Saturday, May 16, 2015

OT DAY 204 - Listen and Obey to Tithe (Please click here for English podcast)

Please click the link below to my new 40 days Break.Build site any time you like to having a 40 days "Break.Build" daily devotion with one to two people as a discipler to help those Jesus prepares for you to disciple. You need to know that the call and purpose of my Break.Build and this Discipler123 blog/podcast is for you to become a discipler to help more people to have a daily intimate relationship with Jesus and then they can become disciplers too:
http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Please click these links to the app. Andy Ng wrote if you have an Android cel.:
Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app


Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

       Let the peoples praise you, O God;
                      let all the peoples praise you!
       Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
                            for you judge the peoples with equity
                         and guide the nations upon earth. 

                             Psalm 67:3-4

                                                                       
Confession and Repentance

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Leviticus 27:1-34)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus 27&version=ESV

30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”
34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israelon Mount Sinai.
                              Leviticus 27: 30-34

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"

My Listening
     The whole book of Leviticus is about listen and obey, to teach the Israelites through all kinds of complicated commands and offerings of what listen and obey really is. You follow all those, just like soldiers following commands of their captain, that is listen and obey. You have doubt, hesitate, do not follow the commands, that is not listen and obey, or even rebellious or treason as in soldiers case. So, the training for the Israelites to be listen and obey is to train them to be elite soldiers of God and that they can survive among all those strong nations surrounding them.
     Some people say that the Bible does not teach tithing. That is wrong! The whole book of Leviticus ends with the command of tithing. Do you think that is a coincidence? l

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :
    
     When you tithe your flock, you line up the animals and count them off, and numbers ten, twenty, and so on go to God.  With a smile Leviticus then imagines a shepherd realizing that number twenty is his fattest sheep and number twenty-one is a sheep with a lame leg.  Can he make a quick adjustment to the line? No; no substitutions are allowed.  With that, Leviticus ends. 

John Goldingay. Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.190.



      So, Leviticus ends with a warning to the Israelites that they cannot think out of any trick or excuses to get away with tithing. I think this is the time for you to commit yourself to tithing and offer more than tithing so that you can start the wonderful training process of listen and obey for God to make you an elite soldier in His Kingdom. 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be willing to really listen and obey start with our tithing and daily devotion. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you believe tithing is really God's command to all Christians? Why? 

2. Are you willing to tithe and to teach as many Christians as you can to tithe so that you all can start your listen and obey journey walking with God each day? 


Praise and Thanksgiving
Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:
10,000 Reasons



You may choose to follow my other daily blog:
Daily Devotion on Fire: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

主一出手,風浪止住,平靜了!

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