Partakers Christian Podcasts

Bible Reading - Psalm 19

Psalm 19

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God.

The expanse shows his handiwork.

19:2 Day after day they pour forth speech,

and night after night they display knowledge.

19:3 There is no speech nor language,

where their voice is not heard.

19:4 Their voice has gone out through all the earth,

their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

19:5 which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room,

like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.

19:6 His going forth is from the end of the heavens,

his circuit to its ends;

There is nothing hidden from its heat.

19:7 Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul.

Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.

19:8 Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart.

Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

19:9 The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever.

Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.

19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.

19:11 Moreover by them is your servant warned.

In keeping them there is great reward.

19:12 Who can discern his errors?

Forgive me from hidden errors.

19:13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I will be upright.

I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.

 

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So Great A Salvation Part 7

So Great A Salvation

Part 7 – Faith

Faith is confidence in the faithfulness of God which leads to reliance and trust in God and obedience to Him (Hebrews 11:6). In salvation, faith is a voluntary change of mind and heart in the sinner in which the person turns to God, accepting and relying on His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

FAITH = BELIEF + TRUST + ACTION.

Faith does not operate in a vacuum. It must affect our:

• Mind – by recognition of our need of salvation. Acknowledging Christ’s death on our behalf and our need of forgiveness.
• Emotional (Heart) – by giving personal assent to the gospel - What must I do to be saved? Agree to make salvation a part of life.
• Will – by a conscious turning of our inner affections and motivations to personal trust.

Another way of putting it is that we should:

• Surrender the whole of our life to the Lordship of Christ (John 8:12; Romans 10:9)
• Receive and appropriate Jesus into the life. (John 1:12; Revelation 3:20)
• Accept His death on our behalf, and the forgiveness He offers (1 John 1:7,9).
  
  
  Next in this series, we look at the role of perseverance in the life of the Christian Disciple

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Psalm Bible Thought - Psalm 99

Psalm 99

(as read by Sarah)

99:1 Yahweh reigns!
Let the peoples tremble.
He sits enthroned among the cherubim.
Let the earth be moved.
99:2 Yahweh is great in Zion.
He is high above all the peoples.
99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
He is Holy!

99:4 The King's strength also loves justice.
You do establish equity.
You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.
99:5 Exalt Yahweh our God.
Worship at his footstool. He is Holy!
99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel among those who call on his name;
they called on Yahweh, and he answered them.

99:7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.
They kept his testimonies, the statute that he gave them.
99:8 You answered them, Yahweh our God.
You are a God who forgave them,
although you took vengeance for their doings.
99:9 Exalt Yahweh, our God.
Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy!

 

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So Great A Salvation Part 6

So Great A Salvation

Part 6 – Repentance

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13

This “working hard to show the results of your salvation” involves four things: Repentance, Faith, Perseverance and Discipline.

Repentance is a voluntary change in mind, in which the person turns from a life of sin to living a life of righteousness. This is done in three spheres:

• Mind (Intellect) - recognition of personal sinfulness and guilt before God (Psalm 51:3; Romans 3:20)
• Emotional (Heart) - genuine sorrow for sin - Godly sorrow... leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)
• Will - decision to turn from sin, self-pleasing and self-centredness to God.

The importance of repentance was central to the teaching of:

• Jesus (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15);
• John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2)
• Apostles (Acts 2:38; 20:21).
  
  

Repentance was commanded by God (Acts 17:30). It was God’s will that all people should repent (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4)
In the next podcast, we look at the role of faith in the life of the Christian Disciple

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Bible Reading - Psalm 131

Psalm 131

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

 

Lord, my heart is not proud;

my eyes are not haughty.

 

I don't concern myself with matters too great

or too awesome for me to grasp.

Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,

like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk.

Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord

- now and always.

 

 

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So Great A Salvation Part 5

So Great A Salvation

 Part 5 – The Who, What, Why of Salvation

“9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
Romans 10:9-10 New Living Translation

Who decides who is saved has been a question asked for centuries!! There are two extremist views in regard to salvation – there is “hyper-Calvinism” that says God has decided all things and there is nothing we can do about it. Then there is the opposite end, “universalism”, which says that God will grant salvation to all, regardless of creed, race or religion.

However, there is a third way. But we need to see these two “isms” in the balance of Scripture. Firstly, God does choose individuals to fulfil His purposes (Romans 9) and He chooses those who are, or will be, saved (John 15:16). These chosen ones are called the elect. However, it is also His will that all people should be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4) and that nobody should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

So in reading those two statements, it is imperative that we accept both these Scriptural statements as equally and absolutely true. When we use words about God with a time element such as 'chose', 'elect', we need to use these considering God's infinite time framework (timelessness), and not in our human finite time framework. So God offers salvation to all, and leaves the responsibility to take up the offer with humans.

Very often Christians will realise that although they thought at the time, they were making their own free decision to follow Christ, looking back they can see how God led them to that point. We choose; he elects. That is a puzzle we will never understand the answer to but that is the way that it is.

As a Christian Disciple you have taken up God’s offer of salvation! But now what? What happens after the decision to become a Christian has been made? The answer to that, in the next podcast!

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Bible Reading - Psalm 149

Psalm 149

Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.

O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.

O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King.

 

Praise his name with dancing,

accompanied by tambourine and harp.

For the Lord delights in his people;

he crowns the humble with victory.

 

Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.

Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.

Let the praises of God be in their mouths,

and a sharp sword in their hands -

to execute vengeance on the nations

and punishment on the peoples,

to bind their kings with shackles

and their leaders with iron chains,

to execute the judgment written against them.

This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.

 

Praise the Lord!

 

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So Great A Salvation Part 4

So Great A Salvation

 
Part 4 – The Christian is to Walk In The Spirit

 

Today we are looking at the process by which the Christian is declared clean, righteousified and sanctified. Or you may know it as, walking in the Spirit
The Process by which this is achieved, is by the Christian Disciple devoting him or herself to righteousness (Romans 6:19,22) with a desire and choosing to be holy, submitted and consecrated to God. Christian Disciples are to put off the old nature - crucify the passions and desires (Ephesians 4:22; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:5) and put on the new nature created to be like God (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:12-14).

This is done by a work of God (1 Thessalonians. 5:23, Philippians 2:13) for the Christian is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit from the moment of conversion, and therefore a Christian Disciple is to ‘walk by the Spirit’ and ‘be led by the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:16,18).
This is done by:

• Desiring holiness. Feed the new nature with God’s Word in order to renew our mind.
• Communicating with God. Talk to Him!! By doing this sin will be starved.
• Confessing known sin immediately, consciously allowing Christ total control in all circumstances

Remember the Holy Spirit lives within the Christian Disciple and empowers you and I - we can overcome sin and temptation by relying on His power to overcome rather than relying on your own strength. But we do have to accede control to Him. That of course, can be very difficult to do.

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Bible Reading - Psalm 32

Psalm 32

32:1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
32:2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
32:3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me.
My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

Selah.

32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn't hide my iniquity.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

32:6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you
in a time when you may be found.
Surely when the great waters overflow,
they shall not reach to him.

32:7 You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble.
You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah.

32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.
I will counsel you with my eye on you.

32:9 Don't be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,
who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

32:10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but God's loving kindness shall surrounds the man who trusts in Him.

2:11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

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So Great A Salvation Part 3

So Great A Salvation

 Part 3 - The Christian is Declared Clean

However. There is a problem with the words ‘justified’ and ‘righteous’ in English. They sound so different but translate as two words which are very similar, because they share the same root in Greek. We could replace ‘justified’ with ‘righteousified’, and know what it meant better, if only there was such a word in English!

So we are justified (or ‘’righteousified’) – treated as though we are righteous in the eyes of God (Romans 3:24,26). We receive the gift of righteousness and so will reign in life (Romans 5: 17) and the list of the Christian Disciples sins is nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:13-14).

Sanctification

Then there is sanctification or cleansing of which there are 3 stages.

We have been sanctified and made holy (Hebrews 10:10) by the death of Jesus Christ and we are washed clean (1 Corinthians 6:11). As a result, we are challenged to become increasingly sanctified. (2 Corinthians 7:1). We are also being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) and conformed to His likeness (Romans 8:29-30). We are to be living sacrifices, transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). This holiness is the pursuit of moral excellence, not just obeying the law, and is by necessity a high standard (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) because we have to do with a Holy God. We are sanctified and cleansed and we are to go on being sanctified and cleansed. We will only be fully and completely holy and pure before the Lord when we join him in the new heavens and the new earth (Philippians 3: 20-21)

In principle, we are saints, and God has already declared all Christian Disciples sanctified. We have been set apart - separated from sin, therefore we have been made holy (Hebrews 10:10) and we are washed and sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11). In practice, as growing Christian Disciples, we should be perfecting holiness, being careful to avoid the contamination of sin (2 Corinthians 7:1). Christian Disciples are to work hard at the process of becoming Christ-like (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3: 1-4). That is done by renewing our minds in order to transform our character (Romans 12:1-2). The standard all Christian Disciples are to attain and maintain is as Peter says: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)

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