It Will All Work Together
Pastor Aaron Lindsey | February 23, 2025
View these Message Notes in Spanish
I Thess 5:16-18 TLB – Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:28 HCSB
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
• God works together in all things.
• The key word is “together”.
• Even when it’s not working out, it’s still working together.
Sommelier - expert in wine. Master in his craft
Explained the Flavors of the wines and the notes in the wines.
Then he did something I had never experienced before
He did a pairing with the wine.
For the first time ever I actually enjoyed the taste because it was the master wine steward who knew how to PAIR this bitter thing with something smooth and it enhanced the taste and balanced out the experience.
There are parts of life that will be bitter and parts that will be sweet. It’s not that all of it is good alone, but it’s good when you put it all together. The hard things with the nice things make life feel good.
WAKU GHIN BY TETSUYA WAKUDA
“This is what we caught today.”
Random things that were brought in from the ocean behind this beautiful resort. They showed them to us. It was kinda gross.
There was no set menu, the menu was “whatever we catch we prepare”.
"What was nasty to me became necessary in the hands of the master chef."
"What was trash on the tray turned to treasure in the hands of the master chef."
And when they finished preparing it all - what came out of the kitchen didn’t look like what came out the water.
The taste was so amazing. It tasted like nothing I have ever tasted and I remember it like it was yesterday.
In the hands of a master chef: What is gross, becomes gourmet. What was awful at first became artful in his hands.
There are some things in our lives that are kinda gross right now. Some things are kinda raw. Maybe you’re raw in your emotions and in your soul. But if you can just remember that these are all a part of the recipe and what it looks like now,
is not what it will look like after the master gets done with it.
I’m placing my life in the hands of the Master.
• The good stuff, the bad stuff,
• The gross stuff and the beautiful stuff.
All of it is going to work together for good!
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
THEY WORK TOGETHER
Romans is not saying that all things are good. Or that all these individual things will work out good.
I believe he’s saying that God is the Master Chef and he can take all the things and work them all together to create something good.
God is in control and He has the power to work it all for our good.
The more aware we are that God is in control,
the more likely we are to be a grateful and thankful.
Each individual situation has it’s unique sweetness, or bitterness but when paired with the other things there is a balance that comes to us that we don’t get without it all.
If you want to live a low stress and low fear life,
Live a life that is convinced of the sovereignty of God.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
TRUST TURNS TO THANKS
• When we remember that God is sovereign and our lives belong to Him, our trust increases.
• We become thankful in good times and in bad times because we know the master chef is still working it all together!
• To forget his sovereignty is to lose trust and begin to trust ourself.
• Sometimes we go through hard things and can’t seem to come to a place of thankfulness and gratitude…BUT
I Thess 5:18 say In Everything not For Everything.
Most of us would say that we are generally thankful. Roof over our head, clothes on our backs, food on our tables, people in our lives, and God on our side.
But…there is always ALSO a category of things and times in our lives that it’s hard to find gratitude.
Those are real emotions and they have a real impact on us.
Not every ingredient is good alone, but Romans 8:28 is saying each thing is playing a role on the recipe.
Fish and Loaves story - 5000 men, 2 fish and 5 loaves
John 6:11 NLT – Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
John 6:23 HCSB – 23 Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks.
What is God trying to say to us thru this?
1. What Jesus had to work with was not enough.
2. Jesus was holding not enough and He gave thanks…while still holding not enough.
God marked the location with this reputation: They didn’t call it the place where he fed 5000…they called it the place where they ate bread AFTER the Lord gave thanks.
How many have some locations where you can look back and say “I remember this place. This is the place where I almost lost my mind…”But God”?
You can give thanks even in a season of lack.
While holding NOT ENOUGH.
We usually thank people for what they do AFTER.
Jesus said what do we have to work with? Oh it’s not enough? I’ll take it..
Then He told God THANK YOU in advance because He knew it was already done.
If you are in a space where you don’t have enough Give Thanks.
It shows that you trust God and you know that he is still working it all out.
There are times where we feel like we don’t have enough and there are times where we feel like we don’t have the right stuff.
We think Life has given is the wrong thing.
We want cake but we have this - (Point to ingredients)
CAKE
Milk - Binding and Nourishing Agent
Flour - Dry Areas
Sugar - Good taste but by it’s self
Salt - Adds a little edge but by its salty by itself
Eggs - Good but need to be broken to fit into the recipe.
Wisk - “you are going to beat me up now?”
God says “No I’m Working it all together”.
AFTER ALL THAT YOU FINALLY GET A BREAK AND GET COMFORTABLE - God says
I gotta shift you and Pour it into something else -
Something shifts and you have to adjust again.
This is when you go thru a major life transition or shift.
OVEN
Now that you finally get used to the new place the chef says
You’re going into a season of hot isolation!
In the fullness of time…when you’re ready and when things in you are fully cooked and all the raw parts are healed
I Know the plans I have for you! I won’t let you burn.
The chef knows the timing & pulls you out…and lets you cool.
It’s only after the process that you can see the good in the process.
I didn’t like the ingredients separately. Some would make me sick alone,
but my life needs each piece to produce what God intended.
But God is always going to do as Eph 3:20 says
Exceedingly and Abundantly above.
The cake itself is done and tastes great, but the icing is that extra touch that goes beyond what we could ask or think.
God gives us unexpected favor, joy, and beauty in our lives.
Just like icing turns a plain cake into something extraordinary, God adds His personal signature to our lives in ways that reveal His goodness and grace.
• Some of us are still looking at ingredients because we don’t trust the Master Chef.
• Some us us are filled with the ingredients, but we are resisting the stirring.
• Some are stirred and filled but still raw because we are afraid of the heat and isolation.
• Maybe we are proud of where we are and said “ I don’t need the extra stuff. Lord leave me here.
Wherever you are God is saying trust me, and that trust is expressed in our gratitude that says:
“Make me a vessel…”