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When God Is Your Partner ((Romans 8:26-29)
2 Plays2 minutes ago
This message will encourage anyone who is struggling with suffering and heartache. Romans 8:26-29 speaks of the wonderful partnership we have with God in Christ. He brings us into a partnership with the Spirit and the Father and this makes all the difference in how we make it through the hard times.
While serving in Fairview, Alberta, Canada, my mentor Keith Hale told me one time, “Vic, if God is your Partner, then make your plans big.” Likewise, the famous evangelist from the past, D.L. Moody used to say, “God gives us dreams a size too big, so that we can grow into them.”
Romans chapter 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. The passage we are about to examine is preceded by a section focused on our eternal hope in Christ. As we move into the next section, 8:26-29 Paul transitions from eternal hope to present help.
Infusion into Our Weaknesses, v. 26
Inability of Our Wisdom, v. 26
Intercession beyond Our Words, v. 26
Initiative beyond Our Wants, v. 27
Interlocked with God’s Will, v. 27
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Prayer
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Message Preview: Romans 8:26-29
00:00:42
Speaker
Welcome to Growing Grace. I'm Victor Morrison, the pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. So glad you're with me today. The message today will encourage anyone who's struggling, struggling with suffering or heartache, whatever's going on. Romans 8, 26 through 29 speaks of the wonderful partnership we have with God in Christ.
00:01:06
Speaker
He brings us into a partnership with the Spirit and the Father. And this makes all the difference in how we make it through the hard times. While serving in Fairview, Alberta, Canada, my mentor, ah Keith Hale, told me one time, Vic, if God is your partner, then make your plans big.
00:01:27
Speaker
Likewise, the famous evangelist from the past, D.L. Moody, he used to say, God gives us dreams a size too big. so that we can grow into them.
00:01:41
Speaker
Well, Romans chapter eight is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. The passage we're about to examine is preceded by a section focused on our eternal hope in Christ.
God as a Partner in Life's Struggles
00:01:55
Speaker
As we move into the next section, Romans 8, 26 through 29, Paul transitions from eternal hope to present help.
00:02:06
Speaker
And so that's where I want us to spend our time is looking at how a great God can come and help each one of us with His power, with His wisdom and so forth. I think you're going to like this message as we look at Romans 8, 26 down through verse 29. It says this, Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
00:02:31
Speaker
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
00:02:42
Speaker
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
00:03:06
Speaker
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
00:03:20
Speaker
Let's look at this passage together and think in terms of what difference does it make if God becomes my partner? It makes a lot of difference. When you come to faith in Christ, one of the things that happens is the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you.
The Holy Spirit's Role
00:03:40
Speaker
That's one of the things we'll look at as we look at this passage together. But you know ah he says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in hour weakness So let's talk about first the infusion of God's strength and power into our weaknesses.
00:04:01
Speaker
You know, like I said before, the word likewise refers back to verses 18 through 25. And what it was talking about was our present sufferings.
00:04:15
Speaker
Those are explained in verses 18 through 25. But if you were to rewind even beyond that and go back to Romans 8, say verses 9 through 11, then you would learn that one of the pluses that we have was whenever we trust Christ, is the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. Here's what Paul wrote in Romans 8, verses nine through 11, which is pertinent to what I'm about to say. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
00:04:58
Speaker
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
00:05:14
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He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. I tried to emphasize the in you. i hope it wasn't annoying. But the the point I wanted to make is the Holy Spirit comes to be within us.
00:05:33
Speaker
And so he can infuse us with strength, not our strength, mind you, his strength. Because right off the top, verse 26 is reminding us that as human beings, there are weaknesses that we each have.
00:05:49
Speaker
But he says the spirit helps us in our weaknesses. I love that because it tells us when he's helping us, not when the pain has gone away, but while the pain is still there.
Jesus' Sympathy and Strength
00:06:03
Speaker
When the weakness is, let's say a plural, it could even be weaknesses. But what the word weakness there means in the original language is without strength.
00:06:15
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So when you are totally without strength, that's when the Holy Spirit, he says, helps us. The word help there meant to take hold of or to help carry.
00:06:29
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For example, let me give you an example. This Sunday, this past Sunday, when I was leaving after our church dismissed, there was one of our nursery workers who had ah two bags that she was trying to carry in one hand. And in the other hand, she had a walking cane.
00:06:47
Speaker
And so I said hello to her. And when I said hello, she almost lost her balance and fell. And I said, oh my goodness. I said, let me carry those two bags for you out to your car. And she said, oh, that would be so, so much help. And I said, well, it's my pleasure to be able to help you. And so I walked with her out to the car.
00:07:09
Speaker
And whenever we put the the bags in the car, she was so appreciative. She couldn't thank me enough. But you know, all of us are like that to some degree. There's some area in life where we feel weak. We feel, feel well, maybe unstable.
00:07:27
Speaker
We don't feel on top of our game. But it's at that point that the Holy Spirit says, I can help you with that. Let me help you carry that. What is it that you're trying to carry? And God is trying to get you to lay it down.
00:07:42
Speaker
Lay it down. Let him carry it. Cast your cares upon him for he cares for you. You know, Jesus is compared to the high priest in Hebrews 4, verse 15. But one of the things that he says there about our high priest is he sympathizes with our weaknesses.
00:08:04
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He sympathizes with our weaknesses. So isn't it wonderful that the Son of God has your weaknesses on his heart and And he's not looking critically at you for having weaknesses. He's looking with sympathy at you because of the weaknesses that you have. And so what does he do?
00:08:25
Speaker
He says, I'm going to let the Holy Spirit come to dwell within each of you. And he's going to infuse you with power that you don't have in the flesh, but you do have in Christ. And so I love that about the indwelling Holy Spirit. So when God is your partner, you have this infusion that comes into your weakness.
Prayer and the Spirit's Guidance
00:08:50
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But there's also a second thing that he mentions. He says, for we do not know what to pray as we ought to. He also, when God is our partner, helps us with our inability because we don't know what to pray because we don't have the wisdom that God has.
00:09:13
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You see, the issue is ignorance of the content of prayer, not the method of prayer. Because God continually says throughout the Bible, I mean, you go Old Testament, New Testament, many times prayer is described as crying out to God.
00:09:31
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So the method of prayer is not all that difficult, but oh, the content. Are you asking for what God wants to give? You know, ah James 4.3 interprets why some prayers are not approved.
00:09:47
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Why is it that sometimes our prayer, he says, because you ask for your own ah passions, you ask what's called in some translations, you ask amiss, you're mistaken in what you're actually praying.
00:10:02
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Will you contrast that with 1 John 5, verses 14 and 15, which says, if you can just get within hearing distance of God's ear, you'll have what you ask him for, if you've asked him according to his will.
00:10:21
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So that's the critical that's the critical thing. But sometimes we don't know enough to ask according to his will. Isaiah 55, eight and nine says that God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
00:10:37
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God's ways are higher than our ways. And so there's this really big gap between what God knows to do and he knows what he's doing, right, in our lives, but we don't know what he's doing.
00:10:54
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And so we argue with God sometimes. And sometimes we feel like, well, God, if you would just give me perfect conditions, then, oh, you would be surprised at how I live for you, how much I would accomplish for you.
00:11:10
Speaker
Well, let me just remind you of something that happened a long time ago. Genesis takes us back to where humanity first got off the road.
00:11:20
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Where did we first mess up? You see, God gave us, as I'm talking about the human race, he gave us a perfect world. He placed the first man and the first woman in a perfect place and they never were going to die. There was no disease. There were no consequences of sin because there was no sin.
00:11:44
Speaker
And so if ever anyone lived in a perfect condition, oh it it had to have been Adam and Eve. Everything was just right. But even though they had a perfect situation, a perfect condition, perfect circumstances, they it did not It did not equal perfect cooperation, perfect obedience to God.
00:12:08
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And so sometimes we can say, God, if you would just let this happen for me, oh how I would impress you. I would honor you and so forth. Well, what we need to say is, Lord, I don't know all that you're doing in this situation.
00:12:24
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So I just simply want to ask you, would you please come through and please... You know, please teach me. Help me learn what it is that you want me to learn through this terrible situation.
Paul's Thorn and God's Grace
00:12:38
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Do you remember the Apostle Paul, for example, in his prayer life, he learned something. Second Corinthians chapter 12 says that there was something that resembled, let's say, a thorn, something painful in his life.
00:12:52
Speaker
And he says, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
00:13:17
Speaker
But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
00:13:34
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For the sake of Christ, then, I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. How in the world did he learn that?
00:13:50
Speaker
He didn't learn that from human wisdom. You know how he learned that? It says, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. That's why The Holy Spirit comes to live within us.
00:14:03
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He comes to help us learn that higher way, those higher thoughts. We're thinking, all you got to do is remove the thorn. All you got to do is take away this this painful situation out of my life.
00:14:18
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And God is saying, no, actually, that's not what I want to do Because when you have that painful situation, you stay humble, but you also stay dependent on me.
00:14:31
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And so our inability because of our limited wisdom, is one of the reasons that God's limitless Holy Spirit, when it comes to wisdom, is placed within us.
00:14:44
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So isn't that great? He infuses us with power for our weaknesses. He gives us this incredible insight you know for all the wisdom that He has that we don't have.
00:14:55
Speaker
But let's go to the next thing, verse 26. Have you ever heard people say, well, sometimes I just don't know how to put it into words? Well, there's intercession beyond our words.
00:15:07
Speaker
Have you ever had a situation in your life where you actually didn't know what to pray? It says, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
00:15:22
Speaker
Wow, what does that mean? But the Spirit, it's like a term of contrast. So we've just been talking about our limited wisdom, but we also have to have to admit our limited words.
00:15:36
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Sometimes there are no words. I heard about a pastor, and when his wife was in a car accident, he went to the scene And he saw that she was unconscious and they placed her in the ambulance.
00:15:48
Speaker
And he said, all I could do when she was in the ambulance was hold her hand. And all all I could say, he said, it's like, I didn't know what to pray. So all I could say was Jesus.
00:15:59
Speaker
Oh, God, please, Jesus. He said, that's all I ever said. And yet, you know, the Lord did hear my prayers. But what happened there? The Spirit interceded for that pastor that time when he didn't know what to say with groanings too deep for words.
00:16:17
Speaker
You know, God really pays attention to the groanings that happens down here. Maybe you feel like, I don't know if anybody even cares that I'm hurting down here. No, he does care. As a matter of fact, if you were to review that the eighth chapter of Romans, you would discover that there are three times that the word groans is mentioned.
00:16:37
Speaker
In verse 22, All of nature is groaning for a better world. But then you'll see that even the children of God, the people who belong to the Lord, every Christian believer, we groan, verse 23 says. And we're groaning for a more improved body because in this body, we're limited. We have aches and pains and we groan about it.
00:17:02
Speaker
But now look in verse 26. Who is it that's groaning? I think the Spirit of God's groaning. You know why the Spirit of God is groaning? Because He knows what you're facing.
00:17:13
Speaker
He knows how you feel about it. He sees all of these struggles that we're going through. And I think it really touches His heart. So isn't it amazing that the Spirit of God groans on your behalf and on my behalf into the Father's ear and says, Father, listen to this one. who cares deeply about what's happening in their life.
00:17:38
Speaker
You know, that word intercedes, it's kind of a combination word in the original Greek. And one part of the word is hooper. It means for or on behalf of someone. But intugchano means to entreat, to make intercession, like you're bringing a petition, for example, to a king on behalf of another.
00:18:00
Speaker
But always this word intercession means there's urgency, there's intensity. Do you remember when Esther interceded to the king on behalf of Mordecai and the other Jews in Esther chapter four, verse 16?
00:18:15
Speaker
Do you remember when Jeremiah was placed way down deep in an old well, like a pit? And Jeremiah 38, verses eight and nine says, he would have died in that well if it were not for one person, there was an Ethiopian man named Ebed-Melech. And Ebed-Melech went to the king and said, may I take the prophet out of there? This is no way to treat a prophet of God.
00:18:45
Speaker
so He was given permission. The king sent some guards to watch over him while he was pulling Jeremiah the prophet up out of that well. But you see, that's what the Holy Spirit says he's going to do.
00:18:57
Speaker
When you're in the pits, when you're going through a hard time, he's groaning for you. He's interceding for you. He's going to talk to the Father for you.
Aligning with God's Will
00:19:06
Speaker
And it says, and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit.
00:19:12
Speaker
You know, the Father searches hearts. Do you know that? Oh yeah, in Jeremiah, for example, Jeremiah 17, 10, Jeremiah 20, verse 12, it talks about how God tests. He tests our hearts. He wants to know what's on the inside of us.
00:19:28
Speaker
Psalm 7, 9 talks about that. Revelation 2, 23 repeats this whole idea Why? Why does God want to examine the heart?
00:19:39
Speaker
Because the heart contains the motive. The heart contains our intentions, And so what the Holy Spirit, it says the Father wants to know what's in the heart.
00:19:50
Speaker
And you know what the Holy Spirit's gonna do? He's gonna improve what's in the heart. I think there's there's certain things that God the Father is looking for in the heart. He's looking for humility.
00:20:03
Speaker
He's looking for his word. He's looking to see, are you harboring sin within your heart? He's looking to see, do you really love God within your heart of hearts?
00:20:14
Speaker
Do you love other people? Do you have a commitment to the obedience of God? What about protection for your heart? You know, sometimes people get hurt. and they put a hard wall around their heart.
00:20:28
Speaker
Or maybe they're afraid and fear causes their heart to panic. Or maybe he's saying, is there holiness down in there? Do you really want to become more like my son?
00:20:40
Speaker
And so he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit. So the father's gonna search ah your heart and the and the spirit will be What he wants to do, he wants to get us aligned with what's on the Father's heart.
00:20:57
Speaker
And so that's the fifth principle that I wanted you to see in verse 27. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
00:21:09
Speaker
So the Holy Spirit is interlocked with the Father's will. And so that's why in James 4.3 that I mentioned earlier, can we ask wrongly to spend something on our own wishes, our own whims, our own passions? Oh, you bet we can.
00:21:28
Speaker
But what is the Holy Spirit going to try to convince us to pray for? He's going to convince us to pray for God's will. What is God's will anyway? Sometimes we're saying, how do how do I know if I would like it?
00:21:41
Speaker
Oh, friend, you would like it. I'll tell you how you can know you'd like it because of what's given to us in Romans 12, verse two. It's like God sort of pulls back the curtain and he says, you wanna know what my will is for you?
00:21:56
Speaker
Here's a glimpse. It says the will of God. And then it says, what is good? and acceptable and perfect. That's God's will.
00:22:07
Speaker
What is good and acceptable and perfect. In other words, if you just knew enough, if you were on God's wavelength up there, those higher thoughts, those higher ways and all of that, if you just knew enough, you would say, Father, give me that.
00:22:25
Speaker
That's what I need. That's what I really need. And so the father says, I know that. That's why I placed my spirit within you. And my spirit is going to keep working in your heart until you ask for the right thing.
00:22:41
Speaker
I remember reading the the Bible study series called Experiencing God. It's a series of wonderful Bible studies. But I remember in that series, Henry Blackaby says that when his boys were younger, he used to try to get them to ask him as the dad for what he already had picked out for them.
00:23:01
Speaker
One year, his oldest son, Richard, whom I went to seminary with, but Richard Blackaby said, Dad, I want a 10-speed bike. He said, what kind of bike do you want? He said, I want a Swin.
00:23:13
Speaker
i want a Swin. I want a 10-speed. And he said, what color would you like? He said, like a blue one. So he said, way back, like in October, he bought a blue brand new blue 10-speed bike that ah Richard wanted, and he hid it in the garage under a tarp.
00:23:32
Speaker
He didn't even know it was there. But he said, you know what happened as we got closer to Christmas? I had asked Richard, what do you want? And Richard said, well, I think I want a football and I want a basketball.
00:23:43
Speaker
So he had changed his mind. So you know what Henry Blackaby began to do? He began to say, yeah, but... how are you going to go over to your friend's house? I thought you wanted a bike so you could go to all of the baseball games.
00:23:55
Speaker
He said, yeah, that's true. you know And so he said he began to slowly give little hints and clues to where Richard began once again to say, you know, Dad, I think I've changed my mind.
00:24:08
Speaker
I think I really would like it. A 10-speed bike. What kind was it again? He said, oh, remember, we talked about this. I wanted a swim.
00:24:19
Speaker
And what color did you want? I wanted it blue. He said, when Richard woke up on Christmas morning, underneath the tree, guess what was waiting on him? a blue 10-speed Schwinn bicycle.
00:24:32
Speaker
I'll never forget reading that illustration. and I thought, that's exactly the way the partnership of God between the Holy Spirit, the Son, the Father, he's when He's on your side, man, He's gonna cause you to ask for what He wants to give.
00:24:48
Speaker
Well, let me give you one last reason why you want God to be your partner is because of what's written in verses 28 and 29. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
00:25:01
Speaker
For those who are called according to his purpose to be conformed to the image of his son. Do you know that while we are praying, the Father is working?
00:25:12
Speaker
While we're praying, the Father is working and the Father is gonna be arranging all of life's circumstances so that he can accomplish his will and his purpose for our
Conforming to Jesus' Image
00:25:25
Speaker
lives. And so included,
00:25:28
Speaker
Within this deal, when you trust Christ as your Lord and Savior, you not only get the Holy Spirit to help you with your praying, you get also the Father to help you in terms of arranging all of life's circumstances so that you can finally matt match that purpose for which He created you. Wow, that's amazing that while we're praying, the Father's working. And I love it because Ephesians 1.11 says,
00:25:57
Speaker
echoes exactly what Romans 8, 28 says, him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. I love that. But there is one thing I wanted to make clear as we bring our plane in for a landing here.
00:26:11
Speaker
He says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Now, how is God going to arrange our circumstances for what is good? Does that mean that he's gonna work it out for my whatever's the best for my health?
00:26:33
Speaker
Whatever is the best for my comfort? Whatever is the best best for my checking account? Or whatever is best for you know all these people to like me and so forth?
00:26:46
Speaker
Well, maybe not. You see, he says to be conformed to the image of his son. That's what God's really after.
00:26:57
Speaker
That's the highest place. I don't care what position you get in life. You'll never get any higher than than to become like Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
00:27:08
Speaker
He's the one controlling everything. Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit, they're working and they're accomplishing everything that's going on all around you. And so whenever you say, i don't want to cross thread with what God is trying to accomplish in my life. He's trying to make me more like Jesus, in my attitudes, in my words, you know in my desires, in my actions, in my relationships. He wants others to see Christ in me.
00:27:38
Speaker
That's what it's all about. And so I think, isn't it wonderful that the Holy Spirit is placed within and the Holy Spirit says, that's okay. I'm going to be helping you to ask god for God's will.
00:27:52
Speaker
And the father says, that's okay. When you trusted my son, I'm going to be working so that you can do the will that I've created you to do. And so I just thought, when God is your partner, no wonder my a mentor from the past in Canada, I used to call him granddad Hale, Keith Hale, but no wonder he said, if God is your partner,
00:28:17
Speaker
then make your plans big. It's not limited to your ability. i mean, as weak as we are, as limited as our wisdom is, you know we don't know how to put into words even what we should say sometimes to God.
00:28:33
Speaker
Holy Spirit says, hey, let me take this. I've got this. I've got your back. Let's go to the Father and pray to the one who's got our back. Father, I thank you so much for sending Jesus so that we can be incorporated into your wonderful family.
Conclusion and Encouragement
00:28:51
Speaker
Wow, what a joy it is to know you and to see that you're working a purpose out in all of our circumstances. Even when we don't know what to ask,
00:29:02
Speaker
Your Holy Spirit is saying, that's okay. I'll take the broken prayers that you will offer up to the Father. I'll tweak them. I'll give them just a little bit different shape as they go into the Father's ears because I've got you covered.
00:29:19
Speaker
From the atonement of Christ to the Holy Spirit to the working of the Father, It is so true. You've got us covered. Thank you so much, Lord, for being such a wonderful partner. In Jesus' name we pray.
00:29:34
Speaker
Amen. Hey, friend, thanks so much for listening today. Pray that God blesses you. I pray if you've never read Romans chapter 8, why don't you go and hang out there for a while?
00:29:45
Speaker
I guarantee you, you'll be blessed. Have a great day.
00:29:52
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.