Daily Discipleship Guide for 25-JAN-2010

Monday, January 25

*This week we will be focusing primarily on Romans 8.

Read Romans 8:1-11 below. Paul is talking about life in the spirit:

Life Through the Spirit

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,

4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Questions:

  1. Who is there no condemnation for?
  2. What has set us free? Explain.
  3. What did God do for us?
  4. What do people who live according to the Spirit do?
  5. What do verses 6-8 mean to you?
  6. What does Paul say in verses 9-11?
  7. How do verses 9-11 help you face the challenges of life?

Please close by reading or singing the first verse of the hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home!