ReDiscovering God

In this episode on Matthew 10 Jesus responds the statement at the end of chapter 9 praying for God to send to more labourers into the field by sending out the 12 disciples to do what he had been doing. Teaching and healing. We talked a close look at the instructions Jesus gave the disciples. In the middle of this chapter is a verse that is possible the most misunderstood verse in the Bible. We she...

In this episode we conclude the last five of the ten miracles that Matthew incudes to indicate that Jesus is the New Moses. Moses came with ten plagues and now Jesus is the New Moses with ten miracles that validate his ministry as the Messiah who delivers his people from the grasp of the enemy. As we conclude the episode we review the many times Matthew includes the statement that Jesus on multipl...

As Moses gains credibility by the ten plagues, Jesus is now validated as the Messiah with ten miracles that Matthew includes immediately following the Sermon on the Mount. He seems to be refuting the communally held belief that to be eligible for the Kingdom you needed to the a Jew, a Man, kept ceremonially clean and would be healthy and wealthy. Jesus now intentionally includes people in the king...

We conclude the Sermon on the Mount in this podcast and look at the Solid Foundation upon which to build our lives. That Solid Rock is Jesus and what he has just taught in the previous chapters of Matthew 5 to 7. We conclude with a look Peter's declaration about Jesus and the risk of rejecting the Rock - the chief cornerstone. Jesus was God sent to this world to teach us about God and what he is l...

Today's episode is on being a true disciple. We delve into what it means to actually have a relationship with someone and ultimately with God. Ian shares four facets of a relationship that make it very practical and easy to know it you actually have a relationship or not. Jesus states it is essential to do more than just good things but to be in relationship with him. The pdf document is available...

In this episode of ReDiscovering God we talk about four more of Jesus's Wisdom sayings in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. We begin with Prayer and shed light on a verse that is often misapplied with the idea that if we pray and keep asking, seeking and knocking God will answer. When that doesn't happen people often get discouraged and give up on prayer and God. The Golden Rule is the teachin...

We now move to Chapter 7 in Matthew and the eight wisdom sayings of Jesus. The first being the warning not to judge. This can mean to evaluate or to condemn. The context determines which translation should be applied. For this one it would be not ti condemn. The second wisdom saying applies to not throwing our pearls to pigs. It is important to understand who you are talking to and be sure the tea...

Today we talk about the passages in the New Testament that teach about prayer and fasting and discovered the idea of fasting was not included in the older manuscripts but was no doubt included by a scribe later. Money and possessions are the next subject Jesus addresses and then concluded with a teaching not to worry. His teachings were very practical and designed to help us live a more fulfilling...

As we continue in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about generosity and then prayer. It is very fascinating that in his prayer to the Father he prays for the Father and what is no doubt heavy on the Father's heart. The second half of the prayer when the pronoun "you" is added it becomes a prayer of gratitude for what God is doing for us. This is a very inspiring perspective of prayer. check out...

In this episode we look at the central teaching of Jesus and that God's love is unconditional. Which means it is for absolutely everyone, the good and the bad. He calls us to truly be His children and mirror the same practice of loving everyone - even our enemies. This teaching was revolutionary then and is still today. May God give us the ability to understand and imagine how He sees us so th...

We continue in our series of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus now begins his 11 teachings that supersede that of Moses. This is more than amplifying the teaching of Moses because of the strategically placed "but" in each teaching. As we study them I think you will agree that Jesus teaching does in fact supersede these teachings of Moses. Particularly the fifth one where Jesus says not to r...

In this episode of the Rediscovering God series we continue in the Sermon on the Mount and discuss what it means for us to be salt and light. Then we discover how Adventism has misunderstood and misapplied Jesus statement about fulfilling the law and learn what Jesus was doing was referring to the prophecies of the Old Testament and how the had fulfilled them which would give his following teachin...

In this episode of Rediscovering God we complete the remaining beatitudes in Matthew 5. Blessed are the Merciful, Pure in Heart, the Peacemakers and the Persecuted. In each one we describe what it is not referring to, then what it means and then how we find it in Jesus life. We conclude with a look at how God is each of these beatitudes. As Christians we are assured that as we grow in relationship...

As we continue on this series on the Sermon On The Mount we discuss what it means to Mourn, be Meek and to Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness. We discover that God is a God of comfort who wants us to acknowledge our full experience and allow Him to comfort us in our journey. He also has a place for those who are meek and realized it is not our role to defend and push ourselves forward to get ah...

In this episode we begin a several part series on the sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5 to 7. This is one of five major teachings of Jesus and stands as the most important description of the attitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is helping the disciples and the crowd listening in to understand that the Kingdom of Heaven is an something that begins in each of our hearts here and now and do...

In the second half of Matthew 4 Jesus calls his disciples and then begins his ministry of teaching, announcing the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven, and healing all who came to Him. His popularity grew as people flocked to hear Him speak and heal their loved ones that they had brought from far and wide. No matter what their ailment he healed them all. This was an amazing phenomena. Nothing had e...

In this Rediscovering God episode we look closely at the temptation of Jesus and discover how these were actually addressing some of the fundamental challenges that Jesus faced as he began his ministry. When Jesus begins his ministry he moves from Nazareth to Capernaum and establishes his base at this city on the Sea of Galilee. The pdf document for this episode is available at www.rediscoveringgo...

In this episode we discover three baptisms, John's baptism, Jesus baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John's baptism was very revolutionary because it bypassed the temple and the control the church leaders had over the people to be forgiven. Now they could just go to John, confess their sins and be baptized. No wonder they didn't stand up for John and request his release from p...

We continue in Matthew and discuss how the King was threatened by the arrival of a new king in the form of a baby. The Wise Men from the east could very well have been descendants of Abraham who sent several of his sons to the east away from Isaac. Now their descendants arrive looking for the King of the Jews and causing quite a stir with their questions. An angel warns Joseph and they escape to E...

As we begin this new series on the Book of Matthew, we start with some interesting information on the genealogies in Matthew as compared to the one in Luke. It is fascinating to discover the people that are included in the genealogy of Jesus. Especially, when you realize that Jesus could have chosen any family line he wanted and he chooses Mary and Joseph and the colourful people included in their...

In this episode we discover the importance of making a distinction between our identity and our condition. This is life transforming because we tend to look at our condition and form ideas about ourselves - often feeling bad and less than we should. But when we are reminded that our identity is based on what God says about us and who we really are in his sight - our understanding of who we really...

There are many Bible verses that say salvation is gift. Then there are other places the Bible talks about a reward based on our behaviour. So which is it? Is salvation a reward or a gift. Join us on this journey as we bring clarity to the confusion. The pdf is on our website www.rediscoveringgod.ca.

As we complete this series we cover the last four aspects that Jesus brought a newness to our understanding of God that is quite radical. God is placed in a much better light as Jesus reveals an understanding of the devil that was not existent in the old testament times. We also share an amazing statement from Ellen White that gives support for the position we took in a previous episode on Abraham...

It is often our idea that Jesus came to reinforce what we already knew about God. However, in this episode we take a careful look at several aspects of God that come from Jesus. For example, Jesus refers to God as Father and even calls Him, Dadda or Abba. He says that if you have seen me you have seen the Father. There is no difference between the two. We continue to unpack these and a total of fi...

The third in this series of Faith,Hope and Love takes a close look at love and what Authentic love actually is. After defining what this love is we look at how God has lived out that kind of love. He knows the worst about us but thinks the best about us. We then unpack the amazing love that God continues to have for each of us. The pdf for this episode is found on the website. www.rediscoveringgod...