ROM-46-141004 - length: 60:37 - taught on Oct, 4 2014
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. The Lord Jesus Christ always makes it clear how He expects us to think…how He expects us to talk…how He expects us to act…our God is not confused or confusing. Romans, Chapter 12, beginning at Verse 9…
Let unconditional love (which comes to us believers from God the Holy Spirit) be without hypocrisy (let it be sincere). Abhor what is evil; (simultaneously) cling to what is good.
(You believers in Christ) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor…
…not lagging behind (lacking) in diligence (don't be lazy), fervent in spirit (with a passion that is boiling over), serving the Lord (Jesus Christ as a doulos)…
…rejoicing in hope (an absolute confidence concerning your future glorification), persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer…
…contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality (to strangers).
This is the conduct of those who are servants of the Lord, especially in the face of personal tribulation.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
FATHER I’M YOURS
Let’s begin our worship of the Lord in song. The opening song is…FATHER I’M YOURS.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful to you, our wonderful Heavenly Father, for Your unconditional love toward all of us, a love that You demonstrated by sending Your Son to die as a substitute instead of us…thank you for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Help us, through these lessons, to see tribulation as a fabulous gift from Your grace…help us to know that You help us grow spiritually by putting us under pressure…help us to handle the pressure by knowing that You have nothing against us, and that by giving us Your Word we always have access to Your peace…a peace which surpasses comprehension…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name...
Amen.
ROMANS 5 Don’t Ever Ask Why Bad Things Happen To Good People
The bible says there are no good people in Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 10 to 23, verses which we have studied in this Romans series and which we now recall to mind…beginning at Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 10…
…as it is written, “THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE…”
“THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO UNDERSTANDS GOD, THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO SEEKS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…”
“ALL CREATURES HAVE TURNED ASIDE FROM GOD, TOGETHER ALL CREATURES HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
“THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING…THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS…”
“…THEIR MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS…”
“THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD…”
“…DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS…”
“…AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
“THERE IS NO RESPECT FOR GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
Now we know that whatever the Mosaic Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Mosaic Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God…
…because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Then the great turning point for creatures…
But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness from God has been manifested, being witnessed to both by the Law and by the Old Testament Prophets…
…even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction…
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Why do bad things happen to good people? The Lord Jesus Christ, speaking in the bible through God the Holy Spirit and the apostle Paul, says there are no good people, not even you! So you have to ask yourself why suffering happens to you…why does God allow tribulation to beset you…why does God not only allow tribulation in your life, but also, why does God bring tribulation into your life?
THE BOOK OF ROMANS
Chapter 5
GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND GRACE
Passage
Romans 5:1 to Romans 5:11
We are studying Romans…Chapter 5…the first five verses, and we are taking a look at two subjects…the peace of God…and tribulation. Let’s remind ourselves what these verses say. Romans, Chapter 5, beginning at Verse 1…
Therefore, having been justified on the principle of faith in the past, we believers in Christ now and forevermore keep on having peace with God the Father through our union with the Lord Jesus Christ…
With God we have a past which is an established fact…we are justified, we have God’s righteousness, therefore we have peace with God…God has nothing against us…
…and through our union with Christ also we have obtained our direct access to a Person of privileged rank, God the Father, who placed us into this sphere of grace in which presently we stand; and through our union with Christ also we keep on exulting in hope of the glory of God.
With God we have a future…we have absolute confidence that we will experience personally the glory of God. We are being conformed by God into His image. So if you believers in Christ think that there is something wrong with you…relax…God has you covered!
And we not only exult in these things (our past…righteousness and justification…our present…peace…our future…glory), but we also keep on being exulted by God the Father in our tribulations that are given to us by God the Father, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance…
God is shaping us with tribulation…
…and perseverance brings about proven character; and proven character brings about hope…
If you have any character whatsoever, thank God for it. It came from Him.
…and hope does not disappoint, because the unconditional love of God the Father has been poured out within our hearts through God the Holy Spirit who was given to us by God the Father.
Believers in Christ must never consider tribulation to be unusual. How would you like to be a member of The Kennedy Family, an American family of Irish descent who are prominent in American politics and government? President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy come from this family. If you think you have problems, read about the Kennedy family sometime, who have had so many tragedies that have pierced worldwide consciousness that their numerous tragedies and tribulations are called “The Kennedy Curse.” It’s as if it is being portrayed that God has something against The Kennedy Family. He does not. Many members of The Kennedy Family are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and those that are have access to the peace of God.
Yet for many believers, we prefer to believe Satan’s lie that tribulation in our lives, that suffering in our lives, that pressure in our lives is a curse. Let me assure you…when believers in Christ encounter tribulation…the sky is not falling…God has not abandoned us…God is not punishing us…the world is not coming to an end…everything in our lives has not gone wrong…there is no need to faint in our souls. Romans, Chapter 5, Verses 4 and 5…
…(tribulation brings about perseverance) and perseverance brings about proven character; and proven character brings about hope…
…and hope does not disappoint, because the unconditional love of God the Father has been poured out within our hearts through God the Holy Spirit who was given to us by God the Father.
The Lord is with us through the trials and tribulations. Deuteronomy, Chapter 31, Verse 8…
The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
The Lord is not only with us during trials, but He also goes ahead of us during the trials. And I wonder when trials and tribulations beset you, if you’re thinking that this is just what the Lord wants you to go through. Often, I think, “Isn’t it great that the Lord allows us to suffer instead of just sending us all to the Lake of Fire?”
What kind of tribulation am I talking about? I have always been reluctant to mention tribulation from the pulpit…I mean the specific types of tribulation that people experience…but I think it is time to change that idea…you need to know what people around you are going through.
What are some of these tribulations? And by the way, for every tribulation
on this list, I have had a friend or an acquaintance go through these very things…the death of a child…an incurable disease…an injury to self…injuries to others…financial hardships…worry…fear…a house that burns down…earthquakes…forest fires…tsunamis…tornados…mudslides…birth defects.
In the news, a category three hurricane in Los Cabos, Mexico, a place I frequent, left me unable to find out how my friends there are doing. You’ve seen volcanic eruptions in Japan in the news…I have several friends there. A head on collision recently killed four members of a girl’s softball team for North Central Texas College...I have a friend who lived in a head on collision while her friend died.
You have had friends who have experienced horrific things by human standards…yet how many times have you gone to them and said, “Aren’t you lucky to be going through these tribulation? God has brought them into your life for your good.” We don't say that. Instead we say, “I’m sorry you are going through this.”
Tribulations offer us a chance to appreciate life. Trials and tribulations make people aware of the need for the divine…when we realize how fragile our lives really are…James, Chapter 4, Verse 14…
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Trials and tribulations make us aware of just how much we count on the Lord for everything that is important to us.Take a five minute break.
BREAK
A Few Good Men
Welcome back!
Here’s a little more vivid description of some of the real things that happen to real people. Who have these things happened to that you know? How many of these things have happened to you? How many of these things could happen to you?
Your sixteen-year son has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and has only been given another 6 months to live.
Your twenty-five year marriage is now dissolving because your spouse is trading you in for someone else.
Your eighteen-year old daughter has just been murdered.
Your four-year old son has just been abducted and molested by a local pedophile…or worse, by one of your own family members.
You have just lost all of your life’s savings as a result of corporate fraud and executive greed in the company you have been working for most of your working life.
You have just lost three members of your immediate family in a fatal plane crash.
You yourself have been the victim of some kind of random and senseless crime such as rape, or robbery, or assault. My mother was a victim of all three of these crimes in the neighborhood in which I grew up.
You just happened to be born into an evil and dysfunctional family where the father of the family severely beats and verbally abuses you during your childhood.
Yes. These are very real things that happen to very real people. And the Lord allows them. How often do you see these things as a part of God’s grace to you? So what are we to make of it now that we know the Lord allows these things? Turn in your bibles to Second Corinthians, Chapter 1, beginning at Verse 3…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort…
…who comforts us believers in union with Christ in all our afflictions so that
we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God the Father.
God gives us affliction so that we can comfort others. <Tony LoGrasso>
For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
As we die the little deaths that we die for Christ…as we pick up our cross and follow Him…just as He requests…if we just take time to look around us, instead of fainting in our souls, we will see all the people, all the circumstances, and all the hope that God brings into our experience to comfort us during trials.
But if we are afflicted (Paul referring to himself), and we are, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer…
As Pastors and Teachers we suffer all the time. It enables us to comfort you in your sufferings because we have experienced your sufferings most of the time. Being a Pastor is a painful and joyful experience. I wonder sometimes, if you realize how your words and your actions can encourage or discourage your Pastor. It’s something to think about.
…and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life (Paul had no hope)…
…indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would
not trust in ourselves, but that we would trust in the God (the Father) who
raises the dead (in resurrection)…
…who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, God the Father on whom we have set our hope.
When we go through tribulation we have a guarantee from God…He will deliver us. Every time!
So we don’t faint in our souls in the face of tribulation. We ought to simply ask ourselves, “What is the Lord doing for me by giving me this tribulation?”Instead we often take on the though process of gloom and doom, and we drive ourselves off of an emotional cliff…in despair…we want comfort and we wonder why our life is being disrupted by tribulation. I’ll tell you why!
Comfort is your enemy
What has God done for you this year to disrupt your comfort? What is God doing for you right now (notice I said “for you” and not “to you” as you might explain it) to disrupt your comfort, to get your attention, to move you closer to him? What has been your reaction when God “moves your cheese,” as the popular book by Spencer Johnson describes it?
God means tribulation for our good…but often we think God is picking on us. Does God’s unconditional love and grace toward us mean ease and comfort? Hardly. So to you parents…here is what you say that is right out of the pit of hell…
”I want my children to have it easier than I had it”
That is not God’s philosophy. Romans, Chapter 5, Verses 4 and 5…
…(tribulation brings about perseverance) and perseverance brings about proven character; and proven character brings about hope…
…and hope does not disappoint, because the unconditional love of God the
Father has been poured out within our hearts through God the Holy Spirit who was given to us by God the Father.
Tribulation has a divine purpose. Through tribulation, God the Father is conforming us to the image of His Son. Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 29…
For those whom God the Father foreknew (believers in Christ), He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), so that Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren…
Let’s close with First Peter, Chapter 4, Verses 12 to 19…
Beloved (divinely loved ones), do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you…
…but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, and you will be, you are blessed, because the Holy Spirit of glory and of God the Father rests on you.
Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or as a troublesome meddler…
…but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God by this name “Christian.”
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
We’ll continue our study of tribulation knowing that God offers us tribulation for our good.
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
When God makes a promise…
it’s a guarantee!
For by His glory and excellence the Lord Jesus Christ has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us believers in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ…
God the Father who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with our union with Him freely give us believers in Christ all things?
Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
CLOSING SONG
Take My Hand
Thanks for coming…for watching…for listening!
www.barahministries.com
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