OT DAY 1 - Effort or Effortless (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

               Today's Reading: Genesis 1:1

** 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 Genesis 1:1

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=CUV

Bible Study

     Today is a new beginning. After three years and a half year (Since March 6, 2011) using Bishop N.T. Wright's New Testament for Everyone as the main source to read a passage from the New Testament as our daily devotion, we completed the whole New Testament four days ago.

     Today we start the Old Testament. We are going to use the same series as our main source. Old Testament for Everyone is written by Professor John Goldingay, Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary.

     Now, let's go to the beginning, first verse of the whole Bible. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." What does that sounds to you? How is this verse related to you? 

Let's take a look at what Professor John Goldingay says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

    

     "In the beginning..." Genesis is not talking about the absolute beginning, whatever that was; I guess there wasn't one, because God had no beginning.  It's talking about the beginning of the world...

     In the Old Testament, only God "creates."...Creating involves exercising an extraordinary, effortless sovereignty in order to bring something into being...

     Other Middle Eastern peoples in Israel's day had their own creation stories that overlap with Genesis (and other peoples have their creation stories),  and a century ago people talked about Genesis 1 being 'based on' these other Middle Eastern stories...If anything, Genesis was setting itself over against those other accounts of creation: "You know what your neighbors say about creation?  Well now I will tell you the real truth."  These other peoples believed there were lots of gods, and in practice the Israelites themselves often persisted in the same way of thinking. Those other creation stories saw the world coming into existence through cooperation between the various gods, or it involved conflict among them; the world comes into being as a result of arguments and fights among the gods.  Genesis 1 tells Israelites that actually it came into being as a result of the cool, planned, systematic activity of the one God so that "the heavens and the earth" are on "cosmos," one coherent whole.

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.5-7.

      How much effort have you put to your life after all these years to prepare yourself to live well and to have a better future? How much do you think our Creator, the one and only one God can lead you in His effortless creating power? 

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: Effort or effortless

    What I receive from Jesus today is a recall of lots of stories in my own life. How much effort I have wasted to live a good life without asking God to lead me each day with His effortless creating power.

    Don't waste your effort anymore in pursuing your own future. Jesus is now leading me to think of the last message of the whole Bible to echo with the first message of the whole Bible. Revelation 22: 21 "Amen. Come. Lord Jesus."

    Say "Yes" to Jesus. Ask Jesus to come in each day and let His effortless creating work begins in your life! 

   

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for giving us this new day to start the Old Testament. Lead us each day that we can say,  "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!"  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Please click this link to worship with us -

從心合一

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJWZQyLzDRQ

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

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