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Episodes
Friday Mar 31, 2017
Friday Mar 31, 2017
Partakers Friday Prayers
31 March 2017
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!
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 and in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
Amen
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Monday Mar 27, 2017
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Think Spot - 27th March 2017
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, such as the slaughter of innocents this past week in parts of the world where terrorism and genocide are rife, 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!
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 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.
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Saturday Mar 25, 2017
Saturday Mar 25, 2017
Part 92 - John 21:13
Eating with Jesus
In it all we need to take note that he had sat down to eat with his people, and even to be their cook, their food provider. This time it was fish and bread - and presumably something to wash it down, water or wine. This was just one of the three recorded meals Jesus ate with his disciple after he had risen from the dead. They were not special sacramental meals, but rather simple ones eating the food that was available.
The hint could not be clearer - we too, are to eat with Jesus very frequently in the meal we know as the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, the communion service etc. Those churches which restrict the communion service to once every 3, 6 or 12 months, from good motives to be sure, do their people a grave disservice - and do not follow the clear intent of scripture. So does any church that does not hold a service because there is no officially ordained person, usually male in many cases, to lead the service; or no proper building in which to observe it; or particular liquid to drink. No, by his example, we are to eat with him whenever we can without any particular need to be ‘posh’ in the way we do it. Meeting him is far more important than any detail of how or where.
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Friday Mar 24, 2017
Friday Mar 24, 2017
Partakers Friday Prayers!
24th March 2017!
We pray together and when Christians pray together, including across the internet and from different times, different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity!
Today we pray once more, a Morning Prayer from the Syrian Clementine Liturgy. This Liturgy, dates from the 4th century, and was celebrated in Syria and throughout the Church of Antioch. It is the oldest model known in Antioch, and is a liturgy is related to the Apostle James. Come pray, particularly bearing in mind places in this world where turmoil, war and horror are daily happenings.!
A Morning Prayer from the 4th Century Syrian Clementine Liturgy
O God,
You are the unsearchable abyss of peace,
the ineffable sea of love,
the fountain of blessings,
and the bestower of affection.
~~~~~
O God,
You who sends peace to those that receive it;
open to us this day the sea of Your love,
and water us with the plenteous streams
from the riches of Your grace.
~~~~~
Make us children of quietness, and heirs of peace.
Kindle in us the fire of Your love;
sow in us Your fear;
strengthen our weakness by Your power!
~~~~~
Bind us closely to You
and to each other
in one firm bond of unity;
for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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Monday Mar 20, 2017
Monday Mar 20, 2017
Think Spot - 20th March 2017
Matthew 11:28-30 records these words of Jesus Christ. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Are not those amazing words? Not just anybody could say them. If the person who said them couldn't actually fulfil that promise, that would be one of the biggest hoaxes in all of history. But Jesus Christ is no hoax and he is able to fulfil those words and live up to the promises he makes. He is totally trustworthy.
We don't like to ask for help. We are trained as children to be independent and not to rely on anybody else for anything ever. But this is contrary to what Jesus is about. To rely fully on ourselves for all things is to walk by sight and commit the sin of pride. To rely on Jesus and ask Him for help in all things is to walk by faith and with humility. True independence and freedom comes from being dependent on Jesus Christ and not being held back by anything or anyone else, such as family and our own wealth and possessions.
How are you doing at the start of this new week? Maybe you are feeling desolation and regret caused by decisions made sometime in your past. Give them up willingly to Jesus and don't keep trying to take it back like a security blanket!
Are you feeling abandoned and lonely? Let Jesus encompass you in an embrace of compassion and let the Holy Spirit comfort and counsel you.. Or perhaps are you feeling tired, burnt out and burdened?. Let Jesus give you the strength to endure! Give the burden to Jesus and let Him take the weight for you. Maybe you need to make a major decision and don't know what to do. Seek the wisdom of Jesus in making that decision. He will help if you ask. That's all part of Jesus being Jesus.
It may well be that you are being overwhelmingly tempted to sin against God, another person or even yourself? You cant resist for too long if you do it in your own strength, because you will eventually succumb to it. But if you ask God to help you overcome the temptation, He will do it - if you allow Him control and use your own self-control! After all, self-control is one of the evidences of the Holy Spirit working in you!
We all get those feelings of regret, desolation, abandonment, loneliness, despair, burdened and temptation. Feelings are important, because they are part of the human experience and if we didn't have them, we would be merely mindless androids. But feelings can also be very misleading. As Christians, we have to take it by faith that Jesus is there for us through those times. Because you are lonely, doesn't mean you are alone. Because you are tempted, doesn't meant that you have already committed the sin. Take it by faith that Jesus is answering desperate cries for help and is helping you. Take a few seconds now in this short silence to hand over these things to Jesus and ask him to help you.
Or it may just be that you are starting the week and you are feeling great and enjoying your dynamic relationship with God! Then keep going and letting Jesus be your strength, your wisdom and your help. But don't keep it to yourself - that would be selfish! Go to others you know who are in need, helping them where you can with an encouraging word or helping to supply their need. Be the practical and imaginative answer to their prayers. Go into this new week, confident that Jesus is able to help you in every situation you face. Ask him to come to you, and He will - just as He has done for countless millions.
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Saturday Mar 18, 2017
Saturday Mar 18, 2017
Gems in the Gospel of John
Part 91 - John 21:3
Working
First then Jesus and work. We read that, “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat.” people argue about whether Peter was right to go out fishing so soon after all the exciting and very important events we have just been told about, or not. It seems to me that he was. The fishing community in Capernaum will have been hard hit financially by the call of Jesus to at least four of its strong young men three years earlier. How, I wonder, did they manage to survive the next years while they were away with Jesus? Peter will have understood their problem all too well and he rightly started to make what amends he could (it didn’t last. In no time at all he was away again, this time for the rest of his life.)
We all have to work. God told Adam in the garden of Eden, “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food”. And there is no escape from that except for a very few unfortunate people who are born into such riches they can afford to do nothing of consequence all the days of their life - not a good thing. So Peter went back to work.
It did not upset Jesus who helped him by telling him to put the net down on the right side of the boat. Presumably they had had it on the other side so following the advice of an unrecognized stranger was a big thing to do even if he had seen some disturbance of the water suggesting there were fish there.
More than forty years ago I was sitting in our car very close to the sea in the island of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. An obviously very heavy-laden small boat came into the shore and two men started unloading it. I was so curious I started counting. They took 126 magnificent large salmon from the boat to their trailer. The interesting thing is I can still remember the number when I could tell you nothing else at all about that particular holiday. So it was with the disciples. What happened was so memorable that they knew how many fish they caught, 153, more than 50 years later. Jesus does still look after his people. Not always so obviously or so generously - but he does look after us.
Jesus was happy to sit down on a lakeshore with seven scruffy, poorly clothed and rather wet disciples. Thank you Jesus for such a clear indication of how and where you will meet us.
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Friday Mar 17, 2017
Friday Mar 17, 2017
Friday Prayers
A prayer of (Patrick (c389-461)
Our God, God of all people!
God of heaven and earth, seas and rivers,
God of sun and moon, of all the stars,
God of high mountain and lowly valley,
God over heaven, and in heaven, and under heaven.
He has a dwelling in heaven and earth and sea
and in all things that are in them.
He inspires all things, he quickens all things.
He is over all things, he supports all things.
He makes the light of the sun to shine,
He surrounds the moon and the stars,
He has made wells in the arid earth,
Placed dry islands in the sea.
He has a Son co-eternal with himself...
And the Holy Spirit breathes in them;
Not separate are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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Monday Mar 13, 2017
Monday Mar 13, 2017
Think Spot - 13th March 2017
Today we look at a follow on from that to meekness. What is meekness? Isn’t meekness, merely weakness? That’s what we are told often enough by people outside the church! Yet meekness is not weakness! Meekness is giving up our personal rights to God alone!
A meek person is one who claims no personal rights of their own, and who is willing to yield all possessions and personal rights to God. A meek person sees these things as being loaned by God for His work and glory. Being meek in all situations takes a strong character, for example Moses (Numbers 12:1-3).
Giving up your rights and all you own to God alone, is talked about often in the Bible. Some of the results of giving up your rights to God can be found in: - Psalm 22:26; Psalm 25:9; Psalm 37:8-11; Psalm 149:4 Isaiah 29:19; Matthew 11:28-30. (1.15)
As followers of Jesus you and I need to give up our own rights and possessions to Him because:
- You and I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)#
- We are instructed to be meek by Jesus (Luke 9:23)
- It follows the example. of the New Testament church (Acts 5:32)
When we insist on our own personal rights and those rights are violated, the main consequences are anger and anxiety. They occur when we try to control or change something God never intended us to change or control. When we react and resist, we deny God His right to do what; He wants to do. When we get angry and when we worry, these are signs that there are rights God wants us to yield to Him.
How do you yield rights and possessions over to God?
Firstly, identify them! Check where in your life anger and or anxiety exist. Then ask the Holy Spirit to work on your heart, prayerfully considering each area, yielding all to Jesus. When you do that, God becomes responsible for those areas.
Secondly, expect God to test His rights. Having handed them to God, He may allow situations to occur which will deny you these rights, to see if that right was really given to Him. It may be necessary to once again yield that right to Jesus. As you respond to each test, meekness develops.
Go into this week, knowing that God is at work in you! You are to be His servants and you are not your own! You were bought at a price by God! Through the meekness of Jesus Christ’ work on the cross.
Father I pray that as we give our personal rights to you, that you give us strength to overcome with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us as your children. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!
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Saturday Mar 11, 2017
Saturday Mar 11, 2017
Part 93 - John 20:29
Encouragement
This is my favourite verse in all of scripture. 20: 29, “Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” I find that hugely encouraging. I hope you will too.
The beloved disciple believed when he saw the empty tomb and the folded grave clothes. Mary believed when she heard a familiar voice calling her name; the disciples did when they met the Lord behind closed and locked doors; Thomas was particularly blessed when he saw the scars close up. Many Christians since then have seen some remarkable event or had a striking dream.
But many, like me, have had no such experience, no excitement or enormously compelling event has ever come their way. Are we then second-class citizens of heaven, never quite sure of our standing before the Lord? No! With this one brief sentence he puts all our fears to rest. He makes sure that we know we are, in his eyes, as good as any saint who ever lived.
Perhaps you, like me, are a rather boring, quiet, ordinary believer, who can lay claim to no wonderful experience, no amazing healing, no great gift that clearly marks you out as one of the chosen ones, - just an ordinary plodding sort of believer. So what! Love this word, “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” Be sure that your true basis in faith is in the written, unchanging, word of the Bible. That is a far better foundation than any experience, excitement or human based teaching.
John goes on in the last two verses of this chapter to say, “ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” it is not clear whether this is referring to all the signs that Jesus performed throughout his ministry, the ones he has recorded, those the other Gospel-writers have recorded, and all the rest, or whether he is really referring just to the special signs Jesus did after his resurrection. Although that is much argued about, as is the question whether this was originally the end of the Gospel until John decided to add one more chapter, it doesn’t really matter. The one and only purpose of it all is that ‘by believing you may have life in his name’. make sure you do!
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~You can now purchase our Partakers books including Roger's latest - The Puzzle of Living - A fresh look at the story of Job!
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Friday Mar 10, 2017
Friday Mar 10, 2017
Friday Prayers
An anonymous prayer said to come from Vanuatu
O Jesus
Be the canoe that holds me in the sea of life.
Be the steer that keeps me straight.
Be the outrigger that supports me in times of great temptation.
Let Your Spirit be my sail that carries me through each day.
Keep my body strong,
So that I can paddle steadfastly on,
In the long voyage of life.
Amen
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