We are called to a life that is lived by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), be led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:18), and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). But we face an ongoing choice to reject the ways of the flesh and make room for the Spirit’s work in our life –

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Living by the Spirit is also a Christ-centred life. The apostle Paul urges us that the cross of Jesus Christ is the only thing worth boasting about. Nothing of our own works or attempts at righteousness has any value, only “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). In Christ now what really counts is that in him we are a new creation (Gal. 6:15).

The post Galatians Part 6 – Walk by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit first appeared on Lifeway Church.

What does stewarding our freedom look like? What does the law look like with ‘flesh’ on it? Paul answers these two questions by reminding us we are called to freedom and taking us back to Leviticus 19 to show us how love is the fullness of both the written and oral law. Through two actions: crucifying the sinful nature and learning to order our lives in the Spirit day by day, we fulfill the second greater commandment “love your neighbour as yourself.”

The post Galatians Part 5 – Called to Freedom first appeared on Lifeway Church.

Paul’s language in the letter to the Galatian churches can get pretty intense at times. When the letter begins, he is “astonished”, downright angry even you might say. He wasn’t just being alarmist; it really matters so much that we understand the gospel message and don’t dilute it, confuse it or add to it in any way. The “Judaizers” were bringing confusion into the gentile churches by teaching a legalistic message that demanded obedience to certain Jewish customs (typified by circumcision). Paul saw this as a direct attack on the meaning of Christ’s death and the essence of the gospel.

Paul’s own deep understanding of the Law and his background in intense religious practices gave him a unique perspective – one in which he realised that the only way to get right with God (“righteous”) was through faith in Jesus and trusting in the power of His cross. We can’t do anything of ourselves to attain righteousness. It’s all because of Jesus! This is the only gospel that brings freedom in Christ.

The post Galatians Part 4 – Freedom through Christ (or not at all)! first appeared on Lifeway Church.

Saint Augustine said “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed”. So it is no surprise that Paul in his letter to the Galatians uses the story of Hagar and Sarah from the Old Testament (Genesis 12-21) to draw out our identity as sons of God’s promise through faith in Jesus rather than sons who live as slaves under the Old Covenant Law.

Jesus made the way for our freedom, so don’t let the Law and the ‘shoulds’ steal our joy.

The post Galatians Part 3 – Hagar and Sarah: son of slavery versus son of promise first appeared on Lifeway Church.

The Law (Old Testament commandments from Moses) was our “guardian” until Christ came – we learnt from the Law, we remember our lessons from the Law, but we no longer live UNDER the Law.  The main goal of the Law is to lead us to Jesus and show us why we need him.  Jesus seeks to transform our hearts, guiding us to change our heart posture from one of slavery and fear to one of freedom and maturity. 

Under the Law, our standing before God was measured by our obedience to the Law (i.e. not good…).

But Paul says we can be considered children of God in a completely different way – we can have right standing before God through faith in Christ Jesus.

So, we are baptised INTO Christ, and we put ON Christ.  When we live as followers of Christ, fully immersed in Him, our individual selves fade into the background, allowing Jesus Christ  to shine through. We “put on Christ” and we have His identity.

And because of Jesus, the separating lines between all believers are gone… Jesus died on the cross to erase those lines; and we should not be putting them back in place!  In our standing before God, we are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are part of Abraham’s promise…. you have been adopted, you are now heirs with Christ and everything in God’s kingdom has been made available to you.  

The post Galatians Part 2 – Freedom and Maturity, Belonging and Inheritance, Position and Promises first appeared on Lifeway Church.

In his letter to the churches of Galatia (part of modern-day Türkiye), the apostle Paul expresses great alarm at how some of the gentile Christians are being persuaded to obey Jewish religious customs and going back to a kind of Christianity that is based on earning forgiveness by obedience to religious laws and commandments (typified by circumcision as a mark of belonging to God). The result is that the gospel (“good news”) is no longer good news at all! If we try to earn forgiveness by our own efforts at being righteous, we are doomed and destined to failure!

It is imperitive that we understand that the gospel is a message of salvation and forgiveness that comes to us as a free gift through Jesus Christ. We can’t add anything of our own efforts to somehow impress God or make our salvation more effective; Jesus has done it all and all we must do is to trust and believe in him! This is the freedom that we have through the true Good News – free from guilt and condemnation because Jesus paid the price for all our sin, and freedom to live in right-standing with God because in Jesus we become God’s children, his heirs.

Brian Simmons (author of The Passion Translation) writes in his introduction to Galatians:

‘Heavens freedom! This “grace gospel” brings heaven’s freedom into our lives—freedom to live for God and serve one another, as well as freedom from religious bondage.’

The post Galatians Introduction – the Gospel is Jesus *plus nothing* first appeared on Lifeway Church.

In this message, Luke takes us on a very personal journey of uncovering the ways in which we fall into the trap of believing lies about ourself. Satan is a liar who wants to keep us from living the life that God has for us – the life of peace and joy that Jesus already paid for by his own blood.

Instead of believing those lies from the devil, we have God’s Word that gives us the truth that sets us free in Jesus Christ! Instead of living according to the ways of the sinful nature, we can live by faith in Jesus in the freedom that the Holy Spirit gives.

The post Believing lies keeps you a prisoner – Jesus’ truth can set you free! first appeared on Lifeway Church.

Jesus offers an invitation to the first disciples to leave their nets and follow him. There is a sense of great risk in exchange for great reward in God’s kingdom. This invitation doesn’t arrive in a ‘vacuum’ but follows a process of revelation, bringing a measure of confidence and faith. Nevertheless, choosing to accept Jesus’ invitation to become his disciples, to leave the livelihood behind and put their trust in Jesus was a costly decision. But they believed it was worth it, worth the risk to leave it all behind and follow Jesus into whatever calling and plans he had for them. They dared to believe that what Jesus had for them was better than the life they could gain for themselves.

What are the things in your life that feels like a big risk or a big step of faith to leave behind so that you can follow Jesus and receive the life he has for you?

Note: Unfortunately the recording for this week’s message was cut off prematurely due to a technical glitch.

The post The risk and reward of following Jesus first appeared on Lifeway Church.

From time to time, prophetic words are spoken in church, sometimes to individuals and sometimes to the whole meeting. In the case of a recent word that was shared, some people were not sure what to think of what was said and few had questions. There are principles given in the New Testament about the healthy use of spiritual gifts and especially prophecy which are important for all Christians to understand. In this short message, Pastor David outlines these principles for embracing a healthy prophetic culture in the church, and goes on to bring clarity to the prophetic word that was spoken the previous week. (Unfortunately, there was a fault in the recording so we do not have a copy of the original word).

The backbone of understanding prophecy from a New Testament church context is given in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and especially chapter 14. Every believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38), and we are encourage to pursue the gifts the Spirit gives, especially to prophesy within the church family (1 Cor. 14:1-4).

Alongside this instruction, we must humbly acknowledge the imperfection of our sensitivity and obedience to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 13:9) and therefore our need for everything to be tested against the written word of God. Every prophetic word given in the church must be “weighed carefully” by mature believers with a sound knowledge of scripture (1 Cor. 14:29). Paul writes again in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 that all prophecies must be tested against the standard of the Bible. Our response ought to be that we hold on to the good, and treat such words as worthy of attention, but let anything else “fall to the ground”.

The post Holy Spirit manifestation and a healthy prophetic culture first appeared on Lifeway Church.

The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk has triggered a lot of discussion around the interactions (or intersections?) between politics, faith, freedom (gun ownership rights). It’s been a turbulent time with a lot of media commentary. It is perhaps easy to miss how prominent the word ‘peace’ is in the message of the gospel and throughout the New Testament.

A shining moment amongst it all was Charlie’s widow, Erika Kirk, publicly declaring forgiveness for the young man who shot and killed her husband. That is really the point to grab hold of – that Jesus came to proclaim peace and forgiveness, not vengeance.

The post The Sword and the Gospel of Peace first appeared on Lifeway Church.