WEBVTT 00:07.928 --> 00:08.489 [SPEAKER_00]: morning. 00:10.552 --> 00:12.474 [SPEAKER_00]: My name's Darren and part of the industry team. 00:12.514 --> 00:15.318 [SPEAKER_00]: What amazing and amazing service we've already had. 00:15.358 --> 00:17.722 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't almost feel like I don't need to preach. 00:17.862 --> 00:20.125 [SPEAKER_00]: We've had a sermon this morning and it wasn't just Andy. 00:21.267 --> 00:23.250 [SPEAKER_00]: It was the baptisms themselves. 00:24.511 --> 00:26.474 [SPEAKER_00]: When was the last time you'd grown? 00:30.980 --> 00:37.750 [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm not talking about the type of grown like I 00:39.603 --> 00:42.007 [SPEAKER_00]: with the buckets to clean their bathroom. 00:43.590 --> 00:45.693 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd groaned for about 45 minutes. 00:46.014 --> 00:47.316 [SPEAKER_00]: That's that. 00:47.336 --> 00:52.184 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking more about the groan that comes when you are broken. 00:54.388 --> 01:02.522 [SPEAKER_00]: When was the last time you groaned when you went to that place of weakness, of frailty, of grief, of suffering? 01:04.257 --> 01:19.831 [SPEAKER_00]: This morning we are going to open up Romans 8 and continue in Romans 8 and we see a passage which talks about that place and God's response to that place that we all come to at one point or another in our lives. 01:20.432 --> 01:34.264 [SPEAKER_00]: We've been looking at Romans 8 over the last five or so weeks and one of the things I really noticed as we've gone through this is that throughout this chapter Paul who wrote 01:34.244 --> 01:37.589 [SPEAKER_00]: He's constantly moving from one place to another. 01:38.490 --> 01:44.078 [SPEAKER_00]: On one hand he's talking about the glory that is ahead of us when we believe in Christ. 01:44.719 --> 02:02.023 [SPEAKER_00]: He's been sharing his amazing truths, and yet he constantly pivots back to our current reality, a place where we are tempted, a place where our bodies are breaking down, a place where our world is decaying, a place where they're suffering and pain. 02:02.493 --> 02:03.995 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that Paul does this. 02:04.095 --> 02:12.126 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't just take us to the glorious moment, but he constantly brings us back into the life that we have to lead here. 02:12.166 --> 02:16.031 [SPEAKER_00]: A place which isn't always glorious and amazing. 02:16.772 --> 02:21.999 [SPEAKER_00]: We have the first fruits of what's ahead of us, yet we also have to live in this world. 02:22.039 --> 02:28.448 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I love that Paul really paints this beautiful picture about these two things. 02:28.488 --> 02:30.070 [SPEAKER_00]: He gives us hope. 02:30.286 --> 02:32.235 [SPEAKER_00]: but he also addresses the here and now. 02:32.315 --> 02:34.686 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what's going to happen in today's passage again. 02:35.329 --> 02:38.001 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to pivot from one place to another. 02:39.179 --> 02:42.223 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to read from verse 26 through to 30. 02:42.724 --> 02:48.552 [SPEAKER_00]: Just five verses, but let me tell you, these five verses have so much in them. 02:48.913 --> 02:52.678 [SPEAKER_00]: We could really do another five weeks, just on these five verses. 02:52.878 --> 02:54.921 [SPEAKER_00]: They're so rich with meaning. 02:55.081 --> 02:58.326 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to break them down into two parts, two kind of phases. 02:58.906 --> 03:05.095 [SPEAKER_00]: But before I read it, I just want us to take a moment, just to center ourselves and just be aware of God's spirit. 03:05.175 --> 03:06.537 [SPEAKER_00]: He is here. 03:06.517 --> 03:07.399 [SPEAKER_00]: he is moving. 03:07.439 --> 03:12.347 [SPEAKER_00]: You've possibly sensed it already in our worship in the testimonies. 03:13.249 --> 03:20.281 [SPEAKER_00]: Just take a moment, take a breath to put yourself into a posture where you're willing to hear from him. 03:21.644 --> 03:28.756 [SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, as we read your word, we pray that you would bring a life your message for us today. 03:30.098 --> 03:30.499 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 03:31.964 --> 03:36.572 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's read from Romans 26, I'm reading from the NIV version. 03:36.612 --> 03:40.459 [SPEAKER_00]: It's actually really interesting to look at the different translations of this passage. 03:40.840 --> 03:48.994 [SPEAKER_00]: There's some real differences in some of them, so I encourage you this week to dig back into these verses and to look at some of the different translations. 03:50.189 --> 03:58.899 [SPEAKER_00]: So in the same way, so we're linking here to what we've already talked about, in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 03:59.820 --> 04:03.344 [SPEAKER_00]: That word weakness can be translated, frailty. 04:03.885 --> 04:06.407 [SPEAKER_00]: Human frailty is what's being talked about here. 04:07.008 --> 04:10.512 [SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit helps us in our frailty, in our weakness. 04:10.612 --> 04:17.580 [SPEAKER_00]: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us. 04:17.560 --> 04:34.388 [SPEAKER_00]: 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. 04:35.245 --> 04:44.322 [SPEAKER_00]: We had this beautiful picture in these verses of this place that we all come to you at one point or another, a moment of frailty. 04:44.442 --> 04:46.305 [SPEAKER_00]: We've heard about that this morning. 04:46.385 --> 04:49.070 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks Simon for sharing your story. 04:49.090 --> 04:57.726 [SPEAKER_00]: It hit me and took me back to times in my own life where I've felt so frail. 04:58.955 --> 05:00.637 [SPEAKER_00]: The first time I'd ever happened for me, I was 19. 05:01.638 --> 05:02.960 [SPEAKER_00]: My life was going great. 05:03.681 --> 05:10.289 [SPEAKER_00]: Had my first girlfriend, I finished high school, I was studying, I was having a great time. 05:10.409 --> 05:23.605 [SPEAKER_00]: But one weekend on a church camp, up in Northern Victoria, we heard the news that my girlfriends, older sister, who was a single mum, had been killed tragically in a car accident. 05:24.526 --> 05:26.869 [SPEAKER_00]: Her baby in the back seats of I've, 05:28.233 --> 05:31.598 [SPEAKER_00]: But this was my first experience of death up close. 05:33.180 --> 05:36.184 [SPEAKER_00]: And seeing grief up close. 05:37.586 --> 05:40.510 [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember I was speechless. 05:41.030 --> 05:42.072 [SPEAKER_00]: I was without words. 05:42.432 --> 05:44.415 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know what to say to my girlfriend. 05:45.476 --> 05:52.806 [SPEAKER_00]: And particularly to God, as I saw the gut-branching experience of her and her family. 05:53.647 --> 05:58.052 [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember after a couple of days with her and her family, I went home to my family. 05:58.152 --> 06:00.574 [SPEAKER_00]: We travel back down the home highway. 06:00.654 --> 06:06.601 [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember walking to my house and seeing my parents and I was speechless, I had no words. 06:07.682 --> 06:14.309 [SPEAKER_00]: And I went off to my bedroom and I lay my bed and I sobbed, I let it all out. 06:14.469 --> 06:22.978 [SPEAKER_00]: My mum came into the room, shot the door behind me, a behind her, and sat on the bed, and she said, can I pray for you? 06:24.983 --> 06:28.951 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just agreed, sobbing away. 06:28.991 --> 06:33.299 [SPEAKER_00]: And it turned out that she didn't have any words either. 06:33.319 --> 06:35.363 [SPEAKER_00]: And she didn't really pray any words. 06:35.483 --> 06:40.012 [SPEAKER_00]: But she sat on the bed with me and she laid down next to me and she held me for about half an hour. 06:41.174 --> 06:46.063 [SPEAKER_00]: Both of us sobbing, both of us groaning about this experience. 06:46.280 --> 06:51.570 [SPEAKER_00]: And though she didn't say any words, it was actually a very prayerful experience. 06:52.532 --> 06:59.905 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was one of the most surprising moments of that whole experience for me is that God's spirit was there with us. 07:01.408 --> 07:04.474 [SPEAKER_00]: It was there in our frailty, in our weakness. 07:06.935 --> 07:26.226 [SPEAKER_00]: Another time it happened a few years later, I was in my mid-20s, I was the youth pastor of my church, and I got a phone call one day from a mum of one of our youth groupboys, and she told me that her son had been given a diagnosis of leukemia, that day, and she asked me, can you come and pray for him? 07:27.337 --> 07:36.285 [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember simultaneously feeling like I wanted to race over there, but also simultaneously doubting whether I was the right person to go over and pray for Him. 07:37.346 --> 07:40.869 [SPEAKER_00]: Do I have enough faith to pray for this boy for healing? 07:41.689 --> 07:43.271 [SPEAKER_00]: What words would I use? 07:44.692 --> 07:46.293 [SPEAKER_00]: What's really the will of God? 07:46.353 --> 07:48.035 [SPEAKER_00]: What should I pray for? 07:49.016 --> 07:51.138 [SPEAKER_00]: I had no idea what to pray. 07:51.158 --> 07:52.939 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like in 22 or so. 07:53.640 --> 07:56.382 [SPEAKER_00]: And I went over to his house, 07:57.509 --> 08:02.556 [SPEAKER_00]: Going into his bedroom and saying, hey, can I pray for you and putting my hand on his shoulder? 08:03.197 --> 08:06.101 [SPEAKER_00]: And the words just didn't come. 08:07.003 --> 08:12.430 [SPEAKER_00]: I stumbled out something and as I was praying, I was thinking, this is just horrible. 08:12.470 --> 08:14.994 [SPEAKER_00]: This is just the worst prayer I've ever prayed. 08:15.595 --> 08:21.323 [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna look up at me and tell me, can you call the senior minister to come over and do this properly? 08:23.041 --> 08:31.794 [SPEAKER_00]: But we got to the end of the prayer, and I said, hey, man, and I was breaded, and I was embarrassed, and he looked up at me and he said, did you feel that? 08:33.617 --> 08:35.840 [SPEAKER_00]: I said, yeah, I felt it, and it was terrible. 08:35.880 --> 08:43.091 [SPEAKER_00]: And he said, no, did you feel the heat in your hand? 08:44.953 --> 08:47.777 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, no, I didn't feel anything. 08:48.799 --> 08:51.563 [SPEAKER_00]: I really doubted where the gobbler's even there. 08:53.737 --> 08:54.318 [SPEAKER_00]: but he was. 08:56.661 --> 09:06.032 [SPEAKER_00]: What I think was going on in both of these situations, in my frailty, in my inability to pray, was the spirit was there helping. 09:07.153 --> 09:13.982 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit was there interceding, which is what's going on in this particular verse that we're reading today. 09:14.923 --> 09:18.327 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit helps us in our frailty. 09:19.792 --> 09:34.750 [SPEAKER_00]: That word in the Greek helps means to come alongside and to shoulder the burden, not to take away this suffering, but to carry some of it, to shoulder some of it. 09:35.972 --> 09:45.343 [SPEAKER_00]: I have one commentator this week, talk about it like you're in the gym and you're doing reps and your last rep, you can't get it back up. 09:46.032 --> 09:50.018 [SPEAKER_00]: but you have a spotter and the spotter helps you lift that weight. 09:51.080 --> 09:57.030 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit is there helping us children some of that weight. 09:58.412 --> 10:12.715 [SPEAKER_00]: Life is hard at times, but this life, this verse gives us a promise that in our moments of human frailty, the spirit comes alongside of us and shares the heaviness of it. 10:13.522 --> 10:26.144 [SPEAKER_00]: In those moments of frailty and weakness and grief and uncertainty and pain and confusion, that God is not only alongside us, but He is active there into seeding for us. 10:27.246 --> 10:38.365 [SPEAKER_00]: He is actually praying, taking the perfect prayers from what we experience to the Father, which is quite a remarkable thing. 10:39.610 --> 10:49.227 [SPEAKER_00]: When I think of prayer, I think of me lifting my words to God, and him sometimes speaking back, answering back. 10:49.788 --> 10:58.142 [SPEAKER_00]: But here we have a picture of the Holy Spirit actually taking our situation and praying to the Father on our behalf. 10:58.122 --> 11:03.149 [SPEAKER_00]: and he prays in a way that's perfect because he knows the will of God. 11:03.690 --> 11:09.399 [SPEAKER_00]: Even when we don't know what to pray for because we don't know what God wants us to pray for. 11:09.819 --> 11:13.204 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows and he prays those perfect prayers. 11:14.366 --> 11:25.142 [SPEAKER_00]: Last week we saw this beautiful picture of the all creation groaning and ask groaning that here we have a picture of the spirit of God groaning as well. 11:26.084 --> 11:27.986 [SPEAKER_00]: anti-right puts it this way. 11:28.566 --> 11:53.931 [SPEAKER_00]: At the very point where we find ourselves in pain and sorrow too deep for words, at the heart of creations worldless pain, pandemics, climate crisis, wars, violent crimes, and all of the rest, in all of this, God's own spirit is there with powerful 11:54.856 --> 11:57.680 [SPEAKER_00]: What a beautiful picture we have there. 11:59.123 --> 12:06.214 [SPEAKER_00]: This verse has been so meaningful for me in the last six or so months. 12:07.556 --> 12:12.984 [SPEAKER_00]: As I saw my dad become incredibly frail and pass away. 12:14.486 --> 12:16.830 [SPEAKER_00]: I had a picture just sitting there this morning. 12:18.228 --> 12:31.602 [SPEAKER_00]: In his last moments where all he could do was to groan him, of the spirit there by his side groaning, and lifting prayers to the Father for him. 12:33.003 --> 12:45.096 [SPEAKER_00]: What an amazing, beautiful, comforting and picture that is the Holy Spirit is essentially our prayer partner, our advocate before the Father. 12:46.561 --> 12:48.024 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we're only two verses in. 12:49.127 --> 12:50.390 [SPEAKER_00]: We've still got three to go. 12:50.410 --> 12:55.481 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're actually coming to a bit of a climax here in these next three verses. 12:55.522 --> 12:58.188 [SPEAKER_00]: We have a bit of a pivot going on here. 12:59.110 --> 13:01.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And we see this beautiful, 13:02.828 --> 13:17.232 [SPEAKER_00]: collection of ideas and one of the most famous verses in all of the Bible verse 28 but often taken out of context I think and I actually think it needs to be read with these verses that go before it but also after. 13:17.532 --> 13:19.335 [SPEAKER_00]: So let me read them for you. 13:21.577 --> 13:40.267 [SPEAKER_00]: And we know, in our moments of frailty, in our moments where we do not know how to pray, we do know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. 13:41.650 --> 13:46.858 [SPEAKER_00]: For God, for those God for you, He also predestined. 13:48.593 --> 13:51.277 [SPEAKER_00]: to be conformed to the image of his son. 13:51.978 --> 13:55.904 [SPEAKER_00]: That he might be the first born among many brothers and sisters. 13:56.705 --> 14:05.918 [SPEAKER_00]: And those he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified. 14:07.921 --> 14:08.222 [SPEAKER_00]: Wow. 14:09.984 --> 14:17.976 [SPEAKER_00]: This so much we could pull out of these verses, and I'm gonna skimmer across the top of them because we are running out of times. 14:18.074 --> 14:26.504 [SPEAKER_00]: I find it interesting that Paul starts these verses, having just talked about how we do not know what to pray. 14:26.564 --> 14:29.607 [SPEAKER_00]: He gives us some certainty about what we do know. 14:30.208 --> 14:33.852 [SPEAKER_00]: He's using a rhetorical kind of technique there to do it. 14:33.872 --> 14:41.141 [SPEAKER_00]: He's contrasting our lack of knowledge, our confusion over what to pray, with what we can be certain of. 14:41.982 --> 14:43.403 [SPEAKER_00]: What can we be certain of? 14:44.525 --> 14:46.647 [SPEAKER_00]: God works. 14:47.302 --> 14:48.244 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the first thing. 14:48.345 --> 14:51.011 [SPEAKER_00]: We worship a God who isn't passive. 14:51.151 --> 14:53.477 [SPEAKER_00]: He is a working God. 14:54.299 --> 15:00.013 [SPEAKER_00]: When you look at that word for works in the Greek, it's a really interesting word. 15:00.253 --> 15:04.804 [SPEAKER_00]: The word is synergy, which is where we get the word synergy from. 15:05.493 --> 15:15.066 [SPEAKER_00]: and synergy means works with and Paul always uses this word where God not only is working but he works in collaboration. 15:15.126 --> 15:23.917 [SPEAKER_00]: So in first Corinthians we actually see that we are co-workers with God in verse 9 of chapter 3. 15:24.818 --> 15:29.104 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul they are saying we are co-workers with God 15:29.978 --> 15:48.831 [SPEAKER_00]: This kind of idea of God working with us is actually not in most of the translations, but in T-Rite, Tom Wright actually argues that a better translation would be in all things God works for good with those who love him. 15:49.030 --> 16:02.044 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're not just the passive recipients of the good that God wants to do, but He actually invites us to work with Him for good purposes. 16:02.851 --> 16:10.126 [SPEAKER_00]: The thing that also that I think is well worth saying is that we often see this verse verse 28 taken out by itself. 16:10.768 --> 16:20.488 [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it on posters, I've received it in cards, but it rarely gets quoted with the verses around it. 16:20.468 --> 16:25.214 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's really interesting that verse 29 starts with a connecting word. 16:25.794 --> 16:37.208 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 28 and 29 should always be read together because 29 actually explains the good of what God is wanting to work in our lives. 16:38.610 --> 16:42.915 [SPEAKER_00]: The good is that we be conformed. 16:44.195 --> 16:52.745 [SPEAKER_00]: into the image of his son, and that he might be the first born among many brothers and sisters. 16:54.207 --> 17:02.277 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I think this verse verse 28 gets quoted in such a way that it's like every cloud will have a silver lining. 17:04.700 --> 17:08.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Your circumstances may suck right now, but they'll get better. 17:08.967 --> 17:10.088 [SPEAKER_00]: God will make them better. 17:10.609 --> 17:14.353 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not the good that's being promised here. 17:15.154 --> 17:20.461 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes our circumstances don't get better. 17:22.563 --> 17:25.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul's not saying that everything will be okay. 17:27.189 --> 17:31.414 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes in our world, things aren't okay. 17:31.664 --> 17:40.634 [SPEAKER_00]: But God still is promising to do a work and the work He's promising to do is to make us more Christ like. 17:40.654 --> 17:44.218 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is a theme that's in a lot of Paul's writings. 17:44.598 --> 17:58.954 [SPEAKER_00]: For example, in Second Corinthians 318, he says, and we all, who, with unvaled faces, contemplate the Lord's glory and are being transformed into His image, with ever increasing glory. 18:00.031 --> 18:06.487 [SPEAKER_00]: Many times we see 28 quoted without 29, but we need to bring them together. 18:07.931 --> 18:13.465 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no promise here that your circumstances will improve. 18:13.605 --> 18:14.648 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry. 18:15.252 --> 18:18.459 [SPEAKER_00]: But there is a promise here that God will do a good work in you. 18:19.581 --> 18:29.622 [SPEAKER_00]: In your moments of frality, in all things that you face, but he invites you to participate in that work. 18:29.662 --> 18:31.827 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't force it upon us. 18:33.578 --> 18:35.681 [SPEAKER_00]: I find it interesting and I'm gonna steal. 18:36.002 --> 18:44.154 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure whether it's Tim or Linda's thunder a little bit here, but Paul actually later on in this chapter, a list of things. 18:45.256 --> 18:48.901 [SPEAKER_00]: And he says, can these things separate us from the love of God? 18:50.383 --> 18:59.417 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, can a fliction distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or the sword separate us from the love of God? 19:00.190 --> 19:05.918 [SPEAKER_00]: Now I won't answer the question, I'll leave that to someone else, it's pretty obvious. 19:07.320 --> 19:17.195 [SPEAKER_00]: But he's listing here a list of things that the Roman Church will suffer in the decades that will follow at the hands of the Roman Empire. 19:17.836 --> 19:27.750 [SPEAKER_00]: They will be persecuted, they will have the sword come upon them, they will be naked, they will be in danger, they will be in famine, they will be distressed. 19:29.131 --> 19:40.208 [SPEAKER_00]: His listing circumstances that are gonna get worse, not better, but he's giving them a promise that they will become more Christ-like throughout it. 19:41.170 --> 19:43.954 [SPEAKER_00]: And they all have a different destiny. 19:43.974 --> 19:52.287 [SPEAKER_00]: Now some of you are probably freaking out slightly because I've been preaching now for 30 minutes and I'm only just coming to predestination. 19:56.047 --> 20:07.006 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a word that has triggered a lot of debates, a lot of arguments, a lot of conflicts, a lot of stress, a lot of confusion, a lot of anxiety, and it may be doing that for you right now. 20:07.547 --> 20:20.991 [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think Paul is using this word pre-destant, or talking about four knowledge here to confuse or cause you anxiety, he's actually using it in a way that's designed to comfort you. 20:20.971 --> 20:26.041 [SPEAKER_00]: Because what we are predestined for is to become like Christ. 20:26.943 --> 20:28.245 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what's going on here. 20:28.566 --> 20:31.391 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses the word for knowledge and predestined. 20:32.373 --> 20:38.305 [SPEAKER_00]: For knowledge is a word which speaks of God's knowledge of the future. 20:38.437 --> 20:42.343 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows what's to come, but it actually has a deeper meaning here as well. 20:42.844 --> 20:51.699 [SPEAKER_00]: In the Bible to know someone is not to know about them, but to have affection for them. 20:51.719 --> 21:02.537 [SPEAKER_00]: We see God using the word in Amos, where he says to Israel, you only have I known among the nations. 21:02.517 --> 21:04.460 [SPEAKER_00]: God knows all the nations. 21:04.980 --> 21:06.723 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not saying I know about you. 21:06.803 --> 21:09.827 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying I have affection for you. 21:09.847 --> 21:10.868 [SPEAKER_00]: I cared for you. 21:11.028 --> 21:12.150 [SPEAKER_00]: I provided for you. 21:12.811 --> 21:15.655 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said something similar in John 1014. 21:15.835 --> 21:16.796 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm the good shepherd. 21:16.996 --> 21:18.819 [SPEAKER_00]: I know my sheep. 21:19.700 --> 21:21.883 [SPEAKER_00]: A shepherd doesn't just know about his sheep. 21:22.384 --> 21:23.505 [SPEAKER_00]: He cares for his sheep. 21:23.946 --> 21:25.588 [SPEAKER_00]: He protects his sheep. 21:25.923 --> 21:28.128 [SPEAKER_00]: He defends his shape. 21:28.509 --> 21:30.934 [SPEAKER_00]: He provides for his shape. 21:30.954 --> 21:34.121 [SPEAKER_00]: So knowledge means affection. 21:34.922 --> 21:37.929 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think this should be applied to this word for knowledge. 21:38.129 --> 21:43.020 [SPEAKER_00]: God had us in his hearts before we even were. 21:43.473 --> 21:50.865 [SPEAKER_00]: He loved us and we see this in Psalm 139, where it says, you have searched me Lord and you know me. 21:51.606 --> 21:56.393 [SPEAKER_00]: You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. 21:56.413 --> 21:58.677 [SPEAKER_00]: You discern my going out, my lying down. 21:58.737 --> 22:00.359 [SPEAKER_00]: You are for me with all my ways. 22:00.459 --> 22:04.345 [SPEAKER_00]: Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord know it completely. 22:04.386 --> 22:07.270 [SPEAKER_00]: You hem me in behind. 22:07.250 --> 22:17.106 [SPEAKER_00]: And before you lay your hand upon me, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 22:18.268 --> 22:22.896 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 16, your eyes saw my unformed body, 22:22.876 --> 22:28.667 [SPEAKER_00]: All the days ordained for me were written in the book before one of them came to be. 22:29.308 --> 22:32.173 [SPEAKER_00]: God had four knowledge of you. 22:32.213 --> 22:34.758 [SPEAKER_00]: God foreloved you. 22:34.798 --> 22:37.002 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what's been talked about here. 22:37.042 --> 22:42.091 [SPEAKER_00]: God forenew you and He predestined you. 22:42.171 --> 22:45.357 [SPEAKER_00]: Your destiny was to become more like Christ. 22:48.188 --> 22:53.098 [SPEAKER_00]: Your destiny wasn't heaven, your destiny was transformation. 22:54.000 --> 22:56.224 [SPEAKER_00]: He's going to bring life to you. 22:57.967 --> 23:01.254 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I've skimmed the surface and haven't done predestination well. 23:01.274 --> 23:04.881 [SPEAKER_00]: So I would like you to go and talk to Tim about that after the service. 23:06.295 --> 23:08.039 [SPEAKER_00]: because we just need to wrap this up. 23:08.099 --> 23:16.136 [SPEAKER_00]: And we haven't got to verse 30, and verse 30 is just quite an incredible few ideas as well. 23:16.737 --> 23:23.552 [SPEAKER_00]: And it could well be a five-part sermon series because we've got this chain going on here. 23:23.652 --> 23:26.498 [SPEAKER_00]: I've lost control bin. 23:27.052 --> 23:27.533 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. 23:27.673 --> 23:31.878 [SPEAKER_00]: And our school has actually called this the golden chain of redemption. 23:32.439 --> 23:38.446 [SPEAKER_00]: This chain of five things that God does throughout this particular passage. 23:38.987 --> 23:41.590 [SPEAKER_00]: And he, I've lost where I'm up to, sorry. 23:42.391 --> 23:42.951 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you take me? 23:43.192 --> 23:43.813 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh gosh. 23:47.797 --> 23:48.739 [SPEAKER_00]: Is this a wrap up? 23:48.819 --> 23:50.160 [SPEAKER_00]: Is someone telling me something? 23:50.200 --> 23:54.245 [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, Ben. 23:55.066 --> 23:56.468 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me read it to you. 23:58.405 --> 24:00.510 [SPEAKER_00]: So we see this chain of five ideas. 24:01.172 --> 24:05.522 [SPEAKER_00]: Our verse 2 now, for those guide for you, he also predestined. 24:05.883 --> 24:07.708 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the first link in the chain. 24:08.169 --> 24:11.858 [SPEAKER_00]: The second one is that those he predestined. 24:12.833 --> 24:22.732 [SPEAKER_00]: He called, and those he called, he justified, and those he justified, he glorified. 24:23.253 --> 24:33.913 [SPEAKER_00]: So we see this repetition going on here, but the repetition, the most commonly used word in this particular passage, isn't any of those big words, it's the word, 24:33.893 --> 24:42.710 [SPEAKER_00]: He, it's used again and again and it really needs to remind us that it is God who does these things. 24:42.830 --> 24:43.532 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not us. 24:44.393 --> 24:47.920 [SPEAKER_00]: We live in a world that says you need to gain knowledge. 24:48.895 --> 24:51.339 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to find your call. 24:52.020 --> 24:53.562 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to find your destiny. 24:54.023 --> 24:55.845 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to justify yourself. 24:56.366 --> 24:58.149 [SPEAKER_00]: You should glorify yourself. 24:59.030 --> 25:01.634 [SPEAKER_00]: Our world says that we're to do all these things. 25:01.935 --> 25:05.059 [SPEAKER_00]: But this passage says, this is God's work. 25:05.079 --> 25:06.461 [SPEAKER_00]: It is God who saves. 25:06.622 --> 25:08.184 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not us who save ourselves. 25:08.384 --> 25:09.967 [SPEAKER_00]: It's God who saves. 25:10.628 --> 25:16.236 [SPEAKER_00]: And he wants to be involved in bringing this transformation in our lives. 25:16.216 --> 25:20.102 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we have this golden chain of redemption. 25:20.263 --> 25:22.907 [SPEAKER_00]: God who for nuance, God who for love does. 25:23.548 --> 25:28.376 [SPEAKER_00]: God who predestined us, who has a destiny for us to become like Christ. 25:28.696 --> 25:33.644 [SPEAKER_00]: God who called us, there's a lot of debt in that word called. 25:33.664 --> 25:36.148 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't just mean, come near me. 25:36.652 --> 25:41.782 [SPEAKER_00]: when God calls, he actually brings to life something in his call. 25:42.303 --> 25:49.177 [SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus, when he stood outside Lazarus's grave, he called Lazarus, come out. 25:49.598 --> 25:51.482 [SPEAKER_00]: And he wasn't just saying, Lazarus, come here. 25:51.542 --> 25:53.206 [SPEAKER_00]: Lazarus was dead. 25:53.246 --> 25:58.356 [SPEAKER_00]: His call breathed life into Lazarus. 25:58.454 --> 26:03.082 [SPEAKER_00]: And when he calls you, he's breathing something into you. 26:03.944 --> 26:10.796 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've become a Christian, you know that God was already at work in your life before you made the decision. 26:11.297 --> 26:17.728 [SPEAKER_00]: He placed a spark of faith in you that you've landed a flame by your belief by your decision. 26:18.687 --> 26:24.672 [SPEAKER_00]: You might be here today wondering what this is all about, but maybe you've got a spark of faith in you already. 26:24.833 --> 26:26.741 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe something's made you curious. 26:27.584 --> 26:28.950 [SPEAKER_00]: That's God calling you. 26:30.179 --> 26:34.806 [SPEAKER_00]: So he called and then he justified, justified, meaning it's a legal term. 26:34.866 --> 26:45.644 [SPEAKER_00]: He pardoned you, he acquitted you, he actually made you right, he made you righteous, not by anything you did, and then he glorified. 26:45.684 --> 26:53.336 [SPEAKER_00]: This word glorified is actually put in the past tense, even though it's a future thing that is coming ultimately for us. 26:53.917 --> 26:57.182 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how certain Paul is of this. 26:58.580 --> 27:01.343 [SPEAKER_00]: feel like I've skimmed the surface with this golden chain. 27:02.445 --> 27:06.950 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to encourage you this week to take these five verses and to meditate upon them. 27:07.010 --> 27:09.293 [SPEAKER_00]: To actually take these into your week. 27:09.734 --> 27:22.950 [SPEAKER_00]: Over the next five days, I challenge you to take each of these verses one day at a time and just to stew on it, to meditate upon it, to allow it to come to life a fresh in you. 27:24.938 --> 27:32.029 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, before we go back into our week, I just want to encourage you to sit with these ideas for a moment. 27:33.451 --> 27:34.593 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe close your eyes. 27:35.735 --> 27:36.977 [SPEAKER_00]: Our band's gonna play. 27:38.019 --> 27:42.966 [SPEAKER_00]: Just take a moment to sit with these ideas. 27:44.269 --> 27:49.877 [SPEAKER_00]: As I was praying this morning, I kinda had a sense that God wants to do a work. 27:50.158 --> 27:52.802 [SPEAKER_00]: This passage talks about God is at work. 27:55.398 --> 27:58.683 [SPEAKER_00]: God wants to do a work in some of us today. 28:01.548 --> 28:08.238 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the work he wants to do in you is that you've come feeling frial this morning. 28:10.922 --> 28:13.186 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're carrying a heavy burden. 28:16.752 --> 28:17.974 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're carrying grief. 28:19.696 --> 28:21.439 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're filling over wounds. 28:22.837 --> 28:27.047 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe you just don't know even what to pray. 28:30.976 --> 28:39.597 [SPEAKER_00]: That's okay, the spirit is by your side and wants to share that weight with you this morning. 28:42.580 --> 28:50.734 [SPEAKER_00]: I've a picture of the spirit, not only by your side carrying some of that way, but he's actually praying the perfect prayer for you. 28:50.754 --> 28:53.639 [SPEAKER_00]: His petitioning the Father for you right now. 28:56.543 --> 28:58.126 [SPEAKER_00]: Lean into Him. 28:58.186 --> 29:08.183 [SPEAKER_00]: Be assured and comforted that He is praying the perfect prayer this morning. 29:12.044 --> 29:24.298 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the work that God wants to do in you this morning is that he actually wants to fan that little spark of curiosity that you're you have inside you into into something more. 29:25.098 --> 29:27.261 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're here today because you're curious. 29:29.163 --> 29:37.292 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're here today because you've got a nagging feeling that God's drawing something out of you and you into something. 29:40.276 --> 29:43.400 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's you today, I want to suggest that God is calling you. 29:47.006 --> 29:47.967 [SPEAKER_00]: Lean into Him. 29:49.709 --> 29:51.212 [SPEAKER_00]: Open yourself to that work. 29:54.837 --> 30:05.592 [SPEAKER_00]: And then lastly, I suspect this morning that there are others of us who perhaps are resisting the work that God wants to do in us to be more like Him. 30:09.487 --> 30:11.891 [SPEAKER_00]: He wants to do a transforming work in all of us. 30:12.331 --> 30:13.533 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a lifelong thing. 30:13.573 --> 30:18.781 [SPEAKER_00]: But I know in my life there've been times where I've resisted that work. 30:21.986 --> 30:29.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Where it feels frightening, where I feel like I'd be out of control if I gave in the reins. 30:29.638 --> 30:34.245 [SPEAKER_00]: Where I've been working to save myself rather than letting him. 30:36.622 --> 30:42.469 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the work that the Spirit wants to do you doing you this morning is to give him the reins. 30:45.693 --> 30:47.175 [SPEAKER_00]: To allow him to be God. 30:52.542 --> 31:01.954 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna stand together in a moment and sing one final song, but as we sing our encourage you to let God do the work that He wants to do in you. 31:03.841 --> 31:10.354 [SPEAKER_00]: And perhaps it would be helpful for you have someone else stand alongside you in that moment. 31:10.474 --> 31:14.984 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm gonna ask our prayer team as we stand if our prayer team could come forward. 31:16.487 --> 31:18.711 [SPEAKER_00]: And that will be available to pray with you. 31:20.497 --> 31:34.534 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you're in a place of frailty, needing someone to stand with you and pray with you, whether you're exploring faith and want to respond to God's call on your life or whether it's about surrendering to Him and letting Him do transforming work in you. 31:34.834 --> 31:41.602 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, I want to encourage you to come forward during this song and to let our prayer team pray for you. 31:44.385 --> 31:50.132 [SPEAKER_00]: To intercede for you as the Spirit is. 31:51.850 --> 31:57.297 [SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, we give you this last time as we sing to do work in us. 31:59.360 --> 32:08.592 [SPEAKER_00]: Make it clear what you want us to participate in in this work where we how we can do that. 32:08.612 --> 32:10.855 [SPEAKER_00]: Give you this time.