OT DAY 117 - Are You Really Serving God First? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Let us praise the Lord:

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.                                                         

                                                         Psalm 36:7-8

Today's Reading: Exodus 5:1-6:1 

** 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 Exodus 5:1-6:1

Chinese(CUV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=出 埃 及 記 5&version=CUV
English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus 5&version=ESV

Bible Study

      Today's passage gives us an important issue to ponder about: who are you serving? We know that as Christians we need to serve God first. But, are we really serving God first? 

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

    

       Service is a major theme in the exodus story, though English translations use words such as worship, bondage, and slavery as well as service to translate Hebrew words that are related.  Pharaoh makes them serve with harsh service (Exodus 1:13-14). Later, their service gets tougher (5:9, 11: 6:9).  When they want to leave , he bids them get back to their service (5:18).  They cry out because of their service (2:23) and speak of themselves as Pharaoh's servants (5:15, 16), but their cry by reason of their service reaches God (2:23)…
      The sign God promised Moses when first appearing to him was that when he has brought the people out of Egypt, they will serve God on this mountain (3:12), and God's challenge to Pharaoh is thus, "Let my son go so that he can serve me" (4:23) or "Let my people go so that they can serve me" (7:16;8:1,20; 9:1,13;10:3) 
       Christians can seem to give too much attention to worshiping God and neglect serving God in the world, for instance by caring for the poor.  The Old Testament critiques that.  There is an opposite possibility, of focusing on serving God out in the world and not being involved in worship.  Exodus reminds us of the importance of worship by the way it uses this word for "service" to mean "worship," and in effect it defines worship as making sacrifices to God and making pilgrimage.   

John Goldingay. Exodus & Leviticus for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.30.

      Who are you serving each day? Are you having a balanced life to worship and to serve God? 

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: Are you really serving God first?

    What I receive from Jesus today is a question to give us joy and peace. Why?

    Because today's passage is challenging us using just one word "service". Most of the time, Christians are not serving God but serving lots of other people and things. We serve those people and things that can not last but not to serve God who is everlasting.

    Even if we know how to serve, most Christians can not have a balanced life of worshipping and serving. Either we love worshipping God and building up a closed community, sometimes similar to a club. Or, we serve lots of Christian organizations outside and not being able to worship well in our own church building up a worshipping community.

     So, are you really serving God first?  

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to know who we are serving actually. Lead us to be able to serve you according to your command. 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

10,000 Reasons

https://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/bio