1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:02,640 Welcome to Hope, everyone particularly welcome if you're 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,040 new to Hope or actually we've got some super alumni, Jonathan 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:10,280 and Helen visiting. So for those of you who don't 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,960 know Jonathan, Helen were here several years ago and really key 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:15,480 elders in helping to build the church. 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,240 So it's really great to have you guys here and and welcome if 7 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:21,280 you're new to hope. My name is Chris and this is 8 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,560 Alice and we're some of the pastors here and we love this 9 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:25,600 church. We love this community. 10 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,320 We love the adventure of following Jesus and the 11 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,960 challenge of it. You know, the, the IT feels like 12 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,360 a big challenge and it but it feels like that exciting thing. 13 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,000 I want to I want to keep giving my life to. 14 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:43,000 And so starting a new year and Alice is going to be speaking to 15 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,320 us on her. I'll let her introduce her new 16 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:51,760 theme and I'll just pray and let's pray and then we'll well, 17 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,040 we'll hear from Alice. We also just want to say also 18 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,560 just want to have more time at the end of our second-half to to 19 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,360 pray for each other. I'd like to just build that into 20 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,400 being more of a rhythm. So we're aiming to finish a 21 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,040 little bit like around 12:00 so that the finish the teaching by 22 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:07,640 12:00. So that then there's time in 23 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,560 those last 10 minutes to if you want to pray for each other or 24 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:12,960 or come to the front and be prayed for. 25 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:15,320 Want to be want to be making that more intentional in the way 26 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:17,600 that we are as gathered church like this. 27 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,520 Say, Lord, thank you that we get to be here and we come to 28 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:29,640 worship you, Jesus, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creator of 29 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:35,560 everything, bringer of life. And we pray that as Alice speaks 30 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:41,040 to us, teaches us this morning that your reality, your truth, 31 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,280 your life becomes more real, more present and powerful in us 32 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,440 to change us for the everyday and for the eternal. 33 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:54,240 Amen. Welcome, everyone. 34 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:03,360 It is your favourite 3 words. This is like Marmite, isn't it? 35 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,160 Hands up. Who loves the New Year's 36 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,120 resolution? Probably, actually, by now. 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:09,960 Apparently you don't anymore. No one does. 38 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,080 We're too late. But on January the first. 39 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:13,200 Who loves it? Dan. 40 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,720 I saw it. Yes, thank you. 41 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,360 Who hates them? Yeah. 42 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,520 There you go. Nothing like a bit of drama. 43 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:29,040 So what I love about Chris is he's really into saving the 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,200 planet. But it wasn't you. 45 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:34,400 OK. It's very small print. 46 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:42,040 Extremely small. OK, so I came across this 47 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,960 hilarious article which lists the top 150 most popular New 48 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,240 Year's resolutions. So do we want to try and guess 49 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,040 some of them right now? Just shout out some what was 50 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,920 that one? Drink less, lose weight, stop 51 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:01,920 smoking, exercise, stop. You should write the article 52 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:03,920 guys. Who are these people getting 53 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:05,880 paid for this kind of thing anyway? 54 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,520 I didn't want to bore you with the top 150, which I slightly 55 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,600 did at home every I was on my own. 56 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:13,920 I was talking to myself by the end of that conversation. 57 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,400 So we will do the top 15 health and fitness. 58 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,240 Should we all just exercise? Drink more than the right stuff, 59 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,200 water you know. Eat veggies and fruit. 60 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,640 Cut down processed foods. Get enough sleep each night. 61 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:31,080 Practise yoga, meditation, take the stairs, try a new work out, 62 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:32,840 reduce sugar. It's quite tiring, isn't it? 63 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,160 It's quite tiring being this kind of person. 64 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,760 Learn to cook healthier meals. Join a community fitness class. 65 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:39,240 Commit to a daily 15 minute walk. 66 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,080 Complete a 12 week beginner strength programme. 67 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,760 Hit a daily step goal of 8000. Track it. 68 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,360 Scheduled annual physical, dental and skin checkup. 69 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:48,840 Didn't think of that one, did we? 70 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,520 Skin checkup by March and personal development. 71 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:54,440 Read a new book every month. Start a journaling habit. 72 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,120 Learning new lengths. Sorry for those listening 73 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,680 online, it's quite intense. There are 150 of them. 74 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,840 I'm trying to get 330 in about one minute. 75 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,360 Take up a new hobby. Attend workshops and Seminoles. 76 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,120 Practise public speaking. That'd be good. 77 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,680 Volunteer for recalls. Develop better time management 78 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:11,120 skills. Practise gratitude daily. 79 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,480 Learn a musical instrument. Build a morning routine that 80 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:14,880 sets a positive tone for the day. 81 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:16,560 Take a social media break once a week. 82 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,920 Do a 30 day creativity challenge, run a weekly. 83 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:27,520 Oh, it's just it's gone. The tech was like, I can't bear 84 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:28,960 this. This is unbearable. 85 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,400 Hands up. Any of you who kind of resonated 86 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:37,480 with a few of them actually are thinking, Yeah. 11:50 I had my 87 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:42,440 last slice of chocolate cake at the Davies and I have not had 88 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,800 chocolate since midnight. It was brilliant. 89 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,800 I'm feeling quite good on it actually, because I actually 90 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,120 haven't. I think by now if you failed, 91 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,920 it's just worse than not even trying anyway. 92 00:04:54,680 --> 00:05:01,240 OK, so let's just move on from that because it is exhausting. 93 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,880 What is going on here? Why is it that every year we all 94 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,440 go through this sort of panic at the at the time of year where we 95 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:13,560 really need about another month, don't we? 96 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,560 Just another month before we maybe practise Lent? 97 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,840 Like do you think there was some wisdom in that ancient 98 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:27,240 tradition? We are sort of saying to 99 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,360 ourselves every single year we could do better, we should be 100 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,400 better, we need to improve ourselves. 101 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,120 There is something too much or too little about each of us and 102 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,120 therefore we need to resolve to change and become better people. 103 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:43,760 And This is why every year people set New Year's 104 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,560 resolutions, why by about now most people have failed, and 105 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:49,560 consequently why so many people hate them. 106 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:55,360 They kind of expose the sense of lack of happiness or contentment 107 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,160 or sense of failure in US or disappointment. 108 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,120 Now, I'm not in any way saying from a Christian perspective, 109 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,400 there isn't a telos, an end, that we are designed to become 110 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,680 like Jesus. So that sense where this is all 111 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,560 the image of God, all of us want, having this sort of 112 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,080 desire, this inherent desire to be better is something that 113 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,520 God's put within us. However, the weight and the 114 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,880 burden and the feeling of failure and self disappointment 115 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,760 and self hatred is not God's design for us, quite the 116 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,280 opposite. And that's what we're going to 117 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:30,800 get into. But I noticed this isn't just 118 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,840 something within ourselves, but there's sort of something of 119 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,120 this malaise, this sense of we need to do better or be better 120 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,840 in society as well, this sense of unravelling. 121 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,200 And I'm going to use one particular example. 122 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,760 I've pay, I love paying attention to patterns. 123 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,960 And I just began to see this pattern a few years ago. 124 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:55,240 A friend of mine who works in Tesco's just casually remarks, 125 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,360 there's just quite a lot of petty theft, quite a lot of 126 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,280 people steal stuff. And I kind of clocked that and 127 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,360 what a hassle that is and how you manage that. 128 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,520 But thought, you know, there's always been in every cultural 129 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,480 society kind of, I guess people are maybe more vulnerable or on 130 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,240 the edges or maybe have addictions and so on. 131 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,920 And, and, and this kind of stealing is, is kind of part of 132 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,280 what people do. So I kind of thought, gosh, 133 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:21,280 that's really challenging to work with, but also, you know, 134 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,920 it's part of life. So this day I started to notice 135 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,400 it and then I noticed just hanging out with young people, 136 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,440 just talking. Just much more of a blurriness 137 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:35,840 or casualness around who owns what possessions, where the 138 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:43,480 boundaries are. I guess stealing isn't like a 139 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:48,000 word that has as much currency as maybe when I was growing up 140 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,720 and we used to go. Is it stealing to record the, 141 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,720 the kind of songs onto your own radio, onto your own cassette? 142 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,440 You can tell who's my age and above because you're like, yeah. 143 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:02,400 And everyone else is like, no, what are you talking about? 144 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:04,440 Yeah. And you were like, is it 145 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,400 stealing to do? And we'd think about those 146 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:12,560 things, you know? And so I kind of thought, why do 147 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,080 I think anything differently to anyone else? 148 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,080 Because I have 3 words, two in the Hebrew do not steal. 149 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,480 That's it. Those 3 words in something 150 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,080 called the 10 commandments in something called the Bible, 151 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,480 which probably most people have never heard of or have no 152 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,120 relationship with. And so I thought that those 3 153 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:36,159 words have really helped me in a lot of the decisions I've made. 154 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,679 I have a sense of ownership, possession, boundaries. 155 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,919 There's so much to that. So then I thought last year we'd 156 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:45,520 been looking at what is the good news and Bill's going to carry 157 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,000 on going into Romans, and we're still doing the Trinitarian 158 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,600 faith course. But I wanted to kind of launch a 159 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,960 new series, which will take about two years because I speak 160 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,200 about once every month or six weeks on the 10 commandments. 161 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:01,720 We're going to go through each one. 162 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,640 I'm introducing it today and looking at all the kind of 163 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:17,080 aspects of it. Because the thing I noticed, 164 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,040 sorry I forgot to say this actually is this wasn't just me 165 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,920 anecdotally, sorry, there seems to be data to back up this 166 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,040 epidemic. Shoplifters get away with 167 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,000 stealing every minute and theft epidemic. 168 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 That was from the Telegraph in December. 169 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,120 The new breed of shoplifting entrepreneurs fuelling EU KS 170 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,640 petty crime problem. 12th of December 2025 and then earlier 171 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,560 in the year in the Guardian. Shoplifting offences in England 172 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:45,440 and Wales at highest level ever recorded total increase to over 173 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,440 half a million last year, official figures show. 174 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,560 But retail retailers fear data severely underestimates 175 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:52,240 problems. Sorry. 176 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,400 So the point I'm making it this I wasn't just anecdotally seeing 177 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:59,680 this suddenly last year, it just became this this kind of pattern 178 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:02,880 or a different agreement within us as a society as to what 179 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,840 constitutes socially acceptable behaviour. 180 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,120 Because we agree how we're operating, we agree and there's 181 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,120 a different agreement, the agreement of how we operate as a 182 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,600 society and what's acceptable, what isn't is changing. 183 00:10:23,030 --> 00:10:27,790 I had another interesting conversation with our a church. 184 00:10:27,790 --> 00:10:29,750 We're kind of, as you know, growing in friendship with, in 185 00:10:29,750 --> 00:10:34,790 partnership with Fatima. And she is the, the ocean Fatima 186 00:10:34,790 --> 00:10:40,240 lead this church. And we were looking at the, and 187 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,360 it's some event with the late queen and I can't remember what 188 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,320 it was. And I always, it's just so 189 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,800 eccentric, isn't it? We, we have eccentric practises 190 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,240 that we do with our royal family. 191 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,280 And I was like, what do you think of that? 192 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,240 And she immediately said, talking about some sort of big 193 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,240 event where there's a parade and everything. 194 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,920 She immediately said that gold was stolen. 195 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:05,840 I thought the gold in the carriage was stolen. 196 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,480 So I've been paying attention to this word stealing and thinking 197 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:15,760 about it. And she had her take enlarged my 198 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,440 understanding of what that phrase do not steal means, which 199 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,200 is something else I'll address in that talk in about 18 months 200 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,240 time. Because for her, she said there 201 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,240 aren't gold mines in this country. 202 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,560 Now, I don't know the history of gold trade. 203 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:35,320 I don't know whether fair prices are paid for gold. 204 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,480 I imagine she's right. I imagine there's exploitation 205 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,480 and the fact that the gold from wherever the gold mines are, 206 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,000 which aren't in this country, ended up on her carriage. 207 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,960 I haven't investigated that. But her instinctive emotional 208 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,560 response to an event that I thought was just cringy and 209 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:55,880 eccentric was that was stolen. So we are going to look at every 210 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,120 level for, for those on the right, personal responsibility, 211 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,280 those on the left, systemic responsibility to offend and 212 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,800 hopefully mobilise this all. So there we go. 213 00:12:16,170 --> 00:12:20,530 So I called this a happy, fulfilled and flourishing life 214 00:12:20,530 --> 00:12:24,170 in 10 steps, introducing the 10 commandments. 215 00:12:24,730 --> 00:12:28,130 And when I say that I don't at all mean a superficial, I 216 00:12:28,130 --> 00:12:29,690 thought about this word happy a lot. 217 00:12:29,690 --> 00:12:35,570 I don't mean a superficial kind of self focused how to be happy 218 00:12:35,570 --> 00:12:39,520 in a like a self help kind of way. 219 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:43,200 I meant actually to be happy, actually to live life on this 220 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,080 earth with a degree of peace and contentment and joy and 221 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,800 well-being. And it just like life aligns the 222 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:53,240 incongruence and dissonance we all feel just is restored to a 223 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,480 sense of congruence. So I don't at all mean that 224 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:58,720 people don't suffer deeply and terribly. 225 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,560 They do, absolutely. And the Bible is full of ways of 226 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:05,680 stories of people who suffer deeply and terribly and ways to 227 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:09,000 lament that and to go through that, that place of unbelievable 228 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:17,040 pain with God. I also don't mean that this is a 229 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,720 quick fix. If you do 10 things, you will 230 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,920 get happy. This is a way of life. 231 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,360 This is an orientation to a way of life that eventually produces 232 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,960 the kind of person that lives in congruence in this world. 233 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,080 Just things work, relationships, work, finance, just things work 234 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,640 the way they're supposed to do. In the context of being an evil 235 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,840 age and at war in the unseen realm. 236 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:47,960 We don't have any control over a lot of things in our lives. 237 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,840 We think we do. We've been told we do. 238 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,640 But we do have agency. And this is going to engage with 239 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,240 that part of us that actually has agency within the context of 240 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,440 a world where we didn't choose, where we were born, who we were 241 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,440 born to, where we live with lots of things we didn't choose. 242 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,800 But within the confines of those limitations, we have genuinely 243 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,840 been given agency. We've genuinely been given a way 244 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,880 to live that I can either lead as I we will look at in a bit 245 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,920 life or death, happiness, fulfilment and and a sort of 246 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:24,240 sense of flourishing or a, a, a sense of deep sense of a kind of 247 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,200 bitterness, regret, pain and cynicism. 248 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,240 There are there are two ways to live within the agency we've all 249 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,640 been given, given the limitations of our context. 250 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:43,400 And so in in order to access this life, as Jesus says, there 251 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,120 will be, it is a way of self denial. 252 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,280 It is called we. We are designed to take up the 253 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,600 cross of the old nature which cannot live into this every day 254 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,320 face difficult choices, uncomfortable feelings, the 255 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,960 necessity of self denial. In another word, short term, we 256 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,680 will face short term pain in order to get to this long term 257 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,000 pay gain of actually being a happy, fulfilled and flourishing 258 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,280 individual and society. And when we hit that moment, 259 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:15,080 remember society's unravelling. Just remember why this isn't a 260 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,640 game or a drill. I've given you the most 261 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,160 innocuous example I can. Petty thieving. 262 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,720 I could give you a lot worse examples on all of the tango 263 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,760 moments. Society's unravelling. 264 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,160 That means me, I am, I'm part of society. 265 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,920 We aren't individuals having our individual self fulfilled life. 266 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:37,040 We are an integrated individuated within a community 267 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,680 of people who are seeking to live a happy, fulfilled, 268 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,560 congruent and prosperous life. The 10 Commandments wasn't given 269 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,520 to an individual, it was given to a community. 270 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,560 It's and we will discover why. Happiness, My happiness very 271 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:52,920 much depends on how I live well with other people. 272 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,720 In fact, it's it's probably totally dependent on how I 273 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,440 manage my relationships with God and other people. 274 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,800 So this isn't about quick fix and it's not about saying sad, 275 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,040 mad or bad things don't happen to good people. 276 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,840 They do and they do regularly. But it is saying within the 277 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,160 agency we have, we can choose to live a life marked by 278 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,520 flourishing or marked by destruction and regret. 279 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,640 So you might think, why the 10 commandments? 280 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:30,360 We've already just literally had our tech shut down at the 115 281 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,840 years resolutions. Why another 10 things to do to 282 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,440 to, you know, overwhelmingly burden of us. 283 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:40,040 Isn't the whole point of Jesus and Paul and the New Testament 284 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,240 that we don't have to kind of look at that anymore? 285 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,880 Well, there's a man called Marcian who was a church father. 286 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,680 There were many people who contributed to what we now 287 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:56,040 identify as orthodoxy, and he was someone who actually said we 288 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:57,840 should get rid of the whole Old Testament. 289 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,520 But actually that was that People said, no, that's not 290 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,640 true. That's actually heresy. 291 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,440 We need the complete testimony of God, the Old and the New 292 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,079 Testament, in order to really understand what God is saying to 293 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:13,680 us. So there's something in this 294 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,560 that still speaks to us today and we will see that neither 295 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,440 Jesus nor Paul nor any of the New Testament writers declared 296 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,359 these obsolete. In fact, they told us we now 297 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,520 have the Spirit and the heart condition and the change in 298 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,840 order to fulfil not just the letter of these commands, but 299 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,120 actually have a heart of change. One little example is Paul says 300 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:37,080 do not steal. Do you remember? 301 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,400 He's echoing, He's echoing in one of his letters, this 302 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,600 commandment. But so stealing is this way of 303 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:45,280 life that leads us to destruction. 304 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:50,040 But work hard so that you with your hands so that you may give 305 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,360 generously to those in need. That's the spirit of do not 306 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:56,240 steal. So much better than limiting our 307 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,280 sense of what we can and can't do and where our boundaries, our 308 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,920 possessions are to literally releasing spirit of generosity 309 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,600 in the world. So every single one we will look 310 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:14,480 at with these questions, what each commandment meant to the 311 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:18,280 original ancient Israelite audience, how Jesus interpreted 312 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,280 each commandment in his teachings, how Paul understood 313 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,240 them in his letters, how we can apply them today. 314 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,880 That's just really good practise for anything in the Bible in the 315 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,040 1st 2/3 in the Old Testament before Jesus comes. 316 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,280 It's just to think how Jesus understood them, how one of his 317 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,640 his followers who who really changed took on what he said 318 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:44,800 Paul and really changed the direction of our understanding 319 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,760 of what it is to be a follower of Jesus. 320 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,920 Paul, how he understood them in his letters and any others who 321 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,800 speak into that and then how we can apply them today. 322 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:02,560 So this is the image in a 19th century old painting. 323 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,520 I once heard that recently heard they think the amount of 324 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,080 Israelites might have been the size of a small town, which is 325 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,280 10s of thousands of people. But people think because of the 326 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,200 way numbers are written down that it's millions of people at 327 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,560 this mountain. And then God gives these 328 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:28,920 commandments. So I'm actually going to ask you 329 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,440 to because it's this isn't too, this isn't a test to catch 330 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,880 anyone out or see what you know or don't know, but in your 331 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:45,400 tables to get a pad of paper and write down to tablets because 332 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,640 they all ten were repeated on 2 tablets for emphasis. 333 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,320 They weren't split into two fives. 334 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,240 So they get 2 pieces of paper of the tablet each and try together 335 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,000 in your group to see if you can write them down just quick. 336 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,120 FYI I couldn't. I can't off by heart so I'm not 337 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:04,560 expecting anyone to. Then I'll give you the scripture 338 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,480 and we can see if we can do so. It's 10 commandments on two 339 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:14,640 different tablets. Right. 340 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:19,160 If you feel like you've you've kind of vaguely, this isn't 341 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,720 again, about right or wrong. Don't worry, we're not post post 342 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,320 postmodern. There is actually a right 343 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,520 answer, but it's not about finding your value and whether 344 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,360 it's right or wrong. Can you just put your hands up 345 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,000 in your table if you feel you've kind of done a rough sketch of 346 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,480 the 10 brilliant pizza's table? Any other? 347 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,920 Yeah, it doesn't matter if you haven't got all 10, just what 348 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:44,280 you can do. So I just, I'm just trying to 349 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:46,680 basically if someone's just chatting about what they did at 350 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,560 the weekend, that's what I'm trying to ascertain who's 351 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,480 actually working on this. You are, I mean, you are 352 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,480 focused. So if I bring it all into land 353 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,800 now, should we try and say between us what we think we they 354 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,320 are? In my day, you got a red tick in 355 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,240 a cross or whatever, but now it's green or purple, isn't it? 356 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:13,520 It's just everyone's a winner. OK, so does anyone want to say 357 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,720 what they think? Shout out a few and we'll 358 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,920 literally put the slide up because this is about everyone 359 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,840 working together, not about knowledge puffing up. 360 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,000 Sorry, do not steal. Whoo. 361 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:33,480 Can you imagine at this point if I said actually, that was just 362 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,000 my opinion? No, do not. 363 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,320 Still is in there. Brilliant. 364 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,040 Any other ones Love. Oh, do you want to expand a bit 365 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,200 on that love? God. 366 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:45,280 Yeah. Any. 367 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:46,480 Any. OK, That's good. 368 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:47,520 That's fine. That's fine. 369 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:48,760 That's good. Yeah. 370 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,480 Any. No other gods. 371 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,680 Brilliant. Don't Cove it. 372 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:56,440 Brilliant. Yeah. 373 00:21:58,200 --> 00:21:59,760 On the Father and Mother Sabbath. 374 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:06,880 This is great, guys. Oh, Sabbath, don't use the 375 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:08,800 Lord's name in vain. Very good. 376 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,680 Has anyone counting? I never count on these things. 377 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:13,280 Do not murder. Thank you. 378 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,920 That's that's good. Adultery. 379 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,520 Coveting adultery. Did someone say only your father 380 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:25,320 and mother keep the Sabbath? Don't lie. 381 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,920 I think that's it, isn't it? Anyone got any other ones? 382 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,800 Because you never know. This could be a moment of 383 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,400 increasing 11 commandments. Just doesn't sound as good 384 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,320 though, does it? 10 is 10 is good. 385 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,800 OK, let's see how we've done. Do you want to do a drum roll? 386 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,240 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out to land of 387 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,040 slavery. 1 You shall have no other gods than me. 388 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,360 So we'll come to Duncan's thing in a minute because he picks up 389 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:02,520 on how Jesus interpreted it. Very good two very similar. 390 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,840 There's a repetition for emphasis. 391 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,920 Do you remember I said there's two lots of 10s on the tablets? 392 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,520 Can we all just say repetition for emphasis? 393 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,240 The literally I was like, why do they keep repeating stuff for 394 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:17,920 emphasis? Because are we listening? 395 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:21,560 Are we listening? He God repeats himself a lot for 396 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,600 emphasis. You shall not make for 397 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,160 yourselves. This is number 2, an image in 398 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,160 the form of anything in heaven above or in the earth belief or 399 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,680 in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them 400 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,480 or worship them. This is brilliant 'cause this 401 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,800 takes us right into another cultural context. 402 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,880 I've only ever met one person in my kind of the community here 403 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,400 who genuinely believed and bowed down to physically are the gods. 404 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,560 That's not something that's generally in our practise here 405 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,840 within walking distance of this community. 406 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:52,720 There are either secular people, Muslim people who do not, who 407 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,160 hold two kind of variants of that. 408 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,080 And this was actually a Hindu friend and I could tell. 409 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,080 I think that is part of our actual practise. 410 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,320 It's very rare. So we have to remember this is a 411 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,440 cross cultural journey we're taking. 412 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,440 This isn't normal to hear these words. 413 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,640 We don't hear the word gods in our culture, although in some 414 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,200 ways we do in, in kind of fiction and, and movies and 415 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:15,840 stuff. But we don't, we definitely 416 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,280 don't have this idea of bowing down and worshipping an image. 417 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,720 So that's really good for us because it reminds us we're 418 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,680 going on a bridge to another culture and we need to have the 419 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,840 humility and curiosity to listen well what it meant for them. 420 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,600 Then come back, back over the bridge to apply what it means 421 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:34,840 for us. Now, you shall not misuse the 422 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,600 misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold 423 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,320 anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 424 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,000 Some people have called that the blasphemy laws. 425 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,680 We will explain why that's maybe not quite what it means, or it's 426 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,160 a much fuller command. Remember the Sabbath day. 427 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,160 Honour your father and mother so that you may live long in the 428 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:58,480 land the Lord your God has given you. 429 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,720 You shall not murder, you shall not convince adultery, you shall 430 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,520 not steal. You shall not give false 431 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,240 testimony against your neighbour. 432 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,680 You shall not covet your neighbour's housewife, male or 433 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,160 female servant, ox, donkey, anything else that belongs to 434 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,560 your neighbour. So those are the 10. 435 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,480 Give ourselves a round of applause because we actually got 436 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:22,280 them. Between us, we got them and 437 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,280 we're working in community, so we're all we all got them. 438 00:25:36,850 --> 00:25:41,570 So when Moses gives these 10 commandments, how it would have 439 00:25:41,570 --> 00:25:45,370 been understood is a basically a marriage covenant. 440 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,800 He was initiating a marriage ceremony. 441 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,000 Sorry. God was through Moses with the 442 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,960 Israelites. They'd just been birthed as a 443 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,760 new nation. They'd had a dramatic freedom 444 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,600 from slavery in Egypt. They'd they'd been literally 445 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,760 gone through the waters, the parting of the Red Sea, 446 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,240 representing the waters of death and come out as a new free 447 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:13,880 nation and and they meet God in the at the mount of Sinai and 448 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,960 Moses mediates between them gives them about 600 people 449 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,680 think that's 613 laws of which these 10 actually a better way 450 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,480 to understand them is words because commandments has a bit 451 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,680 of a connotation for us that doesn't quite express it. 452 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:32,920 So 10 words that you can basically hang every single one 453 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,600 of the ethical commands of the 600 on. 454 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:37,880 So there were two kinds of commands in the. 455 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,120 Anyone remember the geeky number I just gave you? 456 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:47,000 Just checking 613, There are two kinds of commands, ritual and 457 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,520 ethical of the ethical commands, basically how we treat God and 458 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,040 each other. All of them can hang on the 10 459 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,040 commandments. So that's why we look at these 460 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:04,920 because they basically, Oh yeah, so God gave the Israelites 461 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,960 people, Jewish people think when they're adding up the number of 462 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:12,360 commands that there were 613. Don't get caught up on that. 463 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,480 So the 10 commandments begins and then they give a lot, then 464 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,640 they give a lot more, and then they give a lot again. 465 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,000 In fact, they give the 10 commandments twice with slight 466 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,480 variations. We'll come to that. 467 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,080 So it's complex, but you can still hang all the 10 ethical 468 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,840 commands, sorry, all of the hundreds of commands that are 469 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:37,400 ethical, not ceremonial, but ethical on the 10 commandments. 470 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,560 And a covenant in the ancient world was essentially where two 471 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,960 parties could become one in the way they got, they had each 472 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,920 other's backs. So an empire could make a 473 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,920 covenant with a small country, and it basically said to that 474 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,240 small country, we'll protect you, we will provide for you, we 475 00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,520 give you weapons, we'll give you food, We'll give you anything in 476 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,400 the event of hostility or threat or famine. 477 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:04,960 But you've got to be unconditionally loyal to us. 478 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,480 You know, we have those kinds of trade agreements now. 479 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,160 We can kind of resonate with them. 480 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,480 But they would call down the gods to curse. 481 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,560 The violation of that covenant so often would be a penalty 482 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,120 would be death. Then you had other covenants 483 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,280 which were mutual parties, say between 2 tribes, where they 484 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,120 would come as one and again cover each other's backs. 485 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:27,760 But they were mutual and equal. There wasn't a power dynamic 486 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,320 between them and they would cover each other's backs in the 487 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,200 again in the event of hostility or threat. 488 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:38,440 And then you basically have an individual king who would have a 489 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,560 covenant would say a very loyal servant or an individual. 490 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,960 And again, that same dynamic would happen, but again, that 491 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:48,960 servant would have to give all his loyalty to the king. 492 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,120 So this is a normal language for the ancient world. 493 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,640 And there already have been some covenants by this point in the 494 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,520 story of of Israel and the story of the Hebrew Bible. 495 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,720 So this is a a covenant, but this is kind of the big 496 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,840 covenant. This is like the covenant that 497 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,840 kind of. I just find it difficult to use 498 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,440 this word anymore. Trump's just Trump's other 499 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:14,440 covenants, just hard. I need a better word anyway. 500 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,120 I think Abraham's covenant's extremely profound, but this is 501 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:24,800 this is big and it takes virtually 4 books and it's 502 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,640 basically God saying I'm going into a marriage covenant with 503 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:29,760 you, Israel. I will give you provision, 504 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,120 protection, identity. You will flourish, you will 505 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,120 prosper in every way. You will show the world what 506 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,680 true humanity is. You will, we will recover Eden 507 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,320 if you live by these commandments and regulations 508 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,720 I've given you. And people talk about this not 509 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,920 as a way to get to God. This is already an act of grace. 510 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:50,720 People think grace is in the New Testament. 511 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:51,800 It wasn't. It was in the old. 512 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,280 It was freely given to them, their salvation and their 513 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,400 rescue. Already freely given to them 514 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,000 when they couldn't do anything about it. 515 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,040 They were enslaved in Egypt. They couldn't overcome their 516 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,200 slavery. Yahweh, God intervenes. 517 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,920 He breaks, sets them free from slavery, brings them through the 518 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,840 waters and births them as a new nation. 519 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,600 So this is a gift. These commandments are a gift 520 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,920 and instruction. Now that you've been set free, 521 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,840 this is how you are to live and you're to show the world what 522 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,560 it's like to embody human flourishing. 523 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:26,000 And so we will look at what that means that the, the, the kind of 524 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,840 the extent and the depth of what that means to be for these 525 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,200 ancient Israelite people to be in this kind of covenant with 526 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,480 God. Now, these are normal practises. 527 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,480 Everything that is being kind of called out or critiqued or 528 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,520 exposed were normal practises in ancient Egypt and our normal 529 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,440 practises in the world beyond in terms of we'd have to culturally 530 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,000 interpret them. And he's essentially saying I 531 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,800 don't want you to live like that anymore. 532 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,040 So all of them would have an understanding or a history or 533 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,240 maybe even practises around them and they were called out of it 534 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:10,480 into a new way of life. And when we get to the New 535 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,960 Testament, neither, none of them, Jesus, James, Paul, none 536 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,240 of them say these are obsolete. In fact, all of them say they 537 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:19,800 call this like the royal command. 538 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,200 They say it's summed up in the royal command to love God and 539 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,720 love your neighbours yourself, which is what Duncan's referring 540 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:28,240 to. And we often think when we think 541 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,240 of the 10 commandments, we think of that because God, Jesus sort 542 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,960 of sums them up. And then James and Paul and John 543 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,520 and Peter, when you see it, you see it everywhere you see it. 544 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,400 And some of their teachings, their parables, they'll quote 545 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,200 different ones of them and they, they are really showing up. 546 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,040 These are still ways to live ethically in the world. 547 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,440 And we're going and, and they're going to help us understand what 548 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,200 that means for us now spirit filled people. 549 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,480 But the essentially, if you look at them, you'll see the first 550 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:59,480 four or five are upward, depends how you interpret the fifth one. 551 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:04,240 But the first four certainly are upward and the last five or six, 552 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:08,760 depending on the on your father and mother's bit of a hinge are 553 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,760 are horizontal. And essentially it's seen as one 554 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,000 command, love God and love your neighbours yourself in that what 555 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:22,280 the the understanding is the extent to which we love God is 556 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:26,120 actually really shown by how we love our neighbour and how we 557 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,760 love our neighbour is revealed in how we treat them according 558 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:37,160 to this framework as new spirit filled people as people who who 559 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,480 work hard with our hands and give generously to those in 560 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,240 need. That marks us as people who show 561 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:48,760 the world what true humanity is. So that's why Jesus says Paul 562 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:52,360 says James says they can say these are summed up in that 563 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:54,560 royal command. Can we just say that together? 564 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,840 See if we've got that? Love the Lord, your gold with 565 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:02,480 all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your 566 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,080 neighbour as yourself. He takes two different verses 567 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,120 from the Torah. The law puts them together and 568 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,000 says that sums up everything, and it particularly sums up the 569 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,400 10 commandments. In another words, What word does 570 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:22,280 do Jesus and Paul and John insert into this list that 571 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,840 actually isn't in this list, but it is in the Torah? 572 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:30,360 What words I've repeated twice. Love. 573 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,600 So what God does when Jesus comes, he reveals the agape love 574 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,080 of God. He just reveals the beauty of 575 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,720 God, the ways of God. He reveals what God's like and 576 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:48,480 and he he reveals the triune nature of God that we are to go 577 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,400 in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. 578 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,240 And in that interrelationship we bear the image of God and we 579 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,120 live as God's designed us to live. 580 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,680 So that's why in some ways we even have a fuller understanding 581 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,520 and a richer understanding and a deeper understanding that maybe 582 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,480 the ancient Israelites would have had as they first received 583 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,360 it, because we have a fuller revelation of the Godhead in the 584 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:18,480 revelation that God is love. Now, as I said, the commandments 585 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:24,719 are given twice and this the first group of people say, 586 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:29,800 woohoo, we're in, we love this, yes, but tragically, immediately 587 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,840 worship, immediately violate at least one of the commands, if 588 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:42,760 not quite a few in worshipping a kind of idol statute just after, 589 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,480 in fact, during the receiving of the 10 commandments, they're 590 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:47,080 doing it. It's a bit like having sex with 591 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:48,480 someone else on your wedding night. 592 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,760 Unbelievable violation of faithfulness and covenant 593 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,480 loyalty to God at that moment. And so they say, yes, we want 594 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,360 to, we're up for it. But actually, tragically, they 595 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,440 don't live into it. They wander in the desert until 596 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,120 they die. Their generation of the children 597 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,680 who experienced going through the promised land rise up and 598 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,080 they are adults and they're mature and, and there's a moment 599 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,080 when they then go into this land that God has promised them to 600 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,280 show them what it looks like to inhabit, to be part of human 601 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:21,000 flourishing. And this is not a comment on the 602 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,320 modern political discussion around Israel and Gaza. 603 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,440 This is an ancient Israelite context. 604 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,040 We will get to that. But I think it's really 605 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,680 important you understand the language of promise for the 606 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,640 ancient Israelites was about a language of covenant of, of 607 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,680 recovering Eden that had been lost and showing the world how 608 00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:43,200 it was to live into human flourishing at that time, 3000 609 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:47,440 years ago. So they get to the brink of the 610 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:48,680 promised land. They're given the 10 611 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,520 commandments again, which are there are some variations and 612 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:53,760 we'll look at that where it's relevant to the particular 613 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,640 commandment, notably Sabbath. But at the end of this, 614 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,440 Deuteronomy is like a whole covenant document. 615 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,840 It's the, it's the stronger partner is God saying to the 616 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,520 weaker partner, ancient Israelite, I want to be one with 617 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,920 you. If you obey my commands that 618 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,720 I've repeated and set before you, you will flourish. 619 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:16,520 And if you don't, you won't. And so we would just look at 620 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:20,880 this and how this kind of is what God's still inviting us 621 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,200 into, this way that is marked by life or a way of life that that 622 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:27,680 is marked by death. Now what I'm commanding you 623 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,400 today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 624 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,240 It is not up in the heavens so that you have to ask who will 625 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:36,920 ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey 626 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,600 it. Nor is it beyond the sea, so 627 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,240 that you have to ask who will cross the sea to get it and 628 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:44,160 proclaim it to us so we may obey it. 629 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,400 No, the word is very near you. It's in your mouth and in your 630 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:51,560 heart, so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life 631 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,760 and prosperity, death and destruction. 632 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,080 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in 633 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,960 obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws. 634 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:02,680 Then you will live an increase and the Lord your God will bless 635 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,280 you in the land you are entering to possess that. 636 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,680 If your heart turns away and you're not obedient, and if 637 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,880 you're drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I 638 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,640 declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. 639 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,360 You will not live long in the land you're crossing the Jordan 640 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,880 to enter and possess this day. I call the heavens and the earth 641 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,880 as witnesses against you that I've set before you life and 642 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,520 death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and 643 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,280 your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God. 644 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:32,280 Listen to his voice and hold fast to Him, to the Lord is your 645 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,520 life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to 646 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,640 give to your father's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 647 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,520 So essentially we can be Oh sorry, that's in Deuteronomy. 648 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:51,640 Google the offer of life and death 3030. 649 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,680 I would actually read from about 27 onwards to the end. 650 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:00,160 The whole thing is stunning to meditate on that choice that he 651 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,880 keeps saying and the consequences of our actions or 652 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,920 their actions. So basically it's humans versus 653 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:07,640 zombies. We never need to watch a zombie 654 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,040 movie again. Not that some of us might ever 655 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,600 want to in the 1st place. Because actually what this is 656 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:14,280 saying is we are the living dead. 657 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:18,080 If we don't live into the the the life that God's designed us 658 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,800 to live, we're all just living this shadowed existence. 659 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:25,000 We're all just living this incongruent lives that we just 660 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,840 know doesn't quite add up or work or fit. 661 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,760 And he he's sort of, he's inviting us into a way of life 662 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:38,280 that is just marked by health and flourishing in, in our, you 663 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:43,200 know, in our spirit. So this is very popular book 664 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,480 that some of you might have heard of called Atomic Habits. 665 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,160 And what's really interesting about what we think, why we 666 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,520 think this book's so successful and returning back to New Year's 667 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,400 resolutions and this idea of how we land this and how we put this 668 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:05,360 into practise in our lives, is he actually says that we need to 669 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:10,280 change our identity in order to live out the life we want to 670 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,280 live. If our habits are congruent with 671 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,040 our conviction about our identity, then we will grow into 672 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,840 the person we want to be. So a New Year's resolution 673 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,400 saying I want to quit the alcohol, but the identity we 674 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:22,920 have is I really struggle with drink. 675 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,480 I just really struggle with it. That does not is not conducive 676 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:32,240 to the kind of person who is it has a habit of health around 677 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:34,680 alcohol. His point is in the book just 678 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:35,960 from a psychological point of view. 679 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:40,400 But if if he read that person, say, redefines themselves as I'm 680 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,120 a fit, healthy, energetic person, they are more likely to 681 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:48,640 have habits around their lives that are conducive to being the 682 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,120 kind of person that it has a healthy habit with alcohol, 683 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,040 which is exactly resonates with what we know is true 684 00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:00,120 theologically. What we believe really, really 685 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:06,800 believe is how we live. What we believe is exactly how 686 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,280 our life choices are informed about what we think about 687 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:17,640 ourselves is how we live. And that's why the biblical term 688 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,200 repeatedly is repentance, because that's a change of 689 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,240 mindset about what's actually real. 690 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,360 Now what? What James Clear can't offer is 691 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,680 the cross I I say that with great sadness. 692 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,600 He can't offer the means by which we can actually change our 693 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,280 identity. But we've been given that, the 694 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:40,160 world's been given that, the world's been given an atonement 695 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:44,200 by which we can say, like Paul said, don't get drunk on wine, 696 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,800 but be continually filled with the Spirit singing and praising 697 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:51,400 songs to God. He can bring a replacement where 698 00:40:51,720 --> 00:40:54,040 even this incredibly successful book can't. 699 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,880 It's still managing the chaos of the human condition, still 700 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,680 managing the zombie state. But we have been given a new 701 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,200 identity in Christ. Therefore we can live into these 702 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,120 things. So I just want us as we're 703 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:10,840 responding now to think of 1 area and we were going, we're 704 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,880 going to ditch New Year's resolutions, New Year's 705 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:17,320 reorientation. We're going to reorientate 706 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,400 towards reality in the way we think about ourselves. 707 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:27,960 So we're not going to say I'm trying to lose weight. 708 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,600 We're going to, we're going to say we are so deeply loved by 709 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:35,200 God that we, we just want to steward ourselves and, and 710 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,240 honestly think more about other people. 711 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:44,840 Or I'm going to try and reduce my screen time, but I just feel 712 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:46,720 terrible about it all the time now. 713 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:49,320 I am a self controlled, thoughtful, patient person. 714 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,360 This isn't manifesting. This isn't self actualization. 715 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,440 This is reality. This is the new creation. 716 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,000 This is the good news. We've actually been given a 717 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,920 nature that's congruent with reality and we just need to have 718 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,760 a change of mindset and move in agreement with that or move out 719 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,640 of agreement with that. So what I'd love us to think 720 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,440 about, and I think this kind of fits in what it, since the 721 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:13,360 spirit was doing this morning with Meredith's, which I didn't 722 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,400 know she's going to do, cast your cares upon God because he 723 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,800 cares for us is to kind of think of 1 area. 724 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:22,680 And this is obviously extremely tender and vulnerable, but one 725 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:24,960 area where we're like, actually, this is, this isn't flippant. 726 00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,600 This isn't I'm trying to learn a new hobby or start a musical 727 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,200 instrument to find myself as a musician when I Can't Sing in 728 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,600 tune like that's this is actually really hard. 729 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:38,320 This is a hard area of my life or a hard relationship or just 730 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:42,960 something that is is painful. But here it feels like there's a 731 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,080 promise of restoration in this age. 732 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,640 There's a promise of new creation now that the Kingdom of 733 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,240 God is available to us now. When Jesus healed people, he 734 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:55,120 really healed them when they couldn't see, they really could 735 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,280 see when they were delivered from torment, they really were 736 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:00,760 delivered from torment. Now it isn't something that we 737 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:02,320 we basically operate and unbelief. 738 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,400 I'm just going to ignore that now because maybe hopefully 739 00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,200 it'll happen then. It's actually, it's actually 740 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,240 complex that isn't it, because that's true to a certain extent 741 00:43:11,240 --> 00:43:13,800 in the full resurrection, but also it's partly it's a way of 742 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,200 protecting ourselves from the disappointment that we won't get 743 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:21,120 healed now. And So what I want us to think 744 00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,400 about is maybe an area where we're believing a lie about 745 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:28,640 ourselves to reorientate what is God? 746 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,400 What does God say about us in that area? 747 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:35,280 What how does he actually define us? 748 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:39,720 And then our repentance is I come into agreement with who I 749 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:43,200 really am. That's what I want us to do now 750 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:55,760 in this ministry time. So I'll just finished with this 751 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:56,440 sentence. Yeah. 752 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:01,280 If we really believe that God is good, God is love, and God has 753 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:07,280 our best interests at heart, if we really believe that we really 754 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,520 believe that God is good, God is love, and God has our best 755 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,520 interests at heart, then we will identify happily as his people, 756 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,200 His precious children, His beloved, and we will trust him. 757 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,120 We will want to live out his ways. 758 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,160 Thank you, Alice. So let's just have we got 5 759 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:33,800 minutes or so to respond to that. 760 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,880 And you might like to do it in just quietly on your own, you 761 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,960 and God, or you might like to share some of that with someone 762 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,000 near you or you might like to come to the front. 763 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,080 Alice and I happy to pray if you'd like that. 764 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:46,080 Let's take a little bit of time to respond. 765 00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,680 So howdy, spirit, please prompt us, and not just with what Alice 766 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,840 has been teaching, and show us what you're saying to us 767 00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:55,320 individually. Amen.