Partakers Christian Podcasts

Think Spot

27th February 2012

G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot on Monday, the 27^th of February 2012. Play the audio and see how Jim and Joy are challenging you to live your faith out this week!

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Luke Looks Back - Introduction

Luke Looks Back

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G'day! Today we start a new weekly Sunday spot. It is Luke Looks Back and is recorded for us by friends of mine, Roger & Margaret Kirby. It is primarily a set of bible studies looking at the Early Life and Galilean Ministry of Jesus as recorded by in Luke 1 - 9. Each of the studies has a mixture of notes and questions. The aim of these questions is to give those taking part some real knowledge and spiritual understanding as a result of discussing the answers to them.  While they are designed for a small group, they would also be valuable as a weekly devotional. They were first written for use in a group in England. In putting them on the Internet I know they may be used in very different cultures from ours and not all the questions will make good sense in every culture. So feel free to down load the studies, modify them as much as you like and translate them into your language if you wish. With translation in mind they have been written in simpler English that will hopefully make that task easier for whoever does it - may you be blessed in that work.

The questions are a mixture of the easy to answer (study 1, question 2) and some that are more difficult (study 1, question 5). Some are deliberately unexpected in what they ask (study 1, question 6), hoping to make people think. Included are some questions on the way Luke wrote and the structure of his writing in order to identify what Luke saw as the main points he wanted to make, believing these are therefore the points the Holy Spirit would wish us to understand as the most important (1 Pet 1: 10 - 12; 2 Pet 1: 20,21). The ancient texts did not have headings, paragraphs, sentences or even spaces between words so the only way of conveying structure was in the actual words.

The English version of the Bible used in writing these notes was the NIV. They include 'icebreakers'. These are to get everybody talking and help folk to know more about each other in a non-threatening way. A study covers a section of the gospel rather than a single session of discussion. Many of them will take two or more sessions to complete. Each study will print on an A4 page as two A5 pages. Printing on both sides of the paper and then cutting down the middle will give two convenient A5 double-sided copies. These will be available in Adobe PDF format and standard mp3 audio files. Thank you. Bibliography. The following (English) books would be helpful for discussion leaders where available:

• Saviour of the World: Message of Luke (The Bible speaks today) by Michael Wilcock
• According to Luke by David Gooding
• Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright
• Luke by Darrell Bock (NIV Application Commentary)
• Luke by R Alan Culpepper in the New Interpreter's Bible (unfortunately only available as half volume IX)
• Jesus from a Middle Eastern Perspective by Kenneth Bailey (This new book written by an American who has spent both his childhood and most of his working life in the Middle East is highly recommended. It explores questions of structure and brings a new and very interesting and informative perspective to the culture of the gospels. Many comparisons with life in the developing world are possible.)

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Thursday Bible Quiz

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2biiI_CwiGk]

Thursday Bible Quiz

19 January, 2012

5 questions!

1 minute!

Are you ready?

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Thursday Bible Quiz

Thursday Bible Quiz

12 January, 2012

5 questions!

1 minute!

Are you ready?

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Thursday Bible Quiz

Thursday Bible Quiz

5 January, 2012

5 questions!

1 minute!

Are you ready?

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Thursday Bible Quiz

Bible Quiz

24 November, 2011

5 questions!

1 minute!

Are you ready?

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Thursday Bible Quiz

Bible Quiz 17 November, 2011

5 questions! 1 minute! Are you ready?

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Sermon - Jesus WOW Part 2

The Challenge Of

Jesus' WOW Factor

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Introduction!

Last Sunday we reflected together about the WOW factor of Jesus. What does WOW stand for? Worthy of Worship! We saw together how as expressed in Colossians 1v15-20 Paul had a WOW factor about Jesus Christ! I shared how the WOW factor of Jesus for me included his uniqueness, majesty, tenderness, wisdom, strength and loveliness.   That this extraordinary Jesus loves us with an unparalleled and creative passion! Then we looked at the WOW factor having an impact on communities by way of us as Christians being as Jesus, through loving, serving and giving to others! We saw that by using the power and strength of the Holy Spirit within us, meant that we would never tire of loving, serving and giving to others.  Then finally, this Jesus will be returning and will do the most extraordinary thing to all those who persevere - Revelation 21v4 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. That's a WOW factor of Jesus! How has your WOW factor of Jesus been this past week? It would be lovely to just stay there and bask in that WOW factor but that would not be the full picture! We have to live between the present and the future and Jesus has left us with a job to do! Anybody here find that following Jesus closely easy? Not just me then!

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WOW Paul

A 30 second summary of Paul's "poem" about Jesus from Colossians 1:15-20!

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

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ADD - Testimony

Christian Disciple and Testimony

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The Apostle John, writing in 1 John 5v9-12 - "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?

A testimony is an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact. For the Christian Disciple, classically it is generally expressed as how they became a Christian Disciple. But I think it is more than just how, and should expressly include why you are a Christian Disciple. I wonder what is your testimony about how you became a Christian Disciple? When was the last time you thanked our God for your testimony? Have you even thought about your testimony of how you became a Christian Disciple? 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?" My father, was and remained throughout his life a convinced agnostic and in the few conversations we had about religion and Christianity, he could never understand why it was, that I could not just admit that I would never know if God existed or not, far less a God who was personally interested in me. My reply as ever, was that the very question "Why is it so?" needed to be answered, in order for me to be satisfied.

Why I am a Christian?

Now I could say that at the age of 12, we moved to a town on the coast of Australia, and was invited along to a local youth group and several weeks later, gave my life to Christ and became a Christian. Of course that is partly true. I can't even claim to be a Christian because I was raised in a Christian country. Australia was and is probably the second most secular country on this planet. Sure Australia has its moral base grounded in historic Christianity, but for the latter part of its history, Australia has been thoroughly secular and non-religious. Even if I had been raised in a country such as England, with Christian parents, that would also, only be partly true and I could have rejected Christianity as many people do. The reason that I am a Christian is not because I chased God, but rather He chased me. Unknown to me at the time, God was chasing me and following my every path with the urgency of a lover after the beloved, just as described in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 2v2-14).

God had been pursuing me

This piece of poetic Scripture speaks about the love that God has for his people, and the energy He puts in to calling his people to Himself. He is always reaching out, for all to return to His arms. As for me, it wasn't until I was a 12 year old that I heard that I needed to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Before that I didn't know I had to do anything with this Jesus. Jesus was only a curse word for me at the time. That or was just someone or something that the RE teachers bored me with at school. 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? He 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 7v54-60). 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 19v10). 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" (Mark10v45). For more to think about please do read the Song of Songs 2v2-14 and ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together. Q1. What were the events leading up to my choosing to be a Christian disciple which symbolize God running after me? Q2. How am I, as a Christian Disciple, continuing to listen to God's voice? Q3. Will I be ready to give my testimony the next time somebody asks me as to why I am a Christian?

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