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This is ERC Sundays, the 
messages at Emmaus Rd. 

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Church in DeWitt, Iowa. 
ERC is a Church of people 

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striving to grow in Jesus and 
make him known to others through

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our faith, words and actions. 
Find out more about our church 

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at emmausrdonline.org. 
Here's this week's message. 

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I'm glad he kind of gave an 
intro because I didn't know how 

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to introduce myself to those of 
you who don't know me. 

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But I have been a part of this 
church for, I don't know, 15 or 

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16 years at this point. 
So I feel very blessed and 

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honored to get to preach here 
for my first time. 

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I want to start off by saying 
thank you to other women and 

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also some of the men. 
Yesterday we had we had our 

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women's conference and I got to 
be a part of the worship team 

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for that. 
So we, we came up and played 

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some songs and, but it was great
getting to see all the women 

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gathered here, just spending 
time in God's word and spending 

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time together in community. 
And the men that stepped up and 

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took care of the kids or took 
care of things at home so that 

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your wives or people in your 
family could come and, and spend

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time in that moment. 
We appreciate you and we're so 

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thankful to have a community 
where we can host things like 

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this. 
I think we had upwards of 70 

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women here yesterday. 
So that was amazing to, to get 

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to see. 
So today I get to walk us 

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through Romans 8 verses 26 and 
28. 

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It's only three verses, but 
there's a lot here to unpack so 

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we're just going to dive right 
into it. 

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The you have the Bibles in front
of you underneath the seats. 

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I believe it's on page 940-4945.
You can join me there. 

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It'll the words will be up on 
the screen or if you have the 

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Bible app on your phone, that's 
great too. 

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Just follow along reading in 
Jesus name. 

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Likewise the Spirit helps us in 
our weakness, for we do not know

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what to pray for as we ought, 
but the Spirit Himself 

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intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words. 

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And he who searches hearts knows
what is the mind of the Spirit, 

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because the Spirit intercedes 
for the Saints according to the 

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will of God. 
And we know that for those who 

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love God, all things work 
together for good, for those who

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are called according to His 
purpose. 

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Here ends the reading of God's 
word. 

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So church, we just got done 
singing a song that only makes 

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sense and can only be true if 
Romans 8 is true. 

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We saying for that His glory is 
our good, that there is hope in 

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every trial, and that what looks
like weakness, even the cross, 

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is victory. 
That whatever comes, He is 

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working. 
That's not just shallow 

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optimism. 
That is resurrection theology. 

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And if we're being honest, those
lyrics are are so easy and so 

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simple and powerful to sing when
we're in the good moments, when 

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things are going right, when we 
feel God in our presence. 

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But what happens when, like what
what we just sang, the road is 

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not understood, when the trial 
doesn't end, and when that thorn

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doesn't leave church? 
What trials do you have in your 

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life right now? 
What things don't you 

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understand? 
Maybe it's a diagnosis. 

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Maybe it's a loss, family 
conflict, or working life 

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changes that just don't make 
sense to you. 

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What about your sin? 
Romans 8 is speaking directly 

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into this tension for us. 
Paul is not writing to people 

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who have it figured out. 
He's writing to those who are 

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groaning like you and like me. 
And just like those lyrics say 

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there is hope in every trial, 
Romans 8 shows us and tells us 

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why we get to have hope in every
trial. 

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Because when we don't know what 
to pray, when we don't 

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understand the road, and when 
the suffering feels heavier than

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your faith, the Spirit himself 
intercedes. 

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Now, this text shows us three 
things. 

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This text shows us many things, 
but these are the three we're 

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going to focus on together this 
morning. 

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Number one, it shows us that we 
are weak. 

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We are a weak people on our own.
But #2 shows us that we are not 

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alone. 
The Spirit is interceding for us

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and #3 God is working in all 
things are working together for 

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good. 
In this passage, Paul writes. 

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Likewise, the Spirit helps us in
our weakness. 

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Notice what Paul is not saying 
here. 

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Paul's not saying that the 
Spirit helps us in our strength 

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or in our clarity. 
He's not saying that the Spirit 

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helps us when we pray perfectly.
He says the strength of the 

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Spirit helps us in our weakness.
Now, that doesn't mean that the 

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Spirit isn't helping us in our 
strength when we are strong. 

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When we do have clarity, the 
Spirit is still there walking 

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with us. 
But who are we turning to when 

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we are weak? 
Church, where do you feel weak 

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in your life right now? 
We may need to, we may think we 

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need to pick ourselves up by the
bootstraps and just keep going 

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and life's going to get better. 
But guys, we have a God who 

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loves us so much that he wants 
to be a part of all of the 

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little things and all of the big
things. 

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He wants us to, to bring our 
weaknesses to him. 

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He wants us to find our strength
in Him. 

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So church, I want to encourage 
you to bring even the smallest 

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things to God's feet and see 
what beautiful things he has in 

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store for them. 
Next, Paul brings us to 

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something even more honest. 
We do not know what to pray for 

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as we ought. 
Paul is including himself here, 

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the the apostle, the theologian,
the missionary. 

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We do not know now this this 
means that confusion is not 

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disqualifying and when you don't
have the words, silence is not 

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failure and tears are not 
faithlessness. 

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Sometimes for me, the most 
honest prayers coming to God and

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just saying, Father, I don't 
even know what to say. 

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And that's exactly where this 
passage is meeting us next. 

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We read, but the Spirit himself 
intercedes for us with groanings

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too deep for words. 
That means when you don't have 

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the language, when you don't 
have the words, when you don't 

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know what to pray, the Spirit 
does. 

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When all you have is grief, the 
Spirit is helping you to carry 

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it. 
And when all you have to offer 

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is silence, the Spirit is not 
silent. 

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You are never praying alone in 
church. 

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I want you to hear that you are 
never praying alone. 

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Even when you don't know what 
the words to say are, you are 

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never praying alone. 
Later in this chapter, Paul 

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writes that Christ Jesus is at 
the right hand of God 

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interceding for us. 
So in this chapter we get to see

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something amazing and 
astonishing. 

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The Spirit intercedes within us.
The Son is interceding for us, 

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and the Father is searching our 
hearts and hears. 

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The enemy wants to isolate, but 
the Spirit intercedes. 

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The enemy wants to divide us, 
but the Spirit draws us near. 

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This isn't just vague 
spirituality. 

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Verse 27 says He intercedes 
according to the will of God. 

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That means that even when you 
don't know what is best, God 

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does. 
Even when you don't see what 

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He's doing, He's working 
according to His plan in church.

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His plan is a plan far greater 
than anything you or I could 

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come up with on our own. 
I have. 

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I've strayed the path I've I've 
thought I can make my own way, 

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as I'm sure many of you have as 
well. 

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But every single time it leads 
to the same place, a dead end 

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road where I have to turn around
and walk back to God with my 

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head down to say, Father, I'm 
sorry, thought I knew better. 

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I've gone through this so many 
Times Now. 

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Why can't I just trust you? 
Father, please walk with me and 

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guide me down the right path. 
I want to share something a 

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little personal, a testimony of 
sorts that many of you have have

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already heard or know about. 
If you don't know me or you're 

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newer to the church, you may not
have heard this yet, but in 

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December of 2024, I lost my 
father. 

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We lost my father, and many of 
you knew him well. 

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He was up on this very stage, on
the worship team just about 

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every single week. 
He was in the community, he was 

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in our congregation, and he 
loved bringing the Word of God 

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to those who needed to hear it. 
But to me, he was more just. 

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He was more than just my father.
He was my mentor. 

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He was my living example of how 
to lead a family in faith, and 

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he was one of my best friends. 
When he passed, the weight of it

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was crushing. 
It wasn't just loss, it wasn't 

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just grief. 
It was complete disorientation 

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of my life. 
It was waking up and realizing 

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the person I relied on the most 
and the person I always called 

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the most could no longer answer.
It was sitting in in silence and

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not even knowing the words to 
say or the words to pray. 

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And this would become a place 
where Romans 826 would stop 

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being a verse that I would 
preach, but it became a verse 

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that I still cling to. 
We do not know what to pray for 

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as we ought. 
That was me. 

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There were times that I I didn't
have theology and I didn't have 

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clarity and I for sure did not 
have the answers. 

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All I had to offer was weakness.
But it was here in the season 

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that I learned that weakness is 
not the absence of God's work. 

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It's oftentimes the place where 
His work is running the deepest.

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Because in the middle of that, 
and in the middle of that grief,

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God was doing something that I 
could not see. 

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That loss that felt like it 
shattered everything stable in 

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my life became a key turning 
point in my life. 

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For years I have felt God's 
calling to me in a ministry 

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bigger or more than just being 
on worship team on Sundays. 

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For years I have wrestled with 
it. 

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I delayed it any way that I 
could. 

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I took dead end jobs. 
I went to college for things I 

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knew I didn't want to do. 
I moved several times. 

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I tried avoiding it at all 
costs. 

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I excused it by thinking, yeah, 
right, like God's going to 

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choose to use me. 
But grief has a way of stripping

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away illusions. 
It reminds you that time is not 

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yours and comfort is not 
guaranteed. 

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But eternity is real. 
It was in this season that threw

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my tears and through my weakness
that I finally stopped resisting

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and I answered the call to go to
seminary. 

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Now hear me clearly, Church, I'm
not saying my father passed so 

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that I would go to seminary. 
I'm saying this God did not 

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waste my grief. 
He was working in it. 

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He was not causing it, but He 
was working. 

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He was not delighting in my 
pain, but He was redeeming it. 

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What I wasn't able to see in 
December, I can now look back 

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and see threads of purpose and 
threads of hope. 

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That is where Romans 828. 
Now, my story is not everyone's 

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going to seminary, becoming a 
pastor, being a part of worship 

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team. 
That's not everybody's calling. 

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But church, How's God calling 
you to minister to those around 

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you where you are right now? 
Where is he calling you to 

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minister to those in your life, 
your family, this congregation, 

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this community? 
Where is God calling you right 

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now? 
Later, Paul says. 

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And we know that for those who 
love God, all things work 

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together for good. 
It does not say that all things 

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are good. 
Death is not good, loss is not 

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good, cancer is not good, Our 
sin is not good. 

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But God works all things 
together for good. 

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That means he refuses to waste 
anything. 

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Now for those of you who know my
mother, she's not here, but she 

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was at the first service. 
I didn't tell her I was going to

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tell the story, but for those of
you who know her, she's owned 

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and ran her cleaning business 
for many, many years now. 

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And over those years, my sister 
and I have had plenty of chances

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to go and help her, whether 
that's she just needed some 

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extra hands, I needed some extra
cash. 

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It was a win, win for everybody.
But she carries around this big 

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tote with everything in it, all 
her rags, mop heads, buckets, 

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liquids that I'm not always sure
exactly what they are, But when 

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I'm cleaning something, I'm 
cleaning a mirror, I'm wiping 

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down the counter, I just reach 
into the toe. 

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And I swear that every single 
time I pull a rag out, it's full

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of holes, it's torn up. 
It looks like it's been through 

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war. 
And in my head I just think, how

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could this be used to clean 
anything? 

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But then I realized those things
still fit her purpose. 

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I learned that all you have to 
do is fold it over a couple 

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times and now it it wipes 
everything down. 

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It cleans things and makes 
things look beautiful again. 

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Just like my mother and her 
rags. 

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God refuses to. 
Sorry, crazy analogy, but just 

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like my mother, in her eyes God 
refuses to let anything go to 

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waste. 
No matter how battered or torn 

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or damaged that it may look to 
us, it still fits his purpose 

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and he uses those things in 
those moments for good. 

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You're in Christ. 
If you love Him, then your story

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doesn't end in randomness. 
You were called according to His

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purpose, and His purpose is 
always His glory for your 

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ultimate good. 
These are not competing goals 

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because your good is becoming 
more like Christ. 

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Your greatest good is eternal 
joy, eternal security, and 

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eternal life. 
The cross proves this. 

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On Friday it looked like defeat 
and on Saturday there was 

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silence. 
But on Sunday there was 

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resurrection. 
What looked like weakness was 

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power. 
What looked like loss was our 

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salvation. 
If God can turn even the cross 

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into redemption, then He can 
take your suffering and weave 

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glory all throughout it. 
So here's my question for you 

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church. 
Do you believe that He is able? 

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Do you believe that He's able to
sustain you, able to carry you, 

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able to redeem the things at 
which you don't even understand?

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Because Romans 8 says when you 
don't know what to pray, the 

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Spirit helps. 
When you feel weak, God is 

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working, and when you cannot see
the outcome, He already holds 

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it. 
We are weak and we don't know, 

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but we are not alone. 
The cross teaches us anything. 

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It's that what looks like 
weakness may be the very place 

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where God is accomplishing His 
greatest glory. 

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Jesus would have been able to 
call upon a legion of angels to 

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save him at any moment, but he 
didn't, and that looked like 

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weakness. 
Jesus could have fought back and

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freed himself in any other way, 
but he didn't, and it looked 

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like weakness. 
But in that very weakness, he 

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defeated death. 
He defeated the very thing that 

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we had to fear the most. 
In that weakness, we were 

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completely set free from death 
and the fear that it held over 

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us. 
So as we close and sing more 

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than able, I encourage you to 
not just sing it casually. 

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If you're grieving, then sing it
through tears. 

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If you feel lost or confused, 
then sing it in trust. 

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And if you're weak like me, sing
it as surrender. 

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Because the same God who raised 
Jesus from the dead is more than

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able to work things out for His 
glory and our good. 

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So let's pray and declare this 
song together. 

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Father God, we're so thankful 
for this space that You give us 

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to come and study Your Word. 
We're so thankful for the words 

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that You give us when we have 
none. 

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We're told the Spirit is 
interceding for us in our 

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prayers with groanings too deep 
for words. 

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Father, we thank You for the 
encouragement that even when we 

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don't know what to say, even 
when we don't know the right 

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words to pray, we can sit with 
you and Your Spirit will be 

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praying for us. 
Lord, You know the burdens in 

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this room, the grief, the fear 
and the unanswered questions, 

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the trials that feel heavier 
than our faith, the struggle we 

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have with sin. 
And yet Your Word promises us 

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that You are working all things 
together for good for those who 

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love you. 
Help us to trust You when the 

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road is not understood, and help
us to believe that You do not 

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waste anything in our weakness. 
Help us to rest in the trust 

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that You are more than able. 
We pray these things in your 

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00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:40,280
name, Father, Amen. 
Thanks for listening to the ERC 

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00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,400
Sundays to support the work God 
is doing an Amazed Throat 

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00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:44,280
Church. 
Visit 

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00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:47,360
amazedthroatonline.org/giving.