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
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
7. The Bible Helps You To Get To Know God Better
One of the very key teachings from the Bible is that God is love and that he can be known personally. That is why we know that he has spoken to humanity through his two WOW Words – Jesus Christ and the Bible. People are not naturally born possessing this knowledge, even though they know that God exists. That knowledge is not the same as knowing God personally. In the same way that I know about Queen Elizabeth II, I don’t know her personally. That is the same state that some people are in with regards to God.
Personal knowledge of God is ultimately crucial however, since knowing God personally and developing that relationship is what being a Christian is all about. As a Christian believer, you should be rejoicing that God earnestly desires you to gain this knowledge of Him, and to know him more and more. For this reason, He has spoken to you through his written Word, the Bible, revealing Himself and disclosing how you may know him.
While God can be known, your own knowledge of God, both now and in the future, will only ever partial. You will never know everything there is to be known about God. Knowledge of Him is both wonderful and endless. As you grow spiritually, knowing the Bible and thus knowing God more, you will grow in spiritual maturity. Why do you need to grow in maturity and knowledge?
The Apostle Peter commands that you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). You do this as part of your spiritual journey. Your aim is to become more like Jesus Christ. One of the Christian life’s’ greatest delights, is developing an intimate knowledge of God, intimacy with him and exploration of him and his ways.
The gospel, which means ‘good news’ or the news of Jesus you share with other people, is rightly entitled: ”the power of God to salvation” (Romans 1:16). The gospel the Bible brings to us is the agent of the new birth. The gospel is the soap by which God gives the believing sinner a spiritual bath resulting in salvation. The Bible is a teacher that brings wisdom, which leads to salvation.
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Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
6. The Bible Helps Equip You To Serve God
One of the main ways that the Bible helps you, is by equipping you for active service! There are at least four ways, in which the Bible does this in your Christian life!
Firstly, the Bible also equips you for doing battle with Satan and resisting temptation. Paul likened this believers’ spiritual armour to that used by Roman foot soldiers (Ephesians 6:11-17). In Paul’s pen-picture here, the Bible is compared to a soldier’s sword. A sword is not only used to defend, but also used to attack. Jesus defended Himself from satan’s attack by using Scripture to show the devil how wrong he was (Matthew 4:3-4).
Secondly, is that the Bible equips, and is useful for, evangelism and pointing others to Jesus Christ. In Acts 8 we read that the Ethiopian was puzzled by Isaiah 53. It was in explaining about that, that Philip could talk to him about Jesus Christ and bring him to faith. (It is also thought by some that he was responsible for starting the Christian church in Ethiopia which continues to this day).
Thirdly, the Bible equips you as a Christian to use your spiritual gifts. Paul talked often about them and one list is in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. A spiritual gift is an ability given by the Holy Spirit, to you the believer, so that the church is encouraged and God is glorified. Your spiritual maturity derives from building Bible knowledge, which in turn helps you use your talents in the best way possible to serve God and other people.
Finally, the Bible equips you in order that you may give counsel to others seeking help. An example is seen in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where Paul urges Timothy to use Scripture when teaching others.
As you read your Bible regularly, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate it to you! You will start growing in spiritual maturity. As you do, and as you use these methods living the Christian life, you will grow into spiritual maturity.
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Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
5. Keys To Understanding The Bible
You may well be asking a particular question by now. Just how does God the Holy Spirit illuminate the Bible to you. What is it that the Holy Spirit uses to help make the Bible easier to understand?
The answer is prayer. Pray and ask that the Holy Spirit will help you as you read. That is a major part of his role in your life as a believer. He will use the Bible to enlighten and illuminate your mind, heart and will as you seek to be obedient to the Lord.
Remember the Bible is inerrant and infallible. That is, it does not mislead in matters of faith and practice. It does not contain errors or mistakes in its original form. It is the Bible that God intended us to have. God speaks through it so it is totally trustworthy. That statement strictly speaking, only applies to the original manuscripts and languages. Because of that, we are to maintain the Bible as our final authority over all things. We can do this because if any part of the Bible appears to contradict another part, there must be a meaning in the contradiction - even if we find it difficult!
The Bible is a balanced and unified message from a God who does not change. By reading the Bible regularly, you will be see how it holds together. I would recommend reading it daily, perhaps first thing in the morning to help your day start off well. As you read, it is a good practise to always ask yourself questions about the Bible passage you are reading. Use a good set of daily devotional studies! There are many available for you and your own taste. Use a Bible you can read easily. There are many translations available to suit your taste and style of reading.
Finally, expect to be changed when reading the Bible with an obedient heart, mind and will. The Bible is God’s Written Word because it is active, and God will not cease transforming you into the image of Jesus the Living Word.
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Sunday Jun 04, 2023
Sunday Jun 04, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
4. God Speaks By Illumination
God has spoken and he has communicated his Written Word to us. Firstly, by revelation when God spoke to the writers. Secondly, through inspiration as the writers were divinely guided by God, in the process of writing his message. However, to understand God’s revealed and inspired message, illumination is required. This is where God causes the Bible to be understood by both the human heart and the mind.
Why do we need illumination? Without illumination, the reader is blinded both by their own nature and by satan. Just as a light bulb needs power to give light, so the Bible needs somebody to provide the power! The person, who does this illuminating, is God the Holy Spirit. He was promised by Jesus to illuminate the Bible to the hearts and minds of all those people willing to listen, both Christian and non-Christian.
Take for example the event recorded for us in Acts 2. This is where the Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to illuminate sinners at Pentecost, where after hearing Peter preach, over three thousand people became Christians (Acts 2:41).
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ 41 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Acts 2:40-41)
Even as a Christian you need this illumination to help you understand God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will show amazing truths to you as you read the Bible regularly, and ask for his help in understanding it. God’s Living Word Jesus Christ is revealed as the Holy Spirit illuminates the Bible as God’s inspired written word. That way people’s lives are transformed and changed.
So, why not pray for his help whenever you read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate it to you?
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Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
3. God Speaks By Inspiration
The actual word ‘inspiration’ is found only once in the New Testament, when Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16 explicitly states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” or more literally “is God-breathed.” The word ‘inspiration’ is in fact, not a good translation. The original Greek word says that God ‘breathed out’ his Word. Divine inspiration naturally proceeds from divine revelation. We looked at revelation last week.
While through revelation God speaks to humanity, it is by inspiration that God works the pen, ergo ensuring that the message is God breathed and written correctly. This process of inspiration has several theories attached to it. One theory called the content theory, suggests that the author was given the main idea by God, but God allowed the writer to choose his own words.
Another is the natural theory. This is where the Biblical writers were inspired in the same sense Shakespeare was inspired, but that doesn’t agree with the ‘God-breathed’ word.
It is quite apparent that God did not suppress the writers’ personalities. For example, the writing style of John is clearly different from that of Peter or indeed that of Paul. The differences in writing style and in vocabulary of different authors are easily seen.
However, Jesus implied clearly that God chose the very letters of the words when he said that not one stroke of the pen would pass from the law (Matthew 5:17-19). From this we can infer that God inspires all the words of the Bible. God wanted to communicate to ordinary people, therefore he used ordinary people to write and produce the Bible.
In response to temptation by satan, Jesus said that humanity is to live by God-inspired words. (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) Writers in the Bible, such as Peter, knew their writings were being guided by God (1 Peter 1:10–12; 2 Peter 1:19, 20; 3:15, 16).
Inspiration, is only guaranteed in the original manuscripts which were written in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. It is not, however much some people protest, guaranteed in any translation of the Bible.
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Friday Jun 02, 2023
Friday Jun 02, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
2. God Speaks By Revelation
"Then the LORD replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it." (Habakkuk 2:2 New International Version)
Last time we looked at the God who speaks and a reason why we should develop our intimacy with Him. He is a God of love and to hear him speak we need to read and understand the Bible. We continue with that today, by looking at the first of 3 words which describe what we mean when we say that God has spoken. The word for today is “revelation”.
The Bible, as God’s written word, is revelation. Revelation is how God has communicated truths to people, who otherwise would not know them. The story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 is a good example of this. As humanity was not created until the sixth day, it must have been God who revealed the knowledge about what occurred on the first five days to the author of Genesis, or it would not be possible to know what occurred.
We know God spoke to those who wrote the Bible; but how did he speak? Was it in Hebrew? Or Greek? Or some form of angelic language? We do know that God spoke to them in their own language, just as he did to young Samuel in the temple. Samuel at first thought that the voice was that of Eli the priest. (1 Samuel 3:3–9) At other times God spoke through angels, as when the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. (Luke 1:26–38)
In the part of the Bible we call the Old Testament, God often spoke through the “Angel of the Lord”. Some people believe this to have been Jesus before he came to earth as a human (Joshua 5:13–15; 1 Chronicles 21:16). We call those events, a ‘christophany’ – a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus the Son of God.
Another method of communication used by God, is in dreams and visions. An example of this is in the birth story of Jesus Christ, where the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to King Herod. (Matthew 2:12). God has also communicated from a burning bush (Exodus 3) and from within a cloud (Exodus 34). God has even spoken through a donkey, as the prophet Balaam can testify (Numbers 22).
Without revelation, we could not learn about God. Unless God reveals Himself, we would not know anything about him. As Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “He (God) has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
We know for certain that this revelation has caused the Bible, the Written Word of God, to reveal Jesus Christ the Living Word of God. WOW!
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Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Developing Intimacy With God
1. The God Who Speaks
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16
Today we are starting a new series where we will seek to help our relationship with God, to develop our intimacy with Him. We will start with 8 studies about reading and understanding the Bible, where God speaks to us. Then we will go on to prayer, where we speak to God but He also, again, speaks to us.
We start today by looking at the God who speaks and the basis on which we are to develop our relationship with Him through reading the Bible and praying to Him, listening to Him.
Let me know what you think! I won't mind what you say...
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Thursday May 25, 2023
Thursday May 25, 2023
Testimony - Carol
Hear how this lady of faith turned her life around and came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Saviour!
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Sunday May 21, 2023
Sunday May 21, 2023
God of Judgment
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We all have at some point liked to think of God as being all love and never judging. People say “It will be alright in the end, because the love of God conquers all.” Well, remember also, that love involves judging! God is the judge of all the earth, the writer of Hebrews reminds us (Hebrews 12v23)! This judgment has several aspects to it:
Unbiased
God shows no favouritism (Romans 2v11). God is eternally just and righteous. It is a reflection of His mercy, that nobody can claim God is unfair.
Unavoidable
Jesus Christ will judge the whole world with justice (Acts 17v31). People are destined to die once and after that to face judgment (Hebrews 9v27). What is common to all people, is a universal sinfulness (Romans 2v1). What is in the murderer or the thief is in all people, everywhere and of all time. That is sin and it must be judged. Judgement will be before the Great White Throne of Judgment (Revelation 20v11-15).
Universal
Judgement covers both unbelievers and believers:
Judgment of unbelievers - Those who do not profess Jesus, as God, will be judged according to their sinfulness. They are already guilty, because they didn’t take up the offer during their earthly life. These people will be cast into the lake of fire with satan and his angels (Revelation 20v15; Matthew 25v41). This punishment is eternal (Matthew 25v46).
Judgment of Christian Disciples - And that is not all! Those who are believers, Christian disciples, and are actively engaged in a relationship with Jesus Christ, will also be judged! Does that surprise you? While these people have accepted God’s free offer and are declared righteous by faith, they will be judged according to the things they have done with, and in, their faith. Belief and faith is to be supported by good works (Galatians 5v6; James 2v18).
As a Christian Disciple, you will not be judged for sin - this has been judged (Isaiah 53v4-6; 1 Peter 2v24), and you have salvation on that basis! This judgment is not for your salvation but for your crown! As a Christian Disciple, you will be asked to give an account of yourself (Romans 14v10), and you will be judged according to what you have done (2 Corinthians 5v10). The quality of your work will be tested (1 Corinthians 3v11-15) and your motives exposed – either you did things for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 4v4-5) or you did them for your own glory.
As a Christian Disciple, you will give account of the opportunities and abilities entrusted to you (Matthew 25v14-30). Rewards may be gained or lost (1 Corinthians 3v14-15). These rewards are described as an incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9v25); a crown of glory (1 Peter 5v4); crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4v8); crown of rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2v19) and the crown of life (James 1v12)
So, go this day. Go this week! Go tell somebody of the crown waiting for them, if only they are willing to enter into a living and dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ! Remember - do all you do, for God’s glory and not your own!
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Saturday May 20, 2023
Saturday May 20, 2023
A God Of Love
We live in a world that is in love with love. Love, according to some people, is what makes the world go around. Valentines day and the endemic materialism associated with it is evidence of that! There are more songs written about all kinds of love than perhaps any other subject! In the Bible, God’s love is revealed. The Apostle John in 1 John 4 does not simply say that God loves, but rather that God is love. Remember that God is the Holy Trinity, three persons in one. The Trinity is a living, vibrant community of love, and every activity of the Trinity, is an expression of love. God loves because that is His very nature. Throughout the Bible, God’s love is described as an unfailing, everlasting, intimate, sacrificial, unbreakable, conquering, immeasurable and all-knowing. How is God’s love seen? It is seen in two ways.
Firstly, it is shown supremely in that He has given His Son to be the Saviour of the world, so that if a person takes up that opportunity, they can know and enjoy God in a personal relationship. God had only one Son, Jesus Christ, and He sent Him on a rescue mission to seek the lost and to reconcile people to God. This is love in action. The lover dying for the ones He loves.
Secondly, God’s love is shown when Christians love. As a Christian, you are a child of God, so you should want to be like your Heavenly Father, by showing the world your love for others and your transformed character. The Christian Church should be a community of love, for this is how the world sees God
If people see Christians that are not loving and kind, rightly or wrongly, the whole Church is branded as a bunch of fakes and hypocrites. Worse still, God is seen at best as nothing more than a distant uncaring irrelevant figure. The love between Christians is seen as a visible showing of the invisible God. The very character of the church should always be to reflect God in all aspects. The ultimate example of showing people God, is for you as a Christian, to love and be love. People should be seeing God’s love, through your love. For as Jesus said, “All men will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another” (John 13:35).
His love releases us from the things that so easily entangle our daily walk with Him. The more you hold onto His love, the more you will desire it and the more it will be revealed in your daily life. Your love in action today, reflects God’s love in action on the cross. How will you reflect this God of love today, to the world around you? Go and love - to the glory of God! Maranatha!