God is For Us | Life in the Spirit | Week 8

God is For Us 
April 23, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Romans 8:28-34 
 
 
Correcting 3 Common Misunderstandings from Romans 8:28  
  1. It does not promise that a Christians’ circumstances will be better than anyone else’s.  
  2. It does not promise that things will automatically work together for good without God.  
  3. It is not an invitation to pretend that bad things are actually good.  
 
 
Big Idea: God doesn’t promise you better life circumstances, he promises you a better life.  
 
 
A better life: How to maintain joy in the midst of struggle 

1. Joy means rethinking how you define “good” (:28-29)  
 
What is ‘good’ is that every single thing that happens to you is moving you toward Christlikeness.  
 
 
2. Joy involves remembering that your standing before God is secure (:29-30)  
 
Calvinism or Armenianism?  
 
Calvinism emphasizes God’s absolute determining sovereignty in salvation. Before salvation God pre-determined which individuals would be his elect and would be saved.  
 
Armenianism also affirms that God chooses who will be saved, but that his choosing is conditional on whether or not an individual responds to his grace by putting his/her faith in Christ.  
 
  
3. Joy recognizes God’s track record of relentless grace (:31-34)  
 
 
Next Step  
 
God is For Us | Life in the Spirit | Week 8
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