2026 07 19 - Feeling Weak? I Got a Guy - Popp

Grace, peace and mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I think Mrs. Leimer showing off a little bit this week. All she gets is the passage I'm preaching on in the title, which was Feeling weak. I got a guy.

She puts in a song all about the Holy Spirit. How did you know who I was talking about?

Thought a lot about when we struggle with things, who do we turn to? Of course, our biblical answer, Jesus prayer, Holy Spirit. And yet the Lord has provided people on earth, people in our world, who we turn to when we struggle, when something goes wrong, when we're hurting, we just need help. I should insert a Steven Ministry commercial right here, but I don't have one ready. Maybe for you it is a spouse, best friend, parent.

Maybe it's to actually try and fix something. You go to your fix it guy, that person who knows somebody has the help you need for whatever the issue is. The car guy, the computer guy, the techno technician, you know, when I have sound issues. We all have that person. Thought a lot about that.

Again, as we get into Romans 8 and what it is Paul is sharing with us.

Two weeks ago, when we looked at Romans 7, I saw that need for the balance of law and gospel. But why did we cut off verse 25? If you remember, we finished at 25A. And as we move on to chapter 8, why do God's people seem to suffer so much? How do we explain trusting in a Lord to someone who has suffered?

Well, Paul does cover that today as we look at these 10 verses in chapter 8 about suffering for the Lord. First question was, is the suffering worth it?

We're gonna go with that. Is the suffering worth it? Paul says yes right away, very first verse, verse 18. For I consider that the suffering in this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. He already answers the question, then he starts explaining and it feels worse.

One of the first things I noticed as I started to look into these verses and again we have some great commentaries in this CPH gives us and I found it interesting right away. This idea of we need to consider credit account, calculate our verse says, for I consider that the suffering, the word used in a lot of different translations. It's a Greek word that's used 19 times in Romans. It's in fact it's used 11 times just in Romans 4. This idea of calculating what the cost, is it worth it?

We don't all do it on a regular basis. Going out to eat, wanting to purchase something. Hopefully you pause before you hit Go on Amazon. Is it worth it? Right?

We do this a lot, and yet it gets real personal today. You know, what do we know about the suffering part? When we consider the stories of the Old Testament characters like Job, like Joseph, we look at this suffering and we think, well, I don't have it so bad. And yet we all go through tough times.

The one that came back to mind for me was 21 years ago when I first got here to grace. The first person to attack me when I walked in those church doors was Pat Peterson. She hugged me like we had known each other for years. I didn't know who she was.

She ended up becoming very special. And then a simple knee replacement surgery, a blood infection, and she was gone. It hurt. It hurt a lot of us. And I watched the way this church family handled that loss.

It was incredible. It was my first lesson in understanding Grace. Grace Lutheran Church in school. How do we handle that suffering?

We've had some people in our church who are still struggling with suffering, with tough times, with earthly pains that many of us cannot understand or have not gone through. Then we look at the other side. What do we know about the glory to be revealed, Right? It's this idea of heaven, eternity with the Creator. We talk about it.

We see it in the scriptures. We understand. Hey, we believe, right? He who believes is baptized, will be.

But we're not there yet.

We know so little about it. It's hard teaching confirmation. When we tell the kids, you're going to be worshiping Jesus forever, and they're like. Like in church. No, much better, Much better.

What's it mean to be with the Master forever? So are we slaves or free? That's really the question. As I look at the bulk, the middle of the section verses 1925, it talks about these differences and this struggle, right? Are we slaves or are we free?

Well, the first one talks about we're slaves to the law of sin. And really this is one of those that, as we talk about being slaves, law of sin. I caught myself going back to two weeks ago when we finished at 25A. It was great. Was the answer to the question, thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And it stopped because 25B. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. That would probably not have been a great finish. I see why they stopped at a two weeks ago.

I serve the law of sin. Let me ask you a question. When we knelt down to confess our sins, did anybody have trouble coming up with something to confess.

Exactly. And the things you confess, did you mean to do it? Of course not. We're actually going to talk about that in Bible class as we get into confession. This idea of what Luther really meant by sin.

Boldly right.

None of us want to. We're under a death sentence. All of us are under this death sentence. Our sins warrant death. Adam and Eve, as they sinned, were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

And we have all been born with original sin since. Yet just as that verse 25, then in chapter seven ends that way, here we are, two verses later says, we're free. The law of the Spirit sets you free.

How does that work? If we're slaves to sin, how can we be free? It's that if, then statement. Then we're sons of God, right? Romans 8:14.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. One thing I have learned over the years, those of you that come and you worship, you come to worship your Lord. You believe.

So we're free. When you rose up from being forgiven, did you feel the weight lifted off you? But for how long?

So why do we suffer? What is this idea of being in bondage? We remain in bondage, right? We sin over and over and over. We cannot help ourselves.

While we are on this earth, we are sending machines who continually have to turn to God and ask forgiveness. Since Adam and Eve, we are cursed again back into the idea of original sin because of what they did. Cursed is the ground. Because of you, we're under that same curse.

And. And I love it how verse 20 says it. For. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him. Who subjected it?

Hope. Who subjected it? God. God did it. That's the hard part.

It was God's judgment that we are under this sin. It is out of his love he sent the Savior. But it is out of his judgment. We are going through this here. And it says, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly.

I groan outwardly. I don't know about you guys. Sounds like a nice thought. Groan inwardly, right?

When we pray thy kingdom come, are we really asking it to come? Are we looking forward to it? How do we handle the suffering from the persecution? Well, Paul wrote in First Corinthians, right? Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

It's not a physical fight. This is not about you. It's that great reminder again that we're constantly reminded, you can't do it. We have to have the Savior do it, which he did we point to him Right. Notice Paul writes, creation will be set free.

It's that future tense. When Jesus comes back, the new heaven, the new earth, we will be set free. Certainly as he comes back or brings us home or set free from this earthly sin. But it is when he comes back that we have this new creation. God will purify creation from corruption.

That's why he sent His Son that second coming. Now, here's the thing. You're not alone. I love the way Paul puts these verses 26 and 27, right after I'm going to reread them. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, 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. And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Man. When we talk baptism, we rarely think about what that power of the Holy Spirit really is doing.

Helping, guiding, protecting for us. That's the God. We turn to the Holy Spirit.

What to do when we are feeling weak? Turn to the Holy Spirit. I don't know about you, but I feel weak a lot. I know I can't do what I'm supposed to do all the time when I feel alone. What do we do when we feel alone?

Turn to the Holy Spirit.

And again, that might be because the Holy Spirit has surrounded us with brothers and sisters of Christ. As I thought back 21 years ago to that unfortunate incident, what it taught me has truly been foundational in how we continue to lift each other up in tragedy. I see it over and over and over. And who's the first person who calls me right away when she finds out somebody died? Patty Peterson.

What do we do for the funeral? We continue as we see God's people taking care of each other through those things.

What do we do when we feel angry? A lot of times, again, I love to try to justify. It's a righteous anger. Jesus turned over the tables in the outer temple courts, right? It's okay.

And yet we know the devil works for our anger, works for our hatred.

What do we do when we feel angry? Turn to the Holy Spirit. When we're tired and ready to give up, we. We turn to the Holy Spirit to feel the world is out to get you. Boy, there's some people lately have come to me and they're like, is there a bullseye on my back?

What is going on? Turn to the Holy Spirit. When your pain seems like too much.

It made me think about Jeremiah 29:11. Everybody loves aquatic. For I know the plans I have for you to clean. The Lord plans to prosper you, to give you a hope in the future. Then they forget about 12 and 13 where it says, because you will come to me, you will be with me, you will pray with me, you will seek me with all your heart.

Are you doing that?

It's just a bullseye. Hey, I do whatever I want. Jesus is going to take care of me. Do we walk with him, grow with him? What do we do when we feel God has turned his back on?

I wonder what Adam and Eve felt like as they walked out of the Garden of Eden having known no other than perfection. Boy, it must have felt rough walking with God, talking with him to working the earth, suffering, pain, sin. We turn to the Holy Spirit, not just the Holy Spirit again, as we talk about what to do in our suffering. I want to remind you about this real quick. God gives us hope in our suffering.

This side of the cross is so easy for us to see. You can only imagine again what the apostles were feeling as they struggled expecting Jesus to just magically take over the world and be in charge. And then he dies and he rises again and again. We're going to talk about that in Matthew 20 in Bible class, what that looks like. God gives us help in our weakness.

He gives it to us in his word, in his body and blood, in his support, church, family and friends, in his forgiveness of sins. He gives us forgiveness, sins, life and salvation. God gives us assurance that all things will work out to fulfill God's eternal purposes in our lives.

We do not know how long we will have on this earth. We do not know how long before he is going to come back. It gets easy for us to just not even think about it because it has been over 2000 years and you're like, ah, he's been saying he's going to come back. When's he going to come back? It could be any minute.

We don't know. It doesn't change the fact we know what's coming and we know where we will be. So why do I feel so separated from God at times?

I know what you're thinking. I thought the sermon is about over. You're going to get into this. Well, this is my teaser for next week. We're going to continue in verses 28 to 39 and talk about just this thing, that separation from God.

And what does that mean? Because you know what's coming up for I'm convinced. Either death or life. Angels and demons. Nothing separates us.

Maybe I don't have to preach next week. You already know the answer. Yes, the Holy Spirit will help us through our sufferings. Next week we'll continue looking at the rest. Chapter eight.

And God's guarantee that we will be victorious and live with him for eternity. Because this is most certainly true. Amen. Amen. With that, let us rise.