August 13, 2023 – CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 13TH 2023, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

I’m with my longtime Homestead church family for the 3RD Sunday in a row. That hasn’t happened since I closed on my new home in Sebring in March. Next Sunday I’ll be with my new Sebring church family, and – as long as it’s not canceled again – I plan to attend the welcome lunch for new church attendees where leadership and others meet and greet us, and we formally introduce ourselves to them. (That should be very interesting.)

And now here on #SundayScripture it’s the continuation of the refresh, renew, and reboot of my sermon on “Pray & Believe” – originally preached on Sunday June 16TH 2019. Here’s Part 4:

[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]

So who has this confident hope ?

The Bible says – We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something – we don’t need to hope for it. [We don’t need to wait for it.] But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have – we must wait patiently and confidently.) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example – we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. (Romans 8:24-8:27)

The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings. I like that. That’s kind of like that hemming and hawing and stuttering and stalling when we pray. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense what comes out of our mouths. Sometimes the words become gibberish – gobbledygook. That’s the Holy Spirit within our hearts. He’s intervening for us before God. He’s pleading for us – His holy people. And the Father knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Father knows what’s on our hearts.

Don’t you just love that ? You see – we may not make sense sometimes to each other or even to ourselves when we pray, but we make perfect sense to our Father through the Holy Spirit.

Prayer is powerful. It’s the most powerful thing that we can do. It’s the most important thing that we can do. Sometimes – it’s the only thing that we can do – pray – and believe.

The start of Acts Chapter 12 tells us the story of King Herod Agrippa. He was the grandson of Herod The Great – King Of Judea. He too was the King Of Judea about 45 years after his grandfather – or about 10 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was King for just a short period of time – about 3 years. He was very popular with the Jewish people. He persecuted some of the believers of the church in Jerusalem. Jesus had predicted persecution for His followers. God said:

“I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others. As a result – this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world – from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah.” (Luke 11:49b-11:51a)

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.