From Groaning to Glory

[SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you, welcome to everyone online and joining us in the parents room as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, we are going to launch into the message in just a minute, but we have a couple of things to do beforehand, which I'm really excited about.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to introduce you to a couple of new roles that a new stuff changes on our team, which are exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: But before that, I wonder if we could just encourage Leave McDoward.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, leave that was her first time

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, ever?

[SPEAKER_00]: So...

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like live in the team really took us to church this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're like, we've been thoroughly churched today by these guys and so I appreciate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, lives incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how long have you been on serving on our team live for a couple of years, three years, three years?

[SPEAKER_00]: Start as a volunteer in our team and now she leads our worship department on the vine and they're doing an incredible job.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, well done, Liv.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you're always trying to develop new leaders and bring people through in different places and so we're super proud of you, well done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jody sends her live Sheezian Ballarat this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: The center of the universe, Ballarat, is our unreal place, the rat, as we like to call it.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's been there speaking at a conference over the weekend and then she's speaking this morning at York Street Church of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's in good friends of ours.

[SPEAKER_00]: York Street Church of Christ, she's up there, she's speaking at their services this morning and then she will be back on the train this afternoon.

[SPEAKER_00]: because you get the train to ballerat, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just, it feels kind of old school and really cool gone regional.

[SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, that's where Joe's is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's, you know, she's a pro, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like she's so good at that stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, so that's really awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I'm gonna invite up Olivia McGretchen and Kyle Hanno.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you guys encourage these two as they come?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Liv!

[SPEAKER_00]: And here Carl, good to see you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, this morning at Frankston, there is, it's a significant day because Doug pause is handing the baton of leadership over to Zeke Merley to lead our Frankston location, Discovery Church in Frankston.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that leadership transition is happening this morning at the 10 AM service down there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stu Beaver, the chair of our elders will be down there.

[SPEAKER_00]: and kind of facilitating and hosting that transition, which is incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But any time there's change in one area, there's always change in other areas.

[SPEAKER_00]: And especially for us, we have a real value around raising up leaders from within our church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so whenever a role or a position becomes available, we always look internally before we go anywhere else.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so with Zik moving to Frankenstein to lead the location there, that actually opens up a couple of things because Zik was our generations past over seeing all of our discipleship.

[SPEAKER_00]: from zero through two adults.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's also our young adults pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so today, we get the privilege of welcoming into our generations past a position, live migration.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, live.

[SPEAKER_00]: So live is also holds that out the position of our zero to five's past a kindergarten toddler space.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's done an incredible job with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've seen her up here.

[SPEAKER_00]: dedicating children and hosting services and things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Ziggs actually done a really good job over the last couple of years and lives come up underneath, under in that environment and right now is stepping into leading our

[SPEAKER_00]: Discipleship over all of our generations ministries and live where incredibly excited about that for you Where I'm incredibly excited about that for our church and know that you're going to do an incredible job Live has wisdom and courage way beyond her years I've seen her dropped into some really difficult situations and man

[SPEAKER_00]: She just manages those with wisdom, with skill, with incredible compassion and live where really excited about that for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we want to say welcome to the team as our generation's past and congratulations on what we've done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Very cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, Zique was also our young adult's pastor at Discovery Mount Evelyn.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, into that role is coming Carl Hanna.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Carl served on out, he's been part of our church from a really young age.

[SPEAKER_00]: How old were you when you...

[SPEAKER_00]: But team, okay, so you've been part of our church come up through the youth ministry here and has been serving on our team.

[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of helping our generations with systems and processes and administration over the last 12 months.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now we're really excited, Kyle, to be able to see you take this step.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another step towards vocational ministry for yourself, which is exciting for you and exciting for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've seen Kyle doing many different things.

[SPEAKER_00]: around it about the place mostly playing keys as a part of our worship team for many, many years.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now I'm really excited about you stepping up to not just not just continue to hold that space, but to lead and serve our young adults that our young adults would be young disciples of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: in a thriving relationship with him inside of his story.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're excited for you, Kyle, and thank you for your yes as you step into this role.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we celebrate Kyle?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what we're going to do, guys, is we're going to pray for these two and commission them today to these roles.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I wonder if you'd stretch out your hands as we pray for these two guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come and step right forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Vin, can you come as well?

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll pray for these, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Father, we want to thank you, for live, and we want to thank you for Carl.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to thank you, Lord God, for their availability, first, before their ability.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to thank you, Lord Jesus, that when you call, you call us to come into surrender or to give our lives in in this specific and unique calling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord God, to serve your local church here in Mount Evel and Lord, we wanna pray you're blessing upon them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ask that you'd fill them afresh by your Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ask Lord God that you'd keep them in all truth and in all grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ask that you'd guide them as they make decisions and as they lead Lord God, would you give them wisdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so far today, it's an absolute joy to see

[SPEAKER_00]: I know who are part of the life of discovery church step into significant leadership roles and Lord God, we support them, we encourage them where with them and we pray you're blessing upon them today in Jesus mighty name.

[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone said, Amen, amen, and well done, guys, bless you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome, all right, all right, ready for the word?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Romans, chapter eight.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna turn to Romans, chapter eight.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about from going from groaning to glory today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans, chapter eight, nice big passage of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you ready?

[SPEAKER_00]: Three people are ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone else ready?

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, well,

[SPEAKER_00]: Here we go anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter eight starting at verse 18, we're going all the way through to verse 30, nice link with what Liv McDoward shared this morning already.

[SPEAKER_00]: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God,

[SPEAKER_00]: For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: For we know that the whole creation has been growing together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit,

[SPEAKER_00]: redemption of our bodies.

[SPEAKER_00]: For it's in this hope we are saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now hope that is seen is not hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: For who hopes for what he sees?

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know, for we do not pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for saints according to the will of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: For those whom He forenew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

[SPEAKER_00]: in order that he might be the first born among many brothers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And those whom he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, and amen, what a passage of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: How good, what beautiful and amazing hope we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I was at the doctor's surgery this week, regular check-up time, you know, I was there and you do your blood test, and then I was waiting at the pathology section, and they give you a little number.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, anytime you're at the doctor's, it's, you know, in the waiting room, it's always a bit of a weird experience anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, I'm there once you just would check up, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you're sitting there, and you're scanning around the room, checking out whoever's there.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a few coughs, few little mones, you know, a sick child or two, and you're sitting there.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then when I was over in the pathology section, and because they give you a number, you get to count who's before you, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you count because then, you know, because I was number five, and so I'm looking around at KWS4, WS3, WS2, they're all in order.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm counting down in my head, how long each person's taking before me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just so I know, just so I've got a bit of an idea, because if number two goes in, and there are three minutes, and then I'm like, okay, sweet, no worries, then I time it, because, you know, I'm busy, I'm important, and I'm in a rush.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just like you, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're all very busy and important, yeah?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm waiting, and then the next person took 10 minutes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, this is not fair.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's going on with that?

[SPEAKER_00]: And they were married to someone else.

[SPEAKER_00]: Three and four were married to each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I feel like that's two, 10 minutes is now, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know, they're going to take the same amount of time, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: For husband and wife, probably same problems.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: There in the, you know, so...

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this two takes three minutes, three takes ten minutes, four takes ten minutes, and then it's my lucky day, number five.

[SPEAKER_00]: She comes out and like, yes, how good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I only took three minutes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I felt like I did.

[SPEAKER_00]: I felt like I did a service to everyone coming after me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't like those slow perks, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in and out.

[SPEAKER_00]: But waiting is hard and no one waits patiently.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't wait patiently.

[SPEAKER_00]: who likes waiting, anything, ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting is a part of human existence, but when we're waiting for something, it's a bit of a tease because you know that something good is coming, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, something good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going into pathology to get my arm stuck with the needle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, that's really good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't like waiting, none of us do, and yet this passage brings us directly into contact, into conflict with our desire to push ahead, the groaning that's in our heart, and the groaning and the desire and the waiting patiently that's happening right around our world at the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can see that here that creation is groaning.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's this groan from the depths, from the soul of creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You could take a look at the news for two minutes and you can see that our world is groaning.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this passage that we just read builds on what Paul's been teaching about how to live for Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: What life in the spirit looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we can see that life in the Spirit, just all isn't parties and fairy-floss and joy and fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says life in the Spirit is a grown and it's a waiting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Growning and waiting, probably not two of the things we want to put on the promotional material for following Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, it doesn't get a lot of, doesn't get a lot of subscribers, not gonna get a lot of clicks, not gonna get a lot of likes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come follow Jesus and groan with us, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not really something that's a really winsome kind of invitation to the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come and groan with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Paul brings us right into contact with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't skirt around it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't say to the Romans, oh, following Jesus is all good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and all the bad stuff, all the hard stuff, the things that are, you know, the fact that we have to wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry about, it's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't need to talk about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just talk about how great it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, in Romans 18, our eight verse 18,

[SPEAKER_00]: I consider the sufferings of this present time, not worth comparing with the glory that's to be revealed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we lines up two things right next to each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's President Suffering and there's future glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, you can't compare the two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't think that what you're going through now is anything like what's ahead, but don't think that what's ahead is anything like what you're going through now.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not worth comparing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The audacity of his statement.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not even in the same league.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's happening in you and through you and to you right now as to what's to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not even in the same league.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not even worth comparing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says that the creation waits with eager longing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The creation waits with eager longing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The word there is to turn the head away in the Greek.

[SPEAKER_00]: A watching with the head out stretched, he pictures creation, craning its neck.

[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting with, with egot anticipation, with egot longing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Creation is waiting.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a big, old waiting room.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone's got their number and creations are part of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting in suspense.

[SPEAKER_00]: But poll names this reality.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suffering is real.

[SPEAKER_00]: Problems are present and persistent and it's not just humankind that feel it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The trees, the waves, the animals, the rocks, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, waiting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone feels it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not about minimizing pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about putting it into perspective.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul doesn't deny suffering.

[SPEAKER_00]: He just declares that it's not the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, whatever you're experiencing right now isn't worth comparing with the glory that's to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what's happening in you right now is not the last thing that's going to happen to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever is going on in this moment,

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not the last thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it is the last thing on this earth as you breathe right now, it's not the last thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that good news?

[SPEAKER_00]: There is always something ahead, there is glory ahead, there is a light, a head, there is a day that is ahead, and that the suffering right now isn't the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: That, my friends, is good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know what you're thinking of, but it's all just pie in the sky when you die.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all for like later on, it's, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not, I know what you're thinking of, but what if it's nothing after?

[SPEAKER_00]: What if it's all a lie?

[SPEAKER_00]: What if we've been sold, you know, up the garden path?

[SPEAKER_00]: Hold that, hold that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the glory that's coming isn't like a compensation package, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, compensation package, we're really sorry this happened to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to make a men's, we're going to take a couple of steps, you know, now I'm talking from the company's perspective, the company email.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're very, very sorry for this unfortunate accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to give you 30% off next time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we can retain your business, this is not the glory that's to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: The glory that's to come is not, is not recompense or some kind of compensation package.

[SPEAKER_00]: The glory that's to come is resurrection.

[SPEAKER_00]: Resurrection.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do we know that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we look to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happened to him?

[SPEAKER_00]: He died, present suffering, and then he was resurrected, future glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're building on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's warm up, all right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going, we're going, here we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second thing is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a grown, isn't there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Creation is growning?

[SPEAKER_00]: We are groaning and the spirit's groaning.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a weird passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry if this is your first day ever in a church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I apologize because this is probably, and we should also apologize and feel sorry for the person who brought their friend for the first time today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come to my church, it's not weird.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we talk about groaning all morning and blood, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Those two things we've talked about a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet here,

[SPEAKER_00]: We see that the spirit groans, we are groaning, and that all of creation is pictured, which is strange as a woman in childbirth, groaning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now there's two types of groans.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a groan that leads to death, and I'm gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: but then there's a grown that leads to life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you ladies know about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And apparently, it's worth doing multiple times.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some of you who have more than one child, which tells me that it was worth it, that that grown produced life, and it was life enough to make you go, hmm, I think I could go through that all over again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's the grown that's happening in creation right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a grown of a womb, not of a tomb.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a grown where creation itself is laboring, knowing that something good is coming, but that it's destiny is connected to humans.

[SPEAKER_00]: This says, all creation is growning, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about this for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Creation's hope, future hope, isn't resting on Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's resting on us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The sons of God to be revealed, all creation waits with eager expectation waiting for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the key to the future of creations like Destiny is actually us, but guess where our key in future Destiny is in?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a flow on effect that happens here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're grinding because we've received the first fruits of the Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you became a believer, when you declared your faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit was in dwell in you for the very first time, that's what the Bible calls a first fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the bit off the top, the best bit at the beginning that comes in dwells within you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now that you've got it, guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's never going to be enough, is it?

[SPEAKER_00]: you're going to want more and more because who's tasted of the goodness of God, who's tasted of His glory and His kindness and His beauty and His majesty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're like, oh, Lord, I can't just have a little bit, I need to dive right in and I want more and more and more and more of it, I want more of His goodness, more of His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why the Spirit says that that's why it's a first fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then what happens when we don't get it all?

[SPEAKER_00]: We grown inwardly because we've received the Spirit as a first for it, and we cannot wait until that is fully realized, fully inaugurated.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's these three layers of groaning which is very weird.

[SPEAKER_00]: creation groans like a woman in labor.

[SPEAKER_00]: We groaned because we've tasted the spirit, but we haven't seen the fullness, and fairly the spirit groans when the words run out.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the third thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we don't know what to pray, the spirit groans with groans too deep for words.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe he's talking about the gift of tongues there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people make an inference and say, oh, that's where he's talking about the spiritual gift of tongues.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in the spiritual gift of tongues.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's what's there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think what's deeper here is this grown inward grown, the prayer of the spirit that comes up from out of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you've never had the experience where you need to pray, but you haven't had the words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's just me, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're all too articulate for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But when we don't have the words, we're told that the Holy Spirit is praying on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that is pretty cool, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're excited about self-driving cars, and then here we are in Romans 8.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got self-praying, you know, people, where God is inside of us praying when we don't have the words to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: When the words choke in your throat, God is praying for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Get that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Paul's just finished telling us about how Jesus, our Savior and our Lord is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can imagine Heavenly Kingdom, God the Father sitting on the throne, God the sun sitting at His right hand, whispering stuff to Him, saying, hey, how about my kids?

[SPEAKER_00]: How about my kids in the Yarra Valley?

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to sort that out, and we need to sort, and the fathers they're going, thank you, thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've received that, I hear that, the fathers receiving prayers that Jesus is praying for you, and now the Spirit's praying as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a triune dance.

[SPEAKER_00]: This project takes every aspect of our lives and brings them before the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, hope and patience.

[SPEAKER_00]: In verse 24 and 25, he says for in this hope we were saved and I hope that as seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm in the pathology room, again, my blood taken, I've no longer hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not because I'm in the pathology room, but because I've no longer waiting, I'm not waiting anymore, am I?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number five, that's me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I walk in the waiting's over, I no longer hope because I have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm there.

[SPEAKER_00]: who hopes for what he sees, no one does.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that part of you that hopes for something greater that hopes for a better day, that hopes, that this suffering will end, that hopes for the glory that's ahead, that's a sign of life, my friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a sign that something's wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually beautiful.

[SPEAKER_00]: If your spirit going, I know I was made for more than this.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's something woven in here, who hopes for what they see.

[SPEAKER_00]: The answer, well, it's a rhetorical question.

[SPEAKER_00]: The answer is no one does.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not wishful thinking.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's waiting with confidence for what God has already promised.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's promised it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given the Spirit as a down payment.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's given the resurrection of Jesus as an example and the power of a sin and death.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we've seen it and we know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The promise is there and now we wait for it with eager expectation.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, this really does correct.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we live in our kind of culture, the world that we live in right now, 2025, quite a nihilistic culture, nothing really means anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's gonna end anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this poll kind of really corrects that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if we wait and we believe and we know that a future hope is coming, it means everything is meaningful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing's wasted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything can be redeemed.

[SPEAKER_00]: The creation that surrounds us is waiting, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we wait for Christ, it waits for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, fourthly here, the Spirit helps the Father searches and the Son secures, listen to this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is from verse 26.

[SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit intercedes with groaning to deep forwards.

[SPEAKER_00]: And He who searches hearts, there is a heart searcher in this story, and that heart searcher is God the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we're told in verse 29 for those who form new, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have a try and action happening here.

[SPEAKER_00]: The spirit, the spirit interseeding for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The father searching hearts and the sun securing our destiny and we're being conformed into his image.

[SPEAKER_00]: God indeed does the heavy lifting of salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's a high thing for us to be able to say, oh yeah, I was living my own life and then I found God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you really?

[SPEAKER_00]: Out of everywhere, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Your view and your kind of outstanding senses are impeccable.

[SPEAKER_00]: You found God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's better to say he found you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He found you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He rescued you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sought you out.

[SPEAKER_00]: He pulled you up.

[SPEAKER_00]: He prayed for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He set you free.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's searched your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's done all the heavy lifting.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all we did was say thank you, thank you, that's it, that's it, he does the heavy lifting, okay, strange and long-ish quote, as the bird life builds up a bird, you're ready?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Told ya, be weird.

[SPEAKER_00]: As the bird life builds up the bird, the image of itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the Christ's life builds up a Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: The image of himself in the inward nature of a man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we'll stop there for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the bird is growing to become more like a bird.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's becoming fully, it's becoming complete and it's birdness, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: A small bird grows and becomes more and more like a bird.

[SPEAKER_00]: We got, is that cool?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hang with me, come on guys, I know, this is too early for you like it's too early for nine a.m.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, there's a bird and it's growing and becoming more and more like a bird, the image that it was designed to be by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who are you becoming more and more like as you grow?

[SPEAKER_00]: If Christ is in you, more and more like yourself,

[SPEAKER_00]: or more and more like Jesus, who are we being conformed to the image of in this passage, conformed to the image of His Son, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So as you grow, and as the bird as it grows becomes more and more like a bird, you and I are growing and becoming more and more like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the program.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the plan, that's the design.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the part when in a kind of modern world where it's just be yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's where it's kind of sort of right, and it sounds right, and you're like, yeah, be the person I was always created to be, yeah, and it's kind of right, but also not, because we're being conformed to the image of his son.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we grow, we're becoming more and more like him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, next part of the slide.

[SPEAKER_00]: According to the Great Law of conformity to type, this fashioning takes a specific form.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is that of the artist who fashions like that capital A. And all through life, this wonderful, mystical, glorious, yet perfectly definite process goes on until Christ be formed in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The great law of conformity to type, you've been given a new set of DNA, not the one you born with, but the one that's been deposited to you by the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you are now being conformed to that DNA, becoming more and more a little bit each day, more and more like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that good news?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's good news if that's what you want to become.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really annoying news if you think that you can kind of follow Jesus and keep doing your own thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will be eternally frustrated.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll be annoyed, you'll be angry because you'll find yourself at odds with what God's trying to do in you the whole time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet God will still use that to make Jesus out of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he's gonna make a Jesus out of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's plan is not first about your comfort, but about Christ's coronation in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, say it again.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's plan is not first about our comfort, but about Christ's coronation.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he's concerned about Jesus being King over your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: More than he's concerned about you feeling nice.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the spirit intercedes in alignment with God's will.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what it means is for our weakness, it doesn't disqualify us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our weakness when it's submitted to God means it draws us closer to Him, draws us closer to Him, draws us closer to Him, and every part of our weakness is actually something God can use to fashion us and shape Jesus in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Something about, you know, when He's weak and I'm strong in jars of clay and all of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So imagine every frustration, every delay, every heartbreak being gathered into God's hands and used to chisel Christ's likeness into your soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing is wasted, everything is repurposed, everything is bent for good.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're waiting and you're excruciatingly pain, and you're going, God, how long is this gonna be?

[SPEAKER_00]: And why is it taking so long?

[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone's going in ahead of me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, three, four, five, is skip my number, seven, eight, nine, 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone's taking two minutes and it's taking 20 hours for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is it taking so long?

[SPEAKER_00]: God, in his hands, is fashioning that in you to form Christ in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got an image there of Jesus and he's forming you in the waiting to become more like him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when people see you and they see the incredible trial that you've been through.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they look at the content of what God's done in your character and in your heart and they think,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we love this passage, all things work together for good, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Side note, pastoral note, please don't say that to someone when they've just gone through something terrible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds insensitive and dumb.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Paul uses it here, and there's two qualifiers.

[SPEAKER_00]: All things work together for good for those who, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who love God?

[SPEAKER_00]: and who are called according to his purpose.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not just like blanket statement for everyone out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you want this to apply to you, there are a couple of qualifiers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, let's apply this really quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, for the weary, do not despise the groan.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the sound of defeat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, your groaning is not a groan of tomb, but a groan of womb.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is something coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your groan is an eager waiting for the glory that's ahead.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if your weary, don't despise that groan.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not the sound of defeat.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the sound of new creation coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, for the impatient me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who hopes for what he has, or who hopes for what he sees, no one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Train in hope, waiting as a discipline.

[SPEAKER_00]: Refuse the quick fix, learn the holy art of waiting.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ancient mothers and fathers had this right.

[SPEAKER_00]: They knew how to wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you had a wait, and my microwave takes too long, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thirdly, for the prayerless.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't mean prayerless like people who never pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean prayerless who people who want to pray, but don't know how.

[SPEAKER_00]: Trust the Spirit's intercession when you don't know what to say.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you got no words left,

[SPEAKER_00]: Trust that the Holy Spirit is praying on your behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't go, oh, I don't know, I don't have the words.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm no good at this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I shouldn't have started anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a grown of new creation and the Holy Spirit is helping you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fourthly and finally, for the anxious,

[SPEAKER_00]: and he will not fail.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will not fail.

[SPEAKER_00]: Final quote, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet distance makes no difference because he is praying for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine you're at your house and just through the crack in the door.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does that do to your faith?

[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha ha!

[SPEAKER_00]: The son of God's in the next room praying for me talking to the father about me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Distance makes no difference.