When my oldest was young, I, you know, it's the firstborn. And so you wanna be, you know, you wanna be that dad, right? Like by the time you get to the third kid, you're like, oh, don't die. OK? Um But the first one you're all in, you know what I'm talking about, don't judge me. OK? You're with it with everything, safety activities, events, right? So um so I had my oldest was young. They had a fall festival for those that are not church. What that is is that churches are terrified of Halloween. And so we renamed things and call them fall festivals and we do them like the week before, right? And so I was taking Jackson to this uh fall festival. We had just had cars, well, not, we my wife had just had Carter and so she was gonna stay home with him. I was like, I'll be the cool dad, right? And go and I didn't just take him like we dressed up and so we were decked out as teenage mutant ninja turtles. I was Leonardo the best. And uh and so I was all into it, right? And so by the time the third kid comes like fall Festival. Cool. See you in an hour. All right, I'll pick you up and, but this first one I was like, decked out. I was like, we're gonna do all the things. We're gonna play all the games. We're gonna get all the candy. Woo. Right. And so we did that and it was a lot of fun and then when I was driving home and, and guys in the room, I don't know if it's just me. But do you ever have good intention to please your spouse? Like your spouse said, hey, can you pick up this one thing from the store? And you mean full well to pick up that thing? And you will forget until you get cross the entryway into your house. Right. That's when you remember. Oh, yeah, I was supposed to pick up that one thing. And so this happens, we drive home. I had promised my wife I was gonna grab something from the store. She was home with the baby. And so I was like, ok, yeah, I'll do that. So I dropped Jackson off real quick change, run back out to the store. I'm like, man, I'm killing it today like dad game on point, husband game. Ok, I missed the pickup but it was just barely missed it. So it's, it's still gonna be back on time. I'm back in the store, gonna get groceries. It's gonna be great. And so I'm feeling good. I walk into the grocery store and this person looks at me and goes and just keep walking. I was like, that's weird. Ok. Like, I'm used to getting odd looks because I'm an odd person and I'm tall. But, but that was a little much right. Next person. Hm. It's like, man, what is with this world that we live in? Right. Like I start going through all these things in my head like, gosh, like the world, there's no one's nice anymore like everything. And so people start giving me these looks like this is real, real odd. And the worst was actually and I'm not making this up here that there was a mom with a kid in a shopping cart and they turned the corner and they saw me and the mom covers up the eyes of the kid and turns and goes back down the aisle to avoid me. I'm like, what is going on with the world today? And so this happens a couple of times and I get all my stuff and I go to the checkout and the cashier looks at me and goes full day. Huh? And I'm like, yes, thank you. Somebody gets me, you know and said, hope your day gets better. I was like, that was odd. But thank you. And I go and I load the car and I look in the rearview mirror to back up and that is the moment that I realized I did not take off the face paint of a teenage mutant ninja turtle. I had changed. So now and it's again, this is a week before Halloween. So nobody is dressed up. I just straight up grocery shopped, full face paint, regular clothes. And I'm a friendly person. And so when I walk into the store, I wave to people and I smile and so no wonder the mom was terrified as a grown adult with face paint looking at the child going hi and they took off. And I was like, oh man, that explains so much. Why do I share that? Well, I did not realize that I was going through my day wearing a mask. It was unintentional, but it changed. Not only how people perceive me but how I perceived others. And I understand that when people come into church, it's easy to come in, maybe even unintentionally wearing a mask because in our day and age more than ever in the age of social media where we're trying to prove people that we're the best and the best vacation and the best parents with the best kids and all the things we come into church and maybe we're struggling. They were tired, we were exhausted and someone says, hey, how are you? Great. Here's what I wanna do this morning. So I don't know what brought you here today. I'm glad you're here. But what I wanna invite you to do is to just take off the mask for a minute to just authentically be yourself and whatever issue or doubts you might have. And I, I look, you don't even have to agree with me today, but I just want you to listen and consider that's all I'm asking is that with the masks off just for the next few minutes, just to consider what it is that I'm saying, skepticism and all and just ask yourself is this true? And if it is true, what does it mean for me? Now, what are we talking about today? Today's message is entitled? What if you see, we ask, what if questions all the time, right? What if I got that job? What if we didn't get this house? What if we went here? What if we went there? What if Drew Holiday didn't steal the ball from Devin Booker with 20 seconds left in game five of the 2021 NBA finals. These are the questions that keep us up at night, right? And so we asked these, if questions then when you put them together, they're seen as conditional statements that include two components. There is the hypothesis and then the conclusion, if this is true, then that will happen, right? If you wash your car, then it's going to rain this afternoon, right? It just happens. It just will, right? Or uh really probably one of the most famous if situations is Uncle Rico from the movie Napoleon. Dynamite. If coach had put him in the fourth quarter, right? They would have won state. Ok. Now, did you know that in the Bible there are 1784 ifs, what I wanna do today is I wanna take a look at what I consider to be the most important if in the Bible. And the question is what if God is really for you? What if God is really for you? I don't know what your perceptions are of God. I don't even know if you believe in God. But if there is a God who created the world and revealed himself to us, what if that God, that creator was for you? What would that mean? Here's what I believe to be true that if God is for you, then anything is possible. If God is for you, then anything is possible. This comes from a passage found in Romans and to give you a little bit of background into this context, there was a guy named Saul. He was born Jewish, but also with Roman heritage, he grew up educated, became a pharisee, he was a religious leader. He was very smart, he was very successful to the point where he was actually persecuting Christians. But he has this encounter with God, his encounter with Jesus. And then when he has this encounter with Jesus there in the road of Damascus, he changes and he now starts to preach the Gospel and really be a Christian leader and pastor and he's planting churches, developing leaders and he starts to go by his Roman name Paul. And so now he's writing letters to Christians and churches in different areas. And he writes this letter to the Christians in Rome. So Rome was ruling power in, in that day, it was written around 57 ad. And there he was trying to unite the, the Christian Jews and gentiles who are experiencing a world of division and difficulty and adversity and persecution. And so he writes this theological treatise of Romans and so many consider Romans the deepest theological book in the Bible. And so right in the middle of it, he pauses to say, I know we're talking about heavy stuff, but you have to remember this. And so in Romans chapter eight, verse 31 we pick it up. It says, what then shall we say to these things that could be like today's headline, right? Like what, what are we gonna say to these things like and, and think about everything going on in our world today and the environment, in politics and the economy, right? In the classroom, in the workplace and relationships. It's, it, it's, it's so much that we could take that same statement today. What, what are we gonna say to this? What do we even do? Where do you even start? And Paul then asked the question, he says that if God is for us, then who can be against us. It's the biggest question you could ask. Verse 32. It says He, who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously? Give us all things. In other words, he's saying in here that if God sent Jesus Christ down to earth to live in human flesh, to die on the cross as payment for your sins and for mine rose again on the third day. This is why we celebrate Easter, right? If He did all of those things, why would he go so far and then abandon you right now? It doesn't stop there. It continues on verse 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died and more than that who was raised, who was at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us, what he's saying here. And actually he starts the chapter with a really cool verse in verse one. It said that there is no condemnation in Christ. He's saying who is going to judge you? If not God, like if someone has the right to judge you, it would be God. But if this is a courtroom, God is the judge. God is the persecuting attorney, a prosecuting attorney. He is the defending attorney. He is the jury. He fills every role if someone had the right to judge it would be a perfect all knowing, all powerful holy God. But because of what Jesus did on the cross, because of his payment, there is no condemnation in Christ. Amen. So if God's not gonna judge you who's gonna come at you. And then he says, verse 35 that who shall separate us from the love of Christ. So tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Those are all present tense by the way. So all those things are actually happening. And then he quotes actually Psalm 4422. He says for as it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Now pausing there for just a moment. He is acknowledging the religious elephant in the room and that is they were suffering. What he's saying here is that adversity does not equal God's abandonment. Faith does not say believe in God and nothing bad will ever happen to you. But rather he's saying, I see what you're going through. I know that it's tough. I know that it doesn't look good, but God's with you. Faith is not just something we pray to receive. So that one day we can go to heaven, sit on a cloud and play a harp. OK? I don't know what your view of heaven is, but that is not it unless you're a harp player. I don't know. Maybe that you're excited and why harp, right? Like why do we pick harp? I don't, I have all the instruments. Why is that angelic? I don't know. It seems really difficult and I'm gonna stop. Eternity doesn't start the moment you die. It really starts the moment you pray to receive him. That's why when we pray, we pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This means that your faith was made for today. God gives you eternal life tomorrow but abundant life today. And so Paul is saying in present tense, I see your struggle, I see your issue, but that issue does not separate you from the God who loves you. And he continues on verse 37. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us for. I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor anything else in all creation. I love this that he just threw in a qualifier in case I missed anything, everything says will be able to keep. So now it goes future tense. Nothing will separate you now, nothing will separate you. Tomorrow, will nothing at all will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is Paul's Braveheart moment. This is when he stands on the rooftop. And proclaims that freedom is found and who God is. And this is the ultimate locker room speech. For those that are struggling for those that are persecuted in the heart of the world's superpower. He can stand up with courage and boldness and confidence and say they can't touch you because if God is for you, then anything is possible. And what that means at our core is this that if God is for you, then you are truly and deeply and fully loved. Because that's what we want more than anything is to be loved to be lost. Salvation is not something you achieve. But that you receive that God looked down at all your mess and all your Brokenness and said, I want you. What does it mean to be loved by God? Well, this passage tells us three things. Number one, we first learned that when you are loved by God, it means that you are saved for God so loved the world that He gave. He sent his best. He didn't send an angel. He sent his son Jesus to die for your sins and for mine. Now, here's the interesting thing that if you think philosophically or theologically, right? Well, how can God be good? And just say, yeah, you get in because if you're a good judge, a just judge, you can't just declare someone who's guilty, not guilty. But the difference is, is that Jesus comes in and pays the penalty that we deserve. And so if the penalty is paid, then we can be declared free. This is why the cross is the most powerful picture in world history of the meeting of God's justice and God's grace because God's justice is served because Jesus pays with his life. But then we are then offered eternal life in response. And so we get to receive forgiveness. It's powerful, it's meaningful right now. It's if you go in a grocery store and you just start eating the fruit right off the rack, that's typically frowned upon. OK. Oh, don't judge me. OK? OK. Not appropriate, right? I've, I've, I've learned my lesson. But if you grab the fruit, you go through the checkout line, it's paid for, you, carry the bags out, put in your car, take home, put in your pantry. Yeah, it's fine to eat. Why? Because it's already been paid for, right? Jesus paid the penalty for sin. This is why salvation is something received not achieved. And if Jesus was willing to save you, then understand that you are loved as you are. It says this here in Romans 56 through eight, it says for while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly for one will scarcely die for a righteous person though for perhaps a good person, one would even dare to die. But God shows us his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This means that while we were at our worst, Jesus was at his best that there is nothing you can do to earn salvation. That is most other religion. But Christianity is a relationship with God who did everything he says, trust me. And you're in, it's this great picture of salvation. So to be loved means to be saved. But secondly, we find it from this passage to be loved is to be secured. Says nothing can or will separate you from the love of God. You did nothing to earn your way into heaven. And so you, you can do nothing to sin your way out of heaven in question whether you truly believed in the first place, but it's all God the whole time. Uh Jesus was speaking and refer to himself as the good shepherd in John chapter 10. And he says this in verses 2829 he says, I will give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. Have you seen the Infomercials for uh Flex seal and Flex superglue, right? If you've seen it once it's been stuck in your head, right? And they always do such extreme things like who's actually doing the activities as these infomercials, you know what I'm saying? Like this knife is so sharp, you can cut a boot. I don't wanna cut a boot. Why do I need to know this? Right. And like with the flex seal, it's like one drop of glue will stay on your hands forever. That's what they should say. But what they do is say, one drop of glue can hold three tons of bricks like that is not construction safe. Like who's doing that? Right. The reason they're doing that though is to see how much weight this seal can hold. Let me ask you a question. How much weight can the sacrifice of Jesus hold? I would argue all of eternity, all sins, past all sins, present all sins, future. That what Jesus did on the cross can hold all of eternity and it stands for all of eternity, which means those who believe in him and trust in Him as Lord and Savior. There is no one. Nothing that can take you out of his hand. It's not about what you've done and how much you've fallen. It's not about what someone else has done to you. It's not about the issues and the struggles that you had about what Jesus did and looked down and says you are saved and you are secure and I've got you. What does it mean to be loved by God? You're saved your security? Last thing we see here is that you were sent in that passage. He uses the phrase more than conquerors, right? He does not say you are more than church attenders. Like that's not the goal. Like if he uses the phrase, imagine being a slave and being persecuted and have no power and authority. And Paul comes in and says, you are more than a conqueror, not even a conqueror, you're like above that. But the idea of being a conqueror means that you have to go and conquer something that he is sending us out. You were created on purpose and with a purpose, Jesus in the prayer, in the garden. His last prayer before he would be arrested and killed. Says this in John 17, we're gonna pick it up here in verse 15. He says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from. The evil one says they are not of the world just as I am not of the world sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth and as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. You have been saved, you have been secured, but you have been sent church. It is go time. What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? It? I tell you that while being here on a Sunday morning is awesome. We're the body of Christ. It's gathering or two or three gather in his name, right? There's family, there is relationship, there is connection, but it's more than this. That there is a dark and hopeless world out there that needs us to go and shine that God has invited us into his story to go and make a difference in your family, in your schools, in your workplace, in this community and in the world, he has sent us out and it is not an even distribution, ok? This is not, it's God's power working through us. You see knowing who you are that we belong to God really gives you purpose. Think about Woody and the movie toy story, right? He's questioning his purpose as a toy that's not being used, right? Until he remembers what when he looks down and he sees Andy on his shoe, right? Whose you are affirms your purpose. And just as Woody and Toy story has Andy written on the bottom of his boot in the deepest crevice of your soul, the creator and savior of the world. Look down and all your Brokenness and all your issues and goes mine and when you know who you are, then you also start to know who you are. And when you know who you are as a child of God that gives you power and together you can go and change the world. It's a great story of Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever to live. And if you don't agree with me, there are some other great churches I can tell you about. I'm just kidding. Kind of Um, no, it's a great story about Michael Jordan March 28th, 1990. Uh, before all the championships goes out against the Cleveland Cavaliers. I don't know what it is about the Cavs, but he always punished them. Dropped 69 points, 18 rebounds, six assists. It's just a crazy game. And so after the game, the reporters are swarming him and one reporter can't get into the crowd. So leans over at the guy next to him. Stacey King, a rookie. Yeah. And, and it turns with, what do you think about that performance? What are you gonna remember about tonight? And Stacey King, the rookie looked at him and said, I will always remember the night that Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points. He made one free throw. But I love that idea. Ok, when you go out in the world, it's not 5050 right? But you give just a little bit, let God do the work and it can change things. You see if God is for you, anything is possible. This means that there is hope for your marriage, there's hope for your addiction, there's reconciliation for your friendships, there's purpose in your work. If you've been betrayed and broken and tossed to the side, God's not done with you, you wanna know something that if you're here today, do you realize that you have survived 100% of your bad days? Think about that. I'm not saying what you've gone through isn't hard. In fact, I'm actually acknowledging it. It could be harder than anyone could ever imagine. And there are probably quiet struggles that people have. They're like if you only knew. But what I know is that you are here and if you are here, God is not done. God has something new. God has something to work through and beautiful and incredible on the other side of tragedy and struggles and sickness and issues. And we have been called to go and be the light to the world. That's why as a church, we even say it on these walls right out these doors that we believe that God is for you, which means we are for you. And together, we can go before the community, together, we can go change the world. And so a challenge I wanna offer you today is that if God is for me, then I need to fill in the blank. If this is true, I know the masks are down, you're considering things praying through a processing. But if this is true, if the God who created the world, who sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for you. And for me, if God really is for me, if God really does love me, then I need to trust Him. I need to believe in Him. I need to approach my finances differently. I need to look to serve, I need to forgive. I need to build up I need to look for opportunities to give back. I don't know what your need is, but I know that God who can meet it. You see if God is for you, then anything can change. And if God is for you, everything can change that. You are one decision away from changing the direction of your destiny. I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. Will you pray with me to gone? Thank you for being for us. God. I can't make it to heaven on my own, but I believe that you are Lord and that you are a savior. God, forgive my sins, give me purpose and eternal life. Give me meaning now and I commit my life to you. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for being for us. God. Thank you for securing us and then sending us out into a world to go make a difference. Let us not be a church that is known by what we're against whom we're for. When we love those around us, the way that you have loved us, it's in your son's name. We pray amen. What I want to do here is we close. I want to invite you that if you receiving Christ in your life for the first time or you got questions or wherever it is in your journey, I invite you to, to let me know. Right. If you just want to say hi, that's fine. Right. But don't leave here, not changed. Don't leave here not telling somebody because we would love to come alongside you in this faith journey, to encourage you, to love you, to serve you together. We can go before the community. Will you stand and sing with us?