The Gap

By Pastor Miner



He begans with story of the prodigal son and his celebrated return by his father.



St. Paul says we all have evil habits but in our relationship with God, we can change. What does it take? Is it that easy? No. There is gap between our aspirations and our actions. Today's lesson is from The Book of Romans.



Romans 6, 7 and 8 reveals St. Pauls delimena of the "Gap" saying "I do not do what I want, but I do the very things I hate..." (v. 7:15,18). Why do we struggle if we've accepted the gift of Christ? The answer is that just because we have a gift, doesn't mean we know how to use it. A gift does us no good if we don't use it. How do we activate that gift?



In Roman 8:5, "....those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit." If I want to live happily, I have to make up my mind--focusing my energy on positve things of God. Ghandi said, "Watch your thoughts ... for it becomes your destiny."



Bottom-line, if I don't like where I am, I must change what I am doing that creates my current mind-set. Three things about my mindset that I want to change are:



A) Fearing Sickness vs embracing health;

B) Ignoring the uncomfortable vs reacting to resolve; and

C) Responding to anger with anger vs love.



Past Jeff said set your mind on things of the spirit vs the flesh and activate my gift. He offered the following three ways to activate my gift:



7 Options:

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1) Daily devotion

2) Listen to Christian Music

3) Memorize one Bible verse per week

4) Get regular at Sunday worship

5) Upgrade your friends

6) Select a Service Opportunity

7) Share your money. Jesus said, "where you invest your money, their your spirit will follow."



That is key to activating my gift. Past Jeff gave us a prayer for today, which in short says, Mother/Father/God, I have filled my Spirit with crude that I need your help to flush out." Nice prayer. Nice activation plan.

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