What Hope Is All About Series

Romans 8:18-30

Getting on the Same Page as God about what Hope is all about

Introduction

A. We have become an inpatient world

B. Think about it, how many people have looked at the Microwave and said “hurry up I am hungry”

C. How many people have complained how slow fast food is

D. How many of you have sat at the light at 910 and rt. 8 and said will you change already!

E. How many of you have on your computer and it took 5 seconds to respond to what you told it to do and got impatient with it

F. We all do these things

G. We want things and we want them now!

H. Unfortunately we do the same things when it come to God

I. We want everything right now and we completely loose focus of the whole plan

J. God promises us to work everything out. That give us hope

K. Today we are going see why we have hope

L. Perhaps the best way to understand all of this is to look at three groans mentioned in this passage

a. Creation Groans

b. The Believer Groans

c. The Holy Spirit Groans

I. Creation Groans (18-22)

A. Explanation

1. When we look at this world we have to understand something

2. What we know as the world today, was not the way it organically intended to be

3. This all changed with Adam and Eve, the original sin. Now understand if they didn’t sin, you would have

4. But if there was not sin, there would have been no death

5. With no death there would be no pain, no suffering

6. The creation is aware of this

7. And it longs to be like that again

8. It longs to be pain free.

9. Honestly, do you think that all of creation enjoys the pain, the death that we are now experiencing

10. All of that suffering cause creation to groan

B. Illustration

1. Look at verse 22. Childbirth. What do I know about childbirth? Not a whole lot but let me try and explain. Childbirth is painful. Excoriating. Have to carry the child for 9 months. That is a tough tough thing to do (I notice all the moms out there shaking their head). But what comes out of that exeperince? Your Child

2. Your child who you love more then anything.

3. Was that experience worth it? Yeah, it sure was

C. Application

1. Now what can we learn from all of this

2. Why do we have this hope

3. Why do we have this ability to understand that despite how awful things are looking on this earth that better things are going to happen

4. Why are we able to view this situation on earth like we view childbirth, a temporary pain for something that is going to be better then we could ever imagaine

5. Why? Turn to Rev 21:3-4

6. Look at the picture we get, all the pain all the suffering all the stuff that we do not like about this life – Gone, done away with, finished

7. And we have this image of creation the way it was meant to be

8. Does that mean that this will happen tomorrow, no

9. Does that mean that this will all be done by the end of the year, no

10. Does that mean that this will come to be before we end our time hear on earth, no

11. Some day we will get to experience this.

12. Today’s groaning will be exchanged for tomorrow glorious freedom

13. There is hope, hold on to that hope

II. We Groan (23-25)

A. Explanation

1. Creation is not the only one groaning, we are groaning.

2. Here we have the word first fruits

a) When I think of the whole concept of first fruits, I start thinking about summer

b) I love corn on the cob. Especially when it first in season and it is fresh

c) I like to find the people who grow it locally buy, shuck it myself, cook it, butter it, and enjoy.

d) That first corn of the season man you cant beet that

3. To relate we have gotten to experience “the first fruits of the Spirit”

4. There have been events that have been good that we have experienced

5. I do not know if you have ever had the privilege of leading someone to Christ

6. I have, wow, I know the first fruits of the Spirit

7. I have seen people life completely transformed, that is the first fruits of the Spirit

8. I have seen small little miracles in my life that only could come from the Spirit of God. That is the first fruits

9. Unfortunately we don’t see the first fruits every day