Sunday 6th October, 6:30 service, Abi Ord.

Romans 8:12-17.

As a result of our new identity in Christ, we are now adopted as sons and daughters of the living God, able to call him ‘Abba, Father’. The work of the Spirit affirms our new identity as God’s children and followers of Christ, leading to suffering and then glory.

Knowing our identity as sons and daughters of the living God is the most important part of our life as Christians.

Sunday 29th September, 9:30 service, Chris Hall.

Romans 8:6-11 (and 5 AND 12!).

Paul outlines the difference between a mind that is focused on “natural desires”, being ungodly ones AND a mind that is controlled by the Spirit.

He reaffirms that as followers of Christ, we are not controlled by a sinful nature, but by the Spirit of God living in us (vs 9). We are raised with Christ to new life.

Are we living according to our new identity in Christ?

Sunday 22nd September 2024, 9:30 service, Asa Humphries.

Romans 8:1-5.

The Apostle Paul has written part of his letter (chapters 6&7) outlining the tension in the Christian life between death to sin and new life in Christ. He now moves onto the wonderful truth of new life in the Spirit. As a result of Christ’s sacrifice (vs3), we are made righteous and now live according to the Spirit.

As temples of the Holy Spirit, we are to live according to the Spirit, setting our minds on what the Spirit desires (vs5). What does this look like in your life?

Sunday 30th June, 9:30 service, David Walker.

This passage takes a couple of reads to get your head round it! How often do we find ourselves doing things we don’t want to do? We want to do good, but more often than not we look back on our actions and realise that we didn’t do the good we wanted.

Paul here addresses the tension of what we often feel: that we might delight in God and love Him in our inner beings, but we are often drawn to sin in our own natures. But he gives us the reminder of verse 25 saying that Jesus has delivered us from sin once and for all in His mercy. This passage is a comfort to us trying to live Kingdom lives, as it serves as a reminder that all struggle with sin, but all have been delivered from it by Jesus.

Sunday 23rd June, 9:30 service, Chris Hall.

The law was given so that the people of God might know who He was and to live lives that reflect His goodness and holiness. The law provides a definition of sin for us. The law was in and of itself “holy, righteous and good”, but sin twists it into something it is not.

Sin ultimately changes what is good until it leads to death. It can even deceive us into believing that what is good is actually death. Paul here argues against this, saying that the effects of sin lead us to calling sin what it is, and knowing its ultimate effect.

Sunday 16th June, 9:30 service, Natalie Worsfold.

Paul changes his imagery here, using the death of a husband to illustrate the effect of the law. The law had the people of God bound while they were still alive. In the same way a married woman is released from the bond if her husband died, as we died to the law in Christ were released from the law so that we might bear fruit.

It’s important with this section to also read what comes next. Paul isn’t arguing that the law is sinful in this passage, but is saying that we are no longer bound to it. Instead we are bound to God, and to one another in “the new way of the Spirit”.

Sunday 9th June, 9:30 service, George Eapen.

Earlier in the chapter, Paul sets the theological framework: that because Jesus died and rose again so we are dead to sin and alive to His life. In this part of the chapter, Paul begins to unpack what that life looks like when it’s lived out.

We might be tempted to think that because we live under grace, that we have free license to sin and live however we want to. Paul compares this idea to slavery. That in living in sin, we become obedient to it. Instead, we are to be slaves to righteousness, fully obedient to what righteousness asks of us. We don’t have to work to become righteous, but we live from a place of knowing our righteousness is won for us.

Sunday 2nd June, 6:30 service, Chris Hall.

We are dead to sin. It no longer has a claim or any power over us. Jesus is alive and so are we. Paul uses baptism to illustrate his point in this passage: as we go under the water we are buried with Him, and we are born to the new life He won for us in His resurrection.

The penalty for sin is death, and as death is defeated so sin has lost its power. We are resurrection people who live in the life that Jesus now lives. There is no going back, Jesus cannot die again and His life is fully to God. We are called to live in that same life.

Sunday 26th May, 9:30 service, Alyssa Carey.

We are made righteous through Jesus. Although we were made sinners through the actions of Adam, we have been justified through Jesus and His obedience to God. There is no depth of sin that grace won’t meet us in as a result. This grace and righteousness ultimately leads us into eternal life.

Righteousness and justification are words that carry a lot of weight and meaning that people might not understand. What are righteousness and justification, and what is the link between them and grace?