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Episodes
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Monday Think Spot
16 January 2017
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I had this little voice inside me repeatedly saying “Trust me… Be at peace with yourself.” The Holy Spirit was ministering to me amidst the turmoil despite my often not wanting to hear that! Matthew 5:9 records Jesus speaking these words “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”
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All over the world, the majority of people share a common desire for peace! But what is peace? The peace the world wants varies from the peace which we as Christian know to be true. The world sees peace as the absence of conflict and people being generally ‘nice’ to one another. Peace in the Christian context goes further, saying peace is perfect harmony with God, perfect harmony with other people, with circumstances and with self. While we are to aim for peace in all those areas, perfect peace in all those areas will not come until Jesus Christ comes again, and takes Christians to be with Him.
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However, that doesn't give us as Christians a mandate to sit around not doing what we can for peace. Unsurprisingly the Bible has a lot to say about peace! Jesus commanded us to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) because our God is a God of peace (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and the Kingdom of God to which we belong is about peace in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Peace is to be our business! In a world full of peaceless-turmoil, such as conflicts between nations, conflicts between neighbours, conflicts even within families and conflicts within and between churches, Christians are to be peacemakers!
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If you are a Christian, you have peace with God because Jesus Christ is your peace between God and yourself (Ephesians 2:13-18)! More than that, we are to be at peace with others! Now this can be hard! We are commanded to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9, James 3:17-18), living at peace with everyone (Romans 12:17-20) and do everything possible which leads to peace and mutual encouragement (Romans 14:13-19).~
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Go in peace this Monday, into this week, knowing that the God of peace lives inside you if you are one of His children! Go dispense this peace as God’s peacemaker where you go! You can be the peacemaker in your place of work, where you live, where you visit, where you socialize and even where you shop or play sport! If you are struggling to be a peacemaker in a difficult circumstance then ask this Holy Spirit who lives inside you to help you! He will help you if you ask! If you would not consider yourself a Christian and at peace with God, then ask Him to help you become one!
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Father, we pray that this week we will do all we can as your followers to be peacemakers, to do all we can for peace and to make peace where ever we go and make a difference in world in conflict. We 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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Saturday Jan 14, 2017
Saturday Jan 14, 2017
Gems in the Gospel of John
Part 83 - John 19:19
Identification
Pilate was more right than he ever realised when he insisted on 19: 19, which reads “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
Pilate went on to say, “What I have written, I have written” in 19:22. It is a striking example of the irony that John used so much in what he wrote. Pilate meant something relatively simple in what he had written but was actually saying far more than he realized. Throughout the centuries since his words have been understood to be saying that faith in Christ is to be for the Jews who spoke Aramaic, the Romans who spoke Latin and the common people who spoke Greek. In brief for all the world. Of course there were many other languages spoken in the world of that day but they were far beyond the knowledge of the people of this world in which Jesus lived and died. Pilate’s words were a form of prophecy. They are the equivalent of the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It is a prophecy that is becoming increasingly true in our day.
And there is no more potent reminder of that than you guys out there reading this. Dave Roberts can get some idea of how many of you there are by looking at how many ‘hits’ on this site there have been but that is only an indication of the total number, with some folk making multiple hits and perhaps others sharing these thoughts with others. No matter - there are certainly thousands of you and maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands..
Hey - why didn’t Pilate include English in his list of languages? (I suppose English is a descendant of both Latin and Greek.)
Well done all you who have had to learn English as a second or third language! Let us all rejoice together in all that Jesus accomplished on the Cross for us all of many different nations and mother-tongues.
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Friday Jan 13, 2017
Friday Jan 13, 2017
Partakers Friday Prayers!
13th January 2017
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!
Today we pray this prayer to encourage ourselves and others!
We commend to you, O Lord,
Our souls and our bodies,
Our minds and our thoughts,
Our prayers and our hopes,
Our health and our work,
Our life and our death;
Our parents and brothers and sisters,
Our benefactors and friends,
Our neighbours, our countrymen,
And all Christian folk,
This day and always.
Amen.
A prayer of Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Bishop of Winchester
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Monday Jan 09, 2017
Monday Jan 09, 2017
Think Spot 9 January 2017
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things." Philippians 4:8
Isn’t it great to be a believer? Or maybe yesterday’s meetings at Church were not much of an inspiration to you as you begin a new week? You just didn't get much from the services yesterday. You listened but other thought you allowed to crowd in. Concerns for certain family members, friends or neighbours. So you have not started the week with gusto. Even your morning quiet time today didn’t go well. Your prayer life hit rock bottom. Your prayers, you thought didn’t get any higher than the ceiling. You had to not only drag yourself out of bed but also through your devotions. "Is this what the Christian life is all about?" you ask yourself. Am I not meant to be a joyful triumphant Christian?
Our minds are fertile ground and must be guarded and guided. They are open to all kinds of infiltrations and our part is to guard our minds and put useful good healthy thoughts in. The key is to ask ourselves the question "What would Jesus have me do?" "What can I do for His Kingdom and name sake?" "Is there someone today I could meet up with and encourage? Someone to offer financial help to? Someone who needs my sympathy? Someone who needs a car lift to hospital? We need to take our minds off of our own needs and focus on others and their needs.
Minds can soak up all kinds of useless stuff if we let them. Jesus took time to prepare himself for each day. He began with several hours in prayer. Maybe we should see Him as our example as well as reading a good Christian biography, including a commentary on a passage from the Bible each morning and pray it in. If we did we might have a much better day. It’s our relationship with Jesus that will determine our state of mind throughout the day. Think on these things .Have a great day and a great week!
Dear Lord, take care of my mind and do not allow those awful thoughts to continue in my mind. Help me think upon good useful thoughts that are sweet and helpful to building others up which will glorify God. I am sorry for allowing such rubbish to fill my mind. Instead, fill my mind with thoughts such as "How would Jesus think about this situation where I have anger, jealousy or even hatred. The truth is I want to be like You Lord." In Jesus name.
Amen!
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Saturday Jan 07, 2017
Saturday Jan 07, 2017
Part 82 - John 19:18
Crucifixion
The early church took some time to work out what it all meant and why it had happened. When Peter addressed the crowd ar Pentecost he talks about the fact that Jesus had been killed but does not say why. Stephen also does not say why Jesus died. It was left to Paul to work out the main implications of this death, which he presumably did during his time in Arabia that he mentions in Galatians 1:17, 18. If he was able to live there in a monastic situation where he had access to Old Testament documents he will have been able to work out the implications of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and relate them to the whole Biblical story and particularly many prophecies. John will have benefited from his conclusions and we see the results in the many places where he tells us that something that happened to Jesus on the cross fulfilled prophecy.
The argument about what the cross meant continues to this day. The dominant idea for evangelical, Bible believing Christians is that it means Jesus died a substitutionary death in our place. We deserve death, like everyone who ever lived, because we are sinners, in rebellion against the Lord God and his just requirements of us. The death of Jesus was an atoning sacrifice, enabling us to be reconciled to God and become his friends, members of his Kingdom and members of his redeemed family.
I am very conscious that I have needed to use several words that are not part of everyday speech to try to express that. Here are some brief explanations:
- substitutionary - one who takes the place of someone else as a football substitute does when he replaces someone who has been playing up to that point in the game;
- atoning - paying a sufficient price to restore a situation to what it should be (the Bible never explains to whom that penalty is paid. It is not the devil);
- sacrificial - for some reason that, again, the Bible never explains, something, an animal or a human, has to die to be the sufficient price to effect that restoration and then only temporarily unless they are themselves God;
- reconciling - restoring a relationship that has been in part at least broken by the action of one of these in the relationship; redeemed - basically something bought back with a price;
reconciled - brought back into the previously broken relationship.
Wow, there is a lot of hard work involved in really getting your head round all those ideas. But it is worthwhile because this is the very heart and core of our faith. It is what we live and die by. Spend some time thinking and praying about these things.
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Friday Jan 06, 2017
Friday Jan 06, 2017
Friday Prayers
Prayers for Refugees...
Today on Partakers we are praying a series of prayers - ancient and modern - for refugees worldwide. As we know, Jesus our Lord, was a refugee when a baby, as Joseph & Mary escaped to Egypt with him. Come on in, download the mp3 and pray with us!
Here is a sample prayer from the ancient Syrian church...
O my God,
You are the unsearchable abyss of peace,
the ineffable sea of love,
the fountain of blessings,
and the bestower of affection!
You are the God 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.
Amen
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Monday Jan 02, 2017
Monday Jan 02, 2017
Think Spot 2 January 2017
Happy New Year! It is now 2017! WOW! Time marches on - one second at a time! Each of us can make a difference in this world. Are you aware of that? Let's see what we can do in 2017!
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.
As we go into this new year of 2017, 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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Sunday Jan 01, 2017
Sunday Jan 01, 2017
Happy New Year!
As we celebrate the New Year, let us now say a series of short prayers to God, dedicating each day of 2017 to Him!
- A prayer for the New Year
- Confession of sins
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Prayer for those who are lonely and grieving
- Prayer for those looking for paid employment
- General prayer Prayer from the book of Jude
Come on in, listen/download to the audio and let's pray together!
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Saturday Dec 31, 2016
Saturday Dec 31, 2016
Part 81 - John 19:16
Who is involved?
The discussions, bordering on arguments, between Jesus and Pilate come in two sets of three each. In both of them Pilate moves in and out of his palace in a quite extraordinary way. One would expect a Roman governor, lord of all in that area, to require people to come to him rather than him going to them. But it is not so in this case. Such was the power and authority that Jesus wielded.
So, in 18: 28 - 40 Pilate ‘came out’ in v29; ‘went back inside’ v33; ‘went out again’ v38. In 19: 4 - 13 he ‘’came out’ v4; ‘went back inside’ v8; and finally ‘he brought Jesus out’ for judgement v13.
All that is very clearly laid out to get our attention - to two things in particular. The first is that we should see that neither the Jews, that is the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem at that particular time, nor Pilate, as the representative Gentile non-Jew, was exclusively responsible for the condemnation and death of Jesus. John has sometimes been accused of laying the blame for what happened on the Jews and that has contributed to the persecution of Jewish peoples at certain times throughout history - some of which still goes on. This is clearly very unjust. John could not have laid out the sequence of what happened more clearly to show that although Pilate was acting as a tool of the Jews he did not need to do so and would not have done so if he could have avoided the serious political blackmail he was subject to.
The second thing John would have us see is what he emphasizes at the centre, the focal point, of his account. In 19: 1 - 3 we read: “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’”. Jesus is king. But not the sort of king we, and they, expected him to be. It is all in very conscious imitation of Isaiah 53, where we read, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. … he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. … He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
All of which John must have had in mind as he wrote his description of the suffering servant king. It is strange, but clearly deliberate, that up to this point John has said very little about the kingship of Jesus and about the kingdom, so very unlike the other three Gospel-writers. He makes up for it at this point.
This is who we follow and serve: this totally unique figure, the great King of all creation, the servant of all mankind, the bruised and bleeding one.
Stop. Think. Wonder.
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Friday Dec 30, 2016
Friday Dec 30, 2016
Friday Prayers
Christmas Dinner prayer of Martin Luther...
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make yourself a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for You.
My heart for very joy does leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who to man His Son has given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth!
Amen
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