OT DAY 54 - (English podcast click here)

OT DAY 54 - Don't Run Away! Return! (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Today's Reading: Genesis 16:8-16

** 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 16:8-16

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 16&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=創 世 記 16&version=CUV

Bible Study

      Today's passage is a strange but wonderful story. How could Hagar went back to Egypt but then returned to Abram and Sarai? That doesn't make sense!   

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

    

     Hagar was told, "I know it's hard. But you have to go back."
     Hagar somehow escaped Egypt and found herself in the family of Israel's ancestors.  No matter how grim things get there, it is a better place to be, the place where God's promise and God's purpose for the world is at work.  Egypt is the place where the israelites will be ill-treated and from where God will rescue them.  In this same wilderness where Hagar is at the moment, they will wish they were back in Egypt because life continues to be hard.  But Egypt is the last place anyone should want to go back to…
     Hagar recognizes that when God's aide finds you, this person really does mediate the presence and care of God in person.     

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.189, 191.

      If you are Hagar, do you think you would return? What do you think  makes Hagar to return? What would happen to Hagar if she insists to run away?

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: Don't run away! Return!

    What I got from Jesus today is something important for us to think of. Why? Because I have seen too many people running away from God and at the end they were being totally destroyed by the Deceiver into a black hole of darkness, anger and depression. I have seen too many people running away from their home church trying to find a better church. Most of them can't find one and keep on hopping to more churches. The Word of God is to tell you to stop that and start to build your home church to be a better church, a true body of Christ that can bring reconciliation, acceptance, appreciation, love and peace to other people.

     If you are not those who are running away from God and from your home church, I give thanks to the Lord for you! Are you willing to be the aide to help those who are running away from God or running away from their home church to return, just like what Hagar did? RETURN! 

     Lord Jesus, you are saying to us, "Don't run away! Come back to me, my child!" 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to return to you if we are running away from you. Pour down your fresh anointing on us so that we can be able to be the aide to help more people to return back to you.  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 -

從心合一

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

Amazing Grace My Chains are Gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

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

OT DAY 53 - (English podcast click here)

OT DAY 53 - Don't Belittle God's Servants (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Today's Reading: Genesis 16:4b-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 Genesis 16:4b-7

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 16&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=創 世 記 16&version=CUV

Bible Study

      Today's passage is a sad turning point of Abram's family. When someone messes up God's plan like what Sarai and Abram did, someone is going to hurt.   This time, all party of three were in a mess. More than that, a servant/slave suddenly thought that she could get into her master's wife control seat, forgetting that Abram got a promise from God. Do you remember what kind of promise did God give to Abram?  

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

    

     So Sarah's image about "being built up" is a telling one. Further, there is a similarity in the word for "build up" and the word for "son,' a similarity the Old Testament sometimes makes use of.  Sarah hopes to be "sonned up."  What actually happens is that she is put down, not built up.  Hagar is the second-class wife, but she has the functioning womb, which rather makes her first-class.  She is in a position to look down on Sarah.  The words are again chilling.  God had promised to curse anyone who belittles Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Is Hagar risking God's curse?    

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.185-186.

      How sad it is in Hagar's case. She had a chance to rise up from a servant/slave to a second class wife, that is a big jump! But, she lost that chance because of pride. Pride blinding her eyes so that she belittled God's servant's wife and that is belittle Abram. What a waste! 

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: Don't belittle God's servants

    What I got from Jesus today is a warning to all of us. It is so easy for Christians to belittle God's servants. I have been belittled many times and it hurt me and my family!

    The worst thing is, those who belittle God's servants always think that they are helping God to do some right things. They do not understand God will bless those who bless Abram, and will curse those who curse Abram. This rule of blessing and cursing could apply to all God's servants. 

    Please, don't belittle God's servants! 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to love and respect your servants. Lead us to pray for them, protect them so that our church will be a healthy church. 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 -

從心合一

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

Amazing Grace My Chains are Gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

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

OT DAY 52 - (English podcast click here)

OT DAY 52 - YES or NO, Hard to Know? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Today's Reading: Genesis 16:1-4a

** 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 16:1-4a

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis 16&version=ESV

Chinese: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=創 世 記 16&version=CUV

Bible Study

      Abram had been waiting for ten years and God's promise did not happen. Sarai proposed a solution and Abram agreed. May be they thought that God wanted them to have that solution. 

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

    

     Now, from time to time people come to believe God has made them impossible promises, and one wonders how they will live with those promises and whether they will wonder whether God really made them or will need to find a way of reinterpreting them or whether they need to help God fulfill them.  Further, God's promise to Abraham concerns not merely the fulfillment of the regular human need and longing for children; it also relates to God's purpose not merely to bless Abraham and Sarah but to bless the whole world. 

John Goldingay. Genesis for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.182.

      If you were Abram, would you do the same thing helping God to fulfill His promise and reinterpreting God's will? 

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: YES or NO, hard to know?

    What I got from Jesus today is something we need to think of. It is really not easy to discern God's will. Let's use today's example, how could Abram know God did not want him to do that and that he was making a big mess? There is no way to know until God acted.

    The question is, could Abram and Sarai's decision an act of God? How could they know that was not an act of God?

    The answer can be easy or difficult. Why? Because God did not say anything recorded in the Bible to tell Abram and Sarai to do that. When God says YES, then we go. When God says NO, we stop.When God does say anything, we wait. Are you able to know when is YES and when is NO? Or Wait?

     Actually this is a relational question. This is your relational question, no one can answer for you. Are you sure God is saying YES to you? Are you sure? 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to admit that it is really not easy to discern your YES or NO. We need help. Help us Lord so that we won't mess up your plan like what Abram and Sarai did. 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 -

從心合一

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

Amazing Grace My Chains are Gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

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