Good morning everybody. If you could all turn to Romans chapter 8, I'd appreciate that.
Romans chapter 8, verses 12 to 27. If someone could shout out a page number, that would be great.
1-1-3-5 in the Red Church Bible. Thanks, Alex.
Romans chapter 8, verses 12 to 27.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation.
1-1-3-5 in the Red Church Bible.
2-1-3-5 in the Red Church Bible.
3-1-4 in the Red Church Bible.
4-1-5 in the Red Church Bible.
if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who
are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you receive does not make
you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you receive brought about
your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies
with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs,
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share His sufferings in order that we may
also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing
the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the
children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own
choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly
as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we
were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all, who hopes for what they already have.
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people
in accordance with the will of God. Amen.
Amen.
Well, you know what, if Johnny had asked me a few months ago to preach a sermon on prayer,
definitely would have said no.
And the reason for it would be that I would have said I'd be the last person in this church
who should have preached a sermon on that topic.
Really, it's the area in my life that I struggle with the most, actually,
in terms of my walk with the Lord.
But when Johnny gave us the very broad series title of The Christian Life,
and when I started to pray and think about what I might preach on,
I just couldn't get away from prayer.
God really laid it on my heart as I was preaching this today.
And to be honest, that seemed very strange to me.
And I asked God, well, why are you asking me to preach on this,
seeing as I'm the one who's struggling with it?
Seeing as I've got a lot of questions that I still haven't answered on prayer.
And then I kind of realized, actually, my weakness is the very reason why God wants me to preach on this.
Because that's actually the way he operates, right?
God uses the weak people to do amazing things because his strength can be revealed.
And in such people.
So I'm excited about that.
Because if any one of our prayer lives today are impacted for the good,
it's not going to be me.
It's going to be God doing that work.
And that's what I'm praying for today.
So what I'm praying before you, really, is just my learning over the past two months or so.
As I've taken time to study what God's Word says about prayer,
and also to look at the teachings of other Christians.
So, yeah, I hope that it's helpful for you today.
And homework task number one for you guys.
I know I can't help being a teacher even over summer holidays.
I want you guys to study the Lord's Prayer this week.
I'm not going to be preaching on it today, but you guys need to study it.
It's the number one place to go to to learn how to pray.
It's such a valuable resource for you.
Number two, okay, this is a little bit more optional than number one.
I don't usually give optional homework, but there you go.
I'm going to give it to you guys.
I want to read A Praying Life by Paul Miller.
I actually forgot to bring the book with me to show you.
But I'll just ask me later if you forget the name of that.
I just will try to recommend this book to anyone who struggles to understand how prayer works
and why it's so confusing at times.
And I'll be quoting that book a little bit today, but really we're turning our attention
and our focus to God's Word as found in Romans chapter 8.
So let's just pray briefly before we go any further and commit this time to the Lord.
Jesus, Father, I thank you for this time that we could come together to sit under your Word.
And Lord, you know my weakness, but I thank you that you are strong.
And I pray that, Lord, in this week you'd help all of us to apply your Word to our lives
and, Lord, to walk closer with you and to build a strong prayer life.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
So, just a quick synopsis of where God's Word is taking us today.
Firstly, we're going to start with the bedrock prayer, which is knowing who we are in God,
before moving on to some of the basics of how we are to pray,
which is by the Spirit, helpless and childlike.
And then lastly, we're going to learn about the purpose of suffering in prayer
and how to pray when we actually have no words left to say.
So that's where we're going.
Just to set that theme for Romans chapter 8,
the context of that,
the author and apostle Paul has been teaching the Roman Christians
that they are no longer slaves to sin,
not to be controlled by it.
Rather, they are freed from sin to live according to the Spirit instead.
So this is where we pick up in verse 12.
So if you guys would follow along with me.
Verse 12 and 13.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation,
but it is not to the flesh to live according to it.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the misbead deeds of the body, you will live.
So when Paul speaks of the flesh here,
he means our natural sinful desires.
The sinful desires offer us appealing, temporary pleasures,
but in the end just destroy us.
He says here that we owe nothing to the flesh.
All the flesh has ever sought to done is destroy us,
and it has always failed to fully satisfy us.
So Paul says, don't live by it.
Don't live by it and die.
Rather, in the Spirit's power,
put to death the misdeeds of the body and live.
Okay, so Paul continues in verse 14,
and these are some of the most glorious, amazing truths
known to believers in Christ.
Verse 14 and 16.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God
are the children of God.
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves
so that you live in fear again.
Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
And by Him we cry,
Abba, Father.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God's children.
So, firstly, what is the better off of prayer?
Well, we have to know who we are.
We are precious and dearly loved children
of the God of the universe.
And let me say that another way,
because that's completely astounding.
The maker of the galaxies,
the sustainer of the whole universe.
He considers you to be his precious child.
Now, most scholars agree that this idea
of addressing God as Abba, Father,
was actually quite outrageous.
At the time when Paul was writing this.
How could God be that personal and close?
Well, the answer is
only through what Jesus has done for us.
Before we knew Jesus as Savior,
our sin and rebellion separated us
and actually made us children of wrath,
not of God.
But in the most beautiful
and extravagant act of mercy,
Jesus Christ took earth in on Himself.
He died for it
and in exchange gave us forgiveness of sins,
eternal life,
and all of His rights
as a son of God.
And not only that,
but those who accept Christ
are given the free gift
of His Holy Spirit,
who, as it says in verse 15,
brings about our adoption of sonship.
He makes us sons and daughters.
When we receive the Spirit,
we change from children of wrath
to children of God.
How incredible is His grace?
But in verse 17,
you know,
it actually goes even further.
And in some ways,
it's actually more staggering
than the first reality.
Follow with me,
verse 17.
Now if we are children,
then we are heirs,
heirs of God
and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share His sufferings
in order that we may also share His glory.
So,
2,000 years ago,
in Paul's Greco-Roman world,
adoption was a common practice.
And the adopted son
will be given all the rights
of the other children in the family,
including an equal right
to the inheritance of the Father.
And the astounding thing is
that this is true
for believers in Christ as well.
The Father takes us in,
while we are still His enemies,
living in rebellion against Him.
And Jesus takes the judgment
we deserve to get.
And in exchange,
He gives us everything
that He deserves to get.
And this is unprecedented
eternal events
we share in the Father's inheritance.
We get to know Jesus' Father
as our Father now.
And as it says in verse 17,
we are heirs of God.
But also,
we are co-heirs with Christ.
Which means,
Christ's kingdom
is also ours now.
Try and get your head around that.
We will rule it together
when God makes the new heaven
and the new earth.
Look at this verse
in 2 Timothy 2.12.
It says,
We will reign with Him.
And then in 1 Corinthians 2.21,
it's on the screen as well.
All things are yours.
Whether Paul,
or Apollos,
or Cephas,
or the world,
or life,
or death,
or the present,
or the future,
all are yours.
And you are of Christ.
And Christ is of God.
You know,
these truths are so astonishing
that it's actually possible
for us in our own strength
to understand them.
We need the Holy Spirit's help
to make them a reality.
And I think there's just two questions
that arise from this.
As you look around today
and you see your brothers and sisters
in Christ,
who do you see?
Do you just see parents,
students,
factory workers,
office workers?
Because do you know what?
Over and above all of those things,
the people sitting around you
are the sons and daughters
of God
and the future inheritors
of Christ's kingdom.
Now I think that changes
how we look at one another,
how we respect
and love one another.
Maybe that changes
the way we speak to each other,
how we talk about each other.
You know,
the second question
I think that this raises is this.
What else could define us
as people?
What else could define us
in our lives?
I mean,
our community
culture says
that you are defined
by the job,
money,
house,
holidays,
relationships,
and the health
that you do or don't have.
And you know what God says to that?
No.
This is what defines you.
You are a precious,
dearly loved,
child of the God of the universe
and an heir of all things.
So that makes you
something incredibly special.
You are by no means
ordinary,
small,
or inconsequential.
You may never be famous
or widely known
outside of Pierre Glein,
but you're someone extraordinary
because you're in Christ today.
That changes everything
in your life.
That also changes everything
about your prayer life.
this is the bedrock of prayer.
Know who you are
as you come to pray.
But now we want to move on
and we want to listen closely
to what this passage says
about how we are to pray.
Away, wasp.
No?
Go away.
No?
You want to stay with me?
So, yeah,
I'll ask you to say that.
So, yeah,
in no way does this passage
encompass everything
that could be said about prayer,
but there's three huge aspects
about prayer
that it does touch on
and we're just going to
focus on those.
And they're actually all found
in this one small phrase.
By him,
we cry,
Abba Father.
So you can see
my nice graphics
there I did up.
We're going to split it
into three,
take them one at a time.
We're going to see
what we can get out of this
and what we can learn
about prayer.
Firstly,
by him,
we cry,
Abba Father.
which means
we pray
by the Spirit.
That's what Paul
talked about there.
Paul says in Ephesians 2.18,
Pray in the Spirit
on all occasions
with all kinds
of prayers
and requests.
And back in verse 14,
he said that those
who are led
by the Spirit of God
are sons of God.
So we learn that
close communion
with the Spirit
is absolutely essential
to constant communication
with the Father.
The Spirit is the one
who enables us to pray.
And as it says later
in verse 26,
the Spirit is helping us
in our weakness.
He's actually interceding
with the Father
on our behalf.
And we're going to talk
about that more later,
but we learn
that close intimacy
with the Spirit
is incredibly important.
And we need to be clear here,
the Spirit is never
drawing attention
to himself.
He's always pointing us
to the Father
and to the Son
for all of our joy,
all of our love,
all of our day-to-day needs.
But we can push away
the Spirit
when he prompts us
towards Christ.
We so often ignore him.
I don't know if you're like me,
but I find incredible ways
of squeezing him out
and filling up my day
with all these other noises
and voices
and never having the times
of quiet to hear him speak.
Or maybe in the busyness.
We try to do life
all in our own strength.
Ignoring God's health,
in fact.
You know what?
We need to be sensitive
to the Spirit
leading and drawing.
Which means being open to him.
Giving him space
in our day-to-day lives.
And allowing him
to move us
towards Jesus
and towards the Father.
And I don't know
what this means for you,
but for me,
if I didn't keep
checking myself,
every spare moment
of my day
would be spent
on my phone
checking sports
or Instagram
or whatever.
whatever.
I think I'm actually
addicted to sports news.
RTE can only produce
so many sports articles
in a day.
They're not producing
enough for me.
Anyway,
and God has really
convinced me recently
of how
there's so many times
in the day
where I could just be
drawn near to him
when I just have spare moments
and I said,
what's the first thing
I do?
Flick out the phone.
RTE,
whatever.
And God has really
convicted me about that.
So,
and actually,
another way,
I always used to listen
to the radio
on my way to work
in the morning.
I got a half an hour
commute to band.
And what Lurk
convinced me about that,
actually,
this was a valuable time
that I could use,
actually,
have a structured
prayer time,
which has been
really fruitful.
On my way back,
you know,
I'm calling people
doing different jobs,
but on my way to school,
I have that time
every morning,
structured prayer,
where everything else
is switched off,
no music,
no noise,
just an uninterrupted
time of closeness
and prayer with God.
And I just done wonders
for my prayer life.
It changes
how I go about my day.
So basically,
look,
the Father is waiting
for us to come.
And in what way
do you need to make
more space
for the Spirit
in your normal day?
And what unnecessary
noities
do you need to cut out?
Think about that
for yourselves.
So firstly,
we pray by the Spirit.
And secondly,
it's by Him
that we cry
at the Father.
So we're just going
to focus on that word,
cry.
Why is it used there?
I mean,
that's a word
that I often
actually associate
with weakness
and helplessness.
God's telling us
something important here
about how we are to pray.
to come to God
in prayer,
we must come
knowing our weakness
and our helplessness
without Him.
And now that's all
very well and good,
you say,
but that flies in the face
of everything
that our culture
tells us we should be,
which is independent,
strong,
self-confident,
believing in yourself
that you can do life
in your own strength.
And you only look
for health
when you really need it,
if it's really necessary.
But the rest of life,
90% of it,
you've got that covered.
You can do that
on your own.
You know what?
Jesus,
He turns those assumptions
upside down.
He modeled a life
of total dependence
upon His Father.
Have a look at this verse
on the screen.
John 5, 19.
Jesus speaking.
He says,
the Son can do nothing
by Himself.
He can only do
what He sees His Father doing
because whatever
the Father does,
the Son also does.
And you know what?
After Jesus modeled
this kind of life
of dependence,
He later tells His disciples
in John 15, verse 5,
I am the vine.
You are the branches.
If you remain in Me
and I in you,
you will bear much fruit.
But listen to this.
Apart from Me,
you can do nothing.
Now,
our proud heart,
we don't like to hear that.
We don't want to hear that
without Jesus,
we could do nothing
of any good
or substance
for God's kingdom.
We like to kick over this first
because we don't like
being helpless.
We can help ourselves.
Thank you very much.
And that is our nature.
Our Father, however,
wants us to come to Him
weary,
empty-handed,
helpless.
And if you're like me,
actually,
deep down in your heart,
you know that's a good thing
because you know deep down
you are a weary,
helpless,
broken person.
It's okay to be weak.
He wants us,
as it says in His verse,
to continually cry out to Him,
Abba,
Father,
I need you.
I can't go without you.
I have to have you
or else everything I do
is for nothing.
I can't be patient
with my kids without you.
I don't know what to say
to my only family members
without your help.
I can't delight without you.
That's the kind of prayer
God's looking for.
Listen to what Paul says
in 2 Corinthians
about what Jesus said to him
during a crippling trial
in his life.
It's on the screen there.
But he said to me,
My grace is sufficient for you.
My power is made perfect
in weakness.
Therefore,
I will boast
all the more gladly
about my weaknesses
so that Christ's power
may rest on me.
That is why,
for Christ's sake,
I delight in weaknesses
and insults
and hardships
and persecution
and difficulties.
For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
Do you delight
in your weaknesses?
Your weakness
and your suffering
is actually the door
to God's great strength.
Your weakness
is the door to prayer.
It's the door
to dependence
on your almighty
universe-creating Father.
Father.
I love how Paul Miller,
the guy I mentioned earlier,
how he applies this verse.
Read this quote.
He says,
If we think
that we can do life
on our own,
we will not take care seriously.
That really hit me
two months ago
when I read that.
He continues.
He says,
We tell ourselves,
Strong Christians pray a lot.
If I were a stronger Christian,
I'd pray more.
How many of you
thought that like me?
I've definitely thought that.
Well,
Paul says,
Strong Christians do pray more,
but they pray more
because they realize
how weak they are.
They don't try to hide it
from themselves.
Weakness is a channel
that allows them
to access grace.
I can't tell you
the impact
that all of this
has had on my own prayer life
in the past two months.
I've had to repent
of a lot of self-dependence
to be honest.
There was an awful lot
of things in my life
that I never
asked God help for.
I just assumed
that I had it covered.
But when those things
started to crumble and break,
I'd find myself
on my knees
crying out to God
for his help
and his mercy.
And I realized,
actually,
do you know what?
I wasn't.
I was in control
all along.
I was actually
very, very fragile
and weak
all along.
I actually
struggled myself
into thinking
that I was able
and I didn't need any help.
So more recently,
I've come a little wiser
and I started each day
by confessing
my utter helplessness
to God.
By confessing
my weakness
and my need of Him.
And I encourage you guys
to do the same.
So get on your knees
each morning
and start like that.
And ask Him
for His help.
John Pike
says it this way.
The Spirit
has worked
a childishness
in you.
A little,
desperate,
helpless.
I need help.
I can't
save myself.
I've got to have a daddy.
I can't live
without that help.
It's the Holy Spirit's
real,
childlike,
happy,
cry to the Father.
Father.
So how do we pray?
Well,
firstly,
we pray by the Spirit.
And secondly,
we cry out
to our Father,
continually embracing
our weakness
and helplessness
and inviting our Father
to be strong for us.
But the third part
of this little phrase here
is just the words,
Abba,
Father.
Let's just briefly
look at this.
I reckon that children
maybe are the best
example we have
in life
of someone
who is health
and weak.
Elodie,
who is my
11-week-old daughter.
She's back there
with her auntie
right now.
She's just a picture
of defendants.
She cries very loudly
at her parents
until her parents
give her what she needs.
She knows
that she can't do
life without us.
She longs
for our cuddles,
our attention,
our soothing words.
It's actually
the cutest thing.
In the morning,
when she's starting
to wake up,
and when we lift
our heads over her
so that she can see us,
her face instantly
just lights up
with ear-to-ear smile.
She just longs
to be with us.
She longs
for our closeness
and our attention.
You know what?
We wonder
what her first words
are going to be.
It's going to be
dada.
It's going to be mama.
Well, God says,
call me Abba.
Call me Abba, Father.
It's like God saying,
come like a child
in your helplessness,
in your simple longing
for your daddy
and his closeness.
Come like a child.
Just as you are.
No errors are graces.
Any parents here
will know that
your children
don't have to be clean,
perfectly behaved,
or in a good mood
for you to whisk them
up onto your knee
and listen to their stories.
Look what Jesus says
in Matthew 18, verse 3.
Truly I tell you,
unless you change
and become like little children,
you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
God calls us
to cry out to him,
Abba, Father.
It's simple.
There's nothing complicated.
If you're worried
about knowing
the right things
to say to God,
and that's stopping
you from praying,
well, just leave
those worries
at his feet.
Because you know what?
Children don't worry
about what they're going
to say to their parents,
do they?
No, they just blurt it out.
And oftentimes
when you're in public
that can be quite embarrassing
what they do blurt out.
You know,
a lot of people
as well,
including me,
can struggle
to focus in prayer.
But just as any
loving parent
makes time to sit
and listen
to their child's
meandering,
so your Abba Father
loves to hear
from you also,
even when you go
off on tangents
and start thinking
about the rugby.
Guilty.
You know what?
If you get distracted,
don't give up.
Keep going back
to the Father
in prayer.
And while we talk
a lot about prayer
moment by moment
throughout the day,
it's also important
to set a time
in the day
for structured,
purposeful prayer,
where we're
undistracted.
And there's some
very helpful things
that we can do.
There's lots of
helpful things
we can do
to aid our focus,
such as
writing reminders
and prayer cards
to help us
just to focus
and to pray
for the specifics
of life.
But we are always
to come as a child,
knowing that
our Abba Father
longs for us
to run into his arms
even when we are
at his worst,
even when we are
at our worst.
to pray.
So we've learned
three things
from this small phrase.
Number one,
we've learned that
we pray with the
Spirit's help.
Two,
that we need to
acknowledge our
weakness and our
helplessness as we
come to pray.
Thirdly,
to come as a child.
Lastly,
in the rest of this
passage,
Paul addresses
what to do
when we can't
even find the words
to pray.
He talks about
how suffering
is actually
the door to prayer.
So we're just
going to look at that.
Paul speaks at length
about the suffering
that we as Jesus followers
will endure
in this life.
In verse 17,
we learn that
we are co-heirs
with Christ
if indeed
we share
in his suffering
that we may also
share in his glory.
So suffering
is inevitable
for the believer,
right?
It's all part of being
in Christ.
But then in the next
verse,
verse 18,
you can read it with me,
Paul encourages us
that our present
sufferings
are not worth
comparing with the
glory
that will be
revealed in us.
Now having that
perspective in suffering
is an absolute
gift from God.
Just to know that
this suffering,
though it is painful,
is totally outweighed
by millions upon
millions of years
in God's perfect
presence
without any pain
or tears.
But Paul continues
in verse 20
and he explains
that all of God's
creation has been
subjected to frustration
and to decay
since the fall
of the Garden of Eden.
And follow with me
in verse 22
and we're going to
pick it up there.
He says,
we know that the
whole creation
has been groaning
as in the pains
of childbirth
right up to the
present time.
Not only so,
but we ourselves
who have the
first fruits of the
Spirit
groan inwardly
as we wait for
our adoption
to sonship,
the redemption
of our bodies.
So we see,
firstly,
that God's
creation itself
is groaning,
yearning to be
made new.
And secondly,
we as believers,
Paul says,
are groaning.
Why?
Because we're not
in heaven yet.
We haven't fully
realized our adoption
as sons and daughters.
We haven't apart now,
but not in full
just yet.
And in all of this
he's saying that,
look,
our suffering is real.
The broken world
that we live in
has yet to be restored.
And because of that
question,
you were right.
I mean,
is God ignorant
of all our groaning?
Why did he just
put a stop to it right now?
Would that not be
the loving thing to do?
I mean,
what's the reason
for all this suffering?
But thank God
that there are
verses 26 and 27.
Read it with me.
In the same way,
the Spirit
helps us
in our weakness.
We do not know
what we ought to pray for,
but the Spirit
himself
intercedes for us
through wordless groans.
And he who
searches our hearts
knows the mind
and the Spirit
because the Spirit
intercedes for God's people
in accordance
with the will of God.
Okay?
So the creation
is groaning.
We are groaning.
Look who else
is groaning.
God
is also
groaning.
You know what?
Far from being distant
in our suffering,
can you not see here
that he's actually
a God
who's feeling
everything that we're feeling?
He's a God
who groans for us
and with us.
It says here
that the Holy Spirit
is helping us
in our weakness.
He's advocating
to the Father for us.
When we are left
speechless
in suffering,
the Holy Spirit
prays for us
so we can actually
rest
even in the most
bitter of trials.
It even goes so far
at the end of verse 27
to say that the Spirit's prayers
are always in accordance
with God's will.
He knows the right
things to pray for us.
So the pressure
is off there.
He's praying for us.
And that means
that in the deepest
suffering,
all that we have
to do is this.
Cry Abba
and rest in Him.
Just cry Abba
and rest in Him.
We just have to open
our hearts up
again and again
to our Abba Father
drawing near to Him.
Not running from Him.
Even when you don't
understand what He's doing,
don't run.
Give the Spirit
the space
to lead you back
to the cross.
And when you can't pray,
the Spirit
is filling in that gap
and He's groaning
for you
on your behalf.
I hope that you can see
that there is
overwhelming hope
in suffering.
And often,
we can't understand
why
when we ask God
to take the suffering away
and He doesn't.
We ask God
for something
that we honestly
think is good,
but in return
we get something
that we think
is worse.
Prayers like,
God,
please heal this illness.
God,
please protect them
from hurt.
Lord,
I pray that justice
would be done.
Those were actually
all prayers
that I've prayed this year
and God didn't answer them
the way I thought
was best.
But you know what?
Jesus has promised
that the Father
can actually
only give us
what is good for us
and we actually
need to hold on
to this promise.
He says it here
in Matthew 7
verses 9 to 11.
Which of you,
if your son
asks for bread,
will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a snake?
If you,
then though you are evil,
know how to give
good gifts
to your children,
well how much more
will your Father
in heaven
give good gifts
to those who ask him?
You know what?
If this verse is true,
if what he's saying
here is true,
then that means
that when God
doesn't take away
our pain,
it's because he's
working something
incredible in us.
Which is what
we would have wanted
if we could only
have seen things
from his perspective.
And when you think
about it,
actually,
suffering is
really a gift
from God
to show us
our helplessness
and weakness,
which then
causes us
to cry out to him.
You know what?
when all is calm
in life,
we can fool
ourselves into thinking
that we don't need
Jesus.
But in suffering,
we're under no illusions.
We need God.
We need our Father.
So suffering,
it's an open door
to prayer
and reliance
on our Father.
God bless you.
I'm actually going
to leave you today
with a story
from Paul Miller's book
about this very topic.
And he speaks
about a spiritual
desert time
in his life
when he and his wife
discovered that
their fourth child
had acquired
brain surgery,
not brain surgery,
brain damage,
due to medical
negligence
at birth.
Now,
the interesting thing
was that Paul's wife,
Jill,
had actually prayed
through the whole pregnancy
that God would protect
the baby from her.
But after the incident,
their daughter
grew up with
increasingly challenging
behaviours
and very complicated
health problems.
And as you can imagine,
that led to a huge
amount of questions
in Paul and Jill's life.
Why did God love this?
I mean,
we prayed for protection
from her,
but he didn't.
How can he still
be loving
and good?
Is he still in control?
And this is what
Paul had to say
looking back on his life.
Just listen.
I'm going to put a little
bit of it on the screen,
but for the most part
I'm just going to
read it out.
This is what he says.
God takes everyone
he loves
through the desert.
The still dry air
of the desert
brings a sense
of helplessness
that is so crucial
to the spirit of prayer.
You come face to face
with your inability
to live,
have joy,
or do anything
of lasting worth.
The desert
becomes a window
to the heart of God.
He finally gets
your attention
because he's the only
game in town.
You cry out to God
so long
and so often
that a channel
begins to open up
between you
and God.
When driving,
you turn off the radio
just to be with God.
At night,
you drift in and out
prayer when you're sleeping.
Without realizing,
you've learned
how to pray
continuously.
very early on,
Jill and I
were aware
that because of
our daughter Kim,
God was humbling us
and making us
more like his son.
It took us
20 years
to realize
that God
used Kim
to save
our family.
God had
kept us
from all harm.
Kim
brought Jesus
into our home.
Jill and I
could no longer
do life on our own.
We needed Jesus
to get from one
end of the day
to the other.
We'd ask
for a loaf of bread
and instead
of giving us
a stone,
our Father
had to spread
a feast for us
in the wilderness.
And Paul finishes
like this,
he says,
when we don't receive
what we pray for
or desire,
it doesn't mean
that God
isn't acting
on our behalf.
Rather,
he's weaving
his story.
Watch out
for the story
that God
is weaving
in your life
and don't
leave the desert.
So just to
summarize
what we've
done today,
brothers and sisters,
as you come to pray,
know who you are.
You are precious,
dearly loved
sons and daughters
of God,
heirs of everything
with Christ.
Secondly,
as you pray,
don't push away
the spirit.
Walk with him.
Come help us
and weep,
crying out to your Father.
Come as a child.
Don't worry
about what to say.
And thirdly,
in your suffering,
when you don't
have the words
to pray,
know that the Holy Spirit
is groaning
on your behalf.
Your suffering
is an open door
to prayer
and an open door
to God.
let's pray.
Let's pray.
Spirit,
you're the only one
who can take
the truths
of your word
and plant them
deep in our hearts
so that they
change us.
So I pray
that you do that now.
change our prayer lives.
Let us walk
closer with you.
Let us yearn
for our heavenly Father
and cry out
and continually
let us acknowledge
and realize
our moment
by moment
weakness
and our need
for you.
God,
help us
in our suffering
not to despair
but to use it
as an opportunity
to turn to you.
We commit ourselves
to you.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Thank you, Sam.
As we finish
our time together
we're going to sing
one more song.
Classic song.
What a friend
we have
in Jesus
which I think
helps us to respond
in an appropriate way
to what we've heard
this morning.
So again,
please feel free
to stand
as we sing.
Amen.
Peace.
Appreciate it.
Jesus.
Thanks.
Peace.
All the magic has been healed
gelewing the крас菩��
All the magic has been healed
Gauxhallalty Eve
As him did the maker
Hail to breathe
cafe
Gauxhallalty Eve
Gauxhallalty
And everything to God is blessed
God, we call your salvation
We will never trouble anywhere
We shall never be as good
열� печ eich in the님's name
Yeah, we find a friend so faithful
Who will know I shall share
That he is on the island
Thank you.