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
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 17: Enthusiastic Zeal
v11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
Paul here commands Christians not to be lazy but to work hard! Is Paul talking about work outside the church or is he referring to work for the church? Quite possibly he means both! Remember those gifts we looked at earlier in the series? How are you doing with them? Are you being lazy and neither developing or using them as you ought? Get up and use them and develop them – work hard at them ensuring your service of God is with great zeal and delight! Perhaps Paul had heard that some of them were just sitting around waiting for Jesus to come back again and were neglecting their care and duty to work - and therefore their families!. So Paul has had to command them to get about their work with due diligence and attitude.We are also to work hard at loving others and particularly loving those other believers that we know – as they are our family because of Jesus Christ! That is the immediate context. We are to work on our Christian lives utilising the power of the Holy Spirit as He changes us into the image of Jesus Christ! Yes that can be hard work too, but don’t give up! It will be worth it! You and I will be held accountable by God for the use and development of the gifts He has given us! Were you aware of that?
I wonder why you do, what you do and when you do it? In everything we do, we are to do it with zeal as we serve our God – regardless of what we do!
I wonder why you do, what you do and when you do it? In everything we do, we are to do it with zeal as we serve our God – regardless of what we do!
We are to do all things as if pleasing to our God. Have you been doing the same job or role for a while now and feeling a bit underwhelmed with it all? Let the Holy Spirit excite you, invigorate and enliven your attitudes and behaviour. Perhaps you are unemployed and looking for work? Do all you can to find a job and ensure that your conscience remains clear! Serve enthusiastically the Lord well in what ever you do – whether for the church or for you and your family! Let the world who is watching you know you are a Christian by the way you do things!
Tap here or Right Mouse click to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App
Saturday Sep 16, 2023
Saturday Sep 16, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 16: Be family!
Romans 12:10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.
Paul we know is writing to all believers in Rome, those who are called by God and loved by God (Romans 1:7). So Paul here commands that the Roman Christians are to love each other with genuine affection. Yes Christians are to love all others, including those who are not believers, but are to love especially other Christian believers. After all they are all Christian! There is only one Saviour for believers, Jesus Christ, and there is only one Holy Spirit living with believers and there is only one God! So be as one family!
Paul instructs these believers to be totally devoted to each other, having the welfare of others on their hearts and minds. For example when one believer is weak, the other believers are to act and strengthen that weak member. They are all to hold onto each other as family through their committed love and faith in Jesus Christ. That genuine family affection and love between them all – without division.
How is this genuine affection for each other seen? It is seen as each believer holds in honour all other believers. Honouring others is where the interest of others comes before self-interest. However, not just honouring but delighting in the other. Where there is family love and honour, there can be no division, arguments or strife! WOW!
Could that describe the group of believers you are attached to with your church or all the believers in your town? Are they a church or group of believers who all hold each other in genuine affection, devotion and honour? Are there believers know to you, that you are not loving with genuine affection and delighting honourably? Part of loving others is to hold them in high esteem – having their interests at heart and not your own. What are you doing for the fellowship of believers you are a part of? Are you jealous of somebody else who is getting more attention than you? Are you taking pride in your own work of ministry but looking down on the work of another believer? If you are, then you are not taking delight in them and honouring them!
Go! Love affectionately all believers – not just those who are your friends or those in your own church, but all believers everywhere and take great delight in honouring them above yourself!
How is this genuine affection for each other seen? It is seen as each believer holds in honour all other believers. Honouring others is where the interest of others comes before self-interest. However, not just honouring but delighting in the other. Where there is family love and honour, there can be no division, arguments or strife! WOW!
Could that describe the group of believers you are attached to with your church or all the believers in your town? Are they a church or group of believers who all hold each other in genuine affection, devotion and honour? Are there believers know to you, that you are not loving with genuine affection and delighting honourably? Part of loving others is to hold them in high esteem – having their interests at heart and not your own. What are you doing for the fellowship of believers you are a part of? Are you jealous of somebody else who is getting more attention than you? Are you taking pride in your own work of ministry but looking down on the work of another believer? If you are, then you are not taking delight in them and honouring them!
Go! Love affectionately all believers – not just those who are your friends or those in your own church, but all believers everywhere and take great delight in honouring them above yourself!
Tap here or Right Mouse click to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Friday Sep 15, 2023
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 15: Glue to good and eschew evil
V9- Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
Do you want to show you love God? Then hate what God hates and adhere to what is good! Turn away from and get rid of from all that which God hates! Instead turn towards goodness and living right with God. God cannot abide sin and evil, and neither should those who claim to follow Him. When you love God then you are clinging to what is good, holy and helpful.
Love is also discerning and doesn’t let others sin wilfully but allows for you to gentle guide others back to living right with God and other people. Note I said gentle and not forceful or coercion. It’s not your job to convict others of sin. That is the role of the Holy Spirit and for Him to bring to repentance. God is love and cannot abide sin or evil. We as Christians are to turn away from all that is wrong and evil. Love God by living a life worthy of God – all that which is good, holy and pleasing to God! WOW!
Evil is anathema and poison to love. Saying that we love God, yet having known sin within our life, is akin to the love that Judas had for Jesus when Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. Judas’ love of Jesus was false, hypocritical and deceitful – it was a fake love, not real love. As a Christian you are to throw off everything that hinders your Christian life so that you can run the race of love for your God. With evil and sin there is to be no compromise or conforming!
Want to know what is right to do? Ask God and He will tell you! He may even surprise you with what He would have you do: against all your own expectations. Regularly confess your unconfessed sins to God and accept His forgiveness - turning away from that evil! Read and study the Bible. Be prepared to have a mentor and to be discipled by somebody. Part of the trouble with 21st century church, is that discipleship is a lost art and in some church circles, almost a dirty word. Go! Really hate what is sinful and wrong! Glue yourself to what is good – then you will be loving God and loving others.
Love is also discerning and doesn’t let others sin wilfully but allows for you to gentle guide others back to living right with God and other people. Note I said gentle and not forceful or coercion. It’s not your job to convict others of sin. That is the role of the Holy Spirit and for Him to bring to repentance. God is love and cannot abide sin or evil. We as Christians are to turn away from all that is wrong and evil. Love God by living a life worthy of God – all that which is good, holy and pleasing to God! WOW!
Evil is anathema and poison to love. Saying that we love God, yet having known sin within our life, is akin to the love that Judas had for Jesus when Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. Judas’ love of Jesus was false, hypocritical and deceitful – it was a fake love, not real love. As a Christian you are to throw off everything that hinders your Christian life so that you can run the race of love for your God. With evil and sin there is to be no compromise or conforming!
Want to know what is right to do? Ask God and He will tell you! He may even surprise you with what He would have you do: against all your own expectations. Regularly confess your unconfessed sins to God and accept His forgiveness - turning away from that evil! Read and study the Bible. Be prepared to have a mentor and to be discipled by somebody. Part of the trouble with 21st century church, is that discipleship is a lost art and in some church circles, almost a dirty word. Go! Really hate what is sinful and wrong! Glue yourself to what is good – then you will be loving God and loving others.
Right Mouse click or Tap Here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 14: Go! Love! Really Love!
v9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.
To have a gift or gifts, such as those Paul lists here, is a sign of God’s love for you! Therefore you are to love others – all others. If you are doing it after God’s own interests and the welfare of other people then you really do love others. Really love them! People can smell out fake love in an instant! If you are doing things for your own interest and welfare, and patronising towards others or as a means to manipulate them, then that is a fake love.
Why do you do what you do for God and for other people? Is it because you are driven by your love for God and love for others? This is love for others without pretence or hypocrisy. That is real love! If it is for any other reason, then it is not real love. That includes loving those who wouldn’t naturally be the target of your love - including those who hate you and those who have done you wrong. To love only those who love us, is what those outside the church expect as normal behaviour. But as Christian Disciples, we are to do more and to be seen to love more than any other people! That can be very hard to do. But if we use the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, then we can do it. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you and He will.
How is the invisible God seen? God is seen through Christian Disciples showing love for other people. If the Church was to be seen as loving others and loving their local community, the Gospel message, the story of God’s love, would have an enormous impact. The Christian Disciple is to be so filled and magnetized with God’s love and grace, that it is a magnetic attraction to others to the majestic goodness of the awesome God that they serve and obey. Our motive for all things is to be love. That includes gently restoring people into living a life worthy of following God if they are a Christian Disciple. There can be no excuse for sin in the life of those who claim to follow Jesus Christ.
How and in what way do we love – love God and love others? That is what Paul goes on to say! Go and love!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 13: Gift of Kindness & Mercy
8 And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
This could also be the gift of Mercy… We know that God is a God of mercy and kindness, therefore those who claim to follow Him, must also be cheerfully kind to others. Some people have an extraordinary capacity to be kind and merciful to people they meet who are in need – they certainly have this gift! They give a WOW about God. People like Mother Theresa.
However, all Christians should seek to be kind and merciful. This would include visiting the sick, caring for the elderly, sick and disabled, the unemployed, orphans, widows, the destitute. It could simply be a listening ear, a smile or a kind word at the right time to somebody. One way to do it cheerfully and gladly is to do it as a generous thanksgiving to God. If you are to help people with kindness and mercy, show you are happy to help! The word Paul uses here is hilaroteti. We get the word ‘hilarious’ from it! Laughter can be good medicine when used appropriately! As Calvin said “to observe sadness in the countenance of those by whom assistance is given, makes them to feel themselves despised.”
How are you and your church being kind and merciful to people in need? How are those you know who are housebound being shown kindness? Are you and the church using imagination to be kind and merciful – helping people to be a part of the church community? How can you help with kindness and mercy those who are unemployed and looking for work? Let each of us use our imaginations to help those in need with kindness and mercy.
I read today of a homeless man who died in one of the richest parts of London. As he died, he fell and was found dead impaled on fence railings. The link to the story is here. Imagine if that man had been shown genuine kindness and mercy? To be fair, he may have rejected any kindness towards him. I don’t know. But I do know that we sometimes reject the kindness and mercy of people out of pride instead of accepting with gratitude and humility. I know I am like that sometimes!
Go! Be cheerfully kind and merciful. Thank you.
However, all Christians should seek to be kind and merciful. This would include visiting the sick, caring for the elderly, sick and disabled, the unemployed, orphans, widows, the destitute. It could simply be a listening ear, a smile or a kind word at the right time to somebody. One way to do it cheerfully and gladly is to do it as a generous thanksgiving to God. If you are to help people with kindness and mercy, show you are happy to help! The word Paul uses here is hilaroteti. We get the word ‘hilarious’ from it! Laughter can be good medicine when used appropriately! As Calvin said “to observe sadness in the countenance of those by whom assistance is given, makes them to feel themselves despised.”
How are you and your church being kind and merciful to people in need? How are those you know who are housebound being shown kindness? Are you and the church using imagination to be kind and merciful – helping people to be a part of the church community? How can you help with kindness and mercy those who are unemployed and looking for work? Let each of us use our imaginations to help those in need with kindness and mercy.
I read today of a homeless man who died in one of the richest parts of London. As he died, he fell and was found dead impaled on fence railings. The link to the story is here. Imagine if that man had been shown genuine kindness and mercy? To be fair, he may have rejected any kindness towards him. I don’t know. But I do know that we sometimes reject the kindness and mercy of people out of pride instead of accepting with gratitude and humility. I know I am like that sometimes!
Go! Be cheerfully kind and merciful. Thank you.
Right Mouse click or Tap here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 12: Gift of Leadership
Romans 12:8 If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.
Now Paul comes on to the gift of leadership. Leaders are to lead with diligence, take their responsibilities seriously but also with care for those they are leading. The word used here indeed can mean leader but also mean to give aid or care for. Perhaps Paul meant both – a leader must be caring and giving aid to those in need – doing so with diligence and without manipulation or favouritism.
Whatever kind of leader you are – for example pastor, priest, elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher, Small Group leader or Prayer Group leader you are to lead with care and diligence and to lead by putting all your heart into it! Love those you lead as Christ loves the church – sacrificially – doing your best for those you are leading – regardless of the size of group you are leading. Leading and being willing to show people your love of God and your love of them.
As a leader, you are being watched and looked up to by those you lead – whether you want to be or not. As a leader, you are not to lead others by being filled with pride and being unapproachable! Rather, you are to lead others with godly humility, be encouraging of others cheerfully and being approachable. As a leader you are to set the example, and demonstrate a way forward to those you are leading. WOW!
Good leadership also has good accountability to others as well as to the whole community. As a leader, are you accountable to anybody else for what you do and how you do it? As part of your Godly responsibility, you are to be accountable to others to live a life of integrity worthy of the gospel, which is seen to be as holy and blameless. As a leader, it is a necessity that you be dependent on the Holy Spirit for strength and care – remember that He lives within you!
Finally, whether you are a leader or not, pray for your church leaders – they need your prayers and dare I say, they will covet your prayers for them.
Go! Lead others with diligence, responsibility, love and care.
Right Mouse click or Tap here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Monday Sep 11, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 11: Gift of Giving
Romans 12:8 If it is giving, give generously.
And now we have a gift which echoes that of God the gift-giver – the gift of giving! When we give to others, contributing to those in need, we are to give generously and liberally. I wonder if that describes your giving? Again, some people have this wonderful gift – they are able to give just like that – generously and liberally. Yet, all Christians are to give generously because that is how God gives good gifts – generously and abundantly.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:3-4 “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
We are not to give to others in need in the hope of getting something in return for that help. Giving to others is for the benefit of the person being helped and not to be for our own benefit? Does that describe you when you give or when you are the receiver of somebody else’s generous giving to you? Too often we don’t give generously and use the excuse of it being poor stewardship of our money as the reason not to give generously to those in need.
If you are in need and somebody offers to help you generously, how do you react? Do you accept with humility and a grateful heart, giving thanks to God for His provision through other people? Or, in your hour of need, are you too proud to accept the help of God as He uses other people as His hands and feet? Too often we can hinder the work of God in our lives because we are too proud to accept help when it is offered.
Giving – go and give generously to somebody in need today and every day!
Tap here or Right Mouse click to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 10: Gift of Encouragement
Romans 12:8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.
Now we come to perhaps one of the most amazing gifts – encouraging! Why is it amazing? Because of the impact it can have on the receivers of encouragement! This could mean anything from encouraging to exhorting to comforting to counselling to rebuking gently. The encourager is to build people up in their faith and life with words of warning, comforting words or a sign or gift of appreciation. The gift of encouraging can be done in the gifts so far in this lift: prophecy, preaching, serving, or teaching as well as the gift in this list to come: giving!
Encouragement can be done from the platform to many people at the same time. However more often than not, it is as one person interacts with another person, individual to individual. Encouragers urge people to respond rightly to God. Encouragers strengthen the weak and comfort those who are in sorrow. Paul himself had a great encourager on his ministry team – Barnabus (Acts 4:36; Acts 9:26ff)! If you are a counsellor in your church, you are exhibiting your gift of encouragement. Are you aware of that? WOW!
Oh how the church needs encouragers! A quiet encouraging word to that teacher or preacher you just heard in your church, or the music leaders – anybody! Your pastor or church leader would appreciate a kind word or a gift from you.
I can tell you from personal experience, that I get more verbal encouragement from those who are not Christian than I do from those who are self-professed Christians. But it should not be that way! Again, every Christian can encourage somebody else – even without the specific gift of encouragement. As we looked at in verse 5, as Christians, we belong to each other, so let each of us be practical in our encouragement of each other! Perhaps the next person you speak to will need a word of encouragement! What will you do? Encourage that person or simply ignore them? Who are your encouragers? Have you made sure they know how much you appreciate their encouragement of you?
Of course, God the Holy Spirit is also the great encourager – always urging us and encouraging us to live obedient lives worth of Jesus Christ whom we follow. Will you listen to His encouragement of you, as He urges you to go encourage somebody else? Or will you ignore His encouraging voice to do so?
Let each of us encourage at least one person a day.
Right Mouse click or tap here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 09: Gift of Teaching
Romans 12:7b If you are a teacher, teach well.
How is your church doing at teaching the Gospel truths? How, if you are a teacher, going about it? Teaching is different from preaching. Are you aware of that? While preaching is expressing the mind of God to people, teaching is also training and taking a person or people on a journey from one point to another. That could be a teacher in Bible college, a Sunday School, a home group or other small group as well as one to one discipleship. Teaching is leading people into understanding God’s word.
Calvin describes a bible teacher somebody “who forms and builds the Church by the word of truth.” Does that signify your experience of teaching – by others you hear or even yourself?
Teaching is part of the Great Commission expressed by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. So everybody who is a Christian is at some point is to do some kind of teaching - as that is part of evangelism. Evangelism is for all Christians to do – of one kind or another.
Of course some preaching can also be teaching. Teaching is interpreting the Bible to make it understood to both the individual and a group of people. That is expository Bible teaching which is also preaching…
But just because somebody is a gifted teacher, or indeed also a preacher, we are to test the Bible for ourselves. Even if you think that Bible teacher is amazing, test what that person says. Analyse it for yourself and don’t be afraid to disagree with the teacher. Even the finest of Bible teachers would want you to be like that! If a teacher insists that they are right, and there is no discussion about it, then be very wary. In Romans 16:7, Paul writes this about teachers “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”
Conversely, how about next time going up to a teacher, talking to them and giving them some encouragement. But more about encouragement in our next study!
How is your church doing at teaching the Gospel truths? How, if you are a teacher, going about it? Teaching is different from preaching. Are you aware of that? While preaching is expressing the mind of God to people, teaching is also training and taking a person or people on a journey from one point to another. That could be a teacher in Bible college, a Sunday School, a home group or other small group as well as one to one discipleship. Teaching is leading people into understanding God’s word.
Calvin describes a bible teacher somebody “who forms and builds the Church by the word of truth.” Does that signify your experience of teaching – by others you hear or even yourself?
Teaching is part of the Great Commission expressed by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. So everybody who is a Christian is at some point is to do some kind of teaching - as that is part of evangelism. Evangelism is for all Christians to do – of one kind or another.
Of course some preaching can also be teaching. Teaching is interpreting the Bible to make it understood to both the individual and a group of people. That is expository Bible teaching which is also preaching…
But just because somebody is a gifted teacher, or indeed also a preacher, we are to test the Bible for ourselves. Even if you think that Bible teacher is amazing, test what that person says. Analyse it for yourself and don’t be afraid to disagree with the teacher. Even the finest of Bible teachers would want you to be like that! If a teacher insists that they are right, and there is no discussion about it, then be very wary. In Romans 16:7, Paul writes this about teachers “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”
Conversely, how about next time going up to a teacher, talking to them and giving them some encouragement. But more about encouragement in our next study!
Right Mouse click or Tap Here to save this Episode as an audio mp3 file
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Romans 12: Living Life
Study 08: Gift of Serving
Romans 12:7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
Did you know serving is a gift? Wow! Is this serving only a gift for some people or for all people? Some people do have a gift of serving and are particularly adept at doing it! However, serving is for all Christians – whether they specifically have this gift or not!
This serving is by offering assistance to other and in that way, we also serve God. We are to serve wholeheartedly, not just other Christians, but all others including our enemies – those that despise and ridicule us. Serving others is a way of loving others. Serving is love in action. Serving is love getting it’s hands and feet dirty in service of others.
When we as Christians serve and help others, we are emulating of course the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ. For it is through serving, that the Christian Disciple reflects the greatest servant of all - Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to serve and to give his life for others.
As Jesus said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Christian life is not to be static or inactive, but rather it is to be dynamic and active. The word ‘servant’ is used at least 500 times in its various derivations. Spiritual growth comes from serving, rather than being served. This is because what ever is given in service of God and others, faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more. Serving others is a sign that you, as a Christian Disciple, trust God and are having faith in Him.
When you, as a disciple and partaker of Jesus Christ, serve in any capacity, then God’s honour is released. This is done because service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served and to those watching. That is to be our motive for service. Serving is never about what you can get out of it. When that is the motive, God is patently not glorified. God’s glory and supremacy is the goal of all those who would call themselves a Christian Disciple.
So go … serve. As Christians, we are all commanded to serve God.
Did you know serving is a gift? Wow! Is this serving only a gift for some people or for all people? Some people do have a gift of serving and are particularly adept at doing it! However, serving is for all Christians – whether they specifically have this gift or not!
This serving is by offering assistance to other and in that way, we also serve God. We are to serve wholeheartedly, not just other Christians, but all others including our enemies – those that despise and ridicule us. Serving others is a way of loving others. Serving is love in action. Serving is love getting it’s hands and feet dirty in service of others.
When we as Christians serve and help others, we are emulating of course the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ. For it is through serving, that the Christian Disciple reflects the greatest servant of all - Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to serve and to give his life for others.
As Jesus said in Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Christian life is not to be static or inactive, but rather it is to be dynamic and active. The word ‘servant’ is used at least 500 times in its various derivations. Spiritual growth comes from serving, rather than being served. This is because what ever is given in service of God and others, faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more. Serving others is a sign that you, as a Christian Disciple, trust God and are having faith in Him.
When you, as a disciple and partaker of Jesus Christ, serve in any capacity, then God’s honour is released. This is done because service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served and to those watching. That is to be our motive for service. Serving is never about what you can get out of it. When that is the motive, God is patently not glorified. God’s glory and supremacy is the goal of all those who would call themselves a Christian Disciple.
So go … serve. As Christians, we are all commanded to serve God.