Partakers Christian Podcasts

Friday Prayers - Augustine

Partakers Friday Prayers!

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!

Let us pray earnestly this prayer together to our great God! 

 

Look upon us, O Lord,

and let all the darkness of our souls

vanish before the beams of Your brightness.

~

Fill us with holy love,

and open to us the treasures of Your wisdom.

~

All our desire is known by You,

therefore perfect what You have begun,

and what the Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.

~

We seek Your face,

turn Your face toward us

and show us Your glory.

~

Then shall our longing be satisfied,

and our peace shall be perfect.

Amen

 

Augustine (354-430AD)

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Bible Thought - WOW Word 26 - Idolatry

WOW Word - Idolatry

Images of Idolatry

I wonder if you are like me and when you hear the word idolatry, you imagine somebody bowing before a statue and worshipping it. A good example is the story of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, as recorded by Moses in Exodus 32. Or perhaps in our own time when seeing people bow down to the statue of the Buddha or one of the many Hindu gods.

Therefore, we tend to think that idolatry is worshipping statues or worshipping in other religions such as Islam, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. However, the Bible is very clear, certainly Jesus was, that idolatry is a threat to living and partaking of the Christian life. How can that be, you may very well ask?

Christian Idolatry

As a Christian, you are to love God and love others. Anything that replaces your love of God as your first priority, is an idol, and therefore, is idolatry. For idolatry is not merely worshipping statues. Idolatry is the transference of allegiance to something apart from God. It is worshipping created things, and not worshipping God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Idolatry can be anything! For anything can take first place in your life! It may be your computer, your car, your books, your family, your church, a Christian leader, entertainment, celebrities and even love of yourself! These are all good things, in and of themselves, but they are not good things if they remove God from first priority in your life. These things can turn out to be idols, because they relegate your thinking of Almighty God to below first place.

Idolatry is the mind’s sin

Paul writes to the Roman church in Romans 1:18-25

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen."

In that passage of scripture, Paul links idolatry with immorality. Immorality is the outer sins and idolatry is the inward sin. Idolatry is an attitude inside you that says to God “You are not first place, this other thing is”. Somebody who commits the sin of idolatry is a slave to that something else, and is not a slave to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, idolatry is not just worshipping in another religion and bowing down to statues. Idolatry is relegating God to second place, in both actions and attitudes. Therefore cast off anything that is blocking your relationship with Almighty God. As idolatry is primarily the sin of the mind, those depraved ideas turn to sins of lusts and idolatrous physical pleasures. Be renewed in your thinking and have a renewed mind, so that you can worship Almighty God through Jesus Christ the Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

How’s that for a WOW Word?

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Sermon - Life in the face of alienation 1 Peter 1

Sermon - 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2:11-12

1 Peter 1:1-2 - Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

1 Peter 2:11-12 - Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Sermon Outline

The verses we have today, 1 Peter 1:1-2 and 1 Peter 2:11-12 may seem an odd combination but they both start respect natural halves of the letter. 1 Peter 1:1-2 is obviously the beginning of the letter and the first section. 1 Peter 2:11-12, structurally speaking, is the beginning of the second section.

Our title for today is “Living in the face of alienation and its cure”.

 

Part 1. God (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Trinity is Love Indivisible

God is made of one indivisible essence or substance, and this is expressed in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Trinity is a Love Relationship

Salvation is a co-ordination within, and by, the Trinity (Hebrews 10:7-17; Ephesians 4:4-6; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6).

• God the Father foreknew!
• God the Spirit sanctifies!
• God the Son sacrifices.
  

 

Part 2. Therefore (1 Peter 2:11-12)!

Peter reminds the sojourners!

• They are God’s dear children – beloved of God!
• They are in exile – maybe physically but certainly spiritually because their permanent home was not in this world.
• They were travelling towards the heavenly city.
• They were to abstain from sinful desires and go to battle spiritually!
• They are to live lives so innocent, clean and good, that their very lives, were to be a living testimony to the God they had their hope in

So What?

If you have not responded to the Father’s call, talk to somebody or leave a comment here! We will get back to you!

If you are already a Christian

• Remember who you are! A person chosen as an object of love by God the Father, sanctified by God the Holy Spirit through the obedient sacrifice of God the Son.
• Remember your permanent home is not on this earth.
• Remember to persevere through all your suffering and persecutions.
• Remember to keep short accounts with God.
• Remember in all aspects of life, as a Christian you are to be seen as different - “counter-cultural”!

 

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Sermon - Thinking to Action 1 Timothy 1

Correct thinking leads to correct action!

1 Timothy 1

Introduction

I am sure that some people here when they heard I was preaching tonight were expecting some obscure passage from the Old Testament or even something from that wonderful book of Leviticus. I know that Chris and Sue Cook were! But no! A change! Did I catch you out? Our passage tonight, wonderfully read for us, is found in the New Testament. The little letter of 1 Timothy, where the aged Paul is reminding and instructing Timothy, his much younger disciple, who is probably about 40 years old now. The whole of the New Testament church is growing and spreading far and wide away from its starting point in Jerusalem. Most scholars agree that this letter was written about 64AD, so it is now about 8 years after Paul's 3 year stay in Ephesus came to an end. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be a first century Christian. The original followers of Jesus, the apostles have either died or will be soon, so who will ensure that good teaching and guidance will be given to me and others around me? Who will ensure that sound doctrine of salvation through Jesus alone by grace alone through faith alone will be preserved? Some of these concerns are met by the apostle Paul in what we call the Pastoral Epistles - 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. Paul is getting on in age now. He is in Macedonia, but his representative, Timothy, was left in Ephesus, and by all accounts was undergoing a particularly torrid time. The church in Ephesus was still made up of small groups of believers and each group had a leader with some experience, knowledge and therefore influence. So you can imagine the turmoil if their understanding of the Gospel would become twisted, contorted and infected with false teachings and myths. The turmoil would act like a virus going from group to group, person to person. The records we have of the early church show that when false teaching had been encountered elsewhere, it had usually come from outsiders to that local church. However, here in Ephesus, the false teachers had come from within the church in Ephesus.  Even some of the house leaders setup by Paul!  Was Paul surprised? Not at all!  Paul had predicted this would occur. We read in Acts 20, written much earlier than this letter, Paul saying "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears." So Paul has delegated his authority to Timothy, his personal representative in Ephesus. Timothy is encouraged to counter with sound doctrine any false teaching, particularly in regards to the Mosaic Law. It seems from this letter, that the leaders were mixing Jewish ideas and pagan myths into Christian thought. We read about those things in v3 and 4. These things were distracting the church from doing God's work and were instead promoting fantasy, controversies and meaningless talk. So Paul writes to Timothy. He had already written his letter to the church in Ephesus - that was a few years ago now. This letter is a personal one.  He didn't write to the church itself again. He did this in order to bolster Timothy's authority and position against those who were spreading false teaching. That's probably why Paul puts forward his credentials at the start. Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus "I, Paul, am an apostle because God has commanded me to be so! Timothy is my ambassador, my man, so wise up, church - you Ephesians! Listen to him and you won't go astray from the truth." Timothy would have shared this letter with the church there.

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 59

Psalm 59

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.

59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.

Set me on high from those who rise up against me.

59:2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity.

Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

59:3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul.

The mighty gather themselves together against me,

 not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.

59:4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.

Rise up, behold, and help me!

59:5 You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel,

rouse yourself to punish the nations.

Show no mercy to the wicked traitors.

Selah

59:6 They return at evening, howling like dogs,

and prowl around the city.

59:7 Behold, they spew with their mouth.

Swords are in their lips, “For,” they say, “who hears us?”

59:8 But you, Yahweh, laugh at them.

You scoff at all the nations.

59:9 Oh, my Strength, I watch for you,

for God is my high tower.

59:10 My God will go before me with his loving kindness.

God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.

59:11 Don’t kill them, or my people may forget.

Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.

59:12 For the sin of their mouth,

and the words of their lips,

let them be caught in their pride,

for the curses and lies which they utter.

59:13 Consume them in wrath.

Consume them, and they will be no more.

Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth.

Selah

 

59:14 At evening let them return.

Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.

59:15 They shall wander up and down for food,

and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.

59:16 But I will sing of your strength.

Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning.

For you have been my high tower,

a refuge in the day of my distress.

59:17 To you, my strength, I will sing praises.

For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

 

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God Gets His Hands Dirty 14

God Gets His Hands Dirty

14. Why is He called Jesus?

 

With all that has been said in this series so far, ask yourself this question in relation to Jesus: “What’s in a name?” I wonder what your name means. Parents usually name their children after the hopes and aspirations they have for that child. For example, the name John means “the gift of God”. I know somebody called Grace, and her nature is that of somebody full of grace. My name of David means “beloved” and when my parents named me, it was meant to symbolize the love they had for me.

But what does the name Jesus mean? When Jesus was born, his very name imbued the reason he was born. The name Jesus as we discovered in an earlier message means “Saviour” or “One who saves or rescues.” The entirety of His birth, life and death was centred on this very role - saving and rescuing all those who would believe, receive and follow Him. We have seen in the testimony of the Apostles John, Peter and Paul how Jesus came to save sinners, to call people to follow, believe and receive Himself! This Jesus who proclaimed He was the only way to God!

Jesus’ conception and birth were extraordinary at every level. So important is our understanding of his birth that, according to the Gospel accounts, no fewer than 4 angels came to give a full picture of the event. Do you think that his parents, Joseph & Mary, ever gazed upon him, and thought “How misnamed He is”! They did not, because they knew the very purpose for which He was born. This Jesus, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the most talked about person in history. Almost everyone has an opinion about Him. Jesus was born to confirm God's promises, to reveal God as a Father, and to be our representative before Him. Jesus gave us an example of how to live a holy life to the full. Jesus was not merely a man who received some special power. Jesus was not some strange creation that was half man and half God, with his human nature somehow absorbed into the divine. He was, as we shall see in the coming studies, much more than those ideas – Jesus was fully God and fully human!

Jesus came to serve all others and not to be served! Jesus came in order to call others to a life of following, receiving and believing in Him! Jesus came to reconcile people back into a peaceful and dynamic relationship with God by means of shedding his blood on the cross! Jesus trusted God to raise Him from the dead – and he did! Jesus – resurrected, ascended, glorified and exalted! Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world. Jesus Christ, who proclaimed “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Jesus is a name, which is especially sweet and precious to believers. It has often done them good. It has given them what money cannot buy - that is, inward peace. It has eased their wearied consciences and given rest to their heavy hearts. The Song of Solomon describes the experience of many, when it says, "Your name is oil poured forth" (Song of Solomon 1:3). Happy is the person who trusts not merely in vague notions of God's mercy and goodness, but in "Jesus." Jesus proclaimed by the Apostle John, Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul as the saviour and rescuer of the world – just as his name Jesus means! I am bound to ask is Jesus your saviour and rescuer? Are you following, believing and receiving Him?

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God Gets His Hands Dirty 13

God Gets His Hands Dirty

13. Jesus’ Kingdom

 

¹ A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
² I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:1-5)

As we saw in Isaiah 61 to 63, God has commenced doing a good thing through the Servant Messiah. At His first coming as a baby, this Servant Messiah ushered in the Year of the Lord’s favour. We live in that period of time now, and it will continue until the Servant Messiah, Jesus Christ, comes again in glory and majesty. He will take those obedient followers to the City of God. For those who reject Him and the free offer of God’s grace, there is the Day of Vengeance. Now in Zechariah 14, we get a different perspective. We get a vision of the Kingdom of God at that tie in the future. So let us take a flight with Zechariah, into the future to see what this Messiah’s Kingdom is like. Where Jerusalem is mentioned, is in fact talking about the New Jerusalem, the City of God!

To discover more, please do listen and/or download the mp3 using the links below.

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God Gets His Hands Dirty 12

God Gets His Hands Dirty

12. Jesus’ Proclaimations

 

1 Who is this coming from Edom,

from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?Edom,

Who is this, robed in splendour,Edom,

striding forward in the greatness of his strength?Edom,

‘It is I, proclaiming victory,Edom, mighty to save.’Edom,

2 Why are your garments red,Edom,

like those of one treading the winepress?Edom,

3 ‘I have trodden the winepress alone;Edom,

from the nations no one was with me.Edom,

I trampled them in my angerEdom,

and trod them down in my wrath;Edom,

their blood spattered my garments,Edom,

and I stained all my clothing.Edom,

4 It was for me the day of vengeance;Edom,

the year for me to redeem had come.Edom,

5 I looked, but there was no one to help,Edom,

I was appalled that no one gave support;Edom,

so my own arm achieved salvation for me,Edom,

and my own wrath sustained me.Edom,

6 I trampled the nations in my anger;Edom,

in my wrath I made them drunkEdom,

and poured their blood on the ground.’Edom,

Isaiah 63:1-6

 

Here the prophet Isaiah gives two contrasting certainties. They can be found in Isaiah 61:2. The two certainties are “the year of Yahweh’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God”. There will be the year of favour and the day of vengeance. The year of honour, as we shall see has already started. We don’t know when it will end, but we know that it will. The day of vengeance will be in the future sometime. Again we don’t know when that will be either. But we know it will all happen quickly, suddenly and without warning (Isaiah 60:22). Therefore people need to be ready and alert! The time of when it will occur is not known, but it is known who will end it – Almighty God.

 

To learn more about this mose amazing passage to do with Jesus Christ, use the links below to download and/or listen to the mp3 file. Thanks

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God Gets His Hands Dirty 11

God Gets His Hands Dirty

11. Jesus' Rejection

 

¹ Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!
² Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
³ Listen to the wail of the shepherds:
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Zechariah 11:1-3

So far, we have seen that the future is glory for the Servant Messiah and all those who choose to follow Him! It is a future of hope, joy, excitement, awe, wonderment and glory. But that is only one side of the future.

In Zechariah 11, we come to another part of the future; the part of the future which is for all those who would reject God’s Servant Messiah.

While Zechariah talks in picture language and symbols, the overall message is startlingly clear: those who reject the Messiah, will in the future be rejected by Him! But we are not given the full details here, but rather are told the why it will happen.

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 136

Psalm 136

 

As Read by Bonnie & Mosephine

136:1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

136:3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:4 To him who alone does great wonders;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:5 To him who by understanding made the heavens;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:6 To him who spread out the earth above the waters;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:7 To him who made the great lights;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:8 The sun to rule by day;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:10 To him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:11 And brought out Israel from among them;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:12 With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:13 To him who divided the Red Sea apart;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:14 And made Israel to pass through its midst;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:16 To him who led his people through the wilderness;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:17 To him who struck great kings;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:18 And killed mighty kings;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:19 Sihon king of the Amorites;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:20 Og king of Bashan;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:21 And gave their land as an inheritance;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:22 Even a heritage to Israel his servant;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

136:24 And has delivered us from our adversaries;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

136:25 Who gives food to every creature;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

136:26 Oh give thanks to the God of heaven;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

 

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