Episodes
Thursday Jan 02, 2025
WOW Jesus - Partakers Bible Thought
Thursday Jan 02, 2025
Thursday Jan 02, 2025
The WOW factor of Jesus
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16v24-26)
The Jesus I hear about today from some people outside the church, as well as inside the Church, bears no resemblance to the Jesus who said those words. They are comfortable with a Jesus who is at their mercy and who doesn't ask too much of them! They like putting Jesus in a box and only opening the box to let Him out when required! That Jesus is an insipid, nodding head, Jesus - worthy only of being on the back shelf of a car and that's about all.
But that is exactly the opposite of the Jesus who said those words from Matthew - the Jesus who commands obedience and sacrifice! As I look through the Old Testament, I read about how the world fell out of a living, dynamic relationship with God! But I also read how a Messiah, a saviour or rescuer if you like, was to be sent by God, in order to restore the world back into an intimate, living relationship with God Himself! I read the Gospels in the New Testament and I see this Messiah as the God-man, Jesus Christ.
As I read the rest of the Bible's New Testament and the history of the followers of Jesus Christ and the spread of his followers, the church, through its birth and early life, I get a WOW factor about Him. But for a lot of people today, including those who would call themselves a Christian, their view or vision of Jesus is still too small. So I wonder, is your Jesus too small?
Come and listen to hear more about the WOW Factor of Jesus Christ! Investigating who He is, why He is trustworthy and why I and many other people follow Him! Jesus Christ is calling you to follow Him, and follow only Him! Have you started following Him yet? If you are following Jesus already, is your vision of Jesus too small?
Right mouse click or tap here to download as a MP3 audio file
Thursday Dec 26, 2024
God Loves You And Me
Thursday Dec 26, 2024
Thursday Dec 26, 2024
God Loves You
God loves you. Let me say that again. God loves you. Isn’t that amazing? God loves you. It doesn’t matter what you have done, what you haven’t done – God loves you. God loves you irrespective of your gender, your sexuality, your marital status or none, your age, your culture, your background, who ever you are, what ever you have done. It remains a fact. God loves you. He is beckoning you to love Him in return. He wants you to be in relationship with Him. Nothing you can do will make Him love you more than He already does. Perhaps the most famous sentence in the whole world is this:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave is one and only Son, so that who ever believed in Him would have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
You can choose to have that life right now and accept God’s love for you. God won’t force you to love Him in return, because if He forced you, that wouldn’t be love. God’s love is compelling but it is not coercion. Once you accept His love and enter into a loving relationship with Him, be prepared to be transformed into a much better person. I look back over the 40 years since I started my relationship with Him, and I am so glad I am transformed from that time and that in the future I will be transformed even more. I can’t promise in what areas He will want to transform you, but He is reliable and will help you. He will come and live inside you. God loves you. I can’t promise their won’t be hard times for you, but God will be with you through what ever it is you go through – each second of each minute of each hour of each day. God is seeking you out to return His love. Will you not do that now before it is too late?
Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file
Monday Dec 23, 2024
Testimony - Why I am a Christian
Monday Dec 23, 2024
Monday Dec 23, 2024
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).
Right mouse click to save/download this testimony as a MP3 file
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Psalm On Demand - Psalm 149
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
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!
Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Christmas Thought - Hymn and Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian
Monday Dec 09, 2024
Monday Dec 09, 2024
A Christmas Prayer of Ephraim
The feast day of your birth resembles You, Lord
Because it brings joy to all humanity.
Old people and infants alike enjoy your day.
Your day is celebrated
from generation to generation.
Kings and emperors may pass away,
And the festivals to commemorate them soon lapse.
But your festival will be remembered until the end of time.
Your day is a means and a pledge of peace.
At Your birth heaven and earth were reconciled,
Since you came from heaven to earth on that day
You forgave our sins and wiped away our guilt.
You gave us so many gifts on the day of your birth:
A treasure chest of spiritual medicines for the sick;
Spiritual light for the blind;
The cup of salvation for the thirsty;
The bread of life for the hungry.
In the winter when trees are bare,
You give us the most succulent spiritual fruit.
In the frost when the earth is barren,
You bring new hope to our souls.
In December when seeds are hidden in the soil,
The staff of life springs forth from the virgin womb
A Christmas Navity hymn & prayer of Ephraim the Syrian (AD 306-373)
Right Mouse click or Tap here to save this as a mp3 file!
Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Sermon - Understanding the Kingdom - John 3
Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Sermon - Understanding the Kingdom (John 3:1-21)
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
(John 3:1-21) New Living Translation
To discover what more is said, please do right mouse click or tap here to download the audio.
Our books are now available on Amazon and Pulp Theology Books
Introduction
I wonder what you think the Kingdom of God is. In the Old Testament we learn of all kinds of different earthly kingdoms. Each one of these kingdoms were doomed to fail from the start, because of the promised commencement of a new and everlasting kingdom. Perhaps by having a brief overview of what Jesus in the Gospels said about the Kingdom will help us understand more about it before we focus on just a couple of aspects. From what Jesus said, we learn that:
- The kingdom had small beginnings.
- It advances slowly and unspectacularly.
- It works in an unseen way, like yeast in dough.
- It grows side by side with evil and error.
- The members are drawn from every part, for it is a universal part.
- When discovered, it is the source of true joy and fulfilment.
- It requires sacrifice, submission and surrender.
- It ends in an eternal separation of the good from the evil, of the true from the false.
- It centres only on Jesus Christ (Luke 9:28-36).
So having seen these descriptions, mainly from Matthew 13, we can now go on to a main definition of the kingdom. We find this ultimate definition in Romans 14:17 'For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.'
This is the experience of salvation. Every believer, all those who trust in Jesus Christ, has entered it and been accepted by Jesus when He died on the cross. So, having described it and then defined it, the next question we ask is how do we enter the Kingdom of God. Well, after such a long introduction, we are going to look at this aspect of the God's Kingdom based on our reading of John 3:1-18. So, if you haven't done so already please do have your bibles open at that passage - John 3:1-18.
1. Birth (vs. 1-7)a. Pain - Human birth involves pain, both for the parents and for the baby. So does spiritual birth. At Easter we are reminded this of the pain Jesus endured on the cross so that we might become members of the Kingdom of God. Believers in their Christian life should endure the pain of persecution, suffering, and prayer and witness as we seek to win new people to Christ.
b. Nature - Children inherit the nature of the parents, and so do the people in the Kingdom of God. We take on the divine nature (2 Peter 1 :4). As believers we should naturally have an appetite for the things of God (2 Peter 2:2-3). As believers we should have no desire to go away from the Kingdom of God (2 Peter 2:20-22). As believers we are to feed on the Word of God and grow in spiritual maturity (Hebrews 5: 11-14).
c. Life - Human birth, involves life and spiritual birth into God's kingdom involves the life of God. John uses the word 'life' about 36 times in his gospel. The opposite of life is death, and anybody not in the Kingdom of God, do not and cannot have God's eternal life in His kingdom.
d. Future - Human birth involves a future, and we are born again to a living hope, both in the present and the future (1 Peter 1:3). Police cannot arrest a newborn baby because it has no past, and the future is in front of that baby. When born again into the Kingdom of God, sins are forgiven and forgotten, and the future is bright with a living hope in the Kingdom of God.
2. The wind (vs. 8-13).
It is possible that the evening wind was blowing just then as Nicodemus and Jesus sat the housetop talking. The 'wind' in the Bible, signifies the Spirit. When Jesus used this symbol, Nicodemus should have remembered Ezekiel 37:1-14. The prophet Ezekiel saw a valley full of dead bones; but when he prophesied to the wind, the Spirit came and gave the bones' life.
Again, it was the combination of the Spirit of God and the Word of God that gave life. The nation of Israel was dead and hopeless, and in spite of the morality and religion of the people, they needed the life of the Spirit. The new birth from above is necessary to enter the Kingdom of God, but it is also a mystery. Everyone born of the Spirit is like the wind: it is impossible to explain or predict the ways of the wind or the Spirit of God.Nicodemus came "by night' and he was still in the dark! He simply could not understand the concept of new birth even after Jesus had explained it to him. Jesus insisted that Nicodemus' Old Testament knowledge should have given him the light he required (John 3:10). Yet, he still could not see how to enter the Kingdom of God.
What was his problem? Religious leaders would not submit to Jesus' authority and witness (John 3: 11). The religious leaders continued to believe Moses, yet would not believe Jesus (John 5:35-47). "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?"
3. The snake on the pole (vs. 14-18).
This story from Numbers was certainly familiar to Nicodemus. It is a story of sin, for Israel rebelled against God and had to be punished. God sent fiery snakes that bit the people, so that many died. Yet it is also a story of grace, for Moses intercede for the people and God provided a remedy. He told Moses to make a brass snake and lift it up on a pole for all to see. Any sick and dying person could look to the brass snake on the pole and be immediately healed. So, it is also a story of faith, punishment, salvation and faith. The phrase lifted up means to be crucified (John 8:28; 12:13-24) and also be glorified and exalted. John points out that our Lord's crucifixion was actually the means for Him to be glorified (John 12:23). However the cross was not the end of His glory, it was the way He achieved His glory (Acts 2:33).
Much as the snake on the pole had to be lifted up, so the Son of God, Jesus had to be lifted on the cross. This happened to save all people from sin and death. In the camp of Israel, the solution to the "snake problem" was not in killing the snakes, or taking medicine against the poison, or pretending the snakes were not there, or passing anti-snake laws or by climbing the pole. The answer was to look in faith at the lifted snake. Now, the whole world has been bitten by sin (Romans 6:23). God sent His son to die, not only for Israel, but also for the whole world. The Kingdom of God is not just for Israel, or England or even the United States of America. How does a person enter the Kingdom of God? By being born again from above, which means believing on Jesus and looking to Him in faith.
Each of us that are believers have therefore entered into the Kingdom of God and are spiritually living. The difference between living spiritually and being dead spiritually is faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus could well have come to this world as a Judge and destroyed every rebellious sinner; but He came in love. Jesus came into the world as our Saviour, to guide us into the Kingdom of God, and He died on the cross, Jesus became the "uplifted snake".
The brass snake in Moses' day brought physical life to dying Jews; but Jesus gives eternal life to all who asks and trusts in Him. He brings the Kingdom of God for a whole world, Nicodemus eventually entered the Kingdom of God, when he spoke up for Jesus in John 7 and came into a "sunlight of confession" when he identified with Jesus at Calvary bringing the spice to prepare the body for burial (John 19:38-42). He realized that the uplifted Jesus on the cross, was the path into the world-wide Kingdom of God
Conclusion
Therefore lets go over tonight's lessons from the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus. The definition of the kingdom of God is exposed from Romans 14:17 which we also see as the experience of salvation. "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The path into the kingdom of God, was defined in the 3 distinct pictures Jesus told to Nicodemus. Firstly in the picture of new birth from above, secondly in the picture of the blowing wind or spirit and thirdly in the Old Testament picture of the snake on the pole.
As we finish, what are we to say. For those of us who are in the kingdom of God: are you growing in your faith and immersing more of yourself into the Kingdom of God. Is your story or testimony of what Jesus is doing in your life up to date, or are you living on past memories, last Easters' prayers and past Sundays' sermons. The testimony of how we are living in the Kingdom of God is vital for our witness in the Kingdom of God. Jesus commanded us to go and tell, so go and tell the wondrous news of an eternal kingdom - one which will never end! God has promised and He always fulfils His promises.
Now finally, what stops people from entering into the Kingdom of God? People want to continue to do things against God, and this keeps them from coming out of darkness into the light of the Kingdom of God. This is because the closer someone who loves darkness gets closer to light, the more their evil ways are exposed to the light of God. It is not any intellectual problems that keep people out of the Kingdom. It is a moral and spiritual problem. It would involve a change of lifestyle, of being 'born again' as it was.
What is your reason, for not being yet a believer and follower of Jesus Christ? If for some reason, you are not part of God's kingdom yet, then your opportunity is here. You may not get another chance. You might just walk on out of here tonight, not having entered into the eternal Kingdom of God, and die. It really could be that shocking and happen. Take your opportunity now. Please do come and see one of the leaders about how you can enter the Kingdom of God this very night!
To discover what more is said, please do right mouse click or tap here to download the audio.
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
Red Wednesday - Prayers for the Global Persecuted Church
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
Partakers Prayers
Persecuted Church Worldwide
According to Open Doors UK, over 360 million Christians—1 in 7 believers—face severe persecution worldwide. In the past year alone, 5,621 Christians were killed for their faith, 2,110 churches attacked, and 140,000 displaced. Yet, countless believers continue to worship in secret, holding firm to their faith in Jesus despite immense risk. We stand in solidarity with our persecuted brothers and sisters, honouring their courage and remembering those who have lost their lives. Wednesday 20th November is Red Wednesday - a day to give voice to the plight of groups and individuals who are victimised for their faith in Jesus.
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!
Amen
God of all comfort, for those who are tortured both in body and mind, give them the grace to endure and to see their suffering as part of following in Christ’s footsteps. Merciful God, for those asked to pay the ultimate price; who are martyred because of their love for you, may they truly know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
Amen
Father God, for those who are widowed and orphaned may they know the comfort that comes from your promised presence even when they walk through the valley. May they be strengthened by your Spirit, enabling them to rejoice with the psalmist as they proclaim that the LORD will not abandon them in death.
Amen
Heavenly Father, we ask that you would make us ever mindful of our brothers and sisters around the world who need us to stand with them as they suffer in your name. Teach us what it means to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony; we pray that we would not love our lives so much as to shrink from death.
We ask these things O Father, through the name of Your Son, Jesus
Amen
Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Story - Jenny from Taiwan
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Story
People meeting Jesus
The story of Jenny from Taiwan...
We continue apace into the twentieth century and hear the story of a friend of mine. Her name is Jenny and she is from Taiwan. Let's look together at how and why she started her Christian journey and the relevancy of Jesus Christ to her life! Come and listen to her story of faith...
You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site!
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
Bible Thought - WOW Word - Giving
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
Saturday Nov 09, 2024
Giving!
Every person has in differing quantities time, possessions and money. These things in and of themselves are not evil. The whole Christian community is one that is to reflect the Holy Trinity. The Church is to be a community where the strongest members support the weakest members. This applies not only to the local church, but also to the universal Church and therefore has a national and international context as well. Too often, even as Christian Disciples we are found turning a blind eye to the suffering of others where the bare necessities of life are in sparse existence. Too often we gather possessions and people, instead of giving up our time and money generously to help the poor and needy of both our world and local communities.
Financial giving is important and necessary - its a sign of your commitment to Jesus Christ.. Paul writing to the Corinthians commands that giving be done whole-heartedly and cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). For the Christian Disciple, it is not so much how much is given, but how much is left after giving. God looks beyond the amount that is given to the motive behind the giving.
All our money and possessions belong to God anyway, so giving is to be in response to this. Giving is to be done out of love for God. Paul offers a three-point system for giving: regularly, methodically and proportionately (1 Corinthians 16:2). Failure to give back to God's work what He has given the Christian Disciple in the first place, robs God (Malachi 3:8).
The reason it robs is because the giving cannot be used to support those who are working for God. As a result of giving, the Christian Disciple will be blessed (Malachi 3:10) and have their needs satisfied (Philippians 4:19). Remember in the Old Testament, Widows were important to God, because justice is important to God. God is a God of justice and mercy. In the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, God commanded provision for those who were widows, oppressed or uncared for.
The Apostles would have known about God caring for the widows and in Jesus teaching about justice for the poor and the oppressed. We know this because if you remember from Acts 2 and 4, people were selling and sharing possessions and ensuring that people within the Christian community were being looked after and cared for. This included making sure that everyone got fed, particularly those who had no family to care for them. And its not just for those in the church - but all in the community where you live. The New Testament church made sure that giving was done and that the poor, the oppressed, the lonely and the widows were taken care of. People working fulltime for the Lord were given recompense by others for their efforts. People gave.
Paul places giving as a spiritual gift (Romans 12:6-8). I wonder how many people have asked for that gift? Perhaps its the least asked for gift, after all its not one of the supposedly spectacular ones! How is your giving? How does your church give and care for those in need, in your community? The get out clause as it were these days, is that it would not be good stewardship to give to that person or that cause. After all, they say, “Didnt Jesus say Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you!'" (Matthew 7:6). Of course when they say that they are totally missing both the point and context of what Jesus actually meant. God gave everything so that you and I may life and life in abundance. So by giving, you are reflecting that. This very day, start giving generously, just as God gave and gives generously, and gave His Son as a ransom for sin.
Right mouse click or tap here to save this Podcast as a MP3.
Sunday Nov 03, 2024
Bible Thought - WOW Word - Evangelism
Sunday Nov 03, 2024
Sunday Nov 03, 2024
WOW Word - What is Evangelismddddddddd~
All Christian Disciples are called to do the work of evangelism. Not everyone is called explicitly to be an evangelist, such as Billy Graham. However. All Christian Disciples and Disciples are called to tell and show others about Jesus Christ and the good news which He alone can offer. That is evangelism. I know it is a word that scares a lot of people who call themselves a Christian. But what can we learn and overcome to do this basic of the Christian faith? Download the mp3 using the link below to learn more.~