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Episodes
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
God Gets His Hands Dirty
02. Jesus' Identity
In Isaiah 42, we have what is almost universally called “The 1st Servant Song”. In this book of Isaiah, one of the key words is “Servant”. In Isaiah 41, the nation of Israel is also called a “Servant of God”. Isaiah himself has been called a servant of God (Isaiah 20:3).
However, here in Isaiah 42, it is as if the phrase “Servant of God” has taken on a new meaning – someone who is unique, special. God Himself is speaking, and announcing “my Servant”. By looking further into what God says, we know it cannot be Israel. If anything, Israel is the bruised reed or dimly burning wick. Remember Israel was to be a light to the nations and reflect God to the whole world. In chapter 41, Isaiah describes Israel as always complaining resentfully, fearful, discouraged and embittered.
Later in Isaiah 42, we see Israel described as blind, deaf and disobedient. This is not the ideal that Israel was to aspire to, but rather one person who would be God’s response to Israel’s failure and weakness. So, what does the rest of this passage tell of the identity of the Servant, the Messiah whom God would send?
To find out what we think the answer to this question is, please do download the mp3 using the links below...
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Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Psalm 114
(Read by Heather)
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language;
114:2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
114:3 The sea saw it, and fled.
The Jordan was driven back.
114:4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the little hills like lambs.
114:5 What was it, you sea, that you fled?
You Jordan, that you turned back?
114:6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams;
you little hills, like lambs?
114:7 Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
114:8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of waters.
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Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
God Gets His Hands Dirty
01. Introduction
The birth of Jesus Christ is the most celebrated around the world. These celebrations are diverse and transcend cultures, peoples, and languages. Of course, most people stop with Jesus being a baby and continue no further with Him. Jesus Christ is the most unique person in history. Jesus Christ is also the most divisive person to be found at anytime and anywhere.
Almost everyone has an opinion about Him, even if that opinion is based on ignorance, silence or misinformation. Christians believe that Jesus’ birth was the culmination of thousands of years of God telling the world that He was coming. From the time of the Fall when people showed active rebellion and disobedience towards God in Genesis 3, God was planning the time when He would step into history as a saviour or messiah. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is this messiah.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see that the birth, life and mission of this Messiah is the aim and focus of attention. We see it in the stories of people such as Abraham and Moses. We see it in the nation of Israel, which was to be God’s light to all the nations. We see it in the Israelite sacrificial system and law. We see it during the time of the Judges and the Kings. We especially see it through the prophets. The whole Old Testament is joined together, because it all speaks about this Messiah baby, Jesus Christ. This baby, who was both 100% human and 100% divine, grew in wisdom and stature. This baby was born in order that He would die on a cross some 33 years later. He did not die for his own sins, but for the sins of the entire world – all past, present and future sins. This baby was born to die so that the entire world may have life and life everlasting, if an individual chooses to accept it.
As we go through this adventure, we start together, by looking only at what two people from the Old Testament, had to say about Jesus Christ. These two people we know as Isaiah and Zechariah. Let’s start the adventure together by looking at an introduction to these two books of the Bible.
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Monday Jan 01, 2024
Monday Jan 01, 2024
Psalm 66 - A Prayer of Joy
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In the podcast today, we look together at Psalm 66, which is a prayer of joy. The reason for this is, because where ever hope can be found, there is always joy. This is particularly true of the Christian life. As christians, our great hope is knowing that through the Lord Jesus Christ we will have salvation. Salvation is freedom. Freedom from injustice, freedom from sin. It is freedom from our prison of looking after our self, to a new life of entrance into self-forgetful worship & service to God. It is freedom from the limits of pain, decay, death, and entrance into a new world of life, immortality, beauty and joy without end. That is the hope of the Christian, and that is why we can have joy as Christians. But joy, is not just for the future. Joy is also for the present, for the here and now. What is joy, and what place should joy take in our life today? Let's look into Psalm 66, and see where joy fitted into the life of the Psalmist.
1. Psalm 66 and joy
a. Joy and the Earth (vs. 1-4)
b. Joy and the nation of Israel (vs. 5-12).
c. Joy and the psalmist (vs. 13 -20)
2. Applying it to ourselves.
As we have just seen the psalmist's joy involved sacrifice, testimony and praise, So how can we apply these things to ourselves?
a. Sacrifice
b. Testimony
c. Praise
Conclusion
Now that is all very well you may be thinking, but just what is joy? Is joy happiness, or is it more?
Here are what some people have said of joy. "We are all strings in the concert of God's joy" - Leon Bloy.
"The joy that Jesus gives is the result of our being at one with Him" - Oswald Chambers.
Many people, including some Christians confuse joy with happiness, however there is a vast difference. As C.S. Lewis once wrote: "Joy is never in our power, and pleasure is. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted joy would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasure in the world."
As humans we only feel happiness or pleasure depending on our circumstances, while joy is always separate from our circumstances. Happiness is a surface emotional response to good things; while joy is a deep-down heartfelt response that endures whether good or bad things happen to us. The world says happiness is looking out for number one and negotiating your personal good in all you do. The greatest good is their own happiness, however the happiness doesn't last long so the search for happiness continues in its circle. Joy however, is the result of sacrificial love. It is for the good of others, not for ourselves, which is to be our judge of joy. When we give away our will, for the sake of others, we receive the joy that Jesus desired for us. Happiness and joy are radically different.
Joy, unlike happiness, is never an end in itself. It is only as we make Christ our overwhelming first priority that joy, almost without our knowing it, comes. If we seek joy, we will lose it, because it cannot be caught. People of the world seeks happiness not joy. Joy is given only by Christ and serving him.
Jesus had the endurance to go through the pain and suffering because he had the end in view. He was affirming his purpose for the redemption of the world, and so he never lost sight of the joy that was set before him. Joy would come to him out of suffering because he gave himself for the redemption of mankind. Jesus prayed that his disciples would have joy: "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they (his disciples) may have the full measure of my joy within them." (John 17:13).
The joy of Christ is transferred to us as we go about the task of serving him in this world. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit. Joy is to be a quality about us just as it was a quality of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, sometimes we don't feel as if joy is part of us. We begin to ask ourselves if we have lost the joy of our Christian lives. We look around at the world we live in and see all the misery and injustices; we see the waste of human life in cancer and HIV Aids, and we don't feel very joyful. But when we do that, we are confusing happiness and joy. If we have lost the joy of our Christian life, we need to put back into perspective what God is calling us to do and consider if Christ is still truly first in our lives. Joy is Jesus Over Yourself. We can never truly lose joy, but we can misplace it if our priorities get out of line. Joy is not something to be worked at or toward. It is not a goal to be reached, nor is it an end in itself. Joy is the result of our relationship with Christ. A relationship of Jesus Over Yourself. Joy was sacrifice, testimony and praise to the Psalmist. It is for us too in the last days before His coming again.
Go out with joy, today into the New Year of 2024!
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Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
G'day! Welcome to Partakers Podcasts and Happy New Year to you where ever you are in this world!
If we have helped you in some way in 2023, you are welcome and it is all to the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Today we are praying together as we enter into the adventure that will be the year 2024! Come! Let's pray together and say your "Amen!" or "May it be so, Lord!"
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Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Understanding the Kingdom
John 3:1-18
I wonder what you think the Kingdom of God is. In the Old Testament we learn of all kinds of different earthly kingdoms. Each one of these kingdoms were doomed to fail from the start, because of the promised commencement of a new and everlasting kingdom. Perhaps by having a brief overview of what Jesus in the Gospels said about the Kingdom will help us understand more about it before we focus on just a couple of aspects. From what Jesus said, we learn that:
- The kingdom had small beginnings.
- It advances slowly and unspectacularly.
- It works in an unseen way, like yeast in dough.
- It grows side by side with evil and error.
- The members are drawn from every part, for it is a universal part.
- When discovered, it is the source of true joy and fulfilment.
- It requires sacrifice, submission and surrender.
- It ends in an eternal separation of the good from the evil, of the true from the false.
- It centres only on Jesus Christ (Luke 9:28-36).
So having seen these descriptions, mainly from Matthew 13, we can now go on to a main definition of the kingdom. We find this ultimate definition in Romans 14:17 'For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.'
This is the experience of salvation. Every believer, all those who trust in Jesus Christ, has entered it and been accepted by Jesus when He died on the cross. So, having described it and then defined it, the next question we ask is how do we enter the Kingdom of God. Well, after such a long introduction, we are going to look at this aspect of the God's Kingdom based on our reading of John 3:1-18. So, if you haven't done so already please do have your bibles open at that passage - John 3:1-18.
1. Birth (vs. 1-7).
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
2. The wind (vs. 8-13).
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man.
3. The snake on the pole (vs. 14-18).
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Conclusion
The definition of the kingdom of God is exposed from Romans 14:17 which we also see as the experience of salvation. "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The path into the kingdom of God, was defined in the 3 distinct pictures Jesus told to Nicodemus. Firstly in the picture of new birth from above, secondly in the picture of the blowing wind or spirit and thirdly in the Old Testament picture of the snake on the pole.
For those of us who are in the kingdom of God: are you growing in your faith and immersing more of yourself into the Kingdom of God. Is your story or testimony of what Jesus is doing in your life up to date, or are you living on past memories, last Easters' prayers and past Sundays' sermons. The testimony of how we are living in the Kingdom of God is vital for our witness in the Kingdom of God. Jesus commanded us to go and tell, so go and tell the wondrous news of an eternal kingdom - one which will never end! God has promised and He always fulfils His promises.
Now finally, what stops people from entering into the Kingdom of God? People want to continue to do things against God, and this keeps them from coming out of darkness into the light of the Kingdom of God. This is because the closer someone who loves darkness gets closer to light, the more their evil ways are exposed to the light of God. It is not any intellectual problems that keep people out of the Kingdom. It is a moral and spiritual problem. It would involve a change of lifestyle, of being 'born again' as it was.
What is your reason, for not being yet a believer and follower of Jesus Christ? If for some reason, you are not part of God's kingdom yet, then your opportunity is here. You may not get another chance. You might just walk on out of here tonight, not having entered into the eternal Kingdom of God, and die. It really could be that shocking and happen. Take your opportunity now. Please do come and see one of the leaders about how you can enter the Kingdom of God this very night!
Grab your Bible, and listen to the podcast to find out more about this intriguing and wonderful piece of Scripture!
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Saturday Dec 30, 2023
Saturday Dec 30, 2023
Daniel 8 - Worlds In Conflict
We are looking today at an intriguing piece of Scripture - Daniel 8! In Chapter 7, the prophet Daniel had a dream of 4 animals, which were a winged lion, a bear, a winged leopard and a beast. So let us read together Daniel 8.
v1-4 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no animals could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself.
v27 I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.
Here in Chapter 8, we look at the bear, which is described here as a ram, and a winged leopard that is described as a goat. Unlike his previous two visions which occurred at night, this one occurs during the day. Daniel was transported in the Spirit to Susa, a major city of the Babylon & Persian empires. He sat down beside the Ulai canal, nine hundred feet wide and connected two large rivers so that boats could easily pass from one to the other. Spiritually seated by the river, he lifted up his eyes. He saw a ram, a male sheep, that had two horns, and as he watched, one of its horns became larger than the other.
Grab your Bible, and listen to the podcast to find out more about this intriguing and wonderful piece of Scripture!
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Friday Dec 29, 2023
Friday Dec 29, 2023
Partakers Prayers
For the Persecuted Church Worldwide
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
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Friday Dec 29, 2023
Friday Dec 29, 2023
Introduction For about 40 years now, I have been a Christian Disciple - a follower of Jesus. It has been an exciting journey on the road of life. I have had my ups and my downs through that journey of 40 years. Most of it I have forgotten. But this I do remember - I know that Jesus has been there with me. I know, that I know, that I know. After my conversion and baptism, I was taken in hand and discipled. Once a week, for about a year, I had a midweek meeting with a mentor, for prayer, bible study, accountability and guidance.
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From my observation of Christianity today, that experience would now be rare, as Discipleship is generally in the control of a home group. That works well if that new convert gets some form of bible study, prayer and accountability. Often though, that is not the case and the home group is more an extended social club. Or we are just told to get on with it ourselves and the church isn't interested in helping in lifelong discipleship, outside of Sundays or home groups. The Christianity I see today is broad and wide, but it is also in large parts, wafer thin - there appears to be not much depth to it.
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
What Christians believe...
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray and profess together our Christian faith!
Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
Suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead and buried:
He descended into hell:
The third day he rose again from the dead:
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
I believe in the Holy Ghost:
I believe in the holy catholic church:
the communion of saints:
The forgiveness of sins:
The resurrection of the body:
And the life everlasting.
Amen.