In the Game, Part 3 | My Part On the Team | Oct 1-2, 2022

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S.O.A.P. – “Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer”

Picture yourself totally free…where are you at, and how do you feel?

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:14–25

Sermon Insights: Every one of us has a “flow blocker,” a “signature sin” that keeps us from living in the flow of God’s Spirit. To be the best version of me God created, it is all about breaking free and staying free, in community.

Is it easier to acknowledge your sin before you are saved and are guilt-ridden or after you are saved and know you are loved and completely forgiven?

What is your “flow blocker” or “signature sin,” the pattern you turn to when you are struggling?

Carefully identifying the problem is REALLY important. If YOU are the problem, you will think God is against YOU—but that is clearly not true. If SIN is the problem, you will realize God is against SIN and loves and cherishes YOU. God promised to free his children from the POWER of sin—freeing you from things like overpowering guilt and dangerous isolation. How does talking honestly with Christian brothers and sisters help you be freed from the POWER of sin?

Lord, thank you for loving me and saving me from the power of sin. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, for you are the one who gives life!