The First Steps of God

The Living Word of God - The First Steps of God - Episode 20

The written text points to the Eternal Word - King Jesus!   Are you obsessed with the Bible? Are you obsessed with studying the text? Getting the facts right? Fearful of saying the wrong thing? Praying the wrong prayer?  -The living lord Jesus takes the pressure off, delight in getting to know Him, and relax. If reading the Bible is your central focus, it'll become a chore, it does not give you life. Consider this question: how can an object be the centre of our belief? People worshiped Jesus long before the Bible was written - Miriam (Exodus 15:21), Moses (Exodus 3, 15:1-18, Hebrews 11:26). The Bible ultimately points to the greatest revelation of God - the Lord Jesus. Medieval writers drew Jesus creating the universe (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:1-3). He is drawn as the designer.  Cultures worldwide draw Jesus to look like them. We know He was born into a middle-Eastern tribe - but He is loved and worshiped by all cultures. From Ethiopia to Syria, China, Scandinavia…  The God of all people. (Psalm 22:27, Daniel 7:14)  What about the Qur’an? If the final revelation is a book - then tragically  A book will be the closest you can get to God. According to Islamic theology, the Islamic god is not in paradise. God, in Islam, does not speak with you face to face (Exodus 33:11), sit down with you for a meal (Genesis 18), speak with you directly in person (Numbers 12:8) or in visions (Hosea 12:10, Acts 2:17-21), fight for you to conquer evil once and for all (Revelation 19), give His life for you (John 3:16-17, Revelation 19) or live with you (Revelation 21-22). Allah is simply not with you. Notice the Bible references which teach us about the God who does meet us, speak to/with, eat with, fight for, give His life for us, so we can live with Him.   What about our planet? Jesus the Gardener cares for the details of our world (Job 38-39).  Some panic when they see our broken societies and broken planet, and yes, we are called to care for this planet, and yet Jesus will not let it go to dust; he planted this garden (Genesis 1-3, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 95:4-5, Psalm 104:24-25, John 1:3, Romans 1:20, Job 38:1-41) Be challenged by His words to Job  "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" (Job 38:4) But we are not the ultimate solution; God's got us; God's got our planet; God's got our civilisations, tribes and nations. All is not lost.   Are you in? We are! We choose life and our ultimate destiny with the Living God who gives life, more magnificent than all we can dream or imagine. Jesus our Emperor. He's got this….

Knowing Jesus like Abraham - The First Steps of God - Episode 19

Knowing the one who made the animals  Texts, books, religious books.  Important to religion  Is the text or the person most important to Christians? The text points to Jesus. The revelation of God is Jesus.  For Muslims the Qur'an is the revelation ,a book and text,  Adam and Eve, Abraham don't need the Bible, but they did need Jesus.  Adam and Eve trusted in the living, walking word of God  -preaching about  -the book  -ultimately it is the eternal Jesus   John chapter 5: Gospels 'scribes' 'teachers of the law': Jesus "you search the scriptures, you love your Bible studies as if these words will give you eternal life, but these are talking about me, but you are not willing to come to me get life."  People get obsessed with texts. Texts are only useful if it leads you to the King.  The most Bible entered people killed Jesus. Stick to the text, killing God. The God of the bible is right infant of you and you can't see you.  Look up - its me.   Jesus tells us that Moses and King David wrote about Him.  Whole OT talks about Jesus  Translation of the Septuagint Bible N.T. quotes OT especially about Jesus, but isn't quite the same (e.g. book of hebrews) Septuagint - Jesus and apostles used, is it is reliable.  Medieval Authors - Erasmus, just read it. What has the Church received, rather than critical text. Adulterous woman handed down to us, even though it isn't in all early texts.  Textual criticism, is not historically criticism. helps us ask questions, but the skepticism that is not of God and influences an non-Christian way to approach our scriptures  Rules to - the hardest one to understand more reliable, or make it an allegory. Which makes it more confusing. But if the scriptures really happened, then it just informs us of history, it tells us what God is like, his throne room, the beings in the heavens working,  -today modern ways of reading into scriptures, tell us the opposite of Jesus who   Dangerous to love the Bible as the centre. So church for them is lectures on the Bible.  Church is not about sitting down and hearing information. It is aobu living in life, love and unity If Jesus is the centre then the Bible becomes a alive If you distance Jesus form the Bible, then it doesn't make sense. If you just see the OT as poetry, wisdom sayings, then you don't want to read it, like the epic of Gilgamesh but slightly compatible with Chrsitnaity. but full of Jesus then it comes alive.  The whole Bible tells us about Jesus..

Hippos point to God - The First Steps of God - Episode 18

Learning from Hippos.  What do hippos teach us about God? -how to rest, family, community. Looking out for each other. Protecting our young.   "Creation cries out the beauty of the Lord" In Job: ask the animals In the N.T.: look at the birds look at the horse - goes to battle look at the ostrich - silly, yet scare off a lion, outrun a lion What does God think as he created the creatures - joy, design, fun, laughter, expression, enjoyment Very cool how the Lord tells us to ask the animals to teach us.  Weeping turned to joy. There is a time to mourn, but it becomes joy, only with Jesus.  Learning from ostriches.  What do the animals teach us about God's character?   How can our mourning turn into joy?  Learning from the Dawn Chorus - the dawn praise.  Excited to see the sun rise. Light defeats the darkness.  Gives light and life to the whole creation.  robin red-breast - a powerful bird, a sign of love. the first to sing.   Learning from budgies. automatically sing. Happy, joyful. a new day has come. A new hope. A new opportunity.  Learning from parrots - their humour, their pranks. Just a laugh.   Learning from the Lord how to care for animals God knows when each sparrow falls. Nothing is meaningless. The tiniest bird is known, how much more he knows us. He hears young ravens - the ugly sound - God hears that. He delights in it. That bird crying (Psalm104) is crying to the Lord. Animals know the reality of the living God, how much more us. He knows how many hairs are on our head,   Laws of Moses - how to treat animals. -don't muzzle their ox.  -Don't put a babies goat in her milk, disrespecctive to use that mile that gave it life.   Jesus I the wilderness with the wild animals All creation makes sense around him. When he lives here, all the animals behave the way they were meant to.  wild animals came to Jesus in the wilderness. Not wild around Jesus. They are around us, because they know we are wild.  The angel of the Lord - Jesus closed the mouth of the lions.   God uses animals used to described himself how he looks after us hen covers his chicks.   learning from Ants hard workers. think about the future. work to gather. work in formation. United. single minded. Like a good church. Serve a monarch, a queen.  Medieveal beasteries sees ants as knights. moving forward towards the monarch.   Created by the one from who we originate from.  Shout out to the hippos - inspiration.

The First Steps of God - Episode 17 - Northern Crusades and paganism

Let's reclaim the truth of historical Christianity interacting with paganism. Today's episode we consider Scandinavia, Russia, Finland, Latvia, Northern Germany, Netherlands... Let's consider some early crusaders: 1. Boniface - English Christian (Saxon) who preached Christ at Saxony (Northern Germany through to the Netherlands), his ancestral home. He was warned by the pagans, that if he laid hands on the 'sacred' oak tree, the gods would kill him. So he chopped it down, and he was just fine. Just like the Old Testament stories (1 Kings 18:20-46). God stands against murdering ideologies, including ancient ISIS type beliefs. God will hold terrorising leaders to account "those who live by the sword die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). Ask, seek and knock, and God will 'show up' for you; in both the best of times and the worst (Hebrews 11:32-12:3, Acts 7:54-60); power and ability to face anything when you trust in the King of Kings. 2. Charlemagne - fought against the pagan Saxons who fought against Frankish Christians, at the same time Islam was invading Spain, enslaving and killing its citizens; Saxons to the north; Islam to the south. Charlemagne, an educated King, whose scribal principles we still use today. Christian Scribal Tradition Christians documented and wrote what they saw and heard. The Old and New Testament bear testimony to this. Written witness is Biblical. Oral tradition, Holy Spirit empowered, is first-hand witness! If the God of the universe is behind your traditions, has spoken to you directly, it is worth taking note of them. If God isn't, then we can begin to doubt that tradition. Early Christians speak of priceless relics, wrote testimonial accounts, stopped pagan cruelty, rebuilt cities (such as Reiga, capital of Latvia), or built new cities; civilised cities built on the foundations of the Giver of abundant new life -King Jesus, (Psalm 18:2, Psalm 46, Isaiah 28:16, Romans 8).  Let's discuss real paganism Is it recycling? Love of nature? Uh, 'no'. If you really love nature, and wish to preserve the earth - go to Jesus.  Love and care of creation, animals, environment is Christian. Pagan's burned people (Northern pagan gods), let animals suffer (cows in India), sacrifice animals and humans (paganism of Saxoni, Netherlands and Scandinavia). Slavic pagans sacrificed humans to their 'god' Radegast (such as the Scottish Bishop John Scotus, 1066). Paganism worldwide (from the Americas, through Asia into Europe) carries similar themes - rivalry, includes sacrifice of personal items, human beings and animals, to be appeased, oppressed by and feared.  True paganism destroys nature, it does not preserve it. Christianity stopped pagan death-practices in South America.  Christianity stopped Suttee burning deaths (burning widows alive) in India. Christianity stopped pagan death-rituals in Europe and America...  Christianity does not suppress, but frees us from the suppression our pagan religions impose on us, especially on the vulnerable, or outsider tribes. Christ gives life (Romans 8:31-39)

The First Steps of God - Episode 16 - The Crusades in Spain

Palio - "I have an advocate with the Father in heaven" -  Reconquista granted to be crusade  Bernard of Clairvaux   Elsid - Alfondo the Brave, united Spain. Emperor, almohads invaded and took Spain (West African). Elsie fought back. Kingdom of ... South Spain, reonconqured much land. reinvigorated.  He was like King Arthur. Richard Lion heart used to be appreciated like King Arthur,  Sultan rejected Richard Lionhearted...  Peasant soldiers surrounded by Muslim soldiers,  Fighting a hoard of fighters. Saludin saw the king rescuing his soldiers  Saladin, was brutal. romantic versions. Richard killed the prisoners, using his own people to slow down Richard's army, as bait and fodder.   Hear two side of the story -  Read the original sources. Crhonicles of the crusades. letters, witnesses, journals, artwork,  Chronicle of crusades mamorot (written in France, in 15th century) just before the reformation.   Antioch conquered... exhausted, outnumbered by Muslim army approaching. They are praying and fasting. Lance that had pierced Christ, they found it, and empowered. Went to win the battle.   Eye witness accounts... very different from what you hear today. Education tells us It was all evil, without thinking.  Why not hear (read) what people   Miracles of encroaugements - after Antioch, christians from history came to encourage them. The bible tells us God fight for His people. They believed the God of Bible   You don't want to be against him, but if you are for him he is so for you.