Tuesday, December 31, 2013

DAY 591 - (English podcast click here)

DAY 591 - Are You Being Commended by The Lord? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Want to know why I have been writing and recording my blogs and podcast daily since August 10, 2009? Click these three links:

Confirmation from John Stott in 2009: 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

                               Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:12-18


** 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:
 .Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf

Please click this link to read 2 Corinthians 10:12-18

Bible Study

     Following last passage about capturing people's mind back to Christ, Paul explains why he was accused of boasting himself. The reason is the same as in earlier chapters about Paul did not have the recommendations from the other apostles but other leaders had those recommendations. So Paul used strong words boasting his genuine position as an apostle of Jesus hoping that the Corinthians knew and accept his true status. 


Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
      What it all comes down to is the true nature of the Christian 'boast': anyone who boasts should boast in the Lord!  He's already quoted this (it comes from Jeremiah 9.23) in the first letter to Corinth (1.31), where it stood as a sign that all the different things the church might want to boast of, not least its social and cultural advancement through teachers with more rhetoric than substance, had to be subjected to the humiliation of the cross.  Now he quotes it again with a similar though slightly different aim.  He wants to warn the church against those who 'commend themselves', but are not commended by the Lord. 

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:2 Corinthians. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.111-112.
     
     How do you know if you are commended by the Lord? Do you know how to answer this question? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture 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

    What I heard from Jesus today is: Are you being commended by the Lord?

    What I got from Jesus today is a question not easy to answer, yet not really impossible to answer. Looking as Paul as an example is a good way to know the answer. We can see his Christlike character, his fruitful ministries and his powerful writings. Not difficult for us to know after 2,000 years but not easy for those Corinthians to be sure because some of their minds had been captured by Satan and they were unable to see.

    There is a Chinese saying I quote quite often when someone asks me whether this leader is a good leader or that Christian is a faithful disciple of Christ. I frequently use that saying:
The longer distance it is, the better you know a horse;
The longer time it is, the better you know a person.

    Time will prove whether we are boasting ourselves or boasting in the Lord if we really have to boast in order to tell people who we are. Time will prove of our Christlikeness and fruitfulness if we are commended by the Lord.

    Time will tell, for those who are able to see and hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. But, not for those whose minds are being captured by Satan.

    Who are you? Where are you now? In Satan's prison or in a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus? Are you being commended by the Lord?

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be as close as we can with you each day so that we have a better chance to be commended by you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Happy New Year!



Please click this link to worship with us -


10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman
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): 
http://bishopsilas2.blogspot.ca/


Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/


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): 
http://emmanuel330.blogspot.ca/

This blog:

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

Monday, December 30, 2013

DAY 590 - (English podcast click here)

DAY 590 - Why We Need Spiritual Weapons? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Want to know why I have been writing and recording my blogs and podcast daily since August 10, 2009? Click these three links:

Confirmation from John Stott in 2009: 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

                               Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:1-11

** 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:
 .Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf

Please click this link to read 2 Corinthians 10:1-11

Bible Study

     After two chapters talking about money and offerings, Paul comes to the subject of spiritual warfare and spiritual weapons. Is there any relationship between the money thing Paul talks about and this one? I let you think about that. I am not going to discuss about that here today because this is not the focus of today's passage.

     The focus of today's passage is that we are in a spiritual warfare. Satan has all kinds of tactics to capture human's mind. When people are being captured, they are either prisoners of Satan, unable to do anything for Jesus, stuck and downcast, or they change side to be Satan's messengers capturing other people into Satan's camp to oppose Jesus and His servants. This is for real! I have seen too many prisoners and quite a number of Christians suddenly changed side to steal, kill and destroy! Scary! Sad!

Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
      In verses 3,4 and 5 Paul describes his strategy in the battle for the mind.  At its heart is the principle he states in verse 5: we take every thought prisoner, and make it obey the Messiah. It is a bold intention, and this whole passage is about boldness, the boldness of the apostle who somehow balances the meekness and gentleness of the Messiah with the boldness that tears down strongholds…Paul doesn't want to have to use that boldness, but he will if necessary.  And they need to know where it comes from.
      It comes from Paul's thought-out and long-practised strategy for the war he's engaged in.  Elsewhere (e.g. Romans 13.12, Ephesians 6.10-20, and 1 Thessalonians 5.8) he describes the weapons he uses for the fight;  here he says what they're used for.  They are what you need for the battle against all ideas, arguments, philosophies and world-views that set themselves up against the knowledge of the true God.

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:2 Corinthians. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.105.
     
     In the severe battle of this mind game of Satan, many are being captured. Do you know how to capture their thoughts back to Jesus? In another word, do you know how to save them and take them out of Satan's prison? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture 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

    What I heard from Jesus today is: Why we need spiritual weapons?

    What I got from Jesus today is a question most Christians have no interest in. Why? Because most Christians do not know why we need spiritual weapons, what are those spiritual weapons, how to use them and really using them!

    A major miracle is happening at Richmond Emmanuel Church now of our church building project. If you miss what has happened, please click these two links to the blogs/podcasts I shared some days ago:

DAY 579: What on earth made you do that? http://discipler123.blogspot.ca/2013/12/day-579-what-on-earth-made-you-do-that.html
DAY 588: More about Giving? Why?
http://discipler123.blogspot.ca/2013/12/day-588-more-about-giving-why-cantonese.html


    What you may not know is that we have been using quite a number of spiritual weapons since the beginning of this year:
1. We had a 40 days daily fasting since January 1, 2013. I had another 40 days of fasting before that.
2. We are having a one year fasting since Easter Sunday this year till next March.
3. We are having a "kneeling three minutes a day campaign" since June 27 this year.
4. We have more people to join our Saturday's 9a.m prayer meeting, more than 30.
5. We add one more prayer meeting especially for our church building development 9p.m. 1st Thursday.
6. We are going to have a 100 days daily fasting from January 1, 2014. I started my daily fasting 54 days before that, November 8, 2013.

    I do not think the WAVE of offerings and enthusiasm would happen if we do not have those spiritual weapons. As you should know, when a church starts to have building plan, arguments, disagreements and division will come, most churches suffer heavy damage. We do hope and pray that by using those spiritual weapons we can capture people's thought back to Christ, just like what Paul says. 

     But, how many of us really believe and are willing to join in! That's the question! What's your respond and action today? Are you going to join our 100 days daily fasting starting on January 1, 2014?

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be willing to use spiritual weapons to fight spiritual warfares so that we can capture people's thoughts back to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us -


10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman
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): 
http://bishopsilas2.blogspot.ca/

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

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): 
http://emmanuel330.blogspot.ca/

This blog:

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

Sunday, December 29, 2013

DAY 589 - (English podcast click here)

DAY 589 - God Blesses A Cheerful Giver (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Want to know why I have been writing and recording my blogs and podcast daily since August 10, 2009? Click these three links:

Confirmation from John Stott in 2009: 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

                               Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

** 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:
 .Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf

Please click this link to read 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Bible Study

     This is the concluding passage of the whole section about giving from chapter 8 to chapter 9. Paul quotes three important passages from the Old Testament to give the Corinthians and us the most important purpose of giving.  

Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
      The first passage he quotes is from a verse in Proverbs which occurs in the Greek translation of Proverbs 22.8: 'God blesses a cheerful giver.'  Paul and his churches would have normally read the Bible in Greek, and the passage he quotes would have been part of that Bible, even though it isn't in the Hebrew texts, and in consequence isn't in the English and other translations we know today…
      The second passage he quotes from is Psalm 112.9, speaking again of the person who scatters blessing to the poor.  Such a person, says the Psalm, has a 'righteousness'  which lasts for ever…In the Psalms and elsewhere in the Old Testament, it regularly refers on the one hand to God's own faithfulness to the promises he made to his people, and on the other to the behaviour by which God's people demonstrate their gratitude to God for this faithfulness…
     But the real climax comes in the third passage.  God, says Paul, provides 'seed for the sower and  bread to eat', quoting Isaiah 55.10. Isaiah 55 is the glorious invitation to all and sundry to come and feast on God's rich bounty, because God is making a new creation in which everything will be renewed…
    What Paul is urging them to do is to think of themselves, as it were, this way round, and to discover that, if they realize they are characters in the great drama which is going forward, then the generosity he is urging will come naturally…
    Grace, generosity and gratitude: these are not optional extras of Christian living, but are the very heart of it all. 

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:2 Corinthians. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.102-103.
     
     So, have you got the purpose for you to give after these few days of teaching, reflection and listening? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture 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

    What I heard from Jesus today is: God blesses a cheerful giver

    What I got from Jesus today is an urge for us to be a cheerful giver so that we are being blessed by God and He can work through our generosity to bless more people. 

    Bishop N.T. Wright's finding of the Greek word 'blesses" instead of all the translations "loves" makes quite a difference. Although "blesses" and "loves" is nearly the same because when God loves us and He will surely bless us. Still, when we say "God blesses a cheerful giver", it brings out a different tone and weigh.

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be a cheerful giver so that we are being blessed by you and you can work through us to bless more people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us -


10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman
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): 
http://bishopsilas2.blogspot.ca/

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

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): 
http://emmanuel330.blogspot.ca/

This blog:

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

神救拔我們脱離困苦,因他的慈愛永遠長存!

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