Here's Pastor Nicole.

We are completing a series today called Prayer Paradoxes.

I have to say, one of the most fulfilling things as a pastor is when the congregation engages.

And so I was at a baby shower yesterday and I walked up to a table full of faithful people women here at the church and they said to me, what's the paradox tomorrow? And I just flew the rest of the day.

I was just, they know, they know that's what we're talking about.

You guys are paying attention.

It's amazing.

trust his hand.

Here's Pastor Nicole.

This series we have been in this month is about prayer.

We're calling it Prayer Paradoxes, because in God's kingdom, some of the most powerful prayers seem to make very little sense from a human perspective.

How can we be peacefully uncertain or boldly surrendered, right? How can we have these things that are the same, uh, emotions sometimes that are at the same time? And so throughout this series, we are discovering that prayer often invites us to live in the tension between what seems impossible in the natural and what becomes possible through the supernatural work of God.

And so as we learn to embrace these prayer paradoxes, we may find that the very things that seem contradictory are actually the places where God does His deepest work in us.

So before we get into it, I want you to see if you can guess, um, what this popular paradox is.

Okay.

Yes.

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Worrying doesn't work.

So doing nothing to combat anxiety and uncertainty isn't good, but we know that worrying isn't good, so Paul is offering alternative action steps in this passage.

If we can't do nothing, here are some things to do.

First, he says, "Rejoice always." Rejoice always.

We have to decide who we believe is in charge, and if we believe that God is sovereign, God is in control in the universe, then we can be joyful.

We can be, we can rejoice in all circumstances because we can trust God.

thisAnd the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

Here's Pastor Nicole.

So I named this series Prayer Paradoxes because in God's kingdom, some of the most powerful prayers seem to make very little sense from a human perspective.

And here's the four titles of this series for the rest of the month.

We must learn to wait while expecting, surrender while asking boldly, become still while engaging in spiritual battle, and live with uncertainty while expecting or experiencing God's peace.

And often what seems contradictory in the natural is powerful in the supernatural.

So let me give you a kind of a good example of a paradox.

Have you ever seen one of these? It's a finger trap.

May our hope Thank you.

Yeah, isn't that beautiful? Amazing.

All right, let's read the rest of Romans 12, 16.

It says, live in harmony with one another.

There's your visual of harmony.

Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Do not be conceited.

Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.