Romans 8:24-28
24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is
seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he
sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait
for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.
For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the
Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.
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.
The things we don’t know. You
know you’re in the presence of a fool, when they pretend to know things and no
nothing. It’s alright to admit that we don’t know. Humility can take you places
your talent, gifts, and pride won’t be able.
Being saved by hope doesn’t contradict the truth that we are
saved by grace. Being saved by grace simply means, this is spiritual…saved by
hope is the redemption of the soul…in other words, my spirit is saved, my soul
is being saved.
Genesis 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.
The bible says that life is but a vapor…I mean, we can be
filled with energy, motivated, excited; but that doesn’t stop people from dying
all around us, or us dying ourselves. It’s a constant reminder of the fact that
we are finite and have no control over this body. Ergo, life is uncertain.
Hebrews 11:8
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he
was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And
he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Our blessed hope is that one day we will forever be changed.
Whenever you travel to a new place, we must deal with the
stress of uncertainty…if you know where you’re going, on the way, you don’t
even pay attention…however, things are different whenever its new.
Life is like that. You’ve never been the age you are before
– everything is your first time, and there aren’t do-overs…
Parenting | Marriage | Teen | Adulthood | School…etc
All of this is new and we live in the confines of
uncertainty. This is normal – quit pretending like you know everything, YOU
DON’T.
On top of that, by the time you get used to something, it’s
gone.
Life does not allow you to go through things, and then do it
over…
See, the problem with this, is real young people are
experts! Have you ever been advised about something from younger folks? The
entire ‘Arm-chair Quarterback’ concept.
You don’t learn everything from spectating, you really learn
from participating.
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Single folks advising married folks
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Parents being instructed by folks without
children
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Business people learn from the unemployed
One of the issues of life that
can trap us is, if we have never experience severe consequences of our actions,
we underestimate what can happen.
Pressures of
Uncertainty
If you truly worship God, you’ll notice a decrease in
stress…in fact, you cannot truly worship and worry at the same time.
Our true worship makes God bigger, and our issues smaller.
See, we need to bring our problems, into His presence…this changes everything.
Ephesians 3:19-20
19 to know the love of Christ which
passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Too many attend church like they attend movies…they WATCH,
but don’t PARTICIPATE…so you get nothing out of it.
Too many have a pornographic view of the church…you enjoy
watching more than participating!
Until faith is made personal, until it is applied,
uncertainty will swallow you whole!
Psalm 100:4
4 Enter into His gates with
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to
Him, and bless His name.
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You’re stressed out because you don’t worship
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You’re moody because you don’t worship
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You’ve got a short temper because you don’t
worship
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Everything gets on your nerves because you have
no life of worship
Altar call after altar call – you never come, every song
service, you never lift your hands, maybe pastor will say something funny
today! This is not a movie, this is your life.
You’re not waiting on God – He’s waiting on you!! God is so
through, He sat down…your healing, deliverance, blessings, all of it is
wrapped, waiting on you to come get it!!
We are dealing with uncertainty on a daily basis, and the
frustration mounts, tempers flare, the temptation to act out in the flesh is
more likely because you cannot handle this life on your own.
We were all created with the need of a Savior…you cannot and
will not EVER be able to tackle this life alone! Let me ask the unsaved a
question:
If you don’t need God why do you drink?
If you don’t need God why do you club?
If you don’t need God why do you masturbate?
If you don’t need God why do you smoke?
If you don’t need God why are you on
prescription drugs?
U N C E R T A I N T Y – you truly don’t know how to live
this life…because of your lack of control and understanding, emotions rule
rather than spiritual maturity and you must pacify your flesh in order to cope
with life.
He’s waiting on you and I to
tell the truth: for we know not…
Chapter of Life
Romans 8 starts off with love, by the end of the chapter it
closes with love…it’s the middle where we find all the meat, or as the chapter
says…groanings…
Love at the beginning, love at the end, groaning in the middle…life
is about surviving the MIDDLE…
My wife and I are about to be grandparents…we are going to
reap the benefits of parenting, when Karina comes to us and says…”I didn’t know
it was gonna be like this!”
Look at Romans 8: see, we know at the beginning, and we know
at the end, but in the middle, we don’t know!
Rom. 8:1 – ‘Therefore there is…’ | Rom. 8:38 – ‘For I am
persuaded…’
Rom. 8:26 – ‘…for we know not’
It’s hard to teach people who already know…people like that
do learn something, immediately, they begin to teach what they barely know…you
can’t correct, you can’t guide or instruct…I get so frustrated with people like
that, I just leave them alone.
It’s hard to teach them because in order to do that, I have
to get you off your own throne, so that Jesus can take your place. We are so
unsure about life, we are too prideful to admit that and lose control.
We spend too much time hiding the fact that we don’t know…we
have this insatiable desire to look good, but at the expense of pleasing God.
Marriage suffers from this | Ministry suffers from this |
Parenting suffers from this | Discipleship suffers from this
I mean, how do you know what a husband is, you haven’t
figured out what a wife is girl! You know all about ministry except
fruitfulness, anointing, discipline, and humility…no one can tell you how to
raise your child, but you can’t control that demon you made…I can’t correct you
without you having an attitude!
If we’re not careful, we’ll be
worshipping at the shrine of what we had in mind…we get more upset about things
we THINK should be but the truth is, WE DON’T KNOW.
Close:
We must understand the power of BROKENNESS
Whenever we come to the place in our lives where we are not
afraid to admit that we are life – ignorant…there’s so much peace in that!
Luke 20:18
18 Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to
powder.
Somewhere, we’re going have to have God fall upon us – this
happens in worship…as the saying goes, ‘When the praises go up, the blessings
will come down’ What greater blessing to come down but the Lord Himself!
Look at life back then…God knew that we were going to break
the 10 commandments…in fact we were breaking them as He was writing them!!
Did you know that He also revealed the plans for the
tabernacle too…so we see the commandments as the standard, and the tabernacle
for the redemption of our rebellion against the commandments…
Ephesians 1:4
4 just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love,
Can we concede the fact that we need Him because we know
not? Father please help us! Listen, the Lord has made provision for my
confusion!
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the solution…but until
our arrogance has left the throne, we handicap His Spirit.
Text verse 26: …but the
Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.
His spirit will guide us through the uncertainties of life.
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