Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 483 - God Doesn't Care How Big And Beautiful Your Church Is, He Cares about Whether You Can Listen And Obey to His Commands (Please click here for English podcast)

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

OT DAY 483 - God Doesn't Care How Big And Beautiful Your Church Is, He Cares about Whether You Can Listen And Obey to His Commands (Please click here for English podcast)

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

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

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 (1 Kings 6:1-38)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+上+6&version=ESV

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

1 Kings 6:11-13

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

My Listening

Many Christians would like to have a big and beautiful church building. They think that if they have that building their church will grow rapidly. So, what does God really want? Same?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Like the idea of having a temple, the plans for the temple don't come from God. Typically, God goes along with what seems natural to the people who want to relate to God. The plan of the temple thus compares with the plans of many Canaanite temples. It's quite small. A cubit is about half a yard or half a meter, so its size is not so different from that of our little church that seats fifty or sixty people. That's no problem for us, because that's the usual size of our congregation. It would seem a problem for the temple in Jerusalem, until you realize that the temple was not designed as a place to accommodate the entire worshiping congregation. The actual temple building was not a meeting place for the entire community but a house for God…The temple is a house for God, a palace for the divine King. It's a house because it's a dwelling. It's a palace because it's panelled with cedar and decorated with carvings and covered in gold…
Stories in the Old Testament and in the Gospels describe how large crowds could gather in the temple area. As a result of its enlargement by Herod the Great, in New Testament times it was as big as a football field, as it is today. It was not so big in Old Testament times, but it was still big enough for any assembly that could be imagined…
God is more interested in some moral or relational considerations. God has no problem about living among the Israelites as long as they live the way God expects. That's symbolized by the presence of the covenant chest in the inner room, the holiest place.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.27-29.

Now, do you have a new understand of what God wants? He doesn't care the size of your church or how beautiful it is or how much money you put into. He cares about how you are willing to listen and obey to His Commands!

What is your response?