1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,160 Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,440 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,760 Well, we're going to go ahead and be in Romans chapter 8. 10 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,960 If you have your Bibles this morning, turn there with me. 11 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:29,920 Romans chapter 8. 12 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,490 We're continuing our study here in Romans 8, looking at the 13 00:00:34,490 --> 00:00:39,050 confidence that we have in God and the confidence in what we have 14 00:00:39,130 --> 00:00:40,330 in our salvation. 15 00:00:40,890 --> 00:00:44,690 The only reason that we have salvation is because of the person 16 00:00:44,690 --> 00:00:46,250 and work of Jesus Christ. 17 00:00:46,810 --> 00:00:48,450 As Lily was singing here this morning. 18 00:00:48,450 --> 00:00:49,130 Thank you, Jesus. 19 00:00:49,130 --> 00:00:50,090 Why do we thank Him? 20 00:00:50,890 --> 00:00:54,010 It's not that just he makes our life better. 21 00:00:55,130 --> 00:00:56,850 It's that he gives us life. 22 00:00:56,850 --> 00:01:00,570 The Bible says for the wages of sin, the payment of sin is death. 23 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,920 The Bible says that we in our good works are really all we have 24 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:06,920 is filthy rags. 25 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,200 We deserve punishment, we deserve death, we deserve separation. 26 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,120 But because of what Jesus Christ has done for us in his perfect 27 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,880 work on the cross and his conquering death through the resurrection, 28 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:21,800 that when we trust in him, we no longer are guilty and condemned 29 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,280 in our sins, but we have confidence that he saves us and we 30 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,440 have confidence that he sustains us in our hope. 31 00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:31,180 And here in Romans chapter eight, that's what it's all about. 32 00:01:31,180 --> 00:01:35,940 It's about the confidence that we have in the person and work of 33 00:01:35,940 --> 00:01:36,500 Jesus Christ. 34 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:41,260 And we saw in verse number one that in faith we are no longer under 35 00:01:41,340 --> 00:01:43,900 condemnation, we are no longer in judgment. 36 00:01:44,699 --> 00:01:46,780 But that's just the start of it. 37 00:01:47,020 --> 00:01:48,940 The Bible says that God gives us power. 38 00:01:48,940 --> 00:01:50,140 That God gives us. 39 00:01:50,460 --> 00:01:53,020 He gives us clarity, he gives us teaching. 40 00:01:53,020 --> 00:01:57,780 He gives us the idea of being a child of God, to be part of the 41 00:01:57,780 --> 00:02:00,480 family of God, to have the same inheritance. 42 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:02,640 That is explained throughout scripture. 43 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:04,680 Romans chapter 8, verse 16. 44 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,920 It says the Spirit itself bear witness with our Spirit, that we 45 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,200 are the children of God. 46 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:13,200 And if children, verse 17, then heirs, heirs of God and joint 47 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,000 heirs with Christ. 48 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,880 And so the Bible says that we are identified with Christ in his 49 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,400 suffering, yes, in the difficulties, yes. 50 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,600 But also in the fact that we are glorified together in him, that 51 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,400 we can know that we have everlasting life. 52 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,480 And then not only that it's a future hope, even though the future 53 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,840 hope is the culmination of our salvation, but we also know that 54 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,280 even here and now, we have the blessing of the presence of God in 55 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:39,720 our life. 56 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,240 We have the blessing of the power of God in our life. 57 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,000 We have the blessing of the provisions of God in our life. 58 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,560 And so we're going to go and start in verse number 25 here this 59 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:51,880 morning. 60 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:52,210 This. 61 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:53,680 This is where we left off last week. 62 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,440 And if you remember, it said here that when we trust in God, we 63 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:58,600 are saved by faith. 64 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,960 Or as it says here in verse 24, we are saved by hope in believing 65 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,600 in something that we don't see, in trusting in something that 66 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,800 is the only thing that's trustworthy and that is the person 67 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:10,920 and work of Jesus Christ. 68 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:13,080 And we talked about the two chairs up here. 69 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,240 The object of our faith could be something that could fall like 70 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:17,320 everything in this world. 71 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,670 Materialism, our finances, our health, our good works. 72 00:03:21,830 --> 00:03:25,390 Or we could place our faith and trust in something that never 73 00:03:25,390 --> 00:03:29,070 fails, and that is Jesus Christ and His powerful work on the 74 00:03:29,070 --> 00:03:29,430 cross. 75 00:03:29,910 --> 00:03:33,310 But then he says in verse 25, but if we have hope for what we have 76 00:03:33,310 --> 00:03:37,030 seen, not then do we with patience, wait for it. 77 00:03:37,030 --> 00:03:40,230 So one of the things that God gives us in the indwelling of the 78 00:03:40,230 --> 00:03:43,150 Spirit, and by the way, let me explain again what the indwelling 79 00:03:43,150 --> 00:03:43,910 of the Spirit is. 80 00:03:43,990 --> 00:03:47,510 The Bible says that when we trust in Jesus Christ for our faith, 81 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,240 we are in that case, we are trusting in the work of God and we 82 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,160 are believing in him and he is extending to us salvation. 83 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,160 There's so much that happens with salvation. 84 00:03:57,560 --> 00:03:59,240 There's something called justification. 85 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,320 Justification is the declaration of our righteousness. 86 00:04:03,559 --> 00:04:06,440 God looks at us and no longer does he see the sin on my account. 87 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:07,800 But what does he see? 88 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,080 He sees the work and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ on our account. 89 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,040 And therefore we are declared innocent. 90 00:04:14,490 --> 00:04:15,730 But that's not where it stops. 91 00:04:15,730 --> 00:04:18,650 And justification, we also have something called sanctification. 92 00:04:18,810 --> 00:04:21,170 We are set aside for a specific use. 93 00:04:21,170 --> 00:04:26,250 We are there to be learning from God and growing in God and serving 94 00:04:26,250 --> 00:04:26,570 him. 95 00:04:26,650 --> 00:04:29,970 And the Bible says that in that process of justification, we 96 00:04:29,970 --> 00:04:32,970 are indwelled by the Spirit, which means the Holy Spirit, the 97 00:04:32,970 --> 00:04:36,930 third Person of the Trinity, doesn't just work in our life, but 98 00:04:36,930 --> 00:04:39,130 the Bible says that he lives within us. 99 00:04:39,130 --> 00:04:42,880 If you go back to verse number nine of Romans 8, it says, but ye 100 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,840 are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. 101 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,600 If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. 102 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,720 There's some teachings out there that say that basically Christians 103 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,600 can feel the presence of God, that the presence of God can come 104 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,840 upon somebody, kind of like what happened in the Old Testament. 105 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,560 But The New Testament teaches that the believer not only can feel 106 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,960 the presence of God or see the presence of God in the working of 107 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,240 the Holy Spirit, but but also be indwelled by the Spirit, meaning 108 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:11,480 God is living within us. 109 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:16,480 And the Bible says that we can conform to the world and live in 110 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:21,400 the flesh and live with sinful desires, or we can die to the flesh, 111 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,800 live in the Spirit, be transformed in the Spirit, and walk 112 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:26,440 in obedience with God. 113 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,440 And so that's what he's talking about here. 114 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,480 And so he says, what does the Holy Spirit bring us? 115 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:32,920 Well, he brings us power. 116 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:37,430 But we also see in verse 24, in verse 25, that he brings us. 117 00:05:37,510 --> 00:05:41,190 The King James here says patience, or we could say endurance. 118 00:05:41,990 --> 00:05:45,790 The Bible says that the Holy Spirit, when He is living in our 119 00:05:45,790 --> 00:05:50,190 life, brings us that endurance to run the race, to run the race 120 00:05:50,190 --> 00:05:53,710 of life with the circumstances that we face, with the trouble that 121 00:05:53,710 --> 00:05:56,470 we face, with maybe the sickness that we have in our life 122 00:05:56,630 --> 00:06:00,790 and whatever the case might be that causes us to doubt or causes 123 00:06:00,790 --> 00:06:03,220 us to quit or causes us to lose confidence. 124 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:07,020 The Bible says that the Holy Spirit can conquer those things and 125 00:06:07,020 --> 00:06:10,300 give us the confidence to know that he is with us and that we can 126 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:13,180 keep moving forward and that we can keep serving him and that 127 00:06:13,180 --> 00:06:15,340 we can look to that eternal glory with Him. 128 00:06:15,340 --> 00:06:16,900 And that's what verse 18 was about. 129 00:06:17,380 --> 00:06:20,900 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are 130 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:24,740 not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed 131 00:06:24,740 --> 00:06:25,220 in us. 132 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:27,180 So he says, hey, you know what? 133 00:06:27,180 --> 00:06:28,820 You might be going through struggles right now. 134 00:06:29,390 --> 00:06:32,950 You might have gone through trials in your life, but the struggles 135 00:06:32,950 --> 00:06:36,710 that you face now are nothing in comparison to the glory that you 136 00:06:36,710 --> 00:06:39,950 receive when you are with your Savior one day, face to face, to 137 00:06:39,950 --> 00:06:44,110 see the blessing that it is to be a child of God completely. 138 00:06:44,430 --> 00:06:47,550 And so first we see that the Holy Spirit in our life brings us 139 00:06:47,550 --> 00:06:48,190 endurance. 140 00:06:48,190 --> 00:06:52,310 But I want us to go to verse number 26, because the Holy Spirit 141 00:06:52,310 --> 00:06:53,870 brings us more than just endurance. 142 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:59,480 It says in verse 26, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. 143 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,760 That word infirmities means weakness or struggles. 144 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,160 The Bible says that the Holy Spirit not only gives us strength, 145 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,320 but also helps us or comforts us in the time of our weakness. 146 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,600 Now we saw going back that in verse 23, at this point in time in 147 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,850 our Christian walk, we are just receiving the first fruits of 148 00:07:21,850 --> 00:07:22,330 the Spirit. 149 00:07:22,650 --> 00:07:25,290 We looked last week in Ephesians how the Holy Spirit is 150 00:07:25,290 --> 00:07:26,970 our down payment, our earnest. 151 00:07:27,130 --> 00:07:28,330 Essentially, it's this. 152 00:07:28,490 --> 00:07:31,930 We don't know completely what It'll be like to be with our Savior. 153 00:07:32,010 --> 00:07:35,130 But the taste of that is when the Holy Spirit guides our life, 154 00:07:35,290 --> 00:07:37,930 convicts us, teaches us, comforts us. 155 00:07:37,930 --> 00:07:41,570 And so in verse 26, he says, just as the Holy Spirit has given 156 00:07:41,570 --> 00:07:45,370 you endurance, so the Holy Spirit will give you encouragement. 157 00:07:46,420 --> 00:07:52,340 He says, for we know not what we should pray for, for as we ought, 158 00:07:52,340 --> 00:07:55,980 meaning this, there are times in our life when we are going through 159 00:07:55,980 --> 00:08:00,100 our trials and weaknesses and as it says here, infirmities that 160 00:08:00,100 --> 00:08:02,100 we don't even necessarily know where to turn. 161 00:08:02,740 --> 00:08:05,220 We don't even know what specifically to ask for. 162 00:08:05,620 --> 00:08:08,980 There's going to be a time in our life where we reach that roadblock 163 00:08:09,060 --> 00:08:09,860 that we like. 164 00:08:09,940 --> 00:08:13,610 We say, I don't know what I need, I don't know where to turn. 165 00:08:13,930 --> 00:08:15,610 I don't know what decision to make. 166 00:08:16,090 --> 00:08:19,650 It's okay to recognize in our life that we are confounded by the 167 00:08:19,650 --> 00:08:20,570 things of this world. 168 00:08:20,650 --> 00:08:24,090 It's actually, I believe, necessary for a Christian to come 169 00:08:24,090 --> 00:08:27,450 to a place in our life where we recognize that we don't know what's 170 00:08:27,450 --> 00:08:30,730 best for us, that we don't understand really where we might 171 00:08:30,730 --> 00:08:32,250 need to go in this situation. 172 00:08:32,490 --> 00:08:35,410 But the Bible says that we have a God who cares for us, and 173 00:08:35,410 --> 00:08:39,090 as it says here, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession 174 00:08:39,090 --> 00:08:42,289 for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 175 00:08:42,849 --> 00:08:43,729 What does that mean? 176 00:08:44,289 --> 00:08:47,649 That means that God knows what's best for us even when we don't 177 00:08:47,649 --> 00:08:48,449 know what's best. 178 00:08:49,009 --> 00:08:55,049 God is in our lives so much to say that he cares for us even in 179 00:08:55,049 --> 00:08:58,569 the moments where we have lack of faith, where we have struggles, 180 00:08:58,569 --> 00:08:59,649 where we have doubts. 181 00:08:59,729 --> 00:09:02,529 It says here that he knows what's best for us and even when 182 00:09:02,529 --> 00:09:04,169 we don't know how to properly pray. 183 00:09:04,169 --> 00:09:06,129 Now, this is not an excuse to quit praying. 184 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,720 This is not an excuse to say, well, you know what? 185 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:10,720 I don't know what I need to pray for, so I don't need to pray. 186 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:11,800 That's not what this is saying. 187 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,880 But what this is saying here in verse 26 is that even sometimes 188 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,800 when we pray incorrectly, even sometimes when we think we know what's 189 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,800 best or we might not even know what to do, the Bible says that the 190 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,960 Holy Spirit, who is indwelling our life, knows what's best and is 191 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,600 making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 192 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:29,640 What does that mean? 193 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:30,960 That means that. 194 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,560 That means he is saying things that we cannot even understand, that 195 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:35,400 we cannot even know. 196 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:35,680 Why? 197 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:36,310 Because we. 198 00:09:36,460 --> 00:09:38,060 We know that God is bigger than us. 199 00:09:38,060 --> 00:09:39,180 He's eternal. 200 00:09:39,260 --> 00:09:40,620 He's all powerful. 201 00:09:40,620 --> 00:09:41,780 He's all knowing. 202 00:09:41,780 --> 00:09:44,380 And there's gonna be times in our life where we just need to release 203 00:09:45,020 --> 00:09:48,180 what we think is our control and say, lord, I don't know what 204 00:09:48,180 --> 00:09:48,780 to pray. 205 00:09:48,860 --> 00:09:50,220 I don't know what to do. 206 00:09:50,220 --> 00:09:53,460 I don't know where to turn, but I know what's best for me, and 207 00:09:53,460 --> 00:09:57,860 that is to follow you and for the Holy Spirit to guide and for 208 00:09:57,860 --> 00:09:59,180 the Holy Spirit to comfort. 209 00:09:59,580 --> 00:10:02,780 And so it's comforting to know that I am not in control. 210 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,080 It's comforting to know that I recognize my limitations. 211 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,160 If my confidence is in myself, eventually I am going to fail. 212 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,120 Eventually, I am going to be limited. 213 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,160 And so what the Bible says here is that our prayer life is not 214 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:23,120 limited by our problems, by our struggles, by our lack of wisdom, 215 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:26,920 by our inconsiderate nature, sometimes with our selfishness, because 216 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,530 sometimes we pray selfishly, and there's nothing wrong with that. 217 00:10:30,530 --> 00:10:33,730 But sometimes what happens is, is that ultimately, sometimes our 218 00:10:33,730 --> 00:10:37,650 selfishness and our prayers can be seen by following our will 219 00:10:37,650 --> 00:10:39,210 instead of following God's will. 220 00:10:40,170 --> 00:10:42,530 We see that over and over again in Scripture that God wants 221 00:10:42,530 --> 00:10:46,690 us not to just pray for our desires and our wants and our needs, 222 00:10:46,690 --> 00:10:49,250 even though there is a time and a place to pray for our needs 223 00:10:49,250 --> 00:10:50,250 and our provisions. 224 00:10:50,250 --> 00:10:53,210 But also it's to pray for God's will in our life, to say, lord, 225 00:10:53,290 --> 00:10:56,170 I don't know what you want me to do, but whatever your will is, 226 00:10:56,500 --> 00:11:00,700 give me the strength and the comfort and the power to walk in 227 00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:02,300 your will, in your way. 228 00:11:02,300 --> 00:11:05,060 And so what we see that, even see that in the garden, right? 229 00:11:05,140 --> 00:11:08,020 Remember when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and he was coming 230 00:11:08,020 --> 00:11:10,820 to a place in his life where he knew he was going to be giving 231 00:11:10,820 --> 00:11:12,260 himself as a sacrifice. 232 00:11:12,740 --> 00:11:16,580 And he asked the Father, lord, if there be another way, I'm in this. 233 00:11:16,580 --> 00:11:17,060 I'm ready. 234 00:11:17,060 --> 00:11:18,060 I'm going to follow you. 235 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:22,340 But if there's another way, please let that come right now. 236 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,320 But then remember how he ends that prayer. 237 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:25,840 Nevertheless, I will be done. 238 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,480 And that's really the heart of our Christian life, is to say, lord, 239 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:31,040 I don't know what's best for me. 240 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,360 I'm at the end of my rope, Lord, I don't know what to do. 241 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,000 And even in the book of James, if you go with me to James chapter 242 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,720 one, I want you to see a couple of things here in James chapter 243 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,560 one, because there is something to do when we don't know 244 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:46,160 what to do. 245 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,310 We don't just quit a lot of people when we get to that point 246 00:11:51,310 --> 00:11:53,830 where we don't know the next step and we don't know what to ask 247 00:11:54,070 --> 00:11:54,870 God for. 248 00:11:55,670 --> 00:11:58,310 There's a lot of times what happens is people will just quit 249 00:11:58,710 --> 00:11:59,870 or people will turn away. 250 00:11:59,870 --> 00:12:04,150 They will recoil from God, they will turn away from the Word, 251 00:12:04,150 --> 00:12:07,110 they will turn away from church, they will turn away from 252 00:12:07,110 --> 00:12:10,150 prayer, they will turn away from fellowship, they'll turn away 253 00:12:10,150 --> 00:12:10,710 from everything. 254 00:12:10,870 --> 00:12:11,990 And what does James say? 255 00:12:11,990 --> 00:12:13,830 James says the complete opposite. 256 00:12:14,230 --> 00:12:16,990 When you come to that place where you lack wisdom, when you come 257 00:12:16,990 --> 00:12:19,620 to that place where you where you're struggling in discernment, 258 00:12:19,620 --> 00:12:20,380 what do you do? 259 00:12:20,380 --> 00:12:24,460 Well, it says in verse number five of James 1, if any of you lack 260 00:12:24,460 --> 00:12:28,260 wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally 261 00:12:28,260 --> 00:12:29,340 and abradeth not. 262 00:12:29,660 --> 00:12:31,420 And it shall be given him, meaning this. 263 00:12:31,580 --> 00:12:36,660 Go to God, cling to him more, whether you know the direction or 264 00:12:36,660 --> 00:12:39,260 not, go to him because he's going to be the one that gives us, 265 00:12:39,260 --> 00:12:40,500 as it says here, the wisdom. 266 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:42,100 And that he's not willing to hold it back. 267 00:12:42,100 --> 00:12:44,940 He gives it to all men liberally and abradeth not means 268 00:12:44,940 --> 00:12:46,220 he doesn't hold it over our heads. 269 00:12:46,220 --> 00:12:48,140 He doesn't condemn us for asking questions. 270 00:12:48,140 --> 00:12:49,580 And it says, and it shall be given him. 271 00:12:49,580 --> 00:12:51,060 But we do it in a specific way. 272 00:12:51,060 --> 00:12:51,700 Verse 6. 273 00:12:51,860 --> 00:12:56,060 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. 274 00:12:56,060 --> 00:12:59,780 For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the 275 00:12:59,780 --> 00:13:00,500 wind and toss. 276 00:13:01,060 --> 00:13:03,900 For let not a man think that he shall receive anything of the 277 00:13:03,900 --> 00:13:04,260 Lord. 278 00:13:04,340 --> 00:13:06,700 A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. 279 00:13:06,700 --> 00:13:10,080 And so he says we are to ask in faith, saying this, lord, I believe 280 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,160 that you have what's best for me in my life and I trust you. 281 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,120 And when you give me that direction, when you open that door, 282 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:18,960 when you close that door, I'm going to trust that that's a gift 283 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:19,600 from you. 284 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:21,240 If you go farther. 285 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,920 In James, chapter one, verse 17, it says, Every good gift and 286 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,080 every perfect gift is from above. 287 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,160 It's from God, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom 288 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:32,480 is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 289 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,960 Meaning this God is consistently good in every way. 290 00:13:35,740 --> 00:13:38,380 Every good gift that we have, every good thing that we have comes 291 00:13:38,380 --> 00:13:40,380 from God, doesn't come from me. 292 00:13:40,540 --> 00:13:43,380 It doesn't come from my talent, it doesn't come from my good 293 00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:46,060 looks, it doesn't come from where I was born, it doesn't come 294 00:13:46,060 --> 00:13:47,900 from how much money I have in my bank account. 295 00:13:48,060 --> 00:13:50,380 The good gifts come from God directly. 296 00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:53,140 And we come to Thanksgiving season and we think about all These 297 00:13:53,140 --> 00:13:56,180 things in our life that we have and we can assess, well, that 298 00:13:56,180 --> 00:13:59,380 was because of me, or that was because of this person, or that's 299 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:01,030 because of here, that's because of. 300 00:14:01,180 --> 00:14:01,620 Of that. 301 00:14:01,620 --> 00:14:04,220 But at the end of the day, if we are believers in Jesus Christ, 302 00:14:04,220 --> 00:14:05,260 what do we have to do? 303 00:14:05,420 --> 00:14:07,420 Every good thing that we have comes from God. 304 00:14:07,660 --> 00:14:11,300 And we have to see those gifts as an opportunity to turn that around 305 00:14:11,300 --> 00:14:13,900 and thank God and, and to give him praise. 306 00:14:14,540 --> 00:14:18,180 And sometimes we think of all the things that go in our will to 307 00:14:18,180 --> 00:14:21,340 be, the good things, like, oh, God gave me a raise at work. 308 00:14:21,420 --> 00:14:22,100 Praise God. 309 00:14:22,100 --> 00:14:22,740 He's a good God. 310 00:14:22,740 --> 00:14:23,420 That's a gift. 311 00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:27,060 And so sometimes we think of, of the good news that we hear, the 312 00:14:27,060 --> 00:14:27,980 doctors as well. 313 00:14:27,980 --> 00:14:29,020 That's a gift from God. 314 00:14:29,020 --> 00:14:29,820 He healed me. 315 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,240 But what we see here is that sometimes God's answer is not what 316 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,760 we're expecting, but at the same time, it's a gift from God. 317 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:38,080 Why? 318 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,080 Because it's God's work in our life. 319 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:41,680 It's God's plan for our life. 320 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,920 And sometimes we don't see trials as a gift. 321 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,760 But what the Bible actually says is that if God allows a trial 322 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,920 to happen, it's something that he extends to us in our life as a 323 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,340 place of growth that is a gift of from God, whether we like it or 324 00:14:58,340 --> 00:14:58,620 not. 325 00:15:00,060 --> 00:15:01,660 Even so, conviction. 326 00:15:02,220 --> 00:15:04,060 We're going to look at a passage of Scripture a little bit 327 00:15:04,060 --> 00:15:06,940 later that the Bible says that the Holy Spirit comes to the world 328 00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:08,860 to convict them in sin. 329 00:15:09,580 --> 00:15:11,660 Most of us don't see conviction as a gift. 330 00:15:12,220 --> 00:15:13,380 That's something that we hate. 331 00:15:13,380 --> 00:15:15,060 We don't want to be told that we're wrong. 332 00:15:15,060 --> 00:15:15,980 We don't want to change. 333 00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:18,860 But actually, the Bible says that that is a gift from God. 334 00:15:18,860 --> 00:15:21,940 And so what I want us to think about here this morning is instead 335 00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:24,780 of just thinking of all the things that make sense to us as gifts 336 00:15:24,780 --> 00:15:27,680 from God, it's the Holy Spirit working in our life. 337 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:28,480 That's the gift. 338 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,080 The fact that the Holy Spirit speaks to us, the fact that the Holy 339 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,200 Spirit comforts us, the fact that the Holy Spirit encourages us, 340 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,160 the fact that the Holy Spirit empowers us and gives us endurance, 341 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:39,760 these are all gifts from God. 342 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,240 And so what we can see here in this case is that the Bible tells 343 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:47,200 us that we need to see the blessings of God in a. 344 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,000 In a more spiritual, more biblical perspective. 345 00:15:51,930 --> 00:15:55,770 He speaks later on in the Book of James, he speaks of this idea 346 00:15:55,850 --> 00:15:56,890 of counting it all. 347 00:15:56,890 --> 00:15:57,370 Joy. 348 00:15:57,370 --> 00:15:59,050 When we fall into diverse temptations. 349 00:15:59,610 --> 00:16:01,130 Now, how can we count it? 350 00:16:01,130 --> 00:16:02,730 Joy when we fall into temptation. 351 00:16:02,890 --> 00:16:03,250 Why? 352 00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:07,050 Because we know that this is an opportunity for us to grow in 353 00:16:07,050 --> 00:16:07,610 the Lord. 354 00:16:07,850 --> 00:16:10,610 And so go back with me to Romans, because that's really where 355 00:16:10,610 --> 00:16:11,770 our main text is this morning. 356 00:16:11,930 --> 00:16:16,810 He says, look, there's going to be a time and a place that we 357 00:16:16,810 --> 00:16:19,600 need to recognize our infirmities, our weaknesses. 358 00:16:19,830 --> 00:16:27,590 Is, you know, in our culture today, weakness is seen as something 359 00:16:27,590 --> 00:16:28,790 that is negative. 360 00:16:29,030 --> 00:16:31,350 That's something that we need to avoid. 361 00:16:31,670 --> 00:16:36,110 We need to do everything that we can to show that we are not weak 362 00:16:36,110 --> 00:16:37,030 to those around us. 363 00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:41,950 And I understand why we think that, but the Bible actually tells 364 00:16:41,950 --> 00:16:42,630 us something different. 365 00:16:42,630 --> 00:16:46,480 That when we are weak, think about 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, 366 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:53,320 when we recognize our weakness and when we recognize how God is 367 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:54,880 the only answer to our weakness. 368 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,080 That is when God can be made strong in our life. 369 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:02,720 That is when the testimony is the loudest, when we can't explain 370 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,000 how God has done this in our life, other than God's worked a miracle 371 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,480 in my life, that's a testimony of God's work. 372 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:13,000 If I can explain all the good things in my life by my hard work, 373 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,520 who's getting the credit for that? 374 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,560 God's got to get the credit for everything that we have in our 375 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:18,840 life. 376 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,600 If, like, I, I look and like people, wow, you know, your, your 377 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:25,640 kids did this, or, you know, you. 378 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,320 You have this in your life, or you're, you're driving a nice car, 379 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,800 you have a nice home, or, you know, whatever it is, whatever someone 380 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,800 gives you praise for, you did a good job at work. 381 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,880 The Christian reaction, the biblical Christian reaction should 382 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,350 be, well, that's coming from the Lord. 383 00:17:38,350 --> 00:17:39,070 That's not me. 384 00:17:39,470 --> 00:17:40,750 That's a blessing from him. 385 00:17:41,390 --> 00:17:45,350 And so when we see here, it says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth 386 00:17:45,350 --> 00:17:50,830 us in our infirmities because we don't know what we should pray 387 00:17:50,830 --> 00:17:52,790 for sometimes, but the Spirit does. 388 00:17:52,790 --> 00:17:54,750 And the Spirit makes intercession for us. 389 00:17:55,790 --> 00:17:56,910 This is an amazing thing. 390 00:17:56,910 --> 00:17:57,310 This is. 391 00:17:57,310 --> 00:18:00,830 This is the fact that we as Christians can come to God even if 392 00:18:00,830 --> 00:18:03,760 we don't know what's best for us in some cases, and he will give 393 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:04,920 us what's best for us. 394 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:10,000 Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 tells us that because of the relationship 395 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,480 that we have with God through Jesus Christ, as the Bible says, 396 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:17,760 our high priest, we can, as it says in verse 16, let us therefore 397 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,800 come boldly or confidently unto the throne of grace. 398 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:23,080 This is. 399 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,160 This means I can come before God. 400 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:25,800 Why? 401 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:32,520 That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 402 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,160 Meaning when we are struggling, when we are in time of 403 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:36,360 need. 404 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:37,240 What do we need? 405 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,280 Well, we don't need more man, man's wisdom in our life. 406 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:42,760 We don't need more praise for ourselves. 407 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:47,400 We need God's mercy and grace to find help in time of need. 408 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:49,480 How do we find mercy and grace? 409 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:50,360 We go to him. 410 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,160 James 4 says, Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. 411 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:55,160 So the point is, is this. 412 00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:01,440 In times of trials, in times of infirmities and times of weakness 413 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:05,680 and times of limitation, we go to him and say, lord, I don't know 414 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,320 necessarily what my next step is, Lord, I don't know how you're 415 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:14,600 going to work this out in my life, but I trust you, I love you, 416 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,520 and I know that you love me completely. 417 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,000 Therefore, I'm going to release what I feel is my control. 418 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,690 Even though we all know at some points in our life we have recognized 419 00:19:24,690 --> 00:19:25,690 how we've lost control. 420 00:19:27,370 --> 00:19:29,610 And sometimes we think we're in control and we've lost control. 421 00:19:29,610 --> 00:19:32,490 What the Bible says is that when we relinquish what we think 422 00:19:32,490 --> 00:19:35,490 is our control over to the Lord, we're trusting in the One who 423 00:19:35,490 --> 00:19:37,690 is already controlling our life, whether we know it or not. 424 00:19:37,850 --> 00:19:41,370 And we can walk in obedience with him in the Spirit, to know him 425 00:19:41,610 --> 00:19:43,930 and to grow in confidence in Him. 426 00:19:43,930 --> 00:19:46,490 And so it says verse 27 in Romans 8. 427 00:19:46,810 --> 00:19:52,480 And he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of 428 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:52,800 the Spirit. 429 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:53,440 Meaning this. 430 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:55,680 God is the one who knows our hearts. 431 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,880 Sometimes our heart can deceive us. 432 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,079 Sometimes we can think that we have what's best for our lives. 433 00:20:04,079 --> 00:20:07,200 But at the end of the day, it's not what's best for us. 434 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:09,960 And so God, who knows our hearts, knows what's best for us. 435 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,600 And he is the one that, as it says here, is the mind of the Spirit. 436 00:20:14,010 --> 00:20:16,730 And because he maketh intercession for the saints according 437 00:20:16,810 --> 00:20:17,850 to the will of God. 438 00:20:17,850 --> 00:20:22,650 Meaning this, we as Christians, when we follow the Spirit, 439 00:20:23,050 --> 00:20:25,850 can know that we are following the will of God. 440 00:20:25,850 --> 00:20:26,170 Why? 441 00:20:26,170 --> 00:20:29,969 Because the Spirit is never going to contradict the Father, just 442 00:20:29,969 --> 00:20:32,450 as Jesus never contradicted the Father as he was here on this 443 00:20:32,450 --> 00:20:32,810 earth. 444 00:20:33,370 --> 00:20:37,410 Jesus always obeyed the will of the Father, therefore the Spirit 445 00:20:37,410 --> 00:20:39,050 will always obey the will of the Father. 446 00:20:39,050 --> 00:20:42,170 Therefore, when we are following the Spirit in our life 447 00:20:42,180 --> 00:20:45,610 and, and trusting in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit 448 00:20:45,770 --> 00:20:49,970 and obeying the word of God, then we know that as we follow him, 449 00:20:49,970 --> 00:20:52,530 we will be following the will of God. 450 00:20:52,530 --> 00:20:56,610 And I hope that all of us have a deep desire to follow the will 451 00:20:56,610 --> 00:20:56,890 of God. 452 00:20:56,890 --> 00:20:57,370 In our lives. 453 00:20:57,370 --> 00:20:59,130 But sometimes we don't know what the will of God is. 454 00:21:00,490 --> 00:21:02,850 Sometimes it's very clear what the will of God is when it comes 455 00:21:02,850 --> 00:21:05,770 to whether it's sin or not sin. 456 00:21:07,370 --> 00:21:11,020 Am I doing something wrong or is it just, I'm shorting out here. 457 00:21:11,020 --> 00:21:11,820 No one knows. 458 00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:14,700 Okay, sorry for that distraction. 459 00:21:16,060 --> 00:21:17,900 But, but the reality is, is this. 460 00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:22,980 Sometimes when it comes to the word of God, we know that it's not 461 00:21:22,980 --> 00:21:24,780 God's will for us to lie. 462 00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:27,580 We know that it's not God's will for us to murder. 463 00:21:27,980 --> 00:21:30,380 We know it's not God's will for us to steal. 464 00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:33,260 And we can find that through the word of God. 465 00:21:33,740 --> 00:21:36,630 And so a lot of times people are praying for things like, lord, 466 00:21:36,630 --> 00:21:38,070 should I, should I take this money? 467 00:21:38,070 --> 00:21:38,830 That's not mine. 468 00:21:38,830 --> 00:21:40,030 You don't need to pray about that. 469 00:21:40,030 --> 00:21:42,030 The will of God is found in the word of God. 470 00:21:42,830 --> 00:21:45,430 But there, there's other things in our life that are not so 471 00:21:45,430 --> 00:21:48,390 cut and dry when it comes to circumstantial decisions that we 472 00:21:48,390 --> 00:21:51,150 make that might lead to avenues of sin. 473 00:21:51,630 --> 00:21:52,590 For example. 474 00:21:52,750 --> 00:21:56,510 For example, when I read the Bible, I did not find in the Bible, 475 00:21:56,830 --> 00:21:59,550 josh Massaro, you should marry Alicia. 476 00:22:00,270 --> 00:22:01,550 Okay, I didn't see that. 477 00:22:01,550 --> 00:22:01,990 I looked. 478 00:22:01,990 --> 00:22:03,790 I was, I was asking God for his will. 479 00:22:04,010 --> 00:22:05,970 But at the end of the day, there are certain things that we 480 00:22:05,970 --> 00:22:08,730 have to read by way of principle in the word of God and 481 00:22:08,730 --> 00:22:12,650 then seek after the will of God through prayer and through study 482 00:22:12,730 --> 00:22:16,490 and through godly counsel that God leads our heart with confidence 483 00:22:16,570 --> 00:22:20,530 and confirmation and conviction towards the decision that 484 00:22:20,530 --> 00:22:21,290 we make in our life. 485 00:22:21,370 --> 00:22:26,650 Now I am confident to know that it is God's will for me as I've 486 00:22:26,650 --> 00:22:29,690 already married my wife, to stay married to my wife and to live 487 00:22:29,690 --> 00:22:34,170 a con convicted life towards following the Lord together with 488 00:22:34,170 --> 00:22:34,450 her. 489 00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:39,050 But what the Bible tells us is that there's a lot of people that 490 00:22:39,050 --> 00:22:41,930 will make wrong decisions on the front end of things. 491 00:22:41,930 --> 00:22:44,930 Meaning like, I'm going to just decide to make a decision, move 492 00:22:44,930 --> 00:22:49,090 here, do this, spend this, marry this person, go, go to this 493 00:22:49,090 --> 00:22:53,250 place and without any consideration for the will of God 494 00:22:54,290 --> 00:22:57,690 and then follow up with that by saying, lord, work in my life. 495 00:22:57,690 --> 00:23:00,860 And the problem is, is that many times we abuse the grace of 496 00:23:00,860 --> 00:23:01,220 God. 497 00:23:01,780 --> 00:23:04,420 The reality is, is that God can make any bad decision good. 498 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:06,580 He can take ashes and turn them to beauty. 499 00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,980 But if we as Christians want to follow God in a more close, more, 500 00:23:11,140 --> 00:23:14,900 more authentic way, before we make decisions, we need to bathe 501 00:23:14,900 --> 00:23:15,019 in. 502 00:23:15,019 --> 00:23:15,540 In prayer. 503 00:23:15,860 --> 00:23:17,700 We need to ask God for his wisdom. 504 00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:20,100 We need to ask God for His patience. 505 00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:23,620 We need to ask God for His grace, and we need to ask God for 506 00:23:23,620 --> 00:23:26,470 His protection when we're making decisions in our life. 507 00:23:26,630 --> 00:23:29,350 So God wants us to find that comfort in Him. 508 00:23:29,350 --> 00:23:33,990 And so he says at the end of verse 27, hey, why do we trust the 509 00:23:33,990 --> 00:23:34,390 Spirit? 510 00:23:35,030 --> 00:23:37,030 Well, number one, he knows what's best for us. 511 00:23:37,350 --> 00:23:41,030 Number two, he knows the will of God, and therefore we follow him 512 00:23:41,030 --> 00:23:42,270 in those decisions that we make. 513 00:23:42,270 --> 00:23:45,910 Now, for a Christian who is not, or an unsaved person for that 514 00:23:45,910 --> 00:23:51,940 matter, who has not exercised this spiritual discipline, it's basically 515 00:23:51,940 --> 00:23:53,420 sounding like you're crazy right now. 516 00:23:53,420 --> 00:23:54,940 Like someone comes and talks to you. 517 00:23:55,340 --> 00:23:56,020 How do you know? 518 00:23:56,020 --> 00:23:57,580 Like, is there writing in the sky? 519 00:23:58,060 --> 00:24:01,100 Well, that's something that we have to build as believers. 520 00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:03,900 You have to build that communication line with the Lord. 521 00:24:04,780 --> 00:24:07,780 It has to be something that you build in your relationship on 522 00:24:07,780 --> 00:24:08,540 the day to day. 523 00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:12,540 If, if, if someone walked in for the first time today to our church 524 00:24:12,700 --> 00:24:16,300 and I looked at them and I tried to pretend like I knew them 525 00:24:16,300 --> 00:24:18,280 for 20 years, that would be weird. 526 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,640 Like, if I'm trying to guess what they like or trying to guess 527 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,360 what they want, there's no way that I could ever understand that. 528 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:28,800 But if I spend time with someone, if I spent hours with them, 529 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,520 if I, if I talk with them and I share my deepest heart with them 530 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,320 and they share their heart with me, I'm going to be a lot more 531 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,400 inclined to understand what that person wants, how that person 532 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,520 reacts, how that person responds. 533 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,320 And that's the same thing for us as Christians. 534 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,000 We can't expect to say that we know the will of God if we're not 535 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,260 spending any time with him, if we're not trusting in him, if we're 536 00:24:49,260 --> 00:24:52,460 not relying on his grace and presence in our life. 537 00:24:53,020 --> 00:24:57,420 And so In Romans chapter 8, he reminds us that, hey, even when we 538 00:24:57,420 --> 00:25:01,300 are in our weakest point, the Holy Spirit knows what's best for 539 00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:01,500 us. 540 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:05,980 And so instead of trying to manipulate God's word or manipulate 541 00:25:06,060 --> 00:25:09,180 some work of God in our life and basically say this, Lord, I'm 542 00:25:09,180 --> 00:25:09,740 going to do this. 543 00:25:09,740 --> 00:25:11,020 And so just bless it. 544 00:25:11,020 --> 00:25:15,270 No, we wait on the Lord and we give ourselves over to him to know 545 00:25:15,270 --> 00:25:19,430 that he is there for us even when we are broken, even when we 546 00:25:19,430 --> 00:25:21,910 are at that place where we don't even know what to pray for. 547 00:25:22,630 --> 00:25:24,870 But I want to take you to another passage where we actually 548 00:25:24,870 --> 00:25:25,710 started here this morning. 549 00:25:25,710 --> 00:25:29,950 And that's In John chapter 14, Jesus reminds us that, hey, you know 550 00:25:29,950 --> 00:25:30,230 what? 551 00:25:30,390 --> 00:25:32,230 I am going to Send you a comforter. 552 00:25:33,030 --> 00:25:33,350 That. 553 00:25:33,350 --> 00:25:37,350 That word comforter, it actually has multiple meanings. 554 00:25:37,350 --> 00:25:41,670 It actually is a more complex word than just comforter. 555 00:25:43,090 --> 00:25:46,170 The word comforter there means comforter, but also encourager or 556 00:25:46,170 --> 00:25:46,930 exhorter. 557 00:25:47,730 --> 00:25:48,930 What's an exhorter? 558 00:25:48,930 --> 00:25:52,770 An exhorter is someone who comes alongside of somebody and encourages 559 00:25:52,770 --> 00:25:56,730 them and challenges them, doesn't push them as much as they 560 00:25:56,730 --> 00:25:57,810 come alongside of them. 561 00:25:58,210 --> 00:26:03,290 And so the Bible says in John, chapter 14, verse 16, Jesus is. 562 00:26:03,290 --> 00:26:04,810 Remember, he's about to leave. 563 00:26:04,810 --> 00:26:08,320 He just talked about how he's going to go and prepare a place for 564 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,720 his followers and that he's going to come again. 565 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,320 But he says, as I leave, verse 16, I will pray the Father, I will 566 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:20,640 ask the Father, and he shall give you another comforter or exhorter. 567 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:22,800 Or. 568 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:26,480 Or we could say it in a way of the one who would encourage. 569 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,840 So he says, I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another 570 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,600 comforter that he may abide with you forever. 571 00:26:36,550 --> 00:26:39,550 This speaks of this idea of the Holy Spirit not just being with 572 00:26:39,550 --> 00:26:42,510 us for a moment, but to continuously be with us. 573 00:26:42,510 --> 00:26:44,870 And so when Jesus says that he's never going to leave us nor 574 00:26:44,870 --> 00:26:48,990 forsake us, this is the avenue in which that happens, the presence 575 00:26:48,990 --> 00:26:50,230 of God in our life. 576 00:26:51,190 --> 00:26:54,350 Now we need to stop there, and we need to recognize that there is 577 00:26:54,350 --> 00:26:57,230 a difference between the indwelling of the Spirit and the 578 00:26:57,230 --> 00:26:58,230 filling of the Spirit. 579 00:26:58,390 --> 00:26:59,990 Indwelling of the Spirit means this. 580 00:27:00,070 --> 00:27:02,470 As a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within me. 581 00:27:02,830 --> 00:27:04,270 I can't stop that from happening. 582 00:27:04,270 --> 00:27:06,750 If I trusted in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives within me. 583 00:27:06,750 --> 00:27:08,870 But there's also something called the filling of the Spirit. 584 00:27:08,870 --> 00:27:11,710 The filling of the Spirit is essentially this being able to tap 585 00:27:11,710 --> 00:27:15,630 into the obedience of God and walking in fellowship with God and 586 00:27:15,630 --> 00:27:17,310 allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us. 587 00:27:17,310 --> 00:27:19,070 That means to be filled with the Spirit. 588 00:27:20,030 --> 00:27:24,030 So, so if, for example, if I'm sitting here and I say, okay, I'm 589 00:27:24,030 --> 00:27:26,110 a Christian, the Holy Spirit's indwelling me. 590 00:27:26,110 --> 00:27:27,630 The pastor preaches a message. 591 00:27:27,790 --> 00:27:30,690 I know that I should change, but I'm not going to change because 592 00:27:30,690 --> 00:27:32,410 I know that I want to do this. 593 00:27:33,050 --> 00:27:33,610 That's. 594 00:27:34,010 --> 00:27:36,050 You're indwelled by the Spirit, but you're not being filled 595 00:27:36,050 --> 00:27:36,650 by the Spirit. 596 00:27:36,890 --> 00:27:38,570 Being filled with the Spirit would be this. 597 00:27:38,730 --> 00:27:41,410 The Lord is speaking to my heart about a specific matter of 598 00:27:41,410 --> 00:27:41,930 Scripture. 599 00:27:42,650 --> 00:27:45,010 The Lord is speaking to my heart in a specific matter of things 600 00:27:45,010 --> 00:27:46,170 I need to change in my life. 601 00:27:46,250 --> 00:27:49,010 I'm going to change that in my life, no matter if I want to do it 602 00:27:49,010 --> 00:27:49,290 or not. 603 00:27:49,290 --> 00:27:51,290 I'm going to be guided by the Spirit. 604 00:27:51,450 --> 00:27:53,050 He's the one that's going to be in control. 605 00:27:53,290 --> 00:27:56,490 By the way, the Bible says, be not drunk with wine, whereas in excess, 606 00:27:56,870 --> 00:27:58,150 but be filled with the Spirit. 607 00:27:58,150 --> 00:27:59,190 And that means this. 608 00:27:59,190 --> 00:28:02,510 We can either be controlled by a substance, or we can be controlled 609 00:28:02,510 --> 00:28:05,110 by our flesh, or we can be controlled by the Spirit. 610 00:28:06,470 --> 00:28:09,710 We know that someone who is under the inebriation of some type 611 00:28:09,710 --> 00:28:12,870 of substance isn't making decisions, at least not in the proper 612 00:28:12,870 --> 00:28:13,510 mindset. 613 00:28:13,510 --> 00:28:16,230 They're making decisions based on the substance that they have taken. 614 00:28:16,470 --> 00:28:19,630 The Bible says, in contrast to that, being filled with the Spirit 615 00:28:19,630 --> 00:28:21,990 is allowing the Spirit to make the decision for us. 616 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,840 Whether it's something that's going to benefit me or not materially, 617 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,840 I'm going to follow the Spirit. 618 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,960 And so he says in verse 17, the reason why I'm always saying 619 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:34,320 according to Scripture is because he says, even verse 17, even 620 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:37,440 the spirit of truth, meaning the Spirit will always be aligned 621 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:38,319 with the truth of God. 622 00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:40,480 The Spirit will never contradict the Word of God. 623 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,120 And so a lot of times people will say, well, I feel like the Holy 624 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,560 Spirit called me to do that to that person in sin. 625 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,840 No, the Holy Spirit will never lead you to do something contrary 626 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:50,640 to his word. 627 00:28:51,190 --> 00:28:54,350 The Holy Spirit is always going to be aligned with the Word 628 00:28:54,350 --> 00:28:54,790 of God. 629 00:28:54,790 --> 00:28:55,110 Why? 630 00:28:55,190 --> 00:28:58,310 Because the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration 631 00:28:58,310 --> 00:28:58,870 of God. 632 00:28:59,430 --> 00:29:04,030 We believe that people were moved by the Holy Spirit and indwelled 633 00:29:04,030 --> 00:29:06,270 and led by the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God. 634 00:29:06,270 --> 00:29:08,230 So the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict himself. 635 00:29:08,470 --> 00:29:12,550 So it says, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. 636 00:29:12,550 --> 00:29:16,390 By the way, the world, the unsaved world, is what it's saying 637 00:29:16,390 --> 00:29:16,710 here. 638 00:29:16,990 --> 00:29:19,950 People that are not believers in Jesus Christ and are not indwelled 639 00:29:19,950 --> 00:29:22,470 by the Spirit cannot experience what we're talking about 640 00:29:22,470 --> 00:29:23,150 here this morning. 641 00:29:23,310 --> 00:29:26,590 This is something unique to someone who is trusted in Jesus Christ. 642 00:29:27,230 --> 00:29:28,630 The world cannot receive. 643 00:29:28,630 --> 00:29:28,990 Why? 644 00:29:29,070 --> 00:29:30,430 Because it seeth him not. 645 00:29:32,110 --> 00:29:36,670 The world might want to replicate what the church does. 646 00:29:38,030 --> 00:29:41,470 Actually, people with maybe you've even been a part of this. 647 00:29:41,630 --> 00:29:44,310 Maybe either you or someone else that you have been familiar 648 00:29:44,310 --> 00:29:48,440 with have come into church and watched what other people are doing 649 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:49,760 and said, hey, you know what? 650 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,360 I want to have what they have, but I just don't feel it. 651 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,520 So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to fake it. 652 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,760 I'm going to get excited when they get excited. 653 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,240 I'm going to use the words that they say when they say them. 654 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,600 I'm Going to nod my head, I'm going to bow my head, I'm going to 655 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:03,480 kneel at this point. 656 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,160 But the Bible says here is that the only way that we can experience 657 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,160 the true work of God is through the indwelling of the Spirit 658 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:11,160 and faith in Jesus Christ. 659 00:30:11,670 --> 00:30:15,830 So the world or the church cannot replicate what is happening 660 00:30:15,830 --> 00:30:20,230 here unless it is an authentic indwelling of the Spirit through 661 00:30:20,230 --> 00:30:20,750 salvation. 662 00:30:20,750 --> 00:30:22,630 This cannot be found elsewhere. 663 00:30:22,630 --> 00:30:26,830 This cannot be found anywhere in the world other than an indwelled 664 00:30:26,830 --> 00:30:27,790 believer's heart. 665 00:30:27,790 --> 00:30:30,870 And so it says, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, 666 00:30:30,950 --> 00:30:32,230 but ye know him. 667 00:30:32,310 --> 00:30:34,230 Meaning if you're a believer, you know him. 668 00:30:34,230 --> 00:30:35,510 There's a personal relationship. 669 00:30:35,510 --> 00:30:35,910 Why? 670 00:30:36,070 --> 00:30:38,440 For he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. 671 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,240 And then here's the verse, here's the promise that is being 672 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,240 kept when the Holy Spirit indwells us. 673 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,960 He says, I will not leave you comfortless. 674 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,560 I will come to you. 675 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:55,120 Really, the biggest blessing that we have in this context is that 676 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,920 the Lord does not leave us alone. 677 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,560 The Lord does not leave us hopeless. 678 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:00,280 The Lord does not leave us in our sin. 679 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,040 The Lord does not leave us in our infirmities and our weaknesses. 680 00:31:04,650 --> 00:31:07,530 So he says, I will not leave you comfortless. 681 00:31:08,090 --> 00:31:09,410 There's an exhorter here. 682 00:31:09,410 --> 00:31:10,890 The exhorter is the Holy Spirit. 683 00:31:12,330 --> 00:31:14,410 I want to go farther ahead here. 684 00:31:14,410 --> 00:31:17,650 There's a lot more that we could talk about in this, but for 685 00:31:17,650 --> 00:31:20,890 the sake of time, I want you to go to verse chapter number 16, 686 00:31:22,090 --> 00:31:22,890 verse 7. 687 00:31:23,130 --> 00:31:25,610 Jesus is about to say more about the comforter. 688 00:31:26,410 --> 00:31:30,580 He's already talked about how the comforter is going to bring comfort. 689 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:32,580 He's going to bring conviction. 690 00:31:32,900 --> 00:31:34,340 He's going to bring teaching. 691 00:31:34,340 --> 00:31:36,100 He's going to guide us into all truth. 692 00:31:36,340 --> 00:31:39,140 But we see here something amazing, and this is something that 693 00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:41,860 even I to some degree struggle with. 694 00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:44,580 Because what Jesus is about to say is counterintuitive. 695 00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:48,300 Because we would all think this usually, that if Jesus was just 696 00:31:48,300 --> 00:31:52,380 here, like, if we could see him, I would never doubt, I would 697 00:31:52,380 --> 00:31:53,300 be, I would be. 698 00:31:54,100 --> 00:31:56,720 I would always obey if I just saw Jesus right in front of me. 699 00:31:57,270 --> 00:31:59,350 And we think sometimes, like, why did the disciples struggle? 700 00:31:59,350 --> 00:32:02,310 I mean, Jesus was performing miracles right in front of them. 701 00:32:02,550 --> 00:32:05,030 I mean, Jesus was teaching them face to face. 702 00:32:05,030 --> 00:32:07,430 What if our discipleship leader was Jesus? 703 00:32:07,990 --> 00:32:10,310 Like, we would say, that's the greatest thing ever. 704 00:32:10,710 --> 00:32:12,922 Well, look what he says in John 16. 705 00:32:13,058 --> 00:32:13,670 7. 706 00:32:15,110 --> 00:32:20,150 He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient or 707 00:32:20,150 --> 00:32:25,440 better, more beneficial for you that I go away. 708 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,640 He's talking to his Disciples here He says, for if I go not away, 709 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,480 the comforter will not come unto you. 710 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,600 But if I depart, I will send him unto you. 711 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,479 And when he is calm, he will prove or convict the world of sin 712 00:32:38,479 --> 00:32:40,000 and of righteousness and of judgment. 713 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,680 Of sin, because they believe not on me of righteousness, because 714 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,360 I go to my Father and ye see me no more of judgment, because the 715 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:47,520 Prince of the world is judged. 716 00:32:49,930 --> 00:32:50,890 And it says, verse 13. 717 00:32:50,890 --> 00:32:51,450 How be it? 718 00:32:51,450 --> 00:32:54,170 When the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all 719 00:32:54,170 --> 00:32:54,570 truth. 720 00:32:54,810 --> 00:32:57,850 For he shall not speak of himself, but whosoever he shall hear 721 00:32:58,170 --> 00:32:59,250 that shall he speak. 722 00:32:59,250 --> 00:33:00,890 And he shall show you things to come. 723 00:33:00,970 --> 00:33:02,170 So let's stop there. 724 00:33:02,570 --> 00:33:03,330 What does he say? 725 00:33:03,330 --> 00:33:04,330 What is Jesus saying? 726 00:33:04,730 --> 00:33:09,650 He says that it was better that he would physically leave so 727 00:33:09,650 --> 00:33:13,690 that the Holy Spirit could come and indwell them and guide them 728 00:33:14,300 --> 00:33:17,900 and comfort them and strengthen them and encourage them. 729 00:33:18,380 --> 00:33:19,660 Now, why would that be the case? 730 00:33:19,660 --> 00:33:21,180 Well, remember in. 731 00:33:21,180 --> 00:33:26,860 In that time when Jesus was there on his earthly ministry, he 732 00:33:26,860 --> 00:33:28,700 limited himself physically. 733 00:33:29,260 --> 00:33:29,860 We know that. 734 00:33:29,860 --> 00:33:32,060 We know that Jesus had the capabilities of being everywhere, 735 00:33:32,140 --> 00:33:34,340 all at once, to be all powerful. 736 00:33:34,340 --> 00:33:36,620 But we know in Philippians chapter two, it says that he humbled 737 00:33:36,620 --> 00:33:38,380 himself and took the form of a servant. 738 00:33:38,940 --> 00:33:42,180 So in that case, Jesus could have been here with Peter. 739 00:33:42,180 --> 00:33:43,980 But let's say John was in another town. 740 00:33:44,140 --> 00:33:45,340 John wouldn't able. 741 00:33:45,340 --> 00:33:48,100 He wouldn't be able in that very moment to see physically Jesus 742 00:33:48,100 --> 00:33:48,580 in front of him. 743 00:33:48,580 --> 00:33:49,660 So he would feel alone. 744 00:33:50,300 --> 00:33:54,420 The beauty that we have in the Holy Spirit is that all of us, no 745 00:33:54,420 --> 00:34:00,260 matter where we are, no matter how much struggle we're facing, no 746 00:34:00,260 --> 00:34:03,980 matter how much persecution we have against us, that we all can 747 00:34:03,980 --> 00:34:06,380 have the same presence of God in our life. 748 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,920 No matter if we're here all in this room, or we're a thousand miles 749 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:11,600 away from each other, it doesn't matter. 750 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:12,520 God is with us. 751 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,280 And therefore he can hear us. 752 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,320 And he hears our prayers and he hears our groanings and our. 753 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,840 And our desires and our needs. 754 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,160 And so what he's saying here is this. 755 00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:25,760 The gift of the Spirit is a wonderful gift. 756 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:27,080 It's a perfect gift. 757 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:27,400 Why? 758 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,080 Because it really is the. 759 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:34,439 Is the culmination of God saying through Jesus here that he 760 00:34:34,439 --> 00:34:37,639 would not leave us comfortless, that he would be with 761 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:37,839 us. 762 00:34:37,839 --> 00:34:39,519 He would never leave us nor forsake us. 763 00:34:39,519 --> 00:34:42,559 And so we as Christians often don't think about the gift of the 764 00:34:42,559 --> 00:34:44,999 Spirit indwelling us in the here and now. 765 00:34:45,479 --> 00:34:48,839 But it is a gift to know that God hears us, to know that we can 766 00:34:48,839 --> 00:34:53,799 come to him in times of need, and we can find mercy and grace, 767 00:34:53,959 --> 00:34:57,719 it is there as a gift to know that we can come to him and that 768 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:01,460 even if we don't know what we need for our life, we don't even 769 00:35:01,460 --> 00:35:04,500 know how to ask it, that he knows what's best for us. 770 00:35:04,980 --> 00:35:08,020 And so here in the book of Romans, Romans 8, he just simply 771 00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:08,580 says this. 772 00:35:09,300 --> 00:35:11,540 He says, the Spirit's there to help you. 773 00:35:11,620 --> 00:35:12,940 The Spirit's there to encourage you. 774 00:35:12,940 --> 00:35:15,620 And some of us here this morning, we need some encouragement. 775 00:35:16,740 --> 00:35:19,820 I don't know about you, but there's times in my life where I 776 00:35:19,820 --> 00:35:22,500 wake up in the morning even though I know that God loves me, 777 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:24,180 even though I know that he saved me. 778 00:35:24,260 --> 00:35:27,460 But I'm discouraged because of something that's happened in my life. 779 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,480 And the Bible says that he comforts us. 780 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,320 I want you to see one last passage of Scripture. 781 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:36,040 Then we're going to be done. 782 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,720 Because the comfort that is given to us is again, not there for 783 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:42,640 us, just to be comforted and stay the same. 784 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,120 The comfort is there to change us. 785 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,640 The comfort is there to guide us, to comfort others. 786 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:53,000 Because I've told you this before, and I will keep telling you 787 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,990 this, that when God extends love to us, it's not for us just 788 00:35:55,990 --> 00:35:56,670 to receive. 789 00:35:56,990 --> 00:35:59,150 He extends love to us so that we love others. 790 00:36:00,270 --> 00:36:02,870 He doesn't just extend forgiveness to us so that we receive 791 00:36:02,870 --> 00:36:04,830 his forgiveness and we're thankful for his forgiveness. 792 00:36:04,910 --> 00:36:07,670 If we are thankful for his forgiveness, we are willing to forgive 793 00:36:07,670 --> 00:36:07,950 others. 794 00:36:08,830 --> 00:36:12,110 He doesn't just extend grace for us to hold grace. 795 00:36:12,510 --> 00:36:13,830 It's so that we extend grace. 796 00:36:13,830 --> 00:36:17,150 And so I want you to see Second Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 797 00:36:17,150 --> 00:36:17,470 3. 798 00:36:17,790 --> 00:36:21,520 He speaks of a name for God that I just love. 799 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:27,840 And it is the God of all comfort or the God of all encouragement. 800 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,000 And we can see here, he says, blessed be God. 801 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,080 This is verse three of Second Corinthians, chapter one. 802 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,440 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 803 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,040 The God or the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 804 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,070 And it says here, who comforteth us or encourages us in 805 00:36:47,070 --> 00:36:48,630 all our tribulation. 806 00:36:49,750 --> 00:36:51,950 I love the word there. 807 00:36:51,950 --> 00:36:55,830 All because it's not just when he's comfortable with helping us. 808 00:36:55,830 --> 00:36:57,670 It's not just when we come to Him. 809 00:36:57,830 --> 00:37:01,270 No, it says that if we are a child of God, he comforts us in all 810 00:37:01,270 --> 00:37:02,150 of our tribulation. 811 00:37:02,870 --> 00:37:04,270 And then it doesn't stop there. 812 00:37:04,270 --> 00:37:10,150 It says, for we may be able that we may be able to comfort them 813 00:37:10,150 --> 00:37:13,710 which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves 814 00:37:13,710 --> 00:37:14,870 are comforted of God. 815 00:37:14,870 --> 00:37:15,510 Meaning this. 816 00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:20,800 We receive the comfort of God through the indwelling of the Spirit. 817 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:27,160 And then it's our goal, it's our purpose to share that comfort 818 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,080 with others around us so that they can know the comfort of God, 819 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,160 so that they can understand who the comforter is, so that they 820 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:34,720 can understand the encouragement of God. 821 00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:37,720 And so Romans chapter eight tells us that, yes, we have no more 822 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:38,400 condemnation. 823 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,360 Yes, we're empowered by the Holy Spirit. 824 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,840 Yes, we have endurance in the Holy Spirit. 825 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,520 And also here this morning, we have encouragement in the Holy Spirit. 826 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,880 I know that even in Romans chapter 12. 827 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:52,960 Later on, we're going to talk about the spiritual gifts. 828 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:55,360 One of the spiritual gifts is the gift of encouragement. 829 00:37:55,840 --> 00:38:01,200 There are some people within the church that are spiritually gifted 830 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:02,160 to be encouraged. 831 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:04,240 Others are not. 832 00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:08,000 Now, that doesn't mean that the people that aren't supernaturally 833 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,650 gifted just turn away from encouragement. 834 00:38:10,650 --> 00:38:12,810 Like, well, I'm not gifted in encouragement, so I don't need to 835 00:38:12,810 --> 00:38:13,370 encourage people. 836 00:38:13,530 --> 00:38:16,210 No, that just means that there are going to be some people that 837 00:38:16,210 --> 00:38:19,210 are more naturally or supernaturally gifted in that area, 838 00:38:19,370 --> 00:38:22,450 and then all of us who are not naturally gifted in that area need 839 00:38:22,450 --> 00:38:25,290 to grow in that area of encouragement to others. 840 00:38:26,890 --> 00:38:28,330 Folks, I struggle with that. 841 00:38:28,490 --> 00:38:32,050 Just, just to be completely honest with you, I grew up in. 842 00:38:32,050 --> 00:38:32,450 In a. 843 00:38:32,450 --> 00:38:38,480 In a society specifically with certain people that I was at school 844 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,360 with and things of that nature is if you were doing the right thing, 845 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:42,400 you didn't hear anything. 846 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:43,840 No news is good news, right? 847 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,520 Like, if you're doing good, it's when you were doing bad and 848 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:49,440 you heard from them, it's like, okay, that's when I'm doing 849 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:49,640 bad. 850 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:49,920 Right? 851 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:51,599 So encouragement wasn't a real big thing. 852 00:38:51,599 --> 00:38:53,120 It was like, just do your job. 853 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:54,000 Right? 854 00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:58,040 And so for sometimes in my life, I feel like I overlook people 855 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,200 that are doing the right thing because I'm focused on, man, I got 856 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:02,480 to fix this and I got to fix that. 857 00:39:02,750 --> 00:39:04,710 But at the end of the day, I think all of us as Christians need 858 00:39:04,710 --> 00:39:09,190 to dive deeper into our hearts and say, how can I look to encourage 859 00:39:09,190 --> 00:39:10,750 a fellow brother and sister in Christ? 860 00:39:11,310 --> 00:39:13,390 The Holy Spirit's encouraged me today. 861 00:39:13,790 --> 00:39:15,630 So therefore, how can I encourage other people? 862 00:39:16,350 --> 00:39:18,789 Well, there's different ways that we can do that, but there's. 863 00:39:18,789 --> 00:39:21,110 There's acts of service, there's acts of kindness, there's 864 00:39:21,110 --> 00:39:23,830 words of kindness, there's sacrifice, there's. 865 00:39:23,830 --> 00:39:24,470 There's love. 866 00:39:24,470 --> 00:39:26,670 There's all these different things that can encourage other people. 867 00:39:26,750 --> 00:39:29,930 But it's getting to know somebody like like for example, let's 868 00:39:29,930 --> 00:39:32,810 say for, let's say for my wife, okay, I want to give her a 869 00:39:32,810 --> 00:39:36,330 good gift for Christmas, okay, I want to encourage her with a good 870 00:39:36,330 --> 00:39:36,650 gift. 871 00:39:36,650 --> 00:39:37,130 So you know what? 872 00:39:37,130 --> 00:39:39,290 I'm going to get her, I'm going to get her what I want. 873 00:39:41,290 --> 00:39:45,210 I'm going to go buy a hundred dollar gift card to Cabela's and 874 00:39:45,210 --> 00:39:46,090 I'm going to give that to her. 875 00:39:46,090 --> 00:39:48,010 She's going to look at that Cabela's gift card and go, why can 876 00:39:48,010 --> 00:39:48,810 I get a Cabela's? 877 00:39:48,810 --> 00:39:49,850 There's nothing there for me, right? 878 00:39:49,930 --> 00:39:53,370 Because that's selfishly looking like, okay, I'm going to 879 00:39:53,370 --> 00:39:55,450 comfort people the way that I want to comfort people. 880 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:57,040 But the terms are this. 881 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:01,120 I need to find the, the, the way that the individual that is, 882 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:02,040 I'm trying to encourage. 883 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:03,040 What, what do they need to hear? 884 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,000 Because like, let's say someone's living in sin, let's say 885 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,520 someone's living in open sin and we go up to them and go, hey, 886 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:10,080 keep up the good work in Jesus Christ. 887 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,800 That's not encouraging them, that's actually hurting them. 888 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,240 Well, you're doing a good job, God loves you. 889 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:17,520 And so just, you know, keep doing what you're doing. 890 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,720 That, that would not be the gift of encouragement in that moment. 891 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:25,020 That actually would be harboring in that person's life sin. 892 00:40:25,340 --> 00:40:28,700 And therefore you're, you're extending that problem in their life. 893 00:40:29,420 --> 00:40:31,660 So for some people, encouragement will be coming alongside 894 00:40:31,660 --> 00:40:33,740 and challenging them because that's that word exhortation. 895 00:40:34,140 --> 00:40:36,380 Exhortation is challenging them in the truth. 896 00:40:36,460 --> 00:40:39,620 So for some people, maybe it's, hey, can I help you with this? 897 00:40:39,620 --> 00:40:41,740 Like, is this something like, maybe we can do a Bible study together 898 00:40:41,740 --> 00:40:42,300 on this. 899 00:40:42,380 --> 00:40:43,740 Maybe I can pray for you. 900 00:40:44,060 --> 00:40:46,220 And for other people, we want to encourage them in what they're 901 00:40:46,220 --> 00:40:47,260 doing, right for the Lord. 902 00:40:47,430 --> 00:40:50,390 And so ultimately what we see here in Romans is this. 903 00:40:50,390 --> 00:40:55,830 He says, look, you have the greatest encourager in the Holy Spirit. 904 00:40:56,710 --> 00:40:59,670 But at the same time, you that have been encouraged need to look 905 00:40:59,670 --> 00:41:02,790 out in the opportunity to walk in the will of God and encourage 906 00:41:02,790 --> 00:41:03,110 others. 907 00:41:03,510 --> 00:41:08,230 Because we're going to see next, next time we come back Romans 908 00:41:08,230 --> 00:41:08,830 8:28. 909 00:41:08,830 --> 00:41:10,950 And most of you know Romans 8:28. 910 00:41:12,150 --> 00:41:17,040 Most of you have had Romans 8:28 quoted, well, this is really 911 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,440 the greatest encouragement that we can give someone. 912 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,400 Even though there's a time and a place to share this verse. 913 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:25,760 And the reality of it is, is this. 914 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,720 And we know all things work together for good, then that to them 915 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:32,880 that love God, not to Everyone to them that love God to them are 916 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:34,960 called according to his purpose. 917 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,440 And so the greatest encouragement to somebody is, hey, 918 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:37,840 I know. 919 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,800 Because sometimes what happens is, is that we try to encourage people 920 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,220 by ignoring the problem that they're in. 921 00:41:44,660 --> 00:41:46,340 Like, hey, so they're, like, broken today. 922 00:41:46,500 --> 00:41:47,740 Maybe they lost a loved one. 923 00:41:47,740 --> 00:41:49,380 We walk up to them and go, well, it's okay. 924 00:41:49,860 --> 00:41:50,860 Everything's gonna be okay. 925 00:41:50,860 --> 00:41:52,140 Time heals all wounds. 926 00:41:52,140 --> 00:41:53,460 Everything works together for good. 927 00:41:53,860 --> 00:41:57,779 That's not the most gracious way to deal with someone in that 928 00:41:58,020 --> 00:41:58,420 time. 929 00:41:59,700 --> 00:42:02,300 But at the end of the day, we walk alongside of people. 930 00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:05,540 And ultimately what the goal is is to point people to the fact 931 00:42:05,620 --> 00:42:07,620 that ultimately, through everything that we go through in 932 00:42:07,620 --> 00:42:11,040 our life, God will be glorified because of his power through 933 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:11,480 our lives. 934 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,960 And so though I'm going through a difficult time right now, 935 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:15,440 that can be to the glory of God. 936 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:17,840 Maybe there's a time of loss. 937 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,800 Time of loss initially could be something that's painful, but 938 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,840 at the end, that loss can be brought back to the glory of God. 939 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:25,120 The. 940 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:25,360 The. 941 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,280 The infirmity, the pain that I'm in, the weakness that I'm in. 942 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,400 Folks, there are times in my life where, just to be completely 943 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:36,080 honest with you, I used to see that some of my weaknesses were just 944 00:42:36,650 --> 00:42:37,770 devastating in my life. 945 00:42:38,250 --> 00:42:41,530 And I would stress about it, and I would pray that God would take 946 00:42:41,530 --> 00:42:42,330 away that weakness. 947 00:42:42,330 --> 00:42:45,570 And I would say, God, you know, please, if you want me to serve 948 00:42:45,570 --> 00:42:47,530 you better, please take this away from me. 949 00:42:48,090 --> 00:42:52,730 But there was a huge reality check for me at one point in my life. 950 00:42:53,370 --> 00:42:54,130 It was this. 951 00:42:54,130 --> 00:42:57,210 That God allows those infirmities to be in my life, to. 952 00:42:57,290 --> 00:43:02,370 For me to recognize that I need him and that I see that infirmity, 953 00:43:02,370 --> 00:43:06,650 that weakness, not as my weakness, but as an opportunity for 954 00:43:06,650 --> 00:43:08,850 God to be made strong through my life. 955 00:43:09,410 --> 00:43:12,370 And so I encourage you not to look at your life and go, well, I've 956 00:43:12,370 --> 00:43:14,610 got all these weaknesses, and so therefore, I just need to, like, 957 00:43:14,610 --> 00:43:15,490 work harder. 958 00:43:15,490 --> 00:43:19,210 No, in those weaknesses, turn them over to God and allow him to 959 00:43:19,210 --> 00:43:21,890 lift you up, to allow him to carry you through that. 960 00:43:22,450 --> 00:43:25,410 Folks, we have so many reasons to be joyful as Christians. 961 00:43:26,290 --> 00:43:27,970 We have so many reasons to be joyful. 962 00:43:27,970 --> 00:43:31,610 But at the end of the day, sometimes certain circumstances can 963 00:43:31,610 --> 00:43:35,290 steal our joy, and then we aren't who we need to be in Christ. 964 00:43:36,170 --> 00:43:38,810 And so what we need to understand as believers, what I need 965 00:43:38,810 --> 00:43:40,250 to understand as a believer is this. 966 00:43:40,410 --> 00:43:43,450 If I have Jesus, I have it all. 967 00:43:44,090 --> 00:43:46,010 If I have salvation, I have it all. 968 00:43:47,050 --> 00:43:50,570 And what I need to do as a Christian is everything that I go 969 00:43:50,570 --> 00:43:50,850 through. 970 00:43:50,850 --> 00:43:52,410 See it through that lens. 971 00:43:53,370 --> 00:43:59,550 See it through the worldview of a person who has been redeemed. 972 00:44:01,630 --> 00:44:03,790 So I got bad news, okay? 973 00:44:03,870 --> 00:44:04,590 It's not. 974 00:44:05,230 --> 00:44:06,910 It's not hopelessness. 975 00:44:06,910 --> 00:44:10,630 Now if I've got bad news as a Christian, I see it through the lens 976 00:44:10,630 --> 00:44:12,190 of, what's God going to do through this? 977 00:44:12,990 --> 00:44:14,670 How is this going to glorify God? 978 00:44:15,470 --> 00:44:16,910 How can I trust in him more? 979 00:44:18,830 --> 00:44:19,670 It's how we. 980 00:44:19,670 --> 00:44:19,990 It's. 981 00:44:19,990 --> 00:44:20,990 It's our perception. 982 00:44:22,270 --> 00:44:25,230 Like, if I'm driving, some of you, this won't resonate for you, 983 00:44:25,630 --> 00:44:28,110 but if I'm driving by a field, okay, this is just me. 984 00:44:28,270 --> 00:44:32,510 If I'm driving by any field in any area, I'm looking for animals, 985 00:44:32,750 --> 00:44:33,590 deer, okay? 986 00:44:33,590 --> 00:44:38,230 My wife's like, you can't find like your keys, but you can spot 987 00:44:38,230 --> 00:44:41,470 a deer like 500 yards across the field in the evening. 988 00:44:41,470 --> 00:44:43,550 And I can tell you how many points are on it, okay? 989 00:44:44,430 --> 00:44:45,070 Amen. 990 00:44:46,110 --> 00:44:46,510 Why? 991 00:44:46,510 --> 00:44:52,050 Because I have a lens of my interest in my worldview, right? 992 00:44:52,050 --> 00:44:55,330 That's when I'm focused on, in that case, probably somewhat too 993 00:44:55,330 --> 00:44:57,650 much as a Christian. 994 00:44:58,370 --> 00:45:01,410 Sometimes we're looking in the world with the wrong lens. 995 00:45:01,570 --> 00:45:06,290 Our lenses are our selfish lenses that say, why am I not king? 996 00:45:06,290 --> 00:45:06,650 Why? 997 00:45:06,650 --> 00:45:07,890 Why am I not the focus? 998 00:45:08,210 --> 00:45:09,650 Why am I not pain free? 999 00:45:10,690 --> 00:45:12,450 Why am I forgotten about? 1000 00:45:12,850 --> 00:45:16,030 And when we see things from that lens and it's all about us, 1001 00:45:17,550 --> 00:45:23,870 we're a lot more likely to get to a place of bitterness and ingratitude 1002 00:45:24,590 --> 00:45:29,790 and anger and turn away from walking in the will of God. 1003 00:45:29,950 --> 00:45:34,150 But when we see the things of this world through the lens of, I'm 1004 00:45:34,150 --> 00:45:41,030 a saved, redeemed, born again believer who does not deserve anything, 1005 00:45:41,030 --> 00:45:44,560 and God has given me this, and this is just an opportunity for God 1006 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,040 work, then that's when I can come to God and say, lord, I don't 1007 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:47,800 know what you're going to do. 1008 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:50,640 You may or may not take me out of this. 1009 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:57,520 Think about all those martyrs that went and were killed. 1010 00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:00,480 Did God forget about these martyrs? 1011 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:02,440 Did God forget about Peter? 1012 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:05,600 As church tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down? 1013 00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:08,040 Did God forget about these people? 1014 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:08,510 No, but. 1015 00:46:08,580 --> 00:46:10,260 But he allows certain things to happen. 1016 00:46:10,580 --> 00:46:13,460 Now, why does he let certain people get persecuted and other people 1017 00:46:13,460 --> 00:46:13,780 not? 1018 00:46:13,860 --> 00:46:16,740 We don't know the mind of God, but at the end of the day, we know 1019 00:46:16,740 --> 00:46:18,740 that sometimes God doesn't take that thorn away. 1020 00:46:18,820 --> 00:46:20,340 We know that through Paul, right? 1021 00:46:20,420 --> 00:46:22,500 He says, lord, I've got the thorn in my flesh. 1022 00:46:22,500 --> 00:46:24,779 I can minister for you so much better if you could just take the 1023 00:46:24,779 --> 00:46:25,300 thorn away. 1024 00:46:25,380 --> 00:46:29,860 But no, God reminded Paul that these, these, these words and I want 1025 00:46:29,860 --> 00:46:31,620 you to think about this this morning, then we're going to be done. 1026 00:46:33,060 --> 00:46:38,570 God says the Paul, my grace is sufficient. 1027 00:46:41,850 --> 00:46:43,210 His grace is sufficient. 1028 00:46:44,170 --> 00:46:46,810 But if, Lord, if you just gave me this much more money, if you just 1029 00:46:46,810 --> 00:46:48,050 gave me this much thing, I could be. 1030 00:46:48,050 --> 00:46:50,450 I could be a lot more efficient for you, Lord, I could 1031 00:46:50,450 --> 00:46:54,050 do a lot more for you if you just took this away from me, if you 1032 00:46:54,050 --> 00:46:57,010 just took this person away, or if you just allowed this to come 1033 00:46:57,010 --> 00:46:59,450 to pass, if you just gave me this right. 1034 00:46:59,450 --> 00:47:01,370 We, we could always want more and more and more. 1035 00:47:01,700 --> 00:47:04,380 If we just boil it down and say, lord, your grace is sufficient. 1036 00:47:04,380 --> 00:47:06,900 However you answer this prayer, I'm going to give you the 1037 00:47:06,900 --> 00:47:07,540 glory for that. 1038 00:47:08,500 --> 00:47:09,460 That's amazing. 1039 00:47:10,340 --> 00:47:11,140 That's peace. 1040 00:47:11,460 --> 00:47:13,860 That's a peace of God that passeth all understanding. 1041 00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:16,740 So next week we're going to come back and we're going to look 1042 00:47:16,740 --> 00:47:22,100 at Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, and we're going to talk about 1043 00:47:22,100 --> 00:47:24,740 what it means for God to work all things together for good. 1044 00:47:24,740 --> 00:47:29,350 It doesn't mean that God is the author of evil, which some people 1045 00:47:29,350 --> 00:47:29,990 actually believe. 1046 00:47:31,590 --> 00:47:34,590 It doesn't mean that all the bad things that happen to me, God's 1047 00:47:34,590 --> 00:47:36,270 just torturing me as a Christian. 1048 00:47:36,270 --> 00:47:37,430 That's not what that's talking about. 1049 00:47:37,510 --> 00:47:40,710 We're going to talk more about what that means, that God can work 1050 00:47:40,710 --> 00:47:42,710 all things together for good. 1051 00:47:44,070 --> 00:47:46,190 And that's something that I hope that you can come back for. 1052 00:47:46,190 --> 00:47:48,270 So if you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every 1053 00:47:48,270 --> 00:47:51,830 eye closed, I know that it was a sermon about the Spirit. 1054 00:47:53,110 --> 00:47:55,830 But here this morning, what I would challenge you with is this 1055 00:47:56,370 --> 00:47:58,210 really a few questions. 1056 00:47:58,530 --> 00:48:00,610 I want to simplify them as best as I can. 1057 00:48:00,610 --> 00:48:07,530 Number one, do you in faith, trust in Jesus Christ as your savior 1058 00:48:07,530 --> 00:48:13,530 and can say, I know that I have the Holy Spirit indwelling now. 1059 00:48:13,530 --> 00:48:14,810 Some of us might say, well, you know what? 1060 00:48:14,810 --> 00:48:16,290 Right now, Pastor, I don't feel it. 1061 00:48:17,250 --> 00:48:19,330 I don't feel the presence of God in my life. 1062 00:48:19,410 --> 00:48:20,890 Well, sometimes it's not about a feeling. 1063 00:48:20,890 --> 00:48:22,370 It's about what you have trusted in. 1064 00:48:22,610 --> 00:48:25,570 The blessing is, is that sometimes God does give us that confirmation. 1065 00:48:25,890 --> 00:48:28,250 I can tell you one of the first times I was preaching in front 1066 00:48:28,250 --> 00:48:33,490 of a group of people, I experienced what it meant to have 1067 00:48:33,490 --> 00:48:36,170 the presence of God, the Holy Spirit guiding my words. 1068 00:48:36,170 --> 00:48:37,410 And that was an amazing experience. 1069 00:48:38,130 --> 00:48:40,530 But I'm going to tell you that I don't always feel that experience 1070 00:48:40,530 --> 00:48:44,170 of God working So directly in my life, but at the end it's what 1071 00:48:44,170 --> 00:48:45,010 do I trust in? 1072 00:48:45,010 --> 00:48:46,890 Do I trust in Jesus as my Savior? 1073 00:48:46,890 --> 00:48:48,650 If so, the Holy Spirit indwells me. 1074 00:48:48,650 --> 00:48:51,170 So first question, does the Holy Spirit indwell? 1075 00:48:51,730 --> 00:48:56,690 But number two, it might be not a question of the Holy Spirit 1076 00:48:56,690 --> 00:49:01,090 indwelling you, but number two, does the Holy Spirit fill you? 1077 00:49:01,090 --> 00:49:03,090 Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your life? 1078 00:49:03,090 --> 00:49:04,450 Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? 1079 00:49:04,450 --> 00:49:05,889 Are you obeying the Holy Spirit? 1080 00:49:05,889 --> 00:49:08,290 Are you even seeking the Holy Spirit in the decisions that you're 1081 00:49:08,290 --> 00:49:09,010 making in your life? 1082 00:49:10,530 --> 00:49:12,290 Are you asking the Lord for wisdom? 1083 00:49:12,290 --> 00:49:13,850 Are you asking the Lord for guidance? 1084 00:49:13,850 --> 00:49:15,570 Are you asking the Lord for conviction? 1085 00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:17,600 Are you asking the Lord for teaching? 1086 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,640 Folks, there's sometimes in our life where maybe it's just me, 1087 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:22,920 but I'll read the Bible and I'll say, I have no clue what that 1088 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:23,200 means. 1089 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:25,920 We don't just turn the Bible over and throw it away. 1090 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:26,960 What do we do? 1091 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:30,320 We ask God to give us clarity and understanding and teaching. 1092 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:33,840 And so maybe that's something that we need to grow in just the 1093 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,560 guidance of the Spirit in our life, the obedience to the Spirit. 1094 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:37,440 But the number three. 1095 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:38,640 I want you to think about this. 1096 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:42,850 If you can say I have felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit. 1097 00:49:43,010 --> 00:49:44,930 He's helped me in times of loss. 1098 00:49:45,170 --> 00:49:48,690 He's comforted me and encouraged me in times of sin and 1099 00:49:48,690 --> 00:49:49,330 brokenness. 1100 00:49:49,410 --> 00:49:53,050 He's encouraged me and lifted me up out of the miry pit, out of 1101 00:49:53,050 --> 00:49:55,890 the clay, and he's lifted me up onto solid ground. 1102 00:49:56,210 --> 00:49:57,010 Fantastic. 1103 00:49:57,010 --> 00:49:57,890 Praise God for that. 1104 00:49:57,890 --> 00:49:59,010 Are you thankful for that? 1105 00:49:59,090 --> 00:50:02,730 And then do you also extend that type of comfort to those around 1106 00:50:02,730 --> 00:50:03,090 you? 1107 00:50:03,410 --> 00:50:06,810 Are you looking to be an exhorter to those around you by what 1108 00:50:06,810 --> 00:50:11,100 you say and by what you do and by how you serve and by how you love? 1109 00:50:13,260 --> 00:50:16,620 If you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are now called 1110 00:50:16,620 --> 00:50:19,140 to the ministry of exhortation, whether you know it 1111 00:50:19,140 --> 00:50:19,580 or not. 1112 00:50:20,300 --> 00:50:22,940 And so are we willing to exhort one another here this morning? 1113 00:50:22,940 --> 00:50:24,700 So those have been posed to you here today. 1114 00:50:25,660 --> 00:50:28,260 If you need Jesus Christ as your Savior, we'll have some folks 1115 00:50:28,260 --> 00:50:30,580 up here, we'll have some men and some ladies that can show you 1116 00:50:30,580 --> 00:50:33,740 in the word of God what it means to know him and be indwelled 1117 00:50:33,740 --> 00:50:34,380 by the Spirit. 1118 00:50:34,730 --> 00:50:39,010 But if you have done that here this morning, maybe years ago, we 1119 00:50:39,010 --> 00:50:41,930 can show you in the word of God what it means to walk in obedience. 1120 00:50:44,090 --> 00:50:47,290 And then number three, if you have been walking in the Spirit, 1121 00:50:47,290 --> 00:50:50,689 but the spiritual life has been all about you, maybe it's time 1122 00:50:50,689 --> 00:50:52,010 to say I want to look outward. 1123 00:50:52,010 --> 00:50:53,850 How can I encourage those around me? 1124 00:50:55,450 --> 00:50:58,090 That being the case here this morning, God's given you an opportunity 1125 00:50:58,090 --> 00:50:59,930 here to respond to the preaching of His Word. 1126 00:51:00,980 --> 00:51:02,020 So let's do that here today. 1127 00:51:02,020 --> 00:51:04,220 Lord, I pray that you'd be in this time of invitation, working 1128 00:51:04,220 --> 00:51:04,980 hearts and lives. 1129 00:51:05,140 --> 00:51:07,380 We thank you for your love and your comfort. 1130 00:51:07,700 --> 00:51:10,820 Thankful that you didn't leave us comfortless, but that you sent 1131 00:51:10,820 --> 00:51:13,140 your son to die on the cross for our sins. 1132 00:51:13,140 --> 00:51:16,099 You sent the Holy Spirit to come and indwell us and to guide 1133 00:51:16,099 --> 00:51:17,140 us into all truth. 1134 00:51:17,460 --> 00:51:18,660 We thank you for the comfort. 1135 00:51:18,660 --> 00:51:20,020 We thank you for the conviction. 1136 00:51:20,100 --> 00:51:21,460 We thank you for the teaching. 1137 00:51:21,540 --> 00:51:24,580 We thank you for the guidance that only the Holy Spirit brings 1138 00:51:24,580 --> 00:51:25,220 us in our life. 1139 00:51:25,220 --> 00:51:27,650 And so we just ask in this time if there's someone who needs 1140 00:51:27,650 --> 00:51:31,570 you as Savior, that today can be the day of salvation, that other 1141 00:51:31,570 --> 00:51:34,890 Christians can see the ministry of exhortation and follow 1142 00:51:34,890 --> 00:51:38,410 that as the example that's been given to us in your so we ask 1143 00:51:38,410 --> 00:51:39,690 all these things in Jesus name. 1144 00:51:39,770 --> 00:51:40,410 Amen. 1145 00:51:41,050 --> 00:51:43,690 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1146 00:51:43,690 --> 00:51:44,330 Podcast. 1147 00:51:44,570 --> 00:51:46,890 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1148 00:51:47,690 --> 00:51:49,890 You would like to find out more information about our church 1149 00:51:49,890 --> 00:51:53,380 or this sermon, you can find us at iddletownbaptistchurch.org 1150 00:51:53,620 --> 00:51:56,180 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1151 00:51:56,900 --> 00:52:01,420 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch 1152 00:52:01,420 --> 00:52:04,020 dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1153 00:52:04,260 --> 00:52:08,660 Please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates. 1154 00:52:09,300 --> 00:52:10,260 Thank you so much. 1155 00:52:10,500 --> 00:52:11,220 God Bless. 1156 00:52:11,460 --> 00:52:12,740 Have a wonderful day.