Cultivate: Recent Episodes
Phil
Cultivate invites you to explore themes in the bible as we look to cultivate the work of the cross in our lives. Phil was the senior minister of an evangelical church and senior pastor of a charismatic church, he now works in the broader community in family therapy. If you would like any of the notes from this weeks podcast please email crosscultivation@gmail.com
Letter To Smyrna
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive:
9 “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.
11 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.
Smyrna was a city of about 100,000 when John wrote the letter.
Close to Ephesus, Smyrna was a very wealthy city that took great pride in it’s wealth and beauty. It was also seen as a centre of science and medicine. It was the birthplace of Homer.
A major export for Smyrna was the spice myrrh, used in the preparation of bodies.
It was in Smyrna the cult of Roma first began, in around 195 B.C. indicating how aligned the city was with Rome.
It is here in this city of science and medicine, that made so much of it’s wealth around preparation for death that Jesus identifies Himself as the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive!
Jesus wants the readers to know that His claim is much more than overcoming death, He is all that God can be. The phrase alpha and omega was to identify the completeness of all God can be. Jesus truly is the completeness of all God is.
For in Him dwell the fulness of the Godhead.
In the is letter, as the others, Jesus connects His title with the churches reward.
He is everything God can be and they, through Him, will die but will live forever.
We forget that these were letters not just a systematic set of categories but Jesus pouring out His love and as with any love letter it starts with His pledge of undying love and ends with His pledge of eternal love. Make no mistake, this is a love letter.
I know about your suffering and poverty but you are rich. These were people who because they did not declare Caesar is Lord were penalised with financial sanctions. In a city that was rich they had become poor because they would not move from the testimony that Jesus is Lord. We can live in poverty and still thrive in spiritual riches, but to be spiritually poor is to live without redemption or hope beyond luxury.
When we are facing difficult times, it is often our temptation to explore ways to build up our resources. We see poverty as the enemy not spiritual riches as our goal.
Sadly, many people are driven by what they see as overcoming the enemy – poverty not chasing their goal, spiritual riches. Which would you take if you could only have one?
The church faces the Jews, the synagogue of Satan. This was not some cult, the word satan is a word meaning “enemy.” Satan is so called because he is our enemy.
Peter is also called satan, not because he is demonic but he tries to disuade Jesus from what He must do and so Jesus calls Peter his enemy (Matthew 16:23).
Just to be clear while I mention that passage. In the previous verses Jesus uses a play on words about Peter being a rock (petros - a stone or boulder)but the church being built on a rock (petra – a large mass of rock).
The church is not built on Peter but the rock. That rock is the truth, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. But I digress …
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Jesus wrote letters to seven churches that are recorded in Revelation.
Although they were written nearly 2000 years ago I believe they are relevant to us today, reminding us what is important and how we should live.
This podcast is longer as it also gives some context from Revelation 1
What is the purpose of the armour of God?
Is the armour modelled on a Roman soldier or the Old Testament?
What is worn under the armour?
Just how should we treat the passage about submission? Does it mean that wives have to do everything their husbands tell them or does it mean something a little different?
Ephesians 4:23 talks about a renewed attitude. A listener wanted to know how do you build or change your attitude to reflect biblical principles?
In this podcast I look at the wisdom Peter shares to help us build an attitude that honour God using the acronym KISS.
Paul teaches about how we should live, renewed thoughts and attitudes.
Renewed thoughts and attitudes are not the result of behaviour change or behaviour modification - that is the work of transformation!
Paul also reminds us to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving.
I look very briefly at two women who had profound and vital roles in the gospel stories and despite their faithfulness were shamed and gossiped about by their neighbours and probably their own family. When people are doing it tough don't assume they have sinned, let you default position be kindness, tenderhearted and forgiving.
Ephesians 4 begins with 7 things required for unity and 7 things we have unity in.
Having laid down the foundation of unity Paul goes on to talk about the generosity of Jesus and the gifts He gives.
I want to explore briefly, are these gifts for leadership of the church or gifts for unity and maturity in the body?
There is no doubt Jesus healed every disease and sickness and that sometimes He healed everyone who came to Him.
But did Jesus always heal everyone and was everyone that was prayed for always healed?
I absolutely believe healing is for today and that God can heal any illness or disease despite how lost the cause may be. I believe God can also raise the dead.
The difficulty is can you build a water tight case that Jesus always healed everyone and that everyone who was prayed for was healed. I don't think so.
It is not a reason not to pray in faith, if anything to do so more but we also need to continue in God's unfailing love.
A brief look at what is the temple spoken about in Ephesians 2:19 and is it important today.
Paul begins to introduce his really big ideas in Ephesians by ensuring the church are clear about the issues that are essential: mercy, grace and unity.
Mercy and grace are the ingredients that make us God's masterpiece, His poetry and lays the foundation for us to live in unity.
A very brief introduction to the book of Ephesians and a brief exploring of the themes of redemption and adoption in the first chapter.
The sixth sign in the book of John is the healing of the man born blind.
In healing the man's blindness Jesus reveals the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees.
Physical blindness leads people to rely on their other senses, spiritual blindness leads to people to lean more on their own error.
Rather than celebrate the man's healing they wanted to be right. When we are more focused on the law than setting people free we are on dangerous ground and we need to move from sight to insight, from knowledge to revelation.
The fifth sign in John is Jesus walking on water. Jesus asks the disciples to cross a body of water that could be dangerous to a town he had already cursed. Included in the disciples were fisherman who had fished their whole lives on these waters and knew them to be dangerous but in Mark 6:45 Jesus "insisted" they go. How do we act in trust?
The 4th sign in the Gospel of John is the feeding of the 5000. Why was this miracle so important it was recorded in all four gospels?
The third sign of John is the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. Just as Jesus offered the man with a disability healing two thousand years ago, He offers you wholeness today.
The second sign in John is found in chapter 4.
We are saved by grace NOT works but this does not mean we can ignore the words and commands of Jesus.
In the gospel of John there are seven signs, each of them an essential lesson in faith illustrated with a miracle. This week we explore the first sign, the miracle of the water turned into wine.
We all love to serve in the areas of our gifting but how often do we examine our motivation for serving? This podcast looks at the example Jesus gave and how we can best serve Him and others.
What is worship? Is it music focused on God or perhaps more than just that?
Explore briefly what worship is, what it looked like in the early church and how it should look in our lives.
How do you identify someone of faith and how should we express our faith?
Cultivate explores what faith looks like from Luke 7:1-17
Do we see truth as just the sum of correct information or a revealed unforgettable experience? What happens when Jesus meets a woman who wants to discuss her version of truth? Does Jesus overwhelm her with information and facts or simply reveal who He is?
Exploring several occasions where Jesus demonstrates what forgiveness means this podcast also explores an possible explanation for why we need to forgive 70 X 7.
We often describe words on the basis of definition or common usage.
How would we describe words based on the example of Jesus?
As part of the Ineffable (something that defines explanation) Series we look at some simple words we are called to live with uncommon grace.
This weeks word 'mercy' looks at John 8:1-11.