Open Hearts, Open Doors
We're so glad you joined us!
Discover community, purpose, and hope at Flood Church. You’re invited to join us as we grow in faith together.
Sunday Flyer
Join us for a fun, casual time of connection as we walk together at Lake Murray. We'll gather, then walk from 6:10-7:00pm. This is an earlier walk from our previous one because of the sunset time and parking gate closure.
Join us in the Cafe for a time to connect with God and other men while enjoying a nacho bar!
A time for anyone who calls Flood home to gather together, learn what's ahead for our church, and celebrate what God is doing in and through our community.
Join pastor Matt and Roxanne Hammett as we learn eight skills that improve communication and understanding in our relationships. Our goal is to intentionally offer discipleship that equips us to love like Jesus in practical and tangible ways. Cost: $25/person for materials.
“The story of human beings made in the image of God is that even when we are not godlike in any way, and perhaps especially then, God is still for us.” — Lucy Peppiatt, The Imago Dei
The Cross and the Colosseum: How the Heart of Romans is the Hope of the World
MESSAGE NOTES - August 16, 2026
Justified and Glorified
Scott Wildey
What do you think if when you see the word "glory"?
For most of us, our idea of glory has been shaped by our cultural surroundings—particularly through the stories we popularize and attempt to inhabit.
One such story is actually thousands of years old. In Homer’s Odyssey, glory is centered on the ancient Greek concept of kleos, which literally translates as “what is heard of you.” It carries the meaning of glory, fame, and renown. So, Odysseus achieves glory through (1) accomplishing great deeds and (2) being praised and remembered through song and story.
We can see this same pursuit of glory today, saturated throughout the stories told on social media. With enough likes, shares, and subscribers, just about anyone can achieve a measure of glory and be remembered indefinitely in the cloud. In fact, according to a Harvard study, young adults rank becoming rich and famous among their highest life goals—in other words, seeking glory.
When glory is used in the Bible, it means something completely different...
ROMANS 8 REVIEW
vv 1-16
• No condemnation in Christ
• Sarx leads to death; the Spirit leads to life
vv 17-21
• The Spirit confirms we are God’s children and co-heirs w/Christ
• Inheritance is Relational and Vocational
vv 22-27
• Suffering grows hope
• We join the Spirit ministering in the world
Summary:
Romans 8.18-30 is about the vocation of the saved community, the calling to implement the already accomplished work of Jesus the Messiah. So we pray, "On earth as it is in heaven..."
Salvation is God's gift to his people and God's gift through his people for the world.
Romans 8
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory...28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Romans 8:29a, RSV
In everything God works for good with those who love him.
The RSV translation captures the context of Romans 8—that God is the subject. God works with "those who love him" is the recipient of God's action.
"Those who love him" is how the sentence begins in the original Greek marking significance. It is also shorthand for God's people (Israel) in the Old Testament. Romans 4 confers that designation to all those who have faith. Rather than a bloodline, Abraham's seed are those who exercise faith in and through the Messiah. Paul says in Romans 5:5 that God has poured his love into us through the Spirit.
God works "with those who love him." The Greek work in this sentence is Synergei, meaning to work with. It's the same word Paul uses in: 1 Cor 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1,. Paul is not talking about how one gets saved. Paul is talking about the purpose of the saved community of faith.
2 Corinthians 6:1
As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.Philippians 2:12-13Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—
not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Romans 8:29
For those God foreknewhe also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Genesis 1:26-27, and Psalm 8, describe humankind being made in God's image and likeness. In Genesis 3, humans use their freedom to go their own way, which ruptures their relationship with God and their image-bearing capacity.
The New Testament describes Jesus Christ, the first true human being (John 1, God enmeshed), as the image of God (Col 1, Heb 1). We now conform to the image of Christ to repair our relationship with God and our own humanity.
Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ [together] for the sake of others.
Robert Mulholland Jr., Invitation to a Journey
Romans 8:30
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Predestined
Believers share in Christ’s image and destiny...
Restored image in Christ, sharing God’s presence + purpose for the world.Called
Baptism brings freedom, forgiveness, blessing...
Justified
Forgiveness not enough, need righting of wrongs (rectified)...
Glorified
"The glory of God, properly understood through the Old Testament, most often refers to the overwhelming display of God’s presence. When Scripture speaks of God’s glory, the primary meaning is the location of God’s presence. Where God’s glory is, there God is...the glory of God is probably the presence of God experienced by Adam and Eve that was then lost in the fall, coupled with the glory that God gave humanity by making them 'in his image.'"—Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw, Does God Really Like Me?: Discovering the God Who Wants to Be With Us (p. 6).
"Glorified"
Glorified means, restored image-bearing people in Christ, shaped by and sharing in God's presence and purposes for the world.
We are called to be ministers and ambassadors in the world, for God so loves the world.
2 Corinthians 5
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
Practice
"When the early church fathers were working out what it meant to be a human being, created in the image of God, according to God’s likeness, they recognized that we are a “type” of the One who has come before us, like an imprint of a stamp. An.example of this process is a wax seal on a letter, which bore the imprint of the king's signet ring. A king would write a letter and seal it with hot wax pressed with his ring. That letter could travel a far distance and arrive at its destination, where the recipient could check the wax seal to make sure the letter was authentic... If there is an imprint in the wax, there must be a signet ring that made the imprint. Likewise, if we are an indentation of someone, then that someone is sitting on the edge of a ring. This is Christ. He is the image of God. We are made in the image of God. Christ himself is the model. We are the imprint representing that original king’s ring."
—Jared Boyd, Finding Freedom in Constraint: Reimagining Spiritual Disciplines as a Communal Way of Life
GOD, I JOIN YOU IN WORKING
FOR THE GOOD OF...
(Write the name of a person, group, or cause)
PRAY for God to reveal a person, group, or cause for whom he is working for good. Ask how he is inviting you to join this work as a minister and ambassador of Christ.
WRITE the name (person, group, or cause) on the other side of the card.
PLACE your card on the wall using the wax seal given.
PRAY for the person, group, or cause on your card. Ask God to accomplish his good purposes and show you how you can participate. Spend time interceding for the names on the other cards.
Next Steps
• Marinate in Romans 8
• Pray w/ God: Intercede this week for the name(s) you wrote
• Minister: Be present where people are in pain
• Ambassador: Be good news where you are present
• Community : Create space for people: Group Leader Training
For next dates, email: ScottWildey@FloodChurch.org
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