Your Pain Has a Due Date
No Longer Bound • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good Morning LifeBridge.
Before I get into the Word today,
I got to tell you something.
My wife and I, years ago — we were expecting a child....A LITTLE GIRL
I remember sitting in the hospital room
hearing sounds I did not know a human being could make.
my wife was in pain and it killed me that I was so helpless
SO......I'm standing there nervous,
about to ask the nurse "IS THIS NORMAL?
is everything okay?”
I CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT MY FACE WAS ALREADY ASKING THE QUESTIONS
BECAUSE BEFORE I SAID ANYTHING......
she looked at me and said,
SHE’S DOING GOOD..... DAD, EVERYTHING IS FINE......DAD......that's not a bad sound.
That's the sound of somebody about to be a mother.
OH Come on, somebody say that with me:
that's not a bad sound.
I want you to hold on to that,
because I'm going to preach on groaning today.
Yeah, I said it — groaning.
NOW LISTEN TO ME........
before you check out on me....because
I KNOW that DOESN’T sound like a fun Sunday topic,
I need you to know this:
not every groan in your life means something IS dying.
Some groans mean something is being born.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....
look at your Neighbor and tell them....
IT’S Not a Graveyard, IT’S a Delivery Room
OH MY LORD.....SOMEBODY BETTER GET READY....
Turn with me to Romans 8, verses 18 through 27.
This is week three of "No Longer Bound."
WEEK ONE.......We talked about the verdict — no condemnation.
WEEK TWO.......We talked about the papers being signed — you're not a slave, you're a son.
Today we talk about something a lot of you have felt BUT didn't have a name for.
Paul's got one...HE’S GOT A NAME.
Are you ready?
He calls it .......GROANING!
I know some of you walked in smiling,
YOU GOT YOUR Sunday best on,
YOU said "I'm blessed and highly favored" 3 TIMES before you EVEN got TO YOUR SEAT —
and YET STILL......
there's something groaning underneath all of that...... you haven't told anybody.
I'm not here to embarrass you.
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT....
Groaning is not NECESSARILY a lack of faith.
IN FACT.....It might be the most honest worship you've offered God all week.
I’M TALKING ABOUT A VISCERAL SOUND THAT COMES FROM DEEP WITHIN
A SOUND THAT SOMETIMES IS UNCONTROLLABLE
A GROANING OF....
GOD I WAAAAANT YOU
GOD I NEEEEEED YOU
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
OPEN IN PRAYER......
LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBOR AND TELL THEM......
POINT ONE: The Whole Earth Is Groaning (v.18-22)
POINT ONE: The Whole Earth Is Groaning (v.18-22)
Look at verse 22 with me AGAIN:
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
The whole creation.
Not just you.
Not just your family.
Not just this church.
The whole creation.
Somebody needs to hear this TODAY —
you are not the only one groaning.
The ground under your feet is groaning.
Creation has been groaning since the garden.
LET’S Go back to Genesis for a second.
When Adam sinned,
God didn't just deal with Adam —
He dealt with the dirt.
Listen to what He said:
17 .......“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,......
Church,
that's why nothing works right... down here.
That's why the car breaks down.
That's why the body gets sick.
That's why the ground has thorns in it.
I GOT INTO MY TRUCK BAREFOOTED YESTERDAY TO MOVE IT TO ANOTHER SPOT IN MY DRIVEWAY....
- NO REALIZING THAT MY FLORR WAS COVERED IN STICKERS FROM EARLIER THAT DAY
- I GOT IN AND PUT MY FOOT DOWN ON THE FLOOR
- I FELT LIKE I JUST GOT STABBED
LET’S JUST SAY I GROANED....LOL
We are living on cursed dirt,
and cursed dirt.... groans.
IT ALSO CAUSES US TO GROAN...LOL
I don't care how much faith you got —
plant a garden in this cursed dirt, AND WATCH....
weeds come up whether you invite them or not.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....
LISTEN TO ME.....
That's not your faith failing.
That's the ground still under a sentence
A SENTENCE THAT IS older than you are.
WATCH THIS.....
I WANT to show you something THAT most people read straight past.
That same conversation in the garden —
the same breath God used to curse the ground
is the breath He used to make the first promise of a Deliverer.
OH MY LORD...
Before He ever said "thorns,"
He told the serpent....
“the offspring of the woman would crush his head”
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
CHURCH.....
God did not curse the ground and leave it hopeless.
In the same breath He handed down the sentence..... He signed the deliverance papers.
Before Adam ever swung a hoe OR FORCED A SHOVEL into cursed dirt....
Jesus Christ.......The DELIVERER............was already promised —
SOMEBODY BETTER GIVE HIM SOME PRAISE.......
THIS is exactly why Paul can say creation was subjected "in hope."
Hope wasn't added later.
It was spoken into the curse.... the same day the curse was spoken.
OH COME ON....
The worst day in human history...
is also the day God announced He was NOT leaving it that way.
But WATCH THIS — I need you to catch this before you get discouraged.
Paul said the creation groans and labors with birth pangs.
Not a death rattle.
Birth pangs.
There's a difference between a sound that means something IS ending
and a sound that means something IS coming.
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR AGAIN:
that's not a graveyard,
that's a delivery room.
Look at verse 21 — because this world's story doesn't end in the curse:
21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
DID You hear that????????
HE SAID......Delivered. Not destroyed.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....
Whatever's groaning in your body,
your finances,
your family —
it IS NOT the end of your story.
It's the sound right before your story gets better.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....
Your pain is not a period. It's a comma.
.......THE DEVIL CAN NOT KILL YOU......
JUST HOLD ON......
BECAUSE GOD WILL DELIVER YOU
POINT TWO: You're Groaning Too, and That's Okay (v.23-25)
POINT TWO: You're Groaning Too, and That's Okay (v.23-25)
Paul doesn't leave it out there in creation.
He brings it home.
Verse 23:
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Wait a minute.
We already got the Spirit.
We already got adopted —
we preached that LAST week.
And Paul says... we're still groaning?
Yes. Somebody needed to hear that today.
Being saved doesn't mean you stop groaning.
It means your groaning finally means something.
I HAVE TALKED TO PEOPLE who think something's wrong with their faith...
because they're still hurting after they got saved.
Listen LINDA....LOL —
you can be fully adopted
and still be waiting on your body to catch up with your spirit.
Those two things are not in conflict.
Paul put them in the same verse on purpose.
Here's the good news buried in this.....
Paul calls the Holy Spirit in you
the "firstfruits."
Now stay with me —
a farmer DOES NOT wait for the whole field to be ready before he gets excited.
He sees that first stalk come up.............. and he knows —
the rest is coming.
That first handful is the proof.
Church,
if the Spirit is moving in your life right now —
even a little —
that's not the whole harvest yet,
but it's proof the harvest is coming.
OH MY LORD....
Somebody say........it's coming.
But I WANT to show you something...
THIS WILL change the way you read this word "firstfruits" forever.
Paul doesn't just borrow that word out of thin air.
Look at what he writes to the Corinthians:
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Did you catch that?
Jesus is called the firstfruits —
DID YOU KNOW.....
the Feast of Firstfruits on Israel's calendar
historically fell right around Resurrection Sunday,
THIS WAS the day Israel waved that first sheaf of grain before the Lord....
THE DID THIS....as proof the rest of the harvest was coming.
So when the Spirit in you is called "firstfruits,"
that's not a nice metaphor.
The same resurrection life that....
raised Jesus out of THE grave on that exact feast day...
is the same down payment living in you right now.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....
Your resurrection isn't a hope THAT you're guessing at.
It's a harvest that already started with an empty tomb.
You know who understood this before Paul ever wrote it down?
Job.
Man....THIS GUY lost everything in one week —
kids,
health,
wealth,
everything —
and in the middle of all that groaning,
he said something I want you to say with me:
25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
THINK ABOUT THIS.....
Job didn't have Romans 8.
Job didn't have a sermon series.
Job just had raw hope in the middle of ashes.
And if he could say it IN THAT PLACE,
you can say it right where you're sitting.
Everybody around Job had an opinion about why he was suffering —
his friends had theology,
his wife had exhaustion.
But Job didn't need his pain explained.
He needed TO BE REMINDED THAT....
his Redeemer was alive.
LISTEN TO ME....
Some of y'all don't need another explanation today.
You just need TO BE REMINDED:
He's still alive, and He's still working.
Verse 25 — Paul says WE WAIT FOR IT PATIENTLY..
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Not with despair.
Not with a white flag...........................Patiently
like a woman in labor,
tired, hurting, but leaning forward,
not backward.
That's you today. YOU NEED TO Lean forward.
POINT THREE: When You Don't Have Words, He's Got a Groan for That Too
POINT THREE: When You Don't Have Words, He's Got a Groan for That Too
Before I get there, let me show you where this pattern started.
Way back in Exodus,
the children of Israel were groaning under slavery in Egypt,
and Scripture says:
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Write this down:
every single time in Scripture God's people groan, deliverance is already on the move.
OH MY LORD HELP US....
The same God who...
heard slaves groaning in brick pits and sent Moses......
is the same God attached to your address right now.
GOD SEES YOU....AND HE HEARS YOUR CRY
watch this,
because this is the part of the passage that changed my life. IT GAVE ME HOPE BEYOND MEASURE
Verse 26 — and I'm reading it in the NEW King James on this one, because it just hits different:
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
PASTOR....CAN YOU Read that again. (READ AGAIN)
DID YOU CATCH THAT.......
The Spirit groans too.
Somebody in here today doesn't have the words.
You sit down to pray
and nothing comes out but a sigh, or tears.
You've been almost embarrassed about it —
like your prayer wasn't good enough because
you couldn't finish a sentence.
I got good news for you this morning:
God didn't ask you to have the words.
HE SAID....”I gave you a Helper who groans when you can't.”
That's why sometimes in prayer all that comes out is
a groan, a sigh,
or a LANGUAGE you didn't learn in school.
OH COME ON SOMEBODY.....(SLOW IT DOWN)
When the diagnosis is too heavy,
when the marriage is too broken,
when the grief is too fresh —
the Spirit Himself takes over.
And verse 27 tells you
He doesn't get it wrong:
27 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.
Come on, say it with me:
God knows the groan.
God knows the will.
And He lines them up perfectly...... every single time.
.....WORSHIP TEAM COME.........
CHURCH.....
You don't have to have eloquent prayers today.
Some of the most powerful prayers of your life
might be the ones you never finished a sentence in.
CONCLUSION:
CONCLUSION:
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR.....
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR.....
The Due Date Is Coming
Here's WHAT I want to leave you WITH today.
Creation is groaning.
You are groaning.
The Spirit of God is groaning on your behalf.
Three groans,
all moving toward the same finish line —
verse 18:
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
If the ground's been groaning since Eden
and it's not over yet —
your groan isn't disqualifying you either.
If Job could say "I know my Redeemer lives"
WHILE sitting in ashes —
you can say it too.
If the Spirit is praying things on your behalf.....
you don't even have language for —
THAT MEANS.....
some of your deepest prayers have already been prayed,
and you weren't even the one who said them.
before you leave, I have to ask you something,
and I need you TO BE honest with yourself,
not with me.
What have you been doing with your groan?
Some of you haven’t EVEN brought it to God.
You've numbed it,
medicated it,
YOU’VE buried it in work,
BURIED IT in a bottle,
in a relationship that's killing you,
in a phone at 2 O’CLOCK in the morning...
JUST so you don't have to sit still with what's going on inside you.
You've done everything with that groan except
hand it to the One who knows how to interpret it.
You've been running from the ache,
TRYING TO ESCAPE THE PAIN...
instead of running to the altar with it.
That NEEDS TO end today.
..........STAND TO YOUR FEET..........
I’M GONNA OPEN THESE ALTARS RIGHT AWAY.....
I'm not GOING TO ask you to just close your eyes.
I NEED TO BE out of YOUR seat.
YOU NEED TO BE on your knees,
right where you are —
down front AT THE ALTARS,
in the aisle,
at your seat if that's as far as you can get today.
BUT YOU NEED TO COME TODAY.....
Because there is something about the posture of your body
that tells heaven your pride is done talking.
If you've been faking fine..... for months
while something in you has been groaning in silence — GET ON YOUR KNEES.
If you've been trying to pray the "right" words
instead of just letting the Spirit groan for you —
GET ON YOUR KNEES.
If you know good and well you've been running FROM God with your pain
instead of running to Him —
get ON YOUR KNEES.......
right now...........before the moment passes,
before you talk yourself out of it one more Sunday.
COME TO ALTARS......LETS WORSHIP
CHURCH LISTEN TO ME....
Don't you dare walk out of this building carrying the same weight you walked in with.
Whatever IS groaning in you —
it's got a due date on it,
and today is the day some of you stop postponing your deliverance.
Get on your knees.
Let it out.
Let it be ugly.
Let it be wordless.
Let the Spirit SAY what you can't say
The good part starts.......the moment you stop standing over your pain
and get low enough to let God reach it.
FATHER HELPS US RIGHT NOW.....
