Partakers Christian Podcasts

  Chapter 10: In A Time Of Great Changes - Part 2 As we saw in the last study we live in a time of great cultural change all round the world, which doesn’t make Christian life any easier for us! We have already thought a bit about what the first of those changes, which I labeled ‘philosophical’ is and some of the implications for the Christian. The second major change is technological. Only 20 years ago when we lived in Pakistan we could only communicate with my mother in the UK by letter, except very occasionally and at great expense and difficulty by phone. Now if we were there we would be able to do so easily by mobile phone or over the Internet. Then we could only talk to someone if they were within speaking range unless we were both holding a phone anchored to a cord. Now we can talk at almost any separation if we both have mobile phones at our ears. Then if we wanted to know something new we needed to have access to a set of perhaps 30 large books constituting an encyclopedia; now, by computer, t

Psalm 91 1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of Yahweh, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust." 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. 9 Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, 10 no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. 11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.

Chapter 9: In A Time Of Great Changes - Part 1 It so happens that we live in a time of great cultural change all round the world, which doesn’t make Christian life any easier for us! I think we should think a bit about what those changes are and some of the implications for the Christian. This is going to take 2 studies to do; there are 2 main changes occurring which, to a greater or lesser extent, are affecting people all over the world. One of them is philosophical; the other is technological. This study looks at the philosophical changes and some of their implications. The next study will look at the technological changes and try to say some useful things about the effects of the double whammy of the 2 of them together. First then the philosophical changes. They have their roots in the Europe of the 17th century, some 300+ years ago. They were in part at least an inevitable result of the Reformation of 150 years earlier than that when the complete control of Christian thinking exercised by the Catholic

Psalm 73  A psalm of Asaph. 1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. 7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. 8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. 9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. 10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. 11 They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?" 12 This is what the wicked are like- always carefree, they increase in wealth. 13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my

  The normal (Christian) journey of faith Chapter 8: The work of the Spirit One thing that may be puzzling you is talk about who or what is the Holy Spirit. In fact he is a person so that should be ‘who’. There has been a huge increase in interest in how He works, What He does, and indeed What He is and means in the last 100 years. Not everything that has been said and written about Him is true to the Bible so we ought to look hard at what it says and thus sort out what is right and what is wrong. First we need to look at what Jesus said, particularly in His great teaching address to the disciples on the night before He was crucified, about Him and His work. He began by telling them that He, the Holy Spirit, would be with them – and us, for ever. In John 14:16,17 He says, “the Father will give you another advocate to Help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” Jesus was the first advocate, a legal term for someone speaking on one’s behalf in a court of law. The Greek word here is tricky

Psalm 78 A maskil of Asaph. 1 O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- 3 what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 8 They would not be like their forefathers- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. 9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 10 they did not keep Go

  The normal (Christian) journey of faith Chapter 7: Organizing Your Devotions This is a tricky one! It is very much a product of my own experience – failing to organize my own devotions for many years because no one told me how to do it. So it is a very personal argument I am going to present. Please, forgive me for that. When we start along the Christian path there are plenty of people telling us how we should organize our devotions. The trouble is, or was for me, that they all seem to be written by those wonderful people who are full of energy all day long and have a great ability to organize that energy to good purpose. So they tell us we should bound out of bed at some unearthly hour in the morning; read our Bibles, and pray for an hour or preferably two; then proceed to breakfast and a full day’s work. Waaah! I just don’t operate like that. Perhaps you don’t either. Until I have had my breakfast my mind is out of gear. For you that early necessity may be the first cup of coffee – even worse! We a

Chapter 6: The Lord's Table If baptism was difficult to talk about because of the many different ways different churches actually implement the Lord’s commands the Lord’s Table is worse! Again I will try to be even handed but my prejudices are sure to show! It is here, round the table, more than anywhere else, the Lord’s people are supposed to be together in unity. Paul got very upset when Peter started to divide the church at Antioch so that they did not all meet together at the same table. He was equally upset at Corinth when divisions became apparent as the church folk met to eat as part of the ceremony of the Lord’s Table. These days we cannot even all call it the same thing. Paul calls it the ‘table of the Lord’ and the ‘Lord’s supper’ in 1 Corinthians, so the Lord’s Table seems to be a reasonably neutral term, particularly as we may well not be eating at it at suppertime. It is also called Holy Communion (meaning the fellowship meal), the Eucharist (meaning the grace gift), the Mass (meaning uncert

Wednesday Wisdom Proverbs 13 1 A wise son hears his father’s instruction: but a scorner hears not rebuke. 2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 3 He that keeps his mouth keeps his life: but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction. 4 The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. 5 A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame. 6 Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows the sinner. 7 There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches. 8 The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor hears not rebuke. 9 The light of the righteous rejoices: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. 10 Only by pride comes contention: but with the well advised is wisdom. 11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathers by labour shall increase. 12

Chapter 5: Baptism The mark of entry to the Christian faith is baptism so it will be something you will want to consider early in your life as a Christian. Sadly and most unfortunately it is a very difficult subject to write about because there are so many different ideas as to what baptism is, who should be baptized, who should do the baptizing and what it means when it is done. Some say that there is no salvation without baptism; some, at the other extreme, say it is only our declaration of loyalty to the Lord and mark of entry to the church. Some baptize babies as soon after birth as possible to make sure they are in the visible, earthly, gathering of those identified with Christ; others say that baptism is the sign of faith and therefore should only be administered to those of adult believing faith. Some demand that those who baptize be in a unbroken chain by the laying on of hands from the first apostles; others are happy that anybody be the baptizer. There is a wide difference of opinion about where

Psalm 84   1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! I've always longed to live in a place like this, Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive! 3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! How blessed they are to live and sing there! 5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn-Zion! God in full view! 8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen: O God of Jacob, open your ears-I'm praying! Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, our faces, shining with your gracious anointing. 10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands

Chapter 4: Where To So you are a Christian. Where are you going to is one obvious question with a partly obvious answer. The obvious part of the answer is: to be with Jesus in the second life after this life and after death. We will leave thinking about that to the end of these studies – the most obvious place for it to be. The less obvious answer is to the question: where to in this life? And that is much more difficult to talk about for several reasons. Perhaps the most important is that listeners and readers to this will come from all sorts of countries, societies and cultures all round the world. The dominant word in the Old Testament relating to all this is ‘wisdom’, being wise, but it scarcely figures in the New Testament for the individual believer. However let’s use it and, to some extent, add our own particular twist to what it means. ‘Wisdom’ is the art of living wisely and well. It is not about being clever, or intellectual in a worldly sense. It is perhaps about being wise and intellectual i

Chapter 3: Early Days What happens in the early days of our life with Christ? Or – what should happen? It is a common experience to feel a sense of great elation, of walking on tiptoe, of being almost outside ourselves, and all that is good and wonderful. But I can think of one difficult and dangerous thing that happens and two things that we should deliberately set out to try and make sure they happen – if at all possible. The difficult thing, which is a common experience, is to be a particular target of the devil’s attacks. We can see this in the experience of Jesus. He was not converted; he did not have to start to follow himself! He was God and could be no closer to the Father than he already was. But he did have an occasion when this became clear, not only to him, but to all that knew him. I refer of course to the great event which was his baptism by John. Matthew records that: Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by

Psalm 55 For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. 55:1 Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication. 55:2 Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan, 55:3 Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me. 55:4 My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. 55:5 Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me. 55:6 I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. 55:7 Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness.” Selah. 55:8 “I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.” 55:9 Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 55:10 Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her.

Chapter 2: The Beginning One day – perhaps long ago, perhaps soon to come – we became, or will become, a Christian. That is a great day for all of us and for some, living in difficult countries, it can be a dangerous day too. It can also be a very misunderstood day. It is fundamentally important that we realize that it is a day when two persons are involved – not just one. We, the human individual involved, are the one that we talk about as having decided to follow Jesus/be born again/give our hearts to the Lord/or whatever way we express it. True enough; but not the whole of the story - not even the most important part of it. God, the Lord, is involved too, particularly in the person of the Holy Spirit. We commit ourselves to following Jesus. The Holy Spirit commits himself to being with us, staying with us, empowering us, so that we can ‘walk in step with the Spirit’ as Paul puts it. As you may know there is a problem here, which has been argued over in the church for centuries. It is this: ultimately

Psalm 134 A Pilgrim Song     Come, bless God, all you servants of God! You priests of God, posted to the night watch in God's shrine, Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place, and bless God. In turn,  may God of Zion bless you- the God who made heaven and earth!   Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file

Chapter 1: Before we begin   This series of studies attempts to say some useful things about how the journey of a Christian life is likely to work out. In fact, there are of course so many ways this may happen that to try and say something useful is quite rash – but here goes nonetheless. Before I start I need to define what I mean by “Christian”. Many people, in many parts of the world, think of themselves as Christian because their passports say so, or would say so if they had one. They have been born into a Christian family, in a Christian community, so they, and other people, think of them as Christian. But being a Christian in this sense is not the same as following Jesus, consciously, and determinedly. When I say Christian I mean those who have positively decided that they will follow Jesus, owe allegiance to him, and are practicing Christians, associating themselves with other Christians of the same way of thinking. Not every Christian can identify the moment in which they turned round and set o

Psalm 106 1 Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? 3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right. 4 Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, 5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise. 6 We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. 7 When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. 11 The waters covered their adver

Introducing the book of Romans   This is a part of our series, "Exploring the Bible", which comes from our book "Exploring the Bible" which is available on Amazon by clicking here or visiting PulpTheology.com Key Verses: Romans 1:16-17 / Romans 3:23 Paul’s letter to the Romans explains what God has done, presenting God's plan of salvation, which is in Jesus Christ, and the effect this has upon all mankind. This gospel plan sees God's righteousness extended to all of mankind based on Jesus Christ’ work on the cross. It is received by faith in Him, rather than the good works of man. It investigates ideas such as guilt, faith, assurance, security and sanctification. Paul is very concerned that there should not be any conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in Rome. So he explains very carefully how it is that everyone, although basically a sinner, can be accepted by God. That acceptance, called righteousness, can only be gained by belief in and commitment to Jesus and his atoning death on

Romans 12: Living Life Study 30: Do good! v21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. I am sure you are aware that evil is all around us in this world. It is easy for us to become unenthusiastic and downcast in the face of the stress, pain and atrocity of evil. What is our response to be, says Paul? We are to overcome evil with good. We are to overcome evil by living such good lives of love of God and others, that evil is vanquished. Evil wants to snatch away your inner joy and dependence upon God. We can overcome and conquer evil by submitting all to God - remembering that our love for God must always be stronger than any other love. That is good overcoming evil! It is why in what we call the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “Deliver us from evil!” We have three enemies – satan, the world and our old nature. All three evils died a death when Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross and rose again to new life three days later. They just refuse to accept it! Light always overcomes darkness, go