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The Groans of the Heart- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Two workers are sitting at the work site opening up
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Speaker 1: their lunch pail about to eat lunch. One of them
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Speaker 1: unwraps his sandwich and says, bologna again? I hate bologna.
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Speaker 1: I had bologna yesterday. I had bologna the day before.
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Speaker 1: I had bologna the day before. I'm so sick and
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Speaker 1: tired of bologna sandwiches. So the fellow says, well, who
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Speaker 1: fixes your lunch? And the guy said, I do. Why
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Speaker 1: do we keep doing the things that end up causing
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Speaker 1: us unhappiness? That's one of the great questions of understanding
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Speaker 1: human nature. We're coming to learn that eternal and internal
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Speaker 1: change is not a matter of self-will, but is a
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Speaker 1: matter of spirit empowerment. that real and lasting change in
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Speaker 1: the human heart that spills into society is not the
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Speaker 1: consequence of a different strategy, a different policy, a different budget,
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Speaker 1: but really the lasting change for which we all crave
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Speaker 1: is a gift from the Holy Spirit, a supernatural work
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Speaker 1: Of God. In the lives of his children. For this
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Speaker 1: reason we treasure. These opportunities that we have. To come
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Speaker 1: to a deeper understanding. Of the most important relationship that
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Speaker 1: you and I have on earth. And that is our
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Speaker 1: relationship with. The presence of divinity on the planet. The
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. These discussions about the Holy Spirit that we've
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Speaker 1: had over the last few weeks have stirred many comments,
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Speaker 1: many thoughts, much enthusiasm. And if you're new to this study,
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Speaker 1: I'm so happy that you're here. We're looking at different
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Speaker 1: word pictures or metaphors that the Bible gives us, really
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit gives us, so we can understand Him better.
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Speaker 1: The wind of the Spirit, the oil of the Spirit,
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Speaker 1: the fire of the Spirit. All of these are glimpses
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Speaker 1: into the beautiful, ongoing, ever-creating work of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: We're asking the Lord to deliver us from what I
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Speaker 1: call Christian atheism. The belief that maybe God did something
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Speaker 1: once way back a long time ago. And maybe, yeah, sure,
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Speaker 1: maybe God's going to do something someday in the future.
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Speaker 1: But I'm not sure he's up to anything right now.
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Speaker 1: That's a lie from the devil. That's just this odd
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Speaker 1: religious form of atheism. A past tense God, a future
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Speaker 1: tense God. But where's the present tense God? The present
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Speaker 1: tense God is in the work of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: And the delightful work of the Holy Spirit is called revival.
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Speaker 2: Revival. He revives.
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Speaker 1: He blows breath on bones. He changes lives. And where
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Speaker 1: there's a dead marriage, he brings it to life. And
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Speaker 1: where there is a wavering faith, he gives it strength.
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Speaker 1: And where there is no hope, he instills hope. And
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Speaker 1: the heart that starred for love, he drenches in love.
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Speaker 1: Last week I shared with you my favorite story about revival.
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Speaker 1: It's the story of the country preacher who went outside
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Speaker 1: so hungry for revival he drew a circle in the
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Speaker 1: ground about 10 feet in diameter and he stood in
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Speaker 1: the center of it and he said lord bring revival
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Speaker 1: and begin with everybody in this circle because change always
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Speaker 1: begins when change begins.
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Speaker 2: With me.
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Speaker 1: Several of you told me that this week you took
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Speaker 1: time and you drew a circle one fellow said i
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Speaker 1: had to go out and draw a circle and then
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Speaker 1: that about where that went out and i drew another
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Speaker 1: one I love this text I received on Sunday night.
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Speaker 1: How do I change myself so that my misplaced obsession
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Speaker 1: with baseball and fantasy football becomes focused on the kingdom?
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Speaker 1: Why does Trump get us more upset than the news
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Speaker 1: of the persecuted church? Why does a football team engender
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Speaker 1: more concern than our unchurched neighbors? How do we start
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Speaker 1: real revival so these petty, silly obsessions are replaced by
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Speaker 1: a genuine concern for the kingdom? Those are great questions.
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Speaker 1: And I tell you, those are questions that happen when
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Speaker 1: you stand in the circle. I mentioned this longing for
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Speaker 1: revival and somebody referred me to a preacher whose church
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Speaker 1: is experiencing a wonderful season of revival today. And I
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Speaker 1: went online and on YouTube actually and began watching a
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Speaker 1: message of his and it was really the first paragraph
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Speaker 1: of his message that caught me. I pressed pause and
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Speaker 1: I've not gone back and continued the message because I
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Speaker 1: keep thinking about what he said in the first paragraph.
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Speaker 1: He said, we do not know why God has chosen
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Speaker 1: to bless our church in such a manner these days.
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Speaker 1: But listen, he said, We are happy to be the
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Speaker 1: host of his presence. We host his presence. Can you
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Speaker 1: think of a better description of the role of the
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Speaker 1: church than to host the presence of the living God?
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Speaker 1: Can you think of a greater prayer than we could
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Speaker 1: pray for our church then we would be, oh Lord God,
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Speaker 1: a place that you would choose to so bless with
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Speaker 1: your presence that we realize that our purpose statement as
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Speaker 1: a church is just to host the holy, to host
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Speaker 1: the highest. And that we as Christians called the temple
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit because we host the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: And we carry the Holy Spirit with us into our work,
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Speaker 1: into our school, into our homes, into.
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Speaker 2: Our bedrooms and our boardrooms.
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Speaker 1: Oh, Heavenly Father, may I be worthy of this high
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Speaker 1: and holy call that I am a vessel called to
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Speaker 1: carry the consecrated presence of the holiness into HEB, into
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Speaker 1: Pembroke School, into USAA, that my call is to carry
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Speaker 1: the holiness with me.
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Speaker 2: Everywhere I go.
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Speaker 1: Can you imagine a greater call than that?
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Speaker 2: May the Lord allow us to host his holiness.
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Speaker 1: Over these many, many years, 40 years of ministry, I
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Speaker 1: know I don't look that old, but 40 years of ministry,
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Speaker 1: I think I've either read or attended seminars on everything
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Speaker 1: about how a church grows. And I've tried quite a
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Speaker 1: few of them. You know, church will grow if you
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Speaker 1: have the right auditorium. Your church will grow if you
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Speaker 1: have a preacher who has tight jeans with holes in them.
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Speaker 1: Your church will grow if you have loud music, if
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Speaker 1: you have soft music. We have all these kind of.
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Speaker 2: But you know what?
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Speaker 1: I think it's just the presence of the living God.
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Speaker 1: Just the presence of the living God. And whether that
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Speaker 1: presence fall on an underground church in China or a
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Speaker 1: Public church in San Antonio. What matters, what people need
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Speaker 1: is that they can encounter something supernatural. Something supernatural that's
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Speaker 1: sometimes disruptive. Maybe a bit messy.
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Speaker 2: Not always tidy.
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Speaker 1: That doesn't quite, but tells them that there's a good
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Speaker 1: God coming down in blessing people still today. Don't we
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Speaker 1: aspire for that? That is the gift, that is the
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Speaker 1: consequence of a place where the Spirit of Jesus is welcomed.
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Speaker 2: May we be a host to the Holy.
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Speaker 1: And as we look at how the Holy Spirit blesses
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Speaker 1: His church, we turn the page today on one of
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Speaker 1: the most beautiful metaphors or pictures of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: And that is He is our intercessor He's our advocate.
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Speaker 1: He speaks up for us. And we find this teaching
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Speaker 1: in a book in the Bible called the Book of Romans.
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Speaker 1: And it's called the Book of Romans because it was
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Speaker 1: written to a small church in Rome. I say small church.
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Speaker 1: It was a new church. It may have been a
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Speaker 1: huge church. But it was a new church in Rome.
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Speaker 1: And the Apostle Paul wrote a beautiful 16-chapter letter to
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Speaker 1: this church.
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Speaker 2: And right in the heart of it is.
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Speaker 1: Romans chapter 8. Some people call this the greatest chapter
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Speaker 1: in the Bible. It is a chapter that is sugared
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Speaker 1: with appearance and references to the Holy Spirit, some 24
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Speaker 1: of them. And right toward the end of the chapter,
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Speaker 1: he says, the Spirit helps us in our what, church?
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Speaker 2: In our weakness. We do not.
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Speaker 1: Know what we ought to pray for. Would anyone amen that?
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Speaker 1: But the Spirit himself, what? Intercedes for us through wordless groans.
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Speaker 2: What a beautiful promise.
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Speaker 1: And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God's people.
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Speaker 2: In accordance with the will of God.
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Speaker 1: We ask you now, Heavenly Father, to bless us, to
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Speaker 1: bless us so that we can come to a deeper understanding.
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Speaker 1: All these people who are gathered here today, that they
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Speaker 1: could sense that you hear them even when they don't
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Speaker 1: know how to pray.
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Speaker 2: Through Christ we pray.
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Speaker 3: Amen.
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Speaker 1: Do you know the groans of the heart? There's the
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Speaker 1: cancer patient. In the middle of the night in ICU,
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Speaker 1: she awakens in her bed. She rolls her head to
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Speaker 1: the side and there's her faithful husband still sitting in
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Speaker 1: that recliner.
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Speaker 2: He's there all the time.
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Speaker 1: The television on but the sound is muted. She knows
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Speaker 1: it's nighttime but does not know the hour. She knows
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Speaker 1: the month but cannot tell you the day. Her days
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Speaker 1: are a blur of meds and treatment and pain. The
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Speaker 1: meds numb her mind. The bed numbs her back. She
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Speaker 1: tries to pray. But through the fog, she can hardly
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Speaker 1: collect her thoughts. And the best she can offer is
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Speaker 1: this wordless sigh. Do you know the groans of the heart?
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Speaker 1: There's the father of the teenage boy. The boy stretched
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Speaker 1: out on the bed, still wearing his T-shirt and jeans.
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Speaker 1: He was able to kick off his shoes before he
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Speaker 1: fell into the bed. That's what awoke the father. And
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Speaker 1: the father stepped into his boy's bedroom to the smell
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Speaker 1: of alcohol. He walks over to his son and he
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Speaker 1: pulls up a chair and he sits down by the
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Speaker 1: bed of the passed out boy. Tomorrow morning he'll give
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Speaker 1: him a lecture. Tomorrow morning he'll give him a warning.
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Speaker 1: Tomorrow morning he may discipline the boy.
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Speaker 2: Will it work?
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Speaker 1: He doesn't know. It has not yet. But for now
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Speaker 1: he just sits. His wife appears at his side. He
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Speaker 1: looks up at his wife and she says this is
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Speaker 1: the only time he'll let me sit next to him.
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Speaker 1: And so the wife pulls up a chair and the
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Speaker 1: The father strokes the long hair of his son. And
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Speaker 1: from deep within the heart of the father.
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Speaker 2: Comes a groan.
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Speaker 1: Do you know the groans of the heart? There is
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Speaker 1: the prisoner in the prison cell. His oppressors have names
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Speaker 1: like Mahmoud and Abdul. The other prisoners are in prison
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Speaker 1: for respectable crimes like murder and robbery but this man
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Speaker 1: is in prison for what they consider to be the
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Speaker 1: most despicable and shameful act this man is in prison
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Speaker 1: because he believes in Christ his oppressors will beat him
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Speaker 1: they will torture him and the Christian can go home
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Speaker 1: today if he'll simply renounce his faith He drags himself
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Speaker 1: over into the corner of the jail cell and he
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Speaker 1: pulls his knees up close to his chest. For all
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Speaker 1: he knows, he'll spend the rest of his life on
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Speaker 1: this dusty floor. He tries to pray, but he cannot.
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Speaker 1: He just sighs.
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Speaker 2: These are the groans of the heart. Do you know them?
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Speaker 2: Those times.
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Speaker 1: in which words just do not come. Sunnier days lead
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Speaker 1: to prayers worthy of being written down and framed and
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Speaker 1: hung on the wall.
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Speaker 2: Poetic and pretty.
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Speaker 1: But then there are those times in which we can scarcely,
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Speaker 1: we can't get an Our Father out of our mouth.
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Speaker 1: Does God hear those prayers? Does the tribunal of heaven,
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Speaker 1: does the Trinity have a place for God's children when
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Speaker 1: God's children are so weak they do not know how
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Speaker 1: they should pray, how they pray if they ought? The
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Speaker 1: wonderful promise of Scripture is yes. And the reason is
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Speaker 1: because of the many roles of the Holy Spirit. One
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Speaker 1: of His roles is to curate and translate Our prayers
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Speaker 1: into the presence of God. This is the message that's
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Speaker 1: found in Romans chapter 8. And this is the message
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Speaker 1: that I think some of you were brought here today
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Speaker 1: to hear from God. And we study about the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit and we see him working in such power. Blowing
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Speaker 1: wind over the apostles on the day of Pentecost. opening
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Speaker 1: the Red Sea so Moses can pass through. That valley
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Speaker 1: of bones in the book of Ezekiel that came to
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Speaker 1: life because of the breath of the Spirit. We see
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Speaker 1: these mighty, wonderful works, but could a work be ever
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Speaker 1: more tender than the work he does for the hurting child?
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Speaker 1: He takes our prayers and he intercedes for us. To
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Speaker 1: help us understand this, just a couple of thoughts. The
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Speaker 1: apostle begins by reminding us that the whole world, the
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Speaker 1: whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
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Speaker 1: childbirth right unto the present time. And not only so,
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Speaker 1: but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the
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Speaker 1: spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption
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Speaker 1: to sonship. the redemption of our bodies. For in this
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Speaker 1: hope we are saved, but hope that is seen is
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Speaker 1: no hope at all.
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Speaker 2: Who hopes for what they already have?
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Speaker 1: We hope for what we do not yet have and
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Speaker 1: we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the
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Speaker 1: Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know
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Speaker 1: what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
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Speaker 1: intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches
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Speaker 1: our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit Because the
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Speaker 1: Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with.
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Speaker 2: The will of God.
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Speaker 1: Let's see if we can understand this passage and begin
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Speaker 1: by looking at the groans of our day. The groans
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Speaker 1: of our day. According to the Apostle, there are groans everywhere.
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Speaker 1: He even says the creation has been growing. He says
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Speaker 1: the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains
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Speaker 1: of childbirth.
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Speaker 2: Who would disagree?
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Speaker 1: Hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, catastrophes of ecology. It's as if the
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Speaker 1: whole universe is third trimester heavy. Puffy feet, aching back,
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Speaker 1: longing for that day of what? deliverance but not only
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Speaker 1: is the creation groaning the apostle says we who have
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Speaker 1: the first fruits of the spirit that would be christians
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Speaker 1: we groan inwardly so much for that idea that if
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Speaker 1: i give my heart to christ all my problems are
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Speaker 1: going to go away but we can have the holy
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Speaker 1: spirit but still have struggles Yes, we are the temple
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, the ones in whom he chooses
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Speaker 1: to dwell, but we still indwell a fallen world. Consequently,
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Speaker 1: we groan. The mother groans for the child. The grandparents
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Speaker 1: groan for the grandchildren.
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Speaker 2: We all groan.
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Speaker 1: The apostle says we groan because we battle weakness. He
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Speaker 1: says the Spirit helps us in our weakness, weakness. This
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Speaker 1: word is found in the writings of the Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: only three times. Once here and then two other times
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Speaker 1: and in those other two occasions it has to do
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Speaker 1: with illness.
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Speaker 2: Illness.
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Speaker 1: He talks about his illness and he talks about the
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Speaker 1: illness of his disciple Timothy. It could very well be
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Speaker 1: that what the Apostle Paul here is saying in times
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Speaker 1: of extended illness the Holy Spirit helps us. And who
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Speaker 1: would disagree that those times of extended illness leave us
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Speaker 1: battling weakness? We groan in them. I'm hearing a silent
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Speaker 1: amen from many people. Because you know what it's like.
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Speaker 1: You know what it's like. And some years ago I
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Speaker 1: battled atrial fibrillation. But for an extended period of time,
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Speaker 1: I've been a healthy, I've been blessed with great health
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Speaker 1: my whole life and just out of the blue.
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Speaker 2: I lost my energy.
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Speaker 1: I couldn't get my heartbeat right and the doctor couldn't
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Speaker 1: figure out exactly what was wrong. We tried all types
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Speaker 1: of meds and went on for month after month after
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Speaker 1: month after month. That was long before we had this
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Speaker 1: sanctuary and I can recall a time or two walking
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Speaker 1: from my office to the prayer tower thinking I'm just
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Speaker 1: going to go up there and pray but so mad
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Speaker 1: that we had so many stairs. I couldn't get up
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Speaker 1: the stairs into the prayer tower. And so I would
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Speaker 1: shuffle down to the former sanctuary and pull out one
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Speaker 1: of those wooden prayer altars and just kneel. And I
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Speaker 1: was so tired.
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Speaker 2: You've been there.
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Speaker 1: Those of you who battle rheumatoid arthritis, you've been there.
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Speaker 1: Those of you who battle MS, you've been there. Those
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Speaker 1: of you who are struggling to to treat cancer. You've
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Speaker 1: been there. These seasons of extended illness. The apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: says the Holy Spirit helps us in our illness, in
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Speaker 1: our weakness. It could be your weakness that you feel
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Speaker 1: this enfeebled state in which you find yourself. It's not
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Speaker 1: a result of a physical illness, but maybe your relational illness,
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Speaker 1: a financial illness. It could be your future has flattened
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Speaker 1: out and you just feel weak. You feel like you
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Speaker 1: can't bring yourself. You don't know how to pray as
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Speaker 1: you ought. You can relate to this statement from an
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Speaker 1: Old Testament king, a man by the name of Hezekiah.
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Speaker 1: He said, I moan like a dove. My eyes are
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Speaker 1: weary with looking upward. And then one of the authors
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Speaker 1: in the book of Psalms agreed with that. He said,
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Speaker 1: I am feeble and utterly crushed. I groan in anguish
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Speaker 1: of heart. All my longings lie open before you, Lord.
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Speaker 1: My sighing is not hidden from you. You're saying, Max,
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Speaker 1: this is such a happy sermon. I'm so glad I
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Speaker 1: came today.
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Speaker 2: We do have happy sermons. We do.
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Speaker 1: But sometimes we got to talk about the heaviness of
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Speaker 1: the heart, don't we?
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Speaker 2: We need help.
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Speaker 1: Because when we're passing through these times of weakness in
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Speaker 1: which we do not know how to pray as we ought,
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Speaker 1: we find encouragement from the Apostle Paul. Again, look at
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Speaker 1: his words. We do not know what to pray for
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Speaker 1: as we ought. Thank you, Paul, for being so honest.
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Speaker 1: If you don't know what to pray for, and you're
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Speaker 1: an apostle, you wrote epistles. I feel better because when
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Speaker 1: I don't know... How to pray for? I don't know
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Speaker 1: what to pray for as I lie. Sometimes I think
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Speaker 1: maybe I'm not spiritual. Maybe it's my fault. I read
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Speaker 1: in the Bible of how you silence the storms on
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Speaker 1: the Mediterranean for the Apostle Paul or open the jail
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Speaker 1: doors for the Apostle Peter. If only I prayed with
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Speaker 1: more faith. If only I had more gumption. It's my fault. Oh, please,
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Speaker 1: child of God, do not take on yet another burden
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Speaker 1: to your already burdened back. The Apostle Paul is wanting
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Speaker 1: to set you free from that. He's saying when you
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Speaker 1: cannot pray, the Spirit will pray for you. And when
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Speaker 1: your prayers cannot even take on words, the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: can turn them into words for you. We do not
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Speaker 1: know how to pray as we ought. Yes, that's true.
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Speaker 1: That's not bad news. The great news is the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit does. And as a result, the Holy Spirit does.
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Speaker 1: He does.
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Speaker 2: He does. Thanks to our unfailing friend. Our prayers.
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Speaker 1: Even though. Even though they're wordless. Are received into the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: Received into the presence of God. Here's the big idea.
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Speaker 1: And that is the intercession.
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Speaker 2: Of the spirit.
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Speaker 1: The intercession of the spirit. To intercede. Is simply to
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Speaker 1: stand between.
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Speaker 2: To speak up on behalf.
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Speaker 1: To stand between.
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Speaker 3: When.
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Speaker 4: When.
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Speaker 1: When I have a need and somebody else has a
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Speaker 1: provision and you know that person and you speak up
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Speaker 1: on my behalf, what are you doing? You are interceding
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Speaker 1: for me. Praise be to God that you have the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit interceding for you. I hope you have a
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Speaker 1: grandmother interceding for you. I hope you have a spouse interceding.
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Speaker 1: I hope you have a parent interceding for you. But
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Speaker 1: whether you do or you don't, you have the greatest
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Speaker 1: prayer partner in the history of the world. You have
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit interceding for you. Many years ago, my
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Speaker 1: wife and I moved to South America in 1983. We
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Speaker 1: were the greenest of gringos to ever land in Rio
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Speaker 1: de Janeiro, Brazil. We spoke enough Portuguese to get ourselves
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Speaker 1: in trouble. We could order lunch and find the bathroom
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Speaker 1: and that.
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Speaker 2: Was about it.
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Speaker 1: We'd read all those books on cross-cultural adaptation techniques But
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Speaker 1: I got to tell you, there's nothing that'll prepare you
25:32
Speaker 1: for cross-cultural life than getting off a plane without a
25:37
Speaker 1: return trip ticket.
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Speaker 2: And you know you're there for the long haul.
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Speaker 1: And we tried our best to adjust, but the challenge
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Speaker 1: was even more complicated by the fact that all of
25:48
Speaker 1: our possessions were stuck in customs. We had a crate,
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Speaker 1: a wooden crate full of Pictures and pots and pans
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Speaker 1: and mementos and scrapbooks and blankets and even a couch,
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Speaker 1: I think, honey. There's all kinds of stuff in there.
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Speaker 1: And we thought that would make us, you know, if
26:07
Speaker 1: we could get that crate, get unpacked, we could feel
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Speaker 1: more like home. We found an apartment. But we moved
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Speaker 1: into the apartment. We didn't have any furniture. And so
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Speaker 1: every day I would go down to the customs office. Again,
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Speaker 1: my Portuguese was horrible. Who knows what I was asking?
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Speaker 1: They may have thought I was ordering pizza, for all
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Speaker 1: I know. But I did my best to explain our plight,
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Speaker 1: and every day the.
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Speaker 2: Response was the same, no, senor. No, senor.
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Speaker 1: And then they'd give me some kind of explanation that
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Speaker 1: I'm sure had to do with something about, you know,
26:43
Speaker 1: red tape and getting caught and take your time. But
26:47
Speaker 1: every day I'd have to come back home and tell Dina, no,
26:50
Speaker 1: I can't, it's not out yet. Enter our next door neighbor. Literally,
26:57
Speaker 1: he entered our apartment. He came over one day, he
27:00
Speaker 1: and his wife became our dear friends. They introduced themselves,
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Speaker 1: entered our empty apartment. We had coffee standing up, sipping
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Speaker 1: coffee because we didn't have a place to sit. I
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Speaker 1: explained our situation to him best I could and in
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Speaker 1: my limited language. And he began to smile and he said, oh,
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Speaker 1: I can take care of that.
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Speaker 2: And I said, no, you can't.
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Speaker 1: I've been going every day.
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Speaker 2: He said, oh, no, no, no. I got this.
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Speaker 1: Well, within a day, I found myself with him in
27:36
Speaker 1: the customs office, and he walked over to the very
27:38
Speaker 1: same official who had rebuffed me day after day after day.
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Speaker 1: Next thing I knew, the two were laughing. They were
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Speaker 1: cutting up. They were smiling. They were smiling. And after
27:51
Speaker 1: quite a few moments, he pointed at me and motioned
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Speaker 1: for me to come.
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Speaker 2: Over and I walked over.
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Speaker 1: He put his arm around me and he introduced me
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Speaker 1: to the customs official as his neighbor and his friend.
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Speaker 1: And next thing I knew, the hard-hearted customs agent was
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Speaker 1: smiling at me. And he was reaching into his drawer
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Speaker 1: and pulling out some papers. And they were talking back
28:17
Speaker 1: and forth. There may have been a little exchange of money.
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Speaker 2: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: Next thing, he handed me a slip and said, your
28:30
Speaker 1: stuff will be delivered.
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Speaker 2: What happened?
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Speaker 1: Well, the fact of the matter is our neighbor had
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Speaker 1: what I did not. He had an understanding of the culture.
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Speaker 1: He had an understanding of the legal system. He had
28:48
Speaker 1: an understanding of the language. He had an understanding of
28:52
Speaker 1: the style. He just had what I did not. And
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Speaker 1: most gratefully, he chose to speak up for us. The
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit has what you and I do not. It
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Speaker 1: comes down to that. He knows the language of heaven.
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Speaker 1: He knows the sovereign plan of God. He knows how
29:19
Speaker 1: much heaven loves you. He knows that you and I
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Speaker 1: are being prepared for a world that we've not yet seen.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes we struggle. And out of his great kindness, he
29:32
Speaker 1: chooses to speak on our behalf. I'm not sure exactly
29:38
Speaker 1: how all that works. I wonder if he doesn't take
29:42
Speaker 1: your prayers and my prayers and say, this is what
29:45
Speaker 1: they're trying to say. They don't understand it all. Their
29:50
Speaker 1: understanding is limited. They're the greenest of gringos. They don't
29:55
Speaker 1: get it, but here's what, if they knew to ask
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Speaker 1: for it, this is what they would ask. but they
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Speaker 1: do not know how to pray as they ought. So
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Speaker 1: rather than abandon us in our time of need, the
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Speaker 1: mightiest and wisest force on the planet takes up your
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Speaker 1: case and mine and brings our case before the presence
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Speaker 1: of the Almighty God. Did you need to hear that today?
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Speaker 1: Do you know what it means to groan? Do not
30:38
Speaker 1: eliminate yourself. Do not think, oh, well, God never hears
30:43
Speaker 1: my prayers because I've made such a mess out of
30:45
Speaker 1: my life.
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Speaker 2: Listen, your moans and groans may have come from a bar.
30:49
Speaker 1: That's okay. God hears you. Your moans and groans may
30:53
Speaker 1: have come out of a place you prayed that people
30:55
Speaker 1: never discover you went.
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Speaker 2: That's okay. God loves you.
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Speaker 1: Or maybe you feel like you've always been enfeebled in life.
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Speaker 1: You've battled illness all of your life. You feel like
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Speaker 1: I'm not making any difference in the world. I think
31:10
Speaker 1: when we get to heaven, it is the prayers of
31:13
Speaker 1: these quiet yet determined secret saints.
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Speaker 2: Who are going to lead the way.
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Speaker 1: And we're going to find out that most of us
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Speaker 1: were blessed because of their prayers, not the prayers of
31:27
Speaker 1: oratory and poetry. But those humble, sincere prayers of the
31:34
Speaker 1: night are the prayers that change the world. So I
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Speaker 1: guess I'll close this by saying, don't give up, weary saint.
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Speaker 2: Don't give up. Keep praying.
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Speaker 1: Keep believing.
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Speaker 2: Keep believing.
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Speaker 1: And when you don't have words, that's okay. The Holy
31:53
Speaker 1: Spirit does. When you don't have energy, that's okay. The
31:56
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit does. When you're running out of hope, that's okay.
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Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit will pour it out upon you. Thank
32:03
Speaker 1: God for those times in which you have the energy
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Speaker 1: to pray on your own. But when you don't, that's okay.
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Speaker 1: Because you have the Holy Spirit. And when you don't
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Speaker 1: know how to pray as you ought, He does. And
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Speaker 1: since He does, He does. Thank you, Lord.
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Speaker 2: Thank you.
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Speaker 3: Loving you alone.
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Speaker 1: Feels so beautiful.
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Speaker 2: And yet.
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Speaker 1: It hurts the most.
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Speaker 3: You became my quiet sunrise The dream I never dared
32:45
Speaker 3: to say Every smile you gave so freely Took my
32:50
Speaker 3: breath But every beat inside my heart was only reaching
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Speaker 3: out to you. Unspoken love is sweet and painful. Like
33:12
Speaker 3: honey mixed with rain. A tender hope I hold so tightly.
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Speaker 3: While it slowly breaks me Loving you from just one
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Speaker 3: side now Leaves my soul in silent blue Cause the
33:30
Speaker 3: deeper that I fall alone The lonelier I do I
33:39
Speaker 3: can't blame my heart for choosing Someone it could never
33:44
Speaker 3: keep So I smile through hidden heartache And.
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Speaker 4: Love you quietly, unspoken Love is sweet and painful Like
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Speaker 4: honey mixed with rain A tender hope I hold so
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Speaker 4: tightly While it slowly.
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Speaker 3: Breaks me Loving you from just one side now Leaves
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Speaker 3: my soul in silent blue Cause the deeper that I
34:15
Speaker 3: fall alone, the lonelier I do. Maybe loving you in
34:29
Speaker 3: silence is the closest I can stay. Though it leaves
34:45
Speaker 3: behind a sorrow that may never fade away. Unspoken love
34:55
Speaker 3: is sweet and painful like honey mixed with rain. A
35:01
Speaker 3: tender hope I hold so tightly while it Slowly breaks
35:07
Speaker 3: me loving you from just one side now. Leaves my
35:12
Speaker 3: soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that I fall alone,
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Speaker 3: the lonelier I do.