Richmond Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
Richmond Baptist Church
Richmond is a church passionate about King Jesus and living out his kingdom in our neighbourhood in Adelaide, Australia. We hope you enjoy our podcast. You can find out more at richmond.org.au
The fourth week of our series '... no matter what', working our way through the book of Philippians. This week, we explore what it means to embrace Perseverance... no matter what
Sunday Gathering for Aug 20, 2023 - the third week of our series '... no matter what', working our way through the book of Philippians. This week, we explore what it means to embrace Humility... no matter what
The second week of our series '... no matter what', working our way through the book of Philippians. This week, we explore what it means to embrace opportunities... no matter what
The first week of our series '... no matter what', working our way through the book of Philippians. This week, we explore what it means to embrace Gratitude... no matter what
We hear from Tamie and Arthur Davis and the boys about how they're adjusting to live back in Adelaide and Tamie shares some thoughts on sabbath and rest from her experience in Tanzania
Our final special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Surrender. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Our special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Forgiveness. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Our special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Peace. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Our special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Prayer. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Our special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Compassion. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Our special Lent podcast to explore The Way of Worship. Final prayer is adapted from Pete Greig’s Sabbath Blessing.
Join us this Advent as we hear first hand from characters who experienced the incredible events of the first Christmas
Week 2 of our Series "Core" where we unpack what it means to be family. Colossians 3:12-17
We are called to be a people different from the world, shaped by Scripture and our calling. What does it look like to be a people who are counter-cultural while still loving our neighbour?
We are reminded in Scripture of our missional call and our journey in faith of learning who we are. Carl reminds us of several passages and how he has been shaped by them in his journey.
We are reminded in Ephesians 1 that Christ has chosen, loved and included us. He and He alone has redeemed us and He extends to us the offer of an eternal inheritance. We are shaped by whose we are and what He has given us.
Psalm 100 teaches us that God's faithfulness continues through all generations. How do we allow this truth to shape us?
The vine is a common symbol for the people of God in the Old Testament, often found in prophetic laments for their lack of fruitfulness and relationship. Jesus says He is the true vine, and that in Him we can bear fruit. What does it mean for Jesus to be the new Israel and the source of fruitfulness in the world, particularly for us as we participate in God’s kingdom mission?
God leads His people in His way by various means in the Old Testament. Jesus contrasts Himself to anything before Him that people might think leads to the Father, claiming to be the only way, as well as the full revelation of who God is. How do we respond to this claim to uniqueness, particularly in our diverse and complex world where there are many competing claims?
Jesus is life, and the giver of new life. What does this mean for us as we trust and follow Him, particularly in the face of the reality of death?
The leaders of God’s people in the Old Testament are often called to be like shepherds, tending and caring for those they lead. God is also worshiped as the shepherd. Jesus applies this image to Himself, as the one who comes to gather, defend, and care for God’s sheep. How do we follow Jesus as our good shepherd today, particularly when ideas of leadership are so different?
God’s people could not easily enter his presence. The gates, courts, and curtains of the temple reminded Israel of the holiness of the God who dwelt in their midst, and there were various sacrifices needed to enter through them into His presence. Jesus claims that He is the gate or door through which we enter into God’s family. What does this mean for us and our world today, particularly as people look for alternative ways to enter God’s presence?
God Himself provided light for the people of Israel to follow him. He also called them to be a light to the Gentiles, or the rest of the world. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness of the world, calling us to both follow and reflect His light. What does it mean for us to know Jesus’ light, particularly when we look at the darkness of our world?
God provided the Israelites manna in the desert to sustain them, literally bread for them to live. After miraculously providing bread for people to eat, Jesus reveals to His disciples that He is the true bread that gives and sustains life. As the Israelites trusted and received daily manna from God, what does it look like for us to trust and receive Jesus as our true bread, especially as those who are not used to being hungry?
When the Jews hear Jesus say “I am”, they pick up stones to kill him for blasphemy, for they recognise His claim to divinity. The name God chose to reveal to His people: YHWH, I AM WHO I AM. What does it mean that God has revealed this as His name, and how does John connect this to Jesus to reveal who He is? What does it mean for us as we follow Jesus?
In our youth-led gathering Jed reminds us of how God often uses unexpected people in unexpected ways to bring about the Kingdom. We are challenged to consider what this means for how God looks to use us in our world today. Are we following the example of the unexpected King? Are we looking out for the unexpected?
We consider the everyday elements of the resurrection story and what we can learn from how King Jesus revealed Himself to His followers. What can we learn from the risen Christ in the everyday and ordinary?
While Lent is most commonly associated in people’s minds with fasting, the two are complementary rather than opposites. Throughout the Bible and Christian tradition, the people of God have gathered to share in his goodness by feasting together. Jesus was known for sharing meals with all kinds of people. What does the practice of feasting look like in our time, place and cultural context? How can we celebrate God’s goodness to us and invite others to join us in participating in it as we prepare to celebrate God’s gift of resurrection life at Easter?
In the Christian tradition, Lent has often been a time to intentionally pray for others. What does intercessory prayer for our world, our enemies, and the needs of our community look like for us in this season as we prepare to remember Christ's once and for all intercession for us at Easter?
Almsgiving is the practice of generosity and particularly charity for those in greatest need. In many Christian traditions, Lent is a season to intentionally practice this spiritual discipline by giving to the poor or performing acts of charity. What does this look like for us in our time, place and context as we prepare to remember Christ's ultimate gift to us at Easter?
To whom do we confess our sin? Is confession simply a practice to leave us feeling condemned and guilty? Confession of our brokenness, transgressions and mortality is an essential practice for Kingdom people and helps us to anticipate Easter. We consider what it looks like to live in rhythms of confession
We consider the conclusion of Ecclesiastes and what it can teach us about finding joy in the everyday. We ask what it is to fear, trust and obey God and why we can find hope despite our mortality and the world's apparent meaninglessness.
We journey with the author of Ecclesiastes as they consider what it means to be mortal, to recognise that we all face death and chaos. However, we also serve the King who brings ultimate peace and order
We journey with the author of Ecclesiastes as they consider what it means to be surrounded by complexity and how to approach difficult times. We are reminded that we are not alone in our wrestle.
As two men seek to process the events of Jesus crucifixion and what to make of his ministry, he joins them on the road. Unrecognised, he walks them through what his life and ministry meant and how they relate to the scriptures. He opens their eyes to the reality of who he is as he breaks bread with them. We are reminded that it is King Jesus - his life, death, and resurrection - that restores the story. We live in light of his restoration of the story. What does it look like to be a people who live out of and share the restored story?
As Jesus is travelling, a blind beggar calls out to King Jesus asking for mercy. While the crowd seeks to have the man silenced, Jesus does indeed have mercy on him. Jesus brings the man close so he can interact with him and tells him that it is his faith that has healed him. The crowd who sought to silence the man end up praising God because of Jesus’ interaction with him. Amid a crowd and noise, King Jesus’ hears the cry of a beggar and takes mercy. What does it look like for us to live in patterns and rhythms of mercy? How can we listen to the voice of the powerless and those the crowd seek to silence?
On the road, Jesus discusses the sacrifice involved in following him. The call to be a disciple of the king is an all-encompassing one that subverts cultural expectations. What does this mean for us as disciples of the King today?
Isaiah prophesises that God will come to and comfort his people, bringing the good news of his presence, like a shepherd who will lead, care for, and tenderly love his people. Jesus fulfils this presence in his life and teaching as the Good Shepherd, and in his sacrificial death on our behalf. When he returns, he will again gather us as his own to be fully loved by him forever.
Isaiah prophesises about the renewal of all creation, with flourishing life even in the desert, and the restoration of all kinds of disabilities and diseases, leading to great joy and delight. Jesus fulfils this in his life and ministry, healing and miracles. When he returns, there will be great rejoicing in this restoration and renewal forever.
Isaiah prophesises about the renewal of the city of Jerusalem, where God’s people will live in peace, trusting the LORD and walking in his ways. Jesus fulfils this in his teaching and living out of God’s law and in bringing peace between God and humanity in his death. When he returns, he will establish peace once and for all forever.
Isaiah prophesises about a descendant of David who will bring fruitfulness out of barrenness by the power of God’s Spirit. There is great hope in the promises that he will bring justice and righteousness, reconciliation to all creation, and the knowledge of the LORD to the whole earth. Jesus fulfils this in his baptism and ministry, and he will ultimately fulfil this when he returns to set all things right.
We serve a creative God and are invited into co-creativity with him. Co-creation isn't an obligation but an open invitation that is extended to us. How can we imagine creative approaches to work, ministry and vocation?
Work has often been where the sacred-secular divide has been most evident. Work loses its meaning if it is seen as totally devoid of the sacred. However, God’s vision of work involves communion with God, where alienation is no longer our curse but instead restoring our work’s sacred status. We therefore realise that our primary goal in life isn’t traditional understandings of success but to be faithful, being a people whose work seeks to bring order out of chaos. This understanding of the world, seeing the sacred in all things, speaks to a vision of the future where we are in continuous communion with God. It also reminds us of our original calling, to work alongside God in the Garden.
A calling requires a caller. It is the great Caller who invites us to partner with him in the work he is doing. We are extended an invitation to participate in bringing the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The diversity of our contexts, talents and giftings along with our unified communal call provide a picture of the kingdom breaking into our world.
We know that we have been called but to what? And what are our skills and passions for? Our vocation and calling are not simply the things that we do, but to a way of living that influences how we do things far more than what we do. As image-bearers with giftings, skills and talents we find ourselves with many opportunities for things to do. If our calling is to the kingdom rather than just to a job, then the dangerous idea of a single fixed calling can be done away with. This helps us consider the paralysis of choice and fear of decision making that often plagues us.
The concept of work is one that the Bible introduces from the earliest chapters – not as a curse but as an exciting vision of what it is to be human; and one that is core to our identity. What do we mean by terms such as work, vocation and ministry? How do they affect our view of the world, God and ourselves?
God exists in and for relationship: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is love, and he always loves. What does that mean for us to know God as a loving being, to being drawn into his loving, and to join him where he is already at work loving the world?
We cry out for God’s kingdom to be revealed and lived out now. We are invited to participate in the outworking of this.
We pray out of our relationship and identity as children of the Father. We acknowledge and seek God’s holiness from a posture of humility.
As the people of God live out who they are where they find themselves, God speaks through Jeremiah to promise future hope and restoration. This is not the end of the story, and in fact the lament, confession, providence and shalom-seeking is preparing them for what God still has in store. How do these promises point forward to what God will do in the return from exile, in the coming of Jesus, and in the renewal of all things? And how does hope sustain us in our time?
Through Jeremiah, God calls the people to settle down in their time of exile, and live faithfully to who they were even in a foreign land. As God’s holy people, their calling is to be a light to the nations, and so they are to pray and seek peace for their city, and even for their enemies. How are the people of God called to live? And how can we bring God’s shalom to our neighbourhoods and city during this time?
God’s message to Jeremiah’s speaks of how he will bring about his good purposes through the peoples and events of the time. He is able to use nations, kings and natural events to demonstrate his justice and mercy. How does God’s providence work? And how might we see God’s hand at work in the big events of our time?
As the people in Jeremiah’s day named their grief before God, they were also led to confess: both confession of their own human frailty and sinfulness, and confession of God’s power and promises. In doing so, they threw themselves upon God’s mercy and trusted him to respond out of his faithfulness. How is confession bigger than simply listing our mistakes? And how can we confess the truths of who we are and who are God is in our time?
The people in Jeremiah’s day had plenty of reasons to lament. It felt like their whole world had fallen apart. And so, in an act of bold faith, they came to God with their weeping, and their questions, and their confusion, and their anger. How is lamenting different from wallowing? And how can praying our emotions help us find comfort in our time?
As families grow, they birth new families who are sent out to establish and live as new families. God’s family is called to grow and multiply across time and place. What does it look like for our church to be fruitful and sending out?
Families do life together day by day through the ups and downs of all the season. God’s family meets, celebrates, worships, learns, and grows together. What are the rhythms and practices that enrich and grow our family life together at Richmond?
At Pentecost, the Spirit births a new community, the church, called to live as God’s people in this world even as we anticipate and work towards his coming. God re-establishes his people in this world, so that we might invite others to be part of what he is doing. This is where we find ourselves in the story today – how do we live in and out of this as God’s kingdom people today? Then the end of the biblical story presents us with a vision of people from all places, times and cultures united as one. Claris pictures it as “God always sitting with people in his new country.” How does this hope shape us today as we expectantly anticipate the fulfilment of God’s heart for his people?
Jesus is both the true King of the people of God, and also the true person, the first kingdom person. His life demonstrates what being the people of God looks like once and for all, and his death and resurrection open the way for us to be reconciled to God and live as his people forever. How do we worship and follow Jesus as the true kingdom person, and what does it look like to ‘in him’ as his people today?
The story of Israel in the Old Testament is the story of God building for himself a particular people, set apart for his purposes, to make his love and justice known to all people and to invite all back to relationship with him. Through this story God makes known his purpose and calling for his community of faith. How do we enter into and live out of this story?
When humanity rebels against God, it causes disruption in all our relationships: with him, with one another, and with all creation. People are scattered, distant from one another, and we find all kinds of divisions whether by culture, age, gender, or merely interest. How does this story shape our world today and how do we as God’s people respond?
God creates people from the ground and in His image. In Genesis 1-2 we have the story of his good creation and beautiful design, where all things are created and the high point is humanity whom God has created to be in relationship with him and with one another. How do we live today out of this story?
Claris pictures God imagining a people even before creating us. Paul’s explanation to the Ephesians presents a similar idea – God has a longing, a dreaming, an imagining of relationship. He then brings this about in the story of his creation, redemption and renewal of all things. How does this whole story come together and how do we live today out of this story?
Jesus says to his disciples, “Come follow me and you (plural) will be fishers of people.” What does this look like for us in our context today? How do we hear and practice this call differently knowing it is spoken to us as a community together?
When Jesus sends his disciples out on mission, his instructions are given to them as you (plural). How do these instructions to Jesus’ disciples work out in our lives today? How do we hear them differently knowing they are spoken to us together? How do we live them out as a community?
Jesus’ instructs his disciples to be different to the leaders and rulers of the world. He says, “If you (plural) want to be great you must become a servant.” What does this kind of servant leadership look like for us? How do we hear this differently knowing it is spoken to us together? How do we live this out as a community?
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in faith, saying “Whatever you (plural) ask for you in prayer will be given to you.” What does it mean for us to pray with the kind of faith that can move mountains? How do we hear and respond to this differently knowing it is spoken to us as a community?
Both Matthew and Luke name Jesus as Joseph’s son, and this is how he is identified by people throughout his life. Jesus is part of human family and story. Jesus is also the Son of God, fully divine. What difference does it make for us that this is who Jesus is?
Matthew links Jesus’ genealogy to two key figures: Abraham and David, the inheritors of God’s specific promises in the Old Testament. Jesus is the king who will reign with justice and righteousness forever. What difference does it make for us that this is who Jesus is?
Matthew links Jesus’ genealogy to two key figures: Abraham and David, the inheritors of God’s specific promises in the Old Testament. Jesus is the ‘seed’ through whom all peoples on earth will be blessed. What difference does it make for us that this is who Jesus is?
As we celebrate the Christmas season, we want to take seriously the significance of the genealogies in the way Matthew and Luke tell the story of Jesus’ coming. By connecting Jesus to significant figures from Israel’s history, they are making clear that he is the one to whom their stories point, the one who fulfils all the promises that were made to them, and the one in whom their hopes are realised. This helps us understand Jesus’ identity and mission in the context of the big story of God and calls us to participate in that ongoing story and mission as we live in relationship with him.
What does the daily grind and the book of Ecclesiastes teach us about who we are and what God is like?
The first invitation of wisdom is to gain wisdom. How does the ancient wisdom literature of the Old Testament invite us to do this and provide us with a model for doing this today?
Aboriginal Christian Leader Brooke Prentis unpacks what the birds of the land (Emu, Ostrich, and Cassowary) can teach us about creation and Creator.
In this section Peter encourages those likely to suffer unjust treatment from human authorities. Peter shows how this brings those who suffer in line with the suffering Messiah but also that after suffering Jesus was victorious over all authorities in every dimension. Jesus has overthrown all their power and so his people are to live holding their heads up, keeping their consciences clear and trusting in the victory to come. This section includes a call to live differently because Jesus has already begun the process of cosmic renewal. Peter calls his readers to point to Jesus in their life and words as they endure oppression, injustice and suffering. What are the implications for us in our day?
In this section Peter imagines living differently every day in our workplaces and in our relationships. For Peter, this includes identifying with the crucified and suffering Messiah. This is true in the oppression of slavery back then and true in the oppression of meaninglessness and slavery to our work today. Peter also looks at the new way of life in our relationships. Peter’s words challenge the ancient and the modern understandings of gender roles and expectations. What does it mean for us as Peter challenges our expected roles with the Gospel of Jesus? Peter also challenges his readers to unlearn old habits in the way we relate and develop new habits of heart and life.
In this section Peter describes the people of God as aliens and strangers, citizens of two worlds. Peter offers a delicately balanced position of life lived with moral purity and life lived freely in Jesus. He imagines with his readers a new and true life lived while being challenged by bodily desires and societal pressures. Peter calls his readers to a life lived in front of others, letting them see a genuine and new way of being human. This includes our submission to human authorities. Peter does not imagine this will be easy, and he does not seem to be saying that we should politely collude with injustice and oppression by any government. What does it look like for us to live now as citizens of two worlds?
In this section Peter describes Jesus as the living stone. Peter is building on the Jewish imagination of the cornerstone of the Temple and using a play on words with the Hebrew word for son. Peter is suggesting that Jesus is the living stone and living Son on whom God will build something quite new. A living temple being built all over the world as God’s spiritual house. And this people of God includes non- Jews who are now part of the holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices as a chosen race and royal nation. The one true God is now living in them all. Only if we understand this truth will we be able to live out all that this letter urges us to. What does that mean for us?
In this passage Peter establishes some of the core parts of the Christian worldview. Who are we? People chosen for the purpose of being signposts to the new reality of the new world. People living a strange double life as dual citizens. God himself has become our Father, birthing a new life within us and a new life for us to live being transformed by mercy and love. People living through suffering in the hope of God’s mercy. People who live as set apart for God in every part and at every level. People who live in faith and hope in God. How does that help our imagination of life and hope as the people of God today?
Listen as Melinda unpacks the Psalms of Imprecation and what they can teach us about praying our anger.
On Sunday Elliot continued our Lament series with an honest and raw look at Psalm 88. The only Psalm that doesn't resolve in some kind of hope or praise. What do we do when the tide of loneliness and grief overwhelm us and there doesn't seem to be an end to the relentless suffering?
Listen as Elliot shares about the third part in our Richmond Values Series. We paused this recording while we practiced some of what we were talking about.
John’s poetic Gospel speaks of new and flourishing life found in Jesus and his new kingdom. n a world of disappointment, unmet expectations, and differing views on what the good life looks like, what sort of life are we invited into as we centre our lives on King Jesus and live out his imagination of the new kingdom? John’s Gospel has the big idea that if we want to know who the true God is we need to look deeply at who Jesus is. And, in a world of questions about the meaning and purpose of life, it is in Jesus that we find answers.
John’s poetic Gospel speaks of new and flourishing life found in Jesus and his new kingdom. n a world of disappointment, unmet expectations, and differing views on what the good life looks like, what sort of life are we invited into as we centre our lives on King Jesus and live out his imagination of the new kingdom? John’s Gospel has the big idea that if we want to know who the true God is we need to look deeply at who Jesus is. And, in a world of questions about the meaning and purpose of life, it is in Jesus that we find answers.
John’s poetic Gospel speaks of new and flourishing life found in Jesus and his new kingdom. n a world of disappointment, unmet expectations, and differing views on what the good life looks like, what sort of life are we invited into as we centre our lives on King Jesus and live out his imagination of the new kingdom? John’s Gospel has the big idea that if we want to know who the true God is we need to look deeply at who Jesus is. And, in a world of questions about the meaning and purpose of life, it is in Jesus that we find answers.
John’s poetic Gospel speaks of new and flourishing life found in Jesus and his new kingdom. n a world of disappointment, unmet expectations, and differing views on what the good life looks like, what sort of life are we invited into as we centre our lives on King Jesus and live out his imagination of the new kingdom? John’s Gospel has the big idea that if we want to know who the true God is we need to look deeply at who Jesus is. And, in a world of questions about the meaning and purpose of life, it is in Jesus that we find answers.
John’s poetic Gospel speaks of new and flourishing life found in Jesus and his new kingdom. n a world of disappointment, unmet expectations, and differing views on what the good life looks like, what sort of life are we invited into as we centre our lives on King Jesus and live out his imagination of the new kingdom? John’s Gospel has the big idea that if we want to know who the true God is we need to look deeply at who Jesus is. And, in a world of questions about the meaning and purpose of life, it is in Jesus that we find answers.