G‘day! Partakers Christian podcasts of Bible Teaching, Bible Readings, Worship, Prayer and Church History on Podbean to help enable and encourage you! Come listen and interact.
Episodes
Thursday May 19, 2011
Thursday May 19, 2011
Interview with Sheena
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G’day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Today I interview somebody, asking them 6 questions about their life as a Christian in the 21st century!
If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Sunday May 15, 2011
Sunday May 15, 2011
Angie's Journey Begins!
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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Today, I want to tell you about Angie, a lady I know, and about her journey to faith in Jesus Christ. It was told to me and I now tell you.Early church memories
The oldest of 3 sisters, I was packed off to Sunday school in a Wesleyan chapel over the road from where we lived to giving our parents a rest each Sunday morning, or so it seemed. There I learnt about Jesus, his parables and the people of the Old Testament. Though we moved away, the memories stayed with me. I never forgot them and Jesus was always special to me, although I didn't understand the reason until much later.First contact!
Life moved on as it always does for everyone. My holiday romance, Jim, and I married and we had 2 children. Our extended family started talking about how they knew Jesus personally. Our son, then only 14, after going to church with his cousin, came home saying he'd become a Christian. We wondered what was going on. After 3 months of our son's pleading we agreed to go to a barbeque which was part of their church outreach. Arriving an hour early as our son got the time wrong, we watched as the folks set everything up, and thought how genuine they were. One young man there told us his story. He was the eldest of 6 children, he hadn't had an easy life and explained how his life had been changed by Jesus Christ. That he no longer fought in the street and had the love of God for people. It made us curious enough to decide go to that church the following Sunday.Jesus begins to get a grip on me!
That Sunday afternoon Jim had a nap, our daughter was visiting with friends and I was ironing. Our son pleaded to watch a video he'd borrowed from church. In this video, actors depicted to us the story of Jesus from the gospel of Luke. I could feel myself getting secretly angry while watching the film to begin with as I ironed clothes. By the end of the film the iron was off and I sat with my son in front of the screen as they crucified Jesus and it hurt. I couldn't understand why they had to do that. It didn't make sense. It never had made sense to me. That evening we went to church, arrived a little late and we settled ourselves near the back of the church. We viewed a lively congregation and joined in smiling at each other as they worshiped with a real genuineness. This was not church, as we knew it. This was alive and exciting!Jesus did it for me!
The speaker gave a message, ending with a request for all to bow their heads so those wanting to know Jesus could raise their hands. Jim and I looked at each other as we gritted our teeth. No way were we going to raise our hands! Then the meeting was over. I found myself asking the woman next to me why, if Jesus died 2000 years ago, was it anything to do with me. She gently explained that Jesus is central to history - that before him, folks looked forward in faith and those living after him look back in faith. He is therefore, pivotal to everything. At that moment something happened to me - something terrible and wonderful - almost unexplainable. In my mind the video portraying Jesus' life, that I had watched that afternoon came back to me. It replayed in my mind, showing me yet again what and how Jesus had suffered. For the first time realisation came to me that this Jesus had been beaten and suffered - for me. He'd been spat on, mocked and humiliated. He'd had a crown of thorns pressed down on His head, He'd had nails driven through his hands and His feet. That He had been crucified just for me! The woman in front of me realised from my reaction that something was going on and led me to a quieter place.My Christian journey begins!
It hit me then that the Jesus I had always known from childhood, had really and truly died for me and it wasn't just a story of fiction. He was who He claimed to be and had something to say about how I lived my life. Worst of all, I knew I'd never thanked Him or said I was sorry. I asked what I had to do to get to know him and was led in a simple prayer of repentance and faith. I walked out of that place with the biggest smile on my face! That smile lasted for 2 weeks, having found my answer! I had committed my life to this Jesus Christ.The family follows too!
My husband, Jim says he saw something different in the people at that church and the change it had made in me. He knew there had to be more to life. So, on his own, a few days later, late into the night, he got on his knees before God and committed his life to Jesus Christ too. The following Sunday there we were again unchurched, not fully understanding everything, but eager to learn. A few weeks later our 12 year old daughter made her choice to follow Jesus too! That was in 1992 and here we are 19 years later. So much has happened since then and that's a story in it's self. God has been faithful in so many ways. Both children are now grown up, married to Christians and raising their own families in the Christian faith. Yes my love of the Saviour just keeps on growing. I have much to thank God for. If you have found the story of Angie helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you!Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Saturday May 14, 2011
Saturday May 14, 2011
Entrance to the Kingdom
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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Today we welcome back once more, Jim Allis, an experienced pastor, relating to us a situation where God undoubtedly helped people and shows His relevancy to them. So over to you - Jim!Born Again?
One Tuesday evening in a meeting , I was preaching John 3 concerning a question Nicodemus asked Jesus . "What does it means to be ‘born again?" Jesus had said "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God" Jesus then explains it to him . Nicodemus doesn't understand and thinks he has to return to his mothers womb in order for it to happen. A lady who was sitting in my congregation was dozing, not because she was bored but because dying from cancer she had drugged herself before she had left her home that night.. Pain always set in when she entered the church . When I had finished preaching I walked down the aisle close to her. As I did so she grabbed my jacket and said "What do you mean we have to become Christians and be born again, isn't this a Christian country we are living in?" I replied by asking her a question. "Well, what do you think?" She replied " I suppose the way things are, murders thieving, adulteries and child abuse this can't be a Christian country and what's more I know I am not, Please will you help me?" This was a cry from her heart. I was convinced of that.Home visit!
A day or so later I called on her and gave her a book called "By Searching" by Isabel Khun, a godly missionary. It included an account of how she became a Christian. As I left the house, Mrs D said "I am not there yet. I cannot call Jesus Lord of my life." I said I would pray for her. A few days later her daughter rang me to say her mum had been rushed into hospital and it was 50/50 whether she would recover from the operation to remove the cancer.Born Again with New Life!
The day I visited the hospital I will never forget, Earlier I had read God's word for encouragement and prayed for Mrs D feeling very inadequate to know what I would say to her to comfort her in her extreme condition. Entering the ward I found her sitting in a chair beside her bed looking very pale. However there was a huge smile on her face. Excitedly she said "It's happened" she explained. " I can now call Jesus My Lord! I was reading the preface of this book you gave me and the writer explained how she was going through a deep mist but as it cleared she began to understand Jesus purpose in coming into this world". Mrs D now could understood about sin, forgiveness and her need of a righteousness not her own to cover her. Mrs D was full of joy and we praised God together.Dead yet Alive!
The next time I visited the hospital she was in a coma after the operation. I prayed for her aware from experience that my words would be heard in her spirit even though she couldn't respond . She went to heaven shortly afterwards. How loving and wonderful , full of mercy and compassionate our Lord is. How determined He was to quicken her through His Word before she died. "She must be born again" and she was, and she died in peace If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
If you have found this resource helpful to you, please do prayerfully consider making a donation. You can do that by clicking on the Paypal image to the left. Thank you
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Friday May 13, 2011
Friday May 13, 2011
Ann meets Jesus!
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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Where we see together how Jesus is alive today, working in peoples lives in different ways and is relevant to the world today, 2000 years after He walked the earth, died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Today we welcome back once more, Jim Allis, an experienced pastor, relating to us a situation where God undoubtedly helped people and shows His relevancy to them. So over to you - Jim! Hello there! My name is Jim and I have seen Jesus alive in many situations in my life where God without a shadow of a doubt has entered peoples lives and transformed them. Here is one of those encounters!Separated from God!
One person close to me in my family, is my sister Ann. As a child she went to confirmation classes but there was nothing to confirm. She didn't know God. Later in her married life she found herself in tragic circumstances when her husband died an alcoholic. Her attitude became embittered and she was not slow to blaspheme God's Holy Name. Whenever I visited her she was not responsive to my pleas for her to seek Christ until another terrible thing happened. She had contracted MS which is bad enough and left her staggering about on a stick. Her face had become wizened and she had difficulty in walking. Her troubles multiplied as she sought drugs to relieve her pain but God listens to our prayers, doesn't He? I was converted when I was 27 and from that day on I prayed for my sister to come to Christ. Over 45 years I prayed for her without any sign or desire of a seeking after God!Until...
Less than a year ago, she was driving her car to a school where my niece attends to pick her up. As she was approaching the school she lapsed into unconsciousness, the car swerved into the path of oncoming traffic and a direct hit caused the air bag to fly out at her and fracture several ribs and lacerate her liver. Ligaments in one of her legs were torn and she was admitted to hospital straight away and placed in intensive care. I visited the hospital a considerable journey from my home and arriving made my way to see her. The sight I saw was pitiful and frightening to a brother who loved his sister very much. On a morphine drip to counteract pain which was intense and almost constant it was difficult to communicate. She was in a life threatening situation. I felt so helpless. I prayed over her and from that day on prayer from myself and friends was intensified.A change!
Slowly she was released to a less intensive ward and finally after many weeks she was allowed home. Meanwhile a verse of scripture had been given to me from a friend for her. "You are fair my love there is no spot in you" With not a little fear of rejection I passed on this verse to my sister. She thought it meant her body would be healed. I saw the spiritual side of it and knew it was primarily to do with her sin sick soul. A further wonderful day arrived when Ann's life was turned around and she is now a firm believer and with incredible courage and hidden strengths makes her way to church up a steep hill each Sunday and is a soul winner for Jesus now as she takes member of her closer family with her. To pray with her on the phone is a treat as she has no inhibitions and joins with me in prayer enthusiastically. Is Jesus alive" I will say He is. So never give up in prayer, God is faithful. If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Thursday May 12, 2011
Thursday May 12, 2011
CS Lewis - Atheist to Theist to Christian
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G'day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories. Today we take a step back to recent history, to the 20th century and a glimpse at why and how CS Lewis started his own Christian journey and the relevancy of Jesus Christ to his life! It may not be what you have heard it said to be!Beginnings
Atheism
We start his story in the chapter "Check" on page 136 "... as a schoolboy, I had destroyed my religious life by a vicious subjectivism which made ‘realisations' the aim of prayer; turning away from God to seek states of mind, and trying to produce those states of my ‘maistry' " He continues in the chapter "Checkmate" on page 180: "Really, a young Atheist cannot guard his faith too carefully. Dangers lie in wait for him on every side. You must not do, you must not even try to do, the will of the Father unless you are prepared to ‘know of the doctrine.' All my acts, desires, and thoughts were to be brought into harmony with universal Spirit. For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a hareem of fondled hatreds. My name was legion." He continues on page 181: "If Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare's doing. Hamlet could do nothing." God was pursuing Lewis and it was all on the initiative of God. "Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about ‘man's search for God.' To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse's search for the cat."Theism
Now we come to page 182: "Doubtless, by definition, God must be reason itself. But would He also be ‘reasonable' in that other more comfortable sense? Not the slightest assurance was offered me. Total surrender, the absolute leap in the dark were demanded. ... Now, this demand was simply ‘All!' You must picture me alone in my room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England. ... The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation." Many writers and speakers, conclude that this is Lewis's conversion to Christianity. But it is not - it was his conversion from atheism to theism! On the very next line, in the very next chapter "The Beginning" on the very next page, page 184, Lewis writes "It must be understood that the conversion recorded in the last chapter was only a conversion to Theism, pure and simple, not to Christianity. ... The God to whom I surrendered was sheerly non-human." He continues "My conversion involved as yet no belief in a future life. I now number it among my great mercies that I was permitted for several months, perhaps for a year, to know God and to attempt obedience without even raising the question." He continues on Page 186 "As soon as I became a Theist I started attending my parish church on Sundays and my college chapel on weekdays; not because I believed in Christianity, nor because I thought the difference between it and simple Theism a small one, but because I thought one ought to ‘fly one's flag' by some unmistakable overt sign. I was acting in obedience to a sense of honour.. ... Thus my churchgoing was a merely symbolical and provisional practice. If it in fact helped to move me in the Christian direction, I was and am unaware of this."Christianity
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Wednesday May 11, 2011
Wednesday May 11, 2011
Grace - reasons to be thankful!
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G'day and welcome to Partake Ministries... Today we welcome Grace! She lives and works in London in the United Kingdom. She shares with us about reasons she is thankful to God as part of her journey with Jesus Christ being central to her life. If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Tuesday May 10, 2011
Tuesday May 10, 2011
Tale of 4 people!
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G'day and welcome to Partake Ministries! We continue in our series, Glimpses Stories, and today I want to introduce you to four friends of mine. They all would say they are Christian disciples of a sort. I wonder if you will recognize any of them!Freddie Fe-elgood
First we have Freddie Fee-elgood or Freddo to his friends! He runs around to every meeting he can find that has some aspect to do with Christianity. He believes in God and likes to always feel good, regardless of anything else! When he goes to a Church worship or prayer service, usually twice on Sunday, it's for a good entertaining time! He has no time for doctrine and thinks sermons and teaching in Church are utterly mundane and pointless, and sees no point in acting out his faith, coz they don't make him feel good. As you can probably tell, Freddie's prime reason to live is to feel good. The way to holiness for him is by going to as many religious events as he can, and feeling good because of it. Freddie is holy in the eyes of the world!Amber Al-laction
And there is Amber. Amber Al-laction by name and AllAction by nature!! She runs around like the proverbial headless chicken, doing good to everyone and everything! Amb believes God exists but thinks the commitment part of Christianity is all a bit too much. Involved in such diverse groups from Greenpeace to the local homeless shelters, she has no time for Church or doctrine. She wants to change the world! Amber's prime reason to live is to do good and be active. The path to holiness for her is being involved in doing good deeds. The society she lives in think she is a holy person because of it!Tommy Topheavy
And you have to meet Tom! Tommy Toph-eavy is also holy in his society but for different reasons! He has so much knowledge about God in his head; it's amazing his head doesn't explode! He can quote Augustine, Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Jurgen Moltmann and John Stott verbatim, complete with page reference and book title! His passion is for doctrine and doctrine alone, and this helped him to a First at Oxford University. He isn't concerned with living out his faith; he is only concerned with reading more about God! Tommy's prime reason to live is the accumulation of knowledge! He believes the path to holiness is by gaining as much head knowledge as he can possible store!Chloe Christlike
Chloe is foolish in the eyes of the world because she has a firm faith, prays daily and reads the Bible fervently. She is involved in the Church, attending prayer meetings and homeless tea-runs. She goes to her local Bible college for evening classes to learn more about the God she wants to serve. She is getting head knowledge but wants to apply it to her life so it goes from head to heart! Her prime reason to live is Christ and to be Jesus to other people. Believes that the path to holiness is to be as much like Jesus as she can, growing more and more like Him constantly. Knowing that she is doing this, makes her feel good, as she can see herself living out her faith in Jesus, who is her joy!What about you?
Every church has people like these four characters. Which one of these are you like: Freddie, Amber, Tommy or Chloe? Which do you think is the committed disciple from what we have learnt together in this series Glimpses? For more to read and think about, please read Matthew 25:31-46.Jesus speaking about the kingdom of God and the judgment to come (remember we talked about this in depth in Part 30 of Glimpses!
31 "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.' 37 "Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 "And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' 41 "Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry, and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn't give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn't give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me.' 44 "Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?' 45 "And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.' 46 "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life."Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Monday May 09, 2011
Monday May 09, 2011
Rachel
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Today we have a special guest! Her name is Rachel. She lives in London with her husband and cats! She is sharing with us why she is thankful to God and how He leads her daily life. If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Sunday May 08, 2011
Sunday May 08, 2011
Yinka
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Today we have a special guest! His name is Yinka. He is originally from Nigeria but now lives and works in that great city of London! He will be sharing with us why he is thankful to God and how Jesus has helped him in his daily life. If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.Right mouse click here to download as a MP3 audio file
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Saturday May 07, 2011
Saturday May 07, 2011
Jenny from Taiwan
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G’day and welcome to Partake Glimpses Stories! Today I have a special guest from Taiwan giving a glimpse of how she started her Christian walk. She will be speaking in Chinese, so please do let other Chinese speakers know about her testimony. Thank you and over to you, Jenny.
If you have found this helpful, please do leave a comment! Thank you.
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