Gracehouse

There seems to be trouble brewing in Galatia as a result of the false teaching that has been spread. Paul takes the opportunity to remind them not to allow this to be a moment for the flesh. Instead, he encourages them to serve one another in love. We unpack what this might mean.

The cross of Christ is an equal opportunity offender. It cuts to the core of our ego and self-reliance. It stands in the face of our religiosity. It speaks a better word of love and forgiveness…even to those we might not want to love and forgive. In short, the cross is the revelation of the salvation of God in the person of Jesus. It is life to all those who will receive it and offence to all who won’t.

Reading Paul’s prayers tells us a great deal about him just like our prayers tell us a lot about us. When we examine these prayers we see again how he prayed that the disciples across the various churches with whom he related would have, by the Spirit, the ability to understand what God had given them and was doing in them.

The gift of administration is rarely talked about. We tackle this important topic by uncovering what the nature and purpose is of an “administrator”, as well as how to exercise it well, all with an end goal to elevate the importance of every gift in the Body of Christ (including the unspectacular ones).

The forming work done by the Spirit brings us into the fullness of the new creation which is God's gift to us. Tune in to this week’s sermon by Colin to find out more about the formation of Christ’s image in his disciples!

This Christmas we remember the birth of Jesus. The who is the light of the world. And we consider the counter-intuitive way in which God chose to rescue the world. Because of this we know that God is still at work today...even if we don't always understand.

Paul has begun to give his concluding remarks to the Galatians regarding the false teaching of the Judaizers. He declares that neither circumcision nor un-circumcision means anything but what really matters is faith expressed in love. Our call as followers of Jesus is to love.

Paul raises the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, as an allegory for the Galatians to consider. Those born under the law become slaves to religion but Christ has set us free from that. As a result Paul proclaims that the free person will never be a co-heir with someone who is still enslaved to religion.

In this message we look together at how we live in this world consistently the life we have been given by God. And as we do this, we hold to the story of who we are as it is recorded in the Scriptures and live a life filled with the Spirit.

The revelation of Jesus that Paul is working from is not just that He sets us free from sin. He goes beyond that He gives us the spirit of sonship which brings us into Gods family. Even though it's a challenge to have our mindset shifted we must embrace our identity as sons and daughters of God.