Message - If God is For Us

Today we begin a brand new series called Wonderful.

It's called Wonderful because what we're going to be doing is examining this unbelievable climactic section in Scripture.

We've been going through the book of Romans bit by bit for a while now.

We take breaks every once in a while, but today we find ourselves starting to cover what is definitely the climax of the entire book of Romans.

Some people might even argue this is the climax of the entire New Testament.

Just imagine, imagine you walk into a movie and you haven't seen any of the setup, but you walk in right at the most climactic moment.

Even if you have no idea who the characters are, even if you have no idea what's happened, you would be able to recognize the weight of what you're watching.

The music would be swelling, there'd be so much intensity on screen that you would be able to notice, hey, this is important.

What's happening right now is a pivotal moment.

That's where we are right now in Romans.

And so even if you're new, if this is your first time at his hands, if this is your first time ever in a church or ever watching something this online, and you're like, I don't know anything about Jesus, the Bible, you name it, you'll still be able to recognize that what we're looking at right now is big.

And so I'm just gonna go ahead and read this entire section and then we'll start exploring it together.

Romans chapter 8, verses 31 through 39.

Romans 8:31–39

I'm reading off the mobile app.

You can follow along however you want to.

It says, What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

Now, the as these part, that's what we were covering in our last series on what it really means to be a child of God.

The idea has been introduced that because you've given your life to Jesus, if you've done that, you have been adopted as the very son or the daughter of God.

You are now what it says is a co-heir of God's glory with Jesus.

And that's a lot to process, that's a lot to wrap your head around, it's a big deal, it's amazing.

And he's saying, in light of that, what can we say about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who could ever be against us?

And since he did not spare even his own son, but he gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own?

No one.

For God Himself has given us right standing with himself, who then will condemn us?

No one.

For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he's sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

As the scriptures say, for your sake, we're killed every day.

We're being slaughtered like sheep.

No.

Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us, and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow.

Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love, no power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, nothing in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Come on.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

I mean, like I said, this is this is wonderful.

That's why it begins with that question.

What can we say about things as wonderful as this?

This is a powerful, powerful section of Scripture.

And look, all scripture's powerful.

All of it is.

And yet at the same time, there are these certain sections that have resonated with people for thousands of years for a reason.

And this is one of those.

And it's interesting as I was as I was praying about this and studying it.

Originally, this was supposed to be the last message of our previous series.

This is just gonna be one message covering this section.

I do have a tendency, if if you've been here a while, you know this.

Um I'll I'll I'll be a little ambitious in my planning sometimes and be like, we're gonna go through Romans.

I think we can do it in like, I don't know, it'll be like three years.

Um, it'll be fine.

Well, I'll be older and wiser when it's all said and done, it'll be great.

Because then what I want to do is I want to go through it quickly, but you get to these certain moments and you're like, wait a minute, we can't just like check the box on this and move on.

We've got to savor this, we've got to dig into this.

And this section, as I began to study it and plan a message about it, I was like, no, no, this is not a message.

This is a series, and that's what makes everything take long with me, because I way, way underestimate just how layered and powerful this stuff is sometimes.

So we're gonna take this and we're gonna really explore it together.

This section is incredible, and what's amazing about it is that it makes a powerful statement by asking powerful questions.

I mean, really, this this whole section for the most part is a series of questions that's followed by this really emphatic answer.

I want to look at these questions together.

There's six that it asks.

Number one, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Since he didn't spare his own son for us, will he not give us everything else we need?

Who dares accuse us if God has chosen us?

Who will condemn us?

Can anything separate us from Jesus' love?

And does this mean that we won't have any trouble in our lives?

These are six questions.

And as I as I reflected on this and studied it and prayed about it, it just hit me that man, if you could answer these six questions, you would have an incredibly mature, you would have an unbelievably mature understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

You would have a perspective that would allow you to really be able to walk forward in life with Jesus, prepared for pretty much anything that comes your way.

These six questions are key.

And the reality of life is that we're always looking for the right answers, but the way you get the right answers is you ask the right questions.

You know, I was taught in school that there's no such thing as a stupid question.

Who has been told that before?

There's no such thing as a stupid question.

I'm not saying that there are stupid questions.

Um, I have four children, so if there are stupid questions, I've been asked those questions.

I feel confident in that.

But but I will say that there are there are such a thing as better questions.

You know, for example, in my role, I meet with a lot of people who are going through a lot of different seasons of life and and oftentimes are going through struggles.

And look, if you're new to his hands, great news, you have permission to struggle, and you don't even have to hide it.

Because we all have our stuff, we all have struggles, I have plenty.

And part of this church, part of what makes this church unique is we have the ability to be passionate about God at the same time while being open and honest about the fact that, yeah, we we all have our stuff.

But sometimes when we're in challenging seasons of life and we feel pain, we begin to ask lesser questions.

We might ask questions like, Well, how do I make the pain stop?

And oftentimes that question can be translated, what will make me happy right now?

I deal with a lot of people who are asking that question.

That question is the primary question they're trying to answer on a daily basis.

What will make me happy right now?

And the sad truth is what makes you happy right now is very often not the thing that's gonna make you fulfilled later on.

And if that's the question that drives you in life, you're never gonna get to where you want to be.

If you want the right answers, you have to ask the right questions, and these questions, these are the right questions.

If these are the kinds of questions that are running through your mind, if you're if you're seeking in your life to answer these questions, these are the right questions that will lead you to the right answers.

And so for the next six weeks, we're gonna ask six questions and do our best to answer them with the help of the Holy Spirit and scripture.

Starting with with number one.

This is a big one.

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

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

Now, one of the things I love about his hands is how God is working things out behind the scenes that we never plan.

And so, you know, this morning we're worshiping.

I see on the set list that there's a song we've never sung before, never heard this song before.

I'm not the music person.

I just see it like, oh, I don't know that song.

I'm excited to learn a new song.

And this song just happens to be this was planned months ago, that God is for us.

We sang that over and over again this morning.

That God has always been for us.

This is a powerful truth that very few people fully understand or even believe, that God is for you.

Or at the very least, we don't believe it in its entirety and we don't really understand the weight of this idea that God, the God of the universe, is for you, not against you.

Just take a moment and think about something that you're passionately against.

It's not hard.

What do you not like?

Let's start there.

Anything like anything come to your mind like this this bothers me?

I'll I'll share, this is a very light-hearted one.

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes on stuff.

Um I'm not.

I'm like, I don't know what it is.

Now, some of you are like offended right now at great news.

If you're a tomato person, we can worship together.

We can we can still be family.

This shouldn't divide us, you know.

Come on.

But like if I order something at a restaurant, if I order a burger, let's say, I always have to say like, and and no tomato.

Because if a tomato comes on the burger, for me, it just tastes like tomato.

It just like is anyone in my my corner here at all, a few of us?

Or any of you like you're completely wrong, Justin?

Tomatoes are why would you ever take that off?

Okay.

Uh wow.

A lot of us were neutral on tomatoes.

That's good.

That's good.

But I'm just like, I'm one of those people who like, I'm I don't know why, just my own taste buds, I'm against it.

And you know, a lot of times people mess that up.

You know, you'll say no tomato, and they just go, I don't care, and they put it on there anyway.

And you you assume that because you said no tomato and you look that person in the eyes and they nodded in agreement that what was gonna come back was no tomato, but that's not what happens.

And you take that bite, and then you go, tomato.

And then you feel like a jerk.

Like, what are you?

I'm not the kind of guy who's gonna like waitress, there's tomato on this.

I'm just gonna take the tomato off.

But it's it's still there.

That's the thing.

That's the thing about tomatoes.

It's like once it's been on there, every bite, I'm like, it's not strong, but it's there.

I know, oh, tomatoes.

So I don't like tomatoes.

I'm against them in most situations.

There's a lot of other stuff that I'm against.

This is a little bit more legit and intense, but I thought we'd go lighthearted.

What's something you're for?

Now it's it's easier to think about things you're against than things that you're for, but what is something that you are passionately for?

Like, like you're so in support of this that you would throw your entire weight behind it if given the opportunity.

You have said yes, you will always say yes, and nothing will stand in your way of saying yes to doing whatever needs to be done for this to succeed.

What are you for?

You know, those of us with children, it's very easy to say our children, and that's absolutely the truth.

I've had certain experiences in life where I've encountered someone or something, some cause that I am so passionate about that I say, yeah, we're behind this.

I'll never forget the first time that we met our ministry partners in Guatemala.

If you're not familiar, we've been partnering with a ministry in Guatemala.

By the way, huge thank you to everyone who sponsors a child in Guatemala every month.

We've been having our first uh opportunity for meetings with them in a while.

COVID has really locked them down in a big way.

The country has just been shut down for over a year now, and so it's made it a little difficult for us to do some of the things we normally do.

But because you guys are sponsoring those kids, they've still been able to feed those families every single week, and that wouldn't happen without you guys.

So thank you for that.

There's a couple hundred of you guys doing that, those of you at home as well.

That's huge.

Um but but I'll never forget the first time I went down there and I met Mimi.

Mimi's who runs these uh centers that uh that we we work with.

And Mimi's gotta be, I don't know, like four foot seven, maybe.

Mimi is she's tiny, but she might be the mightiest person in terms of faith that I've ever met in my life.

And Mimi, if you don't know what they do, it's really cool in Guatemala uh education, not like it is here at all.

The average person has a third degree education or third grade education.

And so uh very few people even make it to high school, let alone graduate high school.

But the way it is in Guatemala, if you don't have like a high school degree, good luck ever getting any type of job.

You'll never escape the poverty that you live in.

And this area of Guatemala City that we work in, it's very, very rough.

Uh heavy, heavy gang influence, lots of murder, lots of violent crime.

And so these children grow up in these streets, they have very little hope, they have very few prospects, they have no money, the chance that they have of going through school, it's minuscule.

And so Mimi has started these centers in these places.

And these moms, because most of the families in these areas are single-parent families, these moms bring their children to the center, and their children get fed.

That is often their only guaranteed meal of the day.

And you guys provide that.

That's awesome.

They get fed.

And then while they're there, they get tutored, they get supported.

Because if you fall behind in school in Guatemala, there's no one there to help you out.

Good luck.

And chances are your parent who works from morning until the sun goes down does not have an education either.

So, what are they going to do to help you?

And then you just drop out.

So they tutor these kids and they keep them educated and they keep them in school.

And because of that, they're having children who are going to college who come from families where no one's ever made it to middle school.

And it has the ability to change not just their lives, but their families' lives and their community.

And so Mimi started these organizations, but it's been hard.

Because what she does disrupts what the gangs do, it disrupts their recruiting ability.

Because if these kids have hope and these kids have goals, well, they're not good candidates to join the gangs.

And so the gangs don't like it.

Mimi's life has been threatened numerous times.

She's had to move multiple times.

Because of the world they live in, Mimi's had to watch over 30 of her children die since she started these ministries.

And I'll never forget this.

When we were there four years ago, um, Mimi took us.

It was our first opportunity to get to know her.

We were deciding whether or not this was the ministry we were going to support.

Mimi took us to uh this graveyard.

And uh and it overlooks this big valley, and in the valley there was this kind of shanty town, this really just the poorest of the poor, and they would build homes there that were built just out of basically scraps.

And the whole place was ruined, but she said a couple of years ago, lots of people lived down here, lots of her children, there was a mudslide.

And that particular mudslide, it was the size of earth of like a 10-story building broke off and came down and pummeled the whole valley.

And it killed almost everyone down there, including many of the children that Mimi worked with every day.

And she's telling us this story, and she's got tears in her eyes.

And she talks about how the local authorities had to call her and say, Mimi, we need your help to identify the children as we're pulling these bodies out.

Many people in the community don't know these kids.

You do.

We need your help to identify them.

And she said, I cannot do that.

And they they they asked her again, and she finally said yes.

And so she had to be there and help identify these beautiful children that she had worked with day in and day out, doing everything she could do to keep them alive.

And it was one after another, one after another.

Children that she loved.

And she said, when that whole process was done, she told God, I can't do this anymore.

I can't do it.

Every time I close my eyes, I see their faces.

It hurts too much.

There's too much pain.

I cannot keep doing this.

And she said, as she prayed, the Lord told her, Mimi, this is what I've asked you to do.

And she said, Okay.

And Mimi has a great education.

She could be someone who lives in the best part of Guatemala City possible for her family and have a pretty comfortable life.

But she said no to that, and she continues to put her life on the line day in and day out to work with these children.

And as I stood there in that graveyard and I watched Mimi give that speech, tears in her eyes, and I watched the dedication and the sacrifice right there in that moment, I remember having the thought, I can get behind this person.

I can get behind this person.

And so we said yes to Mimi and her ministry.

We've been saying yes for years, and we will continue to.

And what's amazing is through fundraisers that we've done and through you guys sponsoring children, in the last four or five years, our church has been able to give about a half a million dollars to that organization, to those people, which is really, really powerful.

So we're we're behind them, we're for them.

You know, individually, there's not a whole lot I can do for Mimi, but collectively, there's a lot that we can do for Mimi.

That's what it means to be for something, to put your entire weight behind someone.

Now take that idea, multiply it by a number that no one's ever thought of, and consider the fact that the God of the universe is for you.

That the God of the universe is behind you, that he's said yes to you, and that he's willing to put his full weight to make sure that his purposes in your life come true.

Now, this is this is an idea that I'll be honest, we have a hard time fully appreciating and understanding.

For a couple of different reasons.

And one I actually mentioned a little bit last week, we'll explore it just a little bit deeper.

Um just the idea that God is not against us is a new idea.

And I really encourage you, do some studying.

We live in a time when information is readily available.

Study the views of God or the gods in the ancient world.

And ask the question do those gods do they reflect a love for humanity?

And the answer is unquestionably no.

So I'll I'll give you an example.

I want to show you guys a slightly disturbing image.

You guys can go ahead and put that on on screen.

Um anybody know that movie?

What is it?

Just yell it out.

There you go, Groundhog Day, classic Bill Murray, classic comedy.

And if you don't know the movie, Bill Murray, who's like a comic genius, he gets stuck in a time loop, okay?

And he's stuck, uh he has to live the same day over and over again, and it's in Punxitawney, uh, Pennsylvania, which is just this nothing town, and it makes him miserable, and it's just miserable, it's like torture until finally he learns some life lessons and gets out of the time loop.

But it's a really funny movie, okay?

Um, I'm gonna show you a slightly more disturbing picture that's related, I promise.

Okay, you guys can put the next one up.

Okay, this may be the inspiration for the movie Groundhog Day, just a little bit darker in tone.

Uh, this is an ancient vase from from Greece, and it depicts uh a Greek myth about a deity named Prometheus.

Okay, Prometheus was a Greek titan, and and he, in their mythology, championed humanity.

He was he was a champion, he believed in humanity, he liked human beings.

And so what Prometheus does, because he champions humanity, is he teaches humanity how to use fire.

And through our our introduction to fire, we're able to become a civilization and grow and have industry and build cities and all of that.

That's the way the myth goes.

And the gods become so enraged by Prometheus championing humanity and helping humanity out, that Zeus confines Prometheus to an eternity of torture where he's stuck in a time loop, and every single day he's tied up, and an eagle comes and it eats his liver, and then that liver grows back, and the next day it all happens over and over and over again.

So it's like Groundhog Day, but much, much worse.

Okay?

It's okay, it's a myth.

Prometheus is not real, all right?

I told you it's a little bit disturbing.

This is indicative of the way that the ancient world saw God or the gods.

The great sin of liking people and doing something to benefit mankind was worthy of torture of the most absurd kind.

Because in the ancient world, if you ask the question, is God or are the gods for you or against you, unquestionably against us?

Against us.

And that's true of every ancient culture you find.

At best, the gods would tolerate you if you appease them, but they were not for you, they were most certainly against you.

So this idea of God not being against you, that's that's a new idea.

This is novel in terms of human history.

But I think sometimes we miss the impact of this too because we've we fail to understand that God is not just like automatically for everyone out of obligation.

This is kind of nuanced, but stick with me.

God is not obligated to be for anyone.

He's God, he's not a vending machine, he's not a genie in a bottle, right?

He's he's God.

Really interesting example of this.

If you read uh the book of Joshua, Joshua is leading the nation of Israel.

He's the guy after Moses.

If you know that story, if you don't, it's a great story, learn it.

Uh he is about to lead his people into battle.

And it says in Joshua chapter 5, verse 13.

Joshua 5:13

When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a sword in hand.

Joshua went up to him and demanded, Are you friend or foe?

Neither one, he replied, I am the commander of the Lord's army.

Now, what Joshua is doing right now is having an interaction with an angel, essentially, someone who's a messenger from God and a warrior, like a commander in God's army.

And Joshua's like, hey, are you with us or our enemy?

And the angel says, Neither.

It's kind of an epic moment.

I just wonder what Joshua's face was like when that was the answer.

No, I'm I'm here because God told me to be here.

And what this angel is kind of indicating is like, look, dude, I don't know, I don't work for you.

I don't work for your enemy.

I work for the Lord.

I just do what he tells me to do.

Neither, he says.

Now, now, God loves everyone.

I mean, Jesus makes that clear.

John 3.16, for God loved the world, right?

How much who?

The world, everybody.

That he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Okay, he loves everyone, but at the same time, he's obligated to no one.

And in fact, there are lots of people who find themselves living in opposition to God.

We see this countless times in Scripture.

James chapter 4, verse 6 says that he gives grace generously.

James 4:6

As the scriptures say, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the proud.

The humble, and so it's possible to be so filled with pride, so full of yourself, that you can put yourself in opposition to God.

Or he's like, I love you, but I can't be for what what you're doing.

This is a really intense one.

Psalm 34, 15 through 16 says, The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, his ears are open to their cries for help, but the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.

He will erase their memory from the earth.

That's intense.

This is not intended to make you feel fear because the good news is if it's not like, oh, if you make a mistake, that's what God does.

No, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, He's adopted you, we went through this, you're his child.

He like nothing can change that.

Your family.

He's made you right with him.

You have right standing with God through what Jesus did, not through your own life.

But we have to understand that this idea of God being for us, we should be kind of enamored by this idea.

Because he's obligated to be for no one.

He's God.

He can do what he wants.

And so God being not against us, but but for us.

This is an idea that literally, if you could travel back in time 2,000 years ago and hang out during Jesus' day and say, you know, this is kind of the way I see God.

I think he's just, I think he's a loving father, and I think he's for us, and he's definitely not against us, and he he's really for our good.

People would have looked at you and said, uh, what or whatever their version of what are you smoking, whatever that would have been back then, that would have been what they would have said.

Because literally no one had that concept of God, and that's something that we owe a tremendous gratitude to Jesus for because we lived 2,000 years after Jesus.

So Jesus came and said, Look, you guys have got it all wrong.

You don't understand the way God is at all.

Let me tell you, let me show you what God is really like.

And now we've had 2,000 years to reflect on that, and it it's great, it's amazing, it's wonderful, but we have to understand that in the grand scope of history, this is still a novel idea that God is for you.

But this is powerful.

In fact, I believe this is so powerful that if applied, if understood, if believed in, this can change the way you approach every single situation in your life every single day.

Because if God is for you, who can be against you?

Like, really think on that for a second.

Don't let it be a rhetorical question.

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

Now the simple answer to that question is like lots of people can be against us.

We all know what it's like to have someone who is who is actively against us, like someone that you know, you don't even have to wonder do they like me or not?

Do they agree with me?

Are they for me?

You know, you've all we've all had those experiences in life where you meet someone, you're like, I don't know if they like me or not.

And then there's confirmation of that.

You're like, oh, thank you, Lord, I now know where I stand with this person.

And I've had those experiences in life where someone is like, oh, they they are my enemy.

And not in some type of like silly way, but like in actual like this person opposes me.

And and some of you I know in your works, you've encountered people where you work that are against you, they want you gone, they want you out, they want your job, right?

Something like that.

We've all had those types of situations.

And it's hard when when people are against you.

That's not a fun thing.

Jesus experienced that.

Almost everywhere Jesus went, there were people actively working against what he was doing.

Paul experienced that.

Paul, who wrote Romans, he experienced that.

He was beaten multiple times, he was put in jail multiple times, he was stoned.

He was like within an inch of his life, that means they threw rocks at his skull.

So when when Paul says, Who can be against us?

It's not like clearly lots of people, powerful people, can be against you.

It goes even further than this.

We we can look at Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12 says a final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil.

Ephesians 6:10–12

For we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

So who can be against you?

Uh-oh.

Right?

Well, people, even powerful people like Jesus and Paul experience, but also apparently like dark spiritual forces, the devil himself is against you, is your enemy.

Now, some of us, you know, maybe depending on where you come from, you're like, oh, this is where it gets weird, and start talking about this kind of stuff.

I always ask this question have you ever had a moment in life where the things coming against you seem so calculated, so perfectly tailored to discourage you, to get you to quit, that it's almost like there's some type of intelligent, malevolent force that is out for you.

Has anyone ever had that experience where you're like, this is not a random situation, this is not a bunch of unfortunate moments, this is like something with with some knowledge is is after.

Have you ever had that thought?

You're not crazy.

You're not, that's true.

That's true.

There's we have an enemy.

Scripture talks about it all the time.

We have an enemy, Satan, he's he's real.

I'll put it this way Jesus believed in Satan.

You talked to him.

And so I followed Jesus.

If Jesus believed in Satan, I believe in Satan, right?

So so Jesus experienced the demonic, like evil, evil spirits.

That there's this, there's a darkness, there's real evil in the world, and that evil is not just against God, it's against it's against you, because you belong to God.

And so the question, you might want to look at Paul and be like, I don't you want me to answer that question, Paul?

Like, I can't tell if this is the kind of question that needs an answer or not, because you said, if God is for me, who can be against me?

Well, how about people, powerful people, and I don't know the devil?

Quite a bit.

Paul?

But see, what Paul's really saying is this is what's powerful.

If God is for you, of what consequence are all the people who are against you?

If God is for you and God is with you, if God has committed himself to you, if God has given his whole self to you, if God is behind you, willing to put his full weight and power behind you, then of what consequence are the combined efforts of everyone who would come against you?

And the answer is none.

Isaiah 54, 17 says, But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.

You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you.

These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord.

Their vindication will come from me.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

Jesus.

John 16 says, Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world.

Guys, I'm one of those people who I don't like to spend a ton of time thinking about one day in heaven.

I there's a lot going on right now.

I like to do the stuff that's right in front of me.

But guys, one day in heaven, we'll be hanging out.

I don't know how heaven's gonna be like situated.

I don't know if if you like live in a neighborhood by church, I'm not sure how it all works, you know, or what, but I'm imagining we're gonna bump into each other sometimes.

It's gonna be fun.

And uh I just imagine being in heaven and being like, hey, remember back when there were like people trying to make our lives miserable?

Isn't that funny how they all failed?

Like, hey, you remember that Satan guy that was always like messing with us?

Like back when we were alive, like before we were in this, you know, in this amazing space?

Like, you remember there was that that Satan guy?

He's always trying to discourage us and always flooding us with discouragement and all kinds of incredible negative emotions and and all these remember that?

Remember those, remember problems?

Remember problems?

Do you remember do you remember disappointment?

Remember like sometimes things wouldn't go the way you wanted them to go, and you'd be like, oh dang, this is this was this is disappointing.

Remember that?

And we'll be like, kind of.

Maybe we won't even remember it.

Because there will be a day when our God, scripture says, we'll wipe away every tear.

Every tear is gone, we'll turn all morning into dancing, there will be no sorrow, there will only be joy, and that that enemy of ours, he's he's gone.

Like he's he's gone.

That's exciting, right?

That's really awesome.

And that here's what's really cool that is your destiny.

Your destiny, your destination is to be living forever in the presence of the God who made you, experiencing no sorrow, no pain, no regret, none of that, no temptation, because you are in the very presence of the God who made you, and it's it's good.

That's your personal destiny.

And Paul knew that.

Paul lived with that.

That's why Paul said things no one had ever said before.

Paul one time said, I long to go and be with the Lord.

And the word he actually used there, he's talking about death.

And the word he used was a word that no one in history had ever used associated with death before.

It was the word that someone would use when they would take up an anchor on a boat and go on a journey.

No one ever talked about death like that before Paul, because Paul lived with such clarity on where he was going and the ultimate destination that he was going to share in God's glory, that he was a son of God, that he was gonna be a co-heir of God's glory, that all the problems he was dealing with, all the times he was in prison, every time they were whipping his back and throwing rocks at his face, he was like, Oh man, this is nothing.

This is nothing compared to what lies ahead.

Paul's saying, if God is for you, of what consequence is everything that stands against you?

And the answer is none.

But we have this choice as people.

And worship team, you guys can make your way out, we'll wrap up.

See, we have this choice every single day.

What am I gonna put my attention on?

What am I gonna give my attention to?

What stands against me?

Or who is for me.

It is hard to not shine a spotlight on your problems.

It's difficult.

It's hard, right?

When things are coming against you, when it's your circumstances, it's your relationships, it's who knows, it could be any aspect of life, whether it's your finances, physical health, when things are coming against you, it is hard to not shine a spotlight on those things and let them be what dominates your every waking moment.

But if you if you shine the spotlight, if you choose to give your attention to those things, the result is anxiety, fear, and exhaustion.

Whatever you give attention to grows.

But if you choose instead to take that spotlight and shift it from what stands against you and place it on who is for you, that's a different story.

The result of that is belief and hope and boldness.

Like boldness.

I'll give you a great example of this, a classic story in the Bible.

David and Goliath.

Are anyone familiar?

David and Goliath?

Right, okay.

It's one of those great stories, by the way, that like if you ever have young children and you open up your Bible and you want to read the Bible to them, you have to like, oh, I forgot it was this graphic.

I have to, like, you know, like, anyone here know how Goliath dies?

What happens?

I shouldn't have asked, there's no way I could have discerned anything that everyone just sort of mumbled.

Alright.

A lot of people remember, I don't know why that uh a lot of people remember like the rock.

He gets hit with a rock in the head.

No, no, no, that just stuns him.

David walks up to him, takes Goliath's sword, chops his head off.

It's a bad way to go.

That's in the Bible.

The Bible tells really cool stories.

But check out the interaction that David has with Goliath.

We find this in 1 Samuel chapter 17 for some backstory.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

David is young, Goliath is big, he's huge, he's the most mighty warrior in the Philistine army.

The Philistines are opposed to the Israelites, and Goliath has challenged any Israelite to face him one-on-one.

He's like, hey, come face me one-on-one.

If you win, we'll quit.

But if I win, then uh y'all belong to us.

You'll be our slaves.

And every single warrior, every single one in the army of Israel is looking at Goliath, going, Nope, not me.

Not it.

But David says, Well, I'll do it.

And so he goes out, and Goliath says, walks out toward David with his shield bare ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy.

Am I a dog?

He roared at David, that you come at me with a stick.

And he cursed David by the names of his gods.

I love the fact that no one really remembers those names.

Come over here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals, Goliath yelled.

And David replied to the Philistines, You come at me with sword, spear, and javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

So today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.

And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel, and everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear.

This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us.

That's awesome.

And then things got real.

If you read the rest of that story, stuff gets real.

But you know, I look at David, and where every other man, where every other soldier was focused, shining their spotlight, giving their attention to what was against them.

David, different perspective.

He was giving all of his attention, shining his spotlight on who is for him.

And so he looks at this giant of a man.

He says, Yeah, yeah, threaten me, say whatever you will.

I know you're strong, I know you're powerful, but I happen to know who's behind me, I happen to know who's for me.

And I will I'll give all my trust to him.

Are we going to be people who put our attention on what stands against us?

Or are we going to be people who give our attention to who is for us, who is behind us.

The God of the universe is for you, so of what consequence is everything that stands against you?

None, zero.

It doesn't matter, it won't matter.

Whatever you're dealing with right now, whatever problem, I'm not making light of it.

I've got those two, but I'm telling you that one day none of it will matter.

Because God wins.

You might actually say that's the theme of the Bible is you could close the book and just go, God wins every time.

That God is for you.

Let that sink in.

What is your biggest problem?

Don't answer it like the other question that I asked earlier.

We learned that that doesn't work.

What's your biggest problem today?

How much of your bandwidth is that is that problem, is that situation taking up?

How much of your your free time is spent thinking about it, dwelling on it?

How much does it does it weigh on you?

It's time to take the spotlight, it's time to shift it.

Stop looking at what's standing in your way, just start looking at the one who's standing with you.

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

And the answer is it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter because God wins, and that's wonderful, that is truly wonderful.

So put your faith in that.

Let's pray, Father.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Lord, for all that you do, for all that you are, thank you, Lord, for the fact that although you are mighty and powerful, you are the God of the universe, and we are so much smaller, of little consequence in the grand scheme of things, you have decided to choose us, to bring us into your family, and that you declare that you are for us.

You're not just with us, God, you're for us.

You've given us your yes, you've committed yourself to us, you've made us promises that you will keep.

You've promised us that you'll never leave us, you'll never forsake us, that there will never be a problem that we encounter that you cannot defeat, that even death itself will not have the final say because of who you are, because of Jesus.

So, Lord, I ask that you give us the ability, the wisdom, God, the discipline to put our spotlight, to put our attention on you, not on our enemies.

Lord, let us not be people who spend time worrying about the problems that are near to us, or even God, the problems that seem like they're everywhere, the wholesale cultural issues that we look at.

We can look at those things, and if we give it all of our attention, Lord, we become victims.

We're convinced, Lord, that everything's everything's falling apart.

But when you're involved, nothing falls apart.

Nothing that you can't build back.

So, Jesus, help us put our eyes on you.

We love you, Lord.

That's your name we pray.

Amen.