City South Presbyterian

Israel meets Yahweh on Mount Sinai; an experience that will shape the way they live in God's presence and represent him in the world.

Israel is in the desert, between the grove of Elim and the Mountain of God; there God provides life for them in the wilderness. Manna that tastes like honey as a foretaste of the land flowing with milk and honey he is guiding them to as his heaven-on-earth people.

The passover is judgment and decreation falling on Egypt, and re-creation for the people of God who will carry is name and live in his presence in the world.

Yahweh brings 9 strikes against Egypt as signs of the decreating judgment he will bring when Pharaoh's violent regime is destroyed under the waters. Each plague undoes something of the Genesis 1 creation week, while linking forward to Israel's deliverance.

Moses comes out of Egypt and is chosen by the God of his fathers, to lead his people to the mountain to worship him as he strikes the violent striking empire with his hand.

The Exodus story is the story of Israel's creation. The scene is set with some callbacks to Genesis and the introduction of one born from the water.

Ryan encourages us to join God's mission to the world.

When Jesus is anointed for the grave he is anointed and dressed as the Bridegroom; and the Messiah, bringing the scent of Eden into the garden where he is buried and raised to bring new life heavenly life to those who believe.

As Jesus dies on the cross there are at least 8 little details John gives us to help us see his story as the beginning of a new creation; a new Exodus; where living waters flow from Jerusalem and give life to the world.

Passover is fast approaching, and Jesus the passover lamb meets a bunch of snakey folks in the garden who bind him and hand him over to die for the people.

When Jesus sets off to Jerusalem, John starts the countdown to the new Passover; a new Exodus bringing salvation by reuniting people into the life and love of God.

Jesus calling Lazarus to "come out" of the grave is a sign that the new exodus is a movement from death in exile to life in God's presence.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gathers God's flock from the nations, bringing the new exodus promised by the prophets. 

Jesus, not the physical temple, is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophets' hope that streams of living water would flow from Jerusalem creating a new Eden and a new Exodus.

Jesus goes out into the wilderness to feed a flock bread from heaven as a sign that he's not simply the new Moses, but God's life given to the world. 

Jesus meets a woman who represents Israel's exile from God at a well, and offers her (and us) a proposal she doesn't want to refuse. Living Water. 

John 3 contains the Bible's most famous verse — but when you scratch beneath the surface it also has a rich picture of the heaven and earth life God comes to give his children so that we belong to him. 

John presents John the Testifier's testimony about Jesus, the Lamb of God, as the fulfilment of the prophetic expectation of a new Exodus, and his baptism as the beginning of that fulfilment. 

John's use of Exodus imagery is one of the rich threads running through John's Gospel; it begins in his prologue where John reveals that Jesus is both the Word who was with God and is God, from the beginning, and the word who was with God, and is God, in the creation of God's people in the Exodus story — who fulfils that story and invites us to live in the light; coming face to face with God's glory. 

Robyn, Des, and Matt answer big questions from kids in our church community.

Matt, Robyn and Des answer big questions from kids in our community.

Matt, Robyn and Des answer big questions from kids in our community.

Simon and Nathan chat through the ongoing partnership between City South Presbyterian and Annerley Church of Christ.

Matt, Des and Robyn answer big questions from kids in our church community.

Matt, Des, and Robyn answer the big questions from kids in our church community.

Simon, Nathan and Kamina talk about where they think the church in Australia is heading and how we're responding to that as a church.

Nathan explains his understanding of infant baptism and why we do it as Presbyterians. 

Kamina, Nathan and Simon answer a question about the sorts of stories we should read as Christians, and why.

Matt, Mick, and Kamina tackle one of the apparent dilemmas of the modern church.

Mick, Matt and Kamina tackle a question about how essential the Trinity is in terms of how we understand, and come to know, God — and then look at some rich implications of getting to know a God who is triune for life now.

What makes you sing?

Nathan explores the Christmas story through the song O Holy Night, Psalm 148, Mary's Song, and the Wise Men following a star to invite us to join the conjunction of the heavens and the earth, embracing habits of praise that will sweep us up in the revolutionary rule of Jesus.

Matthew Ventura unpacks the Christmas carol O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and its connection to the story of the Bible; showing how Israel's story of exile and the coming of their Messiah, God with us, is good news for the world.

This week we're looking at how Peter writes to a community living simultaneously as exiles in their culture, and God's home in the world, instructing us to show hospitality to one another.

How do we bear one another's burdens while carrying our own load in a church community — especially when dealing with trauma and triggers and temptations.

Loving one another — and committing to unity in Christ — means not avoiding conflict, but treating conflict as a form of connection where we learn to bear with one another and to forgive one another, cultivating our 'new self' with the virtues of kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness and respect.

We consider what it looks like to spur one another on to love and good deeds as we continue meeting together, encouraging one another. 

We begin a new series on some of the "one another" verses in the New Testament with the one at the heart of them all; Jesus' command to love one another as he has loved us.

Lyle and Hazel served in remote indigenous communities in Queensland for 30 years. Here they share some stories about how they approached being a faithful presence in these communities. 

Robyn re-tells the story of Esther. Corinne reads Matthew 25:31-46. Nathan considers what it looks like for us to live in God's presence so that we can carry it with us into his world as his image bearing people.

Part 3 of a 3 part series in the book of Jude by Ryan Dehnert. 

Part 2 of a 3 week series on Jude from Ryan Dehnert. 

Part 1 of a three week series on Jude.

We had a little glitch that means the Bible readings (Romans 8:12-39, Revelation 22:12-17) were not included in this recording.

To be human is to be shaped by stories; those stories come from our human hearts, from the powers and principalities, and from God. There are many myths shaping our lives in the modern world, including the myth of redemptive violence. To be truly human is to find ourselves in God's story of redemptive grace.

Being truly human means living with integrity in a life built on truth, which requires life integrated with God, in a community who will pursue truth in love together. 

Spaces in the modern world are non-places of "scripted disorientation" designed to addict us towards extinction. Habitats shape our habits. As images of the place-making God we can make places of scriptured orientation. 

We are image bearers who make images and are remade by the images we give our eyes, hearts, and bodies to in worship.

Our desires and sensuality are good parts of our creatureliness that are created to be directed towards God.

Being human means being embodied in a dying body patiently hoping for the resurrection of our bodies in a new creation. There's a growing post-human or transhuman movement that sees our bodies as limited meat to be hacked, or overcome, even by uploading our consciousness to the cloud, and an older Christian heresy that our future is disembodied life in the cloudy heavens. These disembodied stories disintegrate us.

How do we live as makers of technology when our technology is tearing us apart?

You are not your own. The modern self has to be able to answer the question "who am I" while being pulled in all directions; the Bible invites us to be human by first asking the question "whose am I".

Knowing what it means to be human starts with knowing the triune God. The modern western world is breaking up with the God who is love, but we were made to find life in his love.

Matt Ventura unpacks how the Christian life is like playing bassoon in an orchestra (or what it looks like to live in harmony in the body of Christ, offering our bodies as a living sacrifice). 

Nathan Richardson unpacks what it means to live a new story as we offer our bodies as a single living sacrifice in view of God's mercy to us in Jesus. 

God calls Abram to come out of Babylon to become a nation who'll launch a new Eden project of blessing. His promises are fulfilled in Jesus who now calls us to come out of Babylon, because it's coming down to earth, and so's the new heavenly city. 

Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar make names for themselves by building with baked bricks. Jesus invites us to become living stones built into a building that actually connects heaven and earth, and will last for eternity. 

Don't be a Nimrod. 

Noah's Ark is a re-creation story; and an Exodus story — where the ark, then the dove, hover above the waters as God acts to judge and save. 

The story of the Nephilim starts a thread of Sons of God, and giant enemies in league with the serpent, who oppose God's plans for fruitfulness. The Old Testament sets us up to expect a serpent-killing son of God who'll defeat this opposition and marry heaven and earth together. 

Cain and Abel both make bloody sacrifices at an eastern gate, hoping to find their way back to life with God. Jesus enters an eastern gate to lead the way back to Eden like life with God forever. 

Adam and Eve's fall in the Garden of Eden becomes a pattern repeated by humans everywhere. The hope of a seed who'll crush the serpent flows through Isaiah's promise of a 'branch of Jesse', to Jesus, who is arrested in a garden — where people come wielding tree-clubs — crowned in thorns, and nailed to a tree. It's treason against the tree-son; who becomes a new tree of Life and a new tree of knowledge of good and evil for us. 

Genesis 2 introduces us to God's heaven on earth place, the Garden in Eden, and God's earthlings — his image bearing gardeners. 

The story of the origins of the world is the beginning of the Bible's big story about God bringing the heavens and earth together through his image bearing son Jesus. This big story becomes an origin story that shapes how we understand who we are and what fruitful life in the world looks like.

In the Great Commission, Jesus — who now has all authority in heaven and on earth — sends his disciples to bring heaven with them to the ends of the earth as we join his kingdom of life, teaching and obeying all he commands.

In his words on the cross, Jesus evokes not just the cry of Israel's Messiah — David — as he suffered — but the whole of Psalm 22, as he fulfils its picture of God's kingdom being restored from.

The words from Jesus on the night he is betrayed and in his trial invite us to find life in his kingdom where he rules as king.

Jesus brings judgment and salvation in a new passover. 

Jesus comes to create a new family tree that brings life — replacing Adam's family tree of death, violence, and vengeance with a pattern of love, forgiveness and life. 

The transfiguration reveals that Jesus is the Christ, and God's beloved son, who brings heaven and earth together and so we should listen to him. Also there's some super fun stuff about mountains and what they mean going on here, but mostly we should listen to Jesus and get on board with his mission. 

Jesus' parables reveal the kingdom of God will be a return to fruitful life brought about by God's people faithfully listening to him. Jesus models what listening to God's word looks like, even as he speaks in parables.

Jesus calls those of us who are weary and burden to come to him and receive rest for our souls. He comes to bring the 'kingdom of heaven' — the kingdom of Sabbath — to earth and invites us to join him in having our lives shaped by receiving God's rest.

Jesus has been on a mountain talking about the kingdom of heaven he came to bring to earth, now he comes down the mountain and speaks with the authority of heaven to start giving pictures of what he has come to do.

What would it look like if you prayed the Lord's Prayer and God answered? 

We get to the heart of Jesus message about what the kingdom of heaven looks like, as we see how Jesus fulfils the law and the prophets.

Jesus, a new Moses, goes up a mountain — a meeting place between heaven and earth, to invite us to join him in the kingdom of heaven.

We start our series on the words of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel with the essence of his message — that the kingdom of God has arrived with him, exploring the way Matthew presents Jesus as leading a new exodus and a moment where God's image bearing representative does not fall to temptation and sin, but instead speaks God's word to bring life. 

Wise life in God's world reflects God's character; and God's character is revealed in the upside-down power and wisdom of the Cross. 

We shift into the New Testament's 'wisdom literature' with the book of James. 

Nathan is joined by Robyn and Kamina to unpack how the Song presents wise love as intimate and mutual, in contrast to a selfish approach to relationships that commodifies and dehumanises the other. 

Nathan is joined by Robyn and Kamina to examine more of how the Song of Songs contrasts Solomon's approach to love and sex, and the damage that creates, with the love desired by God for his people, and by the Song's Beloved.

Nathan is joined by Robyn, and the soon to be Dr Kamina Wust, to unpack how Song of Songs teaches us about wise love in contrast to Solomon's folly. Wise love is love grounded in exclusive, covenantal commitment — as people in covenant relationship with God.

The wise teacher enjoys all the goodness the world has to offer, and invites us to consider how to wisely enjoy this goodness knowing that we will die, and that it might reveal the goodness of the creator.

The wise teacher describes life in the face of death as 'hebel' — while this often gets translated as 'meaningless' it can also be understood as 'vapour' — wise people don't build a life clutching after vapour but things that answer the longing for eternity written on our hearts.

The wise teacher in Ecclesiastes explores what life might look like 'under the sun' — the material world closed off from God. That's the world lots of modern wise people think we're living in now. 

Doug Green unpacks the way the book of Job presents Job, the righteous sufferer, as an example of the suffering servant we see described in Isaiah, and then fulfilled in Jesus.

We can respond to suffering with wisdom or folly. What does this ancient book teach us about seeking wisdom in suffering?

Job is presented to us a model of wisdom; and yet he suffers. Job's friends look wise for a minute (or longer), and then they speak. What does wisdom look like when it doesn't produce prosperity but responds to suffering?

Living wisely with God's world means working with wisdom and being wise with the fruit of our labours. Here Phil unpacks some of what the Proverbs have to say about wise economics, including how we think about work and money.

Wisdom — a right understanding of the world — is part of the way we get to know what God is really like. Here's Nathan and Robyn unpacking how God's people might walk wisely together as part of how we introduce people to God.

Nathan and Robyn unpack how Proverbs presents the pursuit of wisdom as walking together in friendship. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and we come to know and fear God by hearing his word and doing what it says. 

Wisdom is practical and applied — walked — not just head knowledge. 

Wisdom is about right relationship with God, each other, and his world. 

For this week's questions I was joined by Dr Wendy Soares. We tackled:

1. How do I love my neighbour when my neighbour is abusive? 

2. What does it look like to relate safely to an unsafe person? 

3. Are we meant to love unconditionally like God? What does it look like to have boundaries and love like this? 

4. Are Christians allowed to be angry? If so how do we express anger appropriately and encourage others to do the same?

This week Robyn, Matt, and Ryan join Nathan to answer:

1. How does God see us?

2. Is God homophobic? Is the church? Is our church?

3. If God knows the future, is it ok to be angry at God for not listening to us?

4. Where did Jesus go when he died? Did he descend into Hell like the creed says? And why?

In January we're answering questions from our community in a real live "Ask Me Anything". Send yours to questions@cspc.org.au. This week's panel featured Kamina and Mick Wust, and Doug Green. Kamina has just finished her PhD in Song of Songs at Moore College, Mick has spent the last few years in Sydney teaching in the Youthworks Year 13 program, while Doug has been teaching Old Testament in theological colleges in the US and Australia for more than 30 years. They joined Nathan to answer:

1. Do the angels look after us or does Jesus look after us?

2. Why does the Catholic Bible have extra books? And who decides what's in the Bible?

3. Why are there two different genealogies of Jesus and how does his lineage work?

4. If the Bible is God's word and Jesus is God's word, how do these words work together? 

5. What is 'the big Gospel'? 

God's love is experienced in his presence, and in the presents he gives his people. The incarnation of Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's love.

Jesus came in the flesh to invite us to experience joy, in the flesh. Joy, through the Bible, is about being restored into the presence of God as creator and redeemer, and the source of abundant joy.

Jesus comes to bring us peace from the storms of life, by bringing us peace with God, and securing our future in his new creation.

Counting down to a beautiful Christmas; which is a Christmas full of hopeful anticipation that Jesus will return to make all things new because he came to end our exile from God.

Revelation invites us to choose between the city of God — the New Jerusalem, and the City of the Beast, represented by Rome, Babylon, and the old Jerusalem.

Beastly kingdoms don't just scare people into compliance with the sword, they create false Edens and false Messiahs and invite us in to false worship. They are parodies of the true kingdom of God, where the slain lamb will lead us into the new Eden he creates with his Father, if we worship him. 

Revelation invites us to choose our king, and to do so with the curtains of heaven opened so we can see the slain lamb on the throne with the almighty God at the centre of the heavens and the earth.

Revelation is a letter to seven churches. Seven is a symbolic number for fullness, so the letter is an invitation for the people of Jesus to stay faithful to him and so share in his victory and the new creation.

Revelation invites us to see Jesus as he really is, and see the world through from the throne room of heaven where he rules.

A journey through the Bible's vision of humanity — we either become beautiful or beastly depending on what we worship, what kingdom we join, and what king we serve.

A Biblical Theology of gardening — exploring our call to create little Edens; little pockets of resistance; in a Babylonian world.