G’day and welcome to Partakers Christian Podcasts! Join us for uplifting Bible teaching, inspiring readings, heartfelt worship, powerful prayers, and fascinating church history. Whether you’re new to faith or growing deeper in your journey, we’re here to encourage and equip you. 🎧 Tune in, interact, and be inspired—wherever you are in the world.
Episodes
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Easter 2020 - God is Love
Day 4. Jesus’ Mission
G’day! Welcome to Partakers and to our Easter 2020 series, God is Love, where for the next 30 days we look at Jesus Christ, the events of Easter and its consequences.
42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’ 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Luke 4:42-44
Jesus’ public ministry on earth has begun! A reluctant John the Baptist has baptized him and the crowds heard God the Father speaking to Him. Jesus then underwent temptations by the arch-seducer, satan, and emerged victorious from that ordeal.
Download the mp3 to find out more about what happened to Jesus:
- in his home town where he worshipped and where he was rejected.
- when he travelled away from home, where he preached, rebuked, healed and prayed.
Jesus’ mission was to be the saviour of the world as God’s Son (John 3v16) and the Servant of the Lord. His mission was to give a message of hope for the spiritually poor and spiritually oppressed people - people not only in his hometown, nor only in Israel, but rather for the whole world.
People have two choices when faced with this fact: accept or reject. There is no other option. That is why as Christian Disciples we are to be actively engaged in evangelism, to tell people of this news about Jesus Christ.
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Saturday Mar 21, 2020
Saturday Mar 21, 2020
Easter 2020 - God is Love
Day 3. Jesus' Baptism
G’day! Welcome to Partakers and to our Easter 2020 series, God is Love, where for the next 30 days we look at Jesus Christ, the events of Easter and its consequences.
21 When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph. Luke 3v21-23
Jesus’ baptism, shows the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus is now about 30 years old. John the Baptist precedes all Gospel accounts of the start of Jesus’ ministry, and this is because repentance before God is the key to starting a new life in God’s Kingdom.
Witness 1 – John the Baptist
When John came (Luke 3v1-2) – When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, no prophetic voice had been heard within Israel for almost 400 years. His coming was part of God’s perfect timing, for everything that relates to God’s Son is always on time (Gal.4v4; Jn.2v4, 13v1)
How John came (Luke 3v3) – Dressed and acting like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, John came to the area near the River Jordan, preaching and baptizing. He announced the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (Mt.3v3) and urged the people to repent. John’s baptism looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, while Christian baptism looks back to the finished work of Christ in His death and resurrection.
Why John came (Luke 3v4-20) – John the Baptist was a voice “crying in the wilderness” (Is.40v1-5; Luke 3v4; Jn.1v23). Spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel was living in a state of unbelief and twisted spiritual reality. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God, and John was that faithful voice. It was John’s work to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then present the Messiah to them. John is compared to an axeman cutting down trees that down bear fruit (Luke 3v9) or a farmer who burns useless chaff (Luke 3v17). Many Jews of the time thought they were destined for heaven simply because they were descended from Abraham. In Luke 3v7, John depicts the crowds as snakes.
John the Baptist also was a teacher. He taught people to live their new faith (Luke 3v10-14). He told them not to be selfish, but to share their blessings with other people. Tax collectors were told by John to do their work honestly. Soldiers were to stop using their jobs for personal gain. John clearly stated that Jesus was “the Lord” (Luke 3v4) and the Son of God (Jn.1v34)
Witness 2 & 3 – The Father and the Spirit
Jesus comes to John the Baptist, and presents himself for baptism. John at first refuses to do it (Mt.3v13-15). He knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the perfect Son of God who had no need to repent of sin.
Through his baptism, he identified with all sinners that he came to save. We have seen already that it is the start of his public ministry (Acts 1v21-22, 10v37-38). But why did Jesus get baptized? In replying to John’s initial refusal to baptize him, Jesus said “…it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness” (Mt.3v15). This looks forward to the cross, because it is only through the baptism of suffering that Jesus endured on the cross, that God is able to fulfil all righteousness. The “us” referred to means Father, Son and Spirit. When Jesus came up from the water, the Father spoke from heaven and identified Him as the beloved Son of God, and the Spirit visibly came upon Jesus in the form of a dove.
Jesus as the Son of Man 3v23b-38
The genealogy here reminds us that the Son of God was also the Son of Man, born into the world, identifying with the needs and problems of mankind. Through the genealogy, we see down through the generations Jesus’ link to Adam and ultimately God. The phrase “the son of” generally means any remotely connected descendant or ancestor. It is a reminder that Jesus, being Joseph’s legal son was part of a human family, tribe, race and nation. Jesus’ line goes back through the Old Testament from Joseph to King David to Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, to Methuselah to Noah and Adam. The genealogy, with its link to David, shows Jesus’ right to ascend to David’s throne (Luke 1v32-33). The genealogy shows Jesus’ total human-ness, and because he is linked to Adam, identifies with all humanity and not just Israel. But there is one difference between Jesus and all other humans. In that Luke doesn’t stop the genealogy at Adam, as he would have for all other humans, Luke ultimately leads and links Jesus to being God’s Son.
Jesus as the Son of God (Luke 3v38)
Adam had come into the world bearing the true image of a son of God, but, when Adam disobeyed God, that image was marred and scarred due to sin entering the world. All that is, except Jesus. The voice from God the Father ratified Jesus as the Son of God. Not a son of God as some may claim, but the one and only Son of God. This genealogy points to the unbroken relationship between Jesus and God. Jesus is as Adam was before Adam’s disobedience.
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Friday Mar 20, 2020
Friday Mar 20, 2020
Easter 2020 - God is Love
Day 2. Jesus' Birth
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’
22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25
That Jesus was a human male is not really disputed. The birth of Jesus is extraordinary at every level. The primary documents about him, found in the Bible, states that he was born of a woman, which in itself tells us that at least in a prenatal state he was nurtured and formed as any other male baby was and is. On the physical level, Jesus was born as any person is, but as regards his conception, He was conceived like no other person – conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). This was so that Jesus would not be given the sinful nature past that all humans have. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Other documents, outside of the Bible from that time period also attest to Jesus and his existence.
Throughout the Old Testament, there is a witness to the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour. From the time of the first sin done by Adam, through the creation of Israel, the life of the Patriarchs and Kings and the oracles of the Prophets – all looking forward to the Messiah coming. The 5 Covenants that God made with people all look forward to this Messiah, this King. This King was to be their hope, their Saviour. His genealogy takes his physical line back to Abraham via David. Abraham was the father of Israel and David the first King. He grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did.
What’s in a name?
When Jesus was born, his name imbued the very reason he was born. His conception and birth were extraordinary at every level. So important is our understanding of the birth of Jesus that no fewer than 4 angels come to give us a full picture of the event. Do you think that his parents, Joseph & Mary, or God, ever gazed upon him, and thought “How misnamed he is”! They did not, because they knew the very purpose for which he was born. Did Jesus ever think of how misnamed he was? Certainly not! His name means one who saves, or a rescuer. The entirety of his birth, life and death were centred on this very role. His role was to save all those who would follow Him.
He is the most talked about person in history. Almost everyone has an opinion about him. He was born to confirm God's promises, to reveal God as a Father, and to be our representative before Him. He gave us an example of how to live a holy life to the full. He was not merely a man who received some special power. He was not some strange creation that was half man and half God, with his human nature somehow absorbed into the divine. He was, as we shall see in this series, much more than those ideas! One of the Church Fathers, Anselm, wrote that God’s salvation plan for humans involved triumphant victory over sin, death and the grave. However no person could be found that was eligible or capable to do this.
Because of this, God stepped into human history, so that this victory could be achieved. This God-man would be fully human, so as to live every feature of humanity, including suffering and death. This God-man would also need to remain fully God, so as to defeat sin, death and the grave. Jesus, being sinless, was this God-man, consisting as he did of two complete natures, the God nature and the human nature. That is why Jesus being both fully God and fully human is all important – without either, He could not be the long awaited Messiah and Saviour. That Jesus is both human and divine is what makes Christianity unique amongst the world’s religions. It is why Jesus’ claims to be the only way to God are true and make sense, and it is why millions of people today worship Him and acknowledge Him as their Lord and their God. From what we know of his childhood and early life, we know that he grew in stature and wisdom (Luke 2:52)
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Thursday Mar 19, 2020
Thursday Mar 19, 2020
Easter 2020 - God is Love
Day 1. Jesus of the Gospels
G’day! Welcome to Partakers and to our Easter 2020 series, God is Love, where for the next 30 days we look at Jesus Christ, the events of Easter and its consequences.
In the New Testament, we have four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ that are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are called Gospels. But what is a Gospel, how are the four accounts different or similar and what were the main points each writer sought to communicate?
Four Different Portraits
- The Gospel of Matthew with Key Verses: Matthew 16:17 & Matthew 28:18-20
- The Gospel of Mark with Key Verses: Mark 8:34 & Mark 10:45
- The Gospel of Luke with Key Verses: Luke 1:3-4 & Luke 19:10
- The Gospel of John with Key Verses: John 1:9-12 & John 20:31
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Monday Mar 16, 2020
Monday Mar 16, 2020
Think Spot – 16 March 2020
Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. Ephesians 5:1-2.
Paul admonishes us to be followers of the Father, as beloved children. He employs the most endearing terms — "dear children" —'- to persuade us with the Father's love to love even as we are loved. What manner of love has God manifested toward us? Not simply that love in which he gives temporal support to us unworthy beings in common with all the wicked on earth; that he permits his sun to rise on the just and the unjust and sends rain on the grateful and the ungrateful. Not only thus did God love us; but he has given his Son for us. In addition to showering upon us both temporal and eternal blessings he has given his own self with all he is, with all he has, with all he does. He who despises such glow of love, which fills all heaven and earth and is beyond all power to comprehend; he who does not permit this love to kindle and incite in him love for his neighbour, whether enemy or friend, is not likely ever to become godly or loving by such measures as laws or commandments, instruction, constraint, or compulsion.
"Walk in love," the apostle counsels. He would have our external life all love. But not the world's love is to be our pattern, which seeks only its own advantage, and loves only so long as it is the gainer thereby; we must love even as Christ loved, who sought neither pleasure, nor gain from us, but gave himself for us — gave himself as a sacrifice and offering to reconcile God unto ourselves, so that he should be our God and we his children. Thus are we to give, or even surrender our goods, whether friends claim them or enemies. We are to be ready to give our lives for both friends and enemies and must be occupied with the thought how we may serve others, and how life and property can be made to minister to them in this life, and this because we know that Christ is ours and has given us all things. All sacrifices are powerless but that of Christ himself; he is the sweet-smelling aroma. This sacrifice is pleasing to God. He gladly accepts it and would have us believe that it is an acceptable offering in our stead.
(An excerpt taken from "Devotional Readings From Luther's Works For Every Day Of The Year" By Rev. John Sander, L.H.D.) in the Public Domain.
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Friday Mar 13, 2020
Friday Mar 13, 2020
Partakers Friday Prayers
13 March 2020
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
(A prayer of Jean Calvin)
Grant, Almighty God,
that as You have once appeared in the person of Your only-begotten Son,
and have rendered in him Your glory visible to us,
and as You do daily set forth to us the same Christ in the glass of Your gospel.
O grant, that we, fixing our eyes on him, may not go astray,
nor be led here and there after wicked inventions,
the fallacies of Satan, and the allurements of this world.
But may we continue firm in the obedience of faith
and persevere in it through the whole course of our life,
until we be at length fully transformed into the image of Your eternal glory,
which now in part shines in us, through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen
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Monday Mar 09, 2020
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Think Spot – 9 March 2020
And he said, I know not: am I my brother s keeper? Genesis 4:9
Cain thinks he has made an effectual excuse for himself by saying that he is not his brother's keeper. But does he not confess by the very word "brother," which he takes upon his lips, that he ought to be his keeper? Is not that equal to accusing himself, and will not the fact that Abel is nowhere in evidence arouse the suspicion in the minds of his parents that he has been murdered? Just so also Adam excuses himself in paradise, and lays the blame on Eve. But the excuse of Cain is far more stupid; for while he excuses his sin he doubles it, whereas the frank confession of sin finds mercy and appeases wrath. All liars and hypocrites imitate Cain their father by either denying their sin or excusing it. Hence they cannot find pardon for their sins.
But let us survey the order in which sins follow each other and increase. First Cain sins by presumption and unbelief, priding himself on the privilege of his birthright. He takes it for granted that he shall be accepted of God on the ground of his own merit. Upon the pride and self-glorification follow envy and hatred of his brother, whom he sees preferred to himself by an unmistakable sign from heaven. Upon this envy and hatred follow hypocrisy and lying. Though he designs to murder his brother, he accosts him in a friendly manner and thereby throws him off his guard. Hypocrisy is followed by murder. Murder is followed by the excusing of his sin. And the last stage is despair, which is the fall from heaven to hell.
Moses took special pains in the preparation of this account to serve as a witness against all hypocrites, and as a chronicle containing a graphic description of their character and ire aroused by Satan against God, his Word and his Church. It was not enough of this murderer that he killed his brother, but he added the further sin of becoming indignant and wrathful when God inquired of him concerning his brother. He is indignant that he should be called to an account concerning the matter at all. His reply is the language of one who resists and hates God.
(An excerpt taken from "Devotional Readings From Luther's Works For Every Day Of The Year" By Rev. John Sander, L.H.D.) in the Public Domain.
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Friday Mar 06, 2020
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Friday Prayers
An anonymous prayer said to come from Vanuatu
O Jesus
Be the canoe that holds me in the sea of life.
Be the steer that keeps me straight.
Be the outrigger that supports me in times of great temptation.
Let Your Spirit be my sail that carries me through each day.
Keep my body strong,
So that I can paddle steadfastly on,
In the long voyage of life.
Amen
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Monday Mar 02, 2020
Monday Mar 02, 2020
Think Spot – 2 March 2020
You suffer fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are wise. For you suffer, if a person bring you into bondage, if a person devours you, if a person takes of you, if a person exalts them self, if a person slaps you on the face. 2 Corinthians 11:19-20.
Paul delivers a masterly stroke when with the same words he praises and rebukes the Corinthians. His commendation of their patience is in reality reproof. He means to say: I have preached the gospel to you at my own expense and jeopardy. By my labour you have attained to its blessing. You have done nothing for me in return, and I have been no tax upon you. Now, upon my departure, others come and captivate you, and seek honour and profit from my labour. They boast as though the accomplishments were all theirs.
Of these you become the disciples and pupils. Their preaching you accept, while mine becomes odious. My case is that of the bee which labours to gather honey and then come the idle drones and earthworms and consume the sweet which they have not gathered. You can suffer these false prophets though they be fools and teach you foolishness. In this you display wisdom and patience. But you do not suffer me, who taught you true wisdom. You can permit them to make servants of you, to be your lords and to order you to do their bidding. But I, who have made myself your servant, served you without profit to myself, that you might be lords with Christ, must now be ignored and all my labours lost. You suffer yourselves to be devoured; for you abundantly bestow your property upon them. But I have never enjoyed aught of yours. All my service has been without recompense, that you might become rich in Christ.
You suffer the false teachers to take from you beyond your consent, to exalt themselves above you, to esteem themselves better than you and me, and to exercise their arrogance over you. But you deal not so with me, who have sacrificed my own substance, and have taken from others, that I might bring the gospel to you. They reproach you publicly, smite you in the face, put you to shame and abuse you with insolent words. But my patience with you, my parental tenderness, is remembered no more.
(An excerpt taken from "Devotional Readings From Luther's Works For Every Day Of The Year" By Rev. John Sander, L.H.D.) in the Public Domain.
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