The Centre Dural Podcast

BANTER - Change & Transition

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch & Murray chat about the importance of change, how to overcome the fears and anxiety associated with new seasons and delve deeper into what scripture teaches us about transitions.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

Change & Transition - Mitch Levingston

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14There is a time for everything,    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
    a time to be born and a time to die,    a time to plant and a time to uproot,    a time to kill and a time to heal,    a time to tear down and a time to build,    a time to weep and a time to laugh,    a time to mourn and a time to dance,    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,    a time to search and a time to give up,    a time to keep and a time to throw away,    a time to tear and a time to mend,    a time to be silent and a time to speak,    a time to love and a time to hate,    a time for war and a time for peace.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799

Brian Codrington - Celebrating 34 Years at The Centre

There are moments when words fall short, and this is one of them.
This week, we honour and celebrate a man whose fingerprints are all over the story of The Centre Dural. If you’ve ever kicked a ball in our sports hall, joined a mission team, walked through our café, sat in church or turned wood, then you’ve encountered the 34-year legacy of Brian Codrington.
None of us would be here today in the way we are if it weren’t for the groundwork Brian laid. From the humble beginnings of Dural Sport and Leisure Centre to its current iteration as a hub of discipleship, sport community outreach, and international mission.
His work was never just about programs; it was always about people. Whether through Futsal with the Solomon Islands, the Wunan Foundation and Kimberley mission trips, or building up the Dural Warriors, Brian has poured out his life to serve others, cross boundaries, and empower others. Alongside him every step of the way has been Lynne, whose quiet strength and unwavering support have made this ministry partnership possible.
In the Parable of the Talents, the master entrusts his three servants with portions of gold; two invest it, and one buries it. To the servants who multiply what they were given, hear these beautiful words:
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
Brian has lived that parable. He has taken the five talents entrusted to him and invested them wisely. From sports strategy to spiritual counsel, vision casting and a humble presence, he has cultivated an abundant harvest. Not just here in Dural, but across Australia and the Pacific.
We know that Brian would never seek applause. But we would be remiss not to thank you for your service, your vision, your prayers, your sweat, and your faith.
Brian and Lynne, you will be deeply missed, but your legacy is alive and bearing fruit. And the words echo from Heaven to here:
Well done, good and faithful servant.
With love, gratitude and the blessing of the whole church and Centre community
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799

Who is my neighbour? - Lyndon Rumsey

Luke 10:25-37
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
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TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
I love this passage of scripture, but it's so familiar to us, isn't it? And, you know, every day. In fact, twice this week when I'm watching the news on TV, they referred to someone who is doing some sort of an act as being a good Samaritan. It's so familiar to us, you know, we read headlines like Mother Praises Good Samaritan who saved his son on a busy road, a good Samaritan injured while trying to stop thieves.
It's just such a common thing. And it's amazing, isn't it? I don't know any verse of scripture that so common, so colloquially used. You know, politicians over the years have used these terms as well. Margaret Thatcher as, British Prime minister, claimed that the wealthy should have further tax breaks so that it would have the means to help those less fortunate.
To be a good Samaritan. She said. And George Bush, when he was American president and he led his troops into Iran, claimed this was an example of being a good Samaritan because they were crossing the road to help those people in need. Really, I, I haven't read this book yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Nick Spencer, a British researcher in theology, published a book entitled The Political Somatic and How Pot Power Hijacked a Parable.
We use it. So for me, these words about the Good Samaritan, we know the story. We've we've heard it 100 times over. And one of the problems with that is that we miss sometimes a fresh reading where God wants to speak to us. So can we have the first slide? Jeremy, thank you. Yeah. So the teacher of the law asked, Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Now, I don't know why he was asking whether this was some sort of trap. Every time I read that teacher of the law, I'm always concerned about what, What what is the teacher of law up to? What's he trying to do here? But anyway, I ask the question and Jesus replies, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Well, that all sounds very simple, doesn't it? Simple in the way the words are, but it's actually so complicated, so difficult to do. So today I wanted to talk about understand ending. Who is your neighbor? You know, there's the person next door. There's the person you're sitting next to you now, but there's a lot more to it. You know, parables are stories which Jesus often uses, where he takes an everyday situation where people are so familiar with it, and then he draws out a spiritual truth from it that contrasts, someone I remember when I first became a believer, someone said parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
Well, anyway, we need to seek and understand who is our neighbor. Can we have the next slide, please? Jeremy. Thank you. Jeremy. He's got a couple of help us out there so you can do this gentleman, which is great to say. So a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and when he fell into the hands of robbers, they stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
You know, the journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is about 21km. It's about the equivalent of walking from Hornsby to Parramatta. But it's said that it's very steep and has a descent descent of 3500ft, and it's well known. It's a dangerous trip because there's lots of robbers now. We don't know why this man was taking this trip. He must have been aware of the fact that robbers are there and it's difficult, but he needs to take the trip.
And the end result is, of course, he gets attacked by robbers, beaten up and left lying in the dirt, half dead. His body would have been bloodied and caked with dirt and he was in a real mess. But we don't know anything about him. The parable actually is the story just doesn't tell us a name for him, doesn't name him, doesn't tell us you know what his name?
Age, his age, his nationality. We don't know whether he's married, whether he's got children. We don't know what he does for a living because none of those things seem important. But the man is a complete stranger, and he's a complete stranger to every other person described in the story. You know, in many ways, strangers are just people we haven't met yet, aren't they?
There's nothing. We we dismiss them and we walk around them and we ignore them. But they just people we haven't met yet.
We spend most of our time looking after ourselves, don't we? And our loved ones. And I guess that's primarily what we want to do. But all those strangers we walk past, I think my normal week and my normal week, I made at least one person that I haven't met before. They might be a relative of someone in the residence which I work in, or they might be someone I made at the shops or or somewhere, and they're complete strangers.
But we need to understand that, to understand who is my neighbor? We have the next one, please, Jeremy. Thank you.
Next, we read that a priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. And so to a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side by for these people. These men hold important positions in the church, the temple in those days.
The praise, of course, is called by God to serve him. The Levites, very similar. But you and I belong to a priesthood to one Peter two nine says, and I think Morris used this verse last week, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God. We're like that priest. We too are called to serve God in all different ways.
We might be called priests, but we are priests where people who take the Word of God and we share it with people through our actions and our words, through our thoughts. That's what we do. But processing what this priest is busy. If he's running a temple, he's too busy. He's got somewhere else to go to. It's not his problem.
So he crosses over the road. And then there's this Levite. You know, Levites were highly esteemed. They are a privileged position there to help the priests conduct all the things that go on in the temple. And we could namedrop some of them. There's so many important people that were Levites in the Bible, people like Moses, Aaron, Samuel, Ezekiel, Malachi, Barnabas, John the Baptist, even the basketball riders Matthew and Mark are all Levites.
They're important people. I don't know what quite the equivalent would be in today's church. Maybe. Maybe it's those that belong to our church council or those who head up programs in our church. Maybe they're the equivalent of the modern day equivalent of the Levite. But just like the priest, the Levite sees the man and crosses the road. You and I might judge their actions say they were so, so awful that they crossed the road, but as yourself, have you ever crossed the road and ignored someone with the need I know I have?
Why do it? Why do we do that? We say, well, we're not involved and there's risk involved. The person might be dangerous. All of those things. We promote all those things as good ways to look after ourselves. But in crossing that road, the priest and the Levite failed to understand who is their neighbor. And then we come to the Samaritan.
He's the real hero of the story, isn't he? Well, we all want to identify with him. We might not want to be a priest or a Levi, but we're all. We would all like to think that we're a Samaritan, but a Samaritan as he traveled. Can we that next slide, please? Thank you. You've already got it there. Thank you.
Take good. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. And when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to the inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper.
Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. I like Jesus, he's. He's clever. Here. He's chosen a Samaritan to represent the person who does well. Knowing what Jews think of Samaritans, you know, the Jews thought Samaritans were racially and ethnically and theologically impure. The Samaritans were descendants of those who were left in the North when when the Assyrians invaded Israel and Jerusalem and they took they took the Jews out of there.
But the Samaritans kind of remained. And then the Samaritans did all the things that we do say. Well, they tried to fit into the world they were in. They intermarried. They got to know people, and they became part of that. And of course, the Samaritans didn't believe in Jerusalem is such a great place. Their place of worship was Mount Gerizim.
They rejected the Jewish Bible. They only accepted the first five books. That Pentateuch, as they as the real Scripture say, for the average Jew, they and the average Samaritan, both of them at height at each other. Oh, at very least disliked each other. So Jesus parable picks up the story of a Samaritan to tell a Jewish teacher of the law is clever.
Jesus, isn't he? It really likes to rub it in. When he tells you something, he digs deep into you. And so the Samaritan man sees a complete stranger and he gets involved because he happens to be there. I wonder how often you and I are meant to get involved, but we cross the road. We look the other way.
We we convince ourselves that has nothing to do with us. It gets down and he bathes the man's wounds and he binds them. He pours on oil and wine, and then he places him on his donkey, and he takes him to an inn, taking care of him, and pays the innkeeper for his care and his and his future care.
I think Mary, in the newsletter this week said, you know, imagine you took him to, would you take him to a hospital and take care of him? What happens if he doesn't get medical cover? Would you would you hang around to pay the bill, or would you take him to a hotel? And Mary made the comment. You'd have to say to him, please don't use the minibar.
You know what I mean? Buys like that, you know, they cost three times the price. What would you have done? Would you have helped him? Would you take a stranger and do a lacing? Helping people is messy, and it's also a very inconvenient. There's a cost, and we need to take a risk and be vulnerable. You know, we're told to be wary of strangers, but you have to take a risk.
Could we have the next slide, please, Jeremy? Thank you.
This picture here is by Vincent Van Goff. And if you have a look at the Samaritan man he's struggling to put the man on his donkey. And there's a lot of other pieces of art that I could have put in there. But it's a struggle, isn't it? I like this picture. You can say the Samaritan man is struggling in himself and the other man is pretty hopeless.
He was half dead and he's being put on the on the donkey. But it's a reminder to you and I that helping people is costly if you think it comes easy, but just because you think this is what God wants you to do, God doesn't always make it easy for us. He wants you to do it. But it's costly.
It's difficult. You know, we live in this community where there's so many people with needs. There are those that are hungry. You know, we see we see some of those people have hands and feet on a Monday here. We see them, you know, people there in the past have told me if you if I didn't collect this box of food now, I don't know what it'd be on the table by Wednesday night.
I've never been that hungry. And I imagine some of you might have been. They are that hungry for things. There's many people with different needs, and there's people with disabilities struggling just to do the normal things that you and I do. They're so hard. And there's the sick. Some that are chronically sick. Yes, we we rightly so. Pray for people in hospital that we know, but there are some that have ongoing sickness that just doesn't go away.
It's so hard for them. And then there's those with addictions. Alcohol and drugs are rife in our community, and we might stay away from them because we don't know how exactly they're going to react. But I, I have a great need. We need to ask God whether we need to act and help in those situations. And then some who are new to this country and they're struggling to assimilate.
And yes, their English is in great. They struggle to speak and tell you what what they want. And that must be so frustrating to them doesn't mean they're not intelligent. Good morning judge, how are you?
George wants to be up here, I think. But you know, I can cope with that. And then perhaps even more hidden and more frequently are those that are lonely. Lonely? Do you know people that are lonely? I talk to people every week who have families, and I've residents where I work and definitely residents and I talk about their loneliness.
It doesn't mean they're not. They don't have people around them, but they are lonely. I love that we run the men's shed. It's one of the blessings of the men's shed is that a lot of the guys go there. Not so much to learn the skills, but they learn to go there because they're lonely. Will you take the time to stop and and get to know them and talk to them to be a good Samaritan?
May I suggest to reach out to them?
We have the next slide. Oh no it's not. Forget that. Stay where you are. I didn't put it up there. I love what one Peter 410 says. It says each one should use whatever gift he's receive to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. God's church is meant to be that sort of place. It's meant to be a place where we excuse me, where we help strangers, where people can come in and find acceptance and love, where we share generously what we have.
Yes. We pray that those people will find faith, and some will and some won't. So what, I ask you, where you cross the road.
Or stay on the same road. On the same course. And reach out to those people who have needs. And in doing so, will you discover what it truly means to be a neighbor, to understand who is your neighbor? If the band want to come up now? Thank you. When I think about this parable, my own efforts fall so short.
There is so many times I've I've walked around, people pretended not to notice or not really met people's needs. So may I encourage you? Will you be open to reaching out to strangers? Those people that you haven't met yet, get out and share with them the love of Jesus. Will you also reflect on all those times that you ignored the needs of others and learned some lessons from it?
Because that's what we're meant to do? And thirdly, will you respond to the Holy Spirit who wants to show you who is your neighbor? Let me pray first. Dear Lord, this area is so hard. The parable is so simple, but the area of need is so great and I have concerns and things sometimes overwhelm us. Lord, will you help us to understand?
And will you show us who is our neighbor? And I pray this in Jesus name. I mean.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

Why are people so old in Genesis? - Murray Lambert

To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
for those who read the pastor's desk on Friday, you are probably aware that we're looking at something a little bit different this morning.
Something a little bit, uncommon for us to spend that much time on in a usual service. We're looking at the genealogies, the genealogies, or at least two of the genealogies in Genesis. I think it's really important before I get into this just, you know, as a bit of a good pastoral care that I think that when we look at the genealogies and how we interpret them in their genre, it ultimately isn't a necessity of the gospel.
Whether we want to read these genealogies that we're reading as straight, historical, or is something which is maybe playing into an ancient Near Eastern genre. It ultimately doesn't really change the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he came to earth. They died for our sins. They rose on the third day, ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the father.
Amen. So as we build on that, I just first wanted to maybe unpack some of the rationale behind why I thought that this might be an important thing to even explore. And for me personally, growing up, I went to a secular school, and it was the kind of secular, selective schools. So it sort of attracted a certain ilk of people.
So I end up finding myself as an 18, 19, 20 year old, being friends with a bunch of very intellectual atheists, which essentially meant that when I was trying to share the gospel with them, they were getting stuck at Genesis one. They were getting stuck at Genesis two. They were getting stuck at Genesis three. They were getting stuck at Genesis four and five, which we're going be looking at today.
That was saying, how possibly am I supposed to believe that somebody lived to 969 when there is no archeological evidence of anyone living beyond the age of 60 at that time, and me being a little bit less informed about maybe how we can read some of these ancient texts at that point. Got so caught up in Genesis one two, three, four, or five.
We never got to Jesus. In fact, we didn't even get to Exodus. And I think that's why it's important for us to look at this today and say that irrespective of how we might want to read these passages, whether we want to take them all as absolutely historical facts or interpret them as something which is still historical but written in a certain type of genre that we aren't really accustomed to, that we're doing this because is actually a deep evangelical heart to this, that there are way too many people in our culture who are getting caught up in these first passages at the expense of never getting to Jesus.
And this is the point of Scripture, right? It's supposed to point us towards Jesus. So as we look at this today, I want you to just have a bit of an open mind. And when you have an opportunity, as Maurice said, to think that underneath the surface of this water, there might be something else going on, something much deeper, and something maybe even more powerful.
So with all of that in mind, I want to kind of get into it. So let me quickly pray for us. So, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are omniscient, that as you were seated at the right hand of the father, now you know all. And God, we thank you that you are the creator of all things and God, we thank you that we don't know it all.
We thank you that you call us to come into a place of humility, into a place of submission to you and ultimately God, into a place of faithfulness. To continue to wrestle with this text and understand what your heart is, to understand what your overarching story is, which is that you love us. Do you want to be in relationship with us?
But God, you also want us to engage each day in knowing you. Sometimes that can look like a wrestle. So I pray that as we do that this morning, that we would grow into a close the likeness of Christ, that we would grow in our love, that we'd grow in our humility, and we'd be led by your spirit in Jesus name, Amen.
So I think we would all agree that the pretty well known passage in two Timothy 316 to 17 says, All Scripture, all Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Interestingly, one of the commentaries that I was reading this week in preparation for this sermon actually pointed to another passage of Scripture, Deuteronomy 32 seven, which is some of Moses's sort of last words to the Israelites before he dies.
And in this passage he says, remember the days of old. Consider the generations long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you your elders, and I'll explain to you. She said, in some ways, this passage is so timely for us today, because we need to look at these genealogies and look back to our forefathers of the faith to understand more deeply what might be going on here.
And ultimately, this is what I want to be doing this morning. So we're going to be looking right now at two genealogies that are sort of back to back in Genesis four and five. They're the family lines of Adam and Eve's two sons that we sort of are told about, that go on to have, you know, children and children and children.
So this is the lines of Cain and then Seth. So we'll remember that Cain was the brother who, you know, famously kills Abel. He's a murderer. He's sort of the classic what not to do. And then we have Seth, who is seen as the father of the line of eventually Jesus. But Noah and Moses and all of the heroes of the faith kind of come through Seth.
So as we read these, I want to just ask you to do three things for me. The first one is just pretend. This is the first time you've ever read these. Marty Solomon, the theologian, talks about the lullaby effect that Scripture can have on us when we've read it. Five, ten, 15, 20, 100 times before we start to get lulled into a sense of familiarity that we no longer ask the questions in the Scripture and the way that rabbinical teaching goes is you're looking for problems in the text, because that is often with gold is what problems are in this text.
The next thing I want you to do is notice the difference between the two genealogies. There's some really notable differences in the way that both of them are structured, and the finest thing is noticed. Any obvious problems and challenges, which I've already said. So with that in mind, let's get into it. The line of Cain. Genesis four 1726 I very mercifully didn't get mastery this way.
Too many Hebrew names, I think, for someone to be reading off the cuff. So I'm just going to fumble through it. So Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad and Irad was the father of Yale and Yale was the father of Matthew Shale.
And Matthew Shale was the father of lemon. Lemon married two women, one named Athena and the other Zillah. Ada gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and raised livestock. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal Cain.
He forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain sister was Nama Lamech said to his wives Ida and Zillah. Listen to me, wives of Lemack hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then 77 times. Okay, so obviously just earlier in the Scripture, Cain says to God, don't send me out into the wilderness.
I'll be I'll be killed. It's unsafe out there. And God says, I promise you that anybody who causes you any harm, you will be avenged seven times. And now he's saying, I'll be avenged 77 times with numbers to us. If we were reading this for the first time. Yeah. Why 77 times, wouldn't we? I mean, because we're kind of.
We fall into that lullaby reading of it, we go, oh, well, obviously serving is the holy number. And obviously seven had great significance to the ancient Hebrews. But if we'll read this the first time, we go 77 times, that's that's odd. What's going on there? All right. So let's jump over now into the line of Seth. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth after Seth was born.
Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters all together. Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died when Seth had lived 105 years. He became the father of Enos after he became the father of another. Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters altogether. Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
When Enoch had lived 90 years. He became the father of Canaan after he became the father of Cain. And Enos lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters altogether. Enos lived a total of 905 years, and then he died when Kenan had lived 70 years. He became the father of Mahalo after he became the father of Mahalo, Kanan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
Altogether, Kanan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died. Then the Mahalo had lived 65 years. He became the father of Jared after he became the father of Jared. Mahalo lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters all together. Mahalo lived a total of 895 years. And then he died. When Jared had lived 162 years.
He became the father of Enoch after he became the father of Enoch. Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters all together. Jared lived a total of 962 years and then he died. We're almost there. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters all together.
Enoch lived a total of 365 years, and Enoch walked faithfully with God. Then he was no more, because God took him away when Methuselah. So I had lived 187 years. He became the father of lemak after he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
The oldest person recorded in the Bible, 969 years when Lima had lived 180 years. He had a son. He named him Noah. This is the end, he said. He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed. After Noah's born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters altogether, lived a total of 777 years.
And then he died after Noah's 500 years old, he became the father of Shem Ham in Japan. So again, we're looking at these questions. What stands out to us? Well, I think if we're being really honest, if we're being really, really honest with us, what stands out is why are these people so old? Like, why are these people so old?
Like, what is going on? What is going on? And nonsensical ages, you know, like some of them, you go, oh, okay, I'm starting to see a pattern here. Like, you know, 800 years. Cool. Three oh, like 912 years. 960 now what's this mean? What am I supposed to do with this? I guess I just gotta have faith in the words of George Michael.
I just gotta have faith. Faith, faith. That's what I gotta do, right? That's what we're told in Sunday school. We just gotta have faith. God can do all things right. God can do all things. But you know, we have to also, when we say God can do all things, no. God's nature. Like for example, this is an extreme example, but I think it's helpful if you found out suddenly write that on the side.
I've been involved in nefarious acts, right? That I was doing awful things, that I was, you know, ending people's lives and taking people hostage and doing these awful things. You'd go, well, yeah, like Murray could do that. But is it aligned with his nature that I know of him? Is that how he usually operates? Well, no, no, that's not how he operates.
So when we say, yeah, like God can do all things. Yes. But God also operates faithfully within his nature. This is a glaring problem that we ignore. And the reality is, I think part of the reason that we take such a staunch stance against like, well, it's God's word. So it must be fact is, because we actually live in an era that tells us this narrative that there's two teams Christianity, religion, faith and science and reason and rationale, and that these two things cannot at all synthesize and harmonize in any way that they complete pull the opposites.
And if you truly believe the Bible, then scientists are just arrogant atheists who don't trust the Word of God. And if you're a scientist, will Christians are just dumb, naive people who don't actually care about scientific inquiry and revelation. And yet, this is a very new narrative in the history of our world. This is very, very new is only about the 1800s with the enlightenment and rationalism, that people started thinking that these two things couldn't be mutually harmonious.
It's very, very recent. And we get caught up in this lie, in this narrative of our culture that says that science and Christianity cannot synthesize, cannot work together. In fact, all the way back in the 1200s, the saint Thomas Aquinas wrote this in one of his two most famous books, summary against the Gentiles. He writes. So it's unreasonable and even shameful for someone to accept the belief of the faith blindly without trying to understand why it's true, especially if they have the ability to understand it.
It's fine for ordinary people to believe without deep understanding. Again, remember at this time a lot of people were illiterate. So just putting that into context of what an ordinary person might look like for Thomas Aquinas to believe without deep understanding, because they may not be able to grasp the reasons. But for those who are educated, believing without seeking understanding is actually sinful.
Who believing without understanding is actually sinful. So. Houston. Popular theories about why people lived so well. First, the calendars were different. So one sort of common rationale behind why people live so long is because when they say someone lived for so many years, they actually meant that they live for that many months. That's sort of how we should be reading it, which means divide all the ages by 12.
And suddenly Methuselah, who lived to 969, becomes a very, you know, more reasonable 81 years old, even though, you know, all of the evidence says that no one lived past 60. I think we could probably stomach 81. Right. I'm I can't get my head around that. But then that brings up a whole bunch of other problems. For instance, if we're to divide everybody's age by 12, it means that Adam fathered his third child, Seth, at the age 11.
And it means that Enoch would have had Methuselah when he was about five.
It's also like no other mention in records of the way that the words were used for a year in ancient Hebrew to mean anything other than a solar year. So I don't I don't find that that convincing. Another sort of rationale is sort of a large groupings of arguments that there's a change of Earth's rotation or atmosphere that somehow maybe the Earth was spinning faster, so the sun moved quicker, so years happened faster, or maybe there was some sort of canopy of water above in the sky, that this was a scientific thing, and not just the way that the ancient Hebrews understood the world.
But again, there's just no archeological evidence to support any of this at all. And again, the fact is that the average age of a man living in the ancient Near East is about 40 Max 60. And there are actually these legal documents and taxation records that we have at this time of people living to about 40 to 60.
There's no evidence of any skeletons ever been found of anyone in that era who live past about 60. Then finally there's the dynasty clan explanation, which is like, well, when it says that Adam, that this song, that was his legacy, his clan. But there's no real precedent for any other place where a legacy and a lineage is spoken about in that way, when it's then passed to a son and a grandson and he's still the lineage of Adam, it doesn't change just because somebody's son came in or someone's grandson is still, if we're talking about the age of Adam in that way, it would continue.
And then the reality is some of these sons, we say in the text, interacting with their fathers. So we say that Noah didn't have his sons until age 500, and then Shem and Ham and Japheth are on the ark with him. So these people were existing at the same time. The fathers and the sons often. But there is a final option which I find most convincing, which is we're reading the genre wrong.
I think we're reading the genre wrong if we're going to read it literally. And I said on the In the Passage desk on Friday, it's hard because we don't understand the genre of ancient genealogies, but if we were to live in a place where we didn't understand love poetry as a genre and didn't understand the rhetorical devices of metaphor, well, the woman in the Song of Songs wouldn't really be that beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats. Your teeth are like a flock of use. Your lips are like a scarlet thread. Your temples are a slice of pomegranate. Your neck is like the Tower of David. Your breasts are like two phone gazelle. Probably not winning any Miss Universe any time soon. Yeah, I don't know why.
You know, as tradition says, King Solomon thought that she was so beautiful. And we think that's ridiculous. Of course, because we know the genre. We know how to read that in context. So what? How should we better understand the genre of biblical genealogy? Well, I'm going to hand over to Doctor John Walton, who is not, if not the one of the leading biblical scholars in understanding how ancient Near Eastern worldviews, supposed to be synthesized with Scripture.
So let's quickly see what he has to say. I'm John Walton, I'm a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and my specialty is understanding the Old Testament against the background of the ancient near. I'm John Walton, I'm a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and my specialty is understanding the Old Testament against the background of the ancient Near East.
All of these people and the visuals don't really matter. Just just listen to what he has to say. That's all right. It's just the white guy. And I'm John Walton. I'm a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and my specialty is understanding the Old Testament against the background of the ancient Near East. All of these people in early genealogies of Genesis, living for hundreds and hundreds of years, Methuselah, 969 years.
How do we read something like that? Well, if we try to read it in the context of the ancient world, it might lead us to think differently than how we just think in our world. So, for instance, we're aware of piece of ancient literature called the Sumerian King List, and that records ten kings who ruled before the flood.
And their reigns were 36,000 years, 43,000 years, 18,000 years, a real youngster then. And so we see again, great. Time periods involved. And one of the questions we have to ask is, are they using numbers the same way we use numbers? Now, I'm not talking about mathematical systems. I'm talking about rhetorical value. What exactly do they mean by those numbers?
Numbers can be used rhetorically. We use them rhetorically at times. And so how do you tell the difference when a culture is using them rhetorically, or when they're using them precisely as numeric values? And that's the tricky thing. Genealogies in the ancient world are not the same. They don't have the same function as the genealogies that we might do today.
So we always have to be willing to make the cultural shift. I had a friend who was visiting Indonesia, and he went to a village and a woman was speaking, and she was introduced as a 40 year old woman, which she thought was strange because we'd never introduce a woman by her age, but he kind of registered in his mind.
She was obviously respected in the community. He came back to that village two years later, and the same woman was introduced to speak, and she was introduced as a 50 year old woman. At that point, his logic gear kicked in and he said, wait a minute. She just two years ago, I was here and she was 40 years old, and now she's 50 years old.
What's going on? And she said, oh, that has nothing to do with my age. That goes totally against our intuition. But she said, that has to do with the status of respect I have within the community, and has nothing to do with how old I am. And so later that day, when my friend was introduced as a 50 year old man, he was very honored by that being only 35.
Different cultures use numbers differently, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions by insisting that we must read them the same way they would be used in our culture. We have to try to understand how they might have used those numbers rhetorically.
Awesome, great. So yeah, professor John Walton, he works at Wheaton College, one of the most respected theological seminaries in the world, highly respected on staff, highly regarded within theological circles. I want to push forward to this next graph, which breaks down the ages in a way which we're not really used to, because if we saw that, you know, Abraham lived to 900 and then Seth lived to 800, and then if they were kind of clean, round numbers by our logic of a ten based system, we'd go, okay, that's another flag.
But the thing is, when when this genealogy was written, it was working off a base 60 system, which seems really weird to us, but ancient Mesopotamian math, which would have been how they were understanding numbers at that time, was based off 60. It's why we have 60s in a minute still today, and it's why we have 60 minutes in an hour, and that's why there is 360 degrees, six by 60 in a circle.
We still have inherited a lot of this 60 base mathematics today. It was a very widely used way of doing maths. So we've got base 60 okay. We understand that. And then 60 months equaled five years. So we've got six and five and then we've got the holy number throughout the ancient Near East which is seven. And you can literally make up every single one of the ages of the patriarchs in that genealogy from additions of 65 and seven.
And it's predominantly 60s and fives and sometimes sevens are thrown in there. And I was reading this and I'm like, I know, is this convincing? I'm kind of not convinced. Like, this kind of seems like someone really clever, just like finally figured out how to smush the numbers to make them make sense. So I actually texted our resident math genius, Josh Pate, this week, and I asked him, Josh, what is the likelihood if I generated 30 numbers randomly between 1 to 1000, that they all end in only zero, two, five, seven, or nine?
Okay, that's what I asked him. It's probably not very challenging math question for him to be honest, but it was challenging for me. So I asked him, hey Josh, if you answer random generate 30 numbers from 1 to 1000, what are the odds that they only end in zero, two, five, 7 or 9? He replied exactly half of the numbers between 1 to 1000 and in zero, two, five, 7 or 9.
So the probability that you generate 30 numbers that complete random, that only end in zero, two, five, seven, or nine is 1 in 2 to the power of 30. So that's one in 1 in 2 times, two times, two times two times two times 230 times. So we're talking about 1 in 1,073,000,000. That's that's the odds of that happening just by chance.
Interesting. And then he adds, however, and this is why it's important to us, people are actually good at math. These questions, he said that there's actually something else that's going on here. He said the 30 numbers are not actually random as the third number in each set is actually addition of the first two. It says Adam lived this long until he had Seth, and then he lived for this many more years and all that.
He lived that long. That is the structure of every single one. Is person had this son at this age, lived this many more years, and then lived this long. So what is then the odds of these numbers all still ending in these five numbers? With that addition added, he goes, what's a bit less? I said, well, how less?
He goes, oh, it's only about 1 in 90,000,000.
It's still pretty unlikely that just happened by chance. So through Josh, incredibly thorough calculations, if these ages are random, there's a one inch 90 million chance that they just by chance that these ones. It's more likely that there's a pattern going on and we see this. John Bolton mentioned this to Mary in King's text. It's only two slides.
Let's quickly read it. These are these ages that we see 28,800 years, 36,000 years. They ruled for 64,800 years or a lot. So we see again there's numbers. And then in addition of them and interestingly, they lived even longer than those in Genesis like 45 times longer. So if we're to use this as biological evidence for people living that long, it kind of doesn't hold up because these kings lived like 45 times longer than even Methuselah, who lived to 969.
So it can't really help us set a biological precedence. But what it can help set is a rhetorical literary genre style precedence that when we look at ancient lists of kings, they lived for a really, really, really long time to indicate that they were important, to indicate that they were powerful. Interestingly, every single one of the numbers in this list are all evenly divisible by 60.
Interesting. If we go to the next slide, you'll notice that this Kings list lasted until the flood. So there's more comparisons to be made between the Sumerian King list and the genealogy in Genesis, because these are people who go right up until this flood that's recognized throughout the ancient Near East that occurred this moment. The flood. And then also, interestingly, is that final number 241,200.
That's the accumulation of all of the years that these Sumerian kings reigned. If you were to, just for fun, divide it by 60 and then divide it by 60 again, you'd get the number 67, 60 plus the holy number seven, which is the holy number throughout the ancient Near East. In texts. It's pretty unlikely that all of these kings just happened to live perfectly round numbers that perfectly divide into 60.
Now, this is all great hidden knowledge, but like, what was this actually mean? How does it actually apply for us? Well, for first it means that we can read these genealogies in a way which is still faithful to our understanding of science and how long people lived at that time. Which means that when we're talking to people about the Bible, we're not getting caught at Genesis four and five, we can say, hey, actually, there's this ancient rhetorical style, the way that genealogies were written back then, that's very different to the way that we understand it.
But what is then Genesis five thing? Well, for one, it's setting these people up as kings, as kingly figures. And we see in the line of Cain that the the climactic king Lamech is all the things you don't want to be. He builds cities for his own glory. He's a warmonger who wants to revenge, fully kill people. And he has multiple wives, which is also something that we don't see recorded in Seth's lineage.
And when it gets to Abraham and he decides, oh, this thing with falling pregnant isn't really working. Hey, Hagar, why don't we. It doesn't really work out. This is the repeated story that we see throughout Scripture. When men take multiple wives, it doesn't work out great. Lemack is the kind of king of the greater world. He comes from the line of Cain.
He's become like the people around him. And they're saying, this isn't the kind of king that you want to become, because Genesis five is setting up Noah's line as a new type of kings. Kings who don't try to build these massive legacies for their own glory, but for God's glory. Enoch is the only one who is mentioned does anything other than have children.
And what does he do? He walks faithfully with the Lord. And then at 365 years, interesting amount. I don't know, 365 the interesting number for anyone, he decides. Oh, sorry. God decides to take him up to heaven. Seen as a righteous man.
Now, obviously the point is that yeah, we are. We are a priestly priesthood of believers, of kings and queens. But Jesus is our ultimate king. And what happens is when we take the posture of Jesus, who doesn't look to establish lineage and legacy for himself, who doesn't look to collect people as objects and tools of his own desire and wielding power, and who ultimately tells us to turn the other cheek, tells us to forgive our enemy, tells us to pray blessings upon those who curse us.
We see that this heart of kingship, of leadership, of stewardship, is being juxtaposed at the very beginning. And it's what we're meant to step into, to not be focusing about what can we build for our own legacy, for our own power, for our own prestige? But what can God be building through me? So not be thinking, how can I collect people as objects and tools to achieve my own ends, but instead to treat people with love and dignity, even to the point of forgiving and loving enemies?
Completely counter-cultural.
I might jump forward to one Peter two nine. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a royal holy nation, God's special position. You may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Even in revelation 510 to the four living creatures in the 24 elders proclaim to God, you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God.
And I will reign on earth for ever.
And then, Matt, I might jump forward to my next point. That Genesis five reminds us of the importance of legacy that ultimately, if any of these men at any point had decided to go off on their own side, quest to not have Noah, to not have Seth to not later in Scripture have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph to not have Jesus, to not be a faithful steward of the next generation, then ultimately, where would give God's story ended up?
But it reminds us the importance of legacy. And as we are adopted into the family of Abraham Church, we're not just people who made on Sundays. We are. We are sons and daughters together. We must be part of this family. And as we're talking about legacy, it's not just the children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and our own lives, but it's the young children that we see here this morning.
I and Emily are personally so thankful that we have people that we see intentionally investing in George's life. Even right now, people like Phil Mickelson, who is like obsessed with every single Thursday that he comes into the office, he wants to chat to Phil about firefighting like John Williams. Every single time these up at the community garden, he's like, John, can I, like, climb in your van?
Can I, like, see your bobcat? Can I see you do this? Can I see you do that? Can I help you? And John is very, very, very patient and kind and generous and gracious.
This is the sort of significance that goes all the way forward to Luke's gospel, when he lines Jesus's genealogy all the way from Adam to Jesus and peaches Jesus as the 76th generation in the list, which then means for us that we are the 77th generation in that list, as we are inherited into that family of believers, that there is a great command and call upon our lives to take this very seriously.
As people who are getting you that legacy. And finally, metal jump forward to Genesis four reminds us nothing but God can save us because interestingly, Enoch's legacy is he walked faithfully with the Lord all the days of his life and then God took him up to heaven. Lemak the good lemak, Noah's father, lived for 777 years, and then he had Noah, who's going to redeem humanity.
And yet we see, surprisingly in Genesis four that it's all of Cain's sons who seem to be the entrepreneurs who seem to be the ones who live in tents and raise livestock, the ones who create instruments and music, the ones who forge iron and steel, say, I think we can so often think that human endeavor and ingenuity is the thing that's going to save us, that if we just get better medicine, if we just get better governmental legislation, if we just create more beautiful art, than we will save the world.
And what these two genealogies are showing is that while those things aren't evil in and of themselves, when we place our hope in those, we just end up like the world. But when we place that hope in God and walk faithfully with him all the days of our life, then we can be part of a legacy which is eternal.
Yeah, cool up the band. Let us pray.
Father God, we thank you that we don't know it all once more. May we be humbled once more. May we be brought to our knees in worship once more. May we be reminded of the shoulders of the fathers of the faith. That we stand on the shoulders of the mothers of the faith that we stand on. Lord, may we not become ambivalent or complacent about the role that we play as the next people who take that baton for as people who walk faithfully with the Lord all the days of our life, as people who invest in the next generation of believers.
God, we just recognize that the most impactful thing we might do in our lives is invest in a future hero of the faith that might be the most important thing we do in our lives to God. I just want to pray right now that you would help us to have a deeper sense of community here, a deeper sense of legacy, a deeper sense of investing and discipling and mentoring, but not for our glory, not for those who go for its glory, but God ultimately for your glory.
We don't want to build cities for our own name. We don't want to use people as objects and tools for our own planning and striving. God, we don't want to hang on to any of our own developments and inventions, and striving as the thing that's going to save us is, Lord, when we put our hope in things which a man made.
We let go of the things which God made. And God, we thank you that you have a plan for us. We thank you that you have a purpose for us. We thank you that you have a hope and a future. And Lord, I pray that as we step into that this morning, we can continue to be stewards of the faith.
You step into that 77th generation.
And can make an impact for your Kingdom. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

BANTER - Jesus is Lord and Messiah

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch and Murray go deeper into Psalms 110 and 16 to explore the deeper biblical allusions Peter was making in his famous sermon in Acts 2.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

Jesus is Lord and Messiah - Mitch Levingston

Acts 2:22-41
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.    Because he is at my right hand,    I will not be shaken.Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;    my body also will rest in hope,because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,    you will not let your holy one see decay.You have made known to me the paths of life;    you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord:    “Sit at my right handuntil I make your enemies    a footstool for your feet.”’
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
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TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
Oh, good morning again, everybody. Morning. How are we this morning? Well called. Yes. Yes. Well So we're in the final, week of our preparing for Pentecost series. And so I was spent the last seven weeks looking at different moments of, the spirit in both the old and the New Testament.
And so just to kind of recap the last two weeks, we've been looking at Peter's Pentecost sermon and, last week, if you weren't here or don't remember, which is where we looked at how Peter used the prophet Joel and, Joel's, prophecy that in the last days that the spirit we pulled out and everyone pay thy young man will drain drains.
Oh, man will have visions. And and we also looked at how Peter's sermon was actually based upon a lot of it on Joel's prophecy. And so one of the things to really take away when reading the New Testament is that when it uses the Old Testaments like a kaleidoscope, you got lots of light coming through and it makes this just beautiful rainbow.
And so that's sort of one aspect of what Peter's doing is taking the prophet Joel. But today we're going to look at how he used the words from Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 to point to how Jesus is both Lord and Messiah. Now, the last two weeks, I sort of managed to tie things up to the book of Revelation, which I think, you know, excited some people.
And this week I was like, nope, there is definitely nothing here. Pointing to the book of revelation. Guess what? I was dead that wrong. There actually is some stuff there. So for the third week in a row, we're going to spend some time looking at the, the context of the sermon. We'll look explore some of the Old Testament themes with that.
Then we'll have a little bit of how this connects to the book of Revelation. And then we're going to end with something practical. And so last week we went through, a repentance exercise. We did an examination of conscience. Today we're going to finish off with an image, and it's actually one of the oldest images we have from the that, the catacombs of the, of the Christians.
And to reflect upon that about what needs to change in my life. Before we begin, though, I feel like I should pray and maybe I'll get. Can you just change the the slide before I do that? So you can just see the summary that Peter served. So let's pray again and get stuck into this passage. Now, Lord, we thank you for your spirit which has been poured out upon all people, men and women, young and old.
No one is excluded from that from the refreshment that you want to give people for the life and the hope, the living water. And Lord, today, as we look at Psalm 16 and Psalm 110, Psalms that give us hope, hope in the face of calamity also to point us to the hope of the Messiah, the one to conquer his enemies, one to conquer evil and suffering.
And I pray today, Lord, if any of us here are feeling like we are to k that we it feels like we're living in times to be refreshed, to be given new life and hope which only Jesus can provide. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
Peter sermon is really given to answer a question. The question is well, well, what is happening? And so as the spirit is is poured out and people there are speaking in other tongues, and it all seems to be this chaotic mess that that is the question that people ask is what is happening? What what does this all mean?
And so Peter here is preaching his sermon sort of two fold. One is to explain the events that are happening around them, to go, hey, hey, what is happening here? People aren't actually drunk. This is what the prophet Joel spoke about. But also secondly, to explain at how the pouring out of the spirit points to Jesus being both Lord and Messiah.
And Peter does something quite brave when you think about him the like 40 days prior. It's like 50 days prior where he's denying Jesus three times and one of them is to a servant girl, the lowest of the low, in front of a fire. Here he's standing in front of the crowd saying, hey, you have crucified Jesus, who is Lord and Messiah.
And he encourages them to repent. And so if we go up to the next slide. Thanks, Keith. This is just a summary and I won't go into it now. This is a summary of what Peter's sermon is all about. It's sort of the the framework that he is preaching on, the he's speaking on and sort of the flow of that.
Now, last week I introduced you to a method of interpretation. And I'm sure you all get excited about first century rabbinical interpretations of Scripture, don't we? Oh, wait. Oh, I see some hands where that gets us excited. We wake up and say, hey, I'd love to know how the rabbis interpreted scripture. Oh, maybe it's funny. Just me.
Yeah. Thought there'd be more excitement about that. Peter uses a method called shout. Now picture, if you don't remember, is looking at prophetic texts and seeing them fulfilled in the events that are happening in front of the interpreter. And so that's what Peter's sermon is doing. He's using this special form of interpretation, i.e. hey, Joel spoke about the spirit being poured out.
Look at this. It's happening right here. This is what Joel spoke about. And so Peter now uses that to to point to how David now, David, he's equated with writing many of the Psalms. And one of the Psalms that he wrote is obviously Psalm 16 and Psalm 110. But what Peter does here, with that sort of pressure form of interpreting Scripture, is no longer is David just speaking about himself.
David is actually acting in a prophetic way. He is interpreting the Scripture to say, hey, David might be writing in like a first person sort of voice, but he's actually voicing someone else, and that is the Messiah. And Psalm 16 is this this is beautiful Psalm. It's a psalm is this play of trust, this trust in Yahweh and and this David.
He is this pressure from sort of two people. So first pressure is that there are people here who are wanting to be worshiping false idols that offering false sacrifices, and then they're basically saying, well, yeah, I can find life outside of Yahweh. I can find hope by offering of a sacrifice. And I've got another summary there on the screen of Psalm 16.
Thanks. There we go. There. So it's the idea here is that, of his, yeah. It's trying to use other idols to find their hope. And David is rejecting that. So he says, well, what? I'm not going to turn my back on God. Secondly, too, is that David is facing death. And here's what's interesting in the in the original context of the psalm, David recognized that if he dies and he goes down to show the place of the dead, he can't worship God anymore.
And so his hope is that, well, if I if I live a bit longer, I can continue to praise God. I won't see decay. But now he's saying, oh no, no, no, no, no. What is actually happening is, is that David here is actually putting in, like I said before, words into someone else. He's putting words and he's saying, well, we know David's dead.
I know David's dead. He's buried. He's tomb. He's there in Jerusalem to his day. But who is he talking about? Why is his heart glad? Why is his tongue rejoicing? Why is his body rest in hope? Because he will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. You will not let your Holy One see decay. This is what's happened to Jesus.
Peter is put. I'm sorry, David is speaking on behalf of Jesus. Jesus, the one who actually goes through this. David died. He's dead and buried. Jesus also died and is buried. But his body hasn't seen decay. He's resurrected. And there is hope in that. Now, the second thing I want to teach this week. So Peter uses that form a picture, which is like a rabbinical way of interpreting Scripture, seeing a prophetic text and seeing how it fulfilled in that time and day.
There's another one here that Peter uses, and this is a great dinner party word. When you go to lunch today and say what I learned in church today. Say this expression, you learned how to git Jazeera shalwar, Jazeera shalwar. So say it together. Jazeera shalwar. There you go. I've ossified that. You know, I don't have the good collateral tongue in there, but just that last shalwar is another way of interpreting Scripture, which is basically saying, hey, he, two words or themes from different passages and joining them together.
Now you might think, what's what's the point of learning all this? Why does this matter? Why? I think it helps us understand our New Testament scriptures better. So when you actually read sign a person or X and you see how an apostle or writer uses the Old Testament, he's it just gives you another tool for understanding the mindset and the world of the first century apostles.
And this was a really common way the rabbis would use to take a theme from one verse and another and come to a conclusion about this, this Jesuit Rockaway. And what Peter's doing is say, well, Psalm 16 talks about David having hope of not worshiping false idols, of realizing that he's but he's not going to see decay. He's not going to be left in the realm of the dead, because there are pleasures at the right hand of Yahweh.
Makes me think, oh, hang on. There's another passage, another passage which speaks about being at the right hand of God. And that's Psalm 110 and Psalm 110 is probably the one of the most quoted passages in all the New Testament to prove Jesus divinity and some on his head. If you've kind of never really looked at it in depth, it's a remarkable psalm, and it says, sit at my right.
Oh, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Now can you read that? Like, oh, yeah, I kind of get that. But what's so special, what's so remarkable about that? Well, normally, who do you honor? Do you honor someone who's older, or do, Your honor, someone who's younger?
People who I can take like. Oh, yeah. Oh, you always show. I can check in. I guess non-Western cultures in particular. You show reverence to your elders. So when David says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. He's doing something very remarkable there. What you would expect to say is, the Lord said to my son, or the son said to my Lord, well, what normally should happen is David, David shouldn't be honoring a descendant.
It should be the other way around. It should be the descendant honoring the ancestor. But David has flipped that. He's recognized that there is someone going to be who is going to be born way after him, but he's going to have more honor than him. Just like the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
Now, it's actually quite handy here. Rachel has this here, so imagine that when a king has ruled and conquered, he put your feet up. It's a way of showing that you have completed something, that you have conquered enemies, that you put your foot upon, someone that you have defeated. And what is really, really cool here? I think it's cool, and hopefully you'll find it cool too.
Is that when, New Testament author takes up a quote from the Old Testament? We're not just meant to think about, oh, just that little verse that law says to my Lord, you know, sit at my right hand and that's it. We're meant to think about the whole context of the psalm and the whole context of the psalm.
If we can just have that there, and I'll go through it very briefly. Is that, the Lord, which is Jesus sitting at the right hand of Yahweh and the, we'll just go down very just quickly through each verse says, the Lord's going to set forth your scepter from Zion, i.e., you're going to rule from Jerusalem. Your your people offer themselves freely in holy garments, i.e., they're going to be people who will worship you, who offer their lives before you in their service.
This will be a banter conversation for for Monday or Tuesday whenever Mari gets around to it. And when I spoke at band, people actually know what I'm talking about. I mentioned all the time. Banter is where my and I get together. We chat about the sermon we put up on the podcast. It's a way to kind of learn this stuff a bit deeper.
So that part about being a priest forever in all of my kids, the way I sang Jay Jay, we Priest and King, the Lord is at your right hand. He'll execute judgments among the nations. He'll drink from the book. By the way, that's a really, really quick summary of what Psalm 110 is all about. And to summarize all that up in ten words, it's Jesus.
This is God's right hand because he is Lord. He's going to rule from Jerusalem. He's going to defeat all of his enemies because he is a priest and king. And when he defeats all his enemies, he'll go to a river, drink from that river, lift his head up in victory. That is what Psalm 110 is all about. Now remember how at the beginning of song I said, there's like all New Testament and altar, like kaleidoscope, you've got so many images running through it.
Well, the fact that Peter quotes from Psalm 110, we're meant to take our mind to the whole context of the Psalm, and Peter's message is all about repentance, about changing your life. And you'll notice here on the right, on the right side there, it's got the cross connection in particular around that. We see. And there's some reference in the book of acts, but and about people being God's willing servants.
But the part I want to focus on is the verse number five says, the Lord is at your right hand, says Christ, executing judgment and defeating Satan.
Now for the early church. One of the one of the things I really wrestled with was, how do we take this really violent language of the Old Testament? And let's admit it, it's quite violent. It's very graphic to put you, you know, using your enemies as a footstool. You know, you're crushing them down. How do we pilot when Jesus says, hey, we're not meant to be violent?
Turn the other cheek. It's quite interesting that in the Book of Revelation in particular, that the battle is now a spiritual battle. And so Christ is now ruling and reigning from heaven. He has placed his apostles in Jerusalem, and they're meant to go out and start preaching. I hear that they're preaching amongst the enemies as it says there, in verse three, your people offer themselves freely in holy garments, become part of what are followers of Jesus.
We offer ourselves freely. This is what repentance does. It's like no longer do we want to live our own lust for the old way. We want to serve the king and serving the king. That means that we're prepared to give up everything to serve him, to love him, because we recognize that there is a greater treasure, there is a greater hope.
And that's what Pentecost is pointing to. The spirit poured out upon God's people like a deposit. Can I tell you, hey, this is just a little foretaste of what God's going to do when he recreate the heavens and the earth. And this is what I, the Book of Revelation, is just so wonderful. That kind of pointing to this is it shows us God's people who are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the kingdom.
Book of revelation talks about the modest who are willing to give up. Okay. It's okay. We've got the modest. They're waiting, their prayers going up to heaven. I how long, oh, Lord, how long, our Lord? Because recognizing that this is now a spiritual battle, not just a physical battle, and eventually is the Psalm 110 promises that says there in verse.
Six he will execute judgment amongst the nations. This is what Jesus is going to do. And revelation depicts it as defeating the chief enemy, the dragon, the evil one, Satan, as he's thrown away and tossed away into the lake of fire forever evil is defeated. And we looked at two weeks ago and we kind of explored the idea of Noah's flood.
Pointing to baptism is that the hope in revelation is there's no more sea, i.e. there's no more able see equals evil. But but in the middle of that New Jerusalem that comes out of heaven, there is a river that flows, a river of life. Now Psalm 110, and that way with the with the Messiah before river, drinking from it, lifting up his head because his enemies, defeated.
And so when Peter talks about this, where he declares that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah, he says all the images that he is tapping into the this idea of this victorious ruling Messiah, the one who will defeat his enemies, the one who will drink from the river, the one who is so worth serving that that people are willing to give up their lives because they realize that there is something greater to be following him for.
So as Peter continues to preach about this, about what the people have done, how Jesus is both Lord and Messiah, they are just left with one burning question. Brothers, what shall we do? The crowd recognize like, oh my goodness, it's this event that's happening right now. The spirit being poured out is fulfilling, Joel, and everyone's getting the spirit upon them.
That means that the last days are happening. I mean, there's going to be crazy signs in the heavens. There's going to be judgment which God's going to pour out. It means that if Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 610, his body's not seeing decay. That shows that he is victorious. He is vindicated that death cannot hold him if he is the Messiah that King David spoke about, he will sit at Yahweh's right hand.
I knew what Psalm 110 pointed to it pointed to the Messiah defeating God's enemies. So it's a warning and a hope. It's a warning that, well, if you don't change your tune, if you don't repent, that stuff's going to happen, which is not what God wants. He. He wants you to repent, to have life, to have wholeness, to have hope.
That's why that question is so important. Brothers, what shall we do? Peter's answer is simple repent and be baptized. He says, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, and for all who afar off for all whom, for whom, who the Lord our God will call.
That's the hope is to repent. And repent doesn't just mean, oh, I feel a little bit sorry. Like when I asked my. Ash, are you sorry for heating? Marcus? I'm sorry. Clearly you're not mate like this. You know, repentance. It means to, like, turn direction, change your life. That there is like, Wow. Like, look, it's like a change of allegiance.
We're all still going to sin. We'll still fall and broken people. But our allegiance should be to Jesus and Jesus alone. The the first the commandments tells us, you know, thou shalt not have any other gods before me. In a sense, that's what repentance does. Recognizing. Well, I've put other gods in my life, and now I want to put Jesus as the one true God over my life.
That's what repentance means. And when Peter calls everyone to be baptized, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Tithing, repentance, and baptism. Baptism is this symbolic moment of what God's Spirit will do for you the cleansing, the washing that God's Spirit will do based on this promise, promises for you and your children and for all who are far off.
Hey! And that's you and me. We're pretty far off from that day of Pentecost, and that's the same God we worship. That's the same God who offers the hand of friendship and salvation today aspires to the question to consider for you. What shall you do with this? What should you do with this? We've spent seven weeks looking at different moments of God's Spirit moving, and as much as I love teaching you the kind of intricate, nerdy stuff that really gets me excited, at the end of the day, Christianity is not just a head thing.
There needs to be action. There needs to be hot transformation. I don't care if you walk away with this and you don't remember anything. If you forget about passion or kiswa shower and Psalm 16 and how that doesn't worry me. What worries me now is walking away and gone. Yeah, I'm just going to continue in the same way that I've always lived.
Friends, what shall you do with this? Is Jesus truly Lord in your life?
The church, Father Cyril of Jerusalem. In talking about baptism and salvation, he says this wonderfully in his lectures to his students. He says, dead in your sins. When you go down, you come up revived in righteousness. For if you are planted with the Savior in the likeness of his death, you will also be held worthy of his resurrection.
But just as Jesus took on himself the sins of the world and died to put sin to death and rise in righteousness, so too when you've gone down into the water and have, so to speak, being buried in the waters as he was buried in the rock, you will be raised again to walk in newness of life. That's that's the core.
That's the challenge that Peter gives us. And that's the challenge that we are continuing to face today. Brothers, what shall you do?
And as we finish up today, I want to finish off with a video. We started off this preparing for Pentecost series. We have an image for you to reflect upon how God is speaking. I'm going to finish this series with an image, and the image for today comes from its depiction of Jesus outside a Lazarus tomb. And this is one of the earliest artworks we have from Jesus from the third century in Rome.
And what I love about this image, even though it's talking about the event of Lazarus with Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, what love about and what just spoke to me was in the tomb and what it looks like. Lazarus is just full of bones. Just something quite graphic about that. And it's this reminder from Psalm 1610 for you not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
God doesn't want people to be dead in their sin. God doesn't want people to not have life in him. He wants them to be made whole and restored and renewed. So I might invite the band back up. And while they're walking up, I just invite you to look at this image to reflect upon it. I shared what really stood out to me.
Perhaps this part of that image that is speaking to you. Perhaps it's something to do with it's colors, the shapes, it's lighting. Perhaps you notice a detail about it. And I invite you just to meditate on the part that has God has drawn you to. And how does that speak into what the message that Peter spoke about to you today.
There's something within you is sensing an invitation. Are you hearing Kol? There's something that God is challenging you to do. And if you feel that this morning, I invite you to come up to the prayer team and to receive prayer. Perhaps it's like, well, maybe I do need to repent and be baptized and find life and hope in Jesus.
Perhaps you are feeling like someone that's living in decayed minds. You just need life, the spirit, to breathe upon you. Or perhaps you have missed ordered things in your life. Gee is really isn't Lord. He's not. Yes, he is sitting at the right hand of Yahweh. Something else is sitting there. Something else is Lord above you. I invite you to do that.
How about I pray for us? And then I'll hand over to drew in the band. And Lord, let's pray today, Lord, that you speak into us, speaking to those of us that Lord may be feeling dead and dry and decayed. Speak into us, Lord, that have seen, that have put idols above you. Oh, and speaking to us, those that recognize that they need to repent and turn their life around to change their allegiance ultimately, thank you that your spirit has been poured out.
Your spirit brings us life. Your spirit brings us wholeness and newness. And so I thank you, Lord, that for those of us in Jesus we will not see decay. Thank you. For those of us who are in Jesus, we will drink from that river with you in victory. So I just pray now, Lord, your blessing upon us. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

BANTER - A Turning Point to Hope

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
The boys share about the Jewish understanding of the Spirit, the three major schools of interpretations for Revelation, and strategies to explore the prophetic in our own spiritual walks
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

A Turning Point to Hope - Mitch Levigston

Acts 2:14-21
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy,    your young men will see visions,    your old men will dream dreams.Even on my servants, both men and women,    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,    and they will prophesy.I will show wonders in the heavens above    and signs on the earth below,    blood and fire and billows of smoke.The sun will be turned to darkness    and the moon to blood    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.And everyone who calls    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799

BANTER - Spirit & Water

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch & Murray chat about the relationships of doves, water, and the Holy Spirit from Genesis to Revelation. They identify some of the poetic chiasmus (a symmetrical literary structure which points us towards the centre of the narrative) found in the Noah story and explore some ancient understandings and interpretations of the Spirit of God.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural 

Spirit & Water from Genesis to Revelation - Mitch Levingston

1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
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To find out more about The Centre visit;www.thecentredural.org.au/church/We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at;www.youtube.com/@centredural 
Welcome to The Centre! We're a Church in Dural, Sydney who want toMake Jesus The Centre of our lives, community, and world.
Join us for a time of worship, community and teaching. Remember to stay in contact with the church, especially if you or anyone you know is in need.
Get Connected: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/new/ 
Prayer Requests: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/prayer/
Tithing Information: https://www.thecentredural.org.au/church/giving/
Follow "BANTER"; the podcast where we unpack each week's sermon with the pastoral team: Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6ReaCaCb6U7r4EjdJQdajy?si=11f44dcd078e4707Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-centre-dural-podcast/id1035454799
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TRANSCRIPT
 
Hey, welcome to The Centre podcast. We're a church based in Dural, Sydney, who loves Jesus. And so want to make him the center of our lives, community and world. We pray that you, blessed by this word and that it reveals God's love for you in a new way.
so this morning's message was born out of being incredibly bored, waiting for Rachel's operation at Hornsby Hospital.
So this is what happens when you're sitting in the cafe of the the. Yeah, hospital cafeteria is I start to go on searches and today and the topic that I want to search on was the connection between Noah's flood and Jesus baptism and the Holy Spirit and just for a bit of just for fun, how that connects him with the book of Revelation.
Now, I've heard whispers. I know that people here want me to do a series on the book of revelation, and I haven't felt that calling yet. But today. Today you'll get a little sampler, of what I guess I'm teaching on revelation. Now, if that all sounds very confusing, I have a little diagram on the screen about what we're going to be looking at, and so you can just read that there to kind of get your head around everything.
But hopefully I do my job properly and teach this in a way that's clear to you. So it's not super overwhelming. So you can see how Noah's flood and the the spirit hovering over the waters and how the dove that Noah released, how that connects in with the baptism of Jesus in cleansing us, how it connects in with the book of revelation, in the theme of Noah's flood and God overcoming evil to bring about good and a new creation, and then landing the sermon on one Peter, and those words that that Peter gave, which are exhortation to the church.
Now one of the things we have Noah's flood is that it shares with a lot of other ancient cultures. The story of this idea of a global catastrophic flood, it's really quite profound that if you look at Babylonian literature, in some Chinese literature, kind of literature, we see that this idea of a catastrophic global flood is just universal across human history.
It's been passed down, I guess, from the sons of Noah. But if you compare, the Genesis flood compared to, say, the Babylonian, story in the Babylonian story, the reason for the flood wasn't because of the sinfulness of humanity. It's also because humans were too loud and the gods just want to shut them up. So they send this flood to wipe them out.
But here in the Genesis creation narrative, the flood at its core is because of sin. Sin has defiled God's holy, holy world, and he needs to eradicate that to bring about new creation. There is this diagram here on the screen. It's probably really, really helpful to understand. Now we have to remember the Bible is not a modern scientific textbook.
The ancients saw the world very, very differently, if you see on that diagram there. So on the on the second day of creation talks about God separating the waters. You might remember that you got the parting of the waters for the water in the sky and in the sea. And so the ancients had this view like in that diagram there of a dime.
And so if you got chaotic waters, God has separated those waters. And kind of in this space here there is live. How you can translate that word is the waters above the firmament, windows of heaven and the waters below. And so what's happening in the flood of Noah is that God is taking away the barrier separating chaos, as it says in Genesis 711, in the 600 years of Noah's life, on the 17th day of the second month, on that day, all the springs of the great day, so you can see it there, the waters below and the flood gates of heavens were open that firmament.
So basically how the ancients understood as God accredit this, this dome. And now he's taken away the protection upon that and chaos comes in. This is what it causes. The catastrophic nature of the flood. And so now the world is back in its pre creation, full. And we know that the devastation of flood, we think back to tarry a few weeks ago.
Now you saw the footage on the news. We see the destruction of landslides. We know that floods are not something that good. And if we just look at our world, we actually say that the world is held on by a fine tooth comb. I think it's what I love about how the ancients saw the world was that God had just separated the waters from the waters as a space.
That's this tiny little space that can so easily fall apart, even though we don't see the world as it. So when I say it's not scientifically accurate, I think it's a helpful reminder. The world is held on by this fine tooth comb. Essentially, it's just God's grace as we know the end of the story with the sign of the rainbow.
It's not because humans are righteous or are. It's because of God's grace and mercy that the world can continue on. Now, one of the interesting parallels between Noah's flood and creation is the use of the word ruach. Does anyone remember? We learned the word ruach back in our first session together with Ezekiel. So anyone remember what Ruach means?
So I want to be brave and call out what it means spirit. And what else can it mean? What's another word? Wind. Yeah. So spirit and wind. Now we have to remember in English we make, the trans like us make an interpretive decision because the word is just. We walk though the Spirit of God hovering over the waters.
That's just ruach. The wind that blows over the waters on the flood narrative. That's also rock. That's right there on the screen there. And so what we're supposed to do is we're supposed to read the flood narrative. I think, wow, it's really because of God's grace and mercy that we are able to be here today, that that creation continue news on, but also meant to be reminded of the creation narrative.
Just as God separated the waters from the waters to create life, he can take that away and bring the world back to its pre creation form. So now with the flood over, essentially re separating the waters from the waters, life can continue and life is this precious, precious gift and sort of tying in there is the idea of the walk, the spirit just as the spirit was there at creation.
The spirit is there at Noah's flood. And then obviously from Genesis chapter eight, from 22, we're told that Noah builds an altar to the Lord, takes the clay, animals sacrifice him. The Lord smells the pleasing aroma. Which which is a fun little fact is that Noah is Newark means comfort, the pleasing aroma is tying off that riffing of Noah's name.
Noah brings comfort to the curse ground. He brings that comfort by his obedience in building an ark and by offering the sacrifice. And then as we wait on there, never again will I curse the ground, because the humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood, and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
As long as the earth endures seed time and harvest cold and hate, and summer and winter, day and night will never cease. That's of the 10,000 faith summary of Noah's Flood. I said before that the spirit is intersecting in that. Just highlighting. Back to that creation narrative of the waters of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters.
Now, this is where we kind of get a little bit deeper into the idea of God's Spirit and Jesus. In Genesis chapter six, verse four. So we know about the the sinfulness of humans, but in Genesis six four, and I would advise you to listen, to bear to better. And I would go into this a lot deeper than I am now.
But notice what it says in Genesis six. Is that God's kind of describing, well, you know, this thing, the state of humanity, we're told here, my spirit will not contend with humans forever. Can we guess what word that is? Haber Rock? Yeah. My spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal. There's a bit of debate about this there that I will be 120, and so I won't go into that now.
But the purpose of out this morning, part of the flood narrative is the sinfulness of humanity. And part of that curse, God saying, My spirit, my rock, my breath will not be with people forever. Now, as part of this preparing for Pentecost, maybe we should call it prepared for Pentecost. Now, Pentecost is over has been to kind of teach us that in order to have life, we need the spirit.
Just like in Ezekiel's valley of dry bones, it's the spirit who blows into these dead bones to give life. So now here's part of the curse of of Noah's flood is God's removing his spirits from people because of their wickedness. And I've got there just another psalm just to remind us of that when it says when you hide your face, they are terrified.
When you take away their breath, they die and return to dust. When you send your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the ground. So if you kind of lost track of where I'm going with this, the idea is that God takes the world back to its pre creation form. Just as the spirit was hovering over the waters.
So the rock is hovering over the face of the waters and Noah's flood. Part of the reason for the flood is sinfulness. And part of the curse of that is God removing his spirit from people. That makes sense. I say some thumbs up, say some not. Okay, we'll continue now, after all that, when we're in a, you know, a biblical storm, we get to Jesus.
When we get to Jesus baptism, we have a stack of different images that are going on. But there's there's one thing that every single gospel author does is recounts the moment that when Jesus coming out of the waters that should be up there on the screen, what are we told at the moment? When Jesus was baptized, he went out of the water.
At that moment, heaven was open and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him in Mark, just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. Again in Luke heaven was open. Then the Holy Spirit descended on him bodily in a body, in bodily form, like a dove.
And then in John I saw the spirit come down from heaven as the dove, and remain on him. We kind of get the pen. And I've said this before, when, when a biblical author wants to repeat something, and when something so important he repeats it. And so the fact that all four gospels recount that at the moment of Jesus baptism, the spirit comes down like, dove.
Yeah. I've just spent a whole lot of time talking about Noah's flood. There's a really important animal in that flood. Can anyone think of what that animal is? The dove. Okay, you see where I'm getting with this? So a lot of scholars here have noticed that, the moment of Jesus baptism, it's meant to allude us back to Noah's flood.
That's. Oh, wait, read all that out there. But it's actually. And this will be another been to conversation. So if you now listen to this interests you, I recommend it because there's some cool stuff about The Raven and the dove. But just to say briefly, the dove comes back with an olive branch. Now, this is also quite fascinating is that olive branches produce olive oil, and olive oil is often used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
But there's some cool little facts there. And if you think Mitch is kind of making this stuff up, where are you getting this from? This has been the interpretation of the early church. This is really the days of Jesus. And I have a great quote up here from Cyril of Jerusalem, who is probably my favorite early church father.
And he says he some say that just as salvation came in the time of Noah by the wood and the water, and there was the beginning of a new creation. And as the dove came back to Noah in the evening with an olive branch, so they say, the Holy Spirit came down on the true Noah. The author of the new creation.
When the spiritual dove came down on him in his baptism, to show that who that he he it is who, by the wood of the cross confers salvation on believers, and who towards the evening by his death gave the world the grace of salvation, summarized that early church sure, Noah's Ark and the wood being what they call a typology, a type.
So make that represented something deeper. The ark represented the cross of what Jesus would accomplish, just as the dove came out with new life with the branch. So Jesus, by being baptized and having the spirit come upon him like a dove, gives us new creation. There are all just these wonderful images coming together. This is what just excites me so much.
And this is why it's very dangerous to be left alone in a hospital cafeteria, bored out of my brains, because this is where we head down. But it's probably okay. It's some Old Testament stuff. Let's just reread our passage from one Peter again, just to remind us. So Peter here is writing to Christians, probably Gentile Christians, who are being persecuted.
And so here he is, is just reminding him of the importance of baptism and what that means for Jesus and, for that, for their lives, as followers of Jesus. So he says, if the cross also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God, he was put to death in the body, but made alive in the spirit.
After being made alive, he went down and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits. And if you want to learn about me, more about that. Listen to banter to those who were disobedient long ago, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built in only a few people ate and all was saved, through water.
And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clean conscience towards God. It says he, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was gone into heaven. And as a God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him. What Peter does is he's taking a really common Jewish understanding was that Noah's life and Noah's flood is the model for the faithful, righteous believer waiting for God's judgment on the wicked and to come through that.
But we know in the book of Genesis, but there's other writings that the Book of Enoch and other Jewish writings which describe Noah as preaching for for that time, as he was building up preaching to a generation that wouldn't listen to him. And so the Jews saw themselves as like, we need to be like Noah, remain faithful, just keep on persevering.
They might not be writing about that. We may not see the judgment that that God has promised, but we need to just keep on building the ark, so to speak. Remain faithful. And Peter's tapping into that imagery, encouraging Christians, hey, be like Noah. Remember that that flood, that now is the reminder of baptism, that baptism that you went in the water that you've just identified yourself with Jesus.
Jesus is alive by the spirit. Jesus who now gives the spirit to you. That's what you need to do. Be like Noah, keep on persevering. And there is one book in Scripture which really draws upon this. Can you guess what's his book of revelation here? We got we got here finally. And so this comes from an author called Richard Balcombe.
If you're interested. His book is called The Theology of the Book of Revelation. And so here in revelation chapter 11, which is there on the screen, this is this is the song of the 24 elders. Now, revelation 11 is a really simple passage which no one has ever thought about. There's been no conflict about it. It's really simple.
We're introduced to the idea of two witnesses who preach and shoot fire from their mouths, and after preaching and proclaiming they killed and off the three and a half days they resurrected, there's this big earthquake in the city of Jerusalem. And then after that, we're told that the seventh trumpet is blown. Now, in revelation, we've got seven seals, seven trumpets, seven balls, the seventh one of each of those.
Something climactic happens. And so here with the, seventh trumpet blowing, blowing in revelation 11, we're told that 25 to say the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever. And they bow down. They begin to praise God, and then his praise with these words which are up here on the screen, which says, we give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is, who was because you've taken your great power and have begun to reign.
The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and your people who Revere your name, both great and small, and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Now on this earth, that just seems like, I guess, any kind of normal hymn of praise given to God.
This is one of the great things about living in the 21st century, but access to the best scholarship in the world. And Richard Balcombe, he is not going to say that ending process and for destroying those who destroy the earth. In his commentary, he's like, oh, hang on, that destroying, destroying, going to destroy both them. And yeah, yeah, that reminds us a lot of Genesis chapter six.
And so while Greek and Hebrew, obviously very different languages in in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that's so that, that, that construction, that sentence I'm surely going to destroy. But, oh, can I go back? So. Oh, thanks. Okay. Yep. And for destroying those who destroy the Earth. The construction of that is really similar in the Greek version of Genesis.
And so remember how that whole Noah's flood is a type of Christians to to persevere, to be like Noah, to be like, no, don't give up. Don't give up. Just keep persevering just like Noah, because judgment will come and God will save and deliver you from that. That's what's happening here. John is echoing the flood judgment as a pattern for final judgment for us, actually.
Okay, go to the next slide. I didn't realize there it is, just right there. I didn't realize I had it there. There's a wonderful pattern there. John's echoing the flood judgment. He's reminding Christians who are suffering, who are being persecuted. God is going to destroy the destroyers. God is going to wipe away these enemies. You need to persevere.
So. So in Genesis six, God destroys the earth because of humanity's wickedness. His spirit won't contend with people. Now, through Christ, God's Spirit will contend with people forever. So in in the covenant with Noah, we the sign of the rainbow. In the Hebrew language, there's no word for rainbow. Like we have an English. It's just an ashes by.
And so if you have a short a bow, you know, you shoot the up like that. And so if you imagine the rainbow so like that and an arrow sticking to it, it's like God's placed almost like a self curse upon himself. The the imaginary, the imaginary arrow from the bow is pointing up to heaven in that promise to never destroy the world again.
There is grace, there is mercy, and that's revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ. And going back to creation, Noah's flood. The sea represented evil. It's no accident that in revelation 13 or which is ripping off Daniel chapter seven, the sea is the place where the beast comes from. The sea is the place of evil, chaos, the sea is the source of the beast, the dragon, the harlot, or all these horrible, terrible evils in the world.
God promised he'd never destroy the world again. You know what revelation 21 one says, when there's a new heavens on us, something is missing. And what's that, friends? Now see? Exactly. That's the point. Is that the seas full of able, the seas full of chaos. God's going to remove that, friends, be like Noah. And I'll quote Balcomb. Just from some of his commentary here.
He says the judgment of the old creation and the inauguration of the new is not so much a second flood as the final removal of the threat of another flood, a new creation. God makes his creation eternally secure from any threat of destructive evil. In this way, revelation portrays God as faithful to know, covenant, and indeed surpassing. In in his faithfulness to his creation, first by destroying the destroyers of the earth.
Finally, by taking creation beyond the threat of evil, then I'll be sitting there completely bamboozling God. I have no idea what you've just been talking about, Mitch. I've got now a summary there on the screen. There you go. I can have a grade of that. And just to process that. So going right back to creation, the Spirit of God, the rock hovers over the waters with the flood we have.
The spirit is withdrawn from people. The Ruach blows over the waters. Judgment through the water. The dove returns an olive leaf, symbolizing new life. We get with Jesus. The spirit descends on Jesus like a dove, and Jesus is in the Jordan River. Alluding back to the flood narrative in revelation 1118, God promises to destroy the destroyers of the earth.
Just meant to remind us, That's what he did in Genesis chapter six. He's going to do it again and then finish up in revelation 21 one. The sea is no more, no more chaos, no more evil, and no more destruction. Let's give you some tools to walk away with that this week. This comes from an article I found really helpful by Katie Massa, a New Testament scholar.
It's called In the Days of Noah. She uses some fancy German words, the Euronext and the index, which just means the beginning and end of the flood tradition. In one Peter three and four. And so as I've kind of been trying to hop on of it, is that Peter is riffing off those Jewish ideas of Noah's flood and being persevering in the midst of an evil generation.
And so Peter here in that that narrative about describing, about the baptism of Noah and the flood and all that link together, he is equating Noah's context and adapting it for the believers in Peter's context. I have another table there, up there. And so, just as Noah was declared righteous in a corrupt age, Christ is also righteous and we Christians are righteous because of him.
The flood was morally corrupt and Peter's, I guess, society, the Gentile world was morally corrupt. Noah preached the ungodly. We believers must bear witness to the gospel gently and respectfully. And there was that time before the flood. There's a we know there's a bit of debate about that, but the point is that there was a market here where God told him to build.
He was the moment was flood similar to Jesus. We know that Jesus is resurrected and there will be a moment where evil will be eradicated.
And I just have another table on here is that and this is verse from one Peter really just hammers home. I guess that whole Noah theme about being righteous in the midst of wickedness. One Peter chapter two, verse 12, we're told, keep your conduct amongst the Gentiles honorable. So when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
On the day of visitation. I won't go on to rating on that. You can just look at that on the screen so that like comparing Noah example and now example. And so friends, I guess the toolbox for us today is patience. Patience. Are you embodying Noah as wonderful as it is to go through that? And I got my God fired up, sitting there researching all this stuff and teaching you all to you, ultimately walking away from this is patience.
Patience in the promises of God. Really easy to say, really hard to do. Patience in the midst of an uncertain world. Patience to keep on trusting God. Patience to to be like Noah. And so I guess if you're struggling today to follow the Lord, to keep on being patient, to trust in him, look to the example of Noah.
Read over Genesis, read over one Peter, look at Jesus baptism and remind yourself of all of these images. That's so. That's what the New Testament authors saw, is that the Old Testament was given to us to help be an example for us in our day and age. And as one wonderful practice that, saying nations used to do was imagine if Scripture where you would read a passage, close your eyes, and just enter into that story.
A third who I toolbox for the day learn patience. But Jesus said and done and embody Noah. Become like a Noah. If you're struggling to do, read Genesis 628. Imagine yourself on the ark. Imagine yourself living in a wicked society. The rabbis taught that Noah's generation was the wicked, his generation to ever exist. Then reflect upon Jesus what he's done, what by pouring the spirit out upon us.
We now have life. We have wholeness. A God is going to destroy evil friends, do you have faithful obedience? Even when the skies look clear? I hope that was a blessing to you today. I'm going to pray over us now and invite the band back. While we do that. So let's pray together now. Our father, we thank you for the wonderful tapestry of your word, how to speak so richly and powerfully in so many ways.
And looking at the flood narrative of Noah. Lord, look how it points to creation, to Jesus, to your eradicating evil. Pray today, Lord, specially in the world that we're in, where there is so much chaos and carnage and just feels like evil is winning. To be reminded, Lord, to be like Noah. They were just in those days of waiting for the flood to come.
We thank you that ultimately we are safe, that we have our own ark which is through Jesus Christ, that gives us life, that gives us wholeness, that gives us hope. I pray today that we haven't just filled our heads, Lord, but filled our hearts and understanding your word better. And to live as your hands and feet, and to be beacons of hope in a world that needs hope.
I pray this now in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Thanks so much for joining us. Don't forget to write and subscribe to help others discover this channel. Check out the description if you want to find out more or get in touch with us at The Centre. But in the meantime, praying for God's hand over you as you continue to step into everything Jesus has in store for your life.
Be blessed.

BANTER - Pentecost Sunday

Welcome to BANTER; the weekly podcast where we unpack Sunday's sermon. 
Mitch & Murray trace the theme of mountains through the Bible.They reflect on what mountains reveal about God's nature, and His desires and relationship with us.
To find out more about The Centre visit; www.thecentredural.org.au/church/ We meet at 10am every Sunday in person and online at; www.youtube.com/@centredural