Father's Day at The Rocks | 1st September 2024

STILL

What stays true when life changes.

You meant the apology, but the same reaction returned. You know you belong, yet still feel you have to make yourself useful. You keep hoping while the pain continues. And underneath it all, you may wonder whether God will finish what he has begun in you.

Across four talks in Romans 8, STILL follows Paul from freedom from condemnation into life as God’s children, hope amid suffering and assurance of salvation. Each talk raises a distinct question and follows the passage towards an answer in Jesus. There is room for lifelong Christians and people exploring faith to bring their actual struggles.

Watch The Messages 

Why the New Humanity?
Nov 1, 2026  •  Alistair Cochrane
Why Church? | Part 8 - Why The Family?
Nov 1, 2026  •  Daniel Indradjaja
Why the Family?
Oct 25, 2026  •  Leigh McIntosh
Why Church? | Part 6 - Why New Humanity?
Oct 18, 2026  •  Alistair Cochrane
Why the Bride?
Oct 18, 2026  •  Chloe Chong
Why Serve?
Oct 11, 2026  •  Alistair Cochrane
View More

Small Group Discussion Questions

Below you will find access to each week's discussion questions!
Week 1 | Still No Condemnation (Romans 8:1-11)
You meant to change, yet the same pattern came back. Paul knows that struggle, and his cry, “Who will rescue me?” (Romans 7:24), isn’t answered with a better technique or a stronger promise. Romans 8 announces that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God did through Jesus what the law could not do, and his Spirit helps us live differently. We don’t earn that verdict through a long enough run of good behaviour, and knowing it makes room for honesty, responsibility and receiving help.

Discussion Questions:
  1. Think of a habit or reaction you’ve tried to change more than once. What usually happens when it comes back?
  2. When you fail at something you meant to stop, what do you tend to tell yourself? How does that compare with Romans 8:1?
  3. Why do you think knowing the rule, or being hard on ourselves, so rarely brings the change we want?
  4. Paul announces freedom from condemnation now, before the change is complete. How might that affect the way you face a struggle you’re dealing with at the moment?
  5. What might it look like to respond to the Spirit at the moment a familiar pattern starts to take over?
  6. Who is someone trustworthy you could be honest with about a struggle? What would help our church become a place where admitting a struggle opens an honest conversation and a way forward?
Week 2 | Still His (Romans 8:12-17)
Many of us learn that we’re valued for what we contribute. That can leave us afraid to rest, to need anything or to disappoint someone, and we can bring the same bargain into our faith. Paul writes to people who are already God’s children. Our place in God’s family is received, not negotiated (Romans 8:15), and the Spirit himself assures us that we are God’s children (8:16). Obedience grows within that relationship rather than buying our way into it, and God’s children share in Christ’s inheritance even when faithfulness costs them other people’s approval.

Discussion Questions:
  1. Where in your life do you feel most valued for what you do rather than who you are?
  2. When you’re tired, unwell or have little to give, how do you tend to feel about your place, at home, at work or at church?
  3. Paul says we have received the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). What’s the difference between receiving a place in a family and earning one?
  4. Why do you think so many Christians still feel they have to earn their place with God?
  5. What is one decision you could make this week from belonging rather than bargaining?
  6. How easy do you find it to receive care without trying to repay it straight away? Why?
  7. How can we make sure people whose contribution has changed, such as someone taking a break from serving, still know they belong here?
Week 3 | Still Working (Romans 8:18-30)
Some suffering has no reassuring ending yet, and easy explanations can make grief lonelier. Paul places the promise of Romans 8:28 inside a passage full of groaning, waiting and the Spirit’s help. God works for good in all things, but Paul doesn’t call every event good or explain why each wound happened. Verse 29 names God’s purpose: people sharing the life and likeness of his Son, and verse 30 carries that purpose through to glory. Our hope rests on Jesus’ death and resurrection, not on a particular outcome or timetable.

Discussion Questions:
  1. Have you ever been offered an explanation for suffering that made things harder rather than easier? What would have helped more?
  2. Romans 8:28 is often quoted on its own. How does reading it alongside verses 18 to 27 change the way you hear it?
  3. What’s the difference between “God works for good in all things” and “everything that happens is good”?
  4. Is there an outcome you’ve been longing for that you’ve quietly treated as something God promised? What has God actually promised in this passage?
  5. What would it look like to tell God what hurts without making it sound better than it is?
  6. Whose story around you is still unresolved? What care could you offer them that you can keep up, without needing an encouraging update?
Week 4 | Still Loved (Romans 8:31-39)
When you imagine standing before God, what are you relying on? Many of us fear that God’s acceptance is provisional, something we keep through good performance or a constant feeling of certainty. Paul’s questions in Romans 8:31-39 answer that fear. The Father has already given his Son. God is the one who justifies, and the risen Christ intercedes for us. Suffering cannot undo his saving commitment, and nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love in Christ. Our confidence rests on Jesus rather than endless self-inspection.

Discussion Questions:
  1. If you imagine standing before God, what do you instinctively reach for to make your case?
  2. What do you fear might disqualify you from God’s love?
  3. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). What has God already done in this passage that answers that fear?
  4. How is trusting Jesus with your salvation different from feeling certain all the time?
  5. Paul lists hardship, danger and even death in verses 35 to 39. Which of those feels closest to you right now, and what does it mean that it can’t separate you from God’s love?
  6. How can we help each other face doubt and failure without treating every honest admission as a new test of whether someone belongs?

More Resources

Bible Reading Plan - Main Focus

A verse-by-verse study that contrasts life in the flesh with life in the Spirit, treats suffering as part of being God’s child, and grounds readers in God’s steadfast love and promised glory.
AVAILABLE HERE

Additional Bible Plans

Read through these additional plans on the Bible App - be sure to add The Rocks as your church in the Bible app to get notified each week. There are permalinks to each one below.

“No Condemnation”: Meditations on Romans 8:1 (3 days)

A short Truth For Life devotional for anyone weighed down by ongoing sin, hard times or feeling spiritually behind, pointing to the promise of no condemnation in Christ.

Renew: Romans 8 With Timothy Keller (5 days)

Tim Keller works through Romans 8 in five readings, showing the deep, inward change the chapter describes in a Christian’s life.

Read More

Below you will find three books that we believe will help cement what we have started to discuss in this series.

Abba’s Child

Brennan Manning
Manning shows how shame and the pressure to perform push us to hide behind a false self, and calls us to live from our identity as God’s beloved child.
Buy at Koorong

The Hurt & the Healer

Andrew Farley and Bart Millard
Inspired by MercyMe’s song of the same name, this book looks at fear, shame, loneliness and broken relationships, and where lasting healing is found.
View at Baker Books

Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure?

Charles Stanley
Stanley explains why believers can be sure of their salvation, answers common objections, and looks at grace, works and Christian living. Each chapter ends with study questions.
Buy at Koorong

Study More

Some of us may be at a point where want more structured theological discourse around these topics. Below you will find resources from a free online seminary that will be helpful. A seminary is simply a Christian university that focusses on theology and ministry.

Romans, with Dr Douglas Moo

Recorded lectures working through Romans passage by passage. The Romans 8 lessons are numbers 34 to 37.
LISTEN NOW

Watch More

Below you will find resources you can watch that relate to what we’ve covered.

No Condemnation. No Fine Print.

Andrew Farley (7 minutes)

Looks at Romans 8:1 and the fear that freedom from condemnation depends on how well we’re doing. Goes well with Talk 1.

Does God Allow More Than We Can Handle?

Andrew Farley (2 minutes)

Challenges the familiar claim that God never gives us more than we can bear, and draws on Paul’s experience to explore hope when suffering is more than we can cope with. Goes well with Talk 3.

Listen More

Below you will find podcasts you can listen to that relate to what we’ve covered.

The Relationship With God That Transforms You, with Dr Baxter Kruger

The Receive Experience, about 99 minutes

Explores how the way we picture God shapes our relationship with him, especially the shift from imagining a distant, disapproving God to recognising his loving presence. Best alongside Talks 2 and 4.
LISTEN NOW

Responding to Suffering, with Dr Curt Thompson

Good Faith, about 60 minutes

Discusses why suffering can lead us into isolation, why other people’s pain makes us uncomfortable, and how we might respond. Best alongside Talk 3, particularly if you’re supporting someone who is suffering. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts or YouTube through the Good Faith website.
LISTEN NOW