DAY 801 - To be A Lion and Lamb Like Christian (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

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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: Revelation 5:1-7

** 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 Revelation 5:1-7

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation 5&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=启 示 录 5&version=CUV

Bible Study

     This is a difficult passage to understand. Jesus is the lion and at the same time the lamb. As we follow Jesus as His disciples, we also should be both lion and lamb Christians. What am I talking about?   

Let's take a look at what Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :

     The lion is the symbol both of ultimate power and of supreme royalty, while the lamb symbolizes both gentle vulnerability and, through its sacrifice, the ultimate weakness of death.  But the two are now to be fused together, completely and for ever.  From this moment on, John, and we as his careful readers, are to understand that the victory won by the lion is accomplished through the sacrifice of the lamb, and in no other way…
     There have been, down the years, plenty of lion-Christians.  Yes, they think, Jesus died for us; but now God's will is to be done in the lion-like fashion, through brute force and violence, to make the world come into line, to enforce God's will.  No, replies John; think of the lion, yes, but gaze at the lamb.
     And there have been plenty of lamb-Christians.  Yes, they think, Jesus may have been 'the lion of Judah', but that's a political idea which we should reject because salvation consists in having our sins wiped away so that we can get out of this compromised world and go off to heaven instead.  No, replies John; gaze at the lamb, but remember that it is the lion's victory that he has won.    

N.T. Wright. Revelation for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.53-54.

      Are you able to understand this mystery? How can you live out this mystery to be a lion and lamb like Christian?   

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: To be a lion and lamb like Christian

    What I got from Jesus today is an ear opening message and an eye opening scene of victory and sacrifice. At this time I remember the powerful verse in Zechariah 4:7,
     "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might not by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty.'"

     I have seen too many Christian leaders as lions try to win their influence by might and by power creating a human control kingdom lording lots of people. Sad!

     I have seen too many Christian as lambs trying not to do anything but hiding in their 'safe house' enjoying their own club-like lifestyle but afraid to go out to be politicians, top leaders to influence their countries, companies and society. At the end of the movie "The fall of Hitler" there is a message stirring up people's thought "The rise of evil is for good men doing nothing."

     Only Jesus can tell us the meaning of this secret. Only Jesus knows how to open the scroll. Let's follow Jesus path and His daily guide to be lion and lamb- like Christians. 

Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be able to follow your way and example and your daily presence so that we can be lion and lamb-like Christians. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman

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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)

http://discipler123.blogspot.ca/


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year
http://www.htb.org.uk/bioy