The Secret Place

This is the last episode in our series on the image of God, and today Derek reflects on living face to face with Jesus.  Because there is no safer place, no more revealing place and no more healing a place than standing in intimate fellowship with God himself. Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe in your podcast app, so that you can be notified when new episodes of The Secret Place...

John 17 is one of the most breathtaking chapters in Scripture, because what is often called the high priestly prayer, is actually an opportunity to eavesdrop on the inner conversation of the Trinity. Jesus is speaking to His Father from inside of their loving eternal communion, and astonishingly, not only are we allowed to overhear it - we are invited into it.  Make sure you've hit like, foll...

Last episode we looked at the concept of union, where we said that union is the ground of the Gospel; the foundation on which everything is built.  So, if union is the ground or the foundation, then agency is the fruit. Agency simply means the capacity to act and exert influence - we were created with agency, not as passive ornaments in the garden.  But agency must be healed, because age...

Union is a word we use regularly on this podcast, and it can sound lofty - like its reserved for saints, theologians or people who seem more spiritual than us. But union is not a spiritual luxury - it's the ground of the Gospel, and the foundation upon which all else is built.  In this episode, Derek reflects on this topic, and how the Gospel is God's union with humanity through Jesus. Make s...

If Jesus is the true image, then the next question is 'how does He restore His image in us?' Jesus came for us - like the shepherd looking for His lost sheep.  Throughout His life, Jesus was not just observing the fallen human experience - He was drinking from its cup. Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe in your podcast app, so that you can be notified when new episodes of The Secr...

In this episode we're looking at a deeper truth - the realisation that Jesus is the deepest truth about us. Jesus is the true image and divine blueprint; Jesus is not merely the answer to sin, He is the revelation of God's eternal purpose. Jesus shows us the Father without distortion, but He also shows us humanity without distortion.   Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe in yo...

In this episode, we turn our eyes to the fall - and what happened beneath the surface to cause it. You see, the human problem isn't just that we do the wrong things, it is that we see from the wrong centre. Our eyes were opened, but not in the way the serpent promised.  They were opened to a world interpreted through fear, suspicion, self-protection and shame. Make sure you've hit like, follo...

In the first episode of this series, we began in Genesis 1, where humanity is named before it performs. In this episode we will stay in Eden, but we are asking a slightly different question.  What did the original design feel like?  What was it like for Adam & Eve to know God, not through fear, but through fellowship. Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe in your podcast app...

Welcome to another series of The Secret Place with Derek Peters. In this series, Derek will be unpacking the question that sits underneath every other question of human life.  Who are we? In the beginning, before there was shame, there was blessing. When God looked at His creation, he called it good.  And when humankind appears in the story, made in His image and likeness, God called it...

Welcome to another series of The Secret Place with Derek Peters. In this series, Derek will be unpacking the question that sits underneath every other question of human life.  Who are we? We aren't what we do, what we've achieved, or what people think of us.  It goes deeper than that. The Scriptures open with the staggering claim that humans are made in the image and likeness of God.&nbs...

Welcome to a new mini-series of The Secret Place with Derek Peters.  In this series, Derek will unpacking the words of Jesus where He says that "I am the way, the truth, and the life". In this final episode, we are reflecting on Jesus as our Life, because Jesus defines life, in the first instance, as a communion.  Real life is our shared life with God. Make sure you've hit like, follow o...

Welcome to a new mini-series of The Secret Place with Derek Peters.  In this series, Derek will unpacking the words of Jesus where He says that "I am the way, the truth, and the life". The second episode focuses on truth, the first principle of which is built on the unchangeable premise of relationship.  Jesus is the embodiment of the truth that the Living God of the universe wants relat...

Welcome to a new mini-series of The Secret Place with Derek Peters.  In this series, Derek will unpacking the words of Jesus where He says that "I am the way, the truth, and the life". This first episode reflects on the way, because when Jesus says 'I am the way', he isn't offering directions - he is saying something far more intimate than that. Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe...

This is our second reflection on 'the world', so make sure you go back and listen to the previous episode before diving into this final piece. The world, according to the Bible, is the systemised, normalisation of deception and falsehood that has seen generations believe the lies of the devil.  This has created cultures of thinking and practices that affirm these lies into daily thinking. But...

The focus of this series has been to unmask the strategy of the enemy, and in this episode, we start to look at the world.  But the world is not the planet, or even creation itself. The world is our way of life - the complex network of values, habits, rewards, assumptions and social affirmations that give order to the world's fallen systems, at odds with the wisdom of God. Make sure you've hi...

This is the second part of our investigation into what the Bible calls 'the flesh' - what it is, and how it operates against the Spirit of God in our lives. In this episode we look at freedom from 'the flesh' - because God's plan for us is freedom.  Make sure you've hit like, follow or subscribe in your podcast app, so that you can be notified when new episodes in this series are available. D...

In this episode we start to look at the flesh - what it is, and how it operates against the Spirit of God in our lives. Many people hear the word 'flesh', and think only of the body - but the flesh is deeper than that.  The flesh is the part of us that has learned to move out of step with truth. The good news is that the flesh is not the deepest truth about us - it is real but it is not final...

Welcome to another season of The Secret Place with Derek Peters. In this series, Derek is looking at the most disruptive and life-threatening force in the universe. A force that has in different ways, taken every person captive in some way. In this episode we look at the lies the devil tells us about ourselves.  And when those lies distort our perception of God, his strategy then is to attack...

Welcome to another season of The Secret Place with Derek Peters. In this series, Derek is looking at the most disruptive and life-threatening force in the universe. A force that has in different ways, taken every person captive in some way. The devil's primary work is deception, and this deception begins by distorting reality just enough to make the false seem plausible. It's this reason why Jesus...

Welcome to another season of The Secret Place with Derek Peters. In this series, Derek is looking at the most disruptive and life-threatening force in the universe. A force that has in different ways, taken every person captive in some way. It's a conflict that begins in the quiet, hidden places of thought, desire, imagination, habit and memory. The process of attack is quiet but deadly: The devil...

God invites us not only to know Him, but to participate with Him. This participation flows naturally from the gift of His presence and our restored identity in Jesus. In this episode, Derek unpacks how we can more fully live in the presence of God, and participating with Him by aligning our hearts with God's intentions. Derek Peters is the Executive Pastor at Gateway Baptist Church in Brisbane, Au...

As we journey with God, we discover that His presence not only comforts us - it reshapes us and our identity. However we've come to see ourselves, God wants to strengthen our identity. Human identity restored by God is why Jesus was born into this earth. In this episode, Derek explores how God is continually shaping us into the people He created us to be. Derek Peters is the Executive Pastor at Ga...

Hearing God isn't a mysterious skill reserved for a select few - it's the natural expression of a relationship that is grounded in the presence of God. For many of us, the challenge has not been God's silence, but our awareness. We expect the dramatic voice of God, while He often speaks in the quiet, ordinary moments of life. Derek Peters is the Executive Pastor at Gateway Baptist Church in Brisba...

Deep within us lies a longing to belong - it's how we've been created.  We end up looking for belonging in relationships, accomplishments, environments and identities, but nothing fully satisfies us because we were actually made for belonging in the presence of God. When we discover that belonging to God is not dependent on our behaviour, our maturity or our spiritual consistency - but that i...

One of the most transformative realisations we encounter in our walk with God is the difference between living and striving.  We assume that we need to work our way into God's presence or earn his approval. This striving wears us down and fills our heart with anxiety.  But God calls us to live from His presence, not strive for His presence. In this episode, Derek unpacks how we can walk...