Thursday, December 19, 2013

DAY 579 - What on earth made you do that? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Want to know why I have been writing and recording my blogs and podcast daily since August 10, 2009? Click these three links:

Confirmation from John Stott in 2009: 
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

                               Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:11-15
** 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 2 Corinthians 5:11-15

Bible Study

     Paul tries all his best to tell the Corinthians and us why he is so crazy doing all those things for Jesus. Bishop Wright gives a very good example for this passage to make us understand why Paul and so many disciples of Christ are so crazy loving Jesus and doing things for Jesus. 
Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
     "What on earth made you do that?"
     The newspaper reporter was incredulous.  A young woman had just won a competition. The first prize was a three-week trip around the world,  the chance of a lifetime.  And she had given it up in order to stay with a friend as she went into hospital to face a crucial, and terrifying, operation.
     'I mean,' went on the reporter, 'surely she'd have understood   There must have been other people who could have been with her?"
     The young woman remained silent, pursing her lips.  Eventually, seeing she wasn't going to get away with saying nothing, she burst out,
     'All right.  You really want to know.  You think I'm crazy.  But what none of you know - and I wasn't going to tell you - is what she did for me three years ago.  I was on drugs and I couldn't stop.  It got worse and worse.  My family threw me out.  She was the only person who looked after me.  She sat up all night, again and again, and talked me through it…So did I have any choice?  Now that she's sick herself, it's the least thing I can do to stay with her.  That's far less than she did for me.'
    The logic of love outweighs all other logic known to the human race.  That sense, of a love which changes everything, and gives people the power to face things and do things they wouldn't otherwise have done, is what Paul is talking about in this passage. 

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:2 Corinthians. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.60.

     So, do you understand why Paul gave his everything even his life to Jesus? Do you know Jesus gave His everything even His life to you in the first place? Would you follow Paul's crazy example to serve our Lord Jesus Christ? 

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

Spiritual Journal

    What I heard from Jesus today is: What on earth made you do that?

    What I got from Jesus today is a confirmation of His calling our brothers and sisters of Richmond Emmanuel Church and beyond to participate in the "10,000 Reasons 123 Campaign". A vision I received on November 29, just three weeks ago in Hong Kong.

     The call is to ask all those who can afford to make an offering of Cad$10,000 to our church so that we can "journeying to The Promised Land", our theme in 2014. Not only so, we need to find two more people to make that offering in either of our three coming services, Dec. 25, Dec. 29 and Jan. 5. That's what 123 means. One person getting two more people to make an offering of $10,000 on either of that three services. For quite a number of people they can't afford $10,000, of course they can offer less. Offering is not a suffering but joy!

      On November 29, 2013, one of my high school classmate made an offering of Cad$10,000 to our church. When he was sharing why he wanted to make that offering, the Lord helped me to connect all those things happened in the past two years of God's preparation, our 2013 to 2014 two years theme "Vision towards the Promised Land", 2013 theme "Equipping for the Promised Land", 2014 theme "Journeying to the Promised Land", our "Small Drops of Water Campaign" which made last year's estimated $100,000 deficit into $30,000 surplus, our 60 people one year weekly relay style fasting of all three meals started this March, our "Kneeling to pray for 3 minutes a day campaign" started June 27, my moving experience of the song "10,000 reasons" one day(Aug. 19) before the AMiA Abbey rectors retreat in Texas, our Development Committee chair, Kit To's vision of finding 50 brothers and sisters willing to make an offering of $10,000(he suggested that two months ago without action yet until three weeks ago) and more. All those happening just connected together when my classmate was sharing his story with me. And, I received that vision but not with the name. It is after a wonderful breakfast with Rev. Dr. Paul Ng and Rev. Youngman Chan that we brought that name of the campaign "10,000 Reasons 123" out.

      Within two weeks after the first $10,000 we received donation or pledges(before Jan. 2014) of a total of $110,000 and then on Dec. 13, one of our couples donated one million Canadian dollars, and in four days time we received donation or pledges of a total of $100,000. And we have now a total of 1.7 million dollars. We still need $800,000 to be able to buy the land we think the Lord prepares for us. It is not too far away now! 

      What on earth make us do that? It is Jesus! Purely Jesus!

      I pray and wish you can join us to share this joy of GIVING!

      Please pray for our "10,000 Reasons 123" so that more people join in to make our journeying to the Promised Land a reality next year.  

 Dear Lord Jesus, 
Lead us to follow Paul's crazy model to serve you with everything we have, even our lives.   In Jesus name we pray. Amen.




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10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) Matt Redman
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)
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