Episodes
Saturday Mar 31, 2012
Jesus Mocked Crucified
Saturday Mar 31, 2012
Saturday Mar 31, 2012
Jesus - mocked and put on the cross Matthew 27:27-44
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Originally preached at Poulner Chapel 25 March 2012
Introduction Here is a complete outline of this event from all 4 gospels! We will look at briefly the events as recorded by Matthew!- Pilate's soldiers crown and mock Jesus - Matthew 27:27-30, Mark 15:16-20, John 19:1-3
- Pilate tries to release Jesus - John 19:4-7
- Pilate questions Jesus again - John 19:8-11
- Pilate attempts to free Jesus again - John 19:12
- Pilate sentences Jesus - John 19:13-15
- Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified - John 19:16
- Jesus carries the cross - John 19:17
- Simon of Cyrene bears the cross - Matthew 27:31-32, Mark 15:20-21, Luke 23:26,
- Jesus speaks to weeping women - Luke 23:27-32,
- Jesus is brought to Golgotha - Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:32-33, John 19:17
- Soldiers offer Jesus sour wine mix - Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23
- Jesus is crucified at the 3rd hour - Mark 15:25
- Soldiers divide the Lord's clothes - Matthew 27:35-36, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23-24
- Accusation written by Pilate - Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38, John 19:19-22
- 2 Robbers are crucified with Jesus - Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27-28, Luke 23:33, John 19:18
- "Forgive them..." - Luke 23:34
- "Behold your mother." - John 19:25-27
- Multitude mocks Jesus - Matthew 27:39-43, Mark 15:29-32, Luke 23:35-37
- Robbers mock Jesus - Matthew 27:44, Mark 15:32, 29:39
- One robber rebukes the other - Luke 23:40-41
- "...you will be with me in Paradise" - Luke 23:43
Thursday Mar 29, 2012
Thursday Ponderings
Thursday Mar 29, 2012
Thursday Mar 29, 2012
29th March 2012
Be Kind!
1 Corinthians 13:4 says ”Love is ... kind” How often have we read that verse but not stopped to think about it. Of course I’m kind, we would cry if questioned. But what does kind mean?
The oxford dictionary definition of kind is (adjective ) - having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature:
Well that’s ok ... but is it? How friendly are you? Do you make an effort to speak to people you don’t know at church or do you always speak to people you’ve known for years? How many people that you don’t know very well have you invited back for a coffee in the last month? I’m afraid those of you who are shy do not have a let out clause. You may have to pray a bit harder before you go up and speak to someone you don’t know very well, than those of us who are more confident , but you cannot be a Christian, and remain in the clique you’ve been in for years.
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God doesn’t ask us to do anything that He doesn’t equip us fully to do but do we have faith in Him to be there for us to help us through any awkward silences.Those of you who are retired – how fantastic is that – you have so many more free hours to serve God, So many free hours to invite people round for coffee. So many free hours to be friendly. So many free hours to be kind.
Just in case you doubt that that’s what God wants you to do. Romans 12:13 “..... practice hospitality.......” Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers…” and 1 Peter 4:9 “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” Going back to the oxford dictionary definition of kind, just to remind ourselves – “having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.” Hmm generous, that’s a tricky one isn’t it. Unfortunately, here in the west our attitude is all too often – well I tithe, that’s enough, or I support such and such a charity. Or a good one is, well I give my time instead. Jesus described what he means by generosity in Matthew 19:21 He said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And in Luke 12:33, he says “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Obviously generosity applies to time as well but being generous with your time does not mean you don’t have to be generous with your money and possessions.The last adjective in the dictionary definition of kind is considerate. I think the verse love others as you love yourself sums this up nicely. Basically it means treat others as you would like them to treat you .
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Monday Mar 26, 2012
Think Spot
Monday Mar 26, 2012
Monday Mar 26, 2012
26th March 2012
G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot on Monday, the 26th of March 2012. Play the audio and see how Jim and Joy are challenging you to live your faith out this week!
You may well have heard the song 'Love Changes Everything' made famous by Michael Ball several years ago. One of the lines reads Life will never be the same again.
Certainly when a young man meets a girl and like turns to love and from once a week the scene changes and they cannot see enough of each other. In fact t they do not want to be out of each others company and marriage takes place and they become One. Life will never be the same for them ever again.
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Likewise when a person realises who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done for them they see that in God not only do have they a Saviour but see that a vital part of their life has been missing and God has a plan for their life. Having dealt with their sin problem through atonement and now He wants them to love and serve Him. Again think of the line of that hymn. Life will never be the same.
Read the rest of this entry »Thursday Mar 22, 2012
Thursday Ponderings
Thursday Mar 22, 2012
Thursday Mar 22, 2012
22nd March 2012
Overcoming Envy!
1 Corinthians 13:4 says” Love does not envy.” It is a hard to put into practice at all times. As a divorced woman, I find it hard sometimes not to envy those people who have someone with whom to share their lives. Someone to cuddle up next to on the sofa, someone to share how each day has been, and someone to care about me. Of course I have family and friends who love me dearly but they have busy lives and don’t have the time always to listen, when I need to talk.
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I don’t work at the moment so money isn’t in abundance, so occasionally I envy my sisters who are both very high earners and can buy what they want, when they want. Or I walk past a huge rambling house in the country and think, wouldn’t it be nice to live there. Mark 7:21-23 mentions envy amongst a list of evils including murder! It states: "For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Romans 1:29 also has envy included in a list of types of depravity: This list too includes murder "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice." So evidently envy isn’t too be regarded as a minor sin. Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. In Philippians 4:12, Paul says he has learnt the secret of being content at all times, whether in times of want or times of plenty. The secret I believe is in knowing God our father intimately, the more we know God the easier it is to trust Him that He knows what’s best for us. The next time you find yourself envying someone, try to think of something to thank God for, or just praise Him for who He is.
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Monday Mar 19, 2012
Think Spot
Monday Mar 19, 2012
Monday Mar 19, 2012
19th March 2012
G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot on Monday, the 19th of March 2012. Play the audio and see how Jim and Joy are challenging you to live your faith out this week!
Deceivers or Receivers
2 Tim.3:7, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Approaching two young ladies and two young men who belonged to a certain religious cult (I knew this as I had met the two men previously. They were now resting from their door to door visitation at a local coffee house I go to regularly.. I had felt deep concern for them for some while and feeling compassion for them after prayer really felt pressed to ask them a particular question . This question along with its answer had been on my mind and heart all morning and I knew I was meant to use it in my work as an evangelist with someone who God would place in my path that day. Read the rest of this entry »Sunday Mar 18, 2012
Luke Looks Back 06
Sunday Mar 18, 2012
Sunday Mar 18, 2012
Luke Looks Back Chapter 6
Study 6 - Luke 4:31-5:26
The Authority of the Messiah
This passage has been carefully structured by Luke around the idea of authority. It starts off with 2 episodes in which Jesus shows his authority by first driving out an evil spirit and then healing many people. It ends with 2 episodes in which Jesus heals a man of leprosy, a symbol of evil, and heals a paralysed man. In between these 2 pairs of episodes Jesus shows his authority by proving that he, a carpenter, can catch more fish than the fishermen can. This middle story is the most important because it shows the authority Jesus had most clearly.
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First we read Luke 4: 31 - 44
Question 1: Twice in these episodes, when the man with an evil demon calls him 'the Holy One of God' and when the demons call him 'the Son of God', Jesus was more accurately identified by demonic powers than by ordinary people. Why was that? What are our modern day equivalents?
That is a hard question to answer. Perhaps the otherworldly powers were more sensitive to the power of Jesus than ordinary people were. Are we as sensitive to the things of the Lord as we should be?
Question 2: Why does Luke tell us that Simon's mother-in-law went straight back to the housework.
Luke tells us how complete and natural the healing was. Simon's mother-in-law was able to go back into the kitchen and work. In the ordinary way she would have needed time to recover from the fever. The healing by Jesus was very special. In the same way when he heals us of our problems, physical, mental or spiritual, he often heals us instantly.
The story of Luke 5: 1 - 11 is clearly the most important part of this passage. Fishing with nets in the Sea of Galilee was done when the fish rose to feed on the surface at night. There could only possibly have been a shoal near the surface in the daylight if a new fresh water spring had opened up in the seabed. (This is an area of volcanic activity). Jesus knew something nobody else did.
We read these verses now. 5: 1 - 11
Question 3: What might Simon and John have said to each other when they thought Jesus could not hear when he, a carpenter, told them to go fishing in broad daylight!
"Who does he think he is?" "Telling us where and when to fish indeed." "What does he know about it?" "He's only a carpenter." "Thinking because he is a prophet he knows where to fish. What rubbish!" And so on.
A boat of those days has been dug up. It was 8m long and 2m wide. So it would have needed a crew of rowers and would have held a lot of fish before it began to sink! So this was a very big catch meaning enough money for many weeks for the families concerned.
Question 4: What did Peter do which he must have done so that nobody else was able to share their good fortune (listen again to v 7)?
Signalling instead of shouting would have stopped other fisherman realising what had happened and joining in the big catch.
Question 5: What does this episode teach us about the relationship between money and spiritual commitment?
Practical rewards do sometimes follow devotion of time and energy to spiritual matters as they did in this case. But they do not always do so. We must be prepared to sacrifice things for the sake of the Kingdom.
Question 6: Peter wanted to distance himself from Jesus when he 'fell at Jesus' knees and said "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man"' because he thought the unclean contaminated the clean and he was unclean. How did Jesus view this? What is the implication for us?
Peter was following the teaching of the OT. Leviticus 10: 10 says, 'distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean'. These teachings were mainly about ceremonial cleanliness. Jesus ignored such things. He taught that the things that matter are love God and loving our neighbour. Ceremony is not important in the Kingdom of God.
Question 7: Peter recognised the authority of Jesus over him as a result of the events on the lake. How do we know Jesus has authority over us?
The disciples had seen a great miracle. But so do we when the Almighty God calls us to follow him and we respond. He then forgives our sins, promises us final salvation at the end of the ages and gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us until then. If we do not recognize his authority we are poor judges of what is good and great and what is of great advantage for us!
Read Luke 5: 12 - 26.
"Leprosy" in the Bible may not have been what we call leprosy these days but any of many skin diseases.
Question 8: Jesus said "I am willing" and touched the man. What does that tell us about Jesus?
Jesus entered fully into human life. He related easily to the outcast, leper man and touched him. That made him, Jesus, unclean under Jewish law but Jesus ignored that. He was interested in the realities of life not the details of religious practice.
Question 9: The paralysed man's sins were forgiven not because of his faith but of 'their faith'. Do you think one person's faith can work to heal someone else today?
If faith cannot work like that there is not much point in praying for anyone else - which we all do. It is lovely the way Jesus says 'I am willing' to heal someone and calls the guy on the stretcher 'friend' even although his friends have just made a mess of the roof of what was probably his, Jesus' , house.
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Thursday Mar 15, 2012
Thursday Ponderings
Thursday Mar 15, 2012
Thursday Mar 15, 2012
15th March 2012
Talk about Him! Show Him!
If you love someone it’s difficult not to talk about them – think about when you first fell in love with someone, their name would slip into conversation all the time. It’s not how much you know that makes it easy to tell others about God; it’s how well you know Him, because if you know Him you can’t fail to be in love with HIM.
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It’s our responsibility as Christians to tell others about God and what He has done for us, in sending His son to die as a sacrifice for our sins. Matt 28:19-20 says "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." It is Jesus talking. He is not giving this command to evangelists only but to all His disciples, including us. Acts 1: 8 states "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Note the word witness, that’s all evangelism is, witnessing about God’s love. Again it is Jesus talking to his disciples, so it applies to us as well. 2 Timothy 4: 5 instructs "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." Please note the words do the work of an evangelist. It is very clear that we cannot opt out of this. I talk to people all the time about my faith because people ask me about it. They want to know what I believe about all sorts of things. If I don’t know where a particular: in the bible is, I have a very bad memory, I can tell you what the: is but not which book chapter and:, I simply tell them I’ll look it up and get back to them. Or if I’m unsure what I believe about something I am honest and tell them I haven’t thought about it or don’t know enough the subject to give them an answer. I have to tell you that I ask God to send people that ask me about my faith and God is very good at that!
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Monday Mar 12, 2012
Think Spot
Monday Mar 12, 2012
Monday Mar 12, 2012
5th March 2012
G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot on Monday, the 12th of March 2012. Play the audio and see how Jim and Joy are challenging you to live your faith out this week!
Why Read the Bible?
“Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe practice it to be holy.” These words are written in the front of my Bible. They remind me how important the Bible is to me. It is my food and drink. It is described that way in the Bible It is also described as Honey as well as a hammer. A lamp and light to my path. Strong meat, a sword, milk and I am sure a good number of other words because it is so important and so indispensable to the Believer.Wednesday Mar 07, 2012
WISE - Idolatry
Wednesday Mar 07, 2012
Wednesday Mar 07, 2012
Words In Scripture Explored -Idolatry
Images of Idolatry
I wonder if you are like me and when you hear the word idolatry, you imagine somebody bowing before a statue and worshipping it. Such as the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, as recorded by Moses in Exodus 32, or people bowing down to the statue of the Buddha or one of the many Hindu gods. Therefore, idolatry is worshipping statues or worshipping in other religions. However, the Bible is very clear, that idolatry is a threat to living the Christian life. How can that be, you may very well ask!
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Christian Idolatry
As a Christian, you are to love God and love others. Anything that replaces your love of God as your first priority, is an idol, and therefore, is idolatry. For idolatry is not merely worshipping statues. But idolatry is transference of allegiance to something apart from God. It is worshipping created things, and not worshipping God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. And idolatry can be anything, for anything can take first place in your life! It may be your computer, your car, your books, your family, your church, a Christian leader, entertainment, celebrities and even love of yourself! These are all good things, in and of themselves, but they are not good things if they replace God from first priority in your life. These things can turn out to be idols, because they relegate your thinking of Almighty God to below first place.
Idolatry is the mind’s sin
Paul writes to the Roman church in Romans 1v22-25. In that passage of scripture, Paul links idolatry with immorality. Immorality is the outer sins and idolatry is the inward sin. Idolatry is an attitude inside you that says to God “You are not first place, this other thing is”. Somebody who commits the sin of idolatry is a slave to that something else, and is not a slave to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So idolatry is not just worshipping in another religion and bowing down to statues. Idolatry is relegating God to second place, in both actions and attitudes. Therefore cast off anything that is blocking your relationship with Almighty God. As idolatry is primarily the sin of the mind, those depraved ideas turn to sins of lusts and idolatrous physical pleasures. Be renewed in your thinking and have a renewed mind, so that you can worship Almighty God through Jesus Christ the Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Monday Mar 05, 2012
Think Spot
Monday Mar 05, 2012
Monday Mar 05, 2012
5th March 2012
G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot on Monday, the 5th of March 2012. Play the audio and see how Jim and Joy are challenging you to live your faith out this week!
The Offence of the Gospel
“You are upsetting me with what you are saying about that Bible teaching and Jesus Christ. I think I am a Christian and I dont need to go to church to be a Christian. I keep the Ten Commandments and I say the Lord's prayer every night but I dont need to get as serious as you do and spend so much times in church and thinking about God”