Partakers Christian Podcasts

Study 12 - Luke 9: 1 - 50 The end of the ministry in Galilee This is an important chapter for at least 3 reasons: it contains the important question ‘who is this’ 9: 9 the even more important answers ‘the Messiah’ (v 20) and ‘the Son of God’ (v 35). That Jesus calls himself ‘the Son of Man’ (v 22) is also important. it ends the second and long section of Luke’s Gospel Chapters 3 to 9: 50. Telling us that Jesus sets out for Jerusalem in verse 51 indicates the end. This whole section is about Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee. Read verses 1 to 9. Jesus gives surprisingly detailed instructions about how the apostles were to go on the very first mission in the first 6 verses. Of course the culture in which they were to operate was very different from today’s – anywhere in the world. We might wonder if he sent us on mission what Jesus would forbid today. Would it be car, mobile phone, ipod, radio, credit card, bottle of spring water? Would we

Proverbs 2 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 2. Download this episode using this link 1 My son, if You will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; 2 So that You incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if You cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; 4 If You seek after wisdom as for silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then shall You understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. 7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a shield to them that walk uprightly. 8 He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints. 9 Then shall You understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path. 10 When wisdom enters i

  Study 11 - Luke 8: 1 - 56 Faith and faithfulness Part 2 What experience have you ever had of what were clearly demonic powers? It is thought that the Joanna of 8: 3 and the Junia of Rom 16: 7 may be different versions of the name of the same person. (It should be Junia, a woman’s name; Junias is a man’s name and a mistranslation) If so, we may presume Joanna/Junia was an apostle because she fulfilled the requirements of Acts 1: 21, 22, even though being a woman meant she could not be one of the twelve. Luke is careful not to forget the women! Neither should we! We noted in the last study that one word in the Greek means both ‘faith’ and ‘faithfulness’. 1) How do we use these words? What is the difference in meaning in our common usage of them? 2) The central passage of these chapters is the familiar parable of the sower (8:1–8). Which meaning, faith or faithfulness, is it encouraging us to think of as the most important? A parable is designed to be abou

Psalm 37 37:1 Don't fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. 37:2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb. 37:3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. 37:4 Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 37:5 Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this: 37:6 he will make your righteousness go forth as the light, and your justice as the noon day sun. 37:7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don't fret, it leads only to evildoing. 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land. 37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn't there. 37:11 But the humble shall inherit the land, and s

Luke 7:1–50 & 8:40-56 Faith and faithfulness Part 1 The whole of chapters 7 and 8 make up one section of Luke’s narrative so we will read them together though we will only look at chapter 7 in detail in this study. Not least because of the striking similarities and differences in the people involved between the first and last passages 7:1–17 and 8:40–56. 1. Jesus Restores Health and Life! (Luke7:1–17 and 8:40–56) Question 1.What is the second passage about? How does it differ from the first passage? The second passage is about healing of a woman and the bringing back to life of a man’s daughter. Remember: the first was about the healing of a man and the bringing back to life of a woman’s son. Luke has obviously put these particular stories at the beginning and end of this section very deliberately. He has carefully constructed the whole section. The important question is why has he done this–apart from the fact that this was the way that they wro

Partakers Bible Thought Christian Disciple and Healed Emotions 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23 to 24) 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent – not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Another reason I wrote to you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven – if there was anything to forgive – I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. God wants all parts of you to be following Jesus! That includes your thin

Luke 6: 27-49 The New Way of Jesus Part 2. Kingdom Ethics Luke’s Sermon on the Plain continues. We read together Luke 6: 27-49 This is a shorter version of Matthew’s sermon but it still contains no less than 22 separate points! We will look at them in groups. 1. Love your enemies v27, 28 It is easy to miss some of the practical implications of these statements. They mean, for instance, that a Christian will never refuse to speak to someone, whatever they may have said or done. And it will affect our behaviour towards someone who wants the same job as we do. Question 1: What effect will it have on us if we force ourselves to speak kindly in those sorts of situation? Where else can you think of where obeying Jesus might have some positive results in our everyday and family life? Pause. Even if we have to force ourselves to speak well in that sort of situation doing so will have a good effect on our underlying attitudes towards that person. If we fall out with someone at work we must be care

Luke Looks Back Chapter 8 (Luke 6:17 – 6: 26) The Way of Jesus: blessings and woes Luke wrote his own version of Matthew's more famous Sermon on the Mount. It is much shorter and was preached in 'a level place'. Probably Jesus, like any travelling preacher, used much the same material many times and these are two slightly different reports of what he said. Please do read Luke 6: 17 - 26 The biggest differences occur in the list of blessings and the woes that Luke, but not Matthew, has after them. Luke has only 4 Blessings and 4 matching Woes. Understanding them can be tricky! Blessing 1 (v 20). Question 1: Say which of the following statements are true or false comments about this Blessing? And why? a. All poor people are already in the Kingdom because they are poor and therefore can be sure they will be saved when they die. b. All the poor people who met King Jesus as he walked round Galilee were in the Kingdom because they had met the King and therefore would be saved. c. Jesus was only talking

The Holy Spirit Comes G'day! Today is Pentecost Sunday where Christians around the world remember and celebrate the coming of the promised Holy Spirit! Happy Pentecost! Jesus has now ascended back to the right hand of the Father. The 12 apostles are now back in Jerusalem and waiting. Waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. The coming of God the Holy Spirit is in fulfilment of the promise that Almighty and All-powerful God would indwell all those people who chose to follow Him. This event was prophesied many years before. An example is from the prophet Ezekiel: “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:27) Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus had talked about how after He departed that God the Holy Spirit would come (John 15:26). Starting today and over the coming few days we will look at the Holy Spirit and into the book of Acts seeing how the Holy Spirit worked within and through the early Church. Let's look together! Click or tap here t

Saturday Story People meeting Jesus  A story of salvation and healing Today on Partakers, we hear the story of salvation and healing coming to a house! Come on in, and listen to this amazing story about the relevancy of Jesus Christ to this woman's life. Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~

Luke Looks Back Chapter 7 Luke 5: 27 – 6: 16 The Way of Jesus: people and problems This passage is a mix of good things about people and some problems Jesus has for us to consider before we start on his positive teaching in the next passage. The Call of Levi First there is the story of the call of Levi and a strong suggestion that what he did was good. Then two more stories in which Jesus was challenged over the things he did that people thought he should not do: Luke 5:27 - 32   Eating with those with whom one should not eat! Luke 5:33 - 39   Eating when one should not eat! Luke 6:1 - 11     Doing what one should not do! Finally Luke gives us the complete list of the Apostles. First Jesus was eating with those with whom one should not eat - according to those we will call 'the serious' because they were serious about their religion. We read Luke 5:27-32: eating with those with whom one should not eat! Levi seems to be the same person called Matthew in t

  G'day! Today we are praying a series of prayers concerning the Ukraine Russian conflict and war. Молитви за Україну / Molytvy za Ukrayinu Come! Let's pray together and say your "Amen!" or "May it be so, Lord!" Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file

Luke Looks Back Part 6  Luke 4:31-5:26 - The Authority of the Messiah This passage has been carefully structured by Luke around the idea of authority. It starts off with 2 episodes in which Jesus shows his authority by first driving out an evil spirit and then healing many people. It ends with 2 episodes in which Jesus heals a man of leprosy, a symbol of evil, and heals a paralysed man. In between these 2 pairs of episodes Jesus shows his authority by proving that he, a carpenter, can catch more fish than the fishermen can. This middle story is the most important because it shows the authority Jesus had most clearly. First we read Luke 4: 31 - 44 Question 1: Twice in these episodes, when the man with an evil demon calls him 'the Holy One of God' and when the demons call him 'the Son of God', Jesus was more accurately identified by demonic powers than by ordinary people. Why was that? What are our modern day equivalents? That is a hard question to answer. Perhaps the otherworldly powers were mo

Luke Looks Back Chapter 5 Study 5 - Luke 4:14-30 The Announcement of the Messiah We start off this study with a question. Question 1: Where was your hometown? What was, or is, memorable about it? Read Luke:4:14 to 23. Nazareth was the hometown of Jesus, where he grew up. It was a small village in the middle of the province of Galilee, mainly of Galileans but including some Jews from the far away province of Judea. The people of Galilee were often of mixed ancestry so there is likely to have been considerable antagonism between them and the purer blooded Judean Jews who regarded themselves as the only proper Jews. As a result Judean Jews of Nazareth, as the family of Jesus were, were most probably foreigners in their own community. The two slightly different peoples were probably not friendly to each other. That, not the best of places, was where Jesus spent most of his childhood days! Luke uses the story of what happened when Jesus read from the OT book of Isaiah in the synagogue there, to start explainin

Wednesday Wisdom Proverbs 1 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 1. Download this episode using this link 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace to your head, and cha

Luke Looks Back Chapter 4 Luke 3:19-4:13 The Preparation of the Messiah: his baptism Luke rather oddly records the imprisonment of John (3: 19, 20) before the baptism of Jesus by John. He does this because only Jesus is really important in the rest of the story. He continues his account of the preparation of Jesus for his ministry with first his baptism and then his temptation. 1)     Ice breaker. What was the most memorable part of your baptism (if you were old enough to remember it) or confirmation? 2)     Matthew tells us why Jesus was baptised (Matt 3: 15). Luke is only concerned with what happened when he was (v 21 - 23). Which major Christian teachings are important in what happened? Why is it important for us to hear about these before we hear about Jesus starting his ministry? Genealogies were important in those days to show who someone was. Why this one is considerably different from the one that Matthew gives is not clear. Both are carefully structured ar

Luke Looks Back Chapter 3 Luke 3:1-18 Heralding the Messiah Luke continues with his careful introduction to Jesus' ministry. He tells us all about John because John came before, and announced, Jesus. One thing he is going to make very clear throughout his book is that while John was a prophet Jesus was more than a prophet. First we read Luke 3:1-9 Luke in 3: 4 - 6 uses Isaiah's great picture of hope in Isaiah 40:3-5, which prophesies the return of the Lord and his people to Jerusalem after the exile, as a picture of the coming of the Lord Jesus to the people of God. John is the voice. Jesus is the Lord. An obvious first question to make you think, although it does not come directly from this passage is this: What is your hope? How far does your hope change the way you live from day to day? Where should our hope be placed? Obviously the first part of that question has an individual answer, not an only right one. Our hope should be placed on being with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom and then after our resurre

Luke Looks Back Chapter 2 Not all the stories commonly believed about the birth of Jesus are true to the actual facts. He was born before Herod died in 4 BC ,in Bethlehem, which was not his parent's home village, probably in an ordinary house (the word translated 'inn' can mean a guest room or just the sleeping area in a house; the manger would be between the family area and the livestock area). Not all the stories commonly believed about the birth of Jesus are true to the actual facts. He was born before Herod died in 4 BC ,in Bethlehem, which was not his parent's home village, probably in an ordinary house (the word translated 'inn' can mean a guest room or just the sleeping area in a house; the manger would be between the family area and the livestock area). Luke 1:1-20 Question 1. Luke carefully says the birth of King Jesus occurred during the reign of Caesar Augustus (v 1), who was a great and good Roman Emperor who brought lasting peace to a world in which there had been many wars. What does he want

Luke Looks Back Chapter 1 Introduction Luke 1: 1 - 80 Preparations for the Advent of the Messiah This is the first of a set of studies of the life of Jesus written by a man called Luke. The studies are in the form of sets of questions for a group, or an individual, to think over and discuss. In his first 4 verses written in different, better Greek than the rest of the book, Luke announces what he is going to do. Luke makes it clear he is writing history by emphasising the way in which he has researched the life of Jesus and the surrounding events.  The other three Gospel writers write life stories more narrowly focused on Jesus. Luke was writing to a man called Theophilus who, judging by the formal way Luke addresses him, must have been someone rather important. Study 1 Reading:  (Luke 1: 1 - 4), Here is the first question: Luke  wants to give Theophilus 'certainty' about the things he has been taught by Christians (v 4). Where can we get certainty about the things we have been taught? Theophi

The story of Sharon The story of Sharon, from China, who converted to Christianity from Daoism/Buddhism.    Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file