The Holy Spirit Gives Power to Christians to Do what is Right

Scripture quotations are from the EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2018, 2024 – UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.easyenglish.bible 

Romans 8: 1- 12

1 Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. God will never say that they are guilty. 

2 God's Spirit has given us a new life. God's Spirit now rules in our lives and he has made us free. Sin and death no longer have authority over us.

3 The Law that God gave to Moses could not make us free like that. We were too weak to obey his Law because we are human. But God has done what his Law could not do. He sent his own Son to become a person like us. His human body was like the body of people who do wrong things. God's Son died as a sacrifice to take away the punishment for our sins. In that way, God destroyed the power of sin over people who are weak and human. 

4 God did this so that we could become right with him, as his Law commands. We can be right with God, if we live with God's Spirit as our guide. We do not do what our weak human thoughts want us to do.

5 Some people do what their weak human thoughts want them to do. They think about the things that will make them happy. Other people live with God's Spirit as their guide. These people think about what will make God's Spirit happy. 

6 People who let their human thoughts rule them will die. But people who think about what God's Spirit wants will have life with God. They will have peace inside themselves. 

7 If our weak human thoughts rule us, we become God's enemies. People like that do not want to obey God's Law. They are not even able to obey it. 

8 People who let their weak human thoughts rule them cannot make God happy.

9 But you are not people who obey your weak human thoughts. Instead, you obey God's Spirit as your guide. That is true if God's Spirit is really living in you. If anyone does not have Christ's Spirit in them, that person does not belong to Christ. 

10 But, if Christ lives in you, you have a new life because of his Spirit. Your body will die one day because of the power of sin. But your spirit lives because Christ has made you right with God. 

11 God raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death. Now God's Spirit lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live again. He will do that by his Spirit who lives in you.

12 So, my Christian friends, we must not obey what our weak human thoughts tell us to do. We no longer have to live like that. 

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Important Vocabulary to Learn

1. Words from the first 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

(to be) able (to do), belong (to), body/bodies, cause, commands, destroyed, enemies, free, human, law, (no) longer, peace, power, raised, rule, spirit, thoughts, united 

(And all the other words in the reading that are not listed in numbers 2 to 4 below.)

2. Words from the second 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

alive, forgiven, guide, guilty, inside, obey, perfectly, punishment, sacrifice, weak

3. Words from the Academic High Frequency Word List

authority

4. Off List Words  

sin/sins

5. Glossary

Christians - People who believe in, love, and follow Jesus Christ. (This word is in the title of the reading.)

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Learning Questions and Activities 

1. Remembering - 

Look at the list of words below. 

freedom, peace, guilt, power, sin, forgiveness, weakness, punishment, the Holy Spirit, guidance, new life

Put a circle around all the things that God has given to everyone who believes in Jesus and follows Him. (Check your answers at the end of this lesson.)

2. Understanding - What does the Bible reading teach us about our thoughts and actions, and all the many ways we humans try to reach God to make Him accept us? Are our thoughts and actions, and ways of trying to reach God, good enough to please Him? Is it possible to please God on our own? Give some reasons for your answer. How does God make us good enough to please Him? (Check verse three.)

3. Applying - Verse one in the reading tells us that when we are united with God, our sins are forgiven. Then, we are no longer guilty in His eyes. What does verse one in the reading mean to you? Are you united with God?  How can a person become united with God?  If you are united with God, how do you know that the Holy Spirit is inside you?

4. Analysing - What kinds of things make us guilty in God’s eyes? Is there anyone on Earth today who is not guilty in God’s eyes? How do you know? (Check verses three and four.) Why is the sacrifice of Jesus important? What word in the reading has the opposite meaning to guilt?

5. Evaluating - Do you know what God’s laws are? (Take a look at these below. There are also some new words for you to think about.)  

We can read more about God’s Laws in the Exodus 20 in the Old Testament.) Here they are in a short form...

 1. ‘I am the Lord your God…  You must not have any other gods except me.You must not make any idol for yourself. 

2. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea. You must not bend down your head to any idol or worship it.

3. You must not speak the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way.

4. Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it as a special day for me.  

5. Always respect your father and your mother. 

6. You must not murder anyone.

7. You must not have sex with another person's husband or wife.

8. You must not take another person's things for yourself.

9. You must not say false things against your neighbour.

10. You must not want to take your neighbour's house for yourself. You must not want … anything … (or anyone) that belongs to your neighbour.’ 

Do you think these are good laws? Why? If God’s laws are good, why is it so hard for us to keep them? 

Did Jesus keep God’s laws perfectly? How do you know? (Here is a Bible verse about this. It comes from 1 John 3 verse 5.) “You know that Jesus came into the world so that he might take away our sins. He himself is completely clean from sin.” Learn this verse by heart. Can you say it without looking at it? Try to remember it later today, and again tomorrow… and a few days after that as well. 

6. Creating - Make a long paper chain. You will need paper, scissors, and tape or glue. 

1. Cut the paper into rectangles (about 1.5 cm wide and about 15 cm long). Make a circle with one of the pieces of paper by joining the ends together. 

2. Use the tape or glue to hold the circle closed. 

3. Join the next piece to the first circle by passing one end through the circle, then taping it closed to make a second circle. 

4. Keep joining the rectangles together in the same way, making circles that join together. Keep going until you have a long chain. Aim to make a chain about two metres long. (The picture below this lesson shows you how it should look.) 

5. On another piece of paper, make some notes about today’s Bible reading. You are going to use your notes to talk about the reading in your own words. Practise what you are going to say. Try not to look at your notes too often. Make sure you do not leave out anything important.

6. Before you begin your talk, hang the paper chain you made from a high place (e.g. from a high branch of a tree, or from the ceiling of a room). 

7. Now, show a group, or a friend the paper chain that is hanging down. 

8. Ask … “What will happen if you try to use a paper chain to climb up to the very top of this room (or to the top of the tree)?”. (You could ask someone to show everyone what will happen if they try to climb up using the chain. Of course, it will break or fall down. Paper is not strong enough to hold a heavy human body. Be careful!)

9. Say … “The paper chain is like all the things we do to try to please God, and to try to reach Him or to please Him.” Ask … “What are some  examples of things people often do to try to please God and to reach Him?” (e.g. pray often, do kind things for others, give money to poor people, wear certain clothes, not eat certain food, etc.) Ask ... "Are these things bad in themselves"? (No)  and then ask  "If these things are not bad, why aren’t they enough to make God pleased with us and accept us?" 

Listen carefully to the answers you get. You may need to use your notes to help you to explain more. Before you finish, you should cover these points…

1. No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to please God on our own because God is perfect, and we are not perfect. 

2. We need God’s help. Most importantly, we need Him to forgive us for trying to use our own ways to reach Him and not using His way.

3. God has made a way for us to reach Him. He wants us to use only that way. 

4. His way is for us to trust in the goodness and the sacrifice of Jesus instead of our own goodness, and our own ways of trying to please Him.

5. His way is for us to ask Him to forgive us, and to ask Him to give us new life. 

6. He wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit. He wants us to live a new life with His power inside us. 

Be joyful as you explain everything, because this really is good news! 

Answer any questions your group (or your friend) might have. 

When you have finished, you could ask each person that you spoke to, to make a short paper chain to take home so they can remember the Bible reading. Or, you could give each person one part of the paper chain you made.

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Answers to question number 1. Remembering - These words should have a circle around them…

freedom, peace, power, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, guidance, new life.