Evergreen Christian Community

The Big Idea: The Holy Spirit can transform our suffering through the certainty of our hope. Romans 8:18-30 “One of the really interesting aspects of this incredible capacity for making up missing information is that it usually comes with a great subjective sense of certainty, and when we act on that certainty we can get ourselves into trouble—by sideswiping a cyclist we just didn’t see but were quite certain we had checked all the mirrors and blind spots, or by accusing a lover, spouse, friend, or child and reacting without first inquiring and getting all the relevant details.”  - Dr. Sara Rosenquist, Our mind tries to understand and fill the gap when we suffer: • Life is supposed to be a glorious playground. • I don’t deserve this. • God promised me no suffering. • Life is supposed to be fair. • God is punishing me. We live in a world of suffering for two reasons (v. 20-21): 1. We are subjected to FRUSTRATION. 2. Held in BONDAGE to decay. This suffering causes a collective groan: • The whole