Prayer Week 5 • Romans 8:26-27

Show Notes

Sunday, August 8th • Beau Bradberry

"And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." — Romans 8:27

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Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Glad that you guys are here.

If you've got your Bibles, open them up to Romans chapter 8.

Now I can see, I like seeing y'all.

It's good to be able to see your faces this morning.

We're going to be in Romans 8 today.

I've got a handful of announcements that I maybe want to give a few more details than

what you just got, maybe even some new stuff.

But first off, we are going to be taking the Lord's Supper today.

So if you walked in this morning and you did not grab one of these little cups, right back

here, Kyle, watch.

Throw your hands up right there.

Right back here where Kyle is, there are the Lord's Supper elements are right there.

This right now is a great time to walk back there, get those.

I promise no judgment.

No one's going to point at you or throw things at you.

I just want to make sure that you guys have the opportunity to be a part and to worship

the Lord through taking of the elements today.

Also, we are going into our last week, starting tomorrow, of our prayer times.

And so I want to give you some encouragement, all right?

Let's finish strong as we press through this.

I'll be honest with you.

This morning was a stretch for me when the alarm went off at 3 a.m. for me to get up and get

my prayer time.

I was able to get up, though, and persevere through that.

And God was good, and God was faithful to me in that.

And so if you've been on this journey with us for the last several weeks, we just want

to give you the boost of encouragement to finish well as we continue to dedicate our

time to pray to the Lord.

As you leave today, there are prayer cards that are there.

If this is your first Sunday and you're like, what in the world are they talking about?

For five weeks, we committed as a church, and we signed up different people to the different

opportunities to pray for one hour together, united as one church body to do that.

Had 133 people sign up to do that.

And so we've been doing that for the last several weeks, and this will be concluding it.

Now, it does not conclude our time of prayer.

I hope that what God has done is build a new discipline into your life, a new devotion

into your life with prayer, and we're going to continue on in that message.

But I do want to talk about the next several weeks as we look forward to what we're going

to do.

And next week, things are going to begin to look a little bit different around here, from

the way the seats are set up to the times that we're asking everybody to be here, and

even the number of people that we're putting into one room.

And so I want to kind of give you guys the details and a little bit about how that's going

to work.

Now, if you've been a part of Willow Ridge for a while, you know that we did this, which

seems like a decade ago.

I don't even remember what year it was, but before any of us knew of something called COVID,

we had gone back to one service.

And so we had done that, and so the schedule of what that looks like is going to be very

similar to what we're going to start on next Sunday, August the 15th.

So what that means is we're going to have one service.

Now, 930 is what we call family time.

And so here's what that's going to look like.

At 930, we're going to open up Coffee Talk.

We're going to have juice, hot chocolate, water, coffee, of course.

We're going to have snacks.

We're going to have different things that are going to be out and available for you to come

and to have and to partake in with us together as a church family.

It's going to be a great time of fellowship, of us coming together to maybe learn some new

names and new faces and have a wonderful opportunity to come and fellowship together.

And that's at 930.

Now, for parents, I want you to please hear me on this, okay?

For all ages, because we want everyone to be able to come in here and have this time together.

So for all ages, we'll gather in here for that family time together.

So you will not take your kids to their classrooms.

You will not drop them off at the nursery.

You will not do any of those things.

Instead, you will come in here, get some drinks with them.

And so I could go ahead and hear people say, but they're going to spill things.

We know that.

We're ready for that.

We're prepared for that.

If your kid spills something, it's okay.

Don't be embarrassed.

We've got a team of people waiting and looking for things like that to happen.

And we'll come right in, take care of that, and remove that stress from you.

At 950, we'll announce that at that point, you can take your kids to their classrooms.

And so you can go to the nursery or whatever classroom that you will have.

At that time, we will be checking in all of our kids all the way up through the fifth grade.

So instead of them being in here and then dismissing, they'll go straight to their classes starting on August 15th at 950.

We will have some stations set up in here where if you want to check them in early, you can go ahead and do that.

But then we'll dismiss at 950.

And then at 10 o'clock, worship will begin.

So while 10 o'clock begins worship, we want to encourage everyone, if it's possible, to be here at 930 as a time of fellowship as we come together as a church family.

Now, those three weeks, August 15th, the 22nd, and the 29th, we've got some different events planned.

So here's what's kind of happened.

Let me just kind of speak bluntly and honestly about what we were working toward before COVID and then where we're working at now, wherever we're at in COVID after.

I don't know anymore, right?

But here's where we are.

Before, the vision of doing this, of bringing everybody together, was under the understanding that we are one church family.

And we felt like we were two families.

We felt like we had an early service, a late service family.

And so the drive and the heart was to get our people together, to have us understand who we are, to worship together, and to do those things.

And so the heart of what we're going to look at starting in August 15th is pushing back toward that.

One of the things that God has blessed us with in this whole wild and crazy season, I'm looking at new faces from new families right now.

We've had new families come and connect.

We've had families that have waited to come back.

We've had families who haven't come back yet.

And so what we want to have is times and opportunities to look around and to kind of see, I don't know you.

I haven't seen you in a while.

These are conversations we can begin to have in relationships that we can build and that we can strengthen.

And so on the evenings for August 15th, August 22nd, and August 29th, that's the vision behind those of what we want to press into to get to know, to engage with each other.

So on August the 15th, we're going to be going to the Fireflies game as a church family.

Shared this last week.

Our tickets are in the shade.

He said, do you want good seats that are right up by the dugout or do you want seats that are in the shade?

And I said, do you know what?

In August in South Carolina, we'll take the shade, right?

So that's what we have.

We are down to eight tickets, all right?

So we've sold out, almost sold out of all of our tickets.

If you go today, Brent Hawkins, Brent, stand up so everybody can see your pretty face, all right?

Brent's going to be selling tickets after the service.

Once tickets are sold out, if you still want tickets, give him your name and how many tickets.

We'll get those ordered this week.

We do need to know by Tuesday if you would like for us to get you tickets.

And so please make us aware.

So that'll be on August 15th.

On August the 22nd, we're going to be doing another event off campus for our church family.

We've rented out JC's Bowling Alley right down here.

We've rented out every single lane from four to six.

That's enough slots for 192 people to go bowling.

And so you can bowl for all two hours if you want to.

The grill will be open.

And so if you want some good, processed American nacho cheese, that will be there and be available.

And you can order whatever you want from the grill and pay for that.

But all the bowling, the shoes, everything is taken care of and for us to gather together as a church family.

So if you're there and you're saying, well, I can't stand bowling.

I don't want to bowl.

Come join with me.

I'm not going to bowl either.

I'm going to eat french fries and corn dogs all night and talk to people.

And so we'd love to have you for that.

So that's on the 22nd.

And then lastly, on August the 29th, we're going to be in here together as a church family,

a night of fellowship, a night of food, a night of games,

of just coming together as a church family to have a good time before we launch off into our fall season.

There's details about each one of these nights here in our Willow Connect.

And so the card that you got, so I want to make sure that you have all of those.

So that's a lot of announcements.

If you've got questions for us, please let us know.

I'll be here after the service and would love to talk with you and clarify some of those.

So I want to ask you guys a question this morning as we get started.

Have you ever found yourself speechless?

Have you ever found yourself in that moment of time when everyone's looking to you to say something

and you have nothing to say?

Maybe you were the kid that got caught doing something, right?

How many of you can go to that?

Like the teacher or your parent catches you and all of a sudden you're like, I'm busted, right?

But you don't want to say that.

There's nothing to explain away what's happened.

And so you're caught off guard.

You're busted.

You don't know what to say.

Or maybe something has unfolded or happened in front of you.

You've been surprised by an event.

Maybe someone did something that shocked you and caught you off guard.

Maybe you were the recipient of a surprise party when you walked in.

And in that moment in time when something unfolded right before you, now all of a sudden you lack

the words to communicate what you need to communicate.

Or maybe you don't even know what you need to communicate.

How many of you have ever been tasked to give a speech?

Raise your hand if you've ever had to give a speech or a presentation in front of a group

of people, right?

And you've prepped, you've planned, you've got everything.

You've got your note cards, you've got your PowerPoint, you've got all of that.

And then you walk up and it's like, I have no clue who I am or what I am doing here.

And I don't know what I'm going to say, right?

How many, has that ever happened to you?

The first time I ever preached, I was 22 years old and I was an intern at First Baptist

North Augusta.

And our youth pastor at the time, he came to me and he said, hey Bo, night two, I'm sorry,

morning two of beach camp, you're going to preach in the chapel service.

Now, keep in mind, while I grew up in church, I haven't even been saved long.

And the fact that the church was employing me at the time was very skeptical, but they

were, all right?

And so I had planned, I had studied, I had prepped, I had everything that I was going

to say.

I knew what that was going to look like, but I modeled myself after my youth pastor at

the time, who was just a brilliant, still is a brilliant man.

And he would walk up there with what I thought was just his Bible.

And he would get up there and preach these messages and just have his Bible open and just

do this and glance at God's word from time to time.

And I thought, I want to be like Mark.

I'm going to go up there without my notes.

I'm going to go up there with just my Bible.

I had a 30 minute slot to fill.

And I walked up there and I read my Bible.

And for the next three minutes, I shared everything that I could possibly remember.

And then at the end, I look at the clock and see, I've still got 27 more minutes and turned

into Forrest Gump and said, well, that's all I've got to say about that, right?

And I closed my Bible and went and sat down.

I was done.

I was finished.

And he walked up to me afterwards and he said, that was a really solid three minutes.

We just got to stretch that out next time until a little bit more, right?

Here's what I found out.

That wasn't his Bible.

That was his notes the entire time.

He's like, what happened?

I was like, man, I see you up there without your notes, just with your Bible.

He's like, Bo, Bo, Bo, no, no, no.

That just looks like a Bible.

But when you open it up, you see that it's my notes right here.

And I've got the Bible passages put in there.

So learned a valuable lesson at that point, right?

Not to do that ever, ever again.

My point is there's been times in my life and probably times in your life where we've come

to these moments of time where we know we need to say something, but we're missing the words.

And as we talk about prayer, I don't know about you, but in my life, there's been times

times where I want to pray, I need to pray, I know that I should pray, but I don't know

what to pray.

I come before the Lord in brokenness, and I simply don't have the words.

About three years ago, it was on a Thursday, I had taken the day off to kind of dealing with

some things that were going on around me, and I was at her house and just began burdened

to fall before the Lord just to pray for all of these situations that were going on and

people that were the closest to me.

And as I tried to cry out, as I tried to present my needs, my wants, my requests, my declarations

before the Lord, nothing would come out.

And in that moment, there can tend to be a helplessness that's there.

And as I've talked to so many different people, especially individuals who are going through

moments of tragedy, surprised and shocked by events that have unfolded.

As I talk to people who are going through loss and through pain and through suffering, at the

deepest part of their core, at the deepest part of their being, of their spirit that they've

never experienced before, I oftentimes hear this, Bo, I know that I should pray, but I don't

know what to pray.

And this morning, in looking at Romans 8, God's going to kind of reveal to us what happens in

those moments.

And what I want us to also see is that in those moments, if you've ever been there, and if you've

never been there, one day you might find yourself that you are going to be there, what you'll

see is that God is gracious in these moments.

And so look at Romans 8, starting in verse 25.

It says, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

So there's faith that is built into this of what we're going to see, just like in everything

else.

Verse 26, likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with

groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes

for the saints according to the will of God.

And so what you and I are going to look at this morning is that in those moments when words

are lacking, in those moments when all this begins to surface up, in these moments when

you're on your knees before the Lord and the words seem to be hollow or the words seem to

not even be there, what we can know and what we can understand and what we can cling to is

that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

The Holy Spirit prays for us.

The Holy Spirit is doing the work that we desire to do, but in our weakness, what scripture says,

we find that we cannot do.

And he prays for us.

So this morning, what I want us to look at is what does the Holy Spirit pray for?

How does the Holy Spirit pray and why does the Holy Spirit pray?

As we look at the Trinity, as we look at the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, God the

Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit prays for us.

So the first question is this, what does the Holy Spirit pray for us?

What is he praying?

What is he doing in this time?

Scripture tells us that likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

So this word weakness is going to be key for us to understand what's happening and what

is taking place and what the Holy Spirit is doing in this time.

Now, regardless of how mature we think we are, regardless how strong we think we are, regardless

of how much you and I have grown in our faith, you and I, we have a weakness problem according

to scripture.

All of us do.

It's something that plagues the entire world and is not removed from the people of God.

We might be strong in Christ, but we still have an earthly problem, right?

Like where our spirit is seated is not in the reality where physically we are.

And so you and I physically deal with some weaknesses that we have.

We have a weakness in understanding.

We have a weakness in communication.

We have a weakness in perspective.

We have a weakness in endurance.

You and I, and we're going to celebrate this in a little bit with the Lord's Supper, even

though we've been removed, right, from the eternal punishment of sin, we still have sin

in our life that we're wrestling with and that we're dealing with.

And this is our weakness problem that we have.

And so what the spirit does for us is in our weakness, he prays for us.

Now, I heard a pastor describe our earthly weakness is this.

Our weakness is the misery of this life on our way to heaven.

So every bit of struggle, every bit of suffering, every bit of insecurity, every bit of doubt,

every bit of confusion, every bit of what we still are on our journey and on our way to heaven,

where all of that removed is our weakness.

And so God's word says, Paul says, that likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

So you and I, we are limited.

We are limited before the Lord.

And so what the spirit does is he prays for us, he helps us in our weakness.

So when we don't have the words to say, the spirit steps in and saves them for us.

Like, what in the world are you talking about?

Have you ever found yourself in this moment where you're wondering what to pray and you

don't even know what to ask for because you don't know the solution?

You don't know what you need.

You don't know what God desires.

You don't know God's will.

Or maybe even this.

There's multiple answers to the prayer and you don't know which one to request.

In all of those moments, what the spirit does is the spirit in your and my weakness, he steps

in and prays.

When I talk with people who are really battling through this, there are three common aspects

of life that continue to come up in this.

And they come and they bring their situations, they bring their struggles, and I've walked

through these as well.

And we don't know what we need.

I've heard people say, Bo, in what I'm dealing with, I don't know if I need healing to overcome

or strength to push through.

And in that, the spirit intercedes.

Bo, I don't know as I'm at this place where I'm at in my life to ask for the prosperity of

life or to ask for the faithfulness in suffering.

And in those, the spirit intercedes.

And maybe one that's all too often or common as we get the reports of what we don't have.

Bo, as I got a friend or even in myself, as I've got a prognosis, I don't know whether

I should pray for life for another day, another moment on this earth.

Or to just pray for and accept death.

Because I know where my faith is sealed and I know where I'm at.

You see, in all of these situations that we play out, both are right.

It's okay to pray for life and for healing.

It's okay to say, Lord, I know who you are and I know where I'm found.

And I'm ready to be set free from this body.

I'm ready for my heavenly homecoming.

It's okay to say, Lord, I don't know if I need the prosperity of these things so that

I continue to press forward in the bless and ministry or just the faithfulness and the suffering

of where I'm at.

Lord, I don't...

It's okay to say in either one to pray for the healing to overcome a situation.

And I'm not just talking about physically or the strength to press through and to see how

God's going to use that for his name and his glory.

You see, in all of these situations, both of these are right.

And we don't know what to do, but the grace of God is this for us, that when we don't know

what to pray, the Spirit does, and the Spirit does it according to the will of God.

And so we can rest and be assured that in those moments where words can't come from our mouth,

we do not know what to say the Spirit does.

And Paul doesn't write this from just what he's learned.

Paul writes this from what he's experienced.

In 2 Corinthians 12, he says this,

So to keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,

a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from becoming

conceited.

Now, no one knows what Paul is talking about, about this thorn in the flesh.

But I don't know if you've ever gotten, like, picture, like, a rock in your shoe that

can never be removed.

And every day, it just kind of works on you, and works on you, and works on you.

And it affects everything about who you are, with how you move, with your temperament.

Paul's saying that in this, he's got a thorn in his flesh that every day just works on him,

and works on him, and works on him.

And he says this, it's a messenger of Satan sent to harass him, but there's a purpose behind

it.

There's a purpose behind it.

In verse 8, Paul's prayer is this, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that

it should leave me.

Now, that seems like the right thing to do.

Satan sent a messenger, Lord, help it go, right?

But verse 9, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect

in weakness.

And then Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that

the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, with insults, hardships, persecutions,

calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And so Paul says, I need this to be done.

But the Spirit says, no, God's got a greater purpose.

God's got a greater purpose.

So we don't know what the words to say when we don't know what we desire, when we don't

know what's best.

The Spirit intercedes in what he prays.

The second thing is this.

How does the Spirit pray for us?

All right, think about this.

The Godhead of the Trinity, how does the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, how does he pray for

us?

Well, Paul gives us a glimpse of that in Romans 8.

He says, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Now, groanings.

Now, in Romans 8, the fact that he groans, groaning is going to be a theme all the way

through chapter 8.

Look down at verses 22 and 23, where we see this.

Paul writes and he says, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning.

So here's what Paul's talking about.

That all of creation is broken because of sin.

So every aspect of everything that you and I see, that you and I know, that you and I

encounter, from the most beautiful sunrise and sunset to the biggest destruction, natural

disaster, sickness of this world, everything in this world has been affected and will continue

to be affected by sin.

And so Paul says that the whole creation has been groaning.

Now, ladies, embrace this with me.

He describes this groaning, all right?

Together in the pains of childbirth.

Now, I've never given birth to a child, right?

So maybe that's a shock, but that's where I am in life, right?

And that's never going to happen, right?

He describes these, the groaning of creation, by saying, it's like the pains of childbirth.

Now, here's what I know.

Childbirth is violent.

It's ugly.

It's intense.

It's constant.

And within there, words can't begin to describe what that woman is going through at that time.

But there's a result at the end of it, that through all of this is going to come something that's good.

Something's going to change and life is going to be experienced.

And so Paul's pointing to what creation is doing in this violent groaning, in this intense groaning, in this constant groaning.

But then he says, until now.

So it's continuing on and on.

And then verse 23, in not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly.

So just as creation groans because of the brokenness of the world, you and I, who have the Spirit of God who's given to us at salvation,

that we begin to groan inwardly as well as the Spirit reveals to who we are the brokenness of this world, that things aren't right.

And what it is leading to is the life.

As we wait eagerly, as we wait eagerly for adoptions as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

So Paul says, all along, what is happening and what is taking place in this world is creation is growing in the pains of childbirth as we look forward to what is going to be fulfilled.

And that when you and I are brought into the family of God, when you and I are saved by God, when you and I are unified with Him, that He gives us His Spirit.

And then what begins to take place and resonate within our heart is the things of this world are broken.

We become less and less satisfied with the things that are here.

And we groan for those things that we have yet to fully experience, but that the Spirit testifies deep down within us that we long for, for who we're to be, and for what God does for us.

And so the Holy Spirit in this groans for us too deep for words as He prays for us.

So within this world, we're not sure what we need, we're not sure what we should pray, but we know that we want God to be glorified and magnified in our bodies.

And so we groan, and the Spirit does this with us.

And the Spirit does this, and this is the key for us, for us.

The Spirit does it with us, but the Spirit also does it for us.

You and I know that the world that we live in is broken and sinful, but we don't understand, because in our weakness, the depth of the brokenness of this world.

So even our groanings and the misery of this aren't sufficient.

So the Spirit does it for us.

And it echoes who we are.

And this groaning isn't pretty, but it is real.

And then lastly, why does the Holy Spirit pray for us?

Why?

And I don't know if you've ever gone down the why question with God sometimes,

but there seems to be some things in Scripture that, if we're being honest, there's questions.

When it comes to prayer, I don't know if you've wrestled with this over the last few weeks,

but I've wrestled with this over the last few weeks and in my life.

What's the point?

What's the point of prayer?

God knows what His will is before the Spirit, or we ask Him to do anything.

God knows.

So what's the point?

Why did God create prayer?

If God is sovereign, if God is everywhere, if God knows all things, if God is powerful,

why did God create prayer?

And why did God create the universe in such a way that He responds to the prayers of His

creation?

Who are we to come before God and give Him our wants, our desires, our needs?

Why does God do this?

And here's the question to answer the why.

Prayer for God's help.

Prayer for God's faithfulness.

Prayer for God's goodness.

Prayer in showing our dependency on God is one of the ways that God preserves and manifests

the dependence of His people on His grace and on His power.

And so prayer for us and to answer the why is so that God will have us realize that we

are dependent on Him, that He is sovereign in every aspect of our life.

God uses prayer so we'll depend on Him, and the Spirit helps us with this.

I want to ask you a question about your life, regardless of where you find yourself, regardless

of the gifts and the talents that you have, regardless of your background, regardless of the

money that's in your bank, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of your education,

regardless of where you've come from, regardless of your age, regardless of your influence, regardless

of anything else, why do we as a people exist?

Why?

And in that, and in our brokenness, and in our offense to God,

why save us?

You see, the answer to these questions is the same.

The answer to why you exist and why God would choose to save you are the exact same thing.

And prayer brings us to this.

And as the Spirit intercedes for us, He does it for this, to glorify God.

To glorify God.

Your life is placed here on this earth, not to achieve what you want to achieve for you.

Your life on this earth is done and exists so that you could glorify God in every aspect

of who you are.

And at the same time, God saves us, not because He needs us, but so that we can glorify God.

So that that is the positioning of our heart, that is the positioning of our mind, that is

the positioning of our will, that is the positioning of our spirit so that we can glorify God.

And this is Old Testament theology and New Testament theology.

Psalm 50, 15 says,

Jesus' own words in John 14, 13.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.

And there is a comma here, not a period.

Oftentimes we want to end it with that.

What Jesus says to ask in His name and He'll do it.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do in the reasoning that the Father may be glorified

in the Son, right?

So that in all of these things, for God to be glorified.

And so when our words aren't there, when our words aren't sufficient, when they're the groanings

of the spirit that is there, why does this happen?

Why is God doing this?

So that God gets the glory.

And that's the hope that we find.

And that's the purpose of all of this.

With every fiber of every part of our being.

So I want to share with you this morning, I wrote these down.

The Holy Spirit interceding for me encourages me in five ways.

Five ways that I hope that as we look at this and we begin to understand and we can't wrap

our minds fully around what He says, how He says it, or why He says it, but the encouragement

that we get to know that in God's grace, He sends His Spirit to intercede for us when our words

are oftentimes insufficient.

Number one, when I don't know God's will and when I don't understand, He does.

He does.

I can't tell you guys how many times I'm sitting there in a situation and I don't know what God's

will is when I don't understand the path that I feel like I'm heading down, when I don't

understand why everything is going on around me.

The encouraging part of knowing that the Spirit prays for us reminds me that God knows and that

God understands.

I'm going to be honest with you, the last two years have been a continual reminder that I

don't know and that I don't understand.

And to be honest with you, neither does anyone else.

But God does.

But God knows and that God understands.

The second thing that gave me great amounts of encouragement this morning is this.

Even more so than I understand, God understands me.

God understands me.

I get that picture of groaning.

You ever just grunted and groan, right?

I don't know where it came from or why it was there, but it just kind of happens in that

moment, right?

That in the midst of our groaning, of not even being able to articulate what we're going

through, of not being able to understand why am I this way?

Why do I do the things that I do?

Why does this lead me down here?

That God understands me.

That God understands the groans and the grunts of my heart.

Another thing that encourages me this morning, that the Spirit prays for us, intercedes for

us is this, that my suffering, my pain, and my struggles are not only important to God, but

they're not wasted by God.

It's been a difficult life for us.

And it's been a difficult life for everyone who will place their foot on this earth.

And that in the midst of what you are going through, in the midst of what you are battling, in the

midst of what you are facing, in the midst of all your suffering, all your pain, and all

your struggles, every single one of those are important to God, and they're not wasted by

God.

That even Paul, within the thorn and the flesh that continues to dig in and dig in and dig

in and he doesn't fully understand everything that's going on, he knows that God is going

to use it for his name and his renown.

Another thing that this reminds me of and encouraged me this morning about the Holy Spirit is this.

And I've got to remind myself this a lot, all right?

While I may be limited, God is not.

While I may be limited, God is not.

I know that's not something we like to admit.

We struggle with admitting our limitations as a spouse, as a person, as a parent, as a worker,

as a child, as everything that we have.

But while we may be limited, God isn't.

You know, God is sovereign and God is right and God is good to do what God's going to do.

And my understanding in those things are oftentimes limited to the perspective of what I can see

right before my face.

But that is not who God is.

And so while I may be limited, God is not.

And then lastly this, and then we'll go into a time for the Lord's Supper.

Lastly is this, and we all need to remember this.

God is for me and God is for you.

You're not the object of wrath that oftentimes you feel like you are.

You're not the one that God's sitting there from his ivory tower sitting there and trying to zap you

and punish you for all the little things that he's nitpicking about your life.

That in everything, that in every moment that what God is doing, what we've been reminded of,

that what we see, we're continue at in Romans 8, is that God is for us.

In every aspect, in every part of our life.

And so we can be reminded, and I apologize, not on the screen, but we can be reminded of Romans 8, 28.

And we know that for those who love God, all things, not some things, all things work together for good

for those who are called according to his purpose.

And we're quick to say, but what about this, and but what about this, and but what about this?

But where we began in this message is of faith.

Verse 25, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

And so there's an aspect of our calling, of our submission to God to say,

I am fully yours in spite of what I can understand, in spite of what I can speak to,

in spite of what I can see before me, that I'm yours.

And so in that, we know that God's not working some things,

but God is working all things together for the good,

for those who are called according to his purpose.

Would you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you for the Spirit.

Spirit, Lord, that you send, that indwells within us.

Lord, who intercedes on our behalf.

Lord, and all this is done so that you may be glorified in who we are,

in our calling, in our purpose for why you've placed us here.

Lord, and this begins, not when we've achieved it,

but Lord, when you save us.

And so we take hold and we rest in that.

Lord, as we prepare our hearts for a time of Lord's Supper,

Lord, may it be a time to reflect and to look at our hearts,

Lord, to see and to understand the areas of our life that are not pleasing to you,

to have a moment to repent,

and Lord, to acknowledge who you are and what you've done.

And so, Jesus, we thank you for your body.

We thank you for your blood.

We thank you for taking the punishment that we deserve

and making a way that we might be saved.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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