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SPEAKER_01: Y'all pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, thank you that you know everything we've done and you still like us.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray, Lord, you'd get us to the point that this song's talking about where we want you more than the air that we breathe.
SPEAKER_01: We want that to be true statements coming out of our mouths and not just words that we're singing.
SPEAKER_01: Would you come and would you would you make that shift in our hearts, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Would you draw us closer to you this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Would you come?
SPEAKER_01: Would you speak to us?
SPEAKER_01: Would you encourage us?
SPEAKER_01: Would you challenge us, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Come and speak this morning, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we came.
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to hear from you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray that you would speak.
SPEAKER_01: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So you may be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be in Romans chapter 8, verses 31 through 39.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8, 31 to 39.
SPEAKER_01: I will read and we'll get started here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: What then shall we say to these things?
SPEAKER_01: If God's for us, who can be against us?
SPEAKER_01: He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
SPEAKER_01: It's God who justifies.
SPEAKER_01: Who's to condemn?
SPEAKER_01: Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God, and who is indeed interceding for us.
SPEAKER_01: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
SPEAKER_01: As it is written, for your sake we're being killed all the day long.
SPEAKER_01: We're regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
SPEAKER_01: For I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So I have been given two of the most encouraging passages in all of Scripture to get to preach to you guys.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you would be hard-pressed to find two more passages more encouraging than the two passages I've gotten to preach the last two weeks.
SPEAKER_01: And so I pray that I do my job and you guys actually get encouraged by this.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul's logic here in verse 31, what then shall we say to these things?
SPEAKER_01: If God's for us, who can be against us?
SPEAKER_01: And when he's talking about these things, he's talking about the rest of the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, everything I've said up to this point, and I'm gonna make a he's like, I'm gonna make a summary statement now.
SPEAKER_01: If if all of this stuff that I've said, here's a summary statement.
SPEAKER_01: If God's for us, who can be against us?
SPEAKER_01: You know, if if I said that Superman is for you, I mean Superman, when I watch the Superman movies, I'm always like, how would this guy ever possibly lose any battle that he's in?
SPEAKER_01: He's the strongest, he's the fastest, he's got the laser eyes, he can fly.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't completely get it.
SPEAKER_01: Like Superman should just win all the time.
SPEAKER_01: But if I said that Superman was for you, that would like that would be a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: Like if somebody else was against you, who cares?
SPEAKER_01: Because Superman's on your side, he can take them out, right?
SPEAKER_01: Or if I said, you know, America, we're the most powerful nation on earth.
SPEAKER_01: And and so the most powerful nation on earth, probably the most powerful position on earth, would be our president.
SPEAKER_01: If I said the president is for you, and everything that you're for and you're fighting for, he's got your back, he believes in you.
SPEAKER_01: How encouraging would that be?
SPEAKER_01: That he's for you, and and and nothing that comes against you can stop you.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard somebody say it this way before.
SPEAKER_01: They said, you plus God is a majority.
SPEAKER_01: You plus God is a majority.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, if you guys choose to follow Jesus and you lay down your life and you're like, God, I'm all in, I'm gonna follow you with everything I have, there are gonna be times in your life and your seasons in your life where you're gonna feel lonely.
SPEAKER_01: There are gonna be seasons in your life where you feel like the world is against you, and there are gonna be seasons in your life that are gonna be quite difficult.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That is a reality for followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I think more and more in our culture, it's a reality for for followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But but here's the thing if if if there's a truth that you're getting uh you're getting ridiculed for, how do you know if it's one you need to stand for or one that you can let go?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the way that you know is scripture, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like you get your Bible out, and you know, people are they're ridiculing me over this.
SPEAKER_01: We start to study, and you're like, well, this is actually in scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And if you find that it's in here, then you need to stand firm on it.
SPEAKER_01: In in the last uh probably two, three weeks, Jim Harbaugh, he's the head coach of Michigan's football team.
SPEAKER_01: He went, somebody likes Michigan.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like Michigan that much, but anyhow, we'll not get into all that.
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm I'm happy for you.
SPEAKER_01: He's the head coach of Michigan's football team, and in the last few weeks he spoke at this pro-life rally, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he he supported pro-life.
SPEAKER_01: He he came out and said he's pro-life, and he spoke at it.
SPEAKER_01: The media had a complete meltdown.
SPEAKER_01: ESPN and the media were like, I can't believe that Jim Harbaugh spoke at this event.
SPEAKER_01: This is so terrible.
SPEAKER_01: How must his team feel?
SPEAKER_01: This is so, like, they must be feeling so depressed.
SPEAKER_01: This is so they're saying it was wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that in this moment, Jim Harbaugh felt like the world was against him, right?
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm expecting to happen, because I've seen stuff like this happen, it happens in our culture, and I'm expecting that Jim Harbaugh, he's eventually gonna get interviewed and he's gonna recant what he said so that he can get the heat off of him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm expecting to happen, because I've seen that happen so many times in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Well, last week I was actually able to watch the interview where they they did the follow-up interview to Jim Harbaugh, and they're like, hey, what's going on with you getting up at that rally and and and speaking?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, you know, I just think that this is a life or death matter.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that on matters like this, it's very important that we as Americans have conversations about it because we're deciding people's lives here.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want my staff and my football players to be able to talk to me about this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to have a conversation with them.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Well, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: You bring up your staff and football players, how do they feel about this?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, you know, I told my staff, and I told every one of my football players, if any of them ever has a child that they don't want, my wife and I will adopt them.
SPEAKER_01: We have a big house, we got space, we it would be our joy to adopt their child.
SPEAKER_01: And it was like the interview just kind of the the guy that was interviewing him, it kind of stopped.
SPEAKER_01: And they just quickly cut away to the Sports Center anchor, and the Sports Center Anchor is like, Well, that was Jim Harbaugh, and they go to the next topic.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know if Jim Harbaugh is a believer or not, but I know that in that moment, Jim Harbaugh was standing for truth.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure in that moment he felt very alone.
SPEAKER_01: But he chose, this is a scriptural conviction, I'm gonna stand on this truth, and I'm not gonna back down.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that this is probably something that we're gonna get more and more opportunities to do over the next few years of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: You know, back in the 1500s, Martin Luther had a kind of a similar situation.
SPEAKER_01: He uh, the church at the time had become corrupt, the church didn't care that much about God's word anymore, church wasn't really preaching the gospel anymore, and Martin Luther stood and he said, No, scripture matters, and the gospel matters.
SPEAKER_01: And and he ends up before this council of the leaders of the church, and this is what he said before them.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Unless I'm convicted by scripture and plain reason, my conscience is captive to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
SPEAKER_01: So help me God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And what I would say to you as well this morning is if God has told you to stand on a biblical principle, just stand firm and let God fight for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because if God is for you, does it matter who's against you?
SPEAKER_01: You plus one's a majority.
SPEAKER_01: Next thing is God, God's not going to withhold anything in taking care of you.
SPEAKER_01: In taking care of you, God will withhold nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look and see what the text says.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 32 and 33.
SPEAKER_01: It says, He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he, it's just verse 32, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: So God is not holding anything back from us.
SPEAKER_01: First service I was able to tell this story, and my kids weren't here.
SPEAKER_01: This service I have to out myself.
SPEAKER_01: So here's something that my kids are gonna love this.
SPEAKER_01: Um so when I buy snacks at the store, there are certain snacks that I like better than other snacks, and I will save those snacks until my children go to bed, and then I'll bring the good stuff out.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I love some aged, like two-year-old aged cheddar cheese.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing that brings me much more joy than eating that.
SPEAKER_01: And I usually don't get that out while my kids are still awake because I want to eat it myself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to share.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm saying this morning is God's not like that.
SPEAKER_01: God's not withholding something from you.
SPEAKER_01: He's not like, yeah, I'll just wait till they're gone or till they're in bed and then I'll get it out.
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's nothing that Christ withholds from you.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that He has is yours.
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: I need to be a better dad and be more loving to my children and give them some of my AIDS cheddar.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the lie that I tell myself with that is I'm like, you know, I don't think they really like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's really old.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them, some of them do.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them do like it.
SPEAKER_01: It's probably not the greatest.
SPEAKER_01: So help pray for me that I will grow in my love for my children.
SPEAKER_01: Um, John Newton, he said it this way.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Everything's needful that he sends, nothing can be needful that he withholds.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Christ, he says, everything's needful that he sends.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing needful that God is withholding from you.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: So if I, you know, if I found out that you, one of you was homeless and I said, you know what, I want to take care of this problem.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you my house.
SPEAKER_01: Not just for a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01: This is your house, here's the keys, it's yours.
SPEAKER_01: Would you then struggle the next day if you were thirsty and you came to me and said, Hey, I'm thirsty, we'd be like, Well, he's probably not gonna help me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: No, you'd be like, Well, of course this guy's gonna help me.
SPEAKER_01: He already gave me his home.
SPEAKER_01: He he's shown that he's got he's capable of giving me water.
SPEAKER_01: He's also shown that he's compassionate enough that he would do it.
SPEAKER_01: He's big enough and he's good enough, of course he's gonna help me.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you were hungry a couple days later and you didn't have enough food to eat, would you feel awkward about coming to me and being like, you know, I don't have any food to eat either.
SPEAKER_01: Could could you help me with that?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you would.
SPEAKER_01: I think you'd be like, he already gave me a house.
SPEAKER_01: He's he's proven his love for me.
SPEAKER_01: He, of course, he's gonna give me food, right?
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what we've got to begin to, where we've got to get with God.
SPEAKER_01: Like God is both big enough and he's good enough.
SPEAKER_01: He is capable and he's also compassionate and loving enough that he wants to help you, and there's nothing he's withholding from you.
SPEAKER_01: We serve a God of unlimited resources, and and and there, like there's no diminishing returns with God, and there's no limit to his resources.
SPEAKER_01: His resources are absolutely unlimited, and his there's no diminishing returns.
SPEAKER_01: Like he doesn't give you a good gift, and well, that's all I'm gonna give you.
SPEAKER_01: It's just gonna get worse from here.
SPEAKER_01: No, he gives you better and better gifts as your life goes on.
SPEAKER_01: He's not holding out for you on you.
SPEAKER_01: My uh, you know, I think God's given me so many gifts.
SPEAKER_01: My wife is one of them.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe I got to marry a woman of her quality and her caliber and her beauty.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of my children when they've been born, within that like half hour of time after their birth, I find myself crying, tears of joy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful for each and every one of my kids.
SPEAKER_01: And then I get to be a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Like I get to see y'all's hearts and lives being changed each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: What how good is God to me, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like how good is God to you?
SPEAKER_01: How many good things is is He is He giving to us each and every day?
SPEAKER_01: Now, you remember last week I told that story of my son Wyatt.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I took him to the emergency room, he had that splinter in his foot, and he we had to put like a straitjacket on him, and then I had to hold him down while they pulled the splinter out.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be seasons in your life that feel that way.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna feel like God is against you, he's holding you down, and you're in a strait jacket.
SPEAKER_01: But what you've got to trust in those seasons is that God is for you and he is not withholding good from you.
SPEAKER_01: Tim Keller said it this way: He said, God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows.
SPEAKER_01: God's only gonna give you what you what you knew you what you would have asked for if you know everything he knows.
SPEAKER_01: So, some of you, maybe you're praying for a Labborgini right now, and you've been praying really hard and you're like, I need a new Labborgini.
SPEAKER_01: God's only gonna give that to you if it's actually what you need and it's gonna help you grow.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, if he doesn't give it to you, you've got to trust that that's for your good, right?
SPEAKER_01: God's not gonna allow anything to condemn us.
SPEAKER_01: He's not gonna allow anything to condemn us.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at the text.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 33 and 34.
SPEAKER_01: Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?
SPEAKER_01: It is God who justifies who is to condemn.
SPEAKER_01: Christ Jesus is the one who died.
SPEAKER_01: More than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God, and who is interceding for us.
SPEAKER_01: Who can bring a charge to you?
SPEAKER_01: As a follower of Jesus, who can bring a charge against you?
SPEAKER_01: And the text point here is no one.
SPEAKER_01: No one can.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing though, the enemy certainly tries to bring charges against us.
SPEAKER_01: Like each and every day, I don't know about you, but there's these voices that kind of are in your head, and it's stuff like, yeah, you're you're not good enough.
SPEAKER_01: Like that teacher, that test that you're about to take, she she's setting this up.
SPEAKER_01: She's just trying to get you, she wants you to fail.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe one of your friends, like they didn't accidentally say that.
SPEAKER_01: They're trying to get you.
SPEAKER_01: They're just after you.
SPEAKER_01: Or you get in an argument with your spouse, and you're like, oh, that there's something going on there.
SPEAKER_01: I think they're mad at me, or my boss, like he's upset.
SPEAKER_01: I know I messed up on that.
SPEAKER_01: They want to fire me.
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of stuff that constantly goes on in our head.
SPEAKER_01: We're not good enough, we're not, we're not smart enough, we're not able to do it, we're not good looking enough.
SPEAKER_01: All this stuff is constantly swirling around in our head.
SPEAKER_01: Satan's constantly accusing us.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: The next time you start to hear this kind of stuff, this kind of dialogue going on in your head, you need to recognize that it's Satan lying to you.
SPEAKER_01: And you need to have a conversation with Satan.
SPEAKER_01: Something to realize here, like Satan's still real.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's not just some figment of the Bible's imagination.
SPEAKER_01: He's still active and he is still trying to lie to you, and he wants to destroy your soul.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And next time he tries that, next time he's saying you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, whatever it might be, I want you to say to Satan, Satan, you're right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not good looking enough.
SPEAKER_01: I I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, man, Satan, I sin every day.
SPEAKER_01: You got me.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing you're not my judge anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'm following Jesus now.
SPEAKER_01: And and and what Jesus has said about me is because of his death on the cross, I'm forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Because of his death, his life, and his resurrection, he's he's now imputed, he's given me his perfect righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna bring against me?
SPEAKER_01: Last week we learned that we're glorified as well.
SPEAKER_01: That means I am more beautiful and capable than you even realize right now, Satan.
SPEAKER_01: What do you have to say to me?
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing you can say to me.
SPEAKER_01: Get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go and worship Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of conversation that I think we regularly need to have with Satan.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to shut him down and we need to, the the words of Scripture have got to be louder in our head than the words of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Who on this earth, you know, if they were gonna come and encourage you, who could come and encourage you and their words would just carry the most weight for you?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a celebrity, maybe it's some country music singer, a politician, probably not a politician for most of us, but like who maybe it's your mom or dad, maybe it's a good friend, and they come and they start to encourage you, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like who would that be?
SPEAKER_01: And maybe they come and they say to you, you know, you're you're you're you're a child of God, you're created in his image, you're a conqueror, you're an you're an overcomer, you're worthy of love and honor, respect.
SPEAKER_01: I see destiny in you.
SPEAKER_01: You're fearfully and wonderfully made.
SPEAKER_01: If they came and said that, you're thinking about them saying that to you right now, and you're just you're tearing up thinking about it.
SPEAKER_01: Why does Jesus' voice not carry that same kind of weight for you?
SPEAKER_01: Shouldn't his voice carry even more weight for you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you realize that in this text, this is Jesus himself speaking through the Apostle Paul and saying to you that you cannot be condemned.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot be condemned because he stood in your place, and his perfect life is now credited to your account.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of this uh this verse here, verse 34, it says that he's at the right hand of God, Jesus, and he's interceding for us.
SPEAKER_01: So last chapter or last few verses, we learn that the Holy Spirit, like sometimes he's trying to pray for us, and he gets like so emotional in his prayers that he begins to groan on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And in this section, we're learning that Jesus himself is up there interceding for you.
SPEAKER_01: So I think next time you're feeling weak, when life is not going well, this is what you need to remember.
SPEAKER_01: That there are there are beings up in heaven that are pouring out their heart for you, that are praying for you, that want to see you flourish, and they're fighting on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Next thing we learn in this text is that God is not going to allow anything to separate us from his love.
SPEAKER_01: God will not allow anything to separate us from his love.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read 835 to 39.
SPEAKER_01: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we're being killed all the day long.
SPEAKER_01: We're regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing all these things we're more than conquerors through him who loved us.
SPEAKER_01: For I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You need to understand that as Paul's saying this, he's not just saying it, he's actually experienced this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand Paul's history?
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: Paul kind of gives a little bit of a history lesson, how his life went.
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't an easy pie in the sky, wonderful life.
SPEAKER_01: It was rough.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 11, 23 through 28.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says about Paul's life.
SPEAKER_01: This is him talking about his own life.
SPEAKER_01: Are they servants of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: I'm a better one.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
SPEAKER_01: Let's listen to what happened in his life.
SPEAKER_01: Five times I received at the hand of Jews 40 lashes, minus one.
SPEAKER_01: Three times I was beaten with rods.
SPEAKER_01: Once I was stoned.
SPEAKER_01: Three times I was shipwrecked.
SPEAKER_01: A night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, and danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
SPEAKER_01: This is Paul saying that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Paul who's been in prison, Paul who's been beaten.
SPEAKER_01: You know, in that passage it says that he has anxiety, his anxiety as well for all the churches.
SPEAKER_01: Like this that passage in 2 Corinthians is written to a super broken, messed up church.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you you feel like Christ doesn't love you because uh you have church hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Paul had some church hurt too.
SPEAKER_01: He he has anxiety for all the churches.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's that's what that comes from.
SPEAKER_01: Church hurt does not separate you from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think as Americans, this is this is a hard truth for us to get.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's because, you know, maybe somebody went to Starbucks this morning, and if they get your order wrong, we can be like, man, God doesn't love me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: My order is wrong at Starbucks, life's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: Or you get in a fight with your with your spouse this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, God doesn't love me anymore, I'm arguing with my spouse again, or you know, you you're your kids, they they do something and you get in an argument and you're like, oh, just and we're just like, God doesn't love me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I think the enemy would love if that's that's how you responded to those things.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to be cranky, grumpy, and ungrateful for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Because if he can keep you cranky, grumpy, and ungrateful, you're not gonna have much of an impact for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Here's something that we need to get.
SPEAKER_01: We need to take that worldview that's not a right worldview, and we need to get a biblical worldview.
SPEAKER_01: And the biblical worldview is that each of us, all that we deserve, is hell.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we deserve.
SPEAKER_01: If God's just, that's what would happen.
SPEAKER_01: But he's not just just, he's also full of grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're not all in hell right now.
SPEAKER_01: So so it everything else is just it's it's gravy.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's God being good to us, like your refrigerator at home.
SPEAKER_01: You should you should be happy that you have a refrigerator, your car, your wife, your children, your job, all of that is stuff that you get to be grateful for instead.
SPEAKER_01: And then life, when this is your worldview, you you just get incredibly grateful for all that Christ has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you realize more and more that nothing can separate you from his love.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that the persecuted church has understood this truth much better than we have as Americans.
SPEAKER_01: Um there's this guy, his name was Stoyan.
SPEAKER_01: His father was a pastor in an Eastern European country.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this is right, this story takes place a little after World War II, right when the communists come in and they begin to persecute Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: So his father's a pastor, he's 12 years old, and they take his father off to prison.
SPEAKER_01: They end up holding his father in prison for ten years.
SPEAKER_01: Ten years in prison.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't do anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: All he was doing was preaching the gospel and being a faithful pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Every morning while he was in prison, one of the guards would go to the bathroom, get some human waste, and rub it on a piece of toast, and that's what he would feed him every morning.
SPEAKER_01: Every morning.
SPEAKER_01: So he's in prison for about nine months, and the family hasn't heard anything from their father.
SPEAKER_01: And nine months in, the the prison finally contacts him and says, Hey, he's gonna be transferred, so you have you have like an hour tomorrow to come and visit him.
SPEAKER_01: So they go and they visit him.
SPEAKER_01: And the place where they have it have the visitation happening is like a football field size place.
SPEAKER_01: And they have tables in the middle, so the family's on one side and the prisoners are on the other, and they have an hour.
SPEAKER_01: Most of the prisoners, when they get there, they come running out and they're so happy to see their family interact with them.
SPEAKER_01: They wait for like 55 minutes and their father still has not come out.
SPEAKER_01: And then about 55 minutes in, they see this guy carrying what looks to be just like a bundle of rags.
SPEAKER_01: It's another prisoner.
SPEAKER_01: He's carrying a bundle of rags toward them.
SPEAKER_01: He takes the rags and puts it on the table in front of them.
SPEAKER_01: And it and Stoyan takes his mother's hand and he looks and they see that it's they see their dad's blue eyes and they see a skeletal figure there before them.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets his face right next to his father and he says, Papa, I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_01: And then his mom says, she's brought something for him.
SPEAKER_01: She knows exactly what he would want in this situation.
SPEAKER_01: It's a New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And she takes it and she tries to sneak it under his hat.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the guards were waiting for that.
SPEAKER_01: And they see it.
SPEAKER_01: And a guard comes running over and he's he's very upset that she's tried to do this.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Do you not realize that that Bible is exactly why he's in prison?
SPEAKER_01: Do you not realize that if I want to, I could kill you, I could kill him, and I could kill the rest of your family right now?
SPEAKER_01: And not only could I do that, but they would applaud me for doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And his mother looks at this guard with a little bit of fire in her eyes, and she says, Yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_01: You could kill us, you could kill me, you could kill my husband, you could kill my family, but you cannot separate us from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys see that throughout history, Christians have gone to prison, they've been tortured, beaten, and what has kept them faithful to Jesus is this truth that you cannot separate me from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: A few years later, uh his father at this point had been sent to another part of the country for prison, and that night the authorities come to Stoyan and his mother's house and they say, Hey, we're gonna move you, and we're moving you to this far corner of the country.
SPEAKER_01: You have one hour to pack, and you each get two bags.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of his little brothers just starts crying, and he's like, What's gonna happen to us?
SPEAKER_01: What's gonna happen to our home?
SPEAKER_01: How will our father know where we are?
SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna have food?
SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna live?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's gonna happen, mommy?
SPEAKER_01: And she looks at him and she says, Well, God's gonna have to provide.
SPEAKER_01: And she leads them in a hymn and they begin to sing this hymn together.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they they get on the train and they go to where they're to go.
SPEAKER_01: As they're getting off the train, this this gentleman comes up to them and he says, Hey, are you he says Stoyan's father's name?
SPEAKER_01: Are you his his children?
SPEAKER_01: Is this are you his family?
SPEAKER_01: And they say, Yeah, we're we're his family.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Okay, I'd found you.
SPEAKER_01: I I have this bag, this bag's full of money.
SPEAKER_01: And let me let me explain.
SPEAKER_01: My church was praying last night, and while we were praying, the Holy Spirit met us, and the Holy Spirit said, We were to give you money, and I was to come here and lead you to your home.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna take you to your home.
SPEAKER_01: Here's this bag, six months of money in here.
SPEAKER_01: If you need more, you let us know and we can find more for you.
SPEAKER_01: But you're taken care of.
SPEAKER_01: And the family, they're they're weeping, they're overcome by God's love for them.
SPEAKER_01: Again, do you see?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing can separate us from Christ's love.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what's happening in your life, Christ is gonna care for you.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, on the last day of his father's imprisonment.
SPEAKER_01: It's the last day, but the guards don't want him to know.
SPEAKER_01: They want to take their last shot and get him to recant his faith.
SPEAKER_01: So they take him outside to a pole and they say, Hey, today is the day of your execution.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna tie you to this pole, they tie him to a pole, and they say, We're gonna shoot you unless you deny your faith.
SPEAKER_01: The dad, you know, he's kind of hunched over and he straightens up and he says, I will not deny Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And it just infuriates the guards.
SPEAKER_01: They start yelling at him, they get mad at him, and then and then they untie him and they just take him outside, and he doesn't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: He's just outside of the prison, he's free, and I thought they were gonna kill me.
SPEAKER_01: So he's free, and he eventually is able to meet up with his family, and he gets back to pastoring.
SPEAKER_01: One day an old lady comes to them and she says, My son has diabetes and he's going blind and he's in a lot of pain.
SPEAKER_01: Could you help me, Pastor?
SPEAKER_01: Could you find some medicine for him?
SPEAKER_01: And could you just come and pray for him?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Sure, I can do that.
SPEAKER_01: So he goes, he finds some medicine, he takes it to her.
SPEAKER_01: She's super grateful for the medicine.
SPEAKER_01: She says, Come upstairs with me.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to pray for my son.
SPEAKER_01: As he's walking through the doorway to the guy's room, he he sees who the guy is and he realizes who it is.
SPEAKER_01: This is the guy that used to spread human waste on his toast every morning.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says: he doesn't want them to know, so he just whispers this under his breath.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Lord, do not let me fail you now.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let me fail you now.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what he's saying?
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what he understood?
SPEAKER_01: He'd been faithful throughout prison, faithful to Jesus the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: And now the ultimate challenge has come.
SPEAKER_01: One of his persecutors, he has to choose to forgive this guy.
SPEAKER_01: Because if he can't forgive this guy, then what does Christ's forgiveness mean?
SPEAKER_01: Like, does he really understand the gospel if he's not able to do this?
SPEAKER_01: God gives him the strength and he goes and prays for that guy, and he prays that the guy would be healed.
SPEAKER_01: He was faithful because he understood that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That son, his son Stoyan, ends up leading a publishing house, and they published like 20 Christian books.
SPEAKER_01: And he lived a very similar life, like danger, risk for Jesus, but he was faithful to Jesus to the end.
SPEAKER_01: We hear a story like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's encouraging, but I think some of you are sitting there and you're like, Brant, I'm just trying to get along with my husband or my wife and my kids.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't even know what would happen if somebody tried to imprison me.
SPEAKER_01: Like, this isn't this isn't in my wheelhouse, this isn't my life.
SPEAKER_01: Let's continue to talk about it a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's son, he's a Baptist minister in Romania during the same time period.
SPEAKER_01: And so he begins to get, Romania is a persecuted place and he's dealing with persecution.
SPEAKER_01: And so one night, during a particularly harrowing session of interrogation, San, he told his inquisitors that were about to, that were spilling some of his blood at the time.
SPEAKER_01: He said, My blood's only going to serve to water the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so a theology of suffering kind of developed for him during this time.
SPEAKER_01: And what he realized was tribulation is never an accident.
SPEAKER_01: It's God's sovereign plan for building his church.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what he said.
SPEAKER_01: I have the quote up here on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I told the interrogator, you should know that your supreme weapon is killing, but my supreme weapon is dying.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how it works, sir.
SPEAKER_01: You know that my sermons are on tape all over the country, and when you shoot me or crush me, whichever way you choose, you only sprinkle my sermons with my blood.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody who has a tape of one of my sermons, they're going to pick it up and they're going to say, I better listen again.
SPEAKER_01: This man died for what he preached.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder after you kill me, and because you kill me.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, listen to this word.
SPEAKER_01: I will conquer this country for God because you killed me.
SPEAKER_01: Go on and do it.
SPEAKER_01: Dying for the Lord's not an accident, it's not a tragedy.
SPEAKER_01: It's a part of the job.
SPEAKER_01: It's a part of ministry, and it's the greatest way of preaching.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we look at that first guy, and we see, you know, he's in prison for 10 years, and we're like, man, what a what a waste of your life.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it by the world's standards, he was losing that whole time, right?
SPEAKER_01: But a kingdom mindset, a heavenly mindset, he was winning that whole time.
SPEAKER_01: He was conquering in the name of Jesus that whole time that he was being persecuted.
SPEAKER_01: So my question for you this morning, are you conquering for Jesus right now?
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand the gift of freedom that he has given you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand that he's for you?
SPEAKER_01: That no one can condemn you, that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The book that I took that story from, it's called The Insanity of Obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And Nick Ripkin, the story kind of continues.
SPEAKER_01: He's interviewing this guy Stoyan.
SPEAKER_01: And when he's done interviewing him, Stoyan says, he says, you know, I took great pride in suffering for Jesus over in Romania so that you could be free here in America to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And Nick Ripkin's like, no, you're not doing that to me.
SPEAKER_01: Like, you didn't suffer for me, you were suffering for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what was going on here.
SPEAKER_01: And this guy Stoyan, he looks him right in the eyes and he says, Don't steal my joy.
SPEAKER_01: I took great joy to be suffering in my country so you could be free to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever give up in pre freedom what we would never give up in persecution.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever give up in freedom what we would never give up in persecution.
SPEAKER_01: We have great freedom over here.
SPEAKER_01: Great freedom.
SPEAKER_01: We can sing a song and and and praise Jesus whenever we want.
SPEAKER_01: There's no nobody's gonna get mad at you if you do that.
SPEAKER_01: They might get mad, but they're not gonna throw you in prison and beat you.
SPEAKER_01: Martin Luther said this.
SPEAKER_01: I think this kind of brings it home for us.
SPEAKER_01: The most dangerous trial of all is when there is no trial.
SPEAKER_01: When everything's all right and running smoothly, that is when a man tends to forget God, to become too independent and put his time of prosperity to a wrong use.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, at this time, he's more need to call upon God's name than in adversity.
SPEAKER_01: I think for most of us, that's probably the season we're in.
SPEAKER_01: We're not in a season of great trial.
SPEAKER_01: We're in a season of plenty.
SPEAKER_01: We're in a season where God is blessing us, and it's actually that season that's the most dangerous for us as the church.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the season where it's easy to get complacent and fall asleep and lose your love for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you're when you're suffering, you have no choice but to reach out to Jesus and say, God, I need help.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to get through this without you.
SPEAKER_01: But when things are going good, it's easy to forget.
SPEAKER_01: And Martin Luther says this is actually the most dangerous time for us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: So in this season, are you doing what you can to run after Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing what you can to serve him with all you have?
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me remind you, church, he's for you.
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't matter who's against you.
SPEAKER_01: No one can condemn you.
SPEAKER_01: No one.
SPEAKER_01: And there is nothing.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing in this entire world that can separate you from his love.
SPEAKER_01: He loves you more than you can possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_01: So I call you this week, church, to go and to conquer in his name.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, I want to thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the truth that we got to hear this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you'd come and you'd speak to our hearts, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: As we just take a few moments here just to think through this and say, okay, that was a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: What are you saying to me, God?
SPEAKER_01: What can I take away from this, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Would you come and would you speak to us each intimately?
SPEAKER_01: We want to hear from you, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Come and speak.
SPEAKER_01: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a couple questions going to come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: I just encourage you, just take a couple moments and reflect and just what's the Father saying to you right now?
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, I trust that you're speaking to us right now.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to take what you've taught us this morning and not just be hearers of the word, but doers, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: These truths, they're great, but if we don't go and actually live it out, not much is happening, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But if we go and live it out, oh man, it'll turn our life upside down.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to be a people that's more grateful.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to run after you with all that we have, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a short video here.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to tell you about some of the events that are happening here in our church.
SPEAKER_01: So I'd just direct your attention up to the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at that.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_00: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_00: Ross King will join us in both services next Sunday to share strings and stories that help us engage with God and each other.
SPEAKER_00: Make plans to be here and bring a friend.
SPEAKER_00: The Back to School Batch is happening this Wednesday at 6.30 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: All parents and students grade are invited to join us for dinner and meet Ian Weber, our new student pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Register online at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: For all adults 60 and over, our next varsity gathering is August 25th.
SPEAKER_00: Join us for lunch and invite a friend.
SPEAKER_00: Register at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you want to worship through giving, there are giving boxes by the doors as you head out.
SPEAKER_01: As well, if you're new to our church, we would love to get to know you better.
SPEAKER_01: There's a number that's coming up here on the screen behind me.
SPEAKER_01: And if if you could please just text that in, we'd love to eat, to get a meal with you, talk with you.
SPEAKER_01: We'll follow up with you.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, here at the end of the service, there's going to be pastors in the front.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions or you just want to get to know us better, we'll be up here and we can talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: If you guys would stand up, I want to pray a prayer of blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: Stand up and put your arms out and let me pray for us and send us out.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, God, you did not save us so we could grumble and give up in hard times.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't save us so we could give up in the best of times.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we're a people that remember that nothing can change God's love for us or his provision for us.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Depart now and face something hard.
SPEAKER_01: Or face a life full of provision.
SPEAKER_01: And in either, don't let go of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that the result will ultimately be you experiencing more of God's love and conquering in his name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.