Partakers Christian Podcasts

Psalm On Demand - Psalm 32

Psalm 32

32:1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,

 whose sin is covered.

 32:2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity,

 in whose spirit there is no deceit.

 32:3 When I kept silence,

 my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

 My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

 Selah.

 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to you.

 I didn't hide my iniquity.

 I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,

 and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

 Selah.

 32:6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

 Surely when the great waters overflow,

 they shall not reach to him.

 32:7 You are my hiding place.

 You will preserve me from trouble.

 You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

 Selah.

 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.

 I will counsel you with my eye on you.

 32:9 Don't be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,

 who are controlled by bit and bridle,

 or else they will not come near to you.

 32:10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,

 but loving kindness shall surround the one who trusts in him.

 32:11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!

 Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

 

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Highlights in Hebrews 32

Highlights in Hebrews

(with Roger Kirby)
Part 32 - Hebrews11:17–19 Ultimate obedience.

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

It is impossible to miss out the event referenced in 11:17-19, known as the ‘Binding of Isaac’ or the Aqedar, but very hard to say anything sensible about it. There are references in the Old Testament to child sacrifice (including the awful mistake of Jephthah in promising to sacrifice the first thing he saw when he got home which turned out to be his daughter, Judges 11:29-40) but never in a positive sense. Presumably the lack of comment means that it was a practice regarded with so much distaste in Israel that it did not need comment upon. It was not such an uncommon practice amongst the surrounding tribes.

The clear teaching of this episode is simply that true faith demands obedience. Which was fine for Abraham who seems to have had a hotline to and from God. We struggle much more to know what we should do as a matter of obedience.

We need to be careful. But if the Lord does really want us to do something unusual, something we would naturally not think of doing ourselves then he does make it quite plain to us. (That has happened to my wife and myself at least three times in an otherwise unremarkable Christian life.) Most of our decisions as Christians are ones that we have to take for ourselves. Dont believe people who think the Lord directed them to a particular spot in the local car park! They are trying to make themselves sound very holy and spiritual. But we have been given wonderful minds that enable us to sort out for ourselves where we can park our car and a myriad other everyday decisions.

Abraham was tested far beyond anything he might have expected the Lord to require of him. And I wonder what the effect on Isaac was. Probably a strong young teenager with all his life in front of him he must have been shocked to his very core when he realised what was to happen to him. I wonder did his mother, Sarah, know what was happening. If so, how terrible it would have been for her. Abraham seems to have assumed that the Lord would give him a way out. He had been told, by the Lord, that he would have an infinite number of descendants, which this command seemed to put at huge risk - could Sarah have another son when she was even older? We are not told whether Isaac knew of the great promise of untold numbers of descendants, or not.

The aqedar , potentially at least, lies on the middle of the spectrum of Biblical father-son problems. Better in a way are the situations of the deaths of Saul’s son, Jonathan, fighting the Philistines beside his father and of the death of David’s son, Absalom, when he challenged his father for the throne of Israel. In neither of those cases was the son actually killed by the father, so they are a little easier.

The situation which was far worse was what happened to Jesus on the cross. There he not only died, not quite at the actual hands of the Father, but with his full knowledge, agreement and ability to intervene - not used. Think on that. Meditate on that. Jesus died, as Isaac did not, for you and for me, as the one true and all sufficient sacrifice.

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 68

Psalm 68 

 

For the choir director: A song. A psalm of David.

1 Rise up, O God, and scatter your enemies. Let those who hate God run for their lives.
2 Blow them away like smoke. Melt them like wax in a fire. Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
3 But let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God's presence. Let them be filled with joy.
4 Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the Lord- rejoice in his presence!
5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows- this is God, whose dwelling is holy.

6 God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
7 O God, when you led your people out from Egypt, when you marched through the dry wasteland,
8 the earth trembled, and the heavens poured down rain before you, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
9 You sent abundant rain, O God, to refresh the weary land.
10 There your people finally settled, and with a bountiful harvest, O God, you provided for your needy people.

11 The Lord gives the word, and a great army brings the good news.
12 Enemy kings and their armies flee, while the women of Israel divide the plunder.
13 Even those who lived among the sheepfolds found treasures- doves with wings of silver and feathers of gold.
14 The Almighty scattered the enemy kings like a blowing snowstorm on Mount Zalmon.
15 The mountains of Bashan are majestic, with many peaks stretching high into the sky.

16 Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountains, at Mount Zion, where God has chosen to live, where the Lord himself will live forever?
17 Surrounded by unnumbered thousands of chariots, the Lord came from Mount Sinai into his sanctuary.
18 When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the Lord God will live among us there.
19 Praise the Lord; praise God our saviour! For each day he carries us in his arms.
20 Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death.

21 But God will smash the heads of his enemies, crushing the skulls of those who love their guilty ways.
22 The Lord says, "I will bring my enemies down from Bashan; I will bring them up from the depths of the sea.
23 You, my people, will wash your feet in their blood, and even your dogs will get their share!"
24 Your procession has come into view, O God- the procession of my God and King as he goes into the sanctuary.
25 Singers are in front, musicians behind; between them are young women playing tambourines.

26 Praise God, all you people of Israel; praise the Lord, the source of Israel's life.
27 Look, the little tribe of Benjamin leads the way. Then comes a great throng of rulers from Judah and all the rulers of Zebulun and Naphtali.
28 Summon your might, O God. Display your power, O God, as you have in the past.
29 The kings of the earth are bringing tribute to your Temple in Jerusalem.
30 Rebuke these enemy nations- these wild animals lurking in the reeds, this herd of bulls among the weaker calves. Make them bring bars of silver in humble tribute. Scatter the nations that delight in war.

31 Let Egypt come with gifts of precious metals; let Ethiopia bow in submission to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Sing praises to the Lord.
33 Sing to the one who rides across the ancient heavens, his mighty voice thundering from the sky.
34 Tell everyone about God's power. His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens.
35 God is awesome in his sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!

 

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Highlights in Hebrews 31

Highlights in Hebrews

(with Roger Kirby)

Part 31 - Hebrews 11:13-16 Faith in the dark

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. NLT.

Church can be very boring, can’t it! (That’s a statement you wont often see.) Perhaps you have been going to church for many years, decades even. Every pastor has a cycle length, that is, after a certain length of time they have said all they know and are really just repeating themselves even when the scripture being preached from is different. A weak pastor may only last for a few months before the repetition starts. Most pastors can only manage a few years. Only those who spend a lot of time studying can keep going beyond the memory of their congregation.

Then the songs or hymns may have become too well known and the tempo of the singing may be so slow it is boring. If the church follows a liturgy it may become increasingly difficult to focus on the liturgy and not what you have got to do in the garden next, or what would be best for the next meal. Perhaps, if the truth were known, most people are turning up in church not for the service but to meet their friends afterwards.

Oh, dear - you will be thinking this is a very jaundiced view of church. Yes, it is. Fortunately we are all people of habit and once the idea is firmly planted in our brains we tend to turn up every week in the hope that things may have changed.

Life will have been very boring for Abraham and family too. Ur to Haran would have been more than 800 miles. Guessing more than a bit - they would have been able to move only about every third day. They would need to send a scouting party ahead to find water and agree where they could pasture their animals. When they did move they would only cover about 8 miles a day with a mixed family party. The net result is that they would have taken about a year to cover the ground that far and they would have to put up and take down their tents about 100 times. All that would be very difficult and rather boring.

Going from Haran to Egypt - they did not stop where they should have done because of famine - is about the same distance. So that would have been a second year of travelling. It’s no wonder that the writer says they did not receive the things promised but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

That was the sort of stickability they showed. Our writer has described that because he thinks we, helped by the Holy Spirit and our knowledge of what Jesus did for us, should show the same sort of stickability.

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 54

Psalm 54

 

(as read by Anne A)

 

For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Is David hiding himself among us?

54:1 Save me, God, by your name.
Vindicate me in your might.

54:2 Hear my prayer, God.
Listen to the words of my mouth.

54:3 For strangers have risen up against me.
Violent men have sought after my soul.
They haven’t set God before them.

Selah.

54:4 Behold, God is my helper.
The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.

54:5 He will repay the evil to my enemies.
Destroy them in your truth.

54:6 With a free will offering, I will sacrifice to you.
I will give thanks to your name, Yahweh, for it is good.

54:7 For he has delivered me out of all trouble.
My eye has seen triumph over my enemies.

 

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Highlights in Hebrews 30

Highlights in Hebrews

(with Roger Kirby)

Part 30 - Hebrews 11:8-19 The obedience of Abraham

The obedience of Abraham It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Hebrews 11:8-19 (NLT)

A few daft people (like my wife and I used to) love to go trekking and sleep on the ground in a small mountain tent. But that is not most people’s idea of an enjoyable way to spend their holidays. The amazing thing about Abraham is that he not only set out on a long trek, sleeping in tents himself but also persuaded all his family, including his father, to do so. It was, of course, the senior male who was expected to decide what should happen. It seems that Abraham was such a strong and forceful character that he was able to determine what happened. It was a quite remarkable thing to do.

They lived in Ur, one of the greatest and best cities of the ancient world, where they would enjoy all the luxuries that were going. In some way, that is not explained, the Lord spoke to Abraham and instructed him to set out with his whole family on a journey to somewhere - he wasn’t told where. They journeyed north, then west, then south round what is known as the fertile crescent, a great arc of land round the deserts to the south. It proved too much for his father Terah, who gave up halfway and settled in the city of Haran. We can only imagine the big arguments that there must have been between Abraham who had received the direct instructions from the Lord about what they were to do and Terah, who hadn’t. Abraham will have been stuck there until his father died and he had complete control of the family.

It was probably in Haran, when the family was stuck there that he received his great commission from the Lord. He, and his descendants, were given the task of bringing blessing to all the world (Genesis 12: 1 – 3). So much had gone wrong. Adam and Eve had disobeyed the Lord, one of their sons had killed the other, the world had become such an evil place the flood was sent to sort it out and finally the tower of Babel had indicated the arrogance and conceit of mankind. To bring blessing to all that sort of thing was an immense task. In fact Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel failed. Only when Jesus came as the ideal Israelite was any progress possible. But Abraham was not to know that. His job was simply to obey - as he did. We will probably never get as clear and startling a call as Abraham. Which, you may think, is just as well given how comparatively weak I am! But don’t get too comfortable. My wife and I were into our 50s before we got a call to go to Pakistan. We didn’t hear a voice, but received such an amazing sequence of events that it was quite clear what we were being asked - or was it told - to do. We did not realise that the best years of our lives were in front of us. Abraham can scarcely have enjoyed the call he received as much as we did ours.
If the Lord calls you to some surprising and unexpected venture - do not hesitate, GO

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 19

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

 

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

³ They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens

and makes its circuit to the other;

nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,

refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure,

enduring for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are firm,

and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious thangold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the honeycomb.

¹¹ By them your servant is warned;

in keeping them there is greatreward.

¹² But who can discern their ownerrors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

¹³ Keep your servant also fromwilful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouthand this meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

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Highlights in Hebrews 29

Highlights in Hebrews

(with Roger Kirby)

Part 29 - Hebrews 10:32-39 - The power of faith!

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. NLT

With chapter 11 we start into the writer’s great gallery of Old Testament saints. The introductory verse starts off with 2, or is it 3, great words. The most important one is ‘hope’, then to support ‘hope’ we have ‘faith’ but that is not sufficient as just one other word. ‘Faith’ in common usage is often thought to be the same as ‘believe’ but believing all takes place in our heads. The following list of people of faith clearly shows that there is more to it than just what happens between our ears! There is a great deal of activity involved as well. We can call this either ‘endurance’ (10: 36), ‘trustworthiness’ or ‘faithfulness’. Let’s settle for the last of those - which is part of the meaning of the Greek word, which also means ‘faith’ in the more restricted sense.

To see what ‘faith’ has to do with ‘hope’ we must think a bit about what we mean by hope. It comes in three basic varieties. There is the hope of most people that they will be able to live a good and satisfying life. Some people, I suppose, just drift through life without thinking about where it is going and without any long term ambitions - but they are not us, or you wouldn’t be bothering to read these notes! The second sort of hope is our hope for what will happen to us when we die. Have we then a hope? The third and final sort of hope is the small hopes that we have every day. ‘I hope I will soon be rid of this cold’ we say. Or ‘I hope I get such and such a Christmas present’.

Our writer is not at all interested in that third sort of hope, but he is very interested n the first two. In his thinking the two of them are closely woven together. He talks about the way in which Enoch was taken up to God, about how Abraham was looking forward to ‘a city that has foundations’, and how they, and many others, were ‘seeking a homeland’. All these things are closely connected to their lives in this world and particularly their faith and faithfulness. They did not really understand where they were going. We, living after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have a much better idea of what we are doing, where we are going and what the effects are going to be. We, if we put our trust in the Lord, thus having faith in him, can expect to be accepted by the Lord in the day of judgement and, filled with that knowledge, will strive to live a life of faithfulness throughout our time in this world. Our good and gracious God will accept us on the basis of our faith in Jesus but has also promised to reward us according to our faithfulness in our lives with him, ‘ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.’ (1 Corinthians 3: 11 – 16, NLT).

We are sure that this is the way life works because we have read the scriptures, seen how Jesus lived and died, and wondered at the great illustrations of warriors of the faith that we read about in this chapter. We may not have seen these things. But Jesus himself said, ‘Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.’ The people of old were accepted that way - so shall we be! Build for yourself a good foundation so that you will not be ashamed when you appear before the Lord on the day of judgement.

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Psalm On Demand - Psalm 43

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation.

Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.

2 For you are the God of my strength.

Why have you rejected me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Oh, send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill,

To your tents.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy.

I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.

5 Why are you in despair, my soul?

Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God!

For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God

 

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Highlights in Hebrews 28

Highlights in Hebrews

(with Roger Kirby)

Part 28 - Hebrews 10:32-39 Not everything goes well!

We are holy!

… recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:32-39)

There seems to be a strong tendency, at least in this country, to think that becoming a Christian and setting out to follow Jesus is a cure for all the problems we may otherwise have. That is not the way it works! Life for us is not likely to be as difficult as it was for the people this book is written to. We do not know exactly where they lived or what their background was ,but it is clear from this passage that not everything had been easy for them. They were probably Jews, since the book is called ‘to the Hebrews’ so they may well have had a lot of trouble from other Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Very soon after the foundation of the Christian church there was a lot of conflict between Jews and Christians, Paul being one of the chief culprits. Before long the Christians were thrown out of the synagogues all together. Then the ordinary citizens of the Roman empire will not have liked being shown up for the self centred and unpleasant people many of them were. It sounds as though the early Christians had a ministry to prisoners, which was not well received by other people. They had things stolen from their houses and could get no support from any judicial powers to recover what was stolen. Since this is going out all over the world some things like those may be your experience but that is not all that likely.

Our problems may be much more ordinary and personal. Perhaps they are physical, we simply are not well, or are suffering the products of old age and their tendency to drag us down. They may be social as we struggle with family, friends and enemies. They may be psychological and mental – there is no guarantee we will avoid such things by following Jesus. We should be better off as Christians as we turn away from bad habits of drinking or drugs and seek to follow a generally better life style. But following Jesus is not a general cure for all ills.

Why then should we follow Jesus? If not for our personal improvement, why? The answer is simple and devastating: because he is who he is. He is the Lord. He is the King of the Kingdom. He is the Lord of creation and of this world’s continuing existence. We should set out to follow Jesus because of who he is and not because of who we are. If, indeed, we did start to follow him from purely selfish motives he is a good and loving Saviour who will allow you to learn what your motives should have been and slowly, as you come to understand more, change your motives to those that they should have been in the first place. We can still ‘have faith and preserve our souls’ (10: 39) and receive a ‘better possession and an abiding one’ (10: 34) and receive the ‘great reward’ that ‘is promised’ (10: 35, 36). The necessary ‘endurance’ (10: 36) can be ours even if we did not really start for the best and right motives.

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