Freshbrook Church Podcast | 06Sep26 | Who Is God | James Issott (MAF)

Good to see you all.

It's uh bonus Sunday.

Um we had two speakers here, and uh another bonus uh is that uh let me explain.

We're going to start the reading in Romans eight uh from verse thirty-one, which says, What shall we say in response to these things?

And he goes on to give the response.

If you're like me, you would ask yourself, well, what is he responding to?

So the bonuses, you've got an extra.

Nine verses.

So we're starting at verse 22.

Romans chapter 8, verse 22.

Romans 8:22

We know that the whole creation has been groaning, as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time.

Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved.

But hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what they already have?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what we ought to pray for.

But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans, and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that all things work for good to those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, for those God fornew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, and those he pre predestined, he also called.

Those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

What then shall we say in response to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

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?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

Who then is the one who condemns?

No one.

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.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thank you so much, Jonathan, for for reading that.

And uh a massive thank you for having me this morning uh as I look of finishing your series, which is yeah, beyond uh beyond a pleasure on who is God.

And we're looking today on the unshakable sovereign of God's sovereignty in the world.

Uh and uh don't forget if you would like to write any notes uh as the sermon's going on, then uh there are clipboards with some sheets on them and pens and everything else.

I might fill mine out as I'm going through, uh, which will be probably tricky, but that's um it's uh I'll try my best uh in order to do it.

Um and I'm gonna start by uh I've got a clicker as well.

This is the thing where I've got um new technology that I have to work out um how to use, and it will work, won't it, Steve?

Yeah, see?

Confident that man in saying that.

Um what I wanted you to do is quickly think to yourself what was the first song or record you ever bought?

Um have a quick um that God's ultimate plan is to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth, and nothing can derail that.

But it does ask that question, doesn't it, about the reality of suffering and brokenness that exists in our world.

Because it it lets us ask the question of if God is that powerful, then why is there so much pain?

Why do we have to suffer?

Next slide, please, Steve.

Let's be brutally honest.

Living in the world means that we are not exempt from suffering, from sin, from brokenness, pain, and human failure.

It touches every single one of us.

We're going to experience heartbreak.

We some of us will be facing physical illnesses, betrayal, disappointment, and loss.

Our faith does not hand us a golden ticket that exempts us from the pain of a fallen world.

Even Jesus said, in the world we will have tribulation.

I think of the the pastor last week at Big Church Festival within that, who tragically, whilst walking through the field and the venue there, um was uh happened to be walking through past the sign, as many of you will know, as the winds changed and it tragically fell on him and he lost his life whilst he was walking with his wife and child.

And so many that I've spoken to at the event whilst understanding the truth the tragedy and the seriousness of the situation and showing love in that moment was still ours, still left answering that question of God, how did this happen?

How was that allowed to happen?

Where are you in the rubble and in the midst of all of this?

But here is the profound and mind-bendering mind-bending mystery of the gospel.

That somehow God takes all of the brokenness, sin, pain, suffering, and failures of the world, and even our own mistakes.

And he uses them.

He doesn't waste our pain.

Look at the story of Joseph in Genesis.

Um, his brothers hated him, sold him into slavery out of pure jealousy, um, and meant it for total destruction.

Years later, looking back at a life filled with betrayal, false imprisonment, and hardship, but ultimately the power and the glory of God, Joseph looks at those same brothers and says, As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

God can use pain and suffering not to destroy us, but it forges something eternal within us.

As Roman 5 reminds us, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.

And this is a hope that does not disappoint.

Why?

Because God's love has been poured into the heart, into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and ultimately, as Paul writes in Romans 8.28, God is working all things for the good of those who love him.

And notice that we don't say perfect or amazing, but good in there.

As a family, we have the privilege of knowing um Gemma Hunt and her family.

They live locally to us, and she is one of the main presenters at the Big Church Festival.

In fact, she was the one that had to come out on stage after all that had happened and talk to the crowd, but also work out um how they would move forward uh with the festival along with many others.

She wrote in Premier Christianity this week about that experience, um, and she said, and I know that you guys will know the response to this, she said, when I first stepped onto the main stage this year, I said, God is good, and the crowd replied, All the time.

And then I said, All the time, God is good.

She said, I still believe that, but I'm learning that good doesn't always mean brilliant, it doesn't always mean joyful or full of light.

Sometimes good looks like sitting in the pain and still turning towards God.

Sometimes faith is simply saying, I don't understand, but I know who you are.

God is our anchor of unbreakable hope.

Because God is sovereign over both our joys and sorrows, we possess that unshakable anchor in our own life.

We are more than conquerors.

As Jonathan read earlier within Romans, um, I was looking particularly at verses 31 to 39, which come up on the screen, it asks a series of questions, rhetorical questions that almost ring out like a battle cry.

If God is for us, then who can be against us?

And who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword?

And the answer is resounding.

It is nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Death cannot separate us, life cannot separate us, angels cannot, demons cannot, the present cannot, and the future cannot.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

In every battle we face, whether we feel like we are fighting the pull of a broken world, our own stubborn flesh sometimes, or spiritual darkness, we are not only surviving.

Scripture says that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

And I love that verse that says, we can love because he first loved us.

Incredible, incredible truth over our life.

And then we get to remember throughout all of that who is leading the charge.

The risen Jesus stands.

Matthew 28, 18 to 20 says, Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

With all authority in heaven and earth, because he holds all author all authority.

God has given us that rock solid promise that he is building his church and even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

So as uh I'm aware that we're running close and I'm fleetingly going through this talk for this morning of doing that.

So, what can that mean for us on a Sunday morning?

Um, or maybe um, if you're anything like me, a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday morning when maybe we wake up tired and feel slightly unmotivated.

It changes everything about how we can live, love, and serve one another.

It means that we get to engage in the work of God's kingdom with complete confidence, even when the harvest fields can look barren.

I think of so many uh missionaries who spent decades in hard places seeing almost zero visible fruit, or some local churches that I know who uh have struggled to keep their doors open in what can increasingly feel like a hostile culture.

And when the fields look anything but ripe and when we feel like we don't have a lot left, what can we do and where can we turn?

Well, we remember the sovereignty of God and we turn to Him.

Uh the letters to the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia and Revelation 2 and 3 explain that uh to us and uh give us Jesus' simple uh command in how we can respond to this.

A lot of those churches were poor, uh persecuted, uh, and probably felt pretty tired and weak.

Jesus didn't just give them a strategy for massive growth or or give them the exact uh answers that they might have been look uh looking at in terms of a bullet point directive of what to do, but he is uh he does give one very good and simple command.

Hold on to what you have, be faithful with what you have left, in whatever you carry, and trust that the sovereign Lord holds the key of David, and when he opens a door, no one can shut it.

Because of that promise, we get to step into every single day with confidence, knowing that nothing is ever meaningless and perseverance is never unseen.

That when we give whatever we carry each day to God, no matter whether we think it's 5%, 10%, or even 100%, depending on how we're feeling on that day, we can give that to God, knowing that He takes it and does far more than we could ever imagine, and that we get to ultimately, in whatever we do, play a part of that uh never-ending story of Him unifying all things in heaven and earth under Him.

The sovereign God who holds the galaxies in place, he's holding your life, he's holding this church firmly in his hands, and he's working it all ultimately for his good and his eternal glory.

And as I apologize for that photo, by the way, it's the only one I could find to do with mission and perseverance, and it's done an American moon landing on there.

Um I don't I didn't get the reference, but I wasn't going to argue with what it presented me as an option, so I put it on there.

Um and I couldn't stand here and talk to you about the sovereignty of God and and um following faithfully in his ways without mentioning uh MAF.

And so I wanted to talk a little bit about our founder, Stuart King.

Now, Stuart King sadly is no longer with us.

He passed away in 2020, but he, along with two others, a gentleman called Murray Kenden and Jack Hemings, uh, began MAF 80 years ago, um, not knowing what it was going to be or or what it was going to look like.

And I remember when I first joined watching an interview uh of Stuart.

Sadly, I never got to meet him.

Um he passed away before I joined MAF.

Um, but I remember seeing this interview about uh whether or not um he should have started MAF to begin with, and it was him talking about his his journey and his story, and there were so many ways that the world was trying to tell him to do something else.

Um after the Second World War, um he'd come out and he'd been invited to go and train other RAF pilots.

Um and so whilst that was an option for him, um it he he knew that that would be a way to provide for his family, to be able to feed them, to be able to clothe them and have uh a really steady income.

There was also people um telling him to become a university lecturer, to teach on aviation and to do that.

And again, it was a very solid practice, a long-term job, and there was security in all of those things.

There were people that mocked um them for having the idea of wanting to change the world in that way, of seeing what aviation might do to be able to make a difference.

People saying it would never work, you're never gonna get a plane to go uh over there.

It took them two weeks over two weeks to take the first plane from the UK all the way to sub-Saharan Africa.

Two weeks stopping and traveling for those two weeks to get there.

People say you never make it, it's never gonna work.

What's the point?

You don't even know what's gonna happen.

Don't do it.

A lot of pressure, a lot of overwhelming uh sense of of um uh of nervousness.

And yet Stuart, he prayed and he asked God to speak to him.

And whilst he was reading the Bible, he turned to Hebrews 11, verse 8, which says, By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place that he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going, because he knew who was calling him.

Hebrews 11:8

And when we trust in the sovereignty of God in our lives, when we trust in uh the fact that the victory is already won through Christ Jesus, when He we know that He is leading the charge, leading the way for us, actually we can walk confidently even when we don't know what the destination might be.

Because we know the sovereign and powerful God who is calling us.

So the question for all of us is how does know, how does knowing that God is actively weaving everything in our lives into a story of ultimate good change the way that we might view the mountains that we're climbing at the moment?

How does knowing that a sovereign God is with us and for us change the way that we might wake up tomorrow or the way that we might interact with our next door neighbor or the people around us?

And how can we make sure that when we deal with suffering or pain or trials and tribulations in this world, we can always make sure that the beatest, the beating heart of the soundtrack of our life is one-tuned to God's sovereignty and ultimate victory.

I'm gonna pray and we'll finish.

Father God, we thank you that you love every single one of us.

And Father God, we thank you that you are sovereign above it all.

Father God, we thank you that everything within heaven and earth is within your power.

And Father God, we thank you that when we don't know, when we're unsure, when we're uncertain, that we can look to you as our rock, as our light and our path.

And Father God, we thank you that for Jesus Christ coming and dying for our sins, so that we can have eternal relationship with you.

Father God, whatever we are uh have got going on in our lives today, whether big or small, um-consuming or things that we've maybe put to the side, Father God, would you show us how we can use all things for your glory, how we can give it to you, knowing that when we do, nothing ever comes back void or empty.

So, Father God, bless us as we go from this place.

Show us how to live lives of incredible um uh faith and perseverance and adventure in you.

And Father God, would we see your kingdom come and your will be done in freshbrook as it is in heaven?

Amen.