Sunday, November 30, 2014

OT DAY 84 - (English podcast click here)

OT DAY 84 - God Works through Our Messes (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Starting last week we add one important thing to our daily devotion. We start our devotion with one to two verses from the Psalms to praise God. We always have so limited vocabulary when we want to praise God. Let's learn from the Psalms so that we can be able to praise God in a better way:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in your sight,
    Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

                    Psalm 19: 14
Today's Reading: Genesis 30:4-21

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

Please click this link to read Genesis 30:4-21


Bible Study

      This passage shows us how painful it can be for a man to have more than one woman. It is just a mess! But, God works through this mess to have the twelve tribes of Israelites. Can you believe that? 

Let's take a look at what Professor John Goldingay says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :
    
     The significance of these stories in Genesis is not to provide tips on how to avoid getting into a mess or how to get out of one, but to remind us that we all get into messes and that this does not stop God from being at work.
     It is easy to see this dynamic in Jacob's family.  There is Leah's pain, Rachel's jealousy and anger and Jacob's rage, and there are the strategies for coping that Rachel and Leah employ.   

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone - Part Two. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.99.



      What insight can you get from this kind of family and relational mess? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: God works through our messes

    What Jesus tells me today is something we might never be able to think of. How can you imagine that while human beings are making a mess but God works through all those messes to put forward His great plan.

    Are there some people who are making a mess around you? Are you being troubled by all those kinds of disturbances? 

    It's OK, because God is always in control. The question is, when that happen, how can you be willing to be used by God to work through all those messes to get God's plan into being.  

Dear Lord Jesus,
Prepare us and use us to put forward your plan in the midst of all kinds of messes. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.



    Please click this link to the app. Andy Ng wrote. You really need to use that if you have an Android cel. Andy said he is going to do the App. for iPhone later:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app


Please click this link to worship with us -
You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 
Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

This blog:
Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year

Saturday, November 29, 2014

OT DAY 83 - (English podcast click here)

OT DAY 83 - If You Want True Love (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Starting last week we add one important thing to our daily devotion. We start our devotion with one to two verses from the Psalms to praise God. We always have so limited vocabulary when we want to praise God. Let's learn from the Psalms so that we can be able to praise God in a better way:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

                    Psalm 19: 1
Today's Reading: Genesis 29:32-30:3

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

Please click this link to read Genesis 29:32-30:3


Bible Study

      This is a strange passage. It seems that the Bible shows us polygamy is fine and there isn't any true love. Is it really so, or is that our misinterpretation?

Let's take a look at what Professor John Goldingay says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :
    
     What is the place of love and commitment in a polygamous marriage? As in the case with Abraham and Hagar, sleeping with Bilhah (and later Zilpah) as well as Leah and Rachel does not imply Jacob is committing adultery.  All four women are his wives.  Genesis does not suggest polygamy is immoral, though it does recognize that its origins back in Genesis 4 were questionable
     A friend of mine who has worked in a polygamous context reported recently the comment of one of his students: that polygamy begins in lust and ends in pain.  Here it begins in pain and ends in pain
     The scene reprises the one that describes how Abraham's servant found Rebekah, though it thereby draws attention to the differences from that scene.  Abraham's servant is a gentleman; Jacob is a braggart.  The first story kept referring to God's involvement; there is none of that in this story. 

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone - Part Two. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.95-96.



      In most countries, we don't have the problem of polygamy, but we do have lots of problems concerning with sex outside marriage. What is the right and good way to prevent this marital problem? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: If you want true love

    What Jesus tells me today is the right and good way to prevent sex outside marriage. And, it is very simple:
1. Sex outside marriage begins in pain and ends in pain.
2. True love must have God's involvement.

    Do you want a good and blessed marriage? You know what to do now, right? 

Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be close to you so that we can enjoy good and blessed marriage.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Some pictures of our basketball match and pictures in Tai Wan:








    Please click this link to the app. Andy Ng wrote. You really need to use that if you have an Android cel. Andy said he is going to do the App. for iPhone later:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app


Please click this link to worship with us -
You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 
Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

This blog:
Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year

誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢?

  大齋期四十日 "破。立"每日靈修,請按下面連結: http://breakbuild.blogspot.com/   楊平忠大主教領受 "使命113"異象之見證 Archbishop Yong’s MISSION 113 videos,...