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God's Great Love for Us

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God's Great Love for Us “God’s Great Love for Us” Pastor David Pranga Romans 8:31-39 Good morning and welcome to Brewster Baptist Church. My name is David Pranga, and I am one of the pastors here at the church. Pastor Doug and Jill, along with 38 people from our congregation, have traveled over to France for the next two weeks. Please keep the crew in your prayers for safety. This morning, we are going to be finishing up the book of Romans. I want to share with you a passage from Chapter 8. To me it is one of the most powerful passages in all of Romans. I want to ask you a few questions this morning. Feel free to grab the back of your bulletin and a pencil to answer these questions…. #1. Do you ever struggle or have doubts that God loves you? Do you ever wish that you could know for sure that the God of the universe, the God who created us, really does cares about you? Do you really believe that God loves you? I think that question is one we all wrestle with. #2. Why do we struggle with the fact that God could really love me? What are some reasons why we may feel like God couldn’t love me? God’s love is intangible I feel insignificant Don’t feel worthy – guilty Insecure Our past sins; we cannot forgive ourselves Many of us in this room struggle with accepting God’s love. Many of us realize we don’t feel we deserve God’s love. Many of us struggle with the thought that God could love us. Because we know deep, down inside we have constantly gone our own way. We know we are selfish individuals. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we know that we put ourselves first most of the time. So we think to ourselves, “How can God really love me?” This morning, I want to share with you how much God loves you. God loves each person in the room, more than you and I could even imagine. God knows each aspect of our life. God sees our heart. God sees us at our best. God sees the dark and ugly side of us as well. Yet, God still holds a special place in his heart for each person here today. God knows each person here this morning. I believe it is not by accident that you are here. God wanted you to hear this message. Let me read from today’s passage: Romans 8:31-39. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 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? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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. 1. God is for you! (Romans 8:31) I want you to think of a person that really believed in you. Sometime in your life, I want you to think for a minute of a person who believed in and got the best out of you. I want you to think of a person that truly had your best interest in mind. Who was your best cheerleader? The person could be a coach, a teacher, a friend, a parent, or even a spouse. What made that person special? Does everyone have a person in mind? When I think of that question, it would be easy to say one of my parents or my wife Christy. I chose someone else. I can remember back in my middle school years. I can remember going out for the football team at school. My math teacher was the coach – Mr. Fermanich. He soon became my favorite teacher. I can remember one of our first days of practice where Mr. Fermanich pulled me aside and said, “David – you are going to be the quarterback of our football team. You are going to run the offense. You, David are going to lead this team.” Before I had time to digest what he said, (mind you, I was probably a hair over 5 feet tall and maybe 100 lbs. on a good day) Mr. Fermanich then called the entire team over. I was still in a fog about what he said to me. We were all a bunch of awkward, young teenagers who were playing football for our school for the very first time. We all huddled around Mr. Fermanich. Mr. Fermanich then announced each position and who was going to play them. Mr. Fermanich started with me. He said, “David is going to be our quarterback and you need to listen to everything David has to say. David is going to be the coach on the field. He is going to run this dynamic offense.” I was looking around slightly embarrassed. But if that is what coach thought, I better look the part and act like it. So I stood tall and pretended I knew what he was talking about. Then Mr. Fermanich went and told each kid what their position was and how important it was to the team. I mean every kid there believed he had an important job to do and we all felt good being there. We practiced and pretended we were Green Bay Packers. Remember, I grew up in Wisconsin. Mr. Fermanich taught us about football that year. He was full of encouragement and believed in each person. He believed we could do things that we did not even think we could accomplish. Each of us improved throughout the season. Every week, I got better and the team got better. As the season went on, my confidence soared, as well as the team. I remember we won every game that year. Was I the best player? No, not even close. I remember handing the ball to two running backs who gained a lot of yards that season. How we won all those games in 7th grade? I don’t even remember. What do I remember? I knew I had a coach that believed in me! Mr. Fermanich believed in me more than I believed in myself. Game after game he believed in me. All I know is that we had a coach that believed in each person on the team! He let us make mistakes, and joked around with us when we made them. He even let us call some trick plays. We had a coach that cared about us first and winning second. We had a coach that really loved us and believed in us! Point #1: God is for You! When I read this verse… “If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31 When you see a verse in the bible that says, “If God is for us (meaning you), who can be against you?” What that verse is saying to me is that God is the greatest coach you can imagine. God sees the potential in you as a key player on his team. That is the reason why I love Jeremiah 29:11. 11 “ 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.” I want you to know that God is your biggest cheerleader in life. God is cheering you on just like Mr. Fermanich coached me in football. God is cheering you on the good days, and God is there in those difficult days we face. But first and foremost – God is for you! God wants the best for you. God loves you! I realize this might be tough for some of you to believe. God knows everything about us. God knows your favorite food. God knows how you like to spend your free time. God wants to give you his best. Even when you don’t know it. But I believe God shows a glimpse of his love with point #2. 2. Jesus Christ died for us (Romans 8:32-33) How much does God love you today? Let me read verse 32. 32 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? How much does God love us? God loved us so much that he sent his only Son – Jesus here on earth. God knew that we were in need of a savior. Jesus was both God and man. Jesus was perfect in every way. Yet, Jesus had to give his life for us.
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