If God Is For Us, Who Can Be Against Us? - Linda Bailey

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning, my name's Linda Bailey, and I'm part of the ministry team here at one.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if you're anyone like me, but in our household, I find that I ask quite a lot of rhetorical questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now a rhetorical question, of course, is a question that you ask not necessarily expecting an answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, a lot of rhetorical questions, you assume people should already know the answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you ask them to make a point or to put forward a point that you are trying to remind people of.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do your dirty dishes really belong on the coffee table?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do we get dessert if we haven't eaten our vegetables?

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of my favorites, which I find I ask more than I should.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you really going out of the house dressed in that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Retire, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, it usually does, yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Retorial questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: These questions that we ask.

[SPEAKER_00]: not necessarily to get an answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we ask assuming that the person that we're talking to or the people we are addressing, already have a pretty good idea of what the answer should be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet we ask to put full-

[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, what is my answer and what should my behavior be from my answer to that question?

[SPEAKER_00]: Over the last six weeks, we have been looking at Romans 8.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, what a journey it has been, what an incredible chapter.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is one chapter in a letter that Paul has written to the early church in Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in just the first 30 verses that we have already looked at in chapter 8,

[SPEAKER_00]: incredible assurance for every believer that God is for us, that He loves us, that He sacrificed everything for us through Jesus Christ, that we have no condemnation and we are free in our lives through what Jesus Christ has done and the Holy Spirit is there with us every step of the way to assure us and guide us and help us to know how to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's just the first 30 verses.

[SPEAKER_00]: We then get today to verse 31.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for the next two weeks, we're going to look at the last nine verses of Romans chapter eight before we head into Advent and our Christmas series.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we enter into this next final section of Romans eight, we hear Paul asking lots of rhetorical questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's asking lots of questions that any believer should already know the answer to.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's asking questions that if we have listened intently to the last six weeks of our sermon series and truly understood what the first part of Romans ate means for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then we should be able to with assurance and confidence answer these rhetorical questions that Paul asks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, he doesn't just ask to make sure we've been listening, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a grammatical exercise.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not asking questions that he has already answered in verse 30, in the first 30 verses, just so he can check up on us to see if we've been listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: All the answers are in the first 30 verses, but he's asking us so that we would stop and pause and consider.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we, with all assurance, answer these questions confidently?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we can, what does that mean for how we live our lives today?

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's jump into these four verses that we are going to look at from Romans chapter 8 starting at verse 31.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: What then shall we say in response to these things?

[SPEAKER_00]: If God is for us, who can be against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.

[SPEAKER_00]: How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

[SPEAKER_00]: It is God who justifies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who then is the one who condemns?

[SPEAKER_00]: No one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: As I look at these four verses, I'm going to break them up into two sections.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to look at the first two and all the rhetorical questions there and then the second two.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to encourage you to be thinking, not just what is an easy answer to these questions, but what is my answer?

[SPEAKER_00]: Really deep down, what do I truly believe and how am I answering these questions in how I live my life?

[SPEAKER_00]: So the first two.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first two verses that we're going to look at, what then shall we say in response to these things?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is in response to what Paul has already been telling us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's already given us all the answers, but in actual fact, anyone who has had an experience of God, who loves Him, who has been following Him, who understands what God has done for us, can respond in this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: If God is for us, who can be against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with Jesus Christ Himself, graciously give us all things?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now in these two verses Paul is actually referring back to a very well-known story.

[SPEAKER_00]: A story that Paul knew very well and the people he was writing to would also have understood this story as well and we can read it all the way back in Genesis and it's the story of Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Abraham was God's chosen person.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was a righteous man.

[SPEAKER_00]: He certainly was not perfect, but he was righteous and God chose him to be the father of the nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: That God would use to show the rest of the world what it was truly like to follow the one true God and how blessed this nation was to be able to be a blessing to the whole world through the one true God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And through this, through Abraham's descendants, this nation was gonna be born, and yet Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old before he had his first born son to his wife Sarah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as Isaac, his son grew up, God then asks Abraham to go to a region and sacrifice his son.

[SPEAKER_00]: in order to show worship and honor an allegiance to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Abraham does.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes, he travels with Isaac, and when he sets up an altar.

[SPEAKER_00]: And just as he is about to sacrifice his one and only son, the angel of God calls out to Abraham and says, do not lay a hand on the boy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not do anything to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son,

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was willing to not even spare his son as an act of worship to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he Paul is reminding us of what Abraham was willing to do in reference to what God actually did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for who?

[SPEAKER_00]: For God.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the God who loved him, who had been there for him, who had blessed him, who had given him so many promises and assurance, who had brought him through some really difficult situations.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son in worship of this great and mighty and powerful God.

[SPEAKER_00]: God was willing to sacrifice his son.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not for someone greater than him, not for someone who is going to bless God and give him more than he could ever imagine.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, God sacrificed his son for you and for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even in our brokenness, even in our wrongdoing, even though we are imperfect and really, we have nothing to offer back to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, in his great love, he was willing to sacrifice his son, his one and only son.

[SPEAKER_00]: For you and for me, so that we could live in freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul wrote in Romans 5, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ died for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not for anything that we could give back to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not for anything that we had done.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were not greater than God and we were going to be able to bless God through His sacrifice, but no, God did that for us as sinners in our brokenness, in our weakness.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was willing to sacrifice everything because God is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is even for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He loves us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has done everything in order to show us how much he is behind us, how much he is for us, how much he wants for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, he gave everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gave the ultimate gift, the greatest gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing greater than he could give than his one and only son.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we read through these verses, we need to understand this idea of greater and lesser.

[SPEAKER_00]: God has already given the greatest gift already.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's already given everything of himself for you and for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there is nothing that we could ask for that he's going to be greater than what he has already given.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing that you could ask of God that is greater than what he has already given.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given his best.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given his all for you already.

[SPEAKER_00]: anything that we ask for, no matter how huge it is for us, no matter what crisis we are going through, no matter how insurmountable it seems for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: God has already given greater.

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more will he give to us when he's already given the most?

[SPEAKER_00]: It made me think of, this guy here, his name is Jimmy Donaldson.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most people know him as Mr.

[SPEAKER_00]: Beast.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is a YouTuber, he is a billionaire, he has made so much money through YouTube and through his different organizations and his products and everything, however.

[SPEAKER_00]: This guy has an incredible imagination for giving away money.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has built not just a house for someone in need, he has built a whole community of houses for people in need.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has with another organization partnered up and given millions of kilograms of fresh food away to people in need.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had a task where he set himself to offer health care and prosthetic limbs for three thousand people around the world who couldn't afford it for themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has this incredible ability and an incredible imagination to give money away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just that, he loves giving money away for entertainment as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Through his YouTube, he's always giving incredible amounts of money away.

[SPEAKER_00]: He even created a game which they televised, called Beast Games, where the grand prize was ten million dollars.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just that, but during the games, it was a competition between competitors who had to strive to win this ultimate prize in some of the challenges that happened someone won a Lamborghini.

[SPEAKER_00]: Someone else was given $100,000 just to leave the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were four contestants who were offered a million dollars each for a certain challenge.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this guy has no concept of money, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just out of this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I thought of him and his ability to give.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, imagine with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This didn't really happen, but imagine with me that Mr Beast, that Jimmy is sitting down for lunch one day at work with his best mate.

[SPEAKER_00]: His Americans is probably eating like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And as he's sitting down and eating and chatting with his best mate, he suddenly realizes that his best mate doesn't have any food, like he's just drinking a glass of water.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he says to his mate, mate, it's lunchtime, like, you're not eating or you're fasting, what's going on?

[SPEAKER_00]: And imagine he's mate says to him, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: I have just got so much going on at the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life is really challenging.

[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't been sleeping well, there's a lot going on at home, and you know what, this morning, I didn't even think of lunch, and I just came to work, I just didn't have the mental capacity of so stressed, it's so much going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey Jimmy, would you mind sharing a bit of your sandwich with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: but I know his capacity to give.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if he is sitting there with his best mate who is struggling and who doesn't have lunch,

[SPEAKER_00]: I reckon, through past behavior, Jimmy's not just gonna give him his lunch.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna go, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's order food in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's jump on to Uber eats.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's, we'll get whatever you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want sushi, you want to tell him Mexican, you know what, I'm gonna buy a food truck.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get a food truck here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we will have a food truck at work, so you will never have to worry about bringing your lunch to work ever again.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what a human who has an incredible capacity would do for his best mate, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you were in his position, you'd probably do the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more?

[SPEAKER_00]: Will a God who loves you, who is for you, who has sacrificed already everything for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: And doesn't just call you his best mate, he calls you his sons and his daughters.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are a part of his family.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Romans 8 earlier on, we say for those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again, rather the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship and by him we cry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Abba, father.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that anytime we go to our father in heaven, no matter what it is on our heart, no matter what we have done, no matter what needs we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Father in heaven who sees us as his sons and daughters and loves us and is for us so much that He has already given greatest amount anything that anyone could offer us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given us his only son how much more is he going to give us?

[SPEAKER_00]: But when we ask him for our daily needs.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has the capacity, he has the heart, and he has the will to give us what we need so that we can live in accordance to his will and live more and more like Jesus every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us not reduce God's capacity to our imagination of what generosity truly is.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has already given us everything and he desires to love us and before us just as a parent is for their son and daughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we read through these first two verses that we're looking at today verses 31 and 32, what then shall we say in response to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him graciously give us all things?

[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't always know why God gives some things to some people and not to others.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't always know why God answers some prayers in one way and one way and others in another way.

[SPEAKER_00]: that he has already given the greatest gift for you and for me, and he sees us as his children, who he loves, who he is for, and he desires to have the best life in living with him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the next two verses, 33 and 34.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

[SPEAKER_00]: It is God who justifies who then is the one who condemns no one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ Jesus who died more than that he was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: who can be against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who will charge against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: This word charge is actually, it's a legal term.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's used in the judicial courts.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are seen to be doing something wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are accused, you go to trial.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you are seen to have been proven guilty, you are charged and you serve a punishment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, can I just say that let's remember that Paul is writing these words, and Paul had a very good understanding that there are people in the world that charge him, that accuse him, that point the finger at him, that persecuted him, that condemned him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was charged and condemned multiple times.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the man who was whipped within an inch of his life four times.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was beaten with rods.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was ostracized and exiled.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was persecuted.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lost count of how many times he was imprisoned.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, he is asking,

[SPEAKER_00]: Who condemns us, keeping in mind that he understands that when we are in this world, there are many things that can accuse us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can feel condemned by many people and many things.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we can even condemn ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how many times I get in this negative thought cycle of, you're no good, you haven't got anything to say, what you're doing isn't enough, and you get in this negative cycle, and I have to catch myself and think, whoa, this is going on for long enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we need to be self-reflective, but is this what God thinks of me?

[SPEAKER_00]: is this how God who sacrificed everything for me truly fix about me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when Paul is asking these questions, he knows full well that in this world we are often accused and charged and condemned, but he does not keep his eyes on the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: He continually looks up.

[SPEAKER_00]: To get the perspective of God, rather than get the perspective of what is right in front of him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he is reminded again and again, and he reminds us through these questions that God is the highest court of appeal.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter what people say against us, no matter what we say to ourselves, no matter what this world throws of at us, no matter what crisis or big decision or challenge we face.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God is at the top.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is the ultimate.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is the judge who looks upon us as a son and daughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: And remember in the first two verses, he is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not against us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is for us so much that He sent Jesus to die such a brutal death, perfect Jesus who took the weight of the sin of the world upon Him, the ultimate sacrifice.

[SPEAKER_00]: died on the cross but they defeated the grave.

[SPEAKER_00]: He rose again.

[SPEAKER_00]: He ascended.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sits at the right hand of God the most powerful position and he intercedes for you and for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is there into seeding for us, reminding God that he already paid the price even if we and when we deserve condemnation, because we do, that Jesus already paid the price and our loving just God who is for us does not take double punishment for something that has already been paid.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus showed us again and again that he intercedes for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did it even before he ascended into heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: We read in John chapter 8, an incredible story of Jesus interceding.

John 8 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: This may be a story that you know, I'll give a quick summation of what the how the story goes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many people call this the story of the woman caught in adultery.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Tom Wright sees it more through Jesus' eyes and he thinks that it should be called, actually the men caught in hypocrisy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because these men bring this woman to Jesus, a woman who has committed adultery, and instead of wanting justice, they're wanting to trap Jesus, and they bring her before Jesus and say, that she has committed adultery, according to Alwa's, she should be stoned.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you say, Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus says to these men,

[SPEAKER_00]: through the first stone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And gradually, these men walk one after the other, away from Jesus and away from the woman.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus looks up and says to the woman, woman, where are they?

[SPEAKER_00]: Has no one condemned you?

[SPEAKER_00]: No one, sir, she said.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now go and leave your life of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus intercedes and is continually interceding at the right hand of God for you and for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is what he is doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the thing about this story in John 8 is Jesus intercedes for this woman against men, hypocritical men who are trying to catch Jesus out

[SPEAKER_00]: But now, as he sits at God's right hand, he is interceding to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not to a hypocritical human, but to our loving God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I often think when I think of Jesus into seeding for us that like the Father God has got His, His Gavall high and His angry and His vengeful and His waiting for us to slip up and as soon as we do like He's about to slam His Gavall down and He's going to be like, I got you, but luckily you're

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is interseeding for us and He's saving us and He's protecting us from, you know, the fathers, you know, vengeful hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the case at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul has reminded us in the first two verses.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, God is already for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: God loves us, God sacrificed everything for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so with God being for us and loving us and giving generously to us, and Jesus Christ, interceding for us, what more could we want?

[SPEAKER_00]: There is

[SPEAKER_00]: no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because we have the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit working with us to give us assurance of the Father's love that He is for you, no matter what you are going through, no matter what life has thrown your way, God loves you, and He is for you, and He wants the best for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Wright says this, Jesus is the true image bearing human, reflecting the praises, prayers and urgent needs of his human family into the Father's heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: And reflecting back to his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: the rescuing and protective love of the Father, not angry, not vengeful, the rescuing and protective love of the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not trying to persuade the Father to act against his own nature or purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is there to implement that nature and purpose, which was always self-giving love.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we face challenges in this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there are accusations against us, there are charges.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are, we fail, we do wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should face condemnation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we have a God who is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have the Son of God who sacrificed himself for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have the Holy Spirit whose actual work on Earth today is to continually remind us of all that has been done for you and me, the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is all that is for us, the Father is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He who did not spare his own Son in verse 32.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Son is for us, Jesus Christ, who is also interceding for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We read in verse 34, and the Spirit is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last week, Darren preached an incredible sermon, and if you haven't heard it, go back to be reminded that the Spirit is for us and helps us in our weakness.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit's job is to continually remind us that God is for you so much so that He gave everything in order to show you His love.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is for you and is continually interceding for you before the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Holy Spirit is working with us and I tell you what I need at every single day to give us the assurance and the confidence that God is for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we look back at this passage, how can you answer these questions?

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you truly in your heart of hearts?

[SPEAKER_00]: are able to answer the questions that Paul asks us.

[SPEAKER_00]: If God is for us, who can be against us?

[SPEAKER_00]: He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

[SPEAKER_00]: It is God who justifies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who then is the one who condemns no one because of what Christ Jesus has done and is continuing to do by interseeding for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: God is for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't need to hear that today, I can guarantee there is going to be a time where you will need to hear that.

[SPEAKER_00]: and praise be to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has promised to be there for us as soon as we need to hear it.

[SPEAKER_00]: so that we can answer with confidence that yes, God is for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, He wants to graciously give me all things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, He is the one who justifies there is nothing on this earth that can charge greater than God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is your answer?

[SPEAKER_00]: because depending on how you answer, it will change the way that you live.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change how you approach a challenging situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change the way that you make decisions in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change the way that you spend your finances.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change the way that you praise and sing praises to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change the way that you pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will change the way that you come to God with your prayers and petitions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Depending on how you answer these questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to assure us that God is truly for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me finish with this quote from Tom Wright and the band can come forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not something to be said casually or cheaply, certainly not a license to go slack on our own faithfulness, but something on which we can rest, when the storms are raging, to quite now hearts when everything seems to be going wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what this passage is about, will you join with me as I pray?

[SPEAKER_00]: that we have the creator of heaven and earth on our side.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you, Father, that you are for us so much so, that you gave us the greatest gift of your one and only son.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you, Jesus Christ, our Messiah, our Savior.

[SPEAKER_00]: that you are for us, that you were willing to sacrifice your own self, so that we could walk in freedom and be reminded of God's love for us and to intercede for us, so that we do not suffer the punishment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are for us, particularly in our times of challenge.

[SPEAKER_00]: that you are always at work in our lives, helping us to be reminded that God is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come into our lives, Holy Spirit, minister to us today.

[SPEAKER_00]: To anyone who is here, who is in need, who is in crisis, who is going through challenges, whatever they may be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for the reminder that God has already given the greatest gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything else we ask for pales in significance to the love and the gift that he has already given.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we walk in the confidence and the assurance.

[SPEAKER_00]: of your love for us, how Heavenly Father, we pray this in Jesus's mighty name, I mean.