Partakers Christian Podcasts

Creation Book Corner 24 July 2014

Claire's Creation Book Corner

24 July 2014

Our Christian faith is about much more than turning up on Sunday mornings or growing our churches. Each and every one of us is called to make the world a better place. The only trouble is, if only we all knew how!


With 7 billion people on this planet, human life is complicated and very very large. What can one person do to make a difference?


Some individuals, like Martin Luther King, can make a big difference to an entire country. But most of us are not called by God to act on such a large scale - because small scale makes a difference too. When large numbers of people choose to do the good they're capable of, the world becomes a much kinder place.


Lots of people nowadays are talking about how Twitter and Facebook have changed our outlook. With these social media we can watch and communicate with those in power in an unprecedented way. It's an amazing thing, but also far too seductive.


As a Christian have you ever wasted hours of your time being indignant online because you think it's going to help a cause of social or environmental justice? I have.


I've no doubt that making a noise for justice online is a good thing and that for some people it is a special calling from God ... but for the rest of us it's a lot of effort in an arena where we may not be at our most effective.


This week I've decided to try something different. I've realised that my main power to make a difference rests not in how much noise I make online, but in which corporations I vote for with my money.


When I buy food from a farm that genuinely loves animals, that is a powerful vote of support for animal rights. In my opinion it's worth more than a hundred tweets or Facebook posts.


So, I've decided to try an experiment. For two months I'm going to stop making a noise for social and environmental justice online. I'm going to put all that campaigning energy into making shopping choices that support justice for all Creation.


I've got quite a big task ahead of me. Among other things I've got to cut down on the amount of packaged food I buy and check carefully whether animal products are ethically sourced. Whew! I feel exhausted just thinking about it!

But the question is. What are you going to do?

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Ask Dave - Question 8

Question 8

 

What Happened In 2013 on the WOW USA trip?

(as interviewed by Mrs Heidi Trotman)

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Think Spot 21 July 2014

Think Spot - 21st July 2014

G'day! Welcome to Partakers Think Spot at the start of new week on Monday the 21^st July 2014!


God's love in the Bible is seen as unfailing, everlasting, intimate, sacrificial, unbreakable, all-conquering, personal, great, immeasurable and all-knowing. This is seen supremely in the Cross of Jesus Christ, when He died for the sins of the world. Supreme love overcoming all that is not love. Even when great acts of evil are committed in the world, love is all around. Love continues despite such acts.

How are Christians to respond to this love of God?

The apostle John writes in 1 John 4v15-16 - If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Our motivation as Christians is to love and to be love. This is a love, which is sacrificial and self-less. It is tough love which is of service to other people. Loving and serving others, are the primary ways of showing you love God! It is easiest to love your friends. But Jesus commanded that his followers also love their enemies (Matthew 5:43-45)! Now that is very radical and can be difficult! We see constantly in the media and elsewhere, that regards our enemies, we are to be confrontational or at best to just ignore them!

Love and serve everyone

How is it possible to love our enemies? It is only with the help of God and His abundant grace towards us! We depend on the Holy Spirit who lives inside all Christians to empower and guide! To only love those who love you is what is expected by people everywhere as normal behaviour. But as a Christian, you are to do more! You are to be seen to love more than other people. You don't have to like others as friends, but you do have to love them as fellow human beings!

Go!

Go into this week, being prepared to show your love of Jesus Christ, remaining close to Him and serving other people generously with abundant grace-filled love!  By loving and serving others, you become God's arms and legs in a physical world.  One of the greatest limitations you face in loving and serving other people is a severe lack of imagination! So as you go into this week, ask God to expand your imagination to love and serve; as well as asking for the opportunities to do them. Loving and serving are hallmarks of an authentic Christian life.  Love continues even amidst chaos and turmoil all around. Go and be part of the continuing of love.  Thank you.

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Friday Prayers 18 July 2014

Partakers Friday Prayers!

18th July 2014

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!

A prayer from St Mark's Liturgy

(From the 2nd century)

O Sovereign and Almighty Lord,

Bless all Your people, and all Your flock.

Give Your peace, Your help,

Your love toward us Your servants,

The sheep of Your fold.

That we may be united in the bond of peace and love,

one body and one spirit,

in one hope of our calling,

in Your divine and boundless love.

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Creation Book Corner 17 July 2014

Claire's Creation Book Corner

17 July 2014

Do I sound like an overheated Brit? I feel like one. We're having a very warm summer. You may disagree with mainstream scientific opinion about the causes of climate change, but you can't disagree that it's happening. That's clear for all to see in the Arctic.


People in Greenland, Alaska, Northern Canada, Siberia and far Northern Europe are all reporting big changes in their local environments due to the warming of the planet. There's no land on the very top of the world. Animals that live there rely on the thick sea ice. Polar bears travel long distances across the ice to hunt out food for their young.


Unfortunately there's been overall decrease in the amount of ice cover since 1978. People who live in the Arctic region report that more polar bears are coming into their towns and villages, taking their food and putting lives at risk.


Another animal that's suffering is the walrus. These enormous lumbering beasts have started gathering on land, and crushing each other to death in terrible stampedes because there isn't enough sea ice.


The change in climate is affecting people too. It's becoming more dangerous for indigenous people to hunt out on the ice. The warmer temperatures mean that it isn't as stable as it used to be. Houses are also suffering from subsidence as the ground melts underneath them.


It's a shame that in some powerful countries like the United States, climate change has become such a political topic. Political tensions stop people from recognising that regardless of what's caused climate change, the places most affected by it need our help. That's why many people are campaigning for the Arctic seas to be made into a wildlife sanctuary. If this happens it means that animals there will have the chance to adapt to their new environment without humans making it worse for them.


As it is, now that there is less ice than there used to be, big businesses are making plans to exploit the Arctic. They want to send to send container ships through its waters and drill for oil in the seabed. It will be impossible for them to do that without making the Arctic dirty with oil, fuel residues, sewage and trash. The Arctic seabed is a unique environment and the small other worldly creatures that live on it evolved to survive extreme cold, in isolation from those on seabeds in other parts of the world. They are extremely sensitive to pollution from human activities.


It'd be a shame to lose beautiful creatures such as the polar bear, the walrus and their unusual looking seafloor friends. It will happen if we let money and the accumulation of riches matter more than the protection of the Arctic. Can you and your church community do something to support the call for an Arctic sanctuary?

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Think Spot 14 July 2014

Think Spot 14 July 2014

G’day and welcome to Partake! Welcome also to Monday and our Think Spot together!

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We have the start of a new week! Its Monday! If you are a Christian, Jesus Christ wants to be number one in the life of all those who choose to follow him! Jesus wants supremacy over everything in our lives, including family, friends, and possessions!! Alas, that’s a cost too high for some! Within the Gospels, there is the story told of Jesus’ encounter with a man, who we shall call, Basil. Basil runs up to Jesus and wants eternal life, wants it now and asks Jesus about how to get it. He has fully kept the commandments listed by Jesus.

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However when Jesus said to Basil that in order to follow Him, he would have to give up all his wealth and possessions in order to have treasure in heaven and eternal life, Basil leaves disconsolate and shattered. The life of Basil, this rich young ruler, reflected a life of absorption with his own self-interest and self-importance!

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It was a step too far for Basil. He wanted his riches and also everlasting life, but Jesus said he couldn’t have both. He remains the only person that we know of, who left Jesus’ presence sorrowful, and that due to putting his trust in himself, his riches and wealth alone. Now riches, in and of themselves, are not necessarily wrong! But for Basil, well, he was not willing to make the sacrifice required to follow Jesus. He couldn’t count the cost of following Jesus– it was too high a price for him to pay!

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What have you given up in and as a result of your decision to follow Jesus? Making sacrifices to follow Jesus is all part of following of Jesus. Jesus demands His being number one and supreme over everything else in your life - yourself, family, others and material goods including money and possessions. Those areas of your life which God calls sinful, but you call it your right, your nature, just the way you are. God wants all of you for Himself! You can hand all things over to Him and if you ask the Holy Spirit to help you, it will be done much easier and with less struggle than if you try to do it in your own strength! Go into this new week, determined to be living for God in all facets of life, and then you will be salt and light for God in your community.

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Father, I pray that You would help us to trust in You and that You would help us to love You and others more fully, handing over to you those areas of our life which we are keeping our hands on! I ask this through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside all those who have peace with you. Amen

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Hope Walkers 10 July 2014

Hope Walkers

10 July 2014

Genesis 1:31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Come and hear what Claire is sharing about this and today in this new series...

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Ask Dave - Question 7

Question 7

 

What is the who, what and why of Partakers?

(as interviewed by Mrs Heidi Trotman)

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Think Spot 7 July 2014

Think Spot 7 July 2014

G’day and welcome to Partake! Welcome also to Monday and our Think Spot together!


We have the start of a new week! Its Monday! How and in what circumstances are you going to be trusting God this week? How did Jesus Christ trust in the Father? Jesus knew that the Father was going to bring Him back to life after his death on the cross. Jesus trusted the Father in this area of His life, just as he did in all aspects of his life. How are you doing? Do you have concerns and areas of your life where you need an assurance that God the Father will help you?


Here are some simple steps which may help you maintain a trust in God.

• Pray, casting all anxiety on God. He cares for you because you are His personal concern (The great apostle Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends wrote this in 1 Peter 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”)
  
• Accept and thank God that His peace has filled that area (Another great apostle, Paul, wrote this in Philippians 4:7 says “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”)
  
• Learn to be content whatever your circumstances are, resting in God (Paul goes on in Philippians 4:11-12 “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.”)
  
• Allow the Spirit to control your mind for life and peace (and again from the pen of the apostle Paul, this time in Romans 8:6 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”)
  
• Trust God to fulfil your every need (Matthew records these words of Jesus in Matthew 6:32-33 “but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” )
  
• Obey and follow God's commands to love God and love others (Jesus is recorded in Matthew 22:37-40 “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”)
  
• Finally, be prepared to be obedient to the Father, in supplying the needs of others you meet and therefore showing you love God and other people! One way to show you are trusting and loving God is to be the answer to the prayers of somebody else and showing that love to them! Ask God to show you, how you can help somebody else in need this week and showing your love.

Go in peace this Monday, into this week, knowing God is worthy of your trust! God will take care of you, but not always in the way you expect! Expect Him to allow circumstances and situations to arise where you are to trust Him fully! He will help you if you ask! After all, He knows you better than anybody! And don’t be afraid to help somebody else because by doing that, you show you are loving and trusting in God!


Father, I pray that You would help us to trust in You and that You would supply our needs, calm our concerns and help us to love You and others more fully. I ask this through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside all those who have peace with you. Amen

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God Loves You 05

God Loves You 05

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“For God so loved the world, that He gave is one and only Son, so that who ever believed in Him would have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

Today we have Jessie and Evie! Be amazed! See and hear how they tell you that God loves you! A good reminder for the Christian and a beckoning call for those yet to be a Christian!

God loves you. God is beckoning you to love Him in return. He wants you to be in relationship with Him. Nothing you can do will make Him love you more than He already does. If you are not in relationship with God already, now is the time!

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