More Than Conquerors

RECORD

In light of last week’s service I have decided to postpone for a couple of weeks the messages that I had been planning on delivering and address issues that are right at hand and are important to us

Now some of you were not here and you are wondering what happened last Sunday so let me briefly try and catch you up

More and more over the past couple of months and even beyond that, I have been feeling like our little church along the rivers edge here in Frankford has been coming under attack

There just seemed to be a disproportionate amount of major life issues that people were/are facing given the size of our church

Last Sunday as our worship time was coming to a close and getting ready to deliver my message, I sensed the Holy Spirit speak to me and tell me not to say what I had prepared

Now I don’t say that to try and make it sound super-spiritual because I believe that God can speak to a preacher just as easily a week or two in advance as He can during the worship

Easier in fact because the preacher should also be focused on worship and not what lie ahead

And to prove to you it wasn’t super-spiritual, my response was, “But this is all I’ve got. There’s nothing else.”

To which the Spirit replied, “You can preach it if you want but it’s not what the people need to hear today. You need to address the spiritual warfare.”

And so with much reluctance I set aside my prepared sermon and let the Spirit take me down a path I hadn’t planned on

Now it must have been the right thing because the reaction that I have received since then is unlike any other sermon that I’ve prepared

But I still have no plans to make a habit of doing it that way.

Still I just don’t feel like I can leave it where we ended last week and so this morning I want to take a look at some of what Paul had to say to the Roman Church regarding the spiritual battles that they were being overwhelmed with on a daily basis so if you have a Bible with you open it up to Romans chapter 8 as we begin a new journey in the life of our church

If you are reading along in the NIV you may notice that this section has been given the subtitle of More than Conquerors and that is what I have decided to call this message

Let’s read what Paul had to say

Romans 8:28–39 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before we get into my first point this morning there’s a little theological point that I need to make to help you understand everything else that I want to say this morning

And that is that not everything that happens to you in life is going to be good, and not everything bad that happens is from God

I have heard far too many Christians try and make excuses for God as if everything that happens to us is part of some plan that He has but that we could never possibly understand

Sometimes life in a sinful, fallen world is not fair and it’s okay for us to acknowledge that

It wasn’t fair for Joseph when his brothers beat him almost to death and then sold him into slavery or when he landed in jail for doing what was right, it wasn’t fair for Daniel who was fed to hungry lions just for praying, It wasn’t fair for David who was annointed king in Saul’s place by God and that made him a target for Saul’s rage for many years

If it wasn’t fair for them and so many others why should we expect it to be any different for us?

I remember reading a story somewhere about another Pastor who had had enough of this kind of thinking that God was responsible for all the bad that happens to us as though it was a part of His plan

It seems that after Sunday service one day an elderly lady in his congregation fell down the steps of the church and broke her hip

Of course she received immediate medical attention and the best care at the local hospital but due to complications instead of getting better, after a couple of months later she passed into eternal glory

At the funeral home the night before her service the Pastor stood next to her husband as person after person, most from his own church, shook the man’s hand and not knowing what else to say usually said something like, “Well God obviously had a plan” and “Take comfort in the knowledge that we might not understand what God is doing right now but we will one day” and other such similar things

The Pastor got so upset that he went home that night and changed his message

The following day as the church was full of friends and family the pastor began his message by stating in an emphatic tone, “My God does NOT push little old ladies down stairs!”

Let me teach you a lesson that I have stressed with my girls, LIFE IS NOT FAIR

Sometimes bad things happen to good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people and it’s not always God sitting up there in Heaven pulling the strings

I love a sign I saw on a church one time “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is you are stupid and make dumb decisions”

Life just happens

Having said that, what we need to realize is, and what verse 28 tells us is, that for those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and have dedicated themselves to try and live according to the written Word of God, The Father can AND WILL take these unfair and bad things of life and use them as ingredients to bring about His purpose in you

God may not have put them there and let’s face sometimes the enemy is not even responsible for putting them there, sometimes it’s our own fault

I saw a sign once on one of those funny church sign sites that said, “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is you’re stupid and made bad decisions.”

Isn’t that the truth? But we need to know that whether it is self inflicted or a result of Satanic influence, God is able to use it anyway and still make things work out according to His plans

You’ve heard me use this analogy before but it fits so well

It’s like spreading out all the ingredients for home-made chocolate chip cookies in front of you

Some of them taste good, some of them taste absolutely terrible, some of them are sweet and some of them are bitter, but when they are all used together in the correct quantities and placed through the fire, the final product is of great value

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah and said in

Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Now some so-called Bible scholars will tell you that this was a promise made by God to the nation of Israel coming up out of bondage and exile and therefore doesn’t apply to you and I today

Well that’s hog-wash because in 2 Corinthians (which is in the New Testament by the way) Paul stated

2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Do not let the enemy convince you that anything that has happened in the past has disqualified you from the present because not only can God used what has happened or maybe IS HAPPENING but nothing can stop God from fulfilling His purpose in you

So if our first point is proven in verse 28 of the text then this second point is proven in verses 29-31 and that is that nothing that happens to you is able to prevent God from accomplishing His purpose in your life

As His child God has a plan and purpose for you and it might surprise you to know that it is not to save the world through you or to spread the gospel or any other monumental Christian task

God’s purpose for you is to help you become like your big brother, Jesus

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians

That’s God’s big plan for you, your purpose and destiny, it’s to become like Jesus and all the stuff that life throws at you can’t prevent that from happening if you refuse to let it

There’s an old story of a daughter who complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer”, he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

We cannot always control the things that are going to happen to us in this life but what we can control is our response to them and whether or not we will allow God to work in spite of them to make us like Jesus

Next week I want to consider 2 more promises that are ours from this passage but for today I want to leave those who are facing situations that seem overwhelming with these encouraging words from 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:7–10 NIV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Let’s pray