G’day and welcome to Partakers Christian Podcasts! Join us for uplifting Bible teaching, inspiring readings, heartfelt worship, powerful prayers, and fascinating church history. Whether you’re new to faith or growing deeper in your journey, we’re here to encourage and equip you. 🎧 Tune in, interact, and be inspired—wherever you are in the world.
Episodes
Saturday Aug 04, 2018
Saturday Aug 04, 2018
Part 151 - Revelation 22:1-21
Come, Lord Jesus
So we come to the final chapter. The key word of this last chapter is ‘come’ but before we get there, John has some further thoughts on the glories of his vision of the last things. This is where we expect to arrive after the second creation, the recreation of this world of ours. It is the time when it connects with the other world in which the Lord God and Jesus live.
To explain it he borrows the vision of Ezekiel from his 47:1-12. The river in Ezekiel’s vision flows from under the door of the temple, where the Lord was thought to dwell more specially than anywhere else. John changes that to be a direct flow from the throne of God and the Lamb. As with Ezekiel’s river the emphasis is on the fertility that it brings to all on its banks.
We have no cities in this country where water flows down open gutters at the sides of the streets all the time. Yet they are a wonderful feature where they do exist. We have seen them in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan where they bring a delightful freshness to the feeling of the street. But those gutters are at the side of the street; John’s water flows down the very centre of the main street of the city. This water is more important than anything else. The emphasis is on the fertility flowing from the tree of life for ‘the healing of the nations’ (22:2). That seems to suggest that many will be healed that we might not expect to be. Not everybody will be healed. There is an awful list later in the chapter of “the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” they have to remain outside for ever. But the basic picture does seem to suggest we may get some real surprises when we see who has been healed and is reigning for ever and ever.
We are coming to the end of this strange and wonderful book. There is so much about heaven and the new earth we can never understand however it is explained to us. John has done a wonderful job in showing us as much as he can and challenging our thoughts and imaginations, stretching them to their outer limits. As he says his words are trustworthy and true (22:6). This chapter is a mix of words from John, an angel and then, from 22:12 to the end, actual words of Jesus himself.
Before we get to those final words we have some warnings. 20:11 suggests that there is an eventual cut off point after which no one will be able to change their destiny. If we have set out to follow Jesus there is no moment when we may say ‘I’m done’. We should seek to follow him to the very end of our lives. As an old song says in quite different circumstances ‘keep right on to the end of the road’.
The other warning-which is a rather worrying one for anyone who, like me, sets out to try and help other people to understand this book. Hopefully, as I have not tried to include everything that this book says, I cannot be said to have taken any words away from the scroll (22:19)!
The final message of this book is quite clear-it looks for the final moment when Jesus returns to earth, not quite this earth but the new, restored, redeemed earth. Jesus says he is coming. The Spirit and the bride (all God’s people) and last of all John himself ask him to come. And he will. Be ready. It might be tomorrow!
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Friday Aug 03, 2018
Friday Aug 03, 2018
Partakers Friday Prayers
3 August 2018
Come and join in praying for the world and yourself, offering praises to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Order of Service
Opening prayer
Confession
Psalm 65
Prayers for Churches and Christians worldwide
Prayers for others
Silent time (Prayer for your own concerns)
Prayers for the world
Prayer of Benedict of Nursia
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Monday Jul 30, 2018
Monday Jul 30, 2018
Think Spot 30 July 2018
We start this new week with a challenge! Each of us can make a difference in this world. Are you aware of that? Let's see what we can do together!
One of the most well-known bible verses is when Jesus says “Love your neighbour as yourself.” But did you know he is actually quoting from Leviticus 19:18b "love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord." What does that mean for us today?
As Christians we are to live right lives - to be holy. That is a fundamental about being a Christian. It means being practical and loving others - not just in words but in action. Not just saying I love you but showing that you do. It means sometimes doing things we don't want to do. Or not doing things we want to do. It means putting others first and ourselves last. It means not showing favouritism – to the rich or the poor, to the beautiful and the not so beautiful.
Loving others as yourself, does not mean loving yourself less. It means loving others more. It means holding the interests of others higher than your own. It means honouring others above yourself.
How are you doing at loving others - all others? Are you loving others generously & selflessly? Or are you saying you love them, but only on your own terms or only in words and not in action. Loving them selfishly by putting your own needs first and others after yourself.
Here is a challenge for you. Go into this new week determined to love others – all others – without favouritism. Each of us has ways in which we feel the love of others. We all have our own needs & wants. Ask somebody else today that what it is that you could do for them that would make them feel that they are loved and valued. You may well be surprised that it is something very simple and you would never have found out what it was unless you had asked.
Let's be committed to showing practical love to all we meet - one person at a time. Imagine the difference that could make to the world! WOW!
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Saturday Jul 28, 2018
Saturday Jul 28, 2018
Part 150 - Revelation 21:1-27
Final Destination
Where are we going when we die? The immediate answer is the presence of the Lord. He called it ‘paradise’ to the man crucified with him on the cross. Paul says “to be with Christ is better by far” (Philippians 1:23). But that is not the end of the story. Our final destiny is the resurrection, following Jesus who unexpectedly led the way being resurrected ahead of time. Ezekiel says in his 37:12, 13 “ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.”
Or as Jesus said in John 5:28, 29 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.”
Chapter 21 is John’s picture of what that will be like. We, in our resurrected bodies, will return to earth, a new glorious earth closely linked to heaven. This is what we pray for when we say “your kingdom come … on earth as it is in heaven”. This is John’s picture of the final days of the Kingdom that began in the gospels when Jesus walked this earth for the first time.
The best place John knew on earth was the city of Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Romans, most probably before he was writing, so he enhances that to the most glorious vision he can think of. It is now a great cube 2200 kilometres in each dimension - a very unlikely shape for a city, but no matter, it is the perfect shape. The walls and streets are all made of gold. The gates were special, made of pearls. The foundations were all of precious stones.
It is brilliant - but totally impractical. It is a vision after all and like almost all the pictures of Revelation meant to convey a meaning rather than a reality. I think that means we can have our own visions of what this final earth and heaven will be like. If, like me, you do not like cities and avoid them if you can, then we can create our own image of the most lovely place on earth where we would like to be for ever. For me that is like a Scottish hilltop in the spring. Blue sky overhead, crisp snow, barely taking a boot mark, underfoot, clear air and a vision of range after range of snow covered hills stretching away into the distance!
That is my vision. What is yours? Let your imagination fly although you know the reality will be even better when you get to it.
Having excited our imaginations with his vision John tells us some important things about it in the final paragraph of the chapter. There will be no temple there (21:22) because there will no longer be any need for any sort of intermediary between us and the Lord. There is no need of the lights in the sky because the Lord God and the Lamb will lavish so much grace upon it, upon us. There is no limit to the access - the gates are not shut at night, as they would have been in the earthly Jerusalem - all those from any nation whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can enter at will. All that is true, is noble, is right, is pure, is lovely, is admirable, all that is excellent or praiseworthy is welcome there. What a prospect, what a future, and it is ours!
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Friday Jul 27, 2018
Friday Jul 27, 2018
Partakers Friday Prayers
27 July 2018
Come and join in praying for the world and yourself, offering praises to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Order of Service
Opening prayer
Confession
Psalm 65
Prayers for Churches and Christians worldwide
Prayers for others
Silent time (Prayer for your own concerns)
Prayers for the world
Prayer of Benedict of Nursia
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Monday Jul 23, 2018
Monday Jul 23, 2018
23rd July 2018
G'day and welcome to Partakers ThinkSpot! Listen to the audio and see how you are challenged to live your faith out this week!
The most famous verse in the Bible is probably this one. I wonder if you have heard or read it. “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.”
Isn’t that simply amazing! Love! God is love! Every exhibition of love, even by those who deny His existence, is an example of God’s love. God’s love is also seen in all tenses – past, present and future. Past - God has loved you. Present - God is loving you. Future - God will love you! Amazing! WOW!
Moreover, 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 Jesus died for the sins of the world on the cross, it was 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 we to respond to this love of God?
The Apostle John in 1 John 3:16 says “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 and sisters.”
Further on in 1 John 4:15-16, John writes “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, sacrificially, 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, if you are one, 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. Give people a smile! If you are happy, let your face show it to others! Help that work colleague! Help that unemployed person to find work. One of the greatest limitations you face in loving and serving other people is a severe lack of imagination! 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.
Prayer
Father, we thank you, that you are love! We thank you Jesus, that you demonstrated great love by going to the cross and showing your love for the world by dying on the cross! Holy Spirit enflame our imagination and cause us to desire to show love to others – even others who we think don’t deserve it! As we go into this week, O God, remind us to love you wholeheartedly and to love others sacrificially.
For we ask this, O Father of Love, in the name of the Son of Love, Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit of Love.
Amen.
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Saturday Jul 21, 2018
Saturday Jul 21, 2018
Part 149 - Revelation 20:1-15
And so we come to the great but perplexing chapter on judgement. We are glad to read of the final demise of the dragon and the beasts, which reflect all the evil on the earth, but it is difficult to know what to make of some of the circumstances. We have to remember that it has been fairly impossible to take almost anything in this book literally so far. It is strange if we can suddenly start to do so here.
I have neither the space nor the desire to say anything about the possible implications of the thousand years which have caused so much argument over the centuries. There are 3 major approaches known as the pre-millenial (the events described and those possibly discovered elsewhere in the New Testament occur before the thousand years), the post-millenial (the events occur after the millenium, and the a-millenial (the thousand years are not to be taken literally).
There are at least 5 things that follow from what is written in this chapter regardless of which belief (or none!) that you hold as to how it is all going to happen.
1. At some date in the future all evil will be eradicated from this world of ours. (Revelation 20:10)
2. This will not happen all at one clean sweep. There will be many problems before that final, very desirable, event occurs. (Revelation 20:1-9)
3. It will not all happen at the cosmic level. Human beings will be involved at certain stages before the evil is completely eradicated. (Revelation 20:4, 9)
4. Once evil is removed there will be a time of judgement. No one will be exempt from this. (Revelation 20:12, 13) My picture of how this will happen is: arrival at an airport in your home country. First you have to show your passport. If you have the right passport (we are citizens of heaven says Paul in Philippians 3:20) you are immediately welcomed into your home country, but you still have to go through the luggage checkpoint to see that you have no contraband in your cases. So, we too although welcomed because we are justified by faith - we have been promised now that we shall be welcomed by the Lord when we go to meet him - we are still to give account of what we have done in the years allocated to us since we set out to follow Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10-12). Like all illustrations, that one of mine is not perfect but it should help you to see what the scripture is saying. It is not the case that we are born again and need worry no more that all our future is without concern. That is a popular misunderstanding of the implications of being ‘born again’.
5. Not everybody is guaranteed a comfortable after life. (Revelation 20:15) what exactly will happen to them is much debated. A literal ‘lake of fire’ scarcely seems compatible with a God who is Love.
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Friday Jul 20, 2018
Friday Jul 20, 2018
Partakers Friday Prayers
20 July 2018
Order of Service
Welcome to Partakers Friday Prayers on Friday the 20th of July, 2018. Let us pray together!
Father, as we commence, let our hearts and minds be right before you. May your everlasting mercy, grace and love be shown in hearing these petitions! Father, we come before you now as your children. We thank you that you are a personal and intimate God and that we can call you Father. We thank you that you are interested in every facet of every person. We thank you that you are an active and dynamic God and not a mere block of wood or stone that is placed on a shelf. Amen
2. The Prayer Jesus taught us
3. The World!
4. For church services and this world
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Thursday Jul 19, 2018
Thursday Jul 19, 2018
Thursday Story
Jackie - God helps me overcome!
We continue apace into the twenty first century. Today, Jackie shares with you about her life and her inspirational relationship with God! Come, listen and be inspired!
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Monday Jul 16, 2018
Monday Jul 16, 2018
16th July 2018
"Out of your comfort zone"
G'day! Did you have a good Sunday in Church? "Wow.. yes" you say "the message really hit home and although made conscious of my failings I had the reassurance of forgiveness but also the challenge to aim higher in my Christian life today and throughout this week. I really do want to count for Jesus.
I was already conscious of my needs before yesterday but God spoke clear and plain and now I want to answer in the best way I can as I serve Him today. He has done so much for me and I really want to honour Him as Lord in my life. However I realise afresh and know that I need to keep in touch with His power and wisdom in all I do. Doing things God's way is all important to me."
You sound like a mature Christian and now God is doing a new thing in your life as you take your Christian life more seriously ?. Perhaps you are launching out on something you have never done before. A new venture? May be this is new to you but countless others have passed this way before and in launching out upon this new trail you will need to share your vision and request others to help you realise your goals. Ask them to pray with you as well as advise you You may need to swallow your pride and listen to others. Elisha listened very carefully to Elijah before he departed from him (2 Kings 2:9;) and in providing the cloak he owned, Elijah was passing on more than a mantle to keep Elisha warm but in so doing was saying through his action, "The same God I have served faithfully and obediently has equal power and even a double portion to give to you Elisha as you step out onto His chosen path for you."
Yes, we have others to teach us and learn from, and the same Holy Spirit to guide and guard us today. It is true we enjoy our comfort zone but there are times when we are required by God to step out and trust Him in new experiences and see His powerful hand at work in and through us. Yes, very scary at times but what does the Lord promise us as we push out from the shore in faith? Proverbs 3:5-6 reads "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths". May I encourage you to read and reread His promises to you. Watch in other places in scripture for His will to be confirmed to you. Little by little He will make it clearer to you as you rely upon Him. Meanwhile ask questions of others who have travelled this same or a similar path way that you are taking and you will see a pattern developing as you obey Him.
When Israel came to the Red sea they certainly hadn't been that way previously. A dead end? A fruitless journey? Impossible situation? What did Moses do with a million voices demanding an answer. He prayed and the Lord showed him the truth contained in Proverbs 3:5-6.
Moses commanded Israel as they came to the Red Sea"Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" (Exodus 14:13) The result? A miracle took place and the incredible took place because we have an amazing God. The waters acted for them and not against them in an unnatural way forming walls for them to pass between.
Obedience and faith exercised always bring good results. Trust Him He will never disappoint you.
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