Perhaps the most pervasive characteristic of contemporary Australian culture is contempt. People who threaten us, even people who merely disagree with us, are often dismissed outright and ridiculed as somehow subhuman. Our own culture of contempt resonates strongly with the treatment Jesus experienced as he hung on a Roman cross. How did the one person who never harboured a contemptuous thought in his heart respond to the contempt of the world?

If Palm Sunday tells us one thing, it’s that Jesus wants us to treat him as king. But what does it mean to do that? And what if his kingship is different to what we expected?

Paul has drawn the map of life, and placed us on it. So how do we navigate the ups and downs of life as servants of the Lord Jesus? This is the final sermon in the Romans 4-6 series.

How do you grow in grace? Something has happened in Jesus: those who are connected to him by faith have died to sin! But it doesn’t always feel like this in our experience. So, having died to sin in Jesus, how do we now kill our sins?

If God’s nature is to be gracious, even in the face of human sin… then why not keep sinning and get more grace? Or, to put it as an objection to Christianity: doesn’t salvation by grace mean people have no motivation to be good? Another way you could frame these questions goes like this: how does grace change you?

What is humanity destined for? What are you destined for? Romans 5.12–21 is nothing less than a God’s-eye view on the whole history of humanity, and it’s summed up in two humans who each represent two destinies open to humankind: Adam and Jesus. Are we destined for death or for life?

We human beings live by hope - it’s part of the way we are built. But how can we have hope in today’s world? And what are we to hope for? We continue with the Apostle Paul as he lays out for us the glory of the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ.

Is this in Paul’s Top 10 most outrageous things he ever said - ‘we boast in our sufferings’! Hear how that can be true in your life.

Our culture is confused about “faith”. Is it the great cop-out: the enemy of reason? Is it just a preference: you have this faith, I have that one? Is it a magic bullet: as long as you have faith in yourself, everything will work out? Paul holds out Abraham as the great father of faith, and as he does so describes the only faith that really makes a difference: faith in the God who has the power to deliver what he promises.

What difference does having an identity grounded in grace make? Walk with the Apostle Paul as he glories in the grace of God.