hi this is the day the Lord has made let
us rejoice and be glad in it
hi I'm Jim Brown and I want to welcome
you to the lake church service for June
7th and following but we're recording
this on Saturday June 6 just a little
bit behind the scenes I want to let you
know but this is D-day and I want to
introduce you to a friend of ours friend
of our church a member of our church we
call him Huff and this guy ninety-six
years olds that right that's right okay
and on D-day he was one of those guys
who parachuted behind enemy lines on
D-day seventy-six years ago today Huff
what have you got to say to the folks
anything fun well yes if we're not
jumping I was scared to death it was a
busy day and I had jumped before and two
invasions in Sicily and Italy and then
it comes to Normandy and that was a big
one
and I got to say it was big and we
jumped at two o'clock and it was a lot
of fighting going on and we got up to
the town of Saint Mary clee's and it was
free and my billet was right behind a
building here in st. Mary Glee's and the
colonel come up and this this had to be
about three o'clock and he said men I'm
gonna leave you and I'm gonna be gone for
15 or 20 minutes if I'm gone 30 minutes
you come looking for me
and that sticks in my mind like it
was yesterday
so he left 20 minutes later he come and
he says men the flag is up the town is
liberated all we have to do now is fight
and that was at 4:30 we
jumped at 2 o'clock at 4:30 the flag was
up but with 10,000 paratroopers letting
their suit yeah it was a busy day Wow
yeah and we there for two days and then
finally the beachhead got to us they got
slaughtered down on the beach and late
lost more men and we did and I never did
go for the beach I didn't want to see it
got you know you were just there last
year for the for the 75th anniversary
yeah
Ellen and I was there and it was
wonderful they treated me like I was a
king and they tied me in the mayor's
office and puttin me with a big award
and everybody wanted pictures of me I
couldn't leave without pictures people
stop them and say your pictures and kids
want pictures with me it was wonderful
and everybody everybody over there was
saying we are free we are free people
here don't realize what it is to be tied
down with people like they were the
Germans they couldn't move without
something going wrong and here people
are trying to destroy us and I hate to
see it
and delivery this is this is wrong what
they're doing and they don't realize
what it takes them have me men and women
will kill just trying to make us free
like this right and I am happy to be
here today the Lord has blessed me I
have good health and I'm gonna try to
get them to pray for me and get me to a
hundred I'm gonna go back over there
it's in Normandy and they'll be eighty
years since the jump sir oh my gosh
thanks Huff I appreciate you sharing and
again we we're really thankful for those
men and women who have served in the
armed forces who are still serving in
the armed forces and they're putting
their lives in harm's way all the time
and we need to continue to pray for them
as a church we do support them and we
encourage them and we pray for them hope
you do too thanks again huff for being
with us and for sharing on this d-day
thank you it's a pleasure and I'm thank
God I'm still kicking that's right amen
and now let me turn it over to the gals
for some worship music about as we sing
about our Savior Jesus and the Almighty
God
good morning let me pray for us if you
will dear god help us to focus on you
today fill us with your joy and the
peace of your spirit direct our hearts
and our minds towards you thank you for
your reminder that both in seasons of
celebration and seasons of brokenness
that you're still with us and you never
notice thank you for your daily presence
in our lives that we can be assured that
your heart is open towards us
and your eyes are over
and your ears are we choose to present
to you today Lord for all this we ask
in Jesus name.
Hi, I'm Jim Brown and I want to welcome you to the first message in a new
series I'm doing called stay positive
2020 and the 2020 I want you to envision
is what you see when you go to the eye
doctor you know how we all want to have
good vision we want to be able to see
clearly
well this series is designed to help you
and I see what's happening and see it
through a positive lens and how to stay
positive through all of it I mean the
news every time you turn on the news
it's nothing but bad news I mean we've
been locked up now for it seems like
years and years and years there's only
been months and months and months but
we've been we've been locked up we're
supposed to wear mass we're not supposed
to wear masks we're open we're not open
you can have Church live you have to do
Church online it's confusing and then
we've got the protests and the riots and
things going on and then we're in the
midst or the beginning of a heavy duty
presidential campaign which is I'm sure
not gonna have any mud being thrown by
anybody not being critical it's just
that we live in a really negative time
and so I I felt like we really needed
this and I just really trust that you'll
just kind of put on your seatbelt
listen throughout the messages not just
today but all the messages and see if
there's something you can take away
that'll help you to get through what
we're going through in a more positive
way Winston Churchill said a long time
ago he said a pessimist sees the
difficulty in every opportunity an
optimist sees the opportunity in every
difficulty he catch that now we as
people don't like disruption disrupt let
me do that again
pick that up now we as people we don't
like disruption we don't like confusion
we don't like things that are
unprecedented which this is we don't
like unpredictability we like things to
be smooth and organized and kind of like
they've always been so we know what
depend on so let's assume that you're
driving your car okay you're going down
the street and you're coming up to a
stop sign stop signal let's say where
you have four-way traffic and your life
is
red okay and the guy behind you or next
to you decides I'm not I'm not stopping
I'm going all the way through ah
or worse you've got the green light and
the guy's sideways have red and they
decide they're coming through if it was
like that we'd all stop driving you
couldn't depend on it
so we like things that are predictable
now this I find like Winston Churchill's
statement again that basically a
pessimist sees the difficulty and every
opportunity and an optimist sees the
opportunity in every difficulty so I
think this is an amazing opportunity for
the church not just our church the lake
church but the church around the world
this is a great opportunity for us
because a lot of people are wondering is
there anything we can count on is there
anything we can depend on and I believe
that we can depend on something that
doesn't move and is going to be solid
it's Almighty God and so we're gonna
talk about that more I want to talk
today about optimism optimism and I'm
just really hoping you'll take something
away from this like I said and get a
little more optimistic for some of you
who are watching who are already
optimists I think this is great and
maybe you'll find some stuff in here
that you can share with friends who
really need to hear this but there's
benefits of being optimistic such as we
can again Viktor Frankl said we can find
he said this in his book optimists tend
to look for meaning in adversity which
can make them more resilient he wrote
that in his book called man's search for
meaning and again I talked about this
and other messages but Viktor Frankl was
a world war 2 concentration camp victim
and he was a psychiatrist and he watched
people and he studied people and when he
came out of that he wrote a book called
man's search for meaning a tremendous
book but hardships are seen by optimist
is just a learning opportunity how can
we learn something from this so I want
to give you real quickly because I got a
lot of material to get into I want to
give you some benefits of being
optimistic now researchers have done a
lot of research on this stuff and
they've they've found some things that
tend to be true and so one of them one
of the advantages of being optimist is
superior health so studies again of
optimist show the
optimists tend to have better health
physically than pessimists optimist tend
to have a 50% lower incident of
cardiovascular disease than pessimists
catch that you're probably taking maybe
a vitamin supplement right now to try to
increase your odds of being healthy here
is one that increases your odds by 50%
optimism also optimists tend to have
better survival rates from cancer than
pessimist study of pessimists tell us
basically that they have higher rates of
disease they tend to have poor health
and they tend to die sooner they tend
not to live as long in our church we
have and if you're not familiar with the
Lake Church if you're new this morning
maybe you're tuning in from somewhere
else around the country we're glad
you're here even if you don't believe
what we believe I'm glad that you're
here but we tend to have some older
people in our church and I was thinking
about those people we have in our church
who are 95 and older and we have a bunch
they tend to be optimistic
we just went this last week Debbie and I
and some of the church folks went to
celebrate the birthday of a hundred and
two year old and if you're listening you
know who I'm talking about not gonna
tell her by name but it's Fran okay so
anyway we and she's one of the most
positive optimistic people I know at a
hundred and two it's amazing we have a
lot of folks who are optimistic which is
great and Huff who you just saw a little
bit earlier in the video before all this
started
huffs 96 and he's an optimistic guy
isn't that interesting long life so here
are some of the other things that I've
learned about optimism as I was doing
some research sports teams have found
that the optimistic sports teams tend to
do better than pessimistic ones they did
a research on swimmers and they found
swimmers who were optimistic versus
swimmers who were pessimistic and you
know what the pessimistic ones thought
of themselves they thought that the
records are the good thing that they did
yesterday or last week or whatever they
kind of doubted that that was really
very good after all it's strange it was
almost like they had at a certain time
you know they came in at a certain time
but they started in thinking back
because they were pessimistic they kind
of said well it wasn't really all that
good and they tended then not to do as
well the next time
as compared to the optimist which is
really kind of weird some companies have
tried and started trying to hire
optimistic people to fill the roles and
those that do this studies have shown
have more productive employees which is
kind of nice
persistence is another thing that is a
characteristic of an optimist and
basically optimists don't give up as
easily as pessimists think about Abe
Lincoln emotional health in a clinical
study of depressed patients they did a
12-week cognitive optimism treatment and
they found that that was more effective
for these depressed folks than drugs
drugs was temporary you take the drug
and tomorrow you have to take it again
or you feel down and this tended to be a
lot more successful increase longevity I
mentioned before they also looked at it
was kind of an interesting study because
they went back and looked at
professional baseball players between
1900 and 1950 and they'd all been
healthy when they were playing baseball
of course and they kind of looked at
well what they tended to be optimistic
or not optimistic and they found out
that the optimists lived longer than the
pessimists of the group which is kind of
interesting
optimism less stress optimist tend to
expect good things to happen and they
see negative things as minor setbacks
they take more risks and they create
more opportunities and more positive
events in their lives and in the lives
of others optimist tend to work harder
at stress management so that they are
themselves less stressed okay got a
little saying here for you and a
negative outlook never leads to a
positive life if you got that a negative
outlook never leads to a positive life
so again I'm calling this I'm optimistic
and this is again the first message that
I want to share with you in this 2020
stay positive series and I've kind of
subtitled this enough of the bad news if
you're tired of the bad news I am I'm up
to here with with bad news the scripture
says in Proverbs 11 27 if you search for
good
you will find favor but if you search
for evil it'll find you I was thinking
about two types of birds and this is a
wonderful time in this spring what I'm
recording this early summer almost and
the birds are everywhere
and I think of a couple of different
styles of birds I've looked a couple of
different kinds of birds
I think of buzzards and hummingbirds
buzzards look for dead bodies dead
carcasses and they find them
hummingbirds look for flowers and
sweetness and nectar and honey and they
find it what are you looking for you'll
find it that's kind of what this
scripture tells us optimism is not a
denial of reality optimism is not blind
faith I'm and I'm not optimistic because
of what I feel when Viktor Frankl talked
about the concentration camps and he saw
those who were more optimistic who
tended to survive it wasn't because of
how they felt I mean they were in very
dire situation so I'm not optimistic
because of what I feel but I am as a
Christian I am optimistic because of
what God says and he says it to us
through his word and through his spirit
Romans 8:28 a verse we all know and you
probably knew I was getting there and so
let me share this with you and we know
that in all things say all things all
things God works together for the good
say for the good for the good of those
who love Him who have been called
according to his purpose does that mean
that all things that happen to us are
good no of course not we live in a
broken world how could it be but that
means that and we know that in all
things God works for the good of those
who love him and we're talking about
believers here we'll talk more about
that but optimism get this in your
thinking optimism is the unwavering
expectation that our loving God is
working in every situation for our good
for our future good optimism is the
unwavering expectation that our loving
God say loving God loving God is working
in every situation for our future good
that's that's an important piece
proverbs 23 tells us as a man thinks in
his heart so is he
and so my question to you now is we kind
of move into a section of Scripture I
want to talk about it minutes in the
book of Romans so if you got your Bibles
or if you're watching this on video
which of course you are put it on hold
go grab your Bible come back open up to
Romans chapter 8 Matthew Mark Luke John
acts Romans that's where it is in the
New Testament okay are you back you got
your book ready to go
good so basically we're gonna talk about
what you think about and we're gonna
talk about your attitude we're gonna
talk about what Paul says here in
chapter 8 which is an amazing chapter in
the Bible what he says about how how
things that he says that are relevant to
us and being positive and being
optimistic if you would the first point
and are these are going to be eight
reasons to be optimistic from Romans 8
and I'm going to talk about feeding your
faith and starving your fear and all of
this so first one is number one no
condemnation for God's children there is
no condemnation for God's children let's
look at Romans 8 verses 1 and 2 so now
there is no condemnation for those who
belong to Christ Jesus and because you
belong to him the power of the
life-giving spirit has freed you from
the power of sin that leads you to death
okay what do you think of that does that
make a lot of sense
it's again the point is that there is no
condemnation for those of us who are in
Christ Jesus now I've got another
translation I'd like to share with you
that maybe say it in a different way
you're probably familiar with a
translation I just read but this one is
a paraphrase and it's a little different
and it might put a little different spin
on it so if you're a Bible student I
will have a little side teaching here
you may want to look at several
different translations when you're
reading through your Bible especially if
you come up with stuff that doesn't
really make sense or you don't quite
understand so here's how this paraphrase
reads so now the case is closed
kind of like a judgment you know in
court the case is closed
there remains no accusing voice of
condemnation against those who are
joined in the life union with Jesus The
Anointed One how's that how's that I
mean does that really make some sense I
think so for the law of the Spirit is
the law of the spirit of life is flowing
through the anointing of Jesus and it
has liberated us from the law of sin and
death now that's a little more
complicated theologically and I'm not
going to go into it but I just want you
to grab on these first two verses of
chapter 8 and maybe this doesn't make a
lot of sense to you so let me just step
back for about one minute and tell you
about chapter 7 chapter 7 in Paul's life
he and again when he wrote this it was a
letter to the church at Rome and it was
like one big long letter they didn't
have chapter titles and they didn't have
verses and stuff that helps us to find
things but in Chapter 7 he was talking
about woe is me the things I want to do
I don't do I just can't seem to get it
together you know I just feel at times
like I'm so imperfect do you feel like
that I think everybody has sometimes you
feel like I'm a Christian but I just
missed the mark and Paul was talking
about that in Chapter 7 and then he
comes to chapter 8 and he starts off
here with there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus that is so
important I also like Lisa's down in
verse 15 he says in verse 15 of Romans 8
were still back in Romans 8 he says
instead you received God's Spirit when
he adopted you as his own children and
now we call him Abba Father Abba Father
most Jewish children call their dads
Abba it's a it's an exchange for daddy
or dad it's an intimate rather than
father you know thou almighty father of
mine
it's Abba and so what Paul is saying
here is that in Christ we can have the
relationship with God or we can call him
daddy
Abba Father another verse in John 1:12
but as many as did receive him as those
who believed in his name he gave the
power the right to become children of
God
so one of the things I want you to get
in your mind is that as you become a
when you become a Christian you become a
child of God you become a son or
daughter of God you're no longer just
where you were which is important number
two two points Jesus Christ himself is
praying for me Romans 8:33 let me ask
the question before I read the verse
who's praying for you do you have
anybody who's praying for you and is it
comforting to know that someone is
praying for you maybe the pastor or a
staff person or your friend or another
Christian brother or sister your husband
or wife or your children or somebody
isn't it nice to know somebody's praying
for you well here's if you don't think
anybody else is praying for you grab
onto this because Jesus is praying for
you to the Father don't believe me read
why set here in verse 34 chapter 8 who
then will condemn us no one for Christ
Jesus died for us and was raised to life
for us and he is sitting on the place of
honor at God's right hand pleading for
us other translations say interceding
for us okay Wow how it doesn't get any
better than that but I saw one every day
I'd like you to think and remember that
God is pleading for you with the father
he is interceding for you with the
father he is praying for you here's
another translation how it says it who
then is left to condemn us certainly not
Jesus The Anointed One for he gave his
life for us and even more than that he
has conquered death and has now risen
exalted and enthroned by God at his
right hand so how could he possibly
condemned condemned us since he is
continually praying for our triumph he
wants us to triumph in life he wants us
to win in life he wants it to be
victorious in life that's what he's
praying for wow that's powerful so
number three my future victory is
greater than my pain that's number three
and we're gonna look at Romans 8:18 so
again you're just keeping your Bible
open to chapter eight
now let me talk to you about Paul for
just a minute before I read you the
verse Paul the Apostle had a really
tough time as a Christian and he
suffered a lot I wrote down a couple of
notes for myself he was shipwrecked
three times how many of you been
he was flogged five times at forty
lashes minus one do you know why some of
your Bible study students know that
forty lashes killed a man
thirty-nine was just an inch from death
he was flogged thirty-nine times five
different times he was beaten with rods
three times he was stoned and left for
dead he was imprisoned as an evildoer
and more and more and more that's Paul
how he lived as a Christian so let me
read to you now what he said in verse 18
it says yet what we suffer now keep all
those things in mind yet what we suffer
now is nothing compared to the glory he
will reveal to us later Wow now I'm
gonna do a switch over here to
Revelation chapter 21 I'm gonna read you
a couple of verses chapter 21 verses 1
to 6 talking about heaven then I saw a
new heaven and a new earth for the old
heaven and the Old Earth had disappeared
and the sea was also gone and I saw the
holy city the New Jerusalem coming down
from God out of heaven like a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband I
heard a loud shout from the throne
saying look God's home is now among his
people he will live with them and they
will be his people God Himself will be
with them he will wipe every tear from
their eyes and there will be no more
death or sorrow or crying or pain all
these things will be gone forever and
the one sitting on the throne said look
I am making everything new and then he
said to me write this down for what I
tell you is trustworthy and true and he
also said it is finished I am the Alpha
and the Omega the beginning and the end
Paul was looking forward to that that's
pretty amazing
number four my mind is filled with the
peace of God Romans 8 chapter sick or
verse 6 it says so letting your sinful
nature control your mind leads to death
but letting the spirit control your mind
leads to life and peace now take a look
at this one this is a paraphrase people
who let their human thoughts rule them
will die but people who think about what
God's Spirit wants will have life with
God they will have peace within
themselves isn't that what you want well
then think about that verse that's a
pretty amazing verse to tell us all
about that Romans 12:1 12 to let this
you know again it talking about the mind
says don't be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind so one of my hobby horses is
to encourage people to cut down on their
news intake especially now I mean all
the news is so bad it's just gonna make
you want to just cringe with all the
stuff that's going on so again it says
in Romans 12:2 not chapter eight twelve
to do not be conformed to this world but
be transformed by the renewing of your
mind
he also wrote later on in Philippians he
said let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus that's where our
minds need to go is into Christ and how
he thought and how he dealt with stuff
which is pretty amazing what consumed
catch this what consumes your mind
controls your life what consumes your
mind controls your life are you spending
ten hours a day with the news running in
the background that's going to affect
you and the quality of your life will
never exceed the quality of your
thoughts
that's why thinking is so important so
what do you read what are you reading
you have recreational reading that
you're involved with what are you ponder
what do you think about when you're just
have time to kind of think about stuff
what do you listen to when you it with
others what do you talk about do you
have any hobbies better encouraging
there are lots of things you can do to
keep your mind from going
the negative which is tending to be
where we all want to do or 10-degree
what we do Romans 8:31 233 says this
what shall we say about such wonderful
things as these it got his forests who
can ever be against us since he did not
spare even his own son but gave him up
for us all
won't he also give us everything else
who dares accuse us whom God has chosen
who dares accuse us who God has chosen
for his own noter he's chosen us to be
his own so who dare accuse us no one for
God himself has given us right standing
with himself that's an important section
of Scripture but I'd like to read it to
you from a paraphrase and again because
we've heard this section this so many
times so looking at it with a paraphrase
sometimes can give it to you in a fresh
look so what does all this mean now this
is a very you know nearly the end of
chapter 8 so what does all this mean if
God has determined to stand with us tell
me who then could ever stand against us
for God has proved his love by giving us
his great treasure the gift of his son
and since God freely offered him up as
the sacrifice for us all he certainly
won't withhold from us anything else he
has to give who then would dare to
accuse those whom God has chosen in love
to be his God Himself is the judge who
has issued his final verdict over them
not guilty that's what he says about you
and about me number 6
God's Spirit helps me in my weaknesses
looking at Romans now 8 and we're gonna
look at 24 and then 26 we were given
this hope when we were saved and the
Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness for
example we don't know what God wants us
to pray for but the Holy Spirit prays
with us with groanings that cannot be
expressed in words paraphrase says it
this way and in a similar way the Holy
Spirit takes hold of us in our human
frailty to empower us in our weak
for example at times we don't even know
how to pray or know the best things to
ask for but the Holy Spirit rises up
within us to super insi intercede on our
behalf
pleading to God with emotional sighs too
deep for words Wow sometimes I get a
chance to pray for some of our members
directly usually it's in a time that's
very difficult maybe on a deathbed maybe
they're in a hospital and I know that
that's important to them and I know
having other people in the church we
have we have a prayer team we have other
people who are prayers we have
ambassadors who are praying for people
and other staff who are praying for
people which is really great but there's
nothing quite like having the Holy
Spirit alongside the comfort and take
care of us and meet our needs it says in
Acts chapter 9 they were talking about
it says the church throughout the land
of Galilee and Samaria was growing and
then it says this and walk and this is
the Christians back then in the book of
Acts and walking in the fear of the Lord
and the comfort of the Holy Spirit it
multiplied the Holy Spirit wants to
comfort you so even if no one else on
the planet is praying for you right now
the Holy Spirit is praying for you wants
to comfort you and we already talked
earlier that Jesus is at the right hand
of the Father interceding for you
you're getting you're covered you're
covered and again Romans 8:28 and we
know that all things work together for
good to those who love God to those who
are the called according to his purpose
another translation says it this way for
we know that God works to help those
people who love Him and if you're not a
god follower if you're not a Jesus
follower I encourage you to become one
because he wants to help you he uses
everything that happens to them talking
about Christians to bring something good
he does this for those people who he has
chosen who have chosen to serve Him Wow
it is so important let me go to the last
point last point we have point number
eight nothing can separate me from the
love of God
nothing I think about David been doing
some studying David and some of the
devotionals I've been doing lately have
been David's devotionals and I think
about David who loved the Lord and went
through difficult time was he perfect
the answer is no but did God love him
the answer is yes and he loved God and
even during the bad times and the tough
times he would turn to God he had
repented say I want to be close to you I
need your protection
well Paul felt similarly and here at the
very last part of chapter 8 of Romans he
says this and it's such a comforting
section of Scripture
I think and for those of you who are
feeling like you know I just don't know
if God's around I just don't feel close
to him and again I started the message
off talking about optimism is not based
on how I feel
optimism for the Christian is based on
what God says so here we've been going
through Romans 8 and talking about what
God says so here's what we get in
Chapter at the very last piece and I'm
convinced that nothing can ever separate
us from God's love take a deep breath
that's a good that's a good phrase
neither death nor life neither Angels
nor demons neither our fears for today
nor our worries about tomorrow not even
the powers of Hell can separate us from
God's love no power in the sky above or
in the earth below indeed nothing in all
creation will ever be able to separate
us from the love of God that is revealed
in Christ Jesus our Lord Wow
can I give it to you in a paraphrase so
now I live catch all this so now I live
with the confidence that there is
nothing in the universe with the power
to separate us from God's love I'm
convinced that his love will triumph
over death life's troubles fallen angels
or dark rulers in the heavens there is
nothing in our present or future
circumstance that can weaken his love
there is no power above us or beneath us
no power that could ever be found in the
universe that can distance us from God's
passion
love which is lavished upon us through
our Lord Jesus The Anointed One Wow
if you're gonna ponder anything if you
were going to think about anything this
week Romans chapter 8 is my
recommendation I don't see how for a
Christian any way it could cause you to
do anything except be more optimistic
despite all the stuff that's going on
despite it all doesn't mean that
everything is better it just means that
God is with us God loves you and there's
nothing that can separate you from his
love and all those other points we had
all eight points and again the notes are
available to you online you can look
back over again at your scriptures and
you can if you didn't take notes this
morning they're available and I really
really really encourage you to read
through chapter eight the entire chapter
eight is fine
read through it all maybe with these
notes in in mind I said this earlier but
it's a little definition of optimism
that I like optimism is the unwavering
expectation that our loving God is
working in every situation for our good
I'm so glad you're with us today I hope
something in this service has just been
really meaningful for you and ladies are
gonna close our service I'm gonna pray
in just second they're gonna close our
service of the song I just feel like
something good is about to happen and I
just think it's a perfect song to end
with today let me pray lord thank you
for your love and your care thank you
for being with us as we've opened up the
word and talked about your principles
help everyone who's watching this
message Lord to apply something or all
the things we talked about today help us
to grow closer to you in the process in
Jesus name Amen
next week just for the gal saying next
week we're going to talk about the cure
for complaining but right now I just
feel like something good is about to happen
