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Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
New Testament
Book of John
Summarised in 1 Minute
Key Verses
John 1:11-12 - He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: John 20:30-31 - Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Summary
John presents the person and work of Jesus Christ so that mankind would believe in Him as the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world. His argument portrays Jesus as the God-Man. John records miracles and messages that affirm both Jesus' deity and humanity. John builds his record around Jesus' public ministry, private ministry, the cross, and the resurrection.
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Thursday Nov 28, 2024
Thursday Nov 28, 2024
New Testament
Book of Luke
Summarised in 1 Minute
Key Verses
Luke 1:3-4 - it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed. Luke 19:10 - For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
Summary
Luke presents Jesus as the God-Man, a saviour for the entire world, writing primarily to Gentiles. He does this from a broad vantage point that is compatible with the fact that he is a Greek. Luke traces Jesus' incarnation, introduction, public ministry, rejection, subsequent teaching in view of His rejection, the cross, resurrection and ascension. Even though a Gentile, Luke emphasizes the kingdom program, with Israel's place in the kingdom.
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Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
New Testament
Book of Mark
Summarised in 1 Minute
Key Verses
Mark 8:34 He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, "Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 10:45 - For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Summary
Matthew wrote primarily to Jews who knew the Old Testament. He wrote to present Mark presents Jesus as Servant of the Lord, coming in fulfilment of the Old Testament. Jesus offers His credentials, gathers His disciples, while offering the Kingdom of God and its message. Jesus' teaching is seen in short parables, which hide the truth from those hardened against Him, yet prepares and instructs those responsive to Him. Overall Jesus calls those who follow him to serve others and to deny themselves by taking up their own cross, just as He took up His.
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Tuesday Nov 26, 2024
Tuesday Nov 26, 2024
New Testament
Book of Matthew
Summarised in 1 Minute
Key Verses
Matthew 16:15-16 - He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matthew 28:18 - Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."
Summary
Matthew wrote primarily to Jews who knew the Old Testament. He wrote to present Jesus as the Messiah to Israel and to record the Israel's attitude towards Him as Messiah. Matthew gives us the genealogy, presentation, and the authentification of Jesus as the Christ Messiah. Matthew then shows the nation of Israel's opposition to and rejection of Jesus as the Christ followed by Jesus' rejection of Israel due to her unbelief. He then records the death and resurrection of Christ. He concludes with Christ commissioning the disciples.
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Monday Nov 25, 2024
Monday Nov 25, 2024
WOW - JOY!
Joy is Jesus Over Yourself! Joy results from being in relationship with Jesus! Joy is not a mere emotion! Joy stems from seeking to obey God in all things and through all facets of human experience! Joy is through sacrificial love, through testimony and through praise!
As Christians we are members of God's Joy orchestra! It is our joy and to our glory to give God glory in all things. We turn in joy and admiration to a God who one day will cause all the earth to fear and tremble before Him. Go share your joy with others!
Joy can be stillness within! Joy can be bubbling effervescently from out of you! Go with joy even in the midst of troubles, pain and suffering.
True joy was exhibited by Jesus, for as it is written "Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God," (Hebrews 12:2)
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Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Sunday Nov 24, 2024
WOW Word - Living Water
In the book of Leviticus, God commanded that the cleansing of a defiled house required sprinkling with a mixture of blood and ‘living’ water, the bird having been slain over the water (Leviticus 14:51). Elsewhere we read of the ‘water of cleansing’ (Numbers 19), which is also called ‘living water’.
This was water that had been sprinkled with the ashes of a young cow, and was kept aside for purification by sprinkling those who had touched a dead body. In both cases, this water had been cleansed by the shedding of blood and sacrifice. The cleansing was to be through the blood of sacrifice, applied through the sprinkled water. For there is no cleansing without the shedding of blood.
Let us look to Jesus in his earthly ministry! What did Jesus say about being living water? Speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10
Elsewhere in John 7:37-39 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Now moving forward to seeing Jesus as He is and will be - Revelation 7:17 - For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Download the audio and discover more about this weeks WOW Word: Living Water!
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Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Saturday Nov 23, 2024
WOW Word - Spiritual Armour
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20 NIV)
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To help His people resist satan and to fight spiritual warfare, God has designed spiritual armour for Christians to wear during our constant battle with temptation, sin & also with the evil one. That’s what the Apostle Paul is talking about here in Ephesians 6! This armour is what God wears according to Isaiah 59:17, when He goes out to battle! The hallmarks of this Armour are: Truth, Righteousness, Gospel, Faith, Salvation, the Scriptures and Prayer.
To discover more about the Spiritual Armour, download the mp3 using the links below.
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Friday Nov 22, 2024
Friday Nov 22, 2024
WOW Word - Salvation
Salvation! What is it?
Salvation means a rescue or having been saved! As humans, from the time we are born, we inherit a sinful nature and are alienated from God. But God has seen fit to offer a way back into relationship with Him, so that we may no longer be alienated from Him! This offer of relationship is a result of Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man, dying on the cross.
Who decides who is saved?
The question “Who decides the saved?” has been asked for centuries!! There are two extremist views – one view says, “God has decided who is saved and nothing can be done about it.” The other view says that God will grant salvation to all.
But we need to see these two views 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 15v16). These chosen ones are called the elect. However, it is also His will that all people should be saved (1 Timothy 2v3-4) and that nobody should perish (2 Peter 3v9).
So in reading those two statements, we must 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 consider 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.
Saved from and saved to?
As a Christian you are now saved from everlasting alienation from Him, for that’s what Hell is. As a Christian you are saved to an everlasting relationship with Him, for that’s what Heaven is. Salvation is for all people of all time and of every nation. As a Christian, you have accepted the offer.
Salvation! What do you do with it?
Now you are to do what Paul suggests in Philippians 2v12-13: “Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” So now you live to please God alone and not your self.
Go this week and tell somebody this Good News of salvation that God offers, and continue to show the transforming power of God in your life. For as one of the early church fathers Irenaeus said: “To follow Jesus is to participate in salvation.”
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Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Thursday Nov 21, 2024
WOW Word - Your Cross
Jesus speaking “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:23-26 )
What is our response to this to be? As followers of Jesus Christ we are commanded to count the cost of following Him. That is how we carry our own cross for the sake of Jesus Christ. Jesus wants to be number one in the life of all those who choose to follow him! Jesus wants supremacy over everything in our lives, including family, friends, and possessions! Alas, that’s a cost too high for some!
Here is one man who couldn’t give up something to follow Jesus! Let’s call him Basil. Basil runs up to Jesus and wants eternal life, wants it now and asks Jesus about how to get it. He has fully kept the commandments listed by Jesus. However!
However when Jesus said to Basil that in order to follow Him, he would have to give up all his wealth and possessions in order to have treasure in heaven and eternal life, Basil leaves disconsolate and shattered. The life of Basil, this rich young ruler, reflected a life of absorption with his own self-interest and self-importance!. It was a step too far for Basil. He wanted his riches and also everlasting life, but Jesus said he couldn’t have both. He remains the only person that we know of, who left Jesus’ presence sorrowful. That was due to Basil putting his trust in himself, his riches and wealth alone. Now riches, in and of themselves, are not necessarily wrong! But for Basil, well, he was not willing to make the sacrifice required to follow Jesus. He couldn’t count the cost of following Jesus– it was too high a price for him to pay!
What have you given up in and as a result of your decision to follow Jesus? Making sacrifices to follow Jesus is all part of the WOW factor of Jesus. Jesus demands that He is number one and supreme over everything else in your life - yourself, family, others and material goods including money and possessions. How is this done? This is done by consistently ensuring that your works and words match your lifestyle and that no hypocrisy can be found, or indeed will be found. It means standing up for God in the face of adversity. It means loving others even though they hate you.
Just a couple of examples. In the UK, we aren’t systematically persecuted. We are marginalized, ridiculed and ignored but some of our Christian family around the world who daily face death simply because they chose to follow Jesus. They are carrying their cross for Jesus! What about us in the UK? For example: if we as Christians were known by our self-sacrificial love of all others, then Jesus whom we claim to love, follow, worship, and adore would be seen.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote "When Jesus Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. ... Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Jesus Christ, nor is it hero worship, but intimacy with Christ." (The Cost of Discipleship). Bonnhoeffer knew that as a Christian, a person has to take up their own cross in following Jesus and count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Finally, let’s look at 1 John 3:16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for others.” Jesus told us to take up our own cross if we are to follow Him as His Disciple. How is that possible? If we try to do that in our own strength and wisdom, we will fail. If we do that using the power and strength of the Holy Spirit within you, then you will succeed at following Jesus’ command. Are you as a Disciple of Jesus Christ willing to take up your cross? What a difference that would make to the community where you live!
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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