Our Good is God's Glory

William Jonathan Weems

Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Romans 8:26–30

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Where We Are

Gene and Kaye continue to pray

Easter is coming Good Friday and two Easter services

Men’s Ministry next week and working with other men’s ministries

Women’s ministry April 4 and beyond

Youth Ministry phone interviews

Children’s Ministry interviews

Worship and Brandon

Family

Romans 8:26–27 NIV

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.

Sometimes we feel like we just don’t know what is next, but as we talked about last week, we know what God is calling us to do everyday. Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands because Jesus is with us and he has all authority.

But here in Paul reminds us that the Spirit is also with all who believe, and the Holy Spirit has a very specific role to play here.

What is Good

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

The Holy Spirit is here for us when we really do not know what we are to do. He prays for us. He intercedes for us in our prayer and for us in relationship to God in accordance with God’s will.

Verse 26 has always been one of those passages that give me comfort and confusion. I cannot tell you how often I have held onto the promise that the Holy Spirit prays exactly what needs to be prayed when I don’t know what I should be praying. So, the Holy Spirit steps in with groans that words cannot express.

The Holy Spirit prays for us.

That may seem weird to you that the Holy Spirit groans, but do you remember Jesus in the Garden. His prayer was so intense that his prayer produced blood. That is how much the Holy Spirit is praying for you and on your behalf.

My mental picture of this is the deep down in my guts kind of sounds that come in times of great sorrow and great joy. Things that words just can’t express, but tears or laughter can, but there is more to this.

This scripture clearly says, “We don’t know how to pray...” So that is always been confusing to me. Jesus taught us how to pray. The Bible is full of prayers. We are told many times to pray. But here Paul clearly states we need the Holy Spirit to pray because we don’t know how.

But check the context out.

So, I have been spending time this week paying attention to my prayer life. And you know what, I have figured out one thing, I really don’t always know how to pray. As I have been going through my prayer list, I realized I pray the genuine prayers of healing, comfort, God’s presence in situations, and God’s guidance. None of which are bad, in fact, we are told to pray for all of these things, but here is what I realized. I don’t know what the outcome of any of these situations are going to be so I really don’t know what to pray for them and this is the hardest part for me and I bet for many of you: It’s OK that I don’t know the outcome, because what being a child of God is all about is that we TRUST HIM with the outcome.

Trust God with our prayers

So our prayers should be a lot more like we were challenged by Gene a while back when he was going through the sermon on the mount and he challenged us to pray as Jesus prayed which was for God’s will to be done. And you see I really think that is what the Holy Spirit interceding for us in our prayer life is about. Trusting God. Isn’t that what real prayer is? Trusting God’s plan.

Now that doesn’t mean we should not pray for specific things. We are told throughout scripture to lay our burdens at the fee of Jesus. To pray for healing and guidance, and even for the desires of our heart, but ultimately our prayer life needs to be the prayer of Jesus, but not my will but yours be done. And that is where the Holy Spirit interceding for us in our prayer life comes into play. And the best news is that when we pray trusting in the Holy Spirit, we pray according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit brings us closer to God.

The Holy Spirits

The Holy Spirit also intercedes directly to God for us. He is the mark we have received eternal life through faith in Jesus, and therefore we belong to God. He gives us access to God directly. That is true prayer isn’t it, access to God.

When we pray we should not stop praying for those we love, for guidance or for most of the things we pray for, but we should bathe our prayer in trusting the Holy Spirit to pray for what we have forgotten. I encourage you to add something like this to your prayer life.

“I know there are many things I have not prayed for or may have even prayed incorrectly for, but I thank you that you, The Spirit, are interceding for me and I trust you.”

I’d love to hear how that effects your prayer life. I know it has made a huge difference in mine.

A couple of great books that have affected my prayer life have been:

The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley and The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. I would love for you to share some books and/or Scriptures on our facebook or instagram that have helped you in your prayer life as well. If you are not on social media shoot me an email and I will share them for you.

But our passage continues and I love the next part, but I love it even more in context of the Holy Spirit praying for us.

Romans 8:28-30

Romans 8:28–30 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

is one of those power house, goto scriptures and it should be. One of those awesome promises of God that can help us go through the toughest times.

“We KNOW that in ALL things God works for the GOOD of those who LOVE Him, who have been CALLED according to his purpose.”

There is so much packed into this one verse we could spend hours diving into it, but let’s keep it simple today, because I really think that was Paul’s purpose in writing it.

Basically, If we love God, and answer the call to follow his will, then we know he will work all things for the good of us.

A couple of big things to note. Paul does not say all things that happen to us are good. He also does not say we will understand how they worked for our good.

When you are in the midst of difficult times, you probably are not going to see how things are going to be good, but that does not mean God won’t make them work for our good. Isn’t that the whole point of the Holy Spirit praying for us in our weakness. Interceding for us when we don’t know what to pray.

The suicide of my best friend, unexplained seizures in my 2 year old daughter, anxiety, death and illness of loved ones. CHANGE. All things that I have gone through that were not good at the time, but God has used for my good. I know of people whose lives have been saved through me sharing the story of how God worked in suicide. I know of families who have gotten help for their children through seizure and so many others.

In the midst of those, I have had some not so good prayers. In fact, some I confess and repent still to this day for some of them. But those times helped me understand groaning in prayer. So I have a good idea of what the Holy Spirit is doing for us on a regular basis.

Think about some of the tough things in your life God has ultimately used for good.

Our Good = God’s Glory

But the crazy thing is God has used everyone of them and so many other things for my good which is all to HIS glory. If we are love God and we are called to his purpose, our good always involves God getting glory. It also always involves people being drawn to him. Isn’t that God’s will? That all people are saved and all things bring him glory.

I think we all understand how God gets the glory in our hard times, but if it is true that God works ALL things for the good of those who love him, then God should get the glory in our victories as well. Our victories should always point to God’s glory.

How do you glorify God in your victories?

See that is really what verses 29 and 30 are about. Glorifying God through our lives. Hear them again...

Romans 8:29–30 NIV

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Our Purpose is God’s Purpose

God foreknew all whom would love him and follow him. So all that love him, he knew exactly how to conform us to the image of his son. I am not saying that God caused bad to others for our good. God is good and in him there is no darkness. But I am saying, he knew exactly what was going to happen to us both good and bad, and he knew how to use them for our good and most of all for his glory.

We are conformed to the image of his son so that God’s family could grow. Isn’t that what being the firstborn of many brothers and sisters means?

So all who love God he knew would be part of his family before the creation of time and he called us to him, he justified us through Jesus and he glorified them. Which means a whole lot including eternal life, sanctified, made holy and set apart and so much more, but if you put it simply glorify means: uses to bring glory to God.

So God called us for his glory. He gives us everything we need through the Holy Spirit, His Son and Himself. The trinity working in three persons to be one God. All in one with God’s ultimate purpose in mind. That ALL may be saved and ALL things bring good to those who love him and ultimately GLORY to GOD.

I believe that is where we are in the history of Lake Shores Church. We need to bathe our future in prayer. We need as always for the Holy Spirit to intercede for us as to our future and to pray what we don’t know how to pray, but we know God is going to work it all out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And guess what that is us. We love God and we are answering his call as a body to bring glory to him and to reach out to all people.