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climax of the letter to the Romans which I believe it it most most certainly is this morning we're going to be looking at verses 23 through uh 27 to read those and I'd like to ask
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Jerry B burs if you'd pray for the ministry of the word this morning Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 23 and not only this but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the
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spirit even we are elves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as Sons the Redemption of our body for in hope we have been saved but
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hope that is seen is not hope for why does one also hope for what he sees but if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance we wait eagerly for it and
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in the same manner the spirit also helps our weaknesses for we do not know how to pray as we should but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too
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deep for words and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God let us
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pray almighty God we ask that by your spirit you would give strength uh to your speaker your speaker that we would hear your words that we would not as we do so
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easily forget the Egypt you have brought us out of the Salvation you have raised us to but that we would hear your words take them to heart store them up that in
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due season we would have those fit words those apples of gold and frames of silver that we would be fit servants and stewards of the treasure you have given
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us in your word we ask this for Christ's sake and his eternal glory amen
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amen evangelicals in the 21st century have experienced about 150 years and in some respects more but 150 years of a concentrated focus on the end
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times and teaching and charts and tables that lead us to expect from what happens around us signs of the coming of Our
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Lord signs of the end time the Jews had an eschatology too Saul of Saul of Tarsus had an eschatology in fact
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eschatology was not the last chapter in the Jewish book but it was woven through all of their teaching their eschatology was the return of Yahweh to his people
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and the rebuilding and the rededicating of the true Temple to the Living God that was their eschatology and the eschatology centered
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around two events that they believed when they came they would come together and they would symbolize the age of the Messiah those events were the resurrection from the dead and the gift
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of the Holy Spirit and this would come from Jeremiah from Ezekiel from Zechariah it's even hided to in Isaiah hundreds of years earlier so Saul of Tarsus as a good
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Pharisee a good student of his scriptures he was as Simeon the elderly looking for the consolation of Israel but it didn't come the way he had
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expected it it didn't come the way he was taught to expect it and I would submit to all those who think they figured out the second coming that it probably won't come the way you were taught either
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taught either but when it did come he recognized it because he recognized in the in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit the two most important elements that constituted
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the return of Yahweh to his people and to the rebuilding of the Temple and so the promise of Ezekiel and Jeremiah were very influential in the
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thought of second temple Judaism the age of the Resurrection the age of the spirit were the same as the age of the Messiah whom they were searching
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for but however many saw that This Magnificent divine intervention would be actually the
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response to the people of God obeying Torah obeying the law this became even more intense after the destruction of the temple in ad70 and then after the
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destruction of Jerusalem in ad 135 a onew punch by the Romans knocking out all hope of the prophetic fulfillment at least to the letter and so the rabbis took over and I
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want to quote from the mishna rabbi Phineas Ben jir says the mishna is fun to read by the way that's not what Rabbi Phineas says
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right that's what Rabbi Chuck says okay it's it's it's fun to read because you hear Rabbi so and so saying something immediately followed by Rabbi so and so saying something diametrically opposed
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but this is just Rabbi Phineus benjer he says heedfulness leads to cleanliness and cleanliness leads to Purity and Purity leads to abstinence
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and abstinence leads to Holiness and Holiness to humility and humidity leads to shunning of sin and the shunning of
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of sin leads to saintliness and saintliness leads to the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Holy Spirit leads to the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the Dead
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will come through Elijah of blessed memory you see the gift of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection of the Dead is actually the result of The Obedience
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of the people and as we've seen in Paul Paul's reputation what the Jews were then seeking to do especially after all animal sacrifice had been destroyed
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through the temple they were SE seeking to bring about the things of the Spirit by The Works of the Flesh and that has been Rabbi Judaism ever since but it is sadly so much of
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Christianity as well trying to bring about the work of God and the blessing of God through what we do and yet what Paul says is what we do
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is grown it's amazing how little he has to say when he talks about the consummation of the ages and the coming of Christ and the perusia he says very very little
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about what we should do about it and yet there is something it would appear that we do in our groaning second Peter chapter 3 Peter
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chimes in so often Peter is set against Paul and Paul against James and all of them against John when when you read them you're like no they're all on the same page and Peter says in 2
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Corinthians second Peter chapter 3 he says since all these things are to be destroyed in this way what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct
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and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat what sort of
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people ought we to be well Paul answers that in Romans 8 we are a people who groan we are a people who groan for the
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revelation of the sons of God we are people of who Gran for the Redemption of our bodies this body of death in which I see a law at work in my mind that is in
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favor of the law of God yet a law at work in my body that that Wars against it what sort of people ought we to be people in Romans 12 who are transformed
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by the renewing of their minds and not conformed to this world that's the type of people we ought to be and yet Peter nor Paul nor John nor
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anywhere are we told just how to be just what what 12 steps we're supposed to take what book we should read that will solve all our problems of
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devotion or where we ought to go what Monastery or what Convent we should shut ourselves up in so that we could be what we ought to be no Paul is telling us
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what we are and what we be and that as we be we be groaning because we know that we're living in the not yet though the now has
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already come we know that in Christ all things are new and there is a new creation and yet we know we live in the midst of the old creation we know that we have died to sin we have died to the
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law we have died to death yet in that death we live in a body that is Mortal we live with a flesh that is hostile to the law and to the will of God
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and so we are a people in between or as Robert Lewis Stevenson would say we are betwix and betwix and between and we don't know how to pray
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all as we ought we constantly pray for things to be remedied in the here and now we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven and
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then we fall into the Trap of thinking there is something we can actually do to bring that bring that about no our cross that we have been all charged to Bear is
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the knowledge that this world as it is now is not our home that the prince that rules this world is not our King that what we look for is from
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Heaven the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ and what we yearn for is redemption from the body of this death and release for The Creation around us
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that is what we Gran for so often what we groan for in our
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prayers have to do with nothing different than our unbelieving neighbors have you ever noticed that that so often the church is is vexed and in Earnest about things that the
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unbeliever suffers I know Paul points out a sin in Corinth that even the unbel even the Gentiles don't partake but you know they have a rough time at work too they have trouble in their families
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their marriages are not all solid they also are exposed to disease and War and death they are they are living under the wrath of God upon Adam just as we were
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and still are and yet often our groanings are no different than theirs nothing to distinguish us as being Sons and Daughters of the Living
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God rather than just Sons and Daughters of Adam and I think Paul really does ch all our prayers In this passage right here
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the Jewish expectation of the return of Yahweh to Israel and to the temple was focused on as I said the joint events of the resurrection and the Holy Spirit in
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order to understand Paul you have to go back to that event that he mentioned three times on his own and then once mentioned by Luke as a historian and that his his encounter
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with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ on the the road to Damascus when that happened God gave Paul the mind to know that everything he had studied and
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everything he was looking for was now fulfilled in this man Jesus Christ and so he reoriented his vast knowledge the
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knowledge that who was it fesus says your your great knowledge has made you mad he says no not mad and he went back and he reoriented all of the law and the prop phets upon
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the the Fulfillment in Jesus Christ and then he went on to preach the gospel and to write the vast majority of what is our theology it flows out of his
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understanding of how Jesus fulfilled the eschatological hope of Israel we keep thinking about the eschatology of Jesus his return but we haven't really figured out how Jesus
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fulfilled the eschatology of the Bible with his first Advent we don't have any foundation with which to build some Castle in the Sky concerning the life that is to come
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because we don't understand how he fulfilled the expectation of his people in the first in the first place and so Paul uses a term frequently in his letters that was also frequently used in
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the Old Testament and that is the word first fruits he says here in verse 23 and we not only this we also ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit
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and he's so intense here he says even we ourselves grown within ourselves but it's that first fruit of the spirit that is the Fountain of this
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groaning and what was the first fruit well it was an offering it was the early Harvest that guaranteed the rest of the Harvest it was the it was the down
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payment we also you see that word used about the Holy Spirit it was the security the shity also used by Paul to describe the Holy Spirit it was that
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which guaranteed what was to come and so what that means is that we have the Holy Spirit as a deposit well that's what he
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teaches in Ephesians 1 we have the Holy Spirit as a seal and a guarantee that we will receive the full harvest in due
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time but that also means that we don't yet have the full Harvest even of the Holy Spirit now the Holy Spirit just as the
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first fruits will not be taken away from us we don't need to be fearful that we only have part of the Holy Spirit and if I don't act right I might lose the rest no we were given the Holy Spirit not to
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bring us into fear but into confidence God has placed his seal on every believer saying I who began a good
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work in you will bring it to Perfection Faithful is he who called you and he will also bring it to pass here is the deposit of the Holy Spirit here is the
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first fruits what do the first fruits turn your mind to the Harvest that is what we should be thinking about is the Harvest and I
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don't mean that in the Evangelistic the way it's been taken over the Harvest of souls yes that's part of it but the Harvest of the Redemption of our bodies the Harvest of the new Earth the Harvest
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of the of the Feast of the bridegroom the Harvest of an eternity of righteousness in A New Earth in the presence of God Almighty that is what the first fruits
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of the spirit signify to us and that is what is the cause of our groaning the normal Christian life is
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not to live your best life now he says the normal Christian Life is waiting eagerly for our adoption as Sons the Redemption of our bodies wait a minute
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Paul not not 10 verses earlier you said we have the spirit of adoption right and we and that Spirit cries out within us ABA father and now
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now you say we're waiting eagerly for our adoption as Sons yes that's exactly what he's saying and it's exactly what the scripture says everywhere you read it and that is there
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there is a now that God has done something irrevocably and gloriously now in each one who believes and in the Church of Believers but there's a not
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yet and there's an aspect a very powerful aspect as to the fact that everything that has been done has yet to be consummated the first fruits has been
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harvested but the full Harvest is yet to come one author says one cannot expect present Christianity Christian Living to be anything other than a manner of
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straining forward forward for what is Yet to Come For What is yet unseen you see we're not expecting or anticipating the Reclamation or
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restoration of the world through the church that has been an error the church has gotten into time and time again over the last 2,000 years that we're going to bring about a Renewal in Education we're
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going to bring bring about a a moral Revolution where where smoking and drinking and slavery and all these things will be abolished including eventually War itself and we're going to
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bring in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ through our own actions it has never happened it was never intended to happen lest any flesh boast before God now we
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know that the restoration and the and the restoration of the new Earth will only come through the gracious revelation of Jesus Christ
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and with him his sons his brothers and sisters the Sons and Daughters of God that is what we look for two words Paul uses frequently here
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in Romans Faith and Hope he's spoken about faith at length now he's speaking about hope he tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that that along with love these are
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the three that abide but the greatest of these is love because as he says here what is hope that is seen what will we hope for in the Kingdom
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what will we hope for in the consummation when all is revealed and Christ has returned and set up his kingdom on a new Earth what will we hope for nothing it will all be fulfilled
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what will we have faith in we will be walking finally by sight because the revelation will be fully made what will we love well we
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will perfectly love God and one another and that is why love is the greatest of the three because alone will abide for eternity but we do tend to substitute
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imitations made in China for the real thing for faith we substitute presumption because there is no sure
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Foundation of Foundation of Faith except God's promises to say I believe this or I claim this is really blasphemy
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if you cannot say thus it is written this is the will of God for you even your sanctification can you have faith in your sanctification yes because it is the will of God in his word can
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you have faith in that promotion or new car no you save up for it but you can't have faith you can't claim God's will for what he has not revealed to be his
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will presumption is a very subtle imitation of faith and Wishful Thinking is an equivalent imitation of
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hope there is no basis for Hope except in God's in God's faithfulness there is no ground for Faith except in God's promises but once
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believing there is no basis for Hope except God's except God's faithfulness may your spirit and Body and Soul be preserved complete Paul writes to the Thessalonians he says
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because he who has called you is faithful and he will also do it everything goes back not to what you perform what you accomplish or what you
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avoid but rather to the faithfulness of the God who calls you and living in that type of a life knowing that in me dwells no good thing
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that in my flesh there is war against the spirit so that I may not do that what I wish that is groaning but it's also a groaning that the unbelieving world knows nothing of
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it's a groaning that is absolutely unique to [Music] Believers so what he says here in verse
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24 for in hope we have been saved he says that again in fir in Ephesians chapter 1 that before the foundation of the world that we have
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been placed in Christ in hope now we may not understand and often times I think we struggle with the fact that when God saved us he didn't make us immediately
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righteous and righteous and sinless and I think we struggle even more that although the presence of Jesus Christ through his
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church has been around for 2,000 years often times the world doesn't look any better for it in fact we have to sometimes dig very deep to realize the
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impact that the body of Christ has had on human history but when we live in our day-to-day lives and especially our political environment our social environment every generation of
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Christianity has seen the world literally going to hell and has despaired of the influence of the church in its midst that's part of our groaning
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you see this is not actually singular here when he talks about the groaning the only word here that singular is the Redemption of our body not our bodies but our
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but our body and quite a number of Scholars understand what Paul is saying here to refer more more to the church than to the individual the individual believer yes the individual believer is
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groaning but that groaning is pretty much within the the the realm of individual sanctification and individual sin but we are placed in this world as a
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as a new Humanity a new creation kind of a a a forward colony of the new Earth
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sadly most churches have more to groan about within them that they never get around to groaning about what Paul is talking about they never give any thought to the groaning of creation they never give any thought to the fact that this world is an up front to its creator
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this world is in Rebellion to its creator this world has been subjected to death and Corruption because of the image of God whom God created and what
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that must that must be to God see thinking God's thoughts after him means understanding the whole nature of the whole realm of Creation in
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terms of what man has done to it and corrupting it and bringing in and introducing death and so avoiding presumption and
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avoiding wishful thinking we ground Our Hope in what we have been promised and that is the revelation of God's full full and final will with his people
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through Jesus through Jesus Christ we're introduced through faith into the inaugurated Kingdom of Jesus Christ I think that is a clear teaching
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that the kingdom of God has come upon you and is within you and Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 is very clear that there is a new creation and that we are a new new creatures and so Faith brings us
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into that but not yet experienced ing the fullness of its consummation we try to live out not only by the flesh what we've begun by the spirit but we try to live out in this
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world what is only promised to the world to come and that has been a major Pitfall for the church for 2,000 years trying to bring about what we read in
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the scriptures into a world that is under the power of the prince of this age knowing that the promised consummation awaits the Lord's return
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now that is not to say that we simply blend in and live as the world lives absolutely not what Paul is saying is our most powerful testimony is for the
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principles of the new Earth and the new Humanity to be lived out in the congregation of Christ's people the one another others the
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sacrificial love the teaching one another the reproving one another the seeking of one another's guidance that is the new Earth not in the old Earth but in the
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church and that's what draws the elect from the old Earth into the new birth and the new creation of the church so what we read about in scripture in terms
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of how things ought to be to the best of our ability they ought to be in the church they ain't going to be out there and when the church tries to take the
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morality of Christianity and enforce it on the world out there it becomes oppression and tyranny and is responded to by rebellion and further apostasy and
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Atheism from the world and that is history pure and simple we've done it enough to know we're trying to do it again this again this November we've tried it election after
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election we're going to legislate morality and all we do is enforce aism paganism and enmity toward both God and his church we're not bearing witness
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we're blaspheming his name among the Gentiles we're bearing witness when we turn back to ourselves and realize this is not our home this is not even my body anymore
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this is this is a body of my death the body that will be laid to rest but not the body that I will spend eternity in not the body that will will fully obey its mind and according to to the will of
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God that body is Yet to Come Peter says know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lust
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and saying where is the promise of his coming forever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation see
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that that is such a subtle trap for believers to fall in that mocking it's not really mock
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doubting who Among Us has witnessed even a Revival of God's spirit I'm not talking about the one down the street at the Assemblies of God church I'm talking about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit where people not only
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came to the Lord but then obeyed his Commandments lives Commandments lives changed God's grace manifested we've not seen that I've not seen that
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seen that we don't see that even in the church that's very despairing that's very discouraging and we're tempted to say you know what from the beginning all
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things have remained just the same but we are told to walk by faith and not by sight because all things have become new all things are new yet not fully
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new Paul writes therefore If any man be in Christ he is a new creature the old thing things have passed away behold new things have come these are all past tense verbs this has all happened in
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Christ we are not looking for him to come as the writer of Hebrews says with respect to sin because he's already taken care of that he will come next with with respect to Glory see hope is
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what ties the now and the not yet together Believers in the midst and the church in the midst of the not yet knowing what Christ has done now in his
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work and the outpouring of the holy spirit yet realizing that all that is now is still not yet fully come hope is what ties those two together and that's why hope cannot be
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just wishful thinking because wishful thinking has no power within itself to accomplish itself wishful thinking is really futility of thinking because it
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has no basis in reality it has no basis in what has happened nor what will happen nor even what might happen but it cannot be a hope that is
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seen I I I wonder I Ponder as as many do why has God providentially set everything up this way that we are saved
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in the midst of sin we are freed in the midst of a body that is bound to Decay and death and we go forth to witness in
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a world that is still in Rebellion against against God and dwelling under its wrath one easy answer is is to prepare us for his
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presence that we are not prepared to be brought into the presence of a holy God and if we are to be prepared to it for his presence perhaps there are are three
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attributes that we could say are of prime importance in our in our preparation faith that our faith be real and strengthened and Growing Hope
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that what we know God has promised we do not let go of but it strengthens us and sustains us as he says perseveringly we
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hope we eagerly await well people only wait await eagerly what they have reason to expect anybody who buys lottery tickets and we eagerly expects to win is
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deluded but those who have been given a promise by someone who they deem faithful they have every reason to wait eagerly the child that has promised a particular
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present for Christmas from a parent who has always delivered on his promises or her promises Waits eagerly for Christmas Day and the revelation of that which was
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promised Faith was based on that promise Hope was founded on the faithfulness of the one who promised and then what is developed in that relationship is love
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love to God and also love to our fellow believer who we realize is groaning just as much as we are and even love to the
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world the rest of humanity is also groaning but groaning without hope Paul says that to the Thessalonians about those who die we are not like those who die without hope like the Gentiles outside of Christ they have no
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hope and so we Gran on their behalf too now I've never been taught to pray like that we're we're taught to pray for what
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we think are our needs and and yes give us this day this day our daily bread but what does it mean to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven what does that mean I mean
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that is the one part of that prayer that we really have nothing to do with and that's part of our groaning and that groaning is the we're we're uniting in that groaning with
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itself for for in hope we have been saved but hope that is seen is not hope for why does one hope for what he sees but if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance we wait eagerly for it one scholar says hope is
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built it's built into Christian experience from the start and it remains one of its Central characteristics so much of modern
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preaching is indeed sacrilege it is seeking the best life now Prosperity now because God loves you he wants everything for you to be happy and prosperous you have the mightest touch
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Everything You Touch turns to a muffler that's reality folks it doesn't turn to turn to gold and that's what the spirit is
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groaning within us sometimes it's groaning for us to get over our stupidity and stop seeking restoration and deliverance from a world that is condemned to
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condemned to fire that is not where we place our hope that is not where we find our deliverance and contrary to Rabbi Phineas hope does not bring the
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Fulfillment of the Holy Spirit and and Resurrection we don't we don't build up hope we don't it's not some Mantra that we we hum along that we all are hoping and that's going to somehow bring it all
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to pass no it's a hope that is already fixed because it's in response to historical realities you see the church can never as the Liberals have done can
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never let go let go of the the historical propositions upon which Christianity is firmly rooted for example the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ his sinless and sacrificial
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life his literal death on the cross burial and Resurrection and the historical as outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost these are the
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foundations of our hope he began it he is unwaveringly faithful to his promises he will bring it to
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pass that is the the Ironclad security that we have through the first fruits of the Holy Spirit just that crying out of ABA father is us saying I am
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yours and everything that that has been ordained as we're going to read in a in a week everything that has been ordained is going to work for the good of those who are called by
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God this is this is the background for that refrigerator magnet verse it's a future hope but it is a hope grounded in
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historical happening the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ it is an enduring hope and I think this is where it gets most difficult for each one of us and for the church the church goes
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through a period of of of small things attendance drops people within the church become apostate there is sin within the church
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there is turmoil there is distress and there is attempt to Despair and then to try new things what do we need to do to bring more people in
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we need to become Seeker sensitive never mind the fact that there are none who seek God would you all leave please we're going to seek a sensitive Church it needs to be empty okay but we're going to we're going to do these
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programs we're going to do this different type of teaching we're not going to use the word much we might we might hang our sermon on a verse but you won't find the verse in any of our sermon because we don't really want to
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bother you with Concepts like sin and Damnation you know that's that's really off-putting we want you to feel good about yourself I mean listen if the church can't make you feel good about yourself who can
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well Mrs Smith up on Way Hampton could she could read your poem and see something good there pay her enough I'm sure she sure she will seriously that is the mentality of
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the modern Evangelical Church that we're here to make everybody feel good now we're here to Bear testimony to both the wrath of God and to the Salvation of God in Jesus Christ that's
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the power of the gospel and so we don't even though there are times and there have been times and there will be times even in our fellowship ship when things are are very distressing very
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frustrating and and very sad it doesn't matter because we don't walk by sight we walk by faith and we know that the
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consummation of the ages is absolutely not depending on anything we do or don't do but it's fully dependent on what God has promised to do and will do and so and and yet we're not we're not
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apathetic we're not apathetic about the world we're not apathetic about the church we're not apathetic about our own congregation or our own body we
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body we Gran we grown and we don't know even more what we Gran about John said the same thing he said beloved now we are children of God and yet it has not
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appeared what we shall be but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is and everyone who has this hope fixed
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on him purifies himself just as he is pure hope we don't know what it's going to turn out like and yet we know it's going to turn out right we know it's
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going to turn out good because he works all things for good and it's this we put our Hope on but again the the idea that we we go through life with a smile on
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our face and everything is is good and you know I'm getting better than I deserve and and these platitudes no we gran this is not the way it's supposed
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to be I'm not the way I'm supposed to be and and to just say that academically as if okay I've said it that makes it right no this is supposed to deeply impact us
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at the deepest levels of our heart and that's where the groaning comes and yet we realize even in that I can't do it alone I really don't care that
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much I mean frankly I think we all have to admit that the same news report that we read will have a different impact on us depending on where it
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happens some tragedy happens somewhere and if it's close to home or if it's a people that we identify with we're we're distressed about it but it happens in
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some tribal Enclave in subsaharan Africa or in Indonesia or places that frankly we don't care about we think oh that's terrible but it doesn't impact us the
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same way because we are still very much hardened by the sin that dwells within our members John dun said that every man's
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death diminishes me and I say not really not that I know of I mean he's a poet so hey that explains that I mean but really people are dying all the time and that's
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not diminishing me I think his in in essence he's right but in reality we're not there we don't know how to pray as we ought and when Paul says this I don't
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think he's condemning us or he's recommending next Sunday morning he's going to have a a class in prayer he's saying we don't know what to pray because we don't know the mind of God
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and so God has already taken care of that we cannot maintain this hope we cannot endure in hope against the evidence of our eyes and so the spirit within us groans
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on our behalf those who cannot see that for which they eagerly hope need assistance to peer into the darkness and to pray God's
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future into the present Our Hope should not be oriented to some preconceived notion of how God's going to consummate the ages Our Hope should not be driven
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by what's happening in the European Union or in the United States Congress or something that Russia might be doing no our hope is is built on what God has
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already done and what he has promised to do not how he's going to do it but that he's going to do it and so our prayers should be oriented in that same direction we should pray Maranatha come
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Lord come quickly but he has given us that helper that we need Jesus called him a helper back in John 14 or 15 and he says he
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will come along he will guide you into all truth and I think what Paul is saying here this is what he's doing these groanings that are too deep for words and in the same way the spirit
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also helps our weaknesses for we do not know how to pray as we should but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for Words many have
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concluded that this is a prayer language that this is evidence of speaking in tongues in a private prayer setting the problem with this conclusion
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is multi is multi multitudinous first of all the gift of tongues glossia is a gift of the holy spirit in
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the church the gifts of the holy spirit were not universally given to every believer but were distributed just as the Holy Spirit Will and for the edification of the body what Paul's talking about here
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is for every single one of us there's no distribution of this inability to pray or this inward groaning and intercession of the holy spirit this belongs to every
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believer so it's not a prayer language this is Spirit intercession and there is no restriction as to who benefits from it and another fact is the word
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itself you're you're familiar I think when when you put an A in front of the word it negates the word so that if you are an atheist you do not believe in God
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if you are apathetic it means you have no pathos you have no feeling you don't care and so this is actually in the Greek the a the alpha put in
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front of the most common word for speech or speaking the word is itself the negation of any verbal output it is
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literally speechlessness okay it it is it is praying and praying and interceding speechlessly without any noise coming out of the mouth this is not a language at all but rather that is
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something too deep for language it's not the replacement of the spirit's words for ours but it's the spirit interceding on our behalf with groanings that are
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too deep for words because we don't know how to how to pray he's not coming alongside and and kind of shooting adrenaline into our prayers he's not making us into that
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horrible phrase a prayer Warrior I praise God I have not heard that in this congregation I really do uh he's not you know he's not supercharging our prayer life our
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prayer life prayer life stinks it can't be supercharged it can only be interceded for he he carries us as it were in prayer before the
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Lord I don't know that we even know what he's praying but I think as we mature in the Lord and we read his word and we're guided in the truth by his Spirit we
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begin to see both in ourselves and in the church and in creation nothing but nothing but groaning and that cannot help to affect
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a believer's a believer's prayers and so that's what the holy spirit is doing the spirit's own very self intercedes within the Christian at the point where he or she faced with the
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ruin and misery of the world finds that there are no words left to express in God's presence the the sense of futility and the longing for
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Redemption many Believers think that when they come to a place where they cannot pray that they have somehow apostatized that is possible but it is
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also possible and maybe likely if they are in the word that they have come to a place where they have no more words left that they have come to a place of realization about themselves about the
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church about the world I got nothing there are no more words left and we have been given the incredible
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encouragement that even at that point the holy spirit is interceding for us with groanings too deep for Words even when we find that we have no words left though we still have the hurt and the
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and the fear and the frustration and all the anxiety for which we were praying we've run out of words then we we take hope enduring
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persevering hope in the fact that the Holy Spirit at that time is interceding on our behalf with groanings too deep for words that even my maybe my wordlessness my silence will perhaps
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allow me to hear some of his prayers this is this is deeper prayer than than I've experienced and yet I pray that it would be my experience your
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experience and the experience of the entire church the spirit does not come to the church's Aid to boost her strength he comes to her Aid when her
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strength is completely gone this is a prayer however that succeeds Jesus told us that if we pray anything according to the will of the father we shall have that for which we
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ask verse ask verse 27 and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he intercedes for the Saints according to the will of God He Who searches the
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heart is God the father and when he searches the mind of the spirit who indwells Us in his groaning intercessory prayer on our behalf is it possible that the Holy
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Spirit could ever pray other than according to the will of the father that's what he's saying here they are one and so whenever the the spirit intercedes for us even though we do not
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know what he's saying and cannot comprehend the depth of prayer that he is offering up unlike our prayers which may or may not be according to the will of the fathers his
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is always are which means they will always receive the answer and that answer as we're moving into that much misunderstood verse that
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is why all things work for good not because we somehow unlock the power of power of prayer okay or we prayed for an hour a
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day or whatever we learned to fast you know none of that but because the one who searches the heart knows the mind of the spirit and that is the the one who is interceding for us with groanings too
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deep for words they cannot be rejected because they cannot be but the will of God and so all things as they are working themselves out will work
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themselves out for our good but what is this all about what are we groaning for where in lies our frustration with
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life well we've talked about Paul's talked about that the two things that I believe he is saying this this is the source of all our frustration is the body of this death and a creation subjected to
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corruption that is what is that what we are and what we are in as children of God this is what we are frustrated we are waiting eagerly for the adoption of sons the Redemption of our body we have
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the spirit we have the Seal of the promise we have the it's stamped and it's legal the paperwork of adoption is is perfectly legal cannot be an olded
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but we don't yet have that sunship completed the Christian's true home is in the life that is to come which is not yet revealed to that his yearning and hope
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out you our scriptures end the very end the very last chapter of Revelation with this prayer and the spirit and the bride say
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come and let the one who hears say come and the response is amen come Lord Jesus let us
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let us pray father we do ask that you would train our train our hearts to know your will we thank you that you have given us your spirit to intercede for
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intercede for us when we are too weak for words or do not know what to pray we can look to this verse and know the truth of the matter is that the holy spirit is interceding for
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interceding for us that our needs are coming before you according to your will train our hearts to fix Our Eyes Upon Jesus seated at your right hand and
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earnestly yearn for his return that we might say come that the bride might say with the spirit come even so come Lord Jesus Jesus we look we look forward to
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that for you will be manifested in glory and our good will be fully made known we pray in Jesus name
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amen please rise for uh exhortation from Romans 12 I think is appropriate to the message of Romans 8 I urge you therefore
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Brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do
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not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God that which is good and acceptable
