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Dr. Tony Evans

Tony Evans - The Names of God

January 26, 2025 | S25:E4

Tony Evans - The Names of God
Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.
#Faith #Lifestyle #Religion #Judgement #NegativeThoughts #WordofGod #inActive #NamesofGod #Dr.TonyEvans #TonyEvans #Intercessor #Longsuffering #Overwhelming

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - The Names of God | January 26, 2025
  • ...
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  • Tony evans: i want to challenge you to ask a question,
  • 00:00:01.683 --> 00:00:03.419
  • To make a request:
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  • "lord, whatever you do, make me more like jesus."
  • 00:00:04.987 --> 00:00:05.888
  • So god allows circumstances external to conform us
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  • In order that he might transform us internally.
  • 00:00:12.995 --> 00:00:16.432
  • So if he's pressing you, stretching you,
  • 00:00:16.432 --> 00:00:18.934
  • It's because he wants to now change something
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  • Or develop something in you.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Tony: in romans chapter 8, we discover another ministry
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  • Of the holy spirit, and this is the ministry of intercession.
  • 00:00:41.690 --> 00:00:48.197
  • He is by name an intercessor.
  • 00:00:48.197 --> 00:00:53.535
  • An intercessor is someone who appeals to someone else
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  • On behalf of a situation or another person.
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  • They are a go-between.
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  • They're like a lawyer who represents a client
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  • As he pleads their case before a judge or a jury.
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  • They are interceding in a situation
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  • Because there's trouble, there's difficulty.
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  • Romans chapter 8 says that we have an intercessor
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  • When life causes us to grow.
  • 00:01:36.078 --> 00:01:41.383
  • He speaks, beginning in verse 18,
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  • About suffering.
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  • Suffering is the pain of negative circumstances
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  • Hitting you and overwhelming you,
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  • The trials of life that are oppressing you
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  • And causing you to be afflicted
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  • And inflicted with negative realities and circumstances.
  • 00:02:01.336 --> 00:02:08.277
  • He says, "i consider that the suffering of this present time,"
  • 00:02:08.277 --> 00:02:13.949
  • The things that we go through in this life and in this world.
  • 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:20.589
  • He starts off by telling us that suffering, pain, in fact,
  • 00:02:20.589 --> 00:02:26.395
  • Groaning, is part of the created order.
  • 00:02:26.395 --> 00:02:29.398
  • Look at verse 22: "for we know the whole creation groans
  • 00:02:29.398 --> 00:02:37.706
  • And suffers the pain of childbirth together until now."
  • 00:02:37.706 --> 00:02:44.012
  • So you see he relates the groaning of childbirth
  • 00:02:44.012 --> 00:02:48.917
  • To the groaning of creation.
  • 00:02:48.917 --> 00:02:52.154
  • We've all seen creation groan.
  • 00:02:52.154 --> 00:02:55.791
  • This is a theological way and a spiritual way
  • 00:02:55.791 --> 00:03:01.029
  • To understand earthquakes and tsunamis
  • 00:03:01.029 --> 00:03:05.400
  • And hurricanes and medical pandemics
  • 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:09.104
  • And viruses that seem to come out of nowhere,
  • 00:03:09.104 --> 00:03:13.508
  • Wreaking havoc in our lives and in the natural world order.
  • 00:03:13.508 --> 00:03:21.250
  • He says those are not merely just events;
  • 00:03:21.250 --> 00:03:25.520
  • That's the groaning of creation.
  • 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.024
  • Creation is in pain.
  • 00:03:29.024 --> 00:03:32.027
  • So we are part of something much bigger.
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  • He's going to talk to you and me personally,
  • 00:03:34.763 --> 00:03:36.765
  • But he wants you to know that to live in this world
  • 00:03:36.765 --> 00:03:40.168
  • Is to live in a world that groans.
  • 00:03:40.168 --> 00:03:45.874
  • But he says the groaning that you see in creation
  • 00:03:45.874 --> 00:03:50.145
  • Is like a woman groaning in childbirth.
  • 00:03:50.145 --> 00:03:54.249
  • And a woman only groans in childbirth because something
  • 00:03:54.249 --> 00:03:58.687
  • Is coming down the pike, something is being birthed.
  • 00:03:58.687 --> 00:04:04.059
  • If you only see the suffering and you miss spiritually
  • 00:04:04.059 --> 00:04:11.600
  • And theologically looking at the birth,
  • 00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:16.204
  • Then you will only see the pain and you may miss the purpose.
  • 00:04:16.204 --> 00:04:21.810
  • He says creation is in an upheaval and this leads him to
  • 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:29.985
  • Verse 23: "and not only this, but also we ourselves having the
  • 00:04:29.985 --> 00:04:38.460
  • First fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within
  • 00:04:38.460 --> 00:04:44.599
  • Ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons,
  • 00:04:44.599 --> 00:04:49.805
  • The redemption of our body," okay?
  • 00:04:49.805 --> 00:04:52.541
  • You see the word "groan"?
  • 00:04:52.541 --> 00:04:54.242
  • He goes from creation groan to personal groan.
  • 00:04:54.242 --> 00:05:00.449
  • We know what it is to groan at financial calamity,
  • 00:05:00.449 --> 00:05:04.686
  • To groan at our own sickness or personal losses,
  • 00:05:04.686 --> 00:05:09.157
  • To groan at disappointments with people or with ourselves,
  • 00:05:09.157 --> 00:05:14.763
  • With our careers, with dreams that are dashed
  • 00:05:14.763 --> 00:05:18.967
  • And they cause us to ache within ourselves.
  • 00:05:18.967 --> 00:05:22.871
  • This is--you might call this a soul ache, because when you ache
  • 00:05:22.871 --> 00:05:27.376
  • Within yourself that means it's getting down to your bosom or,
  • 00:05:27.376 --> 00:05:30.979
  • As i like to say, it's getting down to your gizzard.
  • 00:05:30.979 --> 00:05:34.149
  • It's collapsing your inside and you are groaning.
  • 00:05:34.149 --> 00:05:39.421
  • In the midst of this groaning, he says
  • 00:05:39.421 --> 00:05:42.624
  • There is the holy spirit, the third member of the trinity,
  • 00:05:42.624 --> 00:05:47.996
  • Who has a responsibility when you are collapsing in your soul.
  • 00:05:47.996 --> 00:05:54.403
  • So if you are collapsing at the circumstances that you've seen
  • 00:05:54.403 --> 00:05:58.340
  • All around us or the situations you are feeling right now,
  • 00:05:58.340 --> 00:06:04.446
  • Romans 8 is for you.
  • 00:06:04.446 --> 00:06:06.882
  • Because if you are a believer, you have somebody
  • 00:06:06.882 --> 00:06:10.919
  • Who loves you enough and cares enough about you
  • 00:06:10.919 --> 00:06:15.123
  • To intervene on your behalf with your soul ache.
  • 00:06:15.123 --> 00:06:20.996
  • It may have been external circumstances causing it
  • 00:06:20.996 --> 00:06:24.499
  • But it's ripping at the very fiber of your being
  • 00:06:24.499 --> 00:06:28.737
  • And you're having an internal hurricane,
  • 00:06:28.737 --> 00:06:32.107
  • An internal pandemic, an internal tsunami,
  • 00:06:32.107 --> 00:06:38.313
  • Because it's ripping at the core of your being.
  • 00:06:38.313 --> 00:06:43.118
  • He says in the midst of this, in the midst of your groaning,
  • 00:06:43.118 --> 00:06:49.291
  • "we are waiting eagerly," verse 23 says,
  • 00:06:49.291 --> 00:06:52.360
  • "for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
  • 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:57.632
  • He says, "creation groans like a woman giving birth.
  • 00:06:57.632 --> 00:07:03.438
  • We groan for the redemption of our bodies."
  • 00:07:03.438 --> 00:07:07.008
  • In other words, groaning caused by the pains of life that
  • 00:07:07.008 --> 00:07:14.616
  • Produce the soul aches within us is designed to prompt us and
  • 00:07:14.616 --> 00:07:20.889
  • Promote us and refocus us to an eternal spiritual perspective.
  • 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:29.364
  • Let me say that again.
  • 00:07:29.364 --> 00:07:31.266
  • When you are groaning within the depths of your soul,
  • 00:07:31.266 --> 00:07:36.471
  • Like a woman who is groaning
  • 00:07:36.471 --> 00:07:39.541
  • Because it's time for deliverance,
  • 00:07:39.541 --> 00:07:42.544
  • It is to shift your focus.
  • 00:07:42.544 --> 00:07:45.847
  • Groans are designed to produce a spiritual shift.
  • 00:07:45.847 --> 00:07:52.487
  • If you don't make that shift, you don't ignore the groaning
  • 00:07:52.487 --> 00:07:57.225
  • Because it hurts.
  • 00:07:57.225 --> 00:07:59.094
  • A woman in childbirth doesn't ignore the pain
  • 00:07:59.094 --> 00:08:01.196
  • Because it hurts, but she is able to deal with it,
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  • Handle it, and work with it
  • 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:07.969
  • Because she knows it's groaning for a reason.
  • 00:08:07.969 --> 00:08:12.240
  • It's purposeful groaning, not purposeless groaning.
  • 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.811
  • He says, "for the redemption of your body."
  • 00:08:16.811 --> 00:08:19.114
  • In other words, he wants you to understand that this life
  • 00:08:19.114 --> 00:08:22.450
  • Is not all that there is.
  • 00:08:22.450 --> 00:08:25.687
  • If you fail, if i fail, if we fail,
  • 00:08:25.687 --> 00:08:28.990
  • To allow the groanings to recalibrate our perspective,
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  • Then we will not experience the benefit of the intercessor,
  • 00:08:35.830 --> 00:08:41.136
  • We'll talk about that in a moment,
  • 00:08:41.136 --> 00:08:42.804
  • The work of the holy spirit, joining us in our pain,
  • 00:08:42.804 --> 00:08:49.311
  • In our problem, and in our groans.
  • 00:08:49.311 --> 00:08:54.049
  • For example, in romans 8, verse 6:
  • 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:58.587
  • "for the mind set on the flesh is death,
  • 00:08:58.587 --> 00:09:02.190
  • But the mind set on the spirit is life and peace."
  • 00:09:02.190 --> 00:09:07.429
  • God will allow groaning to force us to look at things
  • 00:09:07.429 --> 00:09:13.268
  • At another level, from a different perspective.
  • 00:09:13.268 --> 00:09:17.305
  • He says, "but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace."
  • 00:09:17.305 --> 00:09:22.410
  • Your mindset is of the spirit.
  • 00:09:22.410 --> 00:09:27.015
  • That is, you are looking at things spiritually.
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  • You now have divine help as you work yourself through the groan,
  • 00:09:30.318 --> 00:09:36.524
  • Like the mother working herself through the pushing of labor
  • 00:09:36.524 --> 00:09:40.895
  • To get the baby out.
  • 00:09:40.895 --> 00:09:44.766
  • And so he goes on, and he goes on in verse 26:
  • 00:09:44.766 --> 00:09:53.541
  • "in the same way, the spirit also helps our weaknesses,
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  • For we do not know how to pray as we should,
  • 00:10:02.917 --> 00:10:07.088
  • But the spirit himself intercedes."
  • 00:10:07.088 --> 00:10:09.958
  • Here is the intercessor.
  • 00:10:09.958 --> 00:10:13.495
  • "he intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
  • 00:10:13.495 --> 00:10:19.501
  • Ah!
  • 00:10:19.501 --> 00:10:21.970
  • You know when you're hurting and you're really hurting
  • 00:10:21.970 --> 00:10:27.542
  • Because you can't even get it out.
  • 00:10:27.542 --> 00:10:29.244
  • You're making sounds.
  • 00:10:29.244 --> 00:10:31.413
  • Maybe you're just going, "mm, mmm, mm,"
  • 00:10:31.413 --> 00:10:34.349
  • And you are groaning and it is so deep,
  • 00:10:34.349 --> 00:10:39.454
  • You have become weak.
  • 00:10:39.454 --> 00:10:41.022
  • He says, "the holy spirit helps us in our weaknesses."
  • 00:10:41.022 --> 00:10:47.262
  • How deep is the weakness?
  • 00:10:47.262 --> 00:10:49.030
  • You don't even know how to pray.
  • 00:10:49.030 --> 00:10:52.167
  • Have you ever been that bad off, where you didn't know
  • 00:10:52.167 --> 00:10:55.270
  • What to say to god, how to say it?
  • 00:10:55.270 --> 00:10:59.641
  • When life crashes in and you are repressed from every side,
  • 00:10:59.641 --> 00:11:06.247
  • You want to quit, you want to throw in the towel,
  • 00:11:06.247 --> 00:11:07.949
  • You want to run away.
  • 00:11:07.949 --> 00:11:11.086
  • Well, the apostle paul knew what that was like
  • 00:11:11.086 --> 00:11:14.723
  • Because the most spiritual person
  • 00:11:14.723 --> 00:11:17.692
  • In the new testament went through this.
  • 00:11:17.692 --> 00:11:21.162
  • He despaired of life,
  • 00:11:21.162 --> 00:11:23.498
  • But it forced him to a spiritual perspective.
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  • I wish i could tell you life won't collapse.
  • 00:11:28.036 --> 00:11:31.306
  • I can tell you personally, as you can tell me personally,
  • 00:11:31.306 --> 00:11:34.576
  • Life does collapse.
  • 00:11:34.576 --> 00:11:37.212
  • And that must cause you, me and us,
  • 00:11:37.212 --> 00:11:42.650
  • Because god is allowing it, to force us
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  • To engage with our intercessor, the holy spirit.
  • 00:11:47.088 --> 00:11:50.859
  • And you know it's time for engaging at that level
  • 00:11:50.859 --> 00:11:54.729
  • Because you're groaning.
  • 00:11:54.729 --> 00:11:56.965
  • Inarticulate expressions of anguish.
  • 00:11:56.965 --> 00:12:00.535
  • That's what we mean by groaning.
  • 00:12:00.535 --> 00:12:01.903
  • Inarticulate expressions of anguish.
  • 00:12:01.903 --> 00:12:05.707
  • You can't even get the words together to express the depth
  • 00:12:05.707 --> 00:12:10.011
  • Of the pain that you feel.
  • 00:12:10.011 --> 00:12:13.414
  • And so he says in romans chapter 8:
  • 00:12:13.414 --> 00:12:18.920
  • "the groanings that are too deep for words,"
  • 00:12:18.920 --> 00:12:20.622
  • Verse 26, and then verse 27:
  • 00:12:20.622 --> 00:12:23.792
  • "and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind
  • 00:12:23.792 --> 00:12:28.263
  • Of the spirit is because he intercedes,"
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  • The intercessor intercedes, "for the saints
  • 00:12:31.432 --> 00:12:34.903
  • According to the will of god."
  • 00:12:34.903 --> 00:12:36.971
  • Oh, this is rich theology that's practical.
  • 00:12:36.971 --> 00:12:42.010
  • When you are hurting, because it's practical
  • 00:12:42.010 --> 00:12:43.745
  • When you're in pain, but you don't know how to pray.
  • 00:12:43.745 --> 00:12:49.083
  • It's not that you don't want to pray.
  • 00:12:49.083 --> 00:12:51.586
  • It's not that you're not trying to pray.
  • 00:12:51.586 --> 00:12:54.389
  • You just don't know what to say.
  • 00:12:54.389 --> 00:12:56.491
  • You don't know how to say it.
  • 00:12:56.491 --> 00:12:58.193
  • You can't put the words together.
  • 00:12:58.193 --> 00:13:00.595
  • God seems too far away for even for you to make contact.
  • 00:13:00.595 --> 00:13:04.666
  • I've got good news.
  • 00:13:04.666 --> 00:13:06.734
  • You have somebody praying with you and for you
  • 00:13:06.734 --> 00:13:12.340
  • When you can't even pray for yourself.
  • 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:14.609
  • Isn't that good news?
  • 00:13:14.609 --> 00:13:16.678
  • That the holy spirit groans with your groaning.
  • 00:13:16.678 --> 00:13:21.950
  • When you go, "uh, uh, uh,"
  • 00:13:21.950 --> 00:13:25.420
  • He puts heavenly communication to it
  • 00:13:25.420 --> 00:13:29.757
  • In order to deliver it to the father.
  • 00:13:29.757 --> 00:13:34.028
  • Notice what he says: "he," god, verse 27,
  • 00:13:34.028 --> 00:13:37.532
  • "who searches the hearts knows the mind of what the spirit is."
  • 00:13:37.532 --> 00:13:43.071
  • So, wait a minute.
  • 00:13:43.071 --> 00:13:44.939
  • The spirit is listening to your groan and god is listening to
  • 00:13:44.939 --> 00:13:51.813
  • The spirit communicating with him about your groan.
  • 00:13:51.813 --> 00:13:57.252
  • I don't know if you caught that.
  • 00:13:57.252 --> 00:13:59.487
  • All you can say is, "mm, mmm, mm."
  • 00:13:59.487 --> 00:14:02.190
  • All you can do is hurt.
  • 00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:04.259
  • You want to make contact with god.
  • 00:14:04.259 --> 00:14:06.261
  • It's not that you're not praying at all.
  • 00:14:06.261 --> 00:14:08.730
  • It's that you don't know how to pray.
  • 00:14:08.730 --> 00:14:10.498
  • You don't know-- all you can say is "help,"
  • 00:14:10.498 --> 00:14:13.268
  • Because you don't even know how to put together your feelings.
  • 00:14:13.268 --> 00:14:16.771
  • He says you have an intercessor.
  • 00:14:16.771 --> 00:14:19.908
  • Now this is interesting because hebrews 7:25 says
  • 00:14:19.908 --> 00:14:25.213
  • Jesus lives to make intercession for us.
  • 00:14:25.213 --> 00:14:28.383
  • Oh, we got the whole trinity up in here.
  • 00:14:28.383 --> 00:14:32.420
  • The father is searching the spirit, the spirit intercedes,
  • 00:14:32.420 --> 00:14:35.924
  • But jesus is the intercessor.
  • 00:14:35.924 --> 00:14:38.660
  • Let me put it this way.
  • 00:14:38.660 --> 00:14:40.695
  • When you are groaning because life hurts and creation
  • 00:14:40.695 --> 00:14:44.065
  • Has caught up with you,
  • 00:14:44.065 --> 00:14:47.135
  • What this holy spirit does is he creates a vocabulary
  • 00:14:47.135 --> 00:14:55.376
  • That fits the environment that needs to hear it
  • 00:14:55.376 --> 00:14:59.047
  • That you can't articulate.
  • 00:14:59.047 --> 00:15:02.850
  • You have somebody who understands you
  • 00:15:02.850 --> 00:15:07.889
  • But also understands heaven.
  • 00:15:07.889 --> 00:15:10.758
  • And when you are groaning,
  • 00:15:10.758 --> 00:15:13.728
  • He puts it in heavenly language.
  • 00:15:13.728 --> 00:15:18.700
  • Jesus christ, who intercedes from us--for us, hebrews 7:25,
  • 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:23.271
  • Then can take it and deliver it to the father
  • 00:15:23.271 --> 00:15:27.141
  • Who searches the mind of the spirit.
  • 00:15:27.141 --> 00:15:30.044
  • I want you to read in detail.
  • 00:15:30.044 --> 00:15:31.846
  • We don't have time to go over it now,
  • 00:15:31.846 --> 00:15:33.348
  • But 1 corinthians chapter 2, verses 10 to 16.
  • 00:15:33.348 --> 00:15:36.217
  • It talks about how the spirit and god know each other so well
  • 00:15:36.217 --> 00:15:40.888
  • Because the holy spirit takes the heart and creates
  • 00:15:40.888 --> 00:15:43.624
  • A heavenly vocabulary to deliver it to a foreign country,
  • 00:15:43.624 --> 00:15:48.262
  • Heavenly places, the spiritual realm.
  • 00:15:48.262 --> 00:15:51.065
  • So god has clear understanding of what you meant by,
  • 00:15:51.065 --> 00:15:55.970
  • "mm, mmm, mm."
  • 00:15:55.970 --> 00:15:57.638
  • Lord, have mercy.
  • 00:15:57.638 --> 00:15:59.440
  • Now why must the spirit be engaged in your groaning?
  • 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:06.214
  • Because you're trying to reach god.
  • 00:16:06.214 --> 00:16:08.983
  • In other words, you're trying to connect with the spiritual
  • 00:16:08.983 --> 00:16:11.586
  • Because the groaning has forced you.
  • 00:16:11.586 --> 00:16:14.288
  • See, when things get bad enough,
  • 00:16:14.288 --> 00:16:16.190
  • You pray like you don't normally pray.
  • 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:17.959
  • You see god like you don't normally see god.
  • 00:16:17.959 --> 00:16:21.295
  • You talk about heaven like you-- that's why when people are
  • 00:16:21.295 --> 00:16:24.332
  • Transitioning from earth to heaven in death,
  • 00:16:24.332 --> 00:16:27.835
  • God will make their bodies not function properly
  • 00:16:27.835 --> 00:16:33.474
  • Or hurt worse so that they long for heaven more.
  • 00:16:33.474 --> 00:16:36.644
  • Because that's the final focus he wants them to have.
  • 00:16:36.644 --> 00:16:40.314
  • We have interim focuses on our way there
  • 00:16:40.314 --> 00:16:43.184
  • Where god wants to drive us
  • 00:16:43.184 --> 00:16:45.186
  • To a new spiritual orientation through the work
  • 00:16:45.186 --> 00:16:50.591
  • Or the intercession of the intercessor, the holy spirit.
  • 00:16:50.591 --> 00:16:55.063
  • But he says he does this according to the will of god.
  • 00:16:55.063 --> 00:17:00.935
  • Why must he do it according to the will of god?
  • 00:17:00.935 --> 00:17:04.605
  • Because when you're groaning, you might be asking
  • 00:17:04.605 --> 00:17:07.875
  • For the wrong thing.
  • 00:17:07.875 --> 00:17:10.545
  • You may be putting in a wrong request
  • 00:17:10.545 --> 00:17:13.448
  • Because you're in pain and all you want is get rid of it.
  • 00:17:13.448 --> 00:17:18.553
  • Paul says when he put us through pain,
  • 00:17:18.553 --> 00:17:20.855
  • God wanted me to learn to trust him at another level.
  • 00:17:20.855 --> 00:17:23.591
  • So you may miss that altogether
  • 00:17:23.591 --> 00:17:25.426
  • Because you want to get rid of the pain.
  • 00:17:25.426 --> 00:17:28.062
  • So the holy spirit takes the groaning and he surrounds it
  • 00:17:28.062 --> 00:17:34.735
  • With the right request.
  • 00:17:34.735 --> 00:17:38.506
  • 1 john 5:14 says that "god always answers prayer
  • 00:17:38.506 --> 00:17:45.780
  • According to his will."
  • 00:17:45.780 --> 00:17:47.181
  • In other words, in a prayer is in the will of god,
  • 00:17:47.181 --> 00:17:49.684
  • You're gonna get an answer.
  • 00:17:49.684 --> 00:17:51.152
  • It's gonna be answered.
  • 00:17:51.152 --> 00:17:52.787
  • Now we pray for what we want,
  • 00:17:52.787 --> 00:17:55.456
  • But god guarantees what he wills.
  • 00:17:55.456 --> 00:17:58.960
  • So the idea is to make sure what you want is what he wills
  • 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:03.331
  • So he'll answer your prayer.
  • 00:18:03.331 --> 00:18:05.833
  • But you and i don't always know what his will is,
  • 00:18:05.833 --> 00:18:09.470
  • Outside of his word.
  • 00:18:09.470 --> 00:18:11.372
  • That is the application of his word in a specific situation.
  • 00:18:11.372 --> 00:18:15.676
  • And even if we know his will, we may not know his timing.
  • 00:18:15.676 --> 00:18:19.313
  • So we need somebody else who can get a little bit more
  • 00:18:19.313 --> 00:18:24.719
  • Into what god is thinking than we may be aware of,
  • 00:18:24.719 --> 00:18:28.489
  • Living in the physical realm.
  • 00:18:28.489 --> 00:18:30.057
  • He says, "you have the holy spirit,"
  • 00:18:30.057 --> 00:18:31.993
  • And he is going to clarify the request so that the request
  • 00:18:31.993 --> 00:18:36.164
  • Is manipulated, so to speak,
  • 00:18:36.164 --> 00:18:42.503
  • Into the will of god so that you wind up
  • 00:18:42.503 --> 00:18:46.040
  • Even in the groan experiencing god's will in your life.
  • 00:18:46.040 --> 00:18:50.778
  • Now you're gonna learn a great truth here in a minute
  • 00:18:50.778 --> 00:18:53.147
  • That's gonna blow your mind.
  • 00:18:53.147 --> 00:18:55.249
  • When you are hurting, you know we have
  • 00:18:55.249 --> 00:18:59.053
  • With all this computer stuff and everything, a help desk.
  • 00:18:59.053 --> 00:19:02.523
  • Guess what it is?
  • 00:19:02.523 --> 00:19:03.858
  • It's designed to help.
  • 00:19:03.858 --> 00:19:05.259
  • It's designed to guide you in the right way,
  • 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:07.161
  • Direct you in the right place.
  • 00:19:07.161 --> 00:19:08.796
  • He says you and i have a help desk, verse 26,
  • 00:19:08.796 --> 00:19:11.832
  • "the same way the spirit also helps our weakness."
  • 00:19:11.832 --> 00:19:16.137
  • So you're weak.
  • 00:19:16.137 --> 00:19:17.572
  • You want to quit.
  • 00:19:17.572 --> 00:19:18.906
  • You want to give up because this is labor pain
  • 00:19:18.906 --> 00:19:20.775
  • We're talking about.
  • 00:19:20.775 --> 00:19:22.109
  • The spirit of god joins you in the weakness,
  • 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:25.546
  • Leading you to god's will.
  • 00:19:25.546 --> 00:19:29.450
  • You see, when we pray, we want to put in an amazon order.
  • 00:19:29.450 --> 00:19:33.087
  • You know, we want amazon to deliver this thing
  • 00:19:33.087 --> 00:19:36.390
  • And i want it here quick.
  • 00:19:36.390 --> 00:19:38.059
  • We want amazon express, okay?
  • 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:41.195
  • What god wants is his will.
  • 00:19:41.195 --> 00:19:44.599
  • Now, how in my weakness, which you're gonna have
  • 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:48.436
  • If you live long enough, you don't even have
  • 00:19:48.436 --> 00:19:50.171
  • To live that long to be a groaner.
  • 00:19:50.171 --> 00:19:54.008
  • When this happens and you are struggling so deeply
  • 00:19:54.008 --> 00:20:00.548
  • You can't even articulate it, but your heart is godward.
  • 00:20:00.548 --> 00:20:08.089
  • "and--" here it is, here it is, the verse we love.
  • 00:20:08.089 --> 00:20:12.126
  • We love verse 28, but we don't always connect it
  • 00:20:12.126 --> 00:20:15.029
  • With 26 and 27.
  • 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:17.164
  • "and we know that god causes all things to work together for good
  • 00:20:17.164 --> 00:20:23.037
  • To those who love god, to those who are called according
  • 00:20:23.037 --> 00:20:29.043
  • To his purpose."
  • 00:20:29.043 --> 00:20:32.380
  • He says that the spirit is helping
  • 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:36.517
  • To conform you to the will of god.
  • 00:20:36.517 --> 00:20:41.856
  • He shows you now how that happens.
  • 00:20:41.856 --> 00:20:46.761
  • It happens because god, watch this now,
  • 00:20:46.761 --> 00:20:50.865
  • Providentially arranges things.
  • 00:20:50.865 --> 00:20:56.137
  • This is the doctrine of providence,
  • 00:20:56.137 --> 00:20:59.006
  • But a miracle is when god trumps his own laws.
  • 00:20:59.006 --> 00:21:03.010
  • Providence is when he works within his laws to stitch things
  • 00:21:03.010 --> 00:21:08.716
  • Together to accomplish his sovereign goal.
  • 00:21:08.716 --> 00:21:12.520
  • Sovereignty is his goal.
  • 00:21:12.520 --> 00:21:14.955
  • Providence is the way he connects things
  • 00:21:14.955 --> 00:21:17.558
  • In order to reach that goal.
  • 00:21:17.558 --> 00:21:20.094
  • Now, in order for you to see his providential work in your life
  • 00:21:20.094 --> 00:21:27.368
  • And my life, particularly during a time, because he says "and,"
  • 00:21:27.368 --> 00:21:32.039
  • He's connecting, verse 28, in order to see this working out,
  • 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:37.478
  • He says, "to those who love god and are called according
  • 00:21:37.478 --> 00:21:42.283
  • To his purpose."
  • 00:21:42.283 --> 00:21:44.752
  • So he says there must be heart affection for god.
  • 00:21:44.752 --> 00:21:50.191
  • What does it mean to love god?
  • 00:21:50.191 --> 00:21:51.659
  • To love god means to passionately pursue his glory.
  • 00:21:51.659 --> 00:21:56.030
  • Now, he says what the holy spirit does
  • 00:21:56.030 --> 00:22:00.668
  • Is he takes your groans,
  • 00:22:00.668 --> 00:22:02.770
  • Puts them together in heavenly language
  • 00:22:02.770 --> 00:22:05.773
  • For the purpose of god's providential work
  • 00:22:05.773 --> 00:22:09.610
  • When you say, "god almighty, my groans are coming up to you.
  • 00:22:09.610 --> 00:22:15.015
  • I am running to you.
  • 00:22:15.015 --> 00:22:17.518
  • Though you slay me, yet will i trust you."
  • 00:22:17.518 --> 00:22:20.621
  • Oh, i love this.
  • 00:22:20.621 --> 00:22:21.956
  • Not, "and we guess."
  • 00:22:21.956 --> 00:22:24.058
  • Not, "and we think."
  • 00:22:24.058 --> 00:22:27.094
  • No, "and we know."
  • 00:22:27.094 --> 00:22:28.662
  • Confidence.
  • 00:22:28.662 --> 00:22:30.264
  • You can be confident of this promise of god
  • 00:22:30.264 --> 00:22:34.301
  • That if you are godward
  • 00:22:34.301 --> 00:22:35.903
  • Because you want him to be glorified even with the
  • 00:22:35.903 --> 00:22:38.506
  • Groan, you're godward, that he is stitching things together
  • 00:22:38.506 --> 00:22:44.545
  • That don't look like much now.
  • 00:22:44.545 --> 00:22:47.681
  • But when he finishes cooking, or as job says in job 23,
  • 00:22:47.681 --> 00:22:53.554
  • "i looked for god but i couldn't find him.
  • 00:22:53.554 --> 00:22:55.556
  • But when i come forth i'll be pure as gold."
  • 00:22:55.556 --> 00:22:58.392
  • When he finishes baking me in the oven of my affliction,
  • 00:22:58.392 --> 00:23:02.797
  • I'm gonna come forth, mmm, mmm good.
  • 00:23:02.797 --> 00:23:06.767
  • At the end of life as a believer,
  • 00:23:06.767 --> 00:23:08.903
  • You're gonna come forth, mmm, mmm heaven.
  • 00:23:08.903 --> 00:23:11.472
  • That's good.
  • 00:23:11.472 --> 00:23:12.807
  • In life as a believer, as he takes you through the groanings
  • 00:23:12.807 --> 00:23:16.277
  • Of life, you're gonna come through, mmm, mmm good
  • 00:23:16.277 --> 00:23:20.614
  • Because you're called according to his purpose.
  • 00:23:20.614 --> 00:23:24.652
  • You know what god wants to happen when he finishes cooking?
  • 00:23:24.652 --> 00:23:28.489
  • When you come out of the oven?
  • 00:23:28.489 --> 00:23:30.825
  • Conformity to his son.
  • 00:23:30.825 --> 00:23:33.894
  • You know one of the big purposes of groans?
  • 00:23:33.894 --> 00:23:36.864
  • Is to make you more like jesus.
  • 00:23:36.864 --> 00:23:39.066
  • And when you see god providentially,
  • 00:23:39.066 --> 00:23:41.936
  • That's what you want to look for in your life every day,
  • 00:23:41.936 --> 00:23:45.473
  • But especially during groans,
  • 00:23:45.473 --> 00:23:47.708
  • You want to look for how the intercessor
  • 00:23:47.708 --> 00:23:50.110
  • Is making his case.
  • 00:23:50.110 --> 00:23:51.679
  • You know, a lawyer is an intercessor in the courtroom
  • 00:23:51.679 --> 00:23:54.615
  • And what does the lawyer do?
  • 00:23:54.615 --> 00:23:56.150
  • He makes his case because he's trying to sway a situation.
  • 00:23:56.150 --> 00:23:59.687
  • When you see the intercessor, and that's why
  • 00:23:59.687 --> 00:24:01.822
  • You should be thanking god for the holy spirit.
  • 00:24:01.822 --> 00:24:05.159
  • Thank you, holy spirit, that you are gonna plead my case along
  • 00:24:05.159 --> 00:24:08.896
  • With jesus christ before the father so that all things
  • 00:24:08.896 --> 00:24:12.733
  • Are gonna be stitched together.
  • 00:24:12.733 --> 00:24:14.235
  • I don't--i can't see it now.
  • 00:24:14.235 --> 00:24:15.836
  • I don't understand it now, i don't know
  • 00:24:15.836 --> 00:24:17.571
  • How all this is gonna work out,
  • 00:24:17.571 --> 00:24:19.406
  • But you said, therefore i know, "all things--
  • 00:24:19.406 --> 00:24:24.178
  • All things are gonna work together for good,"
  • 00:24:24.178 --> 00:24:28.048
  • And i will come out of this thing.
  • 00:24:28.048 --> 00:24:30.050
  • Now, you know what this means?
  • 00:24:30.050 --> 00:24:33.387
  • Providence means there's no such thing as luck,
  • 00:24:33.387 --> 00:24:35.756
  • Chance, happenstance, or fate.
  • 00:24:35.756 --> 00:24:38.692
  • So you can leave those words out of your vocabulary.
  • 00:24:38.692 --> 00:24:43.030
  • They don't even--i know sometimes we just say it
  • 00:24:43.030 --> 00:24:44.698
  • To say it, but you never use those words and mean it.
  • 00:24:44.698 --> 00:24:48.836
  • There's no such thing as luck.
  • 00:24:48.836 --> 00:24:50.170
  • There's providence.
  • 00:24:50.170 --> 00:24:51.672
  • God's stitching things together.
  • 00:24:51.672 --> 00:24:53.274
  • It looks like luck.
  • 00:24:53.274 --> 00:24:55.142
  • It feels like luck.
  • 00:24:55.142 --> 00:24:56.844
  • I happened to be here at the right time when this person
  • 00:24:56.844 --> 00:24:59.780
  • Showed up, or i happened to go there,
  • 00:24:59.780 --> 00:25:02.349
  • Or i happened to take this road.
  • 00:25:02.349 --> 00:25:03.784
  • See, all that is god stitching things together
  • 00:25:03.784 --> 00:25:07.521
  • When you love him.
  • 00:25:07.521 --> 00:25:08.856
  • If you don't love him, then you're not experiencing,
  • 00:25:08.856 --> 00:25:12.660
  • And he'll even use your bad to accomplish his purpose,
  • 00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:16.130
  • But you'll have to pay consequences.
  • 00:25:16.130 --> 00:25:17.865
  • But if you love him, if you're pursuing him,
  • 00:25:17.865 --> 00:25:20.868
  • Especially during the groans.
  • 00:25:20.868 --> 00:25:24.438
  • So i want you now by faith to thank god.
  • 00:25:24.438 --> 00:25:27.841
  • To thank god not for the pain of the groan,
  • 00:25:27.841 --> 00:25:32.179
  • But for the purpose of the groan.
  • 00:25:32.179 --> 00:25:34.415
  • God, i trust you.
  • 00:25:34.415 --> 00:25:36.517
  • You've got it all in your hands.
  • 00:25:36.517 --> 00:25:37.851
  • You've got it all worked out.
  • 00:25:37.851 --> 00:25:39.353
  • I don't understand it.
  • 00:25:39.353 --> 00:25:41.555
  • I got bumps and bruises.
  • 00:25:41.555 --> 00:25:43.624
  • I don't even like it, but i trust you in it.
  • 00:25:43.624 --> 00:25:47.261
  • And i thank you that the holy spirit
  • 00:25:47.261 --> 00:25:48.862
  • Is gonna make sense of this.
  • 00:25:48.862 --> 00:25:51.165
  • I don't even know what to say but in my confusion,
  • 00:25:51.165 --> 00:25:54.101
  • Holy spirit, explain this to god because i can't and tell him
  • 00:25:54.101 --> 00:25:58.105
  • I love him, i need him, i trust him, i want him.
  • 00:25:58.105 --> 00:26:04.311
  • And all things with confidence are being stirred up
  • 00:26:04.311 --> 00:26:10.884
  • So that he is glorified, so that i'm gonna be better off,
  • 00:26:10.884 --> 00:26:16.890
  • Work together for good.
  • 00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:19.093
  • And then i'm gonna be more like jesus in my attitudes
  • 00:26:19.093 --> 00:26:21.261
  • And actions, in my character, and in my conduct.
  • 00:26:21.261 --> 00:26:24.598
  • Because god wants to make us like jesus, whatever it costs.
  • 00:26:24.598 --> 00:26:28.969
  • Whatever inconvenience he has to give us to make us like jesus,
  • 00:26:28.969 --> 00:26:33.340
  • He's gonna do that, because jesus is the firstborn
  • 00:26:33.340 --> 00:26:36.143
  • Of many brethren.
  • 00:26:36.143 --> 00:26:37.478
  • God wants jesus to have lookalikes, you and me.
  • 00:26:37.478 --> 00:26:41.348
  • Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life,
  • 00:26:41.348 --> 00:26:44.118
  • Died a substitutionary death on the cross,
  • 00:26:44.118 --> 00:26:46.887
  • Rose from the dead on the third day,
  • 00:26:46.887 --> 00:26:48.889
  • And offers salvation free of charge
  • 00:26:48.889 --> 00:26:51.091
  • For all who come to him alone for it.
  • 00:26:51.091 --> 00:26:54.161
  • Will you come to him now?
  • 00:26:54.161 --> 00:26:55.529
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:55.529 --> 00:27:17.618
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:18.252 --> 00:27:22.389
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:25.693 --> 00:27:30.990