Touré Roberts - It's Birthing Time

The title of my message tonight is «Birthing Time.» Romans 8, beginning at verse 18. You all know it; you’ve seen it before. I know it has been preached a zillion times here, and I’m going to read it from the New King James translation. It says, «For I consider» — I like the King James version better: «For I reckon» — «that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.» There is a connection between present-time sufferings and the development of a glory on the inside of you, which really births and produces the real you. In other words, suffering squeezes the true you out of you, and we don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good, but we have to be honest about who we become on the other side of those seasons. Has anyone ever been in a season you thought was going to kill you? But it didn’t kill you; it revealed you and manifested you. That’s what Paul is talking about when he says, «For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.»

Now, this is what I’m getting at. This is a heavy verse: «For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.» That’s powerful! Let me break that down a little bit. When it talks about the creation, it is a Greek word that can be translated as «original formation.» It’s what God originally formed. You can translate that as «the universe.» Everything that God has created is the creation, which is the universe, and it speaks to the fact that the universe—everything that God has created—has an expectation. It’s waiting on something, and the Bible says that it is eagerly awaiting the revealing or manifestation of the sons of God.

Who are the sons of God? First of all, let me tell you this has nothing to do with gender. We’re talking about divine positioning—Father’s Son divine positioning. It has nothing to do with male or female or anything in between. Hello, somebody! It has to do with a position—a spiritual position of authority. We know Jesus as the only begotten Son; we don’t know Him as the firstborn Son. Oh, God, that necessitates some more teaching. I shouldn’t have put that out there because, you see, we know Him as the only begotten Son, but the Bible says in Romans 8:29—we’re not going to go down that far—but if we did, it talks about how Jesus was the firstborn among many brethren.

So I know sometimes it’s a linguistic thing, but Jesus did not come to raise up Christians per se; He came to raise up sons. Hey, glory! And sometimes, there is a difference. Christians come to church; sons change the world. Are you tracking with me? Christians come to church; sons walk in authority, and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against sons. Sons have access to the Father. Sons don’t pray for favor; they walk in favor because they are sons. The mandate of their life is to declare the glory of Jesus, and therefore, all of heaven backs them up everywhere they go. Sons—oh, that’s a different animal! Whoa!

The enemy doesn’t necessarily respect Christians, but he must respect sons. Sons look like Jesus; they think like Jesus; they have a heart like Jesus; they act like Jesus; they love like Jesus; they give like Jesus. Oh, it’s a different thing! It’s a different thing! Where are my sons at? I feel like I’m in a house full of sons. I feel like I’m in a house full of people who are not afraid to be who they are and are ready to step into this season. This is the season of the sons!

All of creation, all of creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing of sons, and it’s interesting that there’s a correlation between the sufferings and sonship. Let’s get through this. It says, «For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits.» Can’t you see? I see life, right? I want you to interpret the earthquakes. Don’t look at them as, «Oh my God, this is terrible.» I want you to hear a call in them. I want you to hear a sound in them. See, that’s what I mean by learning how to interpret the time. Yes, I want us to respond. We have responded, and we’re still responding—from Houston to Puerto Rico. I want you to do all of that, but don’t do that and neglect to hear the sound.

It’s saying, «I need your sonship.» When you hear the wind blow, hear the wind saying, «I need for what God placed on the inside of you to come out of you.» Because if you are not manifest, I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make it. When things are up, when the South Side protests and marches are wonderful—there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re hearing the sound. When you see blood spilled, it is crying out for your sonship. When there are wars and rumors of wars, when North Korea is talking about dropping H-bombs, hear the sound; creation is calling for the revealing of you.

Okay, for the creation, verse 20 says, after stating that all creation is eagerly waiting—creation—that’s interesting. It’s basically saying the creation has faith for you. If you break that down and study it in the Greek, it’s saying that…