I’m getting quite good at blogging about things I don’t know personally… I obviously have a spy in the camp!

Last night, many of the men from church gathered for food and films. Free from women’s cooking, they went to the local takeaway:


Apart from food, they settled down to watch a couple of ‘men’s films’. And before anyone takes that the wrong way, I’d better name the films:
Eagle Eye
Despicable Me

There’s hope for them yet!

We will hopefully be introducing the song ‘Our God’ shortly in church. I couldn’t possibly conclude a Bible study on Romans 8 without some reference to it. I hope this whets your appetite to learn it!

Last year, as some of you may remember, I had the privilege of volunteering at Passion London, a conference for university students led by the Passion movement (Louie Giglio, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Francis Chan, Beth Moore and Kristian Stanfill are all involved in this mission to reach out to and equip students). If you’re interested, you can see photos and read about the event at http://268generation.com/blog/2010/05/ (scroll down the page to get to May 15 and there’s even a photo of the back of me in an orange T-shirt, but I doubt you’d recognise me!)

It was such a privilege to worship with over 1500 students on the Friday and Saturday evenings of that event and to sing ‘Our God’, to declare the truths of Romans 8 with the lyrics:

“And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?” (“Our God”, Chris Tomlin & Matt Redman)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlA5IDnpGhc

But in the months since that event, when Louie Giglio preached powerfully from this same chapter we have been studying over recent months, a lot of water has gone under the bridge and there have been times when it’s been difficult to hold onto these words. Nonetheless, we stand firm. God’s Word is true. No matter what our experiences, no matter what comes against us, we know that if God is for us, who can stand against us? We know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And so we have peace and security.

I loved singing my heart out with all those students. But I love singing my heart out on my own as well, with the tears streaming down my face, when everything isn’t as rosy as it could be. Because no matter what the circumstances, God is over all and in all and is with His people and is greater and stronger and higher than any other. To Him be all the glory!

Romans 8 marks the end of a major doctrinal section in Romans, as Paul goes on to write about Israel in chapters 9 and 10. This week’s Bible study saw the completion of the study on Romans 8, looking at vs 31-39.

These verses have been used to build doctrines and denominations over the years. Whilst it is easy to debate these things (Calvinism vs Arminianism, the idea of man’s free will versus God’s sovereignty), it’s probably true to say that a balance is needed rather than extremism. There are numerous examples of God choosing in the Bible (see Neh 9:7, Ps 47:3-5, Ps 78:70, Jer 1:5, Ps 105:26, Matt 22:14, John 15:16, for example), but equally there are many passages showing us man’s response (1 Kings 8:46-48, Jer 15:19, Ezek 14:6, Luke 13:2-4, Acts 28:24, 1 Pet 1:1-2, 1 John 3:23).

It appears that both views have truth in them: God chooses; people decide to respond. Whatever our theology, however, these verses in Romans 8 point to the ultimate security of God’s people. Paul asks a series of questions (an interesting technique, since it forces us to think for answers ourselves, rather than simply being presented with facts), starting with “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God will not withhold any good thing from us. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” It is God who justifies – so no one can bring any charge against us.

“Who then is the one who condemns?” No one can condemn (as Paul has stated in Romans 8:1), because Jesus Christ is interceding for us. We have freedom from condemnation!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Paul lists a whole host of things that might be thought to have the potential to separate us from God, but he is unequivocal in his assertion that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God:

“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.”

We don’t need anything else, really, do we?!

Just as we can improve our natural memories using things like mnemonics and acrostics, so we can improve our spiritual memories through regular exercise!

Meditating on God’s Word

God’s Word is living and active (Heb 4:12) and can shape our thinking and living. We need to read it regularly, feasting on it, gnawing on it, letting it into every part of our lives (Ps 119:9-16). We can meditate on it by memorising it (starting with something short and easy like 1 John 4:8 ‘God is love’) and can learn it by singing it! When we think of all translators have gone through to give us God’s Word in our native language or what some Christians face in getting hold of God’s Word in countries where the Bible is banned, we should be eager to make the most of every opportunity to read and study God’s living Word.

Dwelling on truth

Phil 4:8 tells us “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” It’s important to win the battle of the mind, by refusing to allow wrong thoughts to have a home in our minds. If we win the battle of the mind, we will be able to remember God more effectively and recall His truths when we need them. There is no room for half-heartedness in this; as Paul told the Ephesians, we are not to be like the Gentiles in the ‘futility of their thinking’, but must fix our minds and thoughts on the Lord.



Using visual aids to remember

The Passover in the Old Testament and taking Communion in the New Testament are the chief ways we remember what God has done. In Communion, we remember all God has done to purchase our salvation and we look ahead to His promise to return for His bride. In the Old Testament, God gave the people many visual aids to memory (tassels on clothes, phylacteries with Scripture in them to wear on their heads, memorial stones in the River Jordan to commemorate how God parted the waters, for example.) What visual aids are we using to remember all God has done and pass this on to the next generation?

Obedience

The more we obey God’s commands – even when they make us squirm! – the more we see God and are blessed by Him. It’s vital we learn to do what God says. There are no shortcuts in this matter, but regular obedience helps us to remember all that God is and has done.

What are we remembering for?!

What’s the point of remembering? What do we gain from all these efforts to remember Jesus Christ, descended from David, raised from the dead? The more we learn to remember who God is, what He has done and what He has promised, the more equipped we will be for all that life throws at us. We will be able to stand the trials and tests of life.



“When shadows fall on us,

We will not fear.

We will remember.

When darkness falls on us,

We will not fear.

We will remember.

When all seems lost,

When we’re thrown and we’re tossed,

We’ll remember the cost.

We’re resting in the shadow of the cross.”

(‘Shadows’, David Crowder*Band)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TF35CmGB4k

What we should remember
Who God is
Paul urges us to ‘remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David’ (2 Tim 2:8)
We looked at names of God:
• Abraham’s shield and very great reward (Gen 15:1)
• ‘I am who I am’ to Moses (Ex 3:14),
• our Shepherd (Ps 23:1, John 10:11)
• Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer (Ex 15:26)
• Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our Provider (Gen 22:13-14)
• Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner (Ex 17:15)
• Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is the there, ever present with us (Ezek 48:35, Heb 13:5)
• Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our Peace (Judges 6:24)
• Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
• The Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
• Alpha and Omega (Rev 1:8, Rev 22:3)
• God Most High (Gen 14:17-20)
• Mountain Maker (Ps 65:6)
• Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9)
• Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is 9:6)
• Our Father, Abba (Matt 6:9, Rom 8:15)
• Consuming Fire (Deut 4:24, Heb 12:29)
• High Priest (Heb 3:1, Heb 6:20)
• King of Kings (1 Tim 6:15)
• Lamb of God (John 1:29)
• Light of the World (John 8:12)
• Messiah (John 4:25)
• Redeemer (Job 19:25)
• Rock (1 Cor 10:4)
• Saviour (Luke 2:11)
• Word of God (John 1:1, Rev 19:13)

What God has done
God has acted decisively and comprehensively in history and in our lives. We see Him acting in Creation, in the Flood, in making a covenant with Abraham, in manoeuvring Joseph into Egypt so that he could rescue Israel from famine, in delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt in the Exodus, in leading Israel through the wilderness wanderings, in leading them into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, in providing judges and kings for them, in allowing exile into their lives as the consequence of their disobedience and forgetfulness, in bringing restoration and renewal through the prophets. In the New Testament we see His decisive actions in history as, when the time was fully right, He sent His Son into the world to save us: we see the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church, the missionary journeys of the apostles, the growth of the church. Our Bibles are absolutely packed with examples of what God has done.

But, as Psalm 78 and Nehemiah 9 clearly demonstrate, the Israelites had a decided tendency to forget all that God had done. Paul tells us “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor 10:11-12) We need to be careful to remember what God has done for us in the past.

What God has promised
All God’s promises are ‘Yes’ in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 1:20), but we have to speak the ‘Amen’, agreeing with God. We have to consider Him faithful who has promised (Heb 11:11). We have to wait patiently with hope for God’s promises to be fulfilled (Rom 8:15) Our confidence rests in who God is and what He has done; these are spurs to trusting Him for what we have yet to see fulfilled. We need to keep holding on to God’s promises, secure in His character and in His ability to fulfil those promises.

We started the evening service with an age-old memory game: how many of these objects could you remember in two minutes?

People worked hard to remember:



In the end, the winning team remembered 20 of the 25 items, which is pretty good!

The object of the game is to remember things, leading in to a sermon on remembrance. Julie looked at what we should remember and at ways to improve our spiritual memories.

What we should remember
Who God is
What God has done
What God has promised

How we should remember
By meditating on God’s Word
By dwelling on truth
By using visual aids to help us remember
By doing what God says

So… how good are you at remembering?