to me.
I had just got done saying this thing in a message in a statement.
And last Wednesday, we had a special Thanksgiving service And I had just said this thing, and then somebody came up to me and they said, you know what?
I don’t know why no one says, and they they said it.
And my thought was, were you not hearing?
You know, have you ever been a parent And the kid’s like, Um.
Like, I just said that. I don’t think so. No. I said it.
Take play the tape back. There’s a bit of frustration there.
And I’m wondering how many times god says, I want you to know this.
And we know what an incredibly confident thing for you and I to experience?
Heavens at work for us.
Colossians chapter 1 verse 9, collections 19 versus 9 through 12 are incredible.
Look at this. For this reason, we also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, and a wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the lord fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god.
Verse 11, strengthened with all night according to his glorious power for all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks to the father who has keyword qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
It first of all, that’s Paul speaking. Do you see what and he’s a genius?
But the Holy Spirit, of course, inspired scripture. In this case, through a man who was a word craft.
Amazing. And all of those things you would say right there as a believer.
I want that in my life. I want god to be working that into my life.
Verse 28 also reminds us of this church. Look at it together.
It says, and we know that all things work together for good.
The word all get ready to write this down or just take a picture of it on the screen.
The word is a simple little 33 letter Greek word, pass, p a s pass.
It means all as in every.
It means all kinds, all men respect, times, issues, moments, challenges, sorrows, pains, victories, joys, Oh, I love this one.
All, always. Anyone, anything continually Whoever, whatever, all encompassing.
She said, my gosh. Check that’s huge. And I think it’s Jayvern and McGee.
I’m gonna mess it up, but he’s the one that said, all means all, and it means all so much that it doesn’t mean anything else, but all.
There’s nowhere to go.
So church, to me, this is absolutely mind blowing.
Because we’re heading toward foreknowledge, predestination, those going to heaven, those going to hell, who belongs to god, who doesn’t.
This is all a set up right here right now, because everybody’s interested in that stuff.
There’s churches that have divided and split over the issues we’re heading toward. You wanna know why?
They didn’t lay a foundation. And god is telling us, do you know me?
If you know me, you’re gonna understand something.
Every possible thing, all of it in your life is working for the good.
How is this possible? I’m gonna read this to you.
The Greek word PAS demands that there is a work at work that gathers all that is good for you.
Listen, in all encompassing collection, Watch of individual situations, think about your life.
That make up life. In this case, your life, my life, personally, the events that coalesced together into the making of 1 preordained reason, plan, logic, and purpose that is god’s perfect will for you.
That’s a mouthful. This is absolutely thrilling churches. Are you guys this is kinda technical.
Are you guys okay? You’re awful quiet. Listen. This is absolutely precious.
Because he’s announcing to us for we know that all things that you could ever experience in your life no matter what circumstance, even the bad, bad, bad, bad stuff.
Think of the worst stuff.
And everything included all the way to the other end of the best stuff everything is at work working in your life.
If I meditate on this, I’m gonna come to the conclusion that god is so big what is your blank?
Fill it in. God says, I have been patiently waiting all of this time.
You might say for decades, You understand how long a decade is for god?
You know, I know how long a decade is for me.
You’re not running the show, and you’re not running your show.
God is saying to you today, I do not move, and I don’t jump when you say so.
I’ve got a plan that if you’ll trust me, if you’ll love me with what I’ve said to you, I died in the cross for your sins.
That ought to be enough. I rose again from the dead for your justification. That should be enough.
I told you in my word I love you and that I’ll never forsake you. That should be enough.
Believe me, he’s saying he’s saying to you today, trust me in this.
And if you trust me in this, then I’m gonna tell you something right now, every single situation, individual issue of the moment throughout your entire lifetime.
Has led to my good being done in your life.
And I have to step back and like Job, just fall on my face as a nothing.
Listen. God help you.
If you’re the person here today saying, Well, I wanna I wanna talk about that. Let’s argue that.
You know what? You go right ahead. Is it difficult? Yes, is it beyond our capacity? Yep.
But I thank god our god is so big. He’s beyond description.
He’s given us enough to know about his greatness and his goodness.
But beyond that, the rest of it’s called heaven.
And you’re gonna find out what absolute love is.
In the meantime, he’s given us a deposit, and he’s telling us right now of an eternal truth that just like archimede slips into the bathtub and discovers displacement, god is saying.
You know what? You’re gonna discover?
That in the midst of that trafficking, that abuse that rape, that murder, that event, that thing, what Satan meant for total destruction in your life.
You just give it to me and you watch. You just keep loving me.
You keep your eyes on me, and I’m gonna get you through that stuff.
And when you get when I get done with you, you’re gonna look back and you’re gonna thank me for all that stuff that happened because you cannot see what I’m doing.
You cannot see what I’m accomplishing.
Then you see the the weight leaves us, and we’re humbled.
It’s such vastness. Everything. Put this. Put that. Stop.
A friend of mine had their little kid run up to them recently, and there was a little what little kids do.
You know, little kids try to take over. They can’t make the payment. They can’t pay the light bill.
They can’t drive the car. They still doesn’t keep them from trying to take over. Just like, Adam and Eve.
And and the the dad just went Stop to your room.
And I thought, How many times does god do that to me? I wonder.
I’m still his kid, but there’s times when he says, you know, listen.
You’re not listening to me, Jack. I’m doing something here. You’re not trusting me. Stop it. Go to your room.
We just talked about We’re on a different topic left, uh, before service, but we, uh, I made a comment.
I said, look, I know god loves me, but there’s times I’m sure he doesn’t like me.
Go to your room, but he loves me.
That’s why he tells me to go to the room.
And in life, you have often mistaken that what’s happened to you is that god doesn’t love you.
And you’ve been holding out on god. You think you’ve been punishing god. Poor thing.
You’ve been you’ve been cutting your own self with your own blade the whole time.
When you think that you’ve been abusing god and hurting god, I’ll show him a thing or 2.
Why didn’t he deliver me from this or that or the other thing?
And god is telling you, I love you. Just listen. Wait.
The plan is in process, but you haven’t liked what he has said.
You haven’t liked the way that he’s done things.
And so you’re trying to inflict pain on him.
The very one who has the ultimate fix and answer for your your very life’s existence.
And he’s just saying, listen. All things work together for good to those who love god.
And that qualifier means everything to love him.
Someone has said that the all things work is a global statement announcing the reality that in every situation of your life and being your body, listen to this, your thoughts, your spirit, is presently being influenced by god’s specific will, that is his plan, his purpose for your life in total.
That’s a powerful statement. It goes on.
We’re not talking about god’s permissive will, Tristan, You don’t wanna mess around with god’s permissive will.
You don’t want it. You what do you mean? Don’t I want god’s permissive will? Honestly, no.
Listen to this, his permissive will is what, for the lack of a better word, is god having to put up with our acts of carnality.
We are talking about recognizing god’s perfect will for your life and everything.
The perfect will of god is always better than the permissive will of god.
You don’t want god to put up with the things that you allow in your life.
What you want is a believer as a believer is for god to have exactly what he wants for your life.
There is a great difference. 1 is more like just getting through.
You ever feel like that is a Christian in your life? Uh, you know, just getting through.
I’m just barely making it as a Christian. While the other is exceedingly abundantly and overwhelmingly thrilling.
The permissive will is this. God is saying to the believer. You’re my child.
I do not approve of what you’re doing.
I’m not gonna kill you, but you’re not gonna get any blessings either. I’ll put up with it.
He’ll tolerate it. You don’t want his permissive will.
God might say I want you to have this job, but you wanna have the other job.
And so you put off god’s job and you go get that job.
You’re still god’s child, but you’re not gonna have a good time.
You don’t wanna live like that.
What you wanna realize is that god loves you so much that his perfect will is perfect.
And when he speaks to you out of the word, you want in fact, your big concern now is lord god Please let me do your perfect will and do not let me waiver from it.
Oh, I I pray I pray that that’s our desire for all of us.
God, don’t let me waiver from your perfect will ever.
The Bible says in Philippians 35. We’re almost done.
The Bible says in Philippians 35. This is Paul speaking regarding his devotion. I was circumcised the 8th day.
Every time you go like this, by the way, he’s everybody was boasting about their self righteousness.
And Paul basically said, alright. You guys wanna is that what you wanna do? Is awesome. I’m sorry.
In my mind, you got all these you got all these macho big religious mouths shooting off about how great they are.
And I know Paul, historically, Paul was a very little man, very, very narrow shoulders.
According to church history, he had eyes. His eyes replaced very close together.
And he he, um, his eyes were often closed more than they were open because of a of an eye infection.
Uh, most of the epistles he wrote through a scribe, there’s a there’s 1 or 2 that he actually wrote, and he says, notice what gigantic letters.
I use font 49. And the Bible says, oh, not the Bible.
Hit church history tells us that that he spent so much time traveling on horseback or camel that he was severely bow legged and that his voice was very hard to listen to.
Is that the apostle Paul? The man of great faith?
Don’t you think a man of great faith looks like the rock?
The man of great faith looked like a mouse, but when when if with what I’m about to read, I want you to think about it like this.
You can almost hear him coming up to this crowd of religious boosters, and you could hear the you can hear the spurs.
Shunned his feet. It’s got like his, you know, Clint Eastwood head on.
He’s got a toothpick in his mouth. Yeah.
You guys wanna compare your righteousness with yourselves? Alright. I was circumcised on the 8th day.
And people are like, I can’t say that.
Of the stock of Israel, Yeah. Okay.
I’m from the tribe of Benjamin. Oh, yeah. And I’m a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Concerning the law, a Pharisee. Any of you guys have a degree in Pharisee?
Paul did concerning zeal for security in the church. Remember he was, like, Isis.
I mean, he hunted Christians down and killed them. Concerning the righteousness, which is of the law, blameless.
Can you say that? But what things were gained to me These things I’ve counted lost for Christ.
Yet, indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus, my lord, for whom I’ve suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.
And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, that’s self righteousness, but that which is through faith in Christ.
The righteousness which is from god by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.
And the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
What a tremendous statement.
A man who could have walked into this room today and for all intents and purposes, we would have went, oh, wow.
Look. The great pharisee. The man with all of the degrees and all of the frames on the wall.
Paul said there all those things I achieved in religion was worthless.
And they work together for good. What does? Things.
Things. We’ll end with this, but don’t get up and leave yet.
We need to talk about your things. Everybody’s got things.
All things work together for good.
The word is tauta, in Greek, and it means the very experiences of life’s moments.
Are you having a moment? Just leave me alone right now. I’m having a moment.
It says to deck you with the bible. That’s that’s the verse. I mean, that’s the statement.
Got us in. I I’m here for that. Everything happening.
That is everything happening applies to your life.
From every point of entry, that is point of entry being sight, sound, touch, thought, imaginings, spirit, tauta.
All things. There’s that word all.
There’s I mean, that word things, there’s nothing that you can be living right now that is beyond the word things.
You’re in a thing right now. Could be a pickle. Could be a barrel. Could be a struggle.
Are you not in the thing?
In a place of decision, in a place of hurt or pain.
And then we’ll we’ll end with this state statement.
You guys can you guys can all stand for real. I just had to put this up.
This is a good thing. Uh-huh.
Socrates said, as for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
Do you know when Socrates said that? Let me put it to you this way. Class.
Did he say that when he was young? No. He said it.
Near the end of his life.
The more he learned about the way things work, and how things are the less he knew.
Why? Because you can study and pursue everything in this world.
Look, I’m not knocking it, but Go ahead and get a PhD in psychology.
Everybody does.
But you know what’s new as the problem is?
You can only go as far as the mind.
Psychology Suque in Greek is the mind.
Succo Succology is the is the science of the mind. Listen. What about your spirit?
The spirit.
That’s why Socrates said, uh, now that I’m old, I don’t know anything.
People who are experts and they live a long life.
They wind up realizing they’re kind of embarrassed that they were considered an expert because they don’t really know that much after all.
They thought they did. This doesn’t insult us.
It tells us that the very god who allows us to see the mysteries of the human physiology or the depths of space.
We think it’s right here.
When in reality, It flirts with eternity itself. He’s amazing. Right?
I pray today that you would walk away with a grandeur of his person.
Your homework this week is to ask him. It’s an embarrassing thing.
I do it to I do it all the time myself.
It’s a prayer that I offer, and it’s lord god. Please forgive me for this terrible prayer.
And it is this. Will you please help me to love you?
What an affront that is to a relationship?
To say to your husband, will you please Prayed for me this week that I love you or a husband to say that to as well.
Can you imagine how hurtful that must be.
And yet, right when it begins to consume me, the lord reminds me, Jack, I know that you’re just dust.
You’re so frail. And without my grace, you would perish.