Teaching

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?

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free – but what does this look like, and how do we live in the power of Jesus’ resurrection day by day?

Paul uses the law as a means of exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish people, which culminates in the final verse of the passage: “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.” Ultimately, their outward appearance of obidence does not match up with what is truly going on in their lives.

How does hypocrisy play out in our lives? How does a passage like this challenge our day to day lives? Have we foregone promises we have made with God or with others that undermine our Christian convictions?

Dan and Alyssa take us deeper into the Christmas story.

The Israelites have been unfaithful to God (first 2 weeks), and this impacts their relationships with one another. Just as they’ve been unfaithful to God, they’ve become unfaithful to one another (v.10). The men have been unfaithful to their wives, marrying women from other nations and letting their idols infiltrate their households, their worship and their hearts. In doing so, they have broken two covenants; their marriage covenant and their covenant with God. They proceed to mourn the fact that they don’t have God’s blessing, not able to see the connection between their faithfulness to one another and God’s blessing and favour.

How are we shaped by the world around us, and how can we be on guard against it? Do we see the connection between our relationship with God and how we treat others or do we box them up as separate? How is the covenant of marriage viewed in our culture and in the church? How do we grow in faithfulness, the fruit of the spirit?

There are times in life when we all feel faint, in agony, worried or weak with sorrow. This Psalm is an honest outpouring from the heart about the struggles in life. David cries out to God for mercy and is brutally honest with God as he prays “how long, Lord, how long?” (verse 3). The Psalm ends with David acknowledging that God has heard his prayer and granted him mercy.

Alyssa speaks from Malachi.

Malachi means ‘my messenger’ and through this message we learn about the covenant between God and his people (2:10) which is like a living relationship between a father and son. But this relationship broke down and Malachi looks forward to future ‘messenger of the covenant’ (3:1) who will make God’s people righteous. Malachi teaches us not to be lukewarm about God, but to hunger and thirst after Him.

Speaking from Matthew 9:18-26, Alyssa explores what it means for us to live lives of expectant faith. A ruler and a sick woman show us how to live expectant of Jesus’s action, power and sovereignty in the face of disappointment. Ultimately we should be expectant of Jesus, but not surprised when He works in His own way and in His own time

Continuing our Nehemiah series, Alyssa Carey speaks from Nehemiah 5: 1-19 on confronting injustice.