God Works All Things Together for Good

Well, let's, go ahead and, have a word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for this opportunity again to look into your word. And we know, Lord, that you have brought us all here tonight knowing who we are, knowing what our needs are, knowing what knowledge we need to have, and Lord to direct us, Lord, to something in scriptures that you would have for us to hear. Lord, there maybe some here that don't know Jesus yet as their savior. I pray Lord they'd understand they need Jesus to be their savior from sin and then Lord, there are some that are here that are saved but need something else from you and so Lord, you knowing the need of Saul, you being greater than all, you is able to do all that needs to be done.

We look to you Lord to do a great work and a complete work and we trust you to do so. In Christ name, we pray. Amen. Remain standing if you will and let's take our Bibles this evening and I want you to turn to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight.

I want to begin reading at verse 22. It says, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit. When we receive Jesus Christ, he comes into us and that's the holy spirit. God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit, three different people but all the same person. How?

I don't know but that's God and so when we receive Jesus, we literally have the holy spirit in us. So, verse 23 and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope. The hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man see it, why does he had hope for?

But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience, wait for it. Now, it's saying that we who have the holy spirit in us, we've accepted Jesus Christ. We've got a lot of hope in life. Now, even when we're in times that are difficult and we don't understand why a bad thing is happening to us, we've got a certain hope. We've got Jesus Christ in us and we've got also a promise that we're gonna read here.

And that's Romans chapter eight and verse 28. It says, and we what? Know. Know. Not hope, not suspect, not kinda maybe feel like a whim, but we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, we definitely know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.

Thank you. You may be seated. Now, there's not a person in the world that doesn't want a storybook life. We all want a life where everything goes the direction we want it to go. And, hopefully, we never have any problems.

And, hopefully, we never will get sick or we never will have family problems and and financial problems and hopefully, we'll all go through our life and they'll be able to put and they lived happily ever after on the end of the story. But life hits us in the face and we realize that it's not always and they lived happily ever after. There are some difficult times and it gets pretty tough. But in this passage, it speaks about hope. Now, the context in this passage and the word hope, it's not talking about a hope and something that might happen but it's a certain sure hope.

We know that all things work together for good. It's sort of like this. The Bible for example says that we don't have to hope that when we die, that we're going to go to heaven. Now, you ask people, are you going to go to heaven when you die? And they'll say, hope so.

Do you want to go to hell? No. Do you hope you're going to heaven? I hope so. How sure are you that you're going to heaven?

Well, nobody can be sure. You know what the Bible says? Everybody can be sure. Amen. The Bible says, these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life and that's not a hope so, it's a no so.

And now, the Bible in Titus one two says, in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie, promised before the world began. Now, that hope of eternal life is not a, I hope I go to heaven when I die if I accept Jesus as my savior. It's I know I'm going to heaven when I die. I will definitely go to heaven and that's my certain hope because it says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, here in Romans eight twenty eight, it's we know it's a certain promise that if we give our lives to Jesus and if we stay in love with Jesus, that he is going to work all even the seemingly bad things in our life out for good.

Now, two years ago, my brother Paul passed away. I had been praying for my brother Paul to get better, but he still passed away. And I actually fasted for several days asking God to heal my brother from cancer, but he passed away. Now, could God have healed my brother from cancer? Yes or no?

Yes. Yes. But why didn't he? If God is good, why didn't he? Now, I'm 52 and my brother was 51 and he was fairly young.

Well, why didn't God heal him? Now, we often look at Romans chapter eight verse 28. We try to comfort people with that but when my brother passed away, I thought, is that really true that if I give my life to God that he'll work all things out for good, was this really good? I can't see any good in it. And so I looked over this passage and I studied it for myself and I realized that it's really true.

God does work everything out for good to them that love him. And some of you are going through difficulties and I want you to know, first, you've gotta be born again. If you don't get born again, you cannot have this promise. If you don't get born again, you cannot go to heaven. You've got to be born again.

But then once you're born again, you stay in fellowship with God and he will make sure that everything that he allows in your life will be for your good. And I tell you, one day, I was thinking about growing spiritually. And as I was thinking of growing spiritually, I was thinking, Lord, I really wanna grow. Do whatever you have to to make me a better Christian. And then I thought about some people who go through terrible trials and I thought, well, I didn't wanna go through certain trials.

I've heard of some people that lost their wife and I said, God, I love my wife. I learned my lesson. Just don't touch my wife's body. Take care of my wife. Don't hurt her.

And then I thought, well, some people when they grow, God got a hold of them by something bad that happened to their children. And I said, but God, I love my children. I've got three children and I love two of them. I'm kidding about that. And anyway, I had all these thoughts go through my mind about what God might do that's really, really bad and it scared me.

And I began to think, what scares me the most about God? What's the worst thing that God might do to me? And as I thought through it, here's the conclusion I came to and I believe it from the bottom of my heart. The scariest thing about God that I can possibly think of is is going through life without him. The best chance that we have that our life is gonna turn out right is if we're totally in fellowship with him.

Amen? Amen. So I'm gonna look at this passage because some of you have been going through some difficult times and part of revival is getting our eyes back on the goodness of God. And I wanna look at our hope for a good ending. There are three certain reasons why we will be sure that God will work things too good as long as we have been born again and as long as we are in fellowship with him.

Alright. Now the context says, first of all, the purpose of God. Number two, the person of God and number three, the passion of God. Now, there's a little theology here and I'm going to try to not get too boring. You say, too late.

You're already boring. Alright. Well, we'll do what we can. Alright. Now, first of all, I want us to look at the purpose of God.

Alright, turn in your Bibles over here to Romans chapter eight and I want you to see verse 28 and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his what? Purpose. Purpose. Now, what is his purpose that is being referred to? It's tied to the very next verse.

Verse 29. For or because. Now, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to all them that are called according to his purpose because whom he did foreknow, he also did predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many what? Brethren. Now, in verse 29, whom he did foreknow is often a word or a phrase that certain theological positions take to say that God doesn't really want everybody to go to heaven.

Alright. That is a lie from the bit of hell because God wants everybody to go to heaven. Now hear me. Not everybody's gonna go to heaven, but God wants everybody to go to heaven. The Bible says that God so loved the world.

He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and it's also true that God said in second Peter chapter three, I'm not willing. I'm not wanting any to perish but that all would come to repentance. Now let me just give a commercial for the gospel here for a second. The word repentance is different than what most people think it means. Most people think repentance means to change your direction.

Like you're going this way and you turn around and you say, I'm going to go this way instead. Alright? I'm living in sin. I'm living in sin. I'm living in adultery and I turn around and I decide I'm gonna stop living in adultery.

That's not repentance. Alright. Or it might be I'm drinking beer. I'm drinking beer. I'm drinking beer.

I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna stop drinking beer and that's not repentance. Do you know what repentance technically means? It means change your mind. Now, let me tell you something friend. Do you know what is gonna keep a person from going to heaven more than anything else?

More than drinking? More than smoking? More than cussing? Do you know what'll put a person in hell more than sex out of marriage? Homosexuality?

Do you know what will put a person in hell quicker and even more certain than somebody who even is a murderer? Somebody who is spiritually proud and they will not change their mind about their being wrong. Now here's what the Bible teaches. Except you repent you shall all likewise perish. And do you know who he was talking to.

He was talking to a very religious crowd called the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees were good people and the Pharisees had their way of thinking. But Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no man cometh unto the father but by me. And what they needed to do was repent, change their mind, and just believe what Jesus said. Amen.

Now, the thing that puts more people in hell more than anything today is that they won't repent. They just won't budge and they just won't change their mind. I can remember years ago when my aunt passed away. I went to my aunt's funeral and at that funeral, I was privileged of giving God's word. I got the privilege of talking about heaven.

Now, I like talking about heaven, don't you? Amen. And so as I talked about heaven a little bit and I talked about how God says the streets of gold, God says there's a river of life, God says there's the tree of life and there are 12 kinds of fruit on it and in heaven, if you go to heaven, you won't have any pain. You could actually take a hammer, hit your thumb, and you wouldn't even feel it. Be kind of fun, wouldn't it?

And so as I got to talk about heaven and I got to talk about how Jesus said on the way to heaven and anybody and everybody who put their faith in Jesus can go to heaven. When I was done with that, I saw my other aunt, aunt Lorraine, was very upset and very troubled. So I went up to and I said, aunt Lorraine, how are you doing? And she said, I'm having a hard time with this funeral, Mike. I said, yeah, we're all having a hard time.

We're all gonna miss aunt Lorraine. But then she looked at me, she said, no, you don't understand. I'm having a hard time with this funeral because I was diagnosed with the same cancer that aunt Joyce had. Now, when I found out that she had the same cancer that my aunt Joyce had, that hit me in the heart because aunt Joyce got it and she was dead in six weeks. So I said to aunt Lorraine, I hope you beat this cancer.

Everybody, not everybody does, but many do. And I said, you can beat this cancer. Be positive about it. But if you don't beat this cancer, do you know where you're going to go? And she said, no, I don't.

And I'm scared. So I said, aunt Lorraine, you have a lot more than you can teach me in life than I could ever teach you. You're my aunt. But the Bible is my specialty and it is by the way. Not that I know everything, but I do know a lot from the Bible.

That's what I give my life to, friends. And so anyway, I said, Aunt Lorraine, the Bible's my specialty. Do you mind if I take the Bible and show you what the Bible says will get you to heaven? She said, I like that. So I opened my Bible and I began to show her how she needed to be born again.

And as I went through this process of showing, it's not by your works. It's by being born again. Except a man be born again and cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit of spirit, marvel not that I say unto thee, he must be born again and as I was giving her that gospel, she interrupted me and she said, wait a minute. I said, what at Lorraine?

She said, you believe different than we do. And you know what she meant by that? I'm a Baptist and she's a Lutheran. And you know what I quickly said to her? I said Aunt Lorraine, listen, it doesn't matter if you're Lutheran and I'm a Baptist.

You can be a Lutheran if you want till the day you die but you cannot get to heaven unless you make Jesus your personal savior by faith and are born again. And again she said, no. You believe different than we do. No. And I said, aunt Lorraine.

And she turned, walked away, and I said, aunt Lorraine. And the last time I ever saw her on earth, she turned looked at me with a scowl in her face and said, no. No. No. And she turned and walked away.

Now you know what she did? She refused to repent. Now, nicest lady you'll ever meet lived a better life than I've ever lived but my aunt Lorraine refused to change her mind and say, I have to do what the Bible says or I will never get to heaven and my aunt Lorraine kept her spiritual pride but she lost her eternal soul. Now, in order for somebody to get to heaven, they've got to repent. Now, in this passage, it says that we are the firstborn among many brethren.

Now, the purpose that God has for whom he did foreknow shows us that God will work all things together for our good. Now, the key to this thing is understanding who is whom he did foreknow. I take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 11 and in Romans chapter 11, you're going to see something here. Now, Romans chapter 11, it tells us whom he did for no is referring to the nation of Israel, the nation of Israel. Now, if you ever heard somebody say that God knew who would get saved and who would not get saved before the earth was ever formed.

Alright. Now, then they'll say, God determined who would get saved, who would not get saved before the earth was ever created. And maybe you heard somebody say that God predestined some to be saved and predestined some to burn in hell. God decided some would be saved and some would burn in hell. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

Alright, here's the mistake people make. They think that whom he did foreknow is talking about Christians. It's not. It's talking about Israel. Alright.

Now, let's take a look at chapter 11 and verse one. I say then, hath God cast away his people? That's the Israelites. God forbid, for I am also an Israelite. Do you see it?

Of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he what? Foreknew. Now, this is a little deep but this is the deepest part but stay with me. Verse two, God did not cast away his people which he what?

Foreknew. Foreknew. And who are his people which he foreknew? The Israelites. Now, knowing that him whom he did foreknow is referring to the Israelites, then go back to Romans chapter eight and I want you to see verse 29.

It says, for whom he did foreknow, the Israelites, he also did predestined or predetermined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first fruit or firstborn among many brethren. Alright, now look up this way. Why did God give us the nation of Israel? God gave us the nation of Israel so that we could have Israel as a tool to show God's power to the world through Israel. Through Israel, we learn that God can part the sea.

How many of you have had a problem that you need God to part the sea in? Through Israel, we found that God could feed them manna in the wilderness when there was no food around. He could feed them for forty years with no food around. How many of you are in a situation where you wonder where your next meal is gonna come from? Alright, through Israel, you see that God was powerful enough to make their shoes last in the wilderness for forty years.

They're closed for forty years. How many of you wonder how your physical needs are going to be met? Now, what God is saying is that I have given you the nation of Israel to show you my power that you don't need to worry I'm gonna take care of you. Now the other thing he's doing with Israel is he's giving us the bible. Do you know that every book in the Bible was given through a Jew?

Another thing that God did to the nation of Israel which is the greatest of all is he gave us Jesus Christ who is our savior. And you know, every good thing that we experience from God, God gave us to the nation of Israel. Now, turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12 and then I'm going to show you why we know that all things work together for good to them that love God through God's purpose. Alright. Now, notice Genesis chapter 12 and I want you to see, I know this is a little bit deep tonight, a little bit deeper than perhaps we've done this week But I want you to notice that God has a purpose and what that purpose is.

Alright. Now notice chapter 12 and verse one. The Lord has said unto Abram, the father of the nation of Israel, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee and I will make it thee a great nation. I will bless them that bless thee and make thy name great and thou shall be a what? Blessed.

Blessing. I will bless them that bless thee, curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall off all families of the earth, all families of the earth be what? Blessed. Alright. Now look at this way.

You know why God raised up the nation of Israel? He raised up the nation of Israel because his purpose was to bless as many people as he could possibly bless through that nation. Now, follow me. If I purpose to do something good for you, I may be able to do it or I may not be able to do it. But if God purposes to do something good for you, do you think he's able to do it?

Amen. What we see is that God raised up the nation of Israel because his desire is to do good to as many people as he could possibly do do good to And he's able to stand behind his promise and what he's saying here is, I have an example in the nation of Israel whom he did for no, I purposed to bring up this whole nation to do you good. And you can be sure that God is going to work even the seemingly bad things out in your life because God's purpose is to do you good. Now, that is a little deep, but I'm telling you, that is one of the reasons that you can be sure that God's going to work all things together for your good. He purposes to and part of revival is getting back your mind said that God is going to is powerful enough to work even the seemingly difficult things in our lives out for good.

Keep our eyes on God and keep trusting God. Now, first, we have the purpose of God and the second reason we know that God's going to work all things together for our good is because the person of God. Now, the person of God, God is a trinity. Now, as a trinity, there are three parts to him. Alright?

You already know them. Let's go ahead and say em. God the Father. Father, God the Son. And God the Holy Spirit.

Which one do you feel closest to? For me, when I need something big to happen, guess who I usually go to? God the father. When I need some comfort, guess who I go to? Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit. When I need some guidance, who do you think I go to? I usually go frankly in my life to the holy spirit. When I talk about to the holy spirit and there are other times I find myself praying, dear Jesus, I love you. Anybody ever do that?

And the reason I say, dear Jesus, I love you is because I think about the love that Jesus showed for me But in reality, when I'm praying to Jesus, I'm also praying to God the father. I'm also praying to God the holy spirit. Now, God is a trinity and the reason we know that all things work together for good is as we look at God's person, every part of God is for me. Now, my brother died. I had fasted.

I had praying. And I had fasted seven days. I'd never done that before in my life. And I thought if God's there and God's good, God's gonna turn this around for good in my life. But my brother died.

It threw me a little bit. I wondered, is God really gonna work things out for my good? But then I dive into Romans chapter eight and I learned, yes, God does work things for good. One, God's purpose is to do me good. Two, God's person wants to do me good.

All three parts of the trinity are concerned about me. Alright. Let's take a look at that. And now first we have the Holy Spirit. Alright.

Turn your Bibles back here to Romans chapter eight and it tells us that the Holy Spirit of God is leading me. The spirit of God is leading me. Alright. Look at verse 14. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And that shows us that, again, we've got to be born again. We've got to become sons and daughters of God, adopted by God. And that only comes by we receiving him as personal savior but when we receive Jesus as our personal savior and are born again, we are led by the spirit. Now, he's leading us because he wants to get us to the right place in life.

Now, my father, as I mentioned, died when I was six years old. A terrible tragedy and you might think what good could come out of this but God led our family through that to get us to the right place where he wanted us in life And whatever you're going through right now, God is giving you this promise. He's doing that to bring you to a place in life where he wants you to be. Now, are times when God puts somebody in a sick bed and the reason he puts him in a sick bed is so that the only place they have is to look up. Sometimes, God put somebody in a sick bed because he shows a part of himself to them that they might never know if they didn't go through that problem.

When somebody goes to the death of a loved one, God is perhaps showing him an aspect of God being there for them that they would not know if they did not go through that trial but the promise is that we are led by the spirit and he's leading us because he wants to be helping us and he is for us. Now, look at the holy spirit. What he does in verse 26, I find to be a blessing. Likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. The spirit itself make it intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Now, what this means is that the holy spirit making intercession for us is that the holy spirit's praying for us. Now, question, how many of you have ever prayed for someone that you love? Now, when you pray, you're typically praying for people that you love. You're not praying for people that you hate unless you're praying God kill em. Amen.

But typically, you're praying for people that you love. Now, today, I prayed for people that I love. I prayed for my children. I prayed for a friend of mine, Joe Long. I have prayed for pastor Polar and I've prayed for some of you.

Now, when you pray, you're praying for people that you love and when I see the Bible says that the Holy Spirit prays for me, that means the Holy Spirit loves me. Now, the Holy Spirit is for me and then we also know that God the son is for me. Alright, let's take our Bibles and look at verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again.

Now, Christ died for me and the Bible says, greater loveth no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friend. Now, not only did Christ die for me but notice what it says in verse 34, who is even at the right hand of God who maketh intercession for us. Now, what's the word intercession mean? Anybody? What's intercession mean?

He's our advocate. He's our advocate. What's he do as an advocate? He represents us. He prays for us.

And so what this is saying is not only the Holy Spirit prays for me but it's also saying that Jesus the son prayed for me today. Now if you ever get discouraged and you think you're all alone, just picture Jesus Christ actually praying for you to God the father. And you do not pray for somebody that you don't love and all of these are simply saying, even when my brother died, even when you got your sickness, even when this thing fell apart in your life, even when that situation didn't work out like you thought it would, even when you thought everything was falling apart, As long as you are in fellowship with God, you don't have to worry that things are going to end up bad because God is going to work it out for your good. And part of growing as a Christian is getting back your confidence in a good God to do you good. Your life in his hands, your life surrendered to his will, it's gonna be happily ever after in the end.

Just hang on and keep walking with God. Right now, we have God the son. We have God the holy spirit but we also have God the father and I know that this is more of a theological message. I almost apologize because evangelists aren't usually that theological. We're kind of dumb.

We just tell a few stories. But anyway, let's look at the third person of God and that would be God the father. Alright, now turn back here to chapter eight and I want you to look at verse 31. We're talking about how do we know that God is for us because he raised up the whole nation of Israel for the purpose of doing us good. How do we know he's for Every part of God is for us.

The holy spirit, Jesus himself, and now God the father verse 31. What should we say then to these things? What things? The difficult things. If God before us, who can be against us?

If God before us, who can be against us? And it's implying that God is for us and then notice verse 32, he spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Now, just again, a little commercial here. We're talking about different needs here tonight.

So, I'm going to hit different needs, different times, the thought comes to my mind. Now, it says that God spared not his own son. What's that mean? Evidently, his son went to the cross Why did his son go to the cross? It says, he who knew no sin became sin for us.

And what's that saying? Evidently, we're sinners and evidently, we need a savior and as it says, you've got to be born again. It says, that crowd sent his son. It says that the son died for us. And all of this shows that you must be born again.

And you've got to repent. You've got to change your mind. You'll never get to heaven unless you change your mind. If you keep your spiritual pride and you do not admit that you are a sinner who needs a savior, it'll cost you your eternal soul. But those of us that are already born again, we've gotta stay in love with Jesus, stay in fellowship with him because that is the safest place to be.

When we are in fellowship with God, we know that all things are going to work together for good because the purpose of God is to do us good. The person of God, every part of God is for me. Now, the last thing I wanna look at is the passion of God. Alright, turn your Bibles back here now to Romans chapter eight and we're going to begin reading at verse 39. Now, right in the context, we know all things work together for good to them that love God and here are the reasons and here's the final one we're going to look at tonight.

So, stay in love with Jesus, stay faithful, something happened you didn't quite understand why it happened. You know what I've chosen to do? When I don't understand why something happens, I don't like what happened. I know I'm walking with God. I know I'm on my way to heaven.

I've gotten that settled. I know that I'm right with God. There's no sin in my life I can think of but I'm not perfect. I sin on a regular basis and I get it right with him and get my fellowship restored. And as long as I'm right with him and my fellowship restored, if something happens, I don't understand.

Here's what I've done. I've decided I'm not gonna look anymore what I don't understand. I'm gonna look at what I know. I know that all things will work together for good as long as I stay in fellowship with him and love him. Now the third reason that I know that is because of the passion of God.

And I noticed verse 35 and following. We'll go ahead and read verse 35 through 39 and we'll talk about it and we'll begin to wrap things up. Now, verse 35 says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who's going to keep us from Christ's love? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

As it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep to the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, verse 35, we're going to talk through these verses.

It says, who shall separate us from the love of God? Now, there are two applications that could be there, okay? Are you with me still? Alright. First application of who shall separate us from the love of God could be.

What would it take to make you stop loving God? What would it take to make you stop loving God? Now, don't believe that this is the application, but I think it's possibly an application. Now, here are some people. They'll say, if God's gonna do that, I don't want anything to do with that kind of God.

How many have ever heard somebody say, well, if there's a good God out there, why did he allow Puerto Rico to get wiped out with a hurricane? Anybody ever hear a question like that? If there's a good God out there, then why did he let Haiti have an earthquake with two hundred and thirty thousand people die? If God's really a good God, then why did he let this happen? And then they'll say, well, I don't want anything to do with that kind of a god.

I had a girl come to me and she said, my friend who is only a senior in high school got cancer and she died and she said to me, if God is going to let my best friend who I had for all those years get cancer and die, I don't want anything to do with that kind of a god. You know what? She quit serving God. Now, a question asked is what would it take to make you stop loving God? Now, there are some people, something bad happens, and then they say forget it, and you never see him in church and you know what could happen after this meeting is done?

Some of you that just got saved, something bad could happen. You can say, well, I thought living for God was going to make everything wonderful. No guarantee that you won't have problems. The guarantee is if you have problems, you stay with God. He'll work it out for good for you.

That's the guarantee. Amen. Now, somebody drops on on God because they don't like what somebody else did in the church. You know what? God can even take the sinful things that other people do that are totally beyond your control and be as a big God able to turn even the sinful thing that somebody did out for your good.

And God is big enough to take anything that anybody does to you or anything that has happened in your life and work it out for good and then you get bitter at God and you say, well, I'm done with church. You let something make you stop loving God and here's my challenge. If we can believe that God will work all things together for good because he's that kind of a god, don't let anything make you stop loving God. Stay with him. Stay with him because that is the promise.

If you stay with him, then God will work it out for your good no matter what you find in your life. Now, I don't believe that's the primary application but the primary application is nothing that we do or nothing we encounter will make God stop loving us or keep God's love from reaching us. A brick wall can't make God not be able to find me. A huge problem is not such a big problem that God's love cannot intervene. And nothing is going to keep us from God.

And you know, not even the sins that you commit are big enough or bad enough to keep God from reaching out and saving your soul if you call on him for your salvation. Amen. Now, here's what it says. Let's just let the Bible speak for itself as we work through this verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, all these terrible things in life that come our way. Now, verse 36, as it is written. Now, when you see the words as it is written, that is simply as it is written in the Old Testament and in this, it's talking about Psalms 44, the chapter Psalms 44 and let me tell you what that chapter is about. The writer Psalms 44 is going through all kinds of problems and he says, you delivered our fathers. You delivered them from Egypt.

You fed them in the wilderness. You took care of them and gave them food. Their enemies came and attacked them and you delivered them. And then the Psalmist says, but God I'm having problems and I'm praying to you and you're not hearing my prayer. You're not delivering us.

We've gone years and years and years and we're not seeing any improvement in our situation. God, where are you? And you know what he does at the end of Psalms 44? He says, I will still call upon God who is my help and my deliverer. And you know what we do when we don't understand what's going on?

Just keep calling on God. We may not understand things but keep calling on God but here's the feeling of Paul as he's writing this. As it is written, verse 36, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter and he quotes the Psalmist feelings in Psalm 44, I'm trying to follow you God but I'm not seeing good things. Now, let me just interject something here.

I am not so concerned about everything that's done in this revival meeting this week. Yes, I want this revival to me to be a tremendous revival meeting. Yes, I want it to be an encouragement. I hope you've been encouraged. I know we're talking a little deeper theology here tonight.

But I'm not as concerned about this week as I am about this year. I'm concerned that this year, young believers stay believing and Christians who are growing stay growing. And I'm concerned that nothing that the devil's got planned around the corner will just hit you by surprise and you just drop and quit going. And here's what he's saying. All these things are terrible.

All these things are happening and all these things we don't understand. I don't understand why after I fasted for seven days, my brother still died. I don't understand why after praying, God didn't intervene. It looks like God's not there but you know what he says in verse 37. He says, name, even in all these things, famine, tribulation, distress, persecution, nakedness, peril, sword, and all these things.

Verse 37. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. He says, all these terrible things, we're more than a conqueror to him that loved us and then he says in verse 38, for I am persuaded, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind, Paul says, that neither death nor life, nor angels, demonic powers, principalities or powers, nor things present. And things present means things that are happening right now. Anybody got something bad happening in your life right now?

Things that are happening right now, I'm persuaded, nor things to come, bad things that will happen in your future. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know what that points out? There's nothing that's going to make God stop loving me. And if he is loving me, he's going to do all things for my good.

Now, with this, Paul is saying, there's a certain hope, a certain hope, and you don't have to ever be a person who's totally overwhelmed and despair. There's hope not a maybe that things will work out for good if you give your life to the Lord. There's a promise. Now, when I was a boy, as I mentioned, tragedy struck in my home. My father, committed suicide.

But we know that God works all those things together for good According to the word of God. How could God work that thing out for my good? As I was growing up, I learned some things about God that I would not know if I didn't have that problem. When my father died, I went to my pastor. I said I miss my daddy.

My daddy is gone. And I would cry. And I can remember my pastor saying I know what you need buddy. You go into the office and you wait and I'll be there in a minute. So I went into the office and he opened his bible and he showed me a bible verse.

God is the father to the fatherless and the protector of the widow. He said, God loves all little children, but there's a special place in his heart for you because you don't have a dad. Well, I hung on to that. And as I was growing up, I remember claiming that. I remember praying When I was in high school, God, I've got a situation here and I don't know what to do.

You say you're the father to the fatherless. Well, I don't have a dad. What should I do? And he seemed to always give me wisdom. I went to college and I didn't have the money for college and I said, God, father to the fatherless, I need money for college and I don't have a dad to pay for it.

My mom is on social security. She can't pay for it. What do I do? And I met a farmer. I bailed hay from one time, and he gave me $2,000 for my school bill.

Pretty good paycheck, wasn't it? Later on, I needed more income. I went to God. I said, father of the fatherless, I need more money for college and dad's not here. And you say you're my father, I need more money for my college bill.

And I met a surgeon and that man took an interest in me, gave me over $8,000 from my school bill. And when I graduated, I still had more need and I said, heavenly father, father of the fatherless, I cannot get into evangelism with this expense over my head. I need to get out of this debt. And a man took an interest in me and he paid off my entire school debt. Now, God showed himself to me and I've learned some things about God that I would have never learned if I didn't go through that trial.

He's also done it to allow me to have a little more compassion when people are hurting. I can feel it when they lose a loved one. And some people say, well, Mike is not the funniest guy in the world. And sometimes I tell a joke once in a while. Usually, jokes work when I don't try to be funny and then I am funny.

But I tell you what most people will say, and I'm not bragging on me, I'm saying God worked this out for good. They'll say that Mike is someone who cares. Now, why do I have that compassion side? It's because of the pain side. And God worked it out for good.

Hardly a week goes by that I'm not able to help somebody in a special way because my father's suicide. Years ago, when I was preaching in Pennsylvania, They told me that there was a girl whose father had just committed suicide. I said, what happened? Her daddy put a gun in his mouth and committed suicide. I said, really?

How old is she? She's six years old. Well, I was six years old when my daddy shot himself. So, I said, where is she? So, I went to her and I said, I heard about your daddy.

She said, yeah. I said, well, my daddy did the same thing. He did? I said, yeah. Let's sit down and talk about our daddies.

So we sat down and I said, my daddy had a big old truck. She goes, my daddy had a big old truck. I said, yeah, my daddy used to take us fishing. My daddy used to take us fishing. I said, yeah, one day we went fishing.

My mom and was with us and dad went back to cast the line to the water and the the hook got caught mom's ear. I said, she was fine with that till we went to the nurse to cut it out. We found out there was a worm on it and she went ballistic. It's a good memory. I said, I can remember going down Easy Bump Road when we were on our way to fish and as we were going down Easy Bump Road in Northern Illinois, there were very few bumps and so there was this one road that kinda had a few bumps.

We called it Easy Bump Road And we would say, faster, daddy, faster. And so we would go airborne and go, wee, and then land. So we go faster, daddy, faster. And he go faster, we go, wee, and then land. Faster, daddy.

Faster. And then we went higher. Wee. And we heard, ah. And we turned around.

My dad and I were in the front, and we saw that the back seat that he had kind of bolted into the floor, the bolts had come loose. And so that seat went flying up in the air and landed backwards. My brother's feet were kicking in the air. It's a good memory. I can remember going home, I said, and meet my dad at corner when he came home from his first job.

He'd take him by the hand, and we'd go back to the trailer or to the house, and we'd wrestle. And then he'd say, I have to go back to work, buddy, from my second job. I'll see you when I get home. I'd say, I love you, daddy. He'd say, I love you, buddy.

I'll see you when I get home and then he'd go off to his job. And then I'd said, but you know, the only way I made it through my father's suicide was I had this verse from my pastor. God is the father to the fatherless, the protector of the widow, and I said, this is the way you're going to make it through and I put that verse in a nice piece of paper and had some some flowers around it that the secretary put on it for me and put it in a on in a frame and I gave it to that little six year old girl and now that girl is over 16 years old and it's still on her wall. From what I know. And you know why?

Because God put me through that difficult thing and he worked it out so that I could help another person. And God works all things together for good. Even the seemingly bad things. Now in my life, I learned at a young age, I need a relationship with Jesus. I learned at six years old, if I did not get born again, I would not get to heaven.

I was sitting underneath the tree in my backyard and I started wondering, am I going to heaven? Am I going to hell? Am I going to heaven? Am I going to hell? And I thought, well, I've sinned.

And if I've sinned, I learned that the punishment for sin was there as a hell and I learned that I needed to be saved. Now, I went to my dad who was still alive and I said, dad, I don't know I'm going to heaven and he took me into his bedroom and he opened the Bible and he showed me Bible verses, not baptist thoughts. Bible verses that say, we're all sinners. We're all on our way to hell and except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Now, that was the beginning.

Yeah. Yeah. But from there, I have to maintain my faith and I realize that God is going to work all things together for my good as long as I stay in fellowship with him. I'm not going to let anything make me stop loving God. I'm not gonna let anything separate me from God.

I'm not gonna quit serving him. I'm not gonna ever start cussing him. I'm not gonna start doubting him. I'm just gonna go on with him no matter what And the attitude I have, though I'm not perfect, is with Job. Though he slay me, even if he kills me, yet will I trust in God because I know that he's a good God who is always going to work things out for my good.

Let's bow our heads and we'll have a word of prayer.