TGP: The Holy Sprit Is Our Gift

Intro Option #1: The Best Excuse

Get three volunteers

Come up with the best excuse for....

You’ve missed work without calling in

You forgot your best friend’s birthday

You want to cancel plans with someone

Get students to choose their favorite excuse

Good at excuses in our spiritual lives

“It’s just how I am.”

Called to freedom

Main Point: We depend on the Holy Spirit to walk in new life.

The Holy Spirit gives us freedom

Romans 8:1–7 (ESV)

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Q. Verse 1 says that there is no “what” for those in Christ?

Q. What does it mean to be condemned?

To be found guilty and sentenced to harsh punishment, especially death.

1 sin = death

Q. What law do you need freedom from?

PThe law of sin and death

Why we deserve condemnation

Q. What law has set us free? How has it done so?

The law of the Spirit of Life (v. 2)

Done through Christ’s death (v. 3)

Christ’s righteousness in us (v.4)

Q. What do people who have set their mind on the flesh do?

Live according to the flesh

Q. What do people who set their mind on the Spirit do?

Experience life and peace

Q. Why does what we set our minds on, or think about, matter? What could our thoughts lead to?

Main Point: We depend on the Holy Spirit to walk in new life.

The Holy Spirit gives us freedom

The Holy Spirit leads us to life

Romans 8:12–15 (ESV)

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Q. What are we not in debt to?

The flesh

You don’t have to live for sin anymore

Q. When have you felt obligated to live like or to look like the world?

Q. Why do we gravitate to sin even though we know it leads us away from God?

Q. According to these verses, how does the Holy Spirit help us in our fight against sin?

Identity = child of God (adoption)

Main Point: We depend on the Holy Spirit to walk in new life.

The Holy Spirit gives us freedom

The Holy Spirit leads us to life

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us

Romans 8:26–28 (ESV)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Q. According to these verses, what is the Holy Spirit’s role in our prayer life?

“When we are weak and trembling, confused about the purposes of God in our suffering or our confusion, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

He is our Advocate (John 14:16-17)

Q. When have you struggled with knowing what to pray?

Q. “All things work together for the good” of believers (v. 28). Does this mean life will always be easy? What does Paul mean by “good”? Explain.

Christ Connection:

Because of Jesus’s death, we are no longer condemned to sin and death. If we believe in Christ’s resurrection and confess Him as Lord, then we are saved (Rom 10:9). Through Christ, we are freed from the burden of the law and instead live according to His Spirit.

Head: How can you fix your mind on the things of God?

Heart: What would it look like for you to continually “put to death the deeds of the body” (Rom 8:13)?

Hands: What would it look like for you to walk “according to the Spirit” this week (Rom. 8:4)?