John Gunter: Continue with a a series we are doing on the Holy Spirit. We've been talking about Not Alone, that's the name of our series, because as I pitched the first week, we we often we we think about things like Evan and I's favorite survival show is alone, where it's kind of celebrated that you are alone, and you're sufficient for yourself, and you can live for a while. Right? And often, I think that kinda goes to our head, that I control this, and I'm able to do this or that, and and we celebrate that. But often, just like in the show, we start realizing, man, it's not that great to be alone.
I miss the the things I had, the people I had, and every time they interview people on the show, and one of them starts talking about, yeah, my son's got a birthday coming up. And I look at Evan, I was like, he's gone. Not gonna make it. Because that gets you realize how powerful it is to have relationships. Right?
And it's the same thing with God because a lot of times, I think, we we operate in the world thinking, well, I'm in control, and I'll do this or that or whatever, until you come to a situation that teaches you otherwise. Until something happens where you realize, I need God. I need God right now. A situation that says, I can't control this. There's no way I can do anything about it.
And so, that's what we're talking about with being not alone, because as sons and daughters of God, he has promised us we will never be alone. He has given us the gift of his spirit to be with us all the time. And so, this week, we consider how God's presence sustains us when we feel weak or overwhelmed. And I'll submit to you this morning that in those moments are probably the moments where you start noticing, my prayer life is changing. Right?
Because when everything's going right, you can just kind of skip through life, and you may or may not pray like you want to. But when the hardships come, then you start realizing. Right? Oh, I need God. I need to pray.
And God, in his promises of never leaving you alone, touches on all of this. That when we are weak, God is there, and that's what we will see today, that God's presence will sustain us. And the first scripture I want to give to you this morning is from Romans eight and verse 26. Paul here says, 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 I hope that brings you some peace, but do you ever feel inadequate? I don't know what to say, I don't know how to say it, I don't know I don't know the answer. It feels like we need to know the answer before we pray. What what Paul says here is is the spirit you have been given, the spirit helps us in our weakness. You don't have to be, in your mind, good enough.
That's okay. God knows who we are in in our weaknesses. Right? And so, we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He knows exactly what we need, and can speak to God, and can intercede for us because God has given us this gift.
In Psalm seventy three twenty six, the psalmist here says, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Now, believe the only way a psalmist can say that is if he has submitted to God. Like, am going to let God lead. We talked about Psalm 23. Right?
The Lord is my shepherd. The only way you can say that is if you allow God to lead you. But if we, like we often do, try to control everything, I'll be the shepherd God, you just step in when I need you. Right? Can I have your phone number?
I'll just call you if needed. Right? And that's the difference here, is that when we submit, we can say things like, my flesh and my heart may fail. What does that sound like? Admitting weakness.
Right? And in our culture, we don't like to do that, especially talk to the men for just a second. We don't wanna think about being weak. Here this past year, we were talking about online, on social media, and all of this thing, how many men would it take to beat a full grown gorilla? Could you do it?
And some men, I don't know if they were in here, probably thinking, you know what, if I got them just right, that's not happening, by the way. But we we don't like to think about weakness. We don't think like to think about, I might die sometime, I may I may be sick at some point. I I don't want to think about somebody stronger than me. I don't want to admit weakness at all.
And so what we're doing here is we're we're encouraging to just admit and to acknowledge, I am weak in a way that that God can sustain me. I don't need to do that. I don't need to control. I don't need to overpower. God can handle it.
His shoulders are broad enough to take care of. Have ever prayed or or not prayed because you're like, I don't wanna bother God, you know, He's probably busy? You know, that that speaks to your your understanding of God in one way. I I don't think God is ever too busy, but I think in another instance, maybe it is a thought of, I can handle all of this. Or maybe the guilt of, maybe I should be able to handle all of this.
But what scripture speaks to is admitting weakness, submitting to God, and allowing God to be God. And what that means is I've got to step back and not try to be God of my own life. In second Corinthians, verse 12 or chapter 12 verse nine, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in what's that word? Weakness. For my power is made perfect in weakness.
Now, I would submit to you, and then just finish it off. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I'll submit to you that maybe sometimes when we don't feel like we've got the answers, or maybe God is not not close enough to us, we don't we're not sure what God has for us, that maybe we haven't submitted to these weaknesses. We still have it in our minds that I can control it, I'll handle all of this, instead of saying, God, I am weak, you are strong, God, would you lead me in this? And how about we make that part of our culture?
How about we make that part of this church where we just say, God, I don't have all the answers. You know that. I'm not surprising God with any of this information. Right? But God, would you lead me?
I am weak, you are strong, and he says, grace is sufficient for you, for for my power is made perfect in weakness. That's when you see God show up in the weak, in the vulnerable. I want you to think about for just a second a lot of the big miracles within scripture. Think let let's just go to Elijah. Think about okay.
We're gonna we're gonna get in front of all of these other people who worship other gods, and let's see whose god shows up today. And you see the vulnerability because if something doesn't happen for Elijah, it's it's gonna be an issue. Right? And Elijah even steps up a little bit, and he says, okay. On on our sacrifice, let's pour all this water on it.
Let's see what happens. And and as the the the other people who worship Baal are are calling out to him, he's like, well, maybe he's on break. Right? He's gone to the restroom. Something's happened.
And we know that God shows up for Elijah and consumes sacrifice in a way that it it said it even licked up all the water within the trench. And that's when God shows up, is when you're most vulnerable. When something has to happen, you have no control, and there's nothing Elijah did in the moment to control that, other than say, my God is powerful. And so I want to submit to you this morning that that's what we need to do as well. God does not wait for you to be strong.
How many times have you heard somebody say, well, when I get it all together, then Don't wait for that. It may not come. God does not wait for strength, he meets us right there in the weakness and vulnerability. In Hebrews four verses fifteen and sixteen, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Now, this is one of the best verses in scripture. I'm sorry. Because you ever think about living up to Jesus' perfection? Like, that's not gonna happen. Right?
But but what scripture is telling us that we don't Jesus is not someone who who well, I was perfect. How come they can't do it? Right? It says, okay, we don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses because he lived the life. God sent his son to experience life just as we experience life, so he understands.
But often, we carry around guilt, like, wish I wouldn't have done that. I and and that's fine to think that, but if you're carrying so much guilt that I'm just I'm beating myself down all the time, God could never forgive me, that kind of level, you've missed out on it because Jesus understands our weaknesses. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. You hear that? That's different than guilt, isn't it?
With confidence, not because of who we are, but because of who he is, what God has done for us. That's why we can approach with confidence. It almost seems wrong, doesn't it? What do you mean with confidence? Arrogance.
No, not arrogance, but with confidence, and our confidence is, again, in God. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's where our confidence is, is that God freely gives those things, mercy and grace, and we want to cling to him. Psalm thirty eight nine, oh Lord, all my longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you.
Often, I know I can only speak as a man here, but often I think that's where that toughness comes in. I wouldn't I wouldn't wanna tell God all of this. Well, God already knows, doesn't he? My longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you.
I am weak. I am needy. I need God in my life. In first Peter five verses six and and seven, I believe, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, he may exalt you. Did I go to seven?
I did not. Six. Six only. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, he may exalt you. Jesus said, the way up is down.
You want to be the leader of all, you be the servant of all. So you bring to the equation humility and understanding of, I don't have it all right. I want my kids to grow up differently than I grew up. Like I've told you before, I feel like my church experience was one that you didn't share weaknesses. You didn't really even though scripture and we said we followed scripture, we didn't confess sins to one another.
Then we'll take getting out because it was gonna be used against us later. And so what that what that kind of creates is this, when I walk in the door, I'm somebody that I'm not most of the time out there. Right? And so that becomes an act. We become actors within the church instead of people.
And what I want my boys to see as they grow up is that a real church means real people with real problems. And as we acknowledge those problems, we acknowledge that we serve a God who can handle every single one of them. Yes? Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you. God's going to handle all the exalting.
You don't need to walk around and say, I'm strong and I've got it together. He'll handle that. You give your weaknesses to him and let him take care of the situation. In Isaiah 40, starting in verse 29, he gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Let's remember the Titan stuff right there. Like eagles, y'all.
Oh, sorry. That's Do you hear this though? It is not that that God is there for the strong, that only if you're strong can you come to God. This is an idea of everybody is human. Everybody is weak, you're not perfect, and God already knows it.
So bring it to him. Acknowledge it, everyone. Notice how it says, even power does faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even you shall faint and be weary. Sometimes, older folks, that doesn't seem possible anymore, does it?
How many of you would like to bottle up some of the things, the energy level these kids have sometimes? I'm getting to the point now where I'm having those pains where I didn't do anything to have the pain, but I have the pain. I told Katie just the other night, I didn't realize as I got older how elusive sleep is, you know, you gotta have all the right pillows in the right spot, and the right cover, the right temperature. Anybody else there? Yes?
God knows us. He knows our humanity. He knows that we will we will be weary, we will not be strong all the time, and and look what it says here. Even young and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Not they who wait for themselves and try to do it themselves.
They who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. It's free. I'm I'm free. I'm I'm powerful.
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Some of you would be okay with just the walking part today, wouldn't you? Because God can renew our strength if we will lean on Him. Psalm twenty eight seven, The Lord is my strength and my shield.
In him, my heart trusts, and I am helped. My heart exalts, and with my song, I give thanks to him. Notice, give it to God. Give it to God. Focus on God, not ourselves.
Focus on God. And from Hebrews twelve one b through verse three, and let us run with endurance. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. Because often, I think what we what we feel is when anything goes wrong, it's a why me.
Right? Why did this go off the rails? Why does this lead me in a different way? And what the writer of Hebrews is reminding us, again, just like the previous verse about Jesus knowing all about humanity, all about our weaknesses, all about the temptations. Well, think about Jesus.
Jesus lived a perfect life. He did nothing wrong, yet He lived in a way that He had to endure things from people that it was not fair. I love fairness, don't you? I'll just be honest with you this morning, the the most problems we ever have with Logan and his attitude is when he believes something has not been fair, and I know where he gets it, because I like things to be very fair. And how many of you have lived life long enough to know that's not going to happen?
Yeah? And so you need to think back when things are going wrong and you start to drift into the why me and why this, that's normal. God understands those thoughts too. Again, go read more of Psalms if you wanna know. But consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself.
Remember what Jesus had to go through. Is that really the level you're going through right now? Consider him so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. If Jesus could do it for me, the scripture will say, while we were yet sinners, you weren't perfect, you hadn't accepted God, you hadn't come to him, you hadn't been baptized. God so loved you that he did this before anything happened that you could claim I did this.
While we were yet sinners, this is what God did for us. Consider Jesus and what he did and what he had to go through for us. In second Corinthians, chapter 12 verse 10, for the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. That seems backwards, doesn't it?
I don't like that. I don't like to think about weakness or vulnerability. But that's what Paul says here, for when I am weak, then I am strong. James four six and seven says this, but he gives more grace. Therefore, says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And I said it a little earlier, and I'll say it one more time. I think sometimes when those situations aren't going well, I think I think it's because we haven't submitted. We're still trying to control. I've confessed to you before that I'm a fixer.
I'm trying to do everything I can to control and fix the situation, and then it hits me, oh, I haven't prayed about this. I haven't given it to my my father who's in heaven. I've just been trying to to work on it and wondering why it's not being fixed, and then they go, oh, okay. If I will submit to him, submit yourselves therefore to God. Notice that's the first part of that scripture.
Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Notice it does not just say, resist the devil and he will flee from you, and then you can submit yourself to God. See how that's backwards? Submit yourselves therefore to God. Give yourself to God.
God's got me, and then you will be able to resist the devil, and he will flee from you. You see how we get that backwards at times? And so if you're going through a hard time right now, want you to think about this. I want to submit to God. I can't control it.
There are little things in my life I feel like I can control, but ultimately, God has it. And all it takes is one little sickness or accident or anything in life to make you realize, oh, that control I thought I had, I didn't really have. Psalm 3four 19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Amen? I think God's strength is most visible when we stop pretending to be strong.
That's what it is, pretending. Just being basically delusional that I am strong and I can control this. No, you can't, but God can. And that's when he shows his strength. One last verse for you this morning, Isaiah forty one thirteen, For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand.
It is I who say to you, fear not, I am the one who helps you. We go back in this series to the the very beginning, that God has promised you that just like Jesus did to his disciples as he was about to leave this earth, and they were trying to figure out why he would leave and how they were going to operate without him. And Jesus' promise to his disciples is that it is better that I leave and that God sends his spirit. And so, that is the promise, that was the promise then to Jesus' disciples, it is the promise now to disciples of Christ. That if you decide to be baptized and to put on the name of Christ, you will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit and you too will walk in this life not being alone.
And I wanna confess to you this morning that I need that. I need the spirit of God. Amen? Anybody else? And so as we think of our our time of invitation that we're about to have, can we do it thanking God for the gift of his spirit?
Thanking God that I don't have to be alone. Thanking God that I don't have to be strong or control everything. God has it if we would just give it to him. So now is the time to give it to him. We'd love to to pray with you if that is your wish this morning.
Love to encourage you and walk alongside you. Share our hardships as well. You'd like to put on Christ in baptism to begin that walk to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We'd love to do that as well this morning. Would you promise?