From Slavery to Sonship

Running from God

Jonah isn't primarily about a fish. It's about a relentlessly merciful God. When God calls Jonah to take His message to Nineveh, Jonah heads in the opposite direction. Yet even in Jonah's rebellion, God refuses to let him go. Through storms, pagan sailors and a great fish, we see that God's mercy is always moving towards people who are moving away from Him. In this opening sermon of our Jonah series, we discover: • Why mission begins with God, not us. • How comfort can quietly become an idol. • Why God's storms are often acts of mercy. • How Jesus is the true and better Jonah. • Why we can go with confidence, knowing God is already at work. Before Jonah ever reached Nineveh, God's mercy was already moving. And before we speak to our neighbours, friends and family, God's mercy is already moving there too.

Where Do You Boast?

After thirteen weeks of journeying through Paul's letter to the Galatians, we arrive at his final words, and they take us to the very heart of the Christian faith. Paul's conclusion is wonderfully simple: boast in nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ. In a world that tells us to build our identity on performance, success, reputation, or even our own religious efforts, the gospel invites us to find our confidence in Christ alone. In this sermon we explore: 📖 Why Paul takes the pen himself at the end of the letter ✝️ Why the cross stands at the centre of the Christian life ❤️ The subtle danger of legalism and self-righteousness 🌱 What it means to become a new creation in Christ 🙌 How the grace of God frees us from striving and leads us into joyful obedience As Martin Luther said of Galatians: ”This is the truth of the gospel... It is most necessary that we should know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” Our prayer is that this series has done exactly that, fixing our eyes once again on Jesus Christ, His finished work, and the freedom that belongs to all who trust in Him. ”But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 6:14)

The War We Feel

What do you do when you genuinely love Jesus… and yet still feel the pull of sin? In Galatians 5, Paul reminds us that the Christian life involves a real war between the flesh and the Spirit. But the struggle itself is not proof that God has abandoned you, it is often evidence that the Spirit is at work within you. In this sermon we explore: • The battle every believer feels • Why legalism and rebellion both lead back into slavery • What it means to “walk by the Spirit” • Mortification and vivification, putting sin to death and coming alive to God • The fruit the Spirit grows in those who abide in Jesus The Christian life is not about trying harder to earn God’s love. It's learning to live from the love already given to us in Christ.

Set Free By Christ

What does real Christian freedom actually look like? In Galatians 5, Paul reminds the church that Jesus did not save us so that we would return to slavery, whether through legalism or self-rule. We have been set free by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But freedom in Christ is not freedom to live however we want. It is freedom to walk with Jesus, love one another, and live by the Spirit. In this sermon we explore: • The danger of adding to the gospel • Legalism vs licentiousness • What it means to truly walk in freedom • Why grace leads to love and obedience • The battle between the flesh and the Spirit • How the gospel transforms us from the inside out JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING

Stop Going Back To Your Old Ways

In this sermon from Galatians 4:8–31, we explore Paul’s loving but urgent plea to believers who were drifting back into slavery after being set free by the gospel. The Galatians had begun believing that salvation was not simply Jesus alone, but Jesus plus performance, law, religion, and rule-keeping. Paul reminds them, and us, that in Christ we are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters adopted into the family of God. This passage exposes the “little g gods” we still run to for identity, comfort, control, and approval, and calls us back to the freedom, joy, and security found in knowing God and being known by Him. Through the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, Paul contrasts two ways of living: ‣ slavery or freedom, ‣ flesh or promise, ‣ performance or grace.