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Study 28-Luke 22: 47 – 23: 25 The arrest and trials of Jesus.   The story now moves steadily towards the death of Jesus. It is told with remarkable economy and simplicity in all four gospels. Not even the failure of the leading apostle and founder of the early church is left out. Read Luke 22: 47 – 53. Question 1: Would you be thinking more or less of the eleven now if they had NOT tried to defend Jesus with their two swords (22: 38, 49 ) probably against an overwhelming force? Why? Their reaction to the approach of the crowd, which Mark describes as ‘armed with swords and clubs’, is an entirely natural one. It shows that they were not cowards. It also shows that they had not taken all of Jesus’ message really into their hearts and minds. Few of us have. Presumably the clash of one or two swords could easily have led to a more general skirmish in which Jesus could have been killed. But in the purposes of God his Son had to be tried, falsely accused, condemned and judici

  Partakers Friday Prayers 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!   Prayers for the Persecuted Church Sovereign God, we worship you and acknowledge that you know all of those who suffer in your name because they follow you. We remember those who are imprisoned for their faith and ask that they would join with the Apostle Paul to see that even though they remain captive, their chains have furthered the gospel, not frustrated it. May they inspire and embolden their fellow believers to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Amen 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 thei

Study 27-Luke 22:1-46 Joys and Sorrows   In this chapter Jesus is a source of great strength and joy to his disciples as they gather to eat the Passover together. At the same time betrayal, misunderstanding and desertion surround him. Read Luke 22:1–6. Question 1: If ‘Satan entered Judas’ how responsible was Judas for what he did? When is it permissible for us to say ‘Satan entered somebody? To answer the second part of the question first:it is very doubtful whether we should ever say this. Judas was fully responsible as he eventually recognised; Matt 27:3, 4 says ‘When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. What is that to us? They replied. That's your responsibility. There is an interesting and important parallel in Isaiah 10 where we read:“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my (t

Thursday with Tabitha 3. Amos Amos was a prophet during the time of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel. His prophecy came somewhere roundabout the year 760 BC, give or take a few decades! At this time Israel and Judah were enjoying an unusual spell of prosperity and political stability. This was especially the case in Israel, where the land was very fertile and abundant crops were growing. The threat from the kingdom of Assyria seemed to have lessened, at least for the time being, so life was pretty good. Unfortunately the people of Israel and Judah had wandered far from the standards of holiness that God had intended for them. Idolatry was rampant, the rich were getting richer and more corrupt by the day and the wealthy were exploiting the poor. The Israelites falsely concluded that their prosperity was a sign of God's obvious blessing. They were looking forward to “the Day of the Lord” when God would finally crush their enemies. It is into this environment that Amos was called to prophes

Study 26 - Luke 21:5-38 The fall of Jerusalem and the End of the Age   First: some introduction. A quick google shows 9 occasions in which there was a major siege and capture of Jerusalem, from that by the Babylonians in 586 BC to one by the British in AD 1917. This chapter is very similar to Mark 13 and Matthew 24 (many think Mark’ gospel was a major source of Luke’s information). Matt 24, in particular, is worth reading to note the additional information it contains. These chapters are concerned with Jesus’ prophecies of the important siege and sack of Jerusalem in AD 70. This was carried out by the Romans in reaction to a rebellion of the Jews within the Roman Empire about 40 years after the death of Jesus (probably about the time Luke wrote his gospel). But these are notoriously difficult chapters to understand, mainly because the prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem act in part as a foreshadowing and illustration of what is still to happen at the end of the age. The fall of Jer

Wednesday Wisdom Proverbs 9 G’day! Welcome to Partakers and to Wednesday Wisdom, where we are listening to what the Bible has to say through the Wisdom literature of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Come on in! Today it is Proverbs 9. Download this episode using this link 1 Wisdom has built her house, she has cut out her seven pillars: 2 She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; she has also furnished her table. 3 She has sent forth her maidens: she cries upon the highest places of the city, 4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wants understanding, she says to him, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. 6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproves a scorner gets to himself shame: and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blot. 8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you: rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man,

Study 25 - Luke 20:1-21: 4 Jesus challenges his hearers 7 times.   The first 4 of these challenges are quite substantial with definite contexts; the others less so. Challenge 1 – Luke 20: 1 – 8 The question of authority is of great importance. There is no answer here so we need to go to John 5: 31 – 45 to find one. Question 1: Where does Jesus say his authority comes from or is testified to in these verses, which I am just about to read. Listen carefully and count the different sources you can hear. You should get six different ones. Where does the authority of what we say or do come from? You should have got as sources of authority: John the Baptist, his works, his Father, the Scriptures, Moses, his own words. Our main authority should be the Word of the Scriptures. All other authorities are secondary to them. Challenge 2 – Luke 20: 9 – 19 It is based on Isaiah 5: 1 – 7. This story of the Tenants, or rather of the Vineyard Owner, is one of the most significant of a

Psalm 56 A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. 1 Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me. 2 My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. 3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. 4 In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? 5 All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They conspire and lurk, watching my steps, they are eager to take my life. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God. 8 You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren’t they in your book? 9 Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me. 10 In God, I will praise his word. In Yahweh, I will praise his word. 11 I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12 Your vows are

Study 24 - Luke 19:28–48 The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem   Jesus cannot complete his mission without entering Jerusalem and confronting the authorities there. This he does, first with actions and then with words Please read Luke 19: 28-38. It seems likely that Jesus had made some arrangements the twelve knew nothing about. Perhaps he had 2 sets of supporters: the apostles in spiritual matters and a group of organisers or deacons.) Question 1: What makes that a reasonable thing to say? Are there any alternative explanations? There is something a bit mysterious about the account of Jesus sending two disciples to get the colt. It is hard to be sure but there does seem to have been a prior arrangement made by Jesus that the two disciples did not know the details of. To think that Jesus knew through his divine powers that the colt would be there is probably to over-emphasize the divine in Jesus and forget that he was also human. The account of the way Jesus entered Jerusalem is full of hints of

The Centrepiece of Joy Leviticus 16:1-10 & Hebrews 10:1-10 Introduction Today, we dip into Leviticus 16, which I think is the centre and pinnacle of this magnificent book of joy.   The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses: ‘Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. (Leviticus 16:1-2)   5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, “Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, my God.”’ 8 First he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’– though they were of

Study 23- Luke 18:31–19:27 Seeing and trusting There are 4 sections in this study all of which have something to do with seeing and not seeing, understanding and not understanding or just plain hidden. The first section, Luke 18: 31–34 serves as a summary of what is to follow. Do read Luke 18:31-34. The disciples had a reasonable excuse for not understanding. What Jesus was saying was so strange and unexpected they could be forgiven for not understanding. But we, in all probability, have some knowledge of how things turned out so we do not have that excuse. v 34 provides a challenge to us, the readers or hearers: will we be blind or deaf, will we see or hear and understand? Blindness and sight are metaphors for no faith and faith. Have you moved from blindness to sight? Remind yourself what the effect of your blindness was and how you first knew that you were seeing or, if you are in a group, share together your journey from blindness to sight, darkness to light. Question 1: What is the sign

Colossians 3v1-4 “Remember Who You Are!” Today, our Bible thought comes from Paul's letter to the city of Colossae! It has relevance to us today and our Christian lives. 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) Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file

Study 22 - Luke 18:9–30 The Way of the Kingdom We now come to two very significant parables either side of a short and rather surprising paragraph. I think we should start off with some explanations. The first parable is not about ways to pray but about righteousness (Luke 18:9). Righteousness is a very important, but very tricky, word in the Bible. Our English word has been used to translate a word in the Greek, which does not quite mean what our word means! In fact the Biblical word carries with it a whole set of meanings that no single word in English can possibly include. Our word has as its primary meaning ‘being right’, in the sense of being morally and ethically right in the scale of good and bad. But the Greek word in the NT is used to translate an OT word, which is primarily about being accepted, about being in relationship with someone. Our word is an accountant’s word; the OT word is a social word. Of course, in the OT one can only be accepted by a Holy God if one is rig

Saturday Story People meeting Jesus  The story of Adele from Australia... We continue apace into the twentieth century and hear the story of a friend of mine. Her name is Adele and she is from my home country, Australia. Come on in, and listen to her story about her own Christian journey and the relevancy of Jesus Christ to her life! Come and listen to her story of faith... Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~ You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Study 21 - Luke 17:1-18:8 Faith and its consequences. This next section of the Gospel contains a collection of small episodes mainly about faith and its consequences. We read about having to be careful not to hurt anyone else, being prepared to serve in any capacity, giving thanks and praising the Lord, looking forward and behaving in the light of the coming kingdom and being persistent in prayer. Please do read 17:1 – 10 The 'little ones' (v2) are not defined but we probably will not be far wrong if we take them to be any Christians young in faith. 'to sin' (NIV) is more literally 'to stumble'. Question 1: Is the advice of 17:4 realistic? Can we sensibly forgive someone seven times if they keep on repeating the same thing for which we need to forgive them? Compare 1 Cor 5:1, 3b-5. What is the significant difference between these two situations? Perhaps we should not forgive anyone 7 times if, by so doing, we encourage the persistence of the problem. There has to be a difference in our reactions

Friday Prayers Order of Service! Opening prayer Praise time Prayers for those grieving and lonely Prayers for justice and peace Prayers for those facing challenging situations Prayers for churches and Christians worldwide Prayers for healing Time of silence for your own prayers Benediction   Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file

Study 20 - Luke 16:1-31 The Problem of Riches This chapter, which is difficult all the way through, gives us one of the most puzzling of all the parables, as, if it is misread, Jesus appears to commend dishonesty. The story is about a landlord’s estate-manager or steward who was sacked for inefficiency in an unusual way: there is no lengthy argument or plea for reinstatement as you would have expected in that culture; the steward ceases immediately to be the approved agent but the rent books are not taken from him. Please read Luke 16:1-8 The estate-manager was able to reduce the rents and get the tenants to note the changes (v 6b, 7b), probably with the promise to share the reductions with him quietly afterwards. Because of the tenants writing on the documents the landlord cannot reinstate the changes without losing face and honour. Clever! Right mouse click or tap here  to save/download this as a MP3 audio file Of course the chapter division was not in the original documents so this story fo

Thursday with Tabitha 1. Jonah  by Tabitha Smith Hello, and welcome to the first episode in our series about the Minor Prophets. We're starting our series in the book of Jonah. Of all the books of the Minor Prophets Jonah is perhaps the one that people are most familiar with, or at least they think they are familiar with the story line. Many people will have heard about Jonah and the giant fish. But there is a lot more to the book of Jonah than this! We going to look at some historical background to the book, the type of writing it is, the details of the plot, the major themes of the book and how we might apply these to our own lives today. Jonah prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II, who ruled between 782 and 753 BC. Jonah is unusual amongst the Old Testament prophets in that his primary audience was a pagan nation, not the people of Israel or Judah. People have debated about whether the story of Jonah is actually a historical tale or whether it might be a kind of parable or allegory. Some

  Study 19 - Luke 15:1-32 The Joy of Recovery   This chapter contains two marvellous double parables. The first is that of the lost sheep and the lost coin; the second that of the prodigal son, the loving father and the unhappy elder brother. Please do read Luke 15: 1 - 10.   There is one obvious problem with the story of the lost sheep: would a shepherd really leave 99 sheep in wild country? Probably not. But a flock of that many sheep would need more than one shepherd so he would not be leaving them alone. It is important to note that the one who went searching was the owner and therefore comparatively rich.   Question 1: Sheep are smelly animals. What is suggested by the carrying on the shoulders? And by taking it home and not back to the flock?   As so often Jesus is emphasising that he is interested not just in the smug posh people who thought they alone mattered but the ordinary people, the country people, the working people. He is taking the sheep home to show that everybody

  Study 18 - Luke 13: 10 – 14:35 The Great Reversals We read Luke 13:10–17. Question 1: In these verses how do the Lord, and Luke, heighten the contrast between the woman before and after? By emphasising the ‘bent’ and the ‘straight’, we may well be meant to see these as metaphors for sin and righteousness. We read Luke 13:18–21. Question 2: The two small parables about the mustard seed and the yeast) say something obvious about size. What else do they say? Growth is a major factor in both little parables. And the fact that birds could perch in the tree suggests there will be unclean – non-Jewish people - in the Kingdom. What sort of tree Jesus had in mind is not clear; mustard seeds do not normally grow into a tree. Was Jesus, with his great sense of humour, deliberately suggesting that the impossible would happen? Yeast too is unclean, with the same suggestion. We read Luke 13:22–35. Isaiah 25 & 60 provide the background for