You might move continents if you received the right opportunity. God is calling you to live in his God-breathed story, to participate in something far bigger than you own brief lifetime.
This podcast (30 minutes) was recorded 18 May 2025 at Riverview Church 18 May 2025 as part of series in 2 Timothy.
Continue reading “God’s Story shapes us (podcast) (2 Timothy 3)”
This podcast (22 min) covers the topics blogged on Genesis 12:
Included posts:
You can download the notes on Genesis 11–12, or the full notes for the series (75-page PDF).
This is the final podcast from the series Formed in God’s Story: Genesis 1–12.
Previous podcasts:
This podcast (38 min) covers the blog on Genesis 11:
This podcast (32 min) covers the end of Genesis 9 and Genesis 10.
This podcast (36 min) covers the topics blogged from Genesis 9.
This podcast (35 min) covers the blog post on Genesis 8: Rescued.
This podcast (32 min) covers the blog post on Genesis 7: Ruined.
This podcast (43 min) covers the topics blogged from Genesis 6:
This podcast (26 min) covers the topics blogged from Genesis 5:
This podcast (33 min) covers the topics blogged from Genesis 4:
This podcast covers the topics blogged from Genesis 3:
This podcast (26 min) covers the topics we’ve blogged from Genesis 2.
Prefer podcasts? This one covers our three previous posts on Genesis 1, the first chapter of the series Formed in God’s Story: Genesis 1–12.
Free course with notes and podcasts on Genesis 1–12.
Update 2024-03-28: Final podcasts and full notes added.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis make an astounding claim. The Lord God is not only the covenant God of Israel (the message from Exodus onwards). He is the God of all people, Lord of heaven and earth. It’s all his creation, established by his sovereign decree.
The rest of Scripture builds on this foundation, as what God established in the beginning comes together in the end. As the prophets promised, the word of the Lord is not a fruitless echo in a void; it’s the life-giving command that transforms creation (Isaiah 55:11-13).
The word that was there in the beginning became a living, breathing, embodied reality in his creation as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). It’s in him that the whole creation is restored, so the story ends with the one who is seated on the throne declaring, “See! I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5).
That’s the foundational importance of these early chapters of Genesis. Over six evenings in February/March 2025, we’ll slow down and savour just two chapters a night:
Which culture represents your lifestyle?
A tale of two cities: Babylon wants to take over God’s world; Jerusalem invites God’s reign. Which culture are you living for?
Continue reading “Living in Babylon or New Jerusalem (podcast)”
Final update 2024-11-14: The notes for all six weeks are now available as a single PDF, with two podcasts for each week.
Fascinated, or frightened? What are your feelings about the Bible’s final book?
Can we read it without interpretative methods dividing us into Futurists, Preterists, Historicists, and Idealists? Piecing together John’s visions of Armageddon, Babylon, and the Millennium has tended to divide us.
But asking “When is this book about?” may be the wrong question. Asking “Who is this book about?” may be more productive. If Scripture is the revelation of God, what does the final book reveal about God?
Continue reading “Formed in God’s Story: Book of Revelation”
The final Psalm of David points us to where we’re headed.
To conclude this survey of the Psalms, we’ve chosen something very significant: the last psalm “of David.”
It’s a praise psalm, as God’s anointed points his people to their true sovereign, the one who always reigns:
Gratitude is gladness springing from relational faith.
Psalm 118:1-4 (NIV)
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.” …
This thanksgiving psalm calls us to join in, with gratitude for God’s unfailing love, his covenant loyalty (ḥě·sěḏ). We’ll see what the Psalm meant for Israel first, since what it means for us rises out of what it meant to them.
Questions to deepen our praise.
God saves those who trust him.
Psalm 91 is a psalm of trust. There’s only half a dozen of these, and all the others in Books 1 and 2 (Psalms 11, 16, 23, 62, 63).
Now David is no longer teaching his people to pray, “The Lord is my shepherd.” David is gone, leaving them under foreign powers (Psalm 89). Moses prays the Lord to take pity on his people (Psalm 90). Psalm 91 affirms they are still in God’s care. Even without David’s reign, the Lord reigns (Psalms 93:1; 95:3; 96:10; 97:1; 98:6; 99:1). They’re still a flock shepherded by the Lord (95:7; 100:3). That’s the context of this psalm of trust.
Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV)
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Seeking the kingdom 