This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to our daily drive time devotions. Hi, this is Pastor
Tom. We are walking together through one of the most incredible chapters of the
Bible, Romans chapter eight.

In fact, taking two weeks to walk through this chapter, you might remember last
week we went through about verse 16, first half of verse 17. This week we pick
up with that verse and we're going to look again at some of the truths that can
make a difference in everyday lives. You might remember last week we talked
about the fact that God has answers for our most difficult and challenging
questions in Romans chapter eight.

When we look at ourselves and think I'm no good, God says there's no
condemnation. We can have liberation in Christ. When we look at ourselves and
say I'm never going to change, is it ever going to change?

God says there's no domination of sin because you can have victory in Christ.
When we think my life has fallen apart, God says there's no desperation because
of Jesus. You can have an expectancy towards the future.

We're going to look at that in our study today. And as we head towards the end of
this week, when we feel there's no future for me, the Bible tells us there is no
separation from Christ, from our relationship with him. We can have security no
matter what.

The truth is I can handle any problem when I remember some important things. And
today we're going to talk about two of those. We're going to talk about the question
of who you share your problems with and what you compare your problems to.

If you can answer those questions, who do you share your problems with and what
do you compare your problems to, you're going to be able to face any problem in
life if you see the right answers. God's answers that he shows us here in Romans
eight. Who do you share your problems with?

Romans eight tells us in verse 17, the last half, that when you and I suffer, we
share in the sufferings of Christ. 17, last half of that verse says, if indeed
we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. When
you have problems, who do you talk to?

Who do you share with? No one. If that's true, then the tension's just going to
build.

But even if you talk to someone, you can talk to the wrong someone. You can
share your problem with the wrong someone. Some people share their problems
primarily with complainers.

If you do that, bitterness will build. And by the way, that can be habit
forming. It can be habit forming to get into gripe sessions where you talk about
how your problems are worse than other people's problems and all of a sudden you
feel bitter when you walk out.

Some people share their problems primarily with excusers and then weakness will
build. Those who are good at finding excuses are rarely good at finding
solutions. When you share your problems with Jesus Christ, hope will build, not
tension, not bitterness, not weakness, but hope will build.

And you can talk to Jesus Christ about the problems that you're facing because
he faced problems just like you faced problems. Jesus faced grief when a friend
died. He faced frustration when his disciples argued.

He faced disappointment when Judas betrayed him. He knew he was going to betray
him, but he still had to face the disappointment of that moment. Jesus faced
temptations from Satan.

He never fell to those temptations. That's where he's unlike you and I, but he
faced temptations. Jesus faced family problems.

Jesus Christ faced total rejection, suffering and pain when he was crucified.
When you have problems, the Bible says that you and I are sharing in the
suffering of Jesus Christ, that we are never alone, never alone when we face a
problem. Jesus overcame problems, just like you want to overcome problems.

I can talk to a lot of people who have problems just like me, but there is only
one who overcame every problem that he ever faced, and I can talk to him, Jesus
Christ. When we talk about who do you share your problems with, companionship is
part of what it means to share in somebody's problem. I share with you what I'm
going through, but there's more to it than that.

In just a moment, we're going to see that there's much more to it than that because
the second question is, not only who do you share your problems with, but what
do you compare your problems to? When you suffer, the Bible tells us in Romans
8, our present sufferings are not even worth comparing to our future glory.
Romans 8, 18 says, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

This glory is so great that it overshadows any problem. What do you compare your
problems to? A very popular way of handling problems is to compare my problems
to another person's problems.

We've all used it, I've used it, and honestly, hearing sometimes another
person's problem sometimes puts my problem in perspective. As strange as it may
seem, when I see that someone else is going through a tough time, it makes me
feel better about the tough time that I'm going through. I think, well, it's not
so bad.

Look at what they're going through. And as effective as that may seem, and it
does work at times, there are some real problems with that being the only thing
you compare your problems to. One of the problems is, you end up relying on
other people's troubles to make you feel better, and who wants to do that all
the time?

But there's another and a greater problem, and that is, what happens? What
happens when you face one of life's greatest tragedies? What if you compare your
problems and others' problems, and you come out the worst?

The Bible's answer is this, compare not to others' problems, compare instead to
God's future glory, and see that what we're going through now isn't even worth
comparing with how great that glory's going to be. God's glory is God's best. The
best is yet to come.

And there's something amazing that this verse says. I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed, and the
last two words in that verse, you would expect they might be revealed to us.
That's not what the verse says.

Not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us, in us. Not just
that we get to see this glory in heaven, but God is going to do something
glorious in our lives. He's not just talking about glory that will be around us,
but glory that will be in us.

Not just what's going to be revealed to us, but in us. This word literally means
glory into us. It's a very powerful phrase.

This is not talking about what a glorious place heaven will be, but what a
glorious person you will be in heaven. Ray Stedman says about this phrase, "This
glory is not going to be a spectator sport, "where we all sit up in some cosmic
grandstand "and watch an amusing or beautiful performance "in which we actually
have no part. "We are to be on the stage.

" C. S. Lewis says about this concept, "The door on which we've been knocking
all our lives "will be open at last.

" And Paul says about this over in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and
momentary troubles "are achieving for us an eternal glory "that far outweighs
them all. " Now these statements about going through problems and no matter how
bad they are, they're not worth comparing to the future glory. It would be just
hot air if it didn't come from a person like the apostle Paul.

There's no one who has even a fraction that I've ever met of the suffering that
Paul had. He was beaten. He was almost killed by having huge stones cast upon
him.

He was chained and put into prison. He was shipwrecked. He was starved.

He was often hungry and naked and cold. He went through incredible suffering.
And yet he says not even worth comparing to this glory that God's going to work in
us, that God is achieving in us.

That verse we just read from 2 Corinthians 4 reminds us that our problems are
building glorious things into us. Now you see what this means? To share his
suffering is to share his glory.

God uses even our sufferings to build glory into our lives. Now some people get
this confused and they think that means that somehow our sufferings are good or
our sufferings are glorious. No, sufferings are evil.

Things that come into our lives 'cause we live in an evil world. The sufferings
are not what is good. God is who is good.

God is so good. His goodness is so great that he can take even the sufferings
that this evil world, that the evil one throws at us and he can use those to
build glory into our lives. And remember, glory is God's best.

Glory is reflecting the best of who God is in our lives. I know that as we talk
about troubles and sufferings and struggles, you're going through some right
now. There's never a time in our lives when we're not going through something.

It may be the toughest thing you've ever gone through. It may be a little thing,
but it's really been getting you. Let's take a moment right now just to stop,
pause, talk to Jesus about what we're going through.

Jesus Christ, you see the sufferings that we're facing and you understand
because you face the same things. And so we come to you. And Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for the glory that you build into our lives even through suffering.
Some of it we see in this world, some of it we won't see until we get to heaven.
But Lord, we look forward.

We look forward to that day right now. And as we look forward, right now in our
hearts, I pray that you would build hope into our lives. But sometimes
sufferings, they begin to get to us.

And we think we are living without hope and that is never true. Our present
sufferings are not worth comparing to the future glory that you have that's
going to be revealed in us. And so right now, speak hope into our hearts.

We ask this Jesus, in your name, amen. Tomorrow, as we continue through Romans
chapter eight, we're going to see even more what this means, this future glory that
God has for us. We're going to see that when you suffer the whole creation, there's
something about the whole creation that waits in anticipation of what God is
about to do.

So make sure you're around tomorrow as we take a look at this incredible
chapter, Romans chapter eight, once again.