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Episodes
Sunday May 19, 2024
Sunday May 19, 2024
The Holy Spirit Comes
G'day! Today is Pentecost Sunday where Christians around the world remember and celebrate the coming of the promised Holy Spirit! Happy Pentecost!
Jesus has now ascended back to the right hand of the Father. The 12 apostles are now back in Jerusalem and waiting. Waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. The coming of God the Holy Spirit is in fulfilment of the promise that Almighty and All-powerful God would indwell all those people who chose to follow Him. This event was prophesied many years before. An example is from the prophet Ezekiel:
“And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27)
Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus had talked about how after He departed that God the Holy Spirit would come (John 15:26). Starting today and over the coming few days we will look at the Holy Spirit and into the book of Acts seeing how the Holy Spirit worked within and through the early Church. Let's look together!
Tuesday May 14, 2024
Tuesday May 14, 2024
Doctrine
Paul writes in Titus 2:1: “You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. “
The word ‘doctrine’ in a lot of places is unfashionable. They say that doctrine belongs to a time gone by, and that new experiences of God and miracles from God are all that matters. Some churches teach only what they think people want to hear, tickling the ears instead of exposing them to biblical truth led by the Holy Spirit and therefore stirring them into living transformed lives for Jesus Christ.
What is Doctrine?
The words translated as “doctrine” are found frequently in the letters written by Paul, primarily 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. The original words are didache (the act of teaching) and didaskalia (that which is taught). They are used fifteen times and are translated as doctrine. Doctrine is the study of God. For Christians, our doctrine is revealed through the pages of the Bible. The more you as a Christian learn about the God you have chosen to follow, the more you will be able to deal with the daily pressures of living in a world who does not want to know about God.
You will continue learning and understanding the very nature of God and therefore be wise in your actions and reactions to conflict and circumstances. You will continue to develop the relationship between yourself and the God you serve. Doctrine is for all Christians, regardless of education, time of knowing the God personally and status within your church. Indeed, everybody, Christian or not, have doctrines whether they want to have a doctrine of belief or not – that includes atheists who have a doctrine of non-belief!
Doctrine Matters
So, for all people, Christians particularly, doctrine matters. Doctrine matters because what you believe about God, ultimately affects how you will behave. If as a Christian you have solid, biblical doctrine being practised in your life, you will be living a life of total obedience to Jesus Christ. For Christians are to hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and this only comes through the continuing work of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
As the mind is renewed and transformed (Romans 12:1) with teaching about Jesus Christ, what the mind learns is put into practice, and your life is being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. People will start asking you about the reason for the hope you hold onto. That way the Gospel and Good News of Jesus Christ is spread. This hope is also an unending hope, which will enable you to endure to the end and run the race marked out for you.
Finally, learning solid doctrine is important is so that you will be able to discern true Apostolic & biblical teaching from the false teaching of heretics and those who want to lead you astray from the truth. Experiences and miracles are important, but to base your Christian life upon them, and not on solid biblical doctrine, produces a rollercoaster effect and not the constant reliance on the indwelling Holy Spirit for direction, guidance and trust.
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Wednesday Apr 17, 2024
Wednesday Apr 17, 2024
Colossians 3v1-4
“Remember Who You Are!”
During last week, I attended the funeral of a friend, mentor and editor. This friend is now more alive than ever before! Why? That is explained here from Colossians 3:1-4.
If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
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Saturday Apr 13, 2024
Saturday Apr 13, 2024
When Jesus comes back as King
Revelation 21-22
Introduction
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After His ascension, Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father! He is King and what a King. Jesus is coming again, not as a baby this time, but as King and judge. Both ideas are affirmed by Jeremiah and John. We will do two things today. Firstly, to give a very brief overview of Revelation 11 and then progress to the end of Revelation and give just three brief vignettes into what the reward is that John writes about in verse 18.
Christ's reign
Prepared!
Purity (v.1-4)
Pearly gates (v.21)
Conclusion
Be encouraged, heaven is for you if you are trusting and obeying Jesus and have Him as Lord of your life! Remember. Whatever your attitude and how you judge Jesus now, is how He will judge you when He returns! Are you following Him and treating Him with respect and reverence? If you aren't, then it isn't too late to change your mind and then the reward of eternal living in heaven will be yours! Are you suffering? Suffering will soon be gone. When you sin against God, keep a short account and ask for forgiveness as soon as you recognise that you have sinned and the Holy Spirit has convicted you of it. We yearn to be with our King for ever and ever. Yet, we are to keep one part of our mind on Heaven and the other on the responsible work we have been set to do, here on earth. We are not to be so heavenly minded, that we are of no earthly use. Conversely, we are not to be so earth bound, that we are not tied to King Jesus in our eternal home. Go tell somebody. Won't you go tell somebody this week, this message. Heaven is a great big place, and there will be room for everybody in this town, this county, this nation and this world to enter through one of those twelve gates! Go and share this good news with somebody this very week, so that there may be somebody in that magnificent City, because you told them. Christ is our King of Righteousness. Trust Him and live a life worthy of Him. Look for His coming! Be expectant, the King is coming back for us soon! Critics of the church sneer "Where is your God?" and "The end of the Church is surely near". They are so impatient!! Well... our God will appear soon. He is coming back as King of Righteousness, judging evil and rejecting those who reject Him whilst rewarding those who patiently trust and obey Him.
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Friday Mar 29, 2024
Friday Mar 29, 2024
16. Jesus The Dying King
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Isaiah 52:13-14: See, my servant will act wisely he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness—
Isaiah 53:10-11: Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Isaiah, centuries before Jesus’ birth, was speaking about Jesus. As we look together briefly at John 19, correlate the two passages and see how they interlink!
1. What of Jesus?
a. Jesus was Condemned
Pilate gave in and permitted the flogging and mockery in the hope of shaming Jesus’ accusers (John 19:s. 1-3). Pilate affirmed Jesus’ innocence after the scourging (John 19:4). Jesus’ refusal to answer stung Pilate into reminding Jesus of his Roman authority (John 19:10). Jesus, however, corrected Pilate’s idea of authority and told him that although Pilate may have power on earth, his power did reach beyond earth (John 19:11). Jesus knew that his work of bring people back to God in a loving relationship did not rest on the actions of a mere Roman governor. Pilate was more concerned with his own position than he was for justice. Jesus was the true Passover lamb.
b. Jesus was Crucified
Jesus, bearing his own cross, was killed as a common criminal (John 19:17). Pilate was responsible for fixing the sign “The King of the Jews” (John 19:21-22). Clothes of condemned men were given to soldiers on duty (John 19:23).
Jesus showed concern for his mother, even when he himself was in agony, committing her to the Apostle John (John 19:s.26-27).
The crucifixion site “was purposely chosen to be outside the city walls because the Law forbade such within the city walls… for sanitary reasons… the crucified body was sometimes left to rot on the cross and serve as a disgrace, a convincing warning and deterrent to passers-by.”
Jesus’ final moments – “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28) and “It is finished.” (John 19:30).
The desire of the Jews (John 19:32) to fulfil their rituals was important because the Sabbath fell within the Passover festival. The breaking of legs (John 19:s.32-33) speeded up the process of death. The piercing of Jesus’ side and the flow of blood and water proved Jesus was really dead (John 19:34).
c. Jesus was Buried
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus. The significance of “in which no-one had ever been laid” (John 19:41) is to demonstrate that the body of Jesus at no point came into contact with the decay of a dead body.
2. What Has Jesus’ Death Done For All Mankind?
- Our natural state – Romans 3:23 – (We are all sinners).
- Forgiveness – Ephesians 1:7 – (God forgives our sins).
- Peace – Romans 5:1 – (We have peace with God).
- Reconciled us to God – 2 Corinthians 5:19 – (No longer enemies with God).
- Justified us – Romans 3:24-26 – (Makes us just before God).
- Cleanses us from sin – 1 John 1:7
- Makes us right before God – 2 Corinthians 5:21
- Gives us direct access to God – Ephesians 2:18
- Freedom from the power of slavery to sin – Galatians 5:1
- Freedom from the power of the devil – Hebrews 2: 14
- Gives us Christ’s intercession – Hebrews 2:17-18
None of the above things apply to those who do not follow Jesus.
3. Why did Jesus go to the cross?
3a The problem!
Sin is what separates humans from God and as a consequence leads to both a spiritual and physical death (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Isaiah 59:2). In the Old Testament, sins were dealt with by blood sacrifices of atonement as coverings for sin (Leviticus 17:11), for without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22). A blood sacrifice is God's way of dealing with sin. These blood sacrifices of the Old Testament signified several things:
- It provided a covering for sin.
- It showed the great cost of sin.
- It was an exchange or substitution.
- It was only always going to be a temporary measure, as it pointed forward to Jesus' death
3b. The Solution!
The solution lies not in continual animal sacrifice of the Old Testament because Hebrews 10:4 reminds us that the blood of animals cannot take away sin but was only a veneer or covering. That was why it was necessary to repeat time and time again! It is only through the death of Jesus, that sin is taken away (Hebrews 9:v11-15, 26-28), because Jesus is our permanent sacrificial substitute!
3c. Substitution
Jesus died for our sin, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). That is how God is both just and the justifier of sinners. That is why Jesus needed to be both fully God and fully human! If he lacked either, it would not be the full substitutionary sacrifice that was necessary to bear the permanent consequences of sin! When Jesus died on the cross, in our place, he bore the consequences of all sin – past, present and future. He therefore became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and it was His precious blood as a lamb without spot or blemish (1Peter 1:18-19) that fulfils God’s requirements permanently.
3d. Propitiation
Towards sin and sinful behaviour, God has great fury, anger and wrath (Jeremiah 21:5). Yet as Micah 7:18 “He is slow to anger and quick to forgive”. Propitiation basically means the turning aside of God's anger by the offering of the sacrifice of Christ. God's anger and judgment of sin falls on Christ, instead of us. We need to approach God to appease his anger, in order to accept it (Romans 3:25; Isaiah 53:5; John 2:2, 5:6).
1 John 2:2: He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 4:10: This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice (or propitiation) to take away our sins.
3e. Redemption (Ransom) Mark 10:45
Not only was it propitiation, but also an act of redemption! In the time of the New Testament, this word was used to refer to the buying back of a slave - the price paid to buy the slave’s freedom. God paid redemption so that humans can be freed from the slavery to sin (John 8:35 Romans 7:14). The price was paid (1 Peter 1:18-19) and so we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). But it is our responsibility to choose that way! God does not coerce forcefully – he leaves it as a choice for humans to make as individuals.
What is our response to this to be? Sacrifice, substitution, propitiation and redemption can be summed up in one word: love. For 1 John 3:16 states: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Jesus told us to take up our cross if we are to follow Him as his Disciple (Luke 9:23). Are you as a Christian Disciple willing to take up your cross and do all you can do to love others?
Price to pay for true followers and disciples:
- We must surrender completely to him
- We must identify with him in suffering and death
- We must follow him obediently, wherever he leads.
For more to think about please do read John 18-19. Ask yourself the following questions and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.
Q1. In the light of Jesus teaching about suffering under persecution, how far am I prepared to go as his disciple?
Q2. Why was it necessary that Jesus be both fully human and fully God?
Q3. How is Jesus a king and how does that affect my relationship with him?
Saturday Mar 09, 2024
Saturday Mar 09, 2024
The Gospel of Mark - Mark 16
G’day and welcome to Partakers! We are reading together through the Gospel of Mark together, to get a broad view of the life of Jesus during his time here on earth. Today we are looking at Chapter 16. Come on in!
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** We are reading from the World English Bible translation, which used to be the American Standard Version. It is in the Public Domain and therefore copyright free. Come inside to hear and see! The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
Friday Mar 08, 2024
Friday Mar 08, 2024
The Gospel of Mark - Mark 15
G’day and welcome to Partakers! We are reading together through the Gospel of Mark together, to get a broad view of the life of Jesus during his time here on earth. Today we are looking at Chapter 15. Come on in!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save Chapter 15 as an audio mp3 file
** We are reading from the World English Bible translation, which used to be the American Standard Version. It is in the Public Domain and therefore copyright free. Come inside to hear and see! The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
Thursday Mar 07, 2024
Thursday Mar 07, 2024
The Gospel of Mark - Mark 14
G’day and welcome to Partakers! We are reading together through the Gospel of Mark together, to get a broad view of the life of Jesus during his time here on earth. Today we are looking at Chapter 14. Come on in!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save Chapter 14 as an audio mp3 file
** We are reading from the World English Bible translation, which used to be the American Standard Version. It is in the Public Domain and therefore copyright free. Come inside to hear and see! The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
The Gospel of Mark - Mark 13
G’day and welcome to Partakers! We are reading together through the Gospel of Mark together, to get a broad view of the life of Jesus during his time here on earth. Today we are looking at Chapter 13. Come on in!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save Chapter 13 as an audio mp3 file
** We are reading from the World English Bible translation, which used to be the American Standard Version. It is in the Public Domain and therefore copyright free. Come inside to hear and see! The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
The Gospel of Mark - Mark 12
G’day and welcome to Partakers! We are reading together through the Gospel of Mark together, to get a broad view of the life of Jesus during his time here on earth. Today we are looking at Chapter 12. Come on in!
Right Mouse click or tap here to save Chapter 12 as an audio mp3 file
** We are reading from the World English Bible translation, which used to be the American Standard Version. It is in the Public Domain and therefore copyright free. Come inside to hear and see! The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.