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God‘s story is the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But it‘s also humanity‘s story, the story of a world fallen and blown apart and of a world reshaped and restored. It‘s the beginning of all beginnings and the end of all ends. Join Brent Siddall and the Rev Ian ‘Reido‘ Reid as they explore God, time, salvation and the cosmos. Explore the stories of Western culture as they pivot and interact with the main narrative of salvation history.
Episodes
Mar 23, 2022
Mar 23, 2022
28 min
Brent talks to John Norsworthy, an Adjunct Lecturer at Faith Bible College, NZ about his new book from Castle Publishing called ‘Why Humility Matters – The radical idea of the practice of humility’.
- (1:10) Why humility is such a radical idea. Definition of humility;
- (4:30) Is the practice of humility distinctively Christian?
- (5:30) Was humility valued in ancient society?
- (6:30) Modern political leaders;
- (7:10) The Greek idea of ‘hubris’;
- (8:30) What successful leadership is. Service;
- (9:00) Humility often the best form of defense;
- (11:40) How does the OT value humility?
- (16:15) How Jesus embodies and demonstrates humility;
- (20:00) How Paul dealt with humility in his letters;
- (21:40) Our position of honor is achieved by the sacrifice of Christ;
- (25:20) How we best practice humility;
Links mentioned in this episode:
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Mar 19, 2022
Mar 19, 2022
33 min
Brent talks to Tom Nelson, the president of ‘Made to Flourish’ a network that seeks to empower pastors to lead churches that produce human flourishing for the common good.
Tom’s new book from IVP America is called ‘The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership’.
- (0:55) What makes a flourishing pastor;
- (1:13) Is the art of pastoral leadership a lost art?
- (2:30) Why so many pastors burn out;
- (3:00) The celebrity culture in parts of the modern church;
- (6:00) The pressure churches are putting on pastors;
- (7:30) Advice to young pastors in prominent ministries with high visibility;
- (9:30) Pastoral apprenticeships;
- (12:15) Ministry should be a communal experience;
- (14:00) How we form shepherd leaders;
- (15:28) Good leaders need to be good followers;
- (16:46) Pastors as artists;
- (20:00) How to cultivate a flourishing church culture;
- (22:30) Turning a toxic church culture around;
- (26:14) The church and the workplace. Why pastors should equip us for the workplace.
- (30:00) How to navigate ethics in the workplace.
Links mentioned in today’s episode:
Chris Brooks & Tom Nelson 'The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership'
Made to Flourish | Faith, Work and Economic Wisdom
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Mar 16, 2022
Mar 16, 2022
26 min
Brent talks to Kelly Kapic, a professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia about his new book from Brazos Press, ‘You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News’.
We find out how our limits reflect God’s design and why that’s good news!
- (0:45) Why should we reflect on our human limitations?
- (1:30) Ways we’re not in control;
- (2:39) How we can face our human limitations;
- (3:52) Anxious children;
- (4:20) Modern life is ‘violent’. Anxiety is an inappropriate relation to time. Anxiety can overwhelm us;
- (5:30) The history of clocks and of time;
- (6:00) Our view of time;
- (8:16) Is God efficient?
- (9:15) How we live in harmony with time;
- (10:00) Cultivating the fear of the Lord. God is near;
- (10:30) The original temptation was to be infinite;
- (12:45) We sometimes view matter as evil;
- (14:00) How we should relate to ourselves with regard to body image;
- (16:50) How does our culture interfere with our ability to be ourselves;
- (18:45) How do we get real with time;
- (20:00) Sleep as a spiritual discipline;
- (21:22) The importance of humility;
- (23:30) Why we should praise God for our limits.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Brazos Press Division Homepage | Baker Publishing Group
Kelly Kapic 'You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News'
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Mar 12, 2022
Mar 12, 2022
26 min
Brent and Ian discuss Hebrews chapter 12 verses 14-29
How do we live out the truth of the gospel and persevere in faith?
- (2:00) Living at peace with people. How do we do it?
- (3:25) Is it always possible to live at peace with everyone?
- (4:30) Difficult people in churches;
- (5:30) Holiness is God’s goal for our lives;
- (7:30) Why it’s important to become more like Jesus;
- (9:00) Exercising appropriate anger and still living at peace with people;
- (10:00) Bitterness and immorality;
- (10:52) Bitterness connected to legalism;
- (11:38) What is legalism and what’s lawlessness?
- (13:45) How grace is the antidote for bitterness;
- (15:00) How immorality damages us;
- (19:40) Why we shouldn’t necessarily buy into what our culture tells us;
- (22:00) God as a consuming fire. A warning;
- (27:25) How God’s holiness is consistent with His grace.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Palmerston North - Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
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Mar 9, 2022
Mar 9, 2022
26 min
Brent and Ian discuss Hebrews 12:1-13
Are you struggling to keep believing in Jesus? Are you having trouble keeping going in the Christian faith?
- (1:03) Hebrews is addressed to Christians who are struggling to persevere;
- (3:54) What the writer advises us to do to put our eyes on Jesus;
- (4:30) Running and race imagery in the passage;
- (4:55) What to do with things that are keeping us from Jesus;
- (6:23) Fixing our eyes on Jesus;
- (7:02) Persevering and enduring hardship;
- (10:55) God using suffering for the purpose of discipline;
- (11:20) Why Christians suffer;
- (13:35) The goal of God’s discipline;
- (16:00) We’re being trained for heaven;
- (18:30) How discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and peace;
- (22:35) The Christian race is a team effort;
- (24:20) How pastors can train their churches to run the race.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Palmerston North - Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
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Mar 5, 2022
Mar 5, 2022
32 min
Brent and Ian explore God’s alternate reality in Hebrews 11.
- (2:17) How the Bible presents us with an alternate reality;
- (3:40) God’s alternate reality in Hebrews 11;
- (5:15) How the Old Testament saints see a better reality;
- (6:01) What we learn about faith in chapter 11;
- (11:21) How Abraham trusts God;
- (12:30) How Abraham senses God’s alternate reality;
- (14:30) How Joseph sees God’s alternate reality;
- (17:25) Why Moses perseveres;
- (19:39) The significance of Rahab;
- (22:15) How we are called to believe in God’s alternate reality;
- (25:30) How we can bring heaven to earth;
- (29:10) How we are in conflict with our culture;
- (30:30) Why we shouldn’t long for the past.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Palmerston North - Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
What should we talk about? Please let us know in the comments.
Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please give us a rating and leave a short review.
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Mar 2, 2022
Mar 2, 2022
46 min
Brent and Ian talk with Kiwi musician Brett Wilson about his new book from Castle Publishing called ‘Let’s Back Up a Bit – Conversations with Pioneering Kiwi Christian Musicians’.
How have Kiwi musicians been inspired by God in the past few decades?
Brett Wilson is a musician and songwriter who lives in Hamilton and who is now Communications Co-Ordinator for CBS, a Hamilton based health IT company.
- (1:20) Are Christians afraid of music?
- (3:14) Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Lee Lewis;
- (5:30) God glorified in all realms. What actually is Christian music?
- (7:05) Is there something of God in all music?
- (8:00) Dave White and the Rev’s;
- (10:26) Why Brett chose the interview format for the book;
- (11:20) How the Kiwi contemporary Christian music scene developed;
- (13:28) Evangelism at concerts;
- (14:27) Certain Sounds and the Youth for Christ movement;
- (19:00) Derek Lind – a godfather of Kiwi Christian music;
- (20:00) David and Dale Garrett;
- (21:50) Stephen Bell-Booth;
- (26:21) How much visual and audio material of these musicians survives;
- (27:00) Advice to young Kiwi musicians;
- (30:00) We need a good theology of music.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Let's Back Up a Bit - Vision College
Music featured in today’s podcast:
- Steve Apirana - ‘No Turning Back’ from his 1992 album of the same name;
- Derek Lind – ‘A Man Like Me’ from his debut album ‘Mixed Blessings’ (1986);
- Stephen Bell-Booth – ‘Wonderful God’ from his album ‘Food For the Journey (1999)
Thank you to the artists for permission to use their recordings.
Brett Wilson writes -
Derek Lind's last 3 albums are on Spotify plus his best of collection (the first 3 albums are yet to make it there - though his 2nd and 3rd album can be streamed from my YouTube channel alongside some other historical recordings Otherwise physical copies might be found here: https://www.dereklind.com/SHOP-ART--MUSIC
Steve Apirana's albums are on Spotify, Apple Music and amplifier, and also available from Koorong Books online and in stores on request.
Stephen Bell-Booth has one album on Spotify - Letting the People Know (1983)
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Feb 26, 2022
Feb 26, 2022
37 min
How does the metal man image of Daniel 2 relate to the book of Revelation? What does the Empire statue image mean?
- (0:49) The conflict of Empires established further. The Babel project again;
- (3:08) How the Empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome become God’s Empire for the Restoration period;
- (9:00) The Jewish people as faithful witnesses within the Empire;
- (9:45) What happens in the chapter. Political crisis and opportunity;
- (12:23) Significance of the image and the parts of it;
- (22:04) The significance of the clay – the Herod’s and the religious leaders;
- (24:10) The stone that smashes the statue. The Lord Jesus and the Kingdom He brings. The book of Revelation and the book of Daniel.
- (27:30) The metal man in Daniel 2 and the metal man in Revelation 1;
- (29:34) God’s sovereign control over human history.
- (35:30) James Jordan’s book ‘The Handwriting on the Wall’
Links mentioned in today’s episode:
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Feb 23, 2022
Feb 23, 2022
35 min
A conflict of Empires and a Babel project examined.
Brent and Reido are joined by Dr Alastair Roberts of the Theopolis Institute in the USA who explains the background to the book of Daniel and explores chapter 1.
- (0’57) Who was Daniel?
- (2:03) Background of exile;
- (2:20) How Daniel recapitulates big theological themes;
- (4:12) Daniel about ‘new beginning’s;
- (5:14) The conflict of Empires;
- (11:12) The vessels of the Temple;
- (15:00) What happens in Daniel 1;
- (16:40) How chapter 1 recapitulates the creation account in Genesis;
- (19:20) The importance of Shinar and the Babel connection;
- (20:18) Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom as a Babel project;
- (24:30) Numbers in the book of Daniel – 5 the number of power and 4 – Daniel and his 3 friends as the corners of a new house;
- (27:00) Daniel as a chiastic structure and how it works. What is a chiastic structure?
Links mentioned in today’s episode:
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Feb 19, 2022
Feb 19, 2022
32 min
We talk with Nick Klinkenberg, founder of Vision Churches International. His book ‘How to Multiply Churches’ is published by Castle Publishing in New Zealand.
- (0:46) Covid’s impact on ministry. Importance of micro or small churches;
- (4:29) Micro churches and what they can do;
- (7:22) Why Europe was so central to the strategy;
- (9:56) Why we need to multiply churches. Church planting the best long term evangelistic method;
- (12:00) Why this book is published backwards;
- (14:27) How you can multiply your church;
- (17:12) Word, Worship, Community and Mission;
- (19:17) Has the church neglected evangelism;
- (21:00) How does a church handle evangelism in a time of Covid;
- (23:30) Interconnected micro churches. The early church was like the internet;
- (25:20) How was the early church planted?
Links mentioned in this episode:
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