The Word became Flesh: The Big Story of Christmas - Plockton & Kyle Free Church of Scotland

Tonight we are closing off this short series on Romans 6v1-14. Paul says Christians are dead to sin and alive in Christ. How do we make this teaching live in our experience so that we overcome sin and are filled by the Spirit?

Isn't this the man who caused havoc? We close this series of 10 meditations on Saul's Damascus Road experience with a challenge: How can we explain the change in Saul? Or even, how can we explain the change in any true Christian? There is a before and an after. What happened? The answer is both a challenge and an encouragement.

Every Christian should long to see more baptisms. What does baptism mean? Saul has had the most dramatic of conversions. Immediately he is baptised. Let's find out why this is such an important step...

Continuing from the last message we seek to understand the problem that the "body of sin" (that is our human body and its desires) is to us. We also learn the importance of what we think about in either inflaming or quietening the feelings in our body that make us want to sin. This brings us to the importance of thinking about Jesus Christ and what the Spirit leads us to. In this is freedom and life.

While we usually focus on the miracle of Saul of Tarsus' conversion on the Damascus Road, the greater miracle is the revelation of Jesus Christ as God. Today we look at the Jesus who is revealed and find some truly amazing insights into the character and glory of our Lord.

These days we sometimes try to pack a lot into a weekend. Nothing like what Jesus packed in to 7th-9th April 30AD! Looking at 6 different passages from Old and New Testaments we unpack what that weekend means for us now.

After the three shocks on the Damascus Road Saul is shattered. An astonishing change takes place within him. What is the nature of that change? Must we change like this too?

We died to Adam and are risen to newness of life in Christ. Why, having died to sin don't we just walk away from it and never do it again? We find out what the 'body of sin' is. We find out what living with the body of sin is like. We find out why we must keep our minds off what the body of sin wants and on to Jesus and the leading of His Spirit or we will end up living as though we are still in Adam.

What is a Christian? If you are going to know if you are one you must know what one is! We come to the first occurrence of the word in history. What was meant by the early church when it used the word? Are you one?

So far we've seen that Saul is Blind and Bad while thinking he is Blameless, Better than others, and maybe even the Best. Is he going down in history as the man who destroyed the church? Time for Jesus to step in ....

We have tried to trace the spiritual condition of Saul of Tarsus up to the point he meets Jesus. He thinks he is Blameless, Better, the Best, but he is Blind and now comes to see he is Bad. He describes this awakening as "when the Law came". We want to understand what this painful experience involved for him. It was so painful Jesus described it as "kicking against the goads". Then we look at what it may be like for us too ... .

Paul takes various routes to explain how we died with Christ to Adam and to Sin. Understanding our new identity in Christ is key to a glorious liberty.