June 18 & 19, 2022

Sermon Series: Confident

Sermon Title: Father of Hope

Romans 8:26-30
Pastor Ray Harms-Wiebe 

We are broken people. We suffer from personal weakness. Marriages come undone.  Families are separated. Churches falter. Leaders waver. Governments fail to care for their people. As Paul writes in Romans 8, all of creation groans, from Adam’s fall to the present.

Even we followers of Jesus groan. Yes we are already a new creation in Christ. Yes we possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, but we have not received our full inheritance. Our bodies are decaying. Sin is still present. Why would we live ever live with confident hope?

Because we are not left to groan alone. That’s why we have hope. The very Spirit of God groans. And, this groaning of the Spirit is not just a lament, a wish that things could be different, but an unfading, resilient, grounded sign of hope. Why?

Questions for Reflection:

• In what ways are you encouraged to pray by the truth that the Spirit of God intercedes for you, taking your imperfect, uncertain prayers and translating them into prayers in perfect alignment with God’s will?
• Are you able to entrust yourself to God the Father’s all-inclusive providential care and all-encompassing purpose? Why or why not?