(# 277) Romans 8 - If You Only Had One Wish, What Would It Be

Class Outline:

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BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries we are “pursuing the truth through the study of the Word of God.”  Because of the gracious provision of the internet, from our omnipotent God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Barah Ministries has a worldwide reach and an intimate impact on lives.  Thank you Lord for providing a way for anyone, anywhere to be reached with Your Word.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

If You Only Had One Wish, What Would It Be?

 

It’s fun, at times, to think what things would solve all of our problems.  Often when we think like that, we wish we had a genie in a bottle…we wish we could rub the bottle and a genie would appear and grant us three wishes…and we would hope the three wish selections would make all of our problems go away.

 

Well what if it was only one wish…what would your wish be?  Welcome to a place where you get to know a God who says, “Your wish is my command!”

 

Let’s begin this lesson with a few announcements.

 

BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Next Deacon’s Meeting

May 21

7:30A-10:00A

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration

NEXT WEEK!

May 8, 2016

 

Its also Mother’s Day!

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

A Gathering of God’s Men

June 5, 2016

After Church

 

A chance for the men of Barah Ministries to hang out and to talk…

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Coeur d’Alene Bible Conference

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

August 5-6, 2016

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Evening Lesson Only

6:00P-7:30P

August 7, August 21, September 18

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

New York - Pennsylvania Conference

Traditions at the Glen

Johnson City, New York

September 16-17, 2016

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Homecoming for the Non-Resident Congregation

April 21-23, 2017 or May 19-21, 2017

 

Which is better?  Take your pick.

 

PRAYERS

Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group

 

Join me in prayer directed at all the intercessions and all the petitions of the

people visiting the Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group.  Prayers especially for my wife’s Mom…Josefina Roa…who is having a tough time health wise right now.

 

THANK YOU!

Non-Resident Congregation Members

Tommy and Donna Chin

 

A quick hello and thanks to Tommy and Donna Chin of the non-resident congregation for their faithful support of the ministry.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

CAST MY CARES

Finding Favor

 

As we prepare our souls for worship, let’s enjoy Finding Favor, singing CAST MY CARES.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father…thank you for having all the power…we’re counting on You right now because there are many who listen to You through this ministry who are hurting right now and who need Your healing touch…and we’re grateful that You always hear our prayers and You always know exactly what to do…we trust You completely for our healing…

 

Give us the patience to wait for Your timing…give us the strength to endure the trials…give us the healing that makes us perfect witnesses of Your faithfulness in every circumstance…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

 Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

If You Only Had One Wish, What Would It Be?

 

We continue our study of Paul’s letter to the first century believers at Rome with a study of the fifth and final passage of Romans, Chapter 8, which extends from Verses 31 to 39.

 

When we study this passage, we can have faith that what Paul is saying is true…because Paul is writing what the Lord is telling Him to write…just as the apostle John writes, in Chapter 3 of his gospel…the words of John the Baptist in Verses 33 and 34…

 

John 3:33

“The Lord who has received the Father’s testimony has set his seal to this, that God the Father is true.”

 

John 3:34

“For He (the Lord Jesus Christ) whom God the Father has sent speaks the words of God the Father; for the Father gives the Spirit (of truth) without limits (to what He is willing to reveal).”

 

We are about to hear the wonderful truth that nothing can successfully oppose believers in Christ, and that nothing can successfully separate us from our union with Christ.  Comforting words!  Let’s review the passage…which evolves with God using Paul to ask us a series of penetrating questions…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 31 to 39…

 

Romans 8:31

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?  If God the Father is for us, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?

 

Romans 8:32

God the Father, who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will the Father not also, with our union with Christ, freely give us all things?

 

Romans 8:33

Who will bring a successful charge against God’s elect (all believers in Christ)? God is the one who justifies…

 

Romans 8:34

…who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather He who was raised…He who is at the right hand of God the Father…He who also intercedes for us.

 

Romans 8:35

Who will separate us from the unconditional love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword separate us from His unconditional love?

 

Romans 8:36

Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 

Romans 8:37

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

 

Romans 8:38

For I (Paul) am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…

 

Romans 8:39

…nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unconditional love of God the Father, which is for us through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

So here are Paul’s questions to believers in Christ from this passage…

 

PAUL’S QUESTIONS TO BELIEVERS IN CHRIST

 

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?

 

If God the Father is for us, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?

 

If God the Father did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will the Father not also, with our union with the Christ, freely give us all things?

 

PAUL’S QUESTIONS TO BELIEVERS IN CHRIST

 

God is the one who justifies…who is the one who condemns?

 

Who will separate us from the unconditional love of Christ?

 

Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword separate us from His unconditional love?

 

As believers in Christ, we have enemies, to be sure.  Will they ever be successful against us?  There’s no way.  It doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference WHO is against us…it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference WHAT is against us.  With God, who is FOR us, we believers in Christ will always prevail.

 

If you only had one wish, what would it be?  I’d want three wishes…I would want to be able to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation…I’d want to learn His Word from an accurate teacher…and I’d want to know that God is on my side.  And if you made me cut my wish to one, I’d simply like to know that God is on my side.  But I don’t have to wish for something I already have, do I?  Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31…

 

Romans 8:31

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?  If God the Father is FOR us believers in Christ, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?

 

All these things…from Romans, Chapter 3 onward…we were “in Adam” … we were physically alive and spiritually dead … we were guilty as indicted in Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 10 to 18 … then we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ … then we were justified…and we came to know about

the havoc being wreaked from inside of us by disruptive and indwelling sin

… the flesh … we came to know that the indwelling God, the Holy Spirit, had been given to us as a pledge of an inheritance that would stagger our imagination … and we came to know that our battle with the flesh is the Holy Spirit’s battle…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 17…

 

Galatians 5:17

For the flesh sets its desire against God the Holy Spirit, and God the Holy the Spirit set His desire against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another...

 

And we know that Satan is the ruler of this world…John, Chapter 12, Verse 31…

 

John 12:31

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out (dethroned).

 

Satan has set up a system of influence designed to deceive…Revelations, Chapter 12, Verse 9…

 

Revelation 12:9

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

 

Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31…

 

Romans 8:31

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?  If God the Father is FOR us believers in Christ, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?

 

What “all these things?”  The “all these things” in Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 29 and 30…

 

Romans 8:29

For those whom God the Father foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that the Lord Jesus Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren…

 

Romans 8:30

…and those whom God the Father predestined, He also called; and those whom God the Father called, He also justified; and those whom God the Father justified, He also glorified.

 

If I could only have one wish in this life, it would be to know that God is on my side.  I’d let all else take care of itself.  Let’s take a music break then see what else we can learn about the God who is FOR us.

 

MUSIC BREAK

WHERE THERE IS FAITH

4Him

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

If You Only Had One Wish, What Would It Be?

 

If I had only one wish, I’d wish that God is on my side…and He is!  Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31…

 

Romans 8:31

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?  If God the Father is FOR us believers in Christ, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?

 

We know who is against us…Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verses 11 to 13…

 

Ephesians 6:11

Pick up and put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

 

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood (human beings), but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

 

When did Roman soldiers put on their armor?  All the time…every day!

You always have to be aware of how the kingdom of death seeks to use you to get to others…especially to other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  First Peter, Chapter 5, Verse 8…

 

First Peter 5:8

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

 

What do we know about the devil?  Ezekiel, Chapter 28, Verses 11 to 19…he’s a gorgeous, brilliant genius who is fully capable of deceiving anyone but God…

 

Ezekiel 28:11

Again the word of the Lord came to me saying…

 

Ezekiel 28:12

“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You had the seal of perfection, you were full of wisdom and you were perfect in beauty.”

 

We know quickly that a man is not being described here.

 

Ezekiel 28:13 

“You were in Eden, the garden of God (in heaven); every precious stone was your covering:  The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and your sockets, was in you.  On the day that you were created they were prepared.”

 

Ezekiel 28:14 

“You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there.  You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”

 

Ezekiel 28:15 

“You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created

until unrighteousness was found in you.”

 

Ezekiel 28:16 

“By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence,

and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.  And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.”

 

Ezekiel 28:17

 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.  I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.”

 

Ezekiel 28:18

“By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade

you profaned your sanctuaries.  Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; it has consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth

in the eyes of all who see you.”

 

Ezekiel 28:19

“All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have become terrified and you will cease to be forever.”’”

 

The devil, the world, and the flesh are your enemies, and they never sleep…yet those powers and principalities…those spiritual forces of wickedness that are against us…will never be able to mount successful opposition against believers in Christ.  They trip us up and God bails us out by working all things together for good.

 

The one wish, if we had a genie…the one wish that would supersede all others…would be the wish that God is FOR us.  Lo and behold…He is.  “God is FOR us” is not a tee-shirt slogan…it’s an unchangeable attitude inside the unchangeable and Sovereign God of the Universe… the God with all the power…the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…

 

The liars among us say, “Everything happens for a reason!”  Yet there was absolutely no reason…there was absolutely no cause created by us that would have God take on this attitude toward us…yet He did…God is FOR us.  God is FOR you!  Do you believe it?  Whether you believe it or not, it’s true.  How sad it is when we don’t feel it…how sad it is when we doubt it…how sad it is when we, as believers in Christ, are the victims of our own unbelief…

 

You are a masterpiece…you are custom made…you are not “off the rack.”

 

Repeat after me…

 

God is for me. God is on my side. God sent His Son to die for me. Christ died not only for my sins but Christ died for ME!

 

No amount of cheerleading will make that sink in…Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31…

 

Romans 8:31

What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things?  If God the Father is for us believers in Christ, and He is, who is ever to be successful in opposition against us?

 

When we fail…God is FOR us…when we are faithless…God is FOR us…when we make mistakes…God is FOR us…when we are hopeless… God is FOR us…when we are helpless…God is FOR us…when we are fruitless…God is FOR us…God is committed to us…God is committed to you.

 

When you are headed down the path of a willful sin…do you stop to think that God is FOR you?  Hardly.  When you are asking Him to right the wrongs in your life…do you stop to think that God is FOR you?  Hardly.  When God is not moving quite fast enough for you…do you stop to think that God is FOR you?  Hardly.

 

If I could have one wish…I wouldn’t wish for money…why?  Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 19 to 21…

 

Matthew 6:19

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

 

Matthew 6:20

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal…”

 

Matthew 6:21

“…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

Our enemies can’t win.  Why?  Because God is FOR you.  I’d just wish to have God on my side.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

Matthew 22:42

“What do you think about the Christ (the Messiah), whose son is He?”

 

Acts 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

Acts 4:12

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given to mankind by which we must be saved (except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ).”

 

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings  salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

Acts 2:21

‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation will be saved.’

 

CLOSING SONG

WORD OF GOD SPEAK

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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