You Are For Me Series

I STILL BELIEVE YOU ARE FOR ME

A. Romans 8:31b- “…If God is for us, who can be against us.”

1. A few years ago, one of the most popular APPS to hit smart phones was a game called “Pocket God.”

a. How many of you are FAMILIAR with this GAME? I never heard of the game (ANGRY BIRDS, yes; but POCKET GOD, no), but I came across it as I was doing RESEARCH for today’s lesson.

b. The game first came out in 2009, and is still AVAILABLE in your APP STORE. Millions of people

have DOWNLOADED this game.

ILLUSTRATION:

When the GAME first hit the MARKET, it ADVERTISED with this question: “WHAT KIND OF GOD WOULD YOU BE?” That question sparked my INTEREST, so, I got on YouTube this

past week and watched a TUTORIAL on the GAME.

You, the PLAYER, are the ALL-POWERFUL GOD over this GROUP of PRIMITIVE ISLANDERS. According to the GUY giving the TUTORIAL, you can have hours of fun GIVING

LIFE and TAKING IT AWAY again.

As GOD, you can control the WEATHER, and with one TAP send a LIGHTENING BOLT hurling to the GROUND and FRY one of the little PEOPLE. You can make VOLCANOS erupt, cause EARTHQUAKES, HURRICANES, extreme HEAT and COLD to bring DESTRUCTION on the

people.

As GOD, you can control WILD LIFE. If you so desired, you can FEED the little people to the SHARKS or pound them to death with an APE or kill them with a SNAKEBITE or make a BIRD poop

on their HEADS.

From the TUTORIAL that I saw, all you were able to do as GOD was to HURT people. (No wonder these little characters look so frightened.) To me it seems that the CREATORS of this GAME came to the TABLE with the preconception that God is CRUEL and ENJOYS causing BAD things to happen to PEOPLE.

2. Perhaps, depending on how we GREW UP and what we were TAUGHT, we could have some strong

preconceptions of the CHARACTER of God, as well.

a. It could be that you think God is out to GET you—that He’s just waiting for you to do something

WRONG so that He can POUNCE on you.

b. That was my CONCEPT of God growing up in a LEGALISTIC church.

COMMENT:

In the church of Christ, we were taught that we were the ONLY ONES going to HEAVEN, and

HALF of us wouldn’t MAKE IT. I heard so much PREACHING about God sending people to HELL, that I thought He DELIGHTED in doing so. I was more AFRAID of God than I LOVED Him.

B. The apostle Paul CHALLENGES the thinking that God is CRUEL and is out to GET US.

1. Paul knows by PERSONAL EXPERIENCE that LIFE is TOUGH.

COMMENT:

In this chapter alone he talks about SPIRITUAL WARFARE, PERSONAL THREATS and PERSECUTION, PHYSICAL HARDSHIP, NATURAL DISASTERS, PRESENT SUFFERINGS,

even DEATH.

He paints a FRIGHTENING but REALISTIC picture of how VULNERABLE the average person is in this HARD, COLD, and FALLEN world.

2. But Paul also JOYFULLY points out that WE ARE NOT ALONE.

COMMENT:

For those of us who have given our lives to Christ through FAITH, we have the ALL-POWERFUL and ALL-LOVING God on our side.

C. Today we conclude the series: “I STILL BELIEVE” based on a tragic event in Jeremy Camp’s life.

1. Those of us who watched the MOVIE saw how Jeremy’s FAITH in God was TESTED during the

SICKNESS and LOSS of his wife Melissa.

a. The PAIN of the LOSS of his wife led Jeremy to question God’s LOVE: “How can a loving God

allow this to happen to Melissa, a young woman who loved the Lord with her entire being?”

b. But then we also saw how Jeremy came to the realization that God’s LOVE NEVER FAILS, and wrote the song: “I STILL BELIEVE”.

2. As we conclude this series, I want to FOCUS on who our God really is.

MESSAGE:

I. GOD IS FOR US- Romans 8:31-34 (READ)

A. As Paul begins this section, it is as if he CATCHES his BREATH after vigorously EXTOLLING all the BLESSINGS that we have as God’s CHILDREN and then writes the question: “What, then, shall

we say in response to all this?”

1. Paul is excited to share with Christ’s FOLLOWERS what he had learned from personal experience

about God’s SOVEREIGNTY and His LOVE.

a. He began this chapter by assuring us that although we struggle with SIN, “For those of us who

ARE in Christ Jesus there is NO CONDEMNATION”- vv. 1-4.

b. He stressed what it means to us to be “given the Holy Spirit to TRANSFORM us from the

INSIDE OUT into the LIKENESS of His Son”- vv. 5-17.

c. He reminded us that although “WE and all of God’s CREATION are under the curse of SIN bringing DECAY and CORRUPTION, we GROAN waiting for Christ Jesus to RETURN one