Are you a disciple of Jesus or merely a professing Christian? If you engage in a local church, you're in a small minority of the Australian population - about 3%. Governments in western countries, including Australia, are gradually privatising religion. Ultimately, they will outlaw it. Are you prepared to pay the price for being a disciple? You probably won't enjoy this sermon, but listen anyway.

Ps Rod presents the second in a series of sermons on discipleship. Here, he focuses on Matthew 11:28-32, the well-known 'Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden' scripture. He invites us to consider this scripture as applying to both the spiritual and political/economic life. He explains how Jesus is interested in both spiritual and political/economic realms and how the disciple embraces both.

In this sermon, Dr Rod explores what it means to be a disciple, to be committed to God's purpose, His principles and His plan. Rod suggests that God's overall purpose, revealed throughout the Bible is to fill the earth with people like Him and that His principles and plans stem from that purpose.

June was Pride Month in some of the 'western' nations. Some of the more outrageous behaviours were naked men riding bicycles (Seattle) and activists chanting, 'We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children' in New York. Big business promoted Pride. Ps Rod objected to Pride Month on the ground that it sought to cancel women. In this sermon, he honours biological women by reference to some of the most courageous of the 400+ women who are recorded in the Bible.

In this sermon, Dr Rod, pastor at IgniteLife Church Gold Coast, relates a personal testimony about how God answered his prayer on leadership with two simple words - wisdom and compassion. He shares about how we can develop both.

Dr Rod concludes his two-pair series on how Christians should pray against what he calls, 'The Great Awokening' or the adoption of Cultural Marxism by those on the left. He reiterates that we should eschew anger at the people who espouse woke ideas but that we should pray and intercede without ceasing, not allowing ourselves to be discouraged if our prayer seems unproductive. We are warring against dark spiritual forces!

There is a major clash between classical (or historical) Christianity and Cultural Marxism. The growth of Cultural Marxism has been rapid since about 2010. In Australia today, Christians can lose their job just because they are Christians. Dr Rod St Hill explains why Cultural Marxism upsets Christians and discusses how we can pray against the 'Great Awokening.' This is Part 1 of a two-part series (to be continued next week)

Jesus used the parable of the sheep and goats in Matt 25. His words have inspired some Christians to argue that we should be building sheep nations now. Dr Rod explains the concept of the sheep nation and discusses the important motif of living under the grape vine and fig tree.

'The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.' (John Eldridge)

Dr Rod continues his discussion on resilience. In this part, he notes five behaviours of resilient Christians. Towards the end of the discussion he recommends John Eldridge's recent book, Resilient, and the free app, 'One Minute Pause'.

In this discussion point, Ps Rod defines resilience as 'the quality of being able to break through all the life-altering challenges you face and move toward your destiny.' He explains that resilience is the biblical norm. In the Bible we find both exhortations to, and assurances of, resilience.