Great Chapters Of The Bible: Romans 8

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
ROMANS 8:28 (NIV)

You've heard that verse before, how all things work together for good. But what does it really mean? Does God actually answer prayers? Find out in this episode!

Show Notes

Promo: Making Time

You have the same 24 hours in your day as the most accomplished people in the world. So why doesn't it feel that way? Follow along on this special 6 episode series as we take a look at how to make more time. By following biblical principles and taking a look at what you really want, Making Time shares the secret to having all the time you need... with a little help from some friends.

Learn more and download group guides at https://lumivoz.com/making-time/

For questions, comments, or sharing your tips on how to make more time, reach out to makingtime@lumivoz.com

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 
  1. What did it mean to you to pray to God as your Abba, Father last week? 
  2. Verses 17–18: What does it mean to you to “share in the sufferings” of Jesus? What do the words “weight of glory” picture for you? 
  3. Verses 19–37: Is there anything that you are having to wait for right now? How does the truth of God’s hope help you as you wait? How could your group pray for you as you wait? 
  4. Verses 19–27: Do you feel the freedom to groan as a follower of Jesus? How could you do some honest groaning? 
  5. Verses 28–30: How have you seen God working “all things together for his good” in your life? 
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE 
Take some time to read some verses about hope this week, asking God to give you new strength as you wait. Try finding them in an online concordance, and then share with each other some of the verses you’ve found at the beginning of your next meeting. Stretch your faith this week by taking 15 minutes to dream about how God might transform one problem you’re now facing into his glory. If you’ve never memorized Romans 8:28, start on it this week. 
PRAYER DIRECTION 
Take some time as a group to talk about your specific prayer requests and to pray for one another, especially asking that God will give you hope as you wait. 

Creators & Guests

Host
Tom Holladay
Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Tom’s passion in ministry is to help people discover a love for the Bible and an understanding of God’s truth that changes the way they live. In addition to his pastoral leadership and weekend teaching ministries at Saddleback, he assists Rick Warren in teaching Purpose-Driven Church conferences to Christian leaders all over the world. Books he has written include The Relationship Principles of Jesus, Love Powered Parenting with his wife Chaundel and (with Kay Warren) Foundations: Core Truths to Build Your Life On. He and Chaundel have three children and five granddaughters.
Producer
Saddleback Church
💙 Find your purpose and place at #SaddlebackChurch! 🏠 One family, many locations.

What is Great Chapters Of The Bible: Romans 8?

Romans Chapter 8: Climbing to a Place of Confident Faith
Take a journey together with your small group to greater faith! If you’ve ever had feelings like, “I’m not good enough,” “I’m never going to change,” or “Life is too hard,” Romans eight is the chapter for you! Pastor Tom Holladay taught this video series beginning at the bottom and moving to the top of Saddleback Mountain through each of the four sessions to help us see clearly the journey from doubt to faith—from discouragement to hope—that God has for us.

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I want to welcome you to our third week of looking through Romans, chapter eight. This week we're going to talk about the fact that when you're climbing up the mountain of life, sometimes, every time, you're going to face some problems. Problems. We face difficulties in life. Let me just remind you of where we've been in Romans, chapter eight. First week, we talked about the feeling that I'm not good enough. And that foundational truth we need is to start the climb in life. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Last week we talked about this feeling that I'm never going to change. Am I ever going to make it? And there is no frustration because God is working in your life. And this week we take a look at the fact that we will have problems. We will go through difficulties. In fact, I want to talk to you from these verses, Romans 817 to 30, about three realities of life. When you understand these realities of life, you understand how God is working in your life. First reality is this you will have problems. You will have suffering, you will suffer. We have struggles in this life. Listen to what the Bible has to say in verses 17 to 18. We read the first part of verse 17 last week. Now let me read the whole verse in verse 18. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co heirs with Christ. If indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Now, these verses assume the truth that we're going to have sufferings in the present. Even though we're children, even though we're heirs of God, we're going to have sufferings in this world. We will face suffering just as Jesus faced suffering. I talked to a lot of believers, and I see that they really want to somehow bring heaven to earth. They want to have heaven on earth. When the truth of the matter is you're preparing for heaven on earth, one day there will be no more suffering. That's what heaven is all about. But on this earth, we have struggles. So I'm sitting in a place, walking up this mountain. There are boulders, there's brush. There are still these bugs that are flying around me that you might have seen from week to week. And these bugs, sometimes there's one of them, sometimes there's a swarm of them. And those are sometimes the greatest problems of life. It's the big things, but it's also the little things that just tend to get to you. So how do you handle the problems? Well, these few verses remind us that you can handle any problem when you remember two things. First of all, who to share your problems with, and secondly, what to compare your problems to, who do you share your problems with? If you share your problems with no one, the tension is going to build in your life. You'll just feel it more and more. If you share your problem with complainers, the bitterness will build. It's that old story of sharing, uh, your operation, the, uh, hurt that you had with somebody else and the operation you had to have, and everybody comparing their operations with each other. The bitterness starts to build. If you share your problem with excusers, weakness will build. Those good at finding excuses are rarely good at finding anything else. If you share your problems with Jesus, hope will build. If you share your problems with someone who is following Jesus, hope will build in your life. And these scriptures tell us that when you suffer, you share in the sufferings of Jesus. So that's where you start. You talk to Jesus about it. Lord, I know you can understand. He faced problems just like you do. He faced grief when a friend died. He faced frustration when his disciples argued. Ever have frustration with your kids when they argue? Jesus faced frustration within his disciples when they argued. He faced disappointment, deep disappointment. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas, he faced temptations from Satan. He faced family problems. He faced total rejection on the cross. Jesus understands when you have problems. The Bible says that you are sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. You are not alone. You're never alone. And he overcame those problems just like you want to do. I can talk to a lot of people who face problems just like me, but Jesus is the only one I can talk to who I know overcame every problem. So who are you sharing your problems with? That's one of the questions. And then the second question is, what do you compare your problems to? One of the common ways that we have of handling problems is by comparing them to other people's problems. You find somebody else who has it worse than you do. They're struggling with something, and you say, well, at least I don't have it that bad. By the grace of God, I'm not going through that. And I guess that can work sometimes. But there's a couple of problems with that way of handling our problems, our suffering. First of all, you're depending on somebody else's suffering to make you feel better, and you don't want them to go through suffering either. But secondly, what happens if you face one of those situations of life where you can't find someone else who has it worse, or you're just going through one of the very worst things anybody's ever going to go through? Where do you find hope then? You see, these verses tell us that you compare your problems not to other people's problems. To find hope, you compare your problems to God's glory. God's glory is God's best, and the best is yet to come. Verse 18 says, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Now, leave that verse up there for just a minute, because I want you to see the last two words in that verse not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed where in us. Uh, those two words describe where that glory is going to be revealed. It's in us. Not just that which is around us, but in us. It's not a glory that's going to be revealed to us. It's a glory that's going to be revealed into us, uh, that tells us about what a glorious place heaven is going to be. Because right now, God is bringing his glory into your life for all of eternity, even through your problems. Paul talked about this in two Corinthians 417. He said, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Now, that would be hot air if it didn't come from a man like Paul. Not many of us have faced even a fraction of what he had to face in his life. Paul endured being beaten, being stoned, having huge rocks thrown on him. He was chained, he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked, he was starved. He was often, he says, hungry and naked and cold. And through all of that, he found he could trust God. Through all of that, he says the problems are light compared to the weight of glory. You may have some big problems in your life, but these verses remind us that God's glory is so much bigger, that's where the weight comes from. You may look at some problems in your life and say, these are bolder sized problems, but God's glory is a mountain range sized glory. That's how far it goes above the problems we have. You may look at your problems and think, I've got gallons and gallons of problems. And God says, my glory is oceans and oceans of glory. Um, so that's why Paul is able to say it outweighs them all. So now do you see what it means that you and I share in his glory? God uses even our sufferings to bring his glory into our lives. First of all, you will suffer. You will have problems in your life. There's a second truth in this passage, and that is you will grown. Verses 22 to 27 talk about the groaning we go through in our lives. In a moment, we're going to talk about the good things that God can do even through suffering. Some take that to mean that means we should be happy about our suffering. Always happy all the time, even though we're suffering. That's not Christianity. That's not faith. That's sick to act like you're happy about a suffering. The truth of the matter is you're supposed to groan. We're supposed to grieve in this world. These verses actually talk about three specific types of groaning. This is a longer passage, but I want to read it to you. And as I read it, will you listen with me for the three types of groaning that are in this passage versus 22 to 27? Well, let me go up all the way. Verse 19, verses 19 to 27. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all for who hopes for what he already has. But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. So did you hear the three types of groaning in these verses? First of all, they say, all creation groans, all creation groans, waiting for what God's going to do at the end of time. The whole creation groaning, as in the pains of childbirth, just a real quick walk through the truth about creation for truth to remember about creation. It started as a good creation. God looked at it and said all is good. It became a fallen creation because of the sin of men and women. It now waits as a groaning creation for what God is going to do next. And one day, one day these verses tell us it's going to become a glorious creation. Now, that's not our subject for today. I'd love to take a whole session to talk about the glorious creation, how God is going to recreate heaven and also earth and what it's going to be like, what it is going to be like. The Philips translation of this says the whole creation is standing on tiptoe, eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God. God has something in mind. God's going to do something next. Earlier in Romans, we're told that these bodies of ours, ours, these human bodies, they're going to be redeemed someday. There's some mystery here in the fact that God's going to redeem all of his creation, make all of it into perfection. All creation growns waiting for that. These verses also say that we grow. Verse 23 we grown inwardly as we wait. Let me ask you, do you feel the freedom to grow as a follower of Jesus? These verses say that we should. How could you do some more honest groaning in your life? Now notice it says here that we groan because we wait. We're waiting for our adoption. We're already God's children, but one day we're going to realize that fully in heaven. We're waiting for our redemption. We're waiting for that day when we are all that we're meant to be for all of eternity. And these verses tell us that as we wait, we wait. There's a couple of phrases that are used, words that are used. Verse 23 says, we wait eagerly. And then verse 25 says, we wait patiently. So how do you do that at the same time, eagerly and patiently? Well, if you think about that, those two words together, they really mean you wait with anticipation, eagerly and patiently, because you know what's going to happen, because God guaranteed it's going to happen. Anticipation. We grown with anticipation. You can grown with anticipation, waiting for what God's going to do in eternity. Listen, if we can anticipate a dessert you've got like this ice cream you've got hidden in the back of the freezer so the kids can't find it, and you're waiting for the end of the day when you can eat that. If we can anticipate a vacation, you're waiting all year for the vacation you're going to take in the summer. We can certainly anticipate eternity. We can certainly anticipate all that God is going to do in all of eternity. But we have to wait for it. It's not here yet. And because it's not here yet, we've grown. There's something in us that says life is not right, life is not what it should be. This is not right. They shouldn't be going through that. I shouldn't be going through that. If you have those feelings, those feelings are right. You should grown because life is not right. This isn't how it should be. It's not how it's going to be in all of eternity. We grown as we wait. It is honest to grow. Now, these three kinds of groaning, has God left us alone in this time of struggle? No, there's a third groaning, and that is the Holy Spirit groans. Verse 26 says, in the same way the Spirit helps us on our weakness, we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. When you don't know what to pray. When I don't know what to pray, god's Spirit knows what to pray. He not only knows it, he prays it. Now, this is not saying that you don't need to pray. Oh, great, I'll just let the Spirit do it. The Bible says we have not because we asked not. We need to communicate with the Father but this is saying that as we pray, when you come against those moments where you just you just stop. You don't know what to say. You don't know how to pray. You don't know what to ask. The Spirit is praying for you. In those moments, you will have a great assurance as you recognize that as you pray, the Spirit within you is praying. He is groaning for you. And the Son of God is interceding for you in heaven. So that's the power of your prayers. You and I, we're going to suffer, we're going to have problems, we will grown. But then there's a third truth in this passage, and that is you will grow. This passage tells us one of the most familiar verses from all of Romans eight that in all things, God works for our good. Listen to verses 28 to 29 and we know that in all things, god works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God forenew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. When you think about your problems, let me just ask you what's good about your problems? Nothing. That's what. Absolutely nothing. It's not that your problems are good. It's that God is good. And God and his goodness can do something good through your problems. Never make the mistake of thinking that there's something good about the problems. It's the goodness of God that makes the difference. It's not what's good about my problems, it's what's good through my problems. That's the right angle of thinking, the right way of thinking. God works miracles every day. He takes the evil of problems and suffering and he miraculously transforms them into good in our lives. Now, verse 28, this important verse in Romans eight, I want to just take a minute to break down this verse. In all things, not some things, notice all things. There is not a circumstance that you're going through, there's not a problem that you're facing that God cannot and will not and is not working through. In all things, in all things, God works. This doesn't say you work. It doesn't say good luck works. It says God works. If God is working to bring about this thing, that means you don't have to be working to bring about this thing. Sometimes we tire ourselves out working to do what God's already doing. I got to cooperate with what God's doing. But remember, the work is his. In all things, God works for the good. For the good. Now, he's not working for your desire. Uh, saying that God works for the good doesn't mean you always get what you want. By the way, if you always get what you want, you'd be a spoiled brat, and I would too. So we don't always get what we want, but God works for our good. And what's the good he's working for? Well, it's not something in this world. This world's not going to last. Why would he work for something that's going to last for literally less than a second in light of eternity? No, he's looking for the things that last. He's looking for the eternal things that he wants to build into your life. So God is working for the good of building your character in everyday life. God works for the good in all things, and he works for the good of those who love Him, of those who are called according to his purpose. These verses remind us that problems work for good in our lives, as we've made two vital decisions to love the Lord and to seek the Lord's purpose. This isn't a promise for everyone. This is a promise for those who are loving the Lord, who are seeking his purpose. Now, really, we've in one way left out the most important part of that verse, way back at the beginning, the important part for your daily life. The first two words. We know that God causes all things to work together for good. We know how can you live knowing this truth, supported by this truth, so that problems don't overwhelm you in everyday life? One of the keys is knowing the good that those problems work and the good that those problems work is to make you more like Jesus. God is working to make you more like Jesus Christ through the problems of life. That's the answer, by the way, to the mystery of suffering. Why do I need to suffer with Christ in order to receive his riches? Because his riches are himself. The greatest riches are Jesus revealed in me, me becoming more and more like Him. That's what's going to last forever. Having the kind of love that he has, the kind of patience that he has. When you see God working in this way in your life, you realize the problems are real. You don't like the problems, but you do like what God is doing in your life, even through the problems. Now, you might ask, am I saying that what you're facing right now is making you more like Christ in a way that impacts you not only now, but also all the way into eternity? That's exactly what I'm saying. That's exactly what God is doing in your life. So when I see problems on my life and other people's lives, I always have this dual focus. It's in my life. I want the problem to be solved now and to do everything I can to solve the problem now, and we should. But I also realize whether or not I solve the problem, god is working. And so when I hear a persecution of fellow believers around the world and what they're going through, one part of me, a big part of me says, stop it. Do everything we can to stop it now, and we should do everything we can to stop it now. But there's another part of me, a quiet whisper, that's saying, lord, that persecution they're going through. What glory are you working into their lives, to that persecution? When I see a child who has a twisted body, there's a big part of me that says, stop it, God. Let this never happen again. How could we live in a world where this kind of thing could happen? But there's another part of me that looks at that child and thinks, what kind of glory are you building into their lives? Let's do everything we can now, but also realize what God is doing towards eternity. And so when you face personal pains in your life the health problem, the loss of a job, betrayal by a friend, struggling with your own inner thoughts, your own doubts when you face personal problems in your own life, one part of you should say, change this and do everything you can to live out the life that God has given you to live. But another part of you, a quiet whisper, has to keep saying, god, what kind of glory are you building into my life? Into their life, even through this? And you might wonder, is this really true that God can work glory even through suffering? But the truth of the matter is, you affirm the fact that God can work glory even through suffering. Every time you look at a cross, every time you take the Lord's Supper, you take communion in a church, because that's the ultimate example. The suffering of the cross resulted in the glory of God's. Forgiveness resulted in the glory of God's song giving Himself for us. You will have problems. You will grown, and you will grow. Let's pray together. And as we pray, I just invite you to pray this prayer with me to say, Lord, you know the problem that I'm facing right now. Here it is. You see it and you see my groaning and you groan with me through your spirit. So even though I may not know what to pray, I take a moment to rest right now in the fact that your spirit is praying your will for my life. I know that one day you're going to do away with all problems, but while we're on this earth, we're all going to face problems. So, Lord, I pray that you do away with this problem that I'm facing right now. And I also pray that you helped me to see what you're doing in me through this problem. Help me to hear that quiet whisper, what kind of glory are you building in me even through this? Thank you. That you are causing all things to work together for good in my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Well, I want to encourage you. If you have never memorized Romans 828, you might want to memorize that verse this week. I hope that you enjoy actually benefit from or encouraged by talking with each other these next few minutes and we will see you next week for the end of study on the top of the mountain.