G‘day! 🌟 Welcome to Partakers Christian Podcasts! Tune in for Bible Teaching, Bible Readings, Worship, Prayer, and Church History. Our mission on Podbean is to enable and encourage you on your faith journey. Come listen, interact, and be inspired!
Episodes
17 hours ago
17 hours ago
Psalm 86 to Psalm 90
Often we hear the Psalms one by one, but today we offer you the chance to hear a group of Psalms read as a collection!
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Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God;
3 have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.
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Psalm 87
Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you, city of God:
4 ‘I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me –
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush – and will say, “This one was born in Zion.”’
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
‘This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.’
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
‘This one was born in Zion.’
7 As they make music they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you.’
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Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
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Psalm 89
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm for ever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 “I will establish your line for ever and make your throne firm through all generations.”’
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Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’
4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death –
they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.
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2 days ago
2 days ago
From Skeptic to Salvation
I am Richard. I am 62 years of age. For 59 years of my life, I lived with faith " only in myself ".I was at best a Skeptic, at worst an Atheist. I would go right out of my way to test and very strongly argue against anyone I met, who professed to have a faith, in any sort of God. I needed nothing, but my own free will. All my faith was "only" in myself.
In 2002 / 2003 my world fell apart. I was left alone to myself. All my lifelong responsibilities disappeared. I became for 2 years a solitary hermit, living in my house, completely alone. It was during this time, alone, that I started to question, :- What my life was about. What was I here for. What was the reason for my being, if there even was one. I wanted, and so needed contact with other people. I needed to talk, to be listened to, and to listen to others. We are not meant to be solitary beings we are social creatures. We so need fellowship with others, like we need food.
After over 2 years of self imposed solitary confinement, I was becoming worried about losing my ability to communicate with others. It was back just before Christmas 2005, I received through my door the usual annual programme of all the Churches in my area, listing all their events, over the Christmas period. I decided to systematically visit all of them. Not to seek faith, Oh No', I'm a Skeptic, an Atheist. I just want to have communication with others. I visited most of the local Churches over the coming months, and always found people to speak and listen to, but none of the Churches somehow felt right for me, until I visited " Verwood Road Evangelical Chapel", just up the road from where I live, in Three Legged Cross. Here I felt good, " well better ". I liked the way they did things. It was not a liberal church. It was more leaning towards, a Brethren sort of fellowship, but not too hard line. There was no pomp or high ceremony, no fancy clothes or precious things to see or worship. These were ordinary people, just like me.
Over the next 10 months I visited V.R.C. " on and off " at first, maybe once or twice a month and found that I liked it more and more, so I went more and more. By October 2006, I found that I was wanting to go not only every Sunday but twice on Sundays. It was at this time that I seriously decided to the best of my ability, to very fully investigate just what this Christianity was really all about. How could so many intelligent, thinking people, believe in it?
For the next 6 months, I lived in the single minded state of total study of the Christian faith. I devoted all of my time to the study of the Bible and many, many books, both for and against the Christian faith. I prayed and prayed so very hard to God to give me a definite sign - a proof that God was out there and not something made-up in my own mind. I was in heartfelt tears, many, many times, asking for some proof, a miracle even, a certain sign, anything, but no sign or proof came. I was God's for the taking, but both He, and my heart, wasn't ready.
In late March 2007, something happened to turn me completely off Christianity. I went from very serious " single minded seeking " with all my heart and soul, TO - " This Christianity is certainly not for me ". It is not " at all " important what " event " occurred to cause this absolute turn around. It is only important to understand that it was very strongly driven by " My Own Self Pride ". God knew that it had to be, for Him to use it, to turn this 60 year old Atheist into a Christian. It was during my very powerful, and emotional efforts, to try and take a wrong, and turn it into a right, No matter what the cost, that my eyes were turned back into myself. To see, or to start to see, that all I hated and despised in others, was also, very present in myself. I was no better, than all those that I felt the very strong need to " bring to rights " in my life. It was at this moment in time, of now seeing, just what " I Am ", that my life changed forever. I was born on Easter Friday, Good Friday, the 4th. April.
In 2007, Three days after my 60th. Birthday, at exactly 12:32 p.m. lunch-time on Easter Saturday, the 7th. April, I at last discovered, that I was nothing, undeserving of my life, A Sinner that so needed the forgiveness of God. This opened my heart to God, and at that very moment, He Came In. It was at this time, that I understood, for the very first time, the Amazing events of Easter, and that Jesus died for me, that I may have life, and live life, to the full.
The next day, Easter Sunday, 2007, I took my first communion with my God. I would now like to say, that I am not a writer, I agree with " Winnie The Pooh Bear ", when he said.:- "Yes' I know all my letters, but my spelling is wobbly. It's good spelling, but it wobbles, and my letters get into the wrong places!" I'm not a poet either. I'm a practical man, an engineer. In the early hours of Easter Monday morning, 2007, at 1:30 a.m. whilst I was sat in my back porch thinking " in a daze " about what had happened to me on Easter Saturday, I picked up a pen and without thinking, wrote out the following poem. It is un-referenced, original and un-edited. It is just as it came down to me, 37 hours after finding my faith.
This poem is called :- The Fellowship - ( Revealed )
I don't know where I'm going,
I don't know where I've been,
I don't know what's in store for me,
But God has hold, to let me see.
For he will surely show my way,
My guide,
to lead,
to change each day.
To give me life, I've never seen,
To serve, to try, to make life clean,
To hold me close, to let me go,
To understand, To love me so.
My God is One, with saviour Christ,
He gave for me, The Total Price.
My heart is found, the Ghost within,
Salvation sealed, Forgiven Sin.
My past remains, but all washed clean,
My future comes, like it's never been.
I cannot say the words I feel,
Of things that are, to me so real.
My sad, sad past, is gone, my futures clean,
For with my eyes, new life I've seen.
This gift of love, that has been given,
Shall remain with me, right through to Heaven.
I believe that this poem was written with God's help. There is nothing good that can come out of me, from my own self, Self. Any good that may come from me, comes through me, from God. So please just Praise the Lord. ( Thank you.)
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3 days ago
3 days ago
Why I am a Christian!
The Apostle John, writing in 1 John 5:9-12 - "We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
Why Is It So?
I am sure you have all heard kids in the supermarket yelling out "Why?" to their parents. We all have, I am sure, questions we want to know the answer to. Why? The question I am often asked is "You are a Christian. Why is it so?"
Why I am a Christian?
God had been pursuing me
We are primarily Christians, not because we come to church services or just happened to have been born in a supposedly Christian country. We are primarily Christians, because God first chased and harried us into His arms. We are Christians, if you are one, because God first loved you. And as a tremendous lover, He beckons and calls people all the time to respond to His call, and back to Him. How does He chase us with His love?
God chases each person differently, just as each Christian testimony is different. Take for instance the Apostle Paul in Acts 8 & 9. God chased him through Paul's mind and his religious upbringing and education. Paul had known about God from his childhood. Paul was a righteous Pharisee who saw persecuting these ‘Christians' as his religious duty, so that he may somehow find favour with God. As Paul was gloating over the death of the martyr Stephen, God was pursuing Him, probably raising doubts in Paul's mind as to why Stephen would say at the point of death "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and forgive them for what they do" (Acts 7:54-60). Surely doubts must have been raised in Paul's mind as he approved of this death (Acts 8v1).
Paul was also wrestling with his conscience. Externally he was a righteous man, a Pharisee of Pharisees. Yet when he internally examined himself and his heart, he found himself failing regarding covetousness, which is the last of the Ten Commandments. Then finally, Jesus himself makes a sudden and dramatic appearance before Paul and confronts him directly, "Why are you kicking against me? Why are you rejecting my advances?" (Acts 9) Paul's conversion to Christianity is often described as being sudden. But the only thing sudden about his conversion was this climatic appearance of Jesus.
Just as that was true of Paul, it is true of me, just as it is true of all those who profess to call themselves a Christian Disciple. I am a Christian Disciple not because of anything I have done, but rather because He first chased me, and because He first loved me. Jesus himself said "I came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
If you are a Christian today, it is not because of anything you have done. It is because of the events at Christmas and Easter that you are a Christian, when God entered this world as a human baby and took all the necessary steps so that all people could have the choice to be His people or not. In my more smug moments I used to congratulate myself for being a Christian. How proud I was that I, was a Christian and that God was a jolly lucky God that I had decided to follow Him. It was during one of my less self-deluded moments, that I examined myself and I found God pricking my conscience and correcting me, and I read the New Testament "For the Son of Man came, not to be served but to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark10:45).
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4 days ago
4 days ago
God and His church!
As Christian Disciples, we declare that we believe in God! That's what we have been doing in our praises and testimonies! Somebody asked last week what I meant by a WOWFactor of God! Just that - testimonies of how great is our God. As Christian Disciples, we declare that we not only believe in the existence of God, but that we can know God personally! We declare that we can grow in our knowledge of this great and Almighty God who is infinite and beyond our limitations of space and time! This great and awe-inspiring God we trust, obey, follow and worship, amazing as it sounds, is personable and knowable. This God we worship is a personal God and not a remote being or an un-emotive statue to place on a shelf. More than that, this God wants to be known. So with that said, just who is God?
1. Who is God?
God's Natural Attributes
God's Moral Attributes
2. Our Relational Response
God desires to bring people back into relationship with Himself! To do so, God established a New Covenant! This Covenant has four main features:
- Justification - Sins will be forgiven and removed.
- Promised Holy Spirit - God will live inside people and they will be led by Him.
- Regeneration -God will renew & restore people.
- Restoration - God will be their God, and they will be His people.
The Church
Fellowship
Worship
Evangelism
Jesus' WOWFactor
As I close, here is my own WOWFactor about Jesus, the Son of God. My Jesus is unique, majestic, tender, wise, strong, and lovely. My Jesus, whom I seek to serve and obey in every facet of life. I often don't achieve it, but I know that when I fall and fail, I can ask for forgiveness and He will grant it from His wellsprings of grace and mercy. It is this Jesus whom I depend upon and personally know to be totally reliable in every way. When people let me down, turn away from me, discourage me, think wrongly off me, or incorrectly assume my motives.
This Jesus always picks me up. He never turns me away. He always encourages and embraces me. At the end of the day, I know that Jesus has been dependable, going ahead of me throughout the day! I give Him thanks. Amazing! This Jesus who died on a Roman cross two thousand years ago was the same Jesus who was raised from the dead, without decay, into newness of life and ascended to the right hand of the Father. What is more, this Jesus is coming back to gather His followers, to Himself. Jesus is coming back, but not as a baby this time. There will be no kitchy-kitchy koo factor this time. No! Jesus the Son of God, is coming back as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Are you ready?
Amazing! This God-man, Jesus, is coming back and He will do the most extraordinary thing. We read about it in Revelation 21:4 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Isn't that just the most amazing verse of Scripture? Picture the scene! Jesus Christ taking your face in His scarred hands and wiping away your tears - tears of suffering and tears of joy. You will say to yourself, it was all worth it - the trials, temptations, sufferings and experiences I have had for the sake of Jesus Christ my Master. Are you ready for Him?
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6 days ago
6 days ago
Athaliah
The person we are going to look at in this study, is Athaliah. You can read about her in 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22-23. The judges have long gone, and the nation of Israel had become a monarchy under Saul, David and Solomon. Yet soon after Solomon died, the nation splits into north and south - Israel and Judah.
Athaliah was, by all accounts, a terrible woman. The tribes in the kingdom of Israel, tried to lure the kingdom of Judah's tribes into a trap, and prepared it for the Babylonian exile. Athaliah was to cause Judah's moral life to decay. Athaliah was the daughter of that horrible couple Ahab and Jezebel. She somehow inherited all the evil of her wicked parents. Jezebel had brought poison from Sidon and injected it into the life of Israel.
Come and listen to discover with us more about Athaliah, and what lessons we the Church today can learn today in our life and leadership.
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7 days ago
7 days ago
A Story of Two Women!
2 Chronicles 22:10-12 - When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah's sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so that she could not kill him. He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.
2 Chronicles 23:11-15 - Jehoiada and his sons brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; they presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and shouted, 'Long live the king!' When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she went to them at the temple of the Lord. She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, 'Treason! Treason!' Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of units of a hundred, who were in charge of the troops, and said to them: 'Bring her out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her.' For the priest had said, 'Do not put her to death at the temple of the Lord.' So they seized her as she reached the entrance of the Horse Gate on the palace grounds, and there they put her to death. Jehoiada then made a covenant that he, the people and the king would be the Lord's people. All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
The two main characters which we will look at today are Athaliah and Jehosheba. This story has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster! I can see Angelina Jolie playing the role of Athaliah and Julie Andrews as Jehosheba! What do you think? As hard as it is to believe, our two characters tonight are related! Come and listen to find out more!
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Tuesday May 20, 2025
Tuesday May 20, 2025
Rachel's Story
Genesis 29v14-30
The story of Rachel may sound like a modern day soap opera like Holby City, Eastenders or Coronation Street! Rachel had a fairly complicated family structure!
Come and listen as we discover more about Rachel and how she is key in God's story!
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Monday May 19, 2025
Monday May 19, 2025
Heroes and Villains Explored - Yehosheba
Yehosheba was a princess, the daughter of King Joram and her name means "Yahweh is an oath". She had married Jehoida, who was the high priest. Yehosheba, although she was a king's daughter and a king's sister, married a descendant of Levi, the head of the priest class in Judah. In the Old Testament, the promised coming of God in human form had been seriously threatened repeatedly. It was threatened by the fact that Sarah and Abraham remained childless for a long time; by Jacob's flight; by the attempts on David's life by Saul; and also by Athaliah attempted massacre of the royal baby Joash.
Come on in, listen and discover with us what lessons we can learn today from the life of Yehosheba.
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Sunday May 18, 2025
Sunday May 18, 2025
Studies of Ruth
Study 5. Worship Through Obedience.
Then finally, Ruth's obedience was also worship. How is this? The result of Ruth's obedience was Obed, the child fathered by Boaz as kinsman-redeemer, the one would inherit the family land and name in place of Naomi's dead husband and sons. Obed in Hebrew means "worship". Is not obedience really the outward action that derives from the inner response of faith love, and trust practised in regard to individuals and God? Jesus said "If you love me, you will obey what I command!" (John 14:15). Ruth's acts of obedience throughout this her story, are also practical acts of worship of the God she had made her own by faith. So Ruth's obedience has four factors to it: the wow factor, the witness factor, the wholeness factor and finally the worship factor!
Conclusion
Let us ask God to work in us, changing our weak attempts at obedience into acts of divine worship. We find delight in serving the Lord, instead of indulging in resentment over sinful leaders. The result will be inner freedom and release from bitterness, and also a powerful story to those in authority and to onlookers as well. Just as too Ruth's obedience of Naomi, moved Boaz and all Bethlehem, the Holy Spirit will enable us move others (Colossians 3:23-24).
While we obey others we can joyfully remember that it is God alone who is worthy of complete obedience. When our confidence in Him is reflected in our submission to others we become living stories to our trust in God's perfect plan. If we follow the example of Ruth, perhaps someone will notice our stories and find the witness, the wholeness, and the worship in our lives of obedience and praise God because of us. And, remember this from 1 Samuel 15:22 "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
So go and be obedient to our awesome and holy God! Through obedience to Him, as revealed in Scripture, you will be growing and changing into the very likeness of Jesus Christ whom you follow. Through obedience, you will be able to enduring and be persistent in your Christian lifestyle and evangelism. So much so, that people will ask you for the reason for the hope you have and portray.
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Saturday May 17, 2025
Saturday May 17, 2025
Studies of Ruth
Study 4 - Wholeness in obedience
Let's start with a question. How did Ruth's obedience come to have such a tremendous impact on those around her? It all started with a personal commitment, a permanent decision that brought her peace and provided her with direction for all that followed. On the border of Moab, Ruth had told Naomi of her commitment (Ruth 1:16-17) as we read earlier. Ruth's commitment was absolute.
Rather than constraining her, this new commitment gave her new purpose and opportunity to develop her character. When they arrived in Bethlehem, Ruth volunteered to pick up the leftover grain (Ruth 2:2). When she returned to Naomi, Ruth shared her grain with Naomi and told her about her day.
Then it was Naomi who sensed God's direction and gave Ruth detailed instructions as to how to approach Boaz, which Ruth obeyed perfectly (Ruth 3:1-6). Ruth 4:17 indicates that after Ruth's future and family were secure, Naomi was included in the household redeemed by Boaz, for when the neighbours noticed how much she cared for Obed they said "Naomi has a son." Truly the deepest love, trust and respect were at the centre of Ruth's & Naomi's relationship, bringing both of them mutual fulfilment.
As Ruth obeyed Naomi, so she obeyed Boaz, both at their first meeting and later at the threshing floor. She won both the admiration of Naomi and Boaz as much by the quickness of her unquestioning responses as by her completeness in carrying out commands. Ruth won respect because she offered her respect in the form of obedience. Her obedience was total and complete. Not through coercion, but by love and adoration.