God is For Us! Pastor Dave Divine

Good morning, men and women. Such an honor to be able to come to you as always. I say it every week, man, from right here at Life Fellowship Church in McKinney, Texas, into your tablet at whatever correctional facility that you're in. My name is Logan Williams. My TDC number is 1-490-218. I have four numbers after that. I get to lead the prison ministry here at Life Fellowship Church, and what a blessing it is. But I remember being in the same chairs that you guys are in, in the facilities, round and round and round. I did nine and a half years over four trips to the penitentiary behind drug use, crime, all the stuff that comes with selling dope and all that stuff, living in the streets in hotels. I just couldn't get away from that lifestyle, man. It just sucked me back in every time. I know that many of you know what I'm talking about. Many of you, it's not your first rodeo. It's not your first time to be incarcerated. I know that every time, every next time, it just gets even more frustrating. If this is your first time to be incarcerated, hey man, this can be your last time. Anything is possible with God. Nothing is impossible. He's just looking for your yes. He's looking for your all in. This is the hope I want to give to you guys. Don't forget to tell your friends and family to get the Pando app. They can download it from their app store right on their phone. Watch the same stuff that you watch. The same teachings, the same services. There's so much on there. You can do this walk together. It's so important to have that community. I'm about to talk about that here in just a little bit. Don't forget to hit the subscribe so you don't miss anything that comes out. Wanted to just address the letters that you guys are sending. We absolutely do respond to the letters. We want to walk alongside you. We want to do all of that, but it's got to be a male to a male, female to a female. We're not going to give any females the letters that the men write. I just want to tell you that up front. It's created many, many messes. We've just instituted a policy of same gender. That's what discipleship should be, right? We absolutely want to do that. So this morning we came together as a staff and one of our executive pastors had a word for us. I want to read it to you because I believe this is for you as well. Now these are going to be for the believers, okay? If you're not a believer, if you haven't called upon the name of Jesus, scripture says it's just that simple in Romans 10, that anyone who calls upon his name will be saved from sin, death, and hell, and he will give you a seat at the table. And so if you've never done that, it's just that easy. You can do it

right now. You can do it right after this video. Why wait? Call on the name of Jesus in your own words, okay? I know we always do a prayer at the end, repeat after me. I love that and you can absolutely get saved that way if your heart is in the right place, but that prayer is not in the Bible. It says to just call upon the name of Jesus and you will be saved. So, but those of you who have, this is a word for you guys. This is coming out of John 17 verse 20. It says, I'm praying not only for these disciples, but also for all those who will ever believe in me through their message. So he's praying for the disciples. This is right before he took his last prayer before he goes to the cross. He says, I pray that they will all be one just as you and I are one, as you are in me, father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe that you sent me. He's talking about unity here. He's talking about not just liking each other, but you know, in Acts chapter two, they all come together. They all break bread. They, they go from house to house and pray together. They go to the temple every day. They, they were tight. They were unified. You know, they were one body, even though they were all different. We're all different, but that's what makes it so beautiful. We can all bring different things to the table. And if you think about the body being a human body, man, there's a pinky, there's a nose, there's a bicep, there's. all the different parts but all coming together make a beautiful thing a human body and so it would be just crazy for the bicep to get mad at the pinky about something you know every part of the body has a different function different attributes and so we we need to have that in our hearts as we're doing the Bible studies in the places that you're at as we're doing this stuff together in unity it's so important I've given them the glory that you gave me so they may be one as we are one I'm in them and you are in me may they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me he's saying man if we can have this unity wherever you're at like that could actually cause the world or it could cause the other people in the place that you're at that aren't saved to believe that in Jesus because of the unity that they will know that you sent me he's praying to the father he's saying God I want them to have this unity father and because of that the world is gonna know that you sent me that's important so we need to

have that man I want you guys to have that in the place that you're at man pray for that we got to have this community this unity you hear me talking about it every single week it's so important in our walk it's so important because I know it's I know it's easy to to let our ego rise up and let our pride rise up especially as we be as you become leaders in the in the units that you're at the church that you're at maybe you become a worship leader maybe you become um but where you're given some messages or or or you're a clerk or you're you're in a leadership position it's easy when you when you want to be that guy or when you're aspiring to be that leader you know it's prison and I know you it's so easy to hate on people in there but he's begging us not to do that he's his prayer to the father is that we won't do that so that the world will know that that Jesus was sent by by the father that Jesus was sent by God and so when you think of it in that context like isn't that what we want man we just want everyone to to believe right we want everyone to believe that God sent Jesus and then we call upon his name and and the scripture says that anyone who calls upon his name will be saved and we'll be given a seat at the table like that's our goal and this unity he's saying is so important in that so man pray for your brothers and sisters pray for that unity pray for all of us pray that the enemy doesn't get his foot in the door and use pride and ego to to to divide we all need to be unified it's so important I love you guys man I hope you enjoy this message let me pray for you father in the name of Jesus I just thank you for all the men and women that are watching last week there was 57,000 that watched life fellowship in just seven days what a blessing God we we love you so much we just give you praise and glory for that we just exalt your name today for that God how you're moving on these tablets it's amazing we're so grateful for you God I just pray that you would bless every man and woman that watches this every man and woman that maybe doesn't watch this but is watching something else on Pando God that you would just reveal yourself to them that they would come to know you God and that and that they would come to love one another so deeply and have this unity that you pray

for in John chapter 17 God I ask that you just move mountains to make this happen ask that you just supernaturally speak to the people speak to the leaders God move on the administrations of all these units God in ways that they can help facilitate this unity facilitate these events and things that were where they can come together as a body one body like they did in Acts chapter 2 God that's so important and man this is our prayer God we just want the world to know that the Father sent Jesus and you're telling us here that it's our unity that does that so God we ask you for that give us wisdom on how to facilitate that give us discernment on what words to say and who to speak to God and just show us how we can make much of your name and enlarge your kingdom and we love you and give you all the praise and glory in Jesus name amen whose house God's house So let's give him some praise. Come on, y'all clap your hands. I was breathing, but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It wasn't my turn till I met you. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. Come on, sing it now. Now your mercy has saved my soul. Now your freedom is all that I know. He obeyed you, Jesus, when I begged you. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. We praise you.

Come on, how many of y'all know that the Lord is good? He's amazing and I'm so thankful that I'm not in the place that I once was. Hallelujah, that I am here now. So if you're like me and you have a testimony, I want us to sing this out together. Thank you, Jesus, that you have broken these chains that I have raised up from that grave. That you have brought me back to life. We praise you, Lord. I needed a rescue, my sin was heavy. But chains break at the weight of your glory. I needed shelter, I was in northern. Now you call me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing. Now your love is the air that I'm breathing. I have a future, my eyes are open. Because when you called my name, I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness into your glorious day. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. You called my name. Hallelujah. Amen. How many of you are thankful for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you and the precious fountain from Calvary's mountain flowed down to you and I. It washes us clean. Oh, what a mystery! That red blood makes me wild. And isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wild? How something so profound could be so simple? Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood. Oh, the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love. All the moments live.

Let the redeemed sing a song. Praises belong to the Son. Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood. Oh, the wonderful blood. My precious Jesus. Oh, I'm so thankful. For the day you saved my life. As I remember, my heart grows tender. Tears begin to fill my eyes. And isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? And isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood. Oh, the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love. All the moments live. Let the redeemed sing a song. Praises belong to the Son. Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood. Oh, the wonderful blood. In abundance through Christ Jesus. So come on, help us sing this. The work you did is finished. All of us is forgiven. And now we begin to live in the wonder of the work you've done. The cross was your decision. But death was not the ending. You rose and now we're risen. The wonder of the work you've done. The work you did is finished. All of us is forgiven. And now we begin to live in the wonder of the work you've done. The cross was your decision. But death was not the ending. You rose and now we're risen. The wonder of the work you've done. The wonder of the work you've done. The wonder of the work you've done. The wonder of the work you've done. The blood, the blood, the blood. Oh, the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love. All the marvelous love The blood, the blood, the blood All the wonderful blood Your love, your love, your love All the marvelous love So let the redeemed sing a song

These praises belong to the shunned Yes, they do The blood, the blood, the blood All the wonderful blood The work you did is finished All of our sins forgiven And now we get to live it The wonder of the work The cross was his decision But death was not the end No No wonder of the working blood No wonder, no wonder, no wonder Come on, no wonder of the working blood No wonder of his powerful blood No wonder of the working blood Lift your voices, sing and go Precious is the blood That makes me what I'm No, no wonder He was nothing but the blood of Jesus And oh, oh, oh Precious is the blood That makes me what I'm No, no wonder He was nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus We're so thankful for your blood, Jesus

So thankful, so grateful for your blood The blood, the blood, the blood All the waters Your love, your love, your love All the waters Shall let the redeemed sing a song Praises belong to the Son The blood, the blood, the blood All the waters We're going to celebrate coming in together If you haven't received the elements of communion Just raise your hand, keep it up high One of our wonderful ushers will come to you with the elements Amen As we celebrate communion together this morning I want us to remember that Jesus just didn't save us as individuals But He bought us and made us part of His body He bought us and made us part of His own family 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 17 says this Since there is one bread We who are many are one body For we all partake of one breath And I love that picture because If you look around, we are all different We all have different backgrounds We all have different upbringings, right? I mean, some of us are from other countries just like your brother here We're all different, we have different struggles different but we all come to the table together because of Jesus we all come to the table because of Jesus and this moment of communion for us is not just a moment for us to examine

ourselves but also for us to remember that we don't have to live life alone the life in Christ alone we need to walk together and that means that if we're part of a body I need you you need me we need to pray together we need to walk together and the more we serve and we do things together the Lord is going to speak to you and I our differences are our strength because he's all in us so when we walk together we are reminded that we can encourage one another we can carry each other's burden and that we are one in him yesterday we had an amazing event here at the church that just reflected how the body of Christ can give glory to him over 500 families drove through our parking lot and they were blessed with hot meals they were blessed with school supplies they had free haircuts and all that and you know why because the body of Christ people like you and I just said yes I'm gonna wake up early gonna carry boxes around I'm gonna smile I'm gonna pray for people we had people praying all the time hours and hours praying for one another car by car for people that they didn't even know because that's our heart that's who we are we want to love people no matter the background a lot of people didn't even have the same beliefs we have but we were there for them and that's who we are so through people that said yes we could be we were able to see God's love we could we were able to see the visible love of God in our community and when we come to the table it's not because we are perfect it's not because we have it all together it's because we all need him in perfect people as we are we come to him and we are forgiven we are reconciled and we are united as brothers and sisters in Christ so as we take communion I want you to remember that we are many but in Christ we are made one let me pray and then you can take communion father we love you and we're so thankful for your body father thank you for giving your body on that cross for us father thank you because today we can celebrate father not that we are just saved but we are part of a family we don't need to leave life alone you gave us brothers and sisters to walk together this journey father I pray for unity in your body father just bring your church together father in a way father that we can glorify your name in everything that we do father but I pray that you give wisdom to each one of us to bless one another father and let your church thrive father let your church be a beacon of light in our community father we pray father that we can really glorify you in everything that we do once again thank you so much for your blood on that cross and we know that you're alive and that's why our hope leaves we love you in Jesus name we pray

amen you can take me and through all that glory My Saviour King, your loving-kindness has welcomed me Though I'm unworthy of majesty, you wrapped the lowly in royalty Oh, I will lay my crowns at your feet You are holy, holy, and I will give my life as an offer You are worthy, so worthy God, worthy of praise Here at your altar, to seek your face Broken and torn up without restraint In full abandon before my King You are surrender, my everything Oh, I will lay my crowns at your feet You are holy, holy, and I will give my life as an offer You are worthy, surrender everything Oh, I will lay my crowns at your feet You are holy, holy, and I will give my life as an offer You are worthy, so worthy God, worthy, worthy, worthy is the King Oh, it's my joy to surrender, it's my joy to surrender Everything I have, everything I am as a pleasing sense of praise It's my joy, it's my joy to surrender to my King, to my Lord, to my Saviour Because he deserves, because he deserves Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air

Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne With joy with all of heaven in the air And I will lay my crowns down at your feet It's my joy, it's my joy to surrender to my King, to my Lord, to my Saviour And I will give my life as an offering You are worthy, you are worthy And I will give my life as an offering Lay my crowns down at Your feet You are holy, holy And I will give my life as an offering You are worthy, worthy So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We bless His Holy Spirit, we bless His Holy Spirit So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne We join with all of heaven in the everlasting song And I will lay my cross at Your feet You are holy, holy And I will lay my life You are worthy, worthy

And I will be It's my joy to surrender You are holy, holy And I will be It's my joy to surrender You are holy, holy And I will be It's my joy to surrender Holy, holy, holy, holy We love You Lord Thank You for being such an amazing Father Thank You for us just noticing Your presence here For filling this room with Your love and presence Continue to speak to us Speak to us clearly this morning We want to listen to Your voice In Jesus' name, Amen Amen, Amen, Amen Amen, Amen Hey, welcome to Live Fellowship Church We are glad that you chose to worship with us today Hey, this is your home You're in the right place, at the right time With the right people And we're so glad that you're here So please, if you haven't connected yet If you're coming for a while We want to connect with you We want to walk alongside you So if you can please text the word NEW to 51010

Or text JESUS to 51010 Whatever you text to 51010 We will know your contact We're going to reach out back to you And we can give you more information On how to get connected in your church And I want you to get prepared Because God has an amazing message to share with you today Before we do that Just please turn your attention to the screens Because we have important announcements to give to you Happy Sunday and welcome to life fellowship church we're so glad you chose to be here today hey if you're new here text new to 51010 and we'd love to connect with you and answer any questions that you may have and help you discover all that's happening at life fellowship church hey tonight is pursuit night and these nights are special there's no rush no agenda just extended worship prayer and a space to really see god so if you've never been this is your moment so make plans to be here tonight the world teaches us to hold tightly to everything we have but following jesus often means learning to live with open hands when we are generous we're declaring that our security is not found in possessions it is found in god through those simple acts of obedience people encounter hope families find community and lives are transformed thank you for responding as god leads you i'm super excited for all that god wants to do today me too so let's get ready for the message our marriage was like it was a disaster i mean we we were we were on the verge of divorce and we were encouraged to come to re-engage and um you know just try it out and so it was an opportunity for us after we went through it after it changed our marriage uh that changed the way i looked at him and he looked at me and how we treated one another and um so this has been an incredible journey for us getting to teach people how to do marriage god's way re-engage is for people like us you rate your marriage at a one it's for you if you can rate your marriage at a say between a eight and a nine and you want to get to a nine and a half or a ten or you rate your marriage at a seven and want to get to an eight right and it's amazing people really change

let's say come let us help you discover what god intended your marriage to be come let us love on you come let us encourage you it's it's it's it's a family and you're you're you're welcome everyone's welcome well good morning life fellowship so glad that you're here i get the privilege of introducing you to our transition pastor dave divine this morning and you know one of the things you may not know is that pastor dave is actually a part of a group called legacy transition group and they feel called and assigned to come alongside churches going through transitional phases so they are purposed just for this moment in time and it was interesting i got a chance as i've gotten to know pastor dave over the last month to hear his story and it was really encouraging because it was a reminder that god is always working and he's doing things well before we see things in the natural so a couple of years ago pastor dave and his wife cindy started to feel the lord start to stir in them about there was going to be a transition for the church that he was leading a church that they founded 25 years ago and so two years ago that started before we even saw this in the natural so i know it's such an encouragement that god's always doing things for our good you'll hear about that a little bit more this morning and how pastor day was specifically called and assigned for this moment in time for us to be alongside us which is a blessing to touch on a little bit of his background they felt a call to move to atlanta georgia over 25 years ago and getting to know his story they got they told me that was not originally their idea or design they thought pastor dave already had i think 15 years of ministry ministry experience thinking i'll come and take over a church that already exists but god had a different plan and started to speak and stir their hearts saying plant a church in the atlanta area they actually moved picked up and moved from indiana moved to the atlanta area and started that first informational session meeting they had 30 people and so it's just another reminder that when you step into god's will for your life he shows up and meets you right where he wanted you all along and scripture tells us do not despise small beginnings for the lord rejoices to see the work begin and so they stepped into that scripture and into faith to walk out their assignment and 25 years later it's been a blessing for them and for that community to see how god breathed on that and also took them from that small informational meeting meeting in a hotel with 30 people to end up being 25 years later four campuses across the atlanta georgia area with thousands of people that call chapel church their home and what a blessing it is so it's our pleasure

and it's our privilege to have and walk alongside us grateful he is a great man of God great wisdom and experience and he loves the Lord and one thing I'll say is he has a humble heart which God loves so please warm please join me in a warm welcome for Pastor Dave Devine thank you Pastor Trent good to see all of you today we are so so happy to be here with you and I want to welcome everybody that's watching online and we have many in the correctional facilities that have joined our church family as well so come on let's give it up for all of them and we're glad that everybody can be here to hear the word today and we're so so thankful for all of you man we've just enjoyed the the hours we've had here already we came in late yesterday afternoon and uh Pastor Trent showed us around and these facilities are just fantastic they're beautiful we looked in every every area and it's just we were like oh this amazing then we walked out back and we saw this this incredible baptism pool and I'm like man I just want to get baptized again this is just really really special and uh so many of the staff and elders we've been able to meet already and just wonderful special people Leslie and this team up here on the stage wow incredible worship here at Life Fellowship and so we are just so so blessed to be here and be a part of this my wife Cindy is with me and she's going to try to come with me on some weekends uh probably not all of them from Atlanta but she'll come some and Cindy would you stand my beautiful wife of almost 48 years yes and she's the mother of three we have three kids and you've heard him say 14 grandkids and I got a picture of them right here they're I think we've got a photograph of everybody is it coming there we go there we were all at the beach and so there's like all of our family right there together so and I've got to say we've got a a great-grandson that was just born a couple weeks ago that's pretty special too so I left that out earlier and now I got in trouble so we got 15 all the all counted so anyway it's so good to be with you um uh yes my last name is divine d-i-v-i-n pastor divine I know that that may it usually gets a chuckle from some people but uh it gets worse actually we used to live on soul street so yeah the mailman thought we were weird but anyway uh the divines on soul street but anyway we uh as mentioned we founded chapel church 25 years ago god blessed it it was the greatest joy of our lives but we wanted and I felt strongly to get it to the hands of the next generation um and we just felt like there's another season for us we felt like god had something else for us to do so we had a beautiful transition last march actually with legacy transition group assisting us walking through it with us and so um just so thankful

for how the lord has blessed and prepared us I also just want to say I've heard so many good things about pastor Chris and Tatum and I want to just take a moment and honor them and honor their ministry and the incredible work that they've had here for so many years so many years here's what I know as a church planner and a founder I know how hard it is to accomplish something that they've done here and the god used them to accomplish something so great and I know many of you are here because of their leadership and their ministry and so we just honor them and thank them and we're going to celebrate the past and honor the past and celebrate the future and believe for miraculous things ahead but it's a very very important to stop and just honor them and I want to encourage you to continue to pray for them and bless them and thank them for for what god did through them also please continue to pray for your your elders and your staff here as they are serving with a with with hearts before open before the lord and they are effective in what they do so we're thankful for them and I know some of you may be wondering what is next well I said earlier we're not here just to tread water we're not here just to try to keep things going but we're going to do some things that just impact the kingdom of god we're going to encourage you to reach people serve people we're going to disciple people what you did yesterday was incredible pastor logan and the team out there on the parking lot so many things that god is already doing with this church we're going to continue to encourage that and vision for the future listen never put a period where god has placed a comma and so this is just a moment where we're going to continue to know that god is still writing life fellowship story and we want to be a part of that story in whatever way we can all right if you have your bibles your notepad your ipad whatever you're taking notes on i want to i want to encourage you to maybe write some things down i pray this word can bring hope and victory for all of us um i didn't say it earlier but i'll tell you i'm TalkBack Preacher. So if you wanna talk back at me when I'm speaking, feel free to say amen or hallelujah or just don't throw anything at me, all right? But you can talk back to me. We can clearly see that God has a God of hope and has victory for his church.

And there's a wonderful chapter that I wanna just kind of walk through with you, Romans chapter eight. So you can prepare it by clicking there or turning there. We're gonna kind of place a series banner over today's message and the messages here in August. And we're just calling it, if God is for us. And clearly this is taken from the scripture in Romans chapter eight, verse 31. And it's a rhetorical question. If God is for us, who can be against us? Say that with me. If God is for us, who can be against us? Next question, because I mean, that answers itself. Nothing, no one can be against us if God is for us. And there's a song that has ministered to me the last few years. The lyrics are, I've been through enough to know that he'll be enough for me. He's come through too many times that puts my mind at ease for good. I'll stake my very life that he's gonna take care of me because I've been through enough to know that he'll be enough for me. Now, these lyrics, as you can probably hear, are based on the promises of God. So many times I've leaned on Isaiah 43 too. When you pass through the water, he said, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flames be kindled upon you. The scriptures I've quoted for years are so personal to me. Second Corinthians four, verse 16 says, for which cause we think not, but though our outward man perishes, our inward man, our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. The word is our lifeline. The word is our hope. The word is our help. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to dividing a center of soul and spirit and joints of mind. And it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Psalmist says the word is sweeter than the honeycomb. And it gives us faith for the day. The word gives us faith for the day, the day when we need it. It's kind of like the manna that God gave in the wilderness to Israel.

He gave them what they needed for the day. Whatever they needed, they found in that manna. They had to go out and get it every day, just like we need to go get God's word every day and let us receive the faith that we need for the day. There's a grace in it. There's a power in it. There's an enablement in God's word. For the day, what day? Well, for the day when all hell breaks loose. I mean, if you can wave your hand and say, yeah, I know what you're talking about, preacher. Yeah. For the day when you get hit by a metaphorical truck. You didn't see that coming. Or the day when waves of sadness, grief and loss, maybe regret or sorrow just sweeps over you like a river. God gives faith for the day. Why? Because God is for us and he's already won a victory for us. So today, as we step into this new season together, I just wanna encourage your faith. I wanna encourage you, take you to Romans 8 here. We're just gonna kind of do a fly over this chapter and let you see Romans 8 from a 30,000 foot view. And then we're gonna kind of hover over and land on one specific verse in just a few minutes. So let's begin with this all time verse.

I'm gonna ask you to help me preach a little bit. So this all time verse in Romans 8, verse one, if you have it in front of you or it's coming up on the screen, and I want you to just say it out loud with me. Let's just start in verse one and say that out loud. Ready, read. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Stop right there. There's enough right there. We could preach the rest of the message right there. There's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Keep going. Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. Has made me what? Has made me free. Somebody shout free. I'm free in Christ. We are placed into right standing with God through Jesus Christ. We're forgiven of sin. We have the gift of salvation because God loves us and he is for us. Free. I didn't say no.

struggle, there will always be struggle as long as we're on this sin-soaked planet. There will be struggles, but there's victory in Christ Jesus and we can be free. Now, in the previous chapters in Romans, Paul has shown us that life without Christ, there is life and there is freedom in Christ. But life without Christ and God's grace is surely defeat and misery because of slavery to sin. In Romans 8, there's a shift and Paul tells us that in Christ, there is life and freedom from guilt and condemnation and you don't have to play the devil's blame and shame game anymore. There's therefore now no condemnation in Christ. But how does this happen? Well, let's look at verse 5. It says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. Now, that's a problem when we set our minds on the things of the flesh because the flesh begets flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit, freedom is a result of our life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. I just want to break this down and talk about this briefly. I think this is a timely word for us also. We're going to have pursuit night tonight. What are we going to do? We're going to seek those things that are above. We're not going to pursue the things of flesh. Of course not. We're going to pursue the things of the spirit and I think we're in a moment right now where we need to have a focus on living according to the spirit and I think setting our spiritual course for the remainder of this year. I always love August. As a pastor, I love August because people kind of come back after vacation season, back

to school time, and they get back into a rhythm with church and the life of the church. And I think it's kind of wonderful. It's kind of January at the end of summer. You know, you kind of have a restart, a reset of your rhythms. And I think that's, that's important for us to do. So this is kind of a reset, I believe, for, for as we give focus and attention to the things of the spirit, Paul said in verse five, he said, those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on what on the things of the spirit. Some people want to set their minds on the flesh, yet they want the benefits of setting their minds on the spirit. Did you catch that? Some people want to set their minds on the flesh sometimes, yet they still want the benefits of what it means to walk with Christ and have your heart set on the things of the spirit. But the reality is it doesn't go both ways. It doesn't work both ways. The apostle Paul said this in Colossians three verse one, he said, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. That means if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus, seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affections, your minds on things above, not on things of this earth. The old songwriter put it into a song very simply, and he said, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Anybody remember that old song? Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace that you're not going to put up my singing every week, but I just threw that one in. All right. And in Romans eight, we learned that because God is for us. He instructs us to set our minds on things of the spirit, not on things of the flesh. Now the devil, the tempter, the evil one will be in your ear saying, you don't need that stuff or that's a waste of time and energy.

But how many of you know, the enemy is a liar. If he's moving his lips, he's lying because he knows what makes your spirit man come alive. And so he's going to try to bring you out of that. He doesn't want you walking in freedom and blessing and life. Let's keep reading verse, verse 10. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised up Christ from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken. I like that word quick, quick, quick, or give life. This translation says to your mortal bodies through his spirit, which dwells in you. So hear me. If Christ is in you, your victory comes. Our overcoming victory comes through the Holy Spirit that is in you. You say, well, I don't know if I have the Holy Spirit in you. Yes. You gave, gave your life to Jesus and you accept Jesus into your life. You have the spirit of Christ, which is the Holy Spirit working in you, making all things new. But you can't have the victory that the. Holy Spirit offers us and ignore him. We need him. We need to focus on him. We need to turn our eyes on him. We need to set our affections on things above. The question is this, how bad do we want the victory that Christ has for us that we can walk that out in all things? Oh, we have salvation. We have eternity secured in Christ,

but the victory we need day to day, to day, to day, to day. How do we walk in that? The apostle Paul, I think, is just whetting our appetite here for that. He says in verse 14, he says, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That's those who are following Jesus. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage, no, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then we are heirs, heirs of God. Join heirs with Jesus Christ. And if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. I wish I had time to preach all this, but I'm heading somewhere. If God is for us, hear me, there's victory for us in all things. Now we're gonna explain that a little bit because you say, Pastor Dave, what about my struggles? What about my weaknesses? Listen, we all have weaknesses. We all will face times of struggle, but Paul speaks to that as well. Verse 20, 60 says, likewise, the spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. In our weaknesses, he helps us.

And I know if I asked for a show of hands and I said, how many of you have weaknesses? You'd all raise your hand if you were honest, if you're honest. All right, let's do that. How many of you have weaknesses? Okay, so not all of us are being honest right now, but he helps us, he helps us. And no doubt that our church is in a season to fully rely on God for his help. He wants to help us because he's for us. And I've got a word for you. Let him, let him help us. He will help us. Don't stiff arm him. He wants to come in and he wants to help. When Cindy and I planted the church 25 years ago, just this year, and we were like desperate for God to help us. And you know what? He showed up with miracle after miracle, after miracle, after miracle. I was convinced. I said to so many people, God loves church planting. He loves it. And I know why, because people came to Christ and people became followers of Jesus. And we were able to support missions and do things around the world. But we asked for help and he gave it to us.

And just like with our children and now our grandchildren, God, we need help. They need help. Here's what we need. And God just continues to show himself. Not necessarily the way we thought it was going to happen always, but God just has his way of making sure the needs are met. Let's keep reading here in verse 26. Look at what Paul says. He says, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered. Let, let's ask him to help us. We sometimes don't even know what to pray for it says, but the spirit himself makes intercession for us. That's part of our spiritual inheritance in Christ. And verse 27 says, now he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Now, when we ask God to help us pray, he allows the Holy Spirit to help us pray. And when the Holy Spirit gets involved in our praying, he helps us pray according to the will of God. There's no more powerful prayer than when you're praying what God has already willed. He's wielded in his word, a promise in his word, or something that he has clarity, given you clarity

for his will in your life. And you start praying that God's answering that prayer. Now I want to land on verse 28. I told you, we're going to do a fly over and then land. Here we are. We're going to land on verse 28, Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and who are called, who are the called according to his purpose. Somebody say, and we know. And we know. Paul says, we need to know this. On August 2nd, 2026, in this season, we need to know some things. We need to know. We need to be convicted. We need to be convinced of this. We need to know. And here's the biggie. This is first and foremost, and that is God's word is truth. We need to know that. As you read it, hopefully memorize it, meditate on it. We need to know it's truth. When you hear it preached and spoken from the pulpit or from different places where you maybe get content, know that if it's God's word, it is true. It is truth. It is constant. It is consistent. Consistent is reliable

Meaning this meaning it can be preached to all people in all cultures in all generations because it's true in all circumstances Hmm. I said a lot right there We believe this word is absolute truth. But the question is do you believe that? Do you know that? Maybe in this season you're thinking hmm Romans 8 28 Maybe some things work together for our good but not all And maybe you feel that way today and I understand that the problem is that sometimes we run into scripture that doesn't make our make sense for us At least in our personal circumstances. And so we begin to explain it away or we simply say well, that's not true Or we begin to think well Maybe his word isn't consistent reliable and true and the enemy begins to erode our trust in him and his word in God and his word but see It's not the word that isn't reliable But it's often me that's not reliable or it's me that I don't have a full understanding or my understanding is just simply inadequate It's not God So to best understand this truth in verse 28 I want you to look at the last part of it with me look at Romans 8 28 again It says and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to his purpose So this promise begins to make more sense when we understand that the promise is for who is who's it for For those who love God and for those who are what? Called according to his purpose. That's all of us who are called to follow Jesus So the promise is conditional all things work together for good for those who are in Christ Which means this promise is reserved for God's family Not for those outside of God's will and purposes this is for believers The truth is this he so loves the world He loves godly and the ungodly. He loves the world and he's so merciful But he's also just and this promise is for his sons and his daughters I want you to see that so at the end of the day

His word prevails not my word. Not your word. Not your friends word Not your social media influencers word But it's his word that prevails So the promise in Romans of Romans 8 28 is those who love God and that's his sons and daughters. It's really Saying it's God looking out for his kids All things are gonna work out for my kids if they love me and and they're walking with me It's gonna work out for my for my kids. It's a family promise dad saying son. I've got you in this Sweetheart as long as you trust me and acknowledge me and follow me This thing you're working through will not only work out but it will work out for your good so today We're holding on to a promise Romans 8 28 all things work together for good to those who love God who are called According to his purpose. That's because we are in Christ and we are his church and see only a good omniscient Omnipotent father can make that claim and that's who God is. He's holy. He's just we sing about all of that He's merciful and he's kind and he's all in for his kids Do you believe that But it's I hope you do because word his word is true The psalmist knew that the psalmist said in Psalm 56 9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help for this I know by this I know that God is for me say that with me. God is for me say it again You know us is one thing me is another thing, you know, we might be able to say God is for us He's for us. Yeah, but God is for me. Wait a minute. God is for me He someone said he's for me. He got a hold of this. He's for my kids. He's for my grandkids He's from the things that concern me my church By this I know that God is for me Matthew chapter 7 verse 11 If you then if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children How much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Mmm, how much more will he give good things? So let me say it this way. God is all in for our good and

for his glory So since we know who this promise is for Let me quickly give you two important things to help you understand it before we close We need to realize number one when God is working all things for my good. It may not match my expected outcome Now we need to know that All things for my good doesn't mean it's necessarily going to turn out the way I want. See God's infinite infinite view of life and his omniscience extends way beyond your view of you and your view of what is best for you. Can I give you a Bible example of this? When we look at Hebrews 11, how many of you in the room knows what Hebrews 11 contains? It contains a list of heroes of faith. These incredible, we call it the hall of fame of faith, full of men men and women who loved God and they were called according to his purpose, right? I mean what a list, what a list. It's better than to have your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by far. A good Doritos commercial will get you on the Walk of Fame. But Hebrews 11 is this historical all-time list of men and women of faith and many of them did not experience their expected outcome in this life. In fact there were many good things that turned out for some but not necessarily for all. For some they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. God is good, wow. For some the walls of Jericho fell down. God is good. Even a prostitute Rahab because of her faith did not perish with those who didn't believe but because of her act of faith she was rewarded by God. God is good. And many more, if you look through that list in Hebrews 11, many more who experienced great victory but not so fast. Verse 35 then says, but others were tortured. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings. Yes and of chains and imprisonment. Others they were stoned, slain with the sword. How do you reconcile that? And all these having obtained a good testimony through faith they walked by faith as well but they did not receive the promise. We've got to settle something in our hearts here. The Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good. The Bible says we just read he's working all things for our good but some did not get what they hoped for. They did not get their expected outcome yet they exercised their faith in God to the end. They stayed the course and they received an eternal and ultimate reward. Even though some people might say well well God didn't keep his word. Oh yes he did. He always does but but it might not be our expected outcome or even in this lifetime. Are you following me still? Remember the same God who wrote Romans 8 28 all things work

together for good also wrote Romans 8 18 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us at a later time. Sometimes it works out here. Here's the message. Sometimes it works out here. Sometimes it doesn't but you've got to remember this through it all through it all I've learned to trust in Jesus. I've learned to trust in God through it all he has he has developed developing my faith my trust and my confidence in his word. So all things for my good may not match my expected outcome. You need to get ahold of that and then secondly and finally as God is working all things for my good it is the work it is the working of his mighty power for his intended purposes. Let's face it we all learn through the hard things. I raised my kids saying it's the hard that makes it great. We learn through the hard things the hard things is what strengthens us and makes us what to reach our potential and it's the hard things even in the kingdom of God that that trains us that strengthens our faith that helps us prepare for the difficult days and God knows that he's in this for our good. If God is for us he's gonna allow us to go through some hard things. He's gonna allow us to feel the struggle. We learn through that he prunes us he takes us through it that things that are not pleasant but it's part of his intended purpose. It just is. Job said it this way he gives and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I love the gift part not sure I love the takeaway part so much but can your faith still say blessed be the name of the Lord even when he takes away. Some things we will face as this journey continues, or things maybe you're facing right now, and you'll have a hard time seeing how God could work any good from that. But when those times come, or maybe even today, maybe you just need to go home and write on a chalkboard someplace in the kitchen, family room, maybe wherever you kind of put the messages for the family. If you don't have one of those, you might consider that. Maybe you just go and you write Romans 8, 31. If God is for us, who can be against us? It's a rhetorical question,

which really means the answer is obvious here. If God is for us, who can be against us? Let's keep going. If God is for us, who can be against us? Next question. God is for us. He's with us. He has our good in mind, and He has the power to enable us to walk in that. It might be a struggle. There might be some challenges, but He's strengthening us all the way through it. If God is for us, who can be against us? No one. And then in verse 34, He asked another rhetorical question. In fact, through this passage, He just keeps asking questions like this. And He says, who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather. Well, who is He that condemneth? No one, because it's Christ that died, yea, rather, who's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No one. 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 accounted a sheep for the slaughter. But watch this, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Can you say that with me? No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. We are what? Conquerors. We are more than conquerors even. Conquerors, yes, more than conquerors. Why? Because God is on our side, because God is for me. If God is for me, who can be against? But if God is for us, who can be against us? And then he goes on to say, for I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels or 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. I'm convinced of that. I'm persuaded of that. Would you stand with me right now? And let's just thank God today that He is for us. He is with us. He hasn't left us, that He's got a plan for us. He's got a purpose for us. I am persuaded in the name of Jesus. Come on, praise Him out loud. ♪ Lamb of God, I know that You want me ♪

♪ Worthy is the day to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Shepherds love you, food to us, fire to them ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, Lamb of God, adored to come ♪ ♪ The world begins, begins to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Shepherds love you, food to us, fire to them ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ The gospel tells us this, that God became man in human flesh. He lived the life that we should have lived and died the death that we should have died in our place. On the third day he rose again, proving that he's the son of God and offering the gift of salvation to everyone who would repent and believe on him. And when we repent and believe on him, all of a sudden there's a, there's a change that takes place. The Bible says old becomes new. We come to a place where there's a fresh start in our lives. And now we begin to walk out Romans chapter eight and we allow the Holy Spirit to begin to lead us and direct us and to help us when we pray. And he, and he's so, so is ready to do that. We begin to walk in a place of freedom. We begin to walk into a place of, of victory, meaning that when we go through struggle, we don't lose that struggle. We trust God and he takes us through it. And it may be hard. It may be long, longer than we hope for. And we might not even, we might not even ever see our expected outcome, but God is good. And God is working

that whole thing for our good. And we might not see the result today or this month or next month, maybe not even next year, but there is an internal outcome and eternal glory for the man and woman of faith who will trust God to the end with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. Maybe you've never stepped into a relationship with Jesus Christ and you've never surrendered your life to him. But today there's something stirring in your heart. The word of God has convicted you. The Holy spirit has brought conviction to your heart. And you feel like today is a day that you need to turn your eyes upon Jesus and surrender your life to him. Maybe you did it many years ago, but you've walked away from him. But today you want to return in faith and say, Jesus, I surrender all I need you. I need you. I need you to forgive me of my sin. I'm tired of the guilt and the shame. I need your help with all that's in front of me and the struggle that I'm in. I need a new start with you today, Jesus. So on the count of three, if you, if you are in one of those categories where maybe you've never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord savior, or maybe you did a long time ago, but something happened and you've walked away. But today you want a brand new start. The Holy spirit is drawing you to that place of commitment and decision. And I'm going to ask you to slip up your hand on the count of three, and then we're going to pray together. Are you ready? 1, 2, 3, slip up your hand anywhere in this room, all over this room. Yes, yes. I see hands. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. I see your hand. Praise God. Yes. I see your hands up. Praise God. I see hands in full surrender. I can tell it's just a surrendered heart. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Now I'm going to ask all of you who lifted your hand, or maybe if you even didn't lift your hand, but your heart is ready. I'm going to ask you to pray a prayer out loud with me. In fact, you can pray it softly, just pray it after me. And I'm going to ask everyone else to join in with us. Also. Let's all pray this prayer of faith and decision to encourage everyone in the room and those watching online. Just say this after me, dear Lord Jesus, I give you my life. I know I need a savior and Jesus. You're my savior. I need you. I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me and wash me from all sin. I repent of my sin. I turn to follow you right now. Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for me. I believe your blood was shed for my forgiveness, forgiveness of my sin. I believe you rose again on the third day. And now I accept you as my personal

Lord and savior. Holy spirit come and fill my life. Give me a brand new start. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Put your hands together and thank him for those who said yes to Jesus today. God bless you. Amen. Amen. Who was blessed by his word this morning? Amen. Amen. Amen. You know what? The Lord wants to speak to you. So I want to encourage you open again Romans chapter eight. Read throughout the week and the Lord will speak to you. Let that word create roots in your heart and bring fruits to the Lord. Amen. If you made a decision to give your life to Christ or you just recommitted your life to Christ, I want to invite the prayer team to come forward. We will be here to pray with you and to walk alongside you. So just let us know. We would love to join you in prayer. Also, if you have any prayer requests, please come forward. Amen. All right. I'm going to pray and you're going to be dismissed to heaven. Father, thank you so much for this Word. Thank you for speaking to us. Thank you for being so loving and kind to us. Just speaking to our hearts this morning. Father, we pray that this Word just create roots in our hearts and bring fruits to you, Father. And we as a church, we want to glorify you in everything that we do, Father. And let this Word just remind us that we belong to you and remind us that you are for us. So nothing and nobody will be against us. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' mighty name. And all God's people in the house say, come on, Amen, Amen, Amen. God bless you, everybody. Have a good Sunday.