Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 294 - God, You Must Be Kidding! I Don't Think So! (Please click here for English podcast)

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

OT DAY 294 - God, You Must Be Kidding! I Don't Think So! (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.:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

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 and feel His presence. 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

   I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34   May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.
Psalm 104:33-34

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 (Deuteronomy 27:9-28:68)

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

9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” Deuteronomy 27:9-10

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2

15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Deuteronomy 28:15

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. Deuteronomy 28: 58-59

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"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

Today's passage is very important because the blessings and curses really happened in the history of Israelites. It is not easy to listen. It is not easy to believe that God really would do that to curse His own people. People would just think that God is kidding. But, who is God if He does not have both justice and mercy?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

The blessings in the first part of Deuteronomy 28 simply describe the good things that will come to the person who lives God's way…
The chapter goes into horrific concrete detail about how this will work out, stressing the horrible consequences of defeat and exile. A Jewish commentator notes that people were hesitant to read the curses when they came up in the synagogue lectionary…No wonder King Josiah tore his clothes in grief when he read the teaching scroll discovered in the temple in his day (2 Kings 22), which seems to have been some form of Deuteronomy.

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.186.

It is so sad but also funny that in King Josiah's time they did not know this part of Deuteronomy about those horrible curses. Some people hid those section somewhere in the temple. They just needed to listen to the blessings only, not curses!

So, are you those Christians just want to listen to the good things from God and don't care about those horrible consequences if you disobey God's command?

I feel so blessed and full of joy when I finished my second day of copying the Bible. Please take a look at the pictures of my handwriting today.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be able to understand the blessings and cursing you can give to your people so that we can be loyal and obedient to you and you only. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you think God is kidding that he would pour down those curses on you if you disobey and become rebellious?

2. What have you received from Jesus today?

Pictures of my copying the Bible today: