Using Gifts

Read It: Romans 12:2-8

 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Learn It:

Sometimes it is easier to go with the flow of classmates, coworkers and people that you hang out with on a regular basis. In our text today Paul is encouraging the church in Rome to not conform (or go with the flow) of the way everyone else does things but to use your heart and mind and faith to transform (go against the flow) so that you can do God's work.  One way to go against the flow is to not think we are better than the world or anyone else but instead to understand the gifts that God has given to each of us and to use them for the glory of God and not for our own gains.  That is why it says to use sober judgement...we need to realize our gifts and to also realize that others have gifts as well and none is better than the other.  They each have their own use and can all contribute to the greater good (of spreading God's word and love).  

Share It:

What are the different things you are good at?  Do you use those things to be better than others and prove how great you are?   We often build up our gifts for our own purposes like to get a scholarship for college or to be on varsity sports instead of JV or to get into advanced classes to look better in school.  What are ways that you can use those gifts to build up other people even if they aren't as skilled or gifted as you?

Brainstorm with you family about ways to use your gifts to build up others instead of just yourself.

Live It:

Use those ideas from the Share It section to see how you can use your gifts or skills to help someone else out this next week and beyond.  School is coming up so if you come up with something you can do to help others try it out the first week of school or at work or at some group.  Think, "how can I help someone else with things I am good at?"

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Power of the Spirit

Read It:  Romans 8:26-28 (NRSV)

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

Learn It:

The Spirit is a wonderful part of the Trinity.  Sometimes I think we don't often talk about the workings and the importance of the Spirit enough.  Yet this passage tells us the important work the Spirit does on our behalf and in our midst.  When life gets too hard and we are unable for one reason or another to tell God what it is that is really bothering us or upsetting us or distressing us...it is the Spirit that knows that pain in our lives and intercedes on our behalf.  It is the Spirit that takes over when we are too busy or too preoccupied to tell God what is really on our hearts and minds.  When our sighs are so deep that we don't have even a word to say the Spirit tells God what is going on so that God may search our heart to know how to make our situation work toward something good.  That is just one of the many wonderful things the Spirit does for us in our lives.

Share It:

Have you ever been so upset at something or soemone (whether angry or sad) and you just had no idea how to put it into words?  What was that situation and what made it so hard to talk about?  Do you think there is ever a conversation you couldn't have with God?  What kinds of things would you be hesitant to tell God?  Why?  Share these thoughts and others that come up as you discuss this with your family.

Live It:

This week while you are out and about in your life try to focus on the difficutl situations that you encounter and if you don't have a word to offer up to God then I simply encourage you to just say the name "God" and then take in a deep breath and sigh.  Let that big sigh be the letting go or the release of the situation.  Let the Spirit take it over from there so that the Spirit can intercede on your behalf. 

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Spiritual Work

Read It: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (NRSV)

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 

Learn It:

This is such a popular verse in the Bible there is a good chance that you have heard it before.  I think the best part about this passage is that it shows our diversity.  We all believe in the same God, we trust in the same Spirit and yet we are given different gifts and different abilities to use for that service.  I personally don't think this is an exhaustive list...how could it be?  But it gives us an idea that the things we are good at the things that we can do to make the world a better place are all gifts and abilities and services that the Spirit has placed in each of us.

Share It:

This weeks share it is going to be obvious and simple and yet I think by talking about it, it will be a great help. Have everyone take a piece of paper and write down the different things they are good at.  Take a few minutes to complete a list.  Then go around in a circle and talk about some or all of those gifts.  After you have all shared spend some time talking about how those things you are good at can be used to help God or give glory to God.  How can these gifts be used to make God known in the world?

Live It:

Take some time this week and use one or more of those gifts on your list to do something that pleases God or makes God known.  See how you can use those things that the Spirit gave you to do wonderful things.

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Spirit Born

Read It: John 3:4-7 (NRSV)

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

Learn It:

As Christians we all have two births.  This isn't something that we often talk about but we truly are given new life (born again) when we are baptized, and of course we are born when we first came into this world.  But, Jesus does not say that the new birth trumps the old.  We must be born of both water and Spirit.  We must be both of this world and not of this world.  We must be people of God living for the kingdom that Jesus promises, and we need to be people who truly do live in this world.  It is being in this world that we are able to connect and interact with others.  It is how we can teach them about baptism and about what it means to be born of both the physical water and of the Spirit that God gives us through the waters of baptism.

Share It:

Talk with your family about if you have ever had a time when you felt you were truly just a plain "old" human and were there times when you just felt that you were being used by the Spirit.  What was it like?  When did you realize that  the Spirit was working through you?  Do you often think of your baptism as having given you a new life and having been born again?

Live It:

In the next week while you are at work, school, playing, relaxing or whatever you find yourself doing, pay attention to the times when you might see how you were born of the Spirit.  Maybe you find yourself praying for someone on the side of the road; helping someone who needs a hand; maybe you talk to someone about God.  There are things that we do because we are born of the Spirit.  Because we have a new Spiritual life in Jesus we do things differently, so pay attention to those moments when you do something that makes you think about how you are blessed with that new Spirit birth.

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