Notes and podcasts on the Book of Acts
Updated 2024-05-09: Added podcasts and notes.
Interested in a 7-week journey through Acts?
Notes and podcasts will appear here each week. If you’re in Perth (Western Australia) you can join us live at Riverview Church 7–9 pm if you register (no charge).
Each Wednesday evening we’ll cover 2 chapters, take a coffee break, and then the next 2 chapters. At four chapters each week, we cover the 28 chapters in seven weeks:
Here are the notes and podcasts you need to understand the setting of the Old Testament prophets: Isaiah – Malachi.
[Update 2024-03-21: Full notes and final podcasts added]
The Old Testament concludes with the major and minor prophets. Do you know how each of these books fits into the Bible’s story? I mean, if we don’t know the situation they were addressing, it’s hard to make sense of what God was saying through them.
Here’s your opportunity to put the Prophets in perspective. Over the next six weeks, we’ll provide you with notes and a podcast covering the background of each one so you can read them for yourself.
You can download the full set of notes (60-page PDF), or the weekly notes for the six-week course (held Feb/Mar 2024), with two podcasts each week:
Notes will be available ahead of time, and the podcasts afterwards. The sessions are at Riverview Church in Perth Western Australia on Wednesday evenings.
Continue reading “Formed in God’s Story: Old Testament Prophets”
Free course in Matthew’s Gospel, with notes and podcasts
Update 2023-11-18: Notes and podcasts added.
The second half of Matthews’ Gospel resumes over seven Wednesdays from 18 October 2023 (7–9 pm) at Riverview Church (Perth, Western Australia).
Update 2023-09-07: Week 7 podcasts added.
Here’s another series of Formed in God’s Story. This one covers the Gospel of Matthew.
A single, congruent narrative runs through the Torah and historical books of the Old Testament.
We’ve seen how:
This is part 3 of a survey of the Torah and historical books, looking at how we are Formed in God’s Story: Genesis–Esther.
We saw that all people belong to God, but in response to the nations going their own way God promised his own nation to show what they’re missing (Genesis).
We saw God freeing Jacob’s descendants from bondage to human rule, forming them into a nation under his leadership through the Sinai covenant (Exodus).
This third part describes life in the kingdom led by the Lord:
So, here are the notes for part 3, covering these four books:
Continue reading “Formed in God’s story: Leviticus – Joshua”
[Updated 2023-05-05: Podcasts added]
God desires to rescue his earthly realm from the powers that oppress us because of lust for power. Pharaoh is the example in Exodus. God saves the descendants of Jacob, forming them in a nation to show the other nations what God intends for us all: how it works when we live under his wise and caring leadership.
But not long after his people agreed to live in covenant relationship with their heavenly sovereign, the whole relationship was compromised by their unfaithfulness. That’s when they discovered the faithfulness of God: his persistent, caring, uncompromising faithfulness kept on rescuing them.
Eventually they provided the holy space for God to live among them and lead them. The final chapter of Exodus celebrates God’s glorious presence as he leads the people who recognize his kingship.
It’s how the world should always have been: God living among us and leading us.
[Updated: Notes and podcasts added.]
How well could you explain the big arc of the Bible’s narrative? Could you piece together the Old Testament story from its creative beginning in Genesis to the postexilic Persian pressure of Esther’s time?
I’m preparing a sweeping 6-week overview of the Torah and historical books, and you’re invited. If you’re in Perth Western Australia, let’s get together. If not, you can still download the notes each week to catch the wind of what God is doing.
Formed in God’s Story: Genesis to Esther covers the 17 foundational books that provide context for the Psalms and Prophets. This is the backstory for Jesus’ mission (Matthew – John), our mission (Acts – Jude), and the restoration of all things (Revelation).
This is God’s story, but we’re not merely binge watching it. We’re living in it. We’re being formed in God’s story.
Seeking the kingdom 