Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 4:6-9   It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God...   The author of Hebrews says here that there remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. The Sabbath-rest referred to here is not the promised land that God promised the Israelites thousands of years ago. The things of this world are often a symbol of the spiritual things to come. The land that God promised the Israelites was an inheritance and symbolized the coming of Christ. What truly saves us is not the land of Canaan, but the salvation of Jesus Christ. The Jews do not accept Christ because they misunderstood this. They thought they knew God's law and God's prophet. However, they did not understand that the law and the prophets were speaking of the work of Jesus Christ. What truly saves us is not the law nor the prophets, but the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.   Many people do not understand the principle behind symbolism and easily use material things or things on the outside to replace God. Some people replace God with rituals and focus on solemn music and ceremonies. This may appear grand, but people are only worshiping the feeling of grandeur, but not worshiping God. Some people replace God with doctrines and wreck their brains to figure out the perfect doctrine. However, in the process they lose sight of God. This is one of the crises that the seminaries face. They often exalt the word of men, but neglect the word of God. The church today may say they welcome Jesus, but in actual fact, they use all kinds of methods to replace Jesus. It is like you were invited to your own birthday banquet, and you were supposed to be the star. Yet when you arrive at the banquet, no one paid attention to you because everyone was celebrating their own thing.   We are often busy with our own thing and our own needs even when we gather together. We often lose sight of the one we should be focusing on - Jesus. If you were the Lord Jesus, how would you feel? May the Lord help us to once again focus on Him, because He alone is God and worthy of our worship. There is nothing in life that can stop us from coming before God. Nothing can truly satisfy our needs except for the Lord Himself. May the spirit of God draw us to cast all things aside and to worship Him only.          Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, I thank you because you are our precious Savior. May you draw us near to you in our everyday lives so that we can focus on you and depend on you solely. If there are things in our lives that keep us away from you, may you remove them Lord, so that our hearts can be focused on following you. I thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 4:3-5 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." Verse 3 may seem contradictory when you read it initially. On one hand, the Lord said, they shall never enter into my rest. This verse refers to two groups of people. One is the group who believes, and the other is the group who does not believe. Those who believe will enter into the rest that God has prepared. Those who do not believe will not enter into the promised land of God. "Belief" refers to believing in God's work. Believing that God's work of salvation has been completed in Christ Jesus. This work was planned since the beginning of creation. Genesis 2:1 says, when God had finished the work he had been doing, he rested from all his work. This included the work of Jesus coming to the world to save mankind. God already foreknew everything that was going to happen and had prepared everything that needed to be done. When we understand that all of these have been prepared for us, we can only receive, and this is believing. For example, when I go to your house as a guest, I will first knock on your door. When you open the door and see me, you will say, "Welcome Pastor Tong. Please come in." Believing implies accepting. Today Jesus is also knocking at the door of your heart. You can open your heart and welcome Jesus into your life. Not to be a guest, but to be your Lord. By believing in Him, we are accepting Him into our lives. In the same way, we can come simply to receive His gift of salvation. If we try to depend on our own strength and wisdom in place of God's work, we will land in misery and not find rest. In fact, faith is believing in what God has already accomplished for you and declaring by faith that the work of Jesus on the cross is done. Not only that God has accomplished His plan of salvation, but He has also accomplished it in our lives. Have you ever made this declaration? God's salvation has been accomplished in my life! The Lord's healing has been accomplished in my body! The Lord's will has been accomplished in my life! When we declare by faith, we can enter into the riches of God's promises. Hallelujah!          Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, I thank you because you have given us such a precious salvation. We can declare to the enemy "done"! Your salvation has been accomplished. I pray that the Holy Spirit will move so that your grace may flow like a river in our lives to satisfy us and the people around us. I thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 4:1-2   Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.   Faith needs to line up with the Word of God. Firstly, the foundation of faith is in the Word of God, and not feelings. If it were based on feelings, when you wake up in the morning and feel that everything is in order, you will feel that the Lord is with you. However, if you wake up in the morning and feel that something is wrong or you do not feel good, you will think that God is not with you. If faith is founded on feelings, it will go up and down each day. Faith is also not founded upon circumstances, such that when circumstances change, faith will crumble. Faith is founded upon the Word of God because His Word is the never changing foundation. Hence faith cannot be separated from the Word of God.   God's Word need to be received by faith. Otherwise, it is merely words on paper. Many people read the Bible and even memorize the Bible. However, God's Word does not bring Him strength, because they do not have the faith to receive. When David Livingston was preaching the Gospel in Africa, the man-eating tribe was chasing him down. He was about to cross the river and was praying anxiously, "Lord! Please give me a confirmation." Afterwards, he opened the Bible and read Matthew 28:20 where the Lord's promises, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Holding fast to this promise, Livingston prayed, "Lord, since you have promised me this, I will keep going by faith."   The same verse will stir up faith in the hearts of some, while for others they may feel nothing when they hear it. The key is whether you receive the Word by faith. When I was preparing to go into full time ministry, God gave me this verse in Exodus 8:25-27. There it clearly said to leave Egypt and head towards the wilderness. The background was this: Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and Pharaoh told Moses, "Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land." Moses answered him, "God wants us to leave Egypt and worship Him in the wilderness. " Perhaps you would think that this is just a historic event, but to me, it was the foundation of faith that God gave me. God's will is for me to leave my original job and enter into the ministry He has called me to.   God's Word needs to be received by faith and the foundation of our faith needs to be upon God's Word. Faith should line up with the Word of God so that it can bring power to your faith. When you read the Word of God, do you read it with faith? Use faith to grab hold of God's promises today!          Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, I thank you for not only giving us your word, but for your Holy Spirit that dwells inside us to bring us true faith. We welcome your work in our life and may your Word be strengthen our faith so that we can have victory in you each day. I thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 3:16-19 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?  And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Israelites could not enter into God's rest because they could not believe and follow God. These two are inseparable. Book of James also says that faith without action is dead. Faith and action are like the two paddles of a boat - a boat will not go straight if only one paddle is used. Only when both paddles are used will a boat stay on the right course. Even though many people believe in Jesus, very few people actually want to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We often treat the Lord's commands casually; pastor says on the podium that we must tithe, but we can come up with all kinds of excuses not to follow. Faith and action are inseparable, and when we believe in Jesus Christ we must obey His commands. In fact, tithing is the easiest command to follow in all of the Lord's commandments. It's hard to preach the gospel, and if you have really tried you'd know that loving one another is also difficult. Tithing, on the other hand, is one commandment that is most straightforward. If we can't even follow the easiest command, how can we consider ourselves followers of the Lord who love Him? Also, preaching the gospel is the great commission that God has given us. In the Old Testament, the Lord clearly gave us this mission because He left the world. This mission was not just given to the disciples, but it was given to all the believers. After we learned this commandment, however, we seldom take serious action. In the church we often seek to have our own needs satisfied, yet neglect whether God's will is satisfied; we often worry whether anyone cares about our own needs, but we seldom step out of church and care about those in need. When we say we believe in the Lord, we must also obey God's commandments in our life. We must love one another - That's the new commandment the Lord has given us. Believers sometimes can't even love their family, let alone other brothers and sisters. We must learn to truly love one another, like what 1 Peter says: "Above all, love each other deeply." We don't just talk about it, but we must be willing to offer our life to truly love those around us and love brothers and sisters, even those who don't love us and reject us! May God help us, for He has indeed given us the promised land, so let us enter the promised land by faith!         Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we thank you because you are our faithful true God. May the Lord help us, don't just believe in our head, but actually obey your word in our daily life. Let us enter into your promised land and enjoy true rest in our heart. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 3:14-15   We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."   The author of Hebrews said that we ought to "hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." This implies that faith doesn't come naturally, and it requires perseverance. Growth of faith depends on following the word of God. Just like what Jesus in Luke chapter 17, a servant must follow what the master orders. In the process of following, servant will find that the master is faithful and reliable to his own words, and the servant's faith will grow.   In the process of becoming a full-time servant of God, the toughest stage for me was not making the decision to go full-time, but rather it was taking the step to resign from my job. I thought I could first work in a Christian organization in transition, but it didn't materialize, so I had to study full-time. In the meantime, my wife became pregnant, and many people suggested that I should hold off on quitting my job. In theory I know that God is faithful, but it was still difficult to take the step forward. I thought about how the Israelites entered the land of Canaan by crossing Jordan River, which was rather different from their experience in crossing the Red Sea. When they cross the Red Sea, Moses first lifted his staff, seawater parted, and they cross the Red Sea, so they didn't need much faith. In the case of Jordan River, however, God asked them to first step into water, and then the river will part. The river will not part if they don't step into it. When they follow God's word and witness God's work, their faith increase. God stirred up my heart with this story - If I was ordered by God to step onto the way of full-time ministry, then how can I not follow? If I don't follow Him, how will I experience God's faithfulness? Therefore, the family took a step of faith forward, and what God provided us has been far more than what we had expected. When I was in seminary I was wealthier than ever; offerings from brothers and sisters and support from churches kept on coming in, and I truly experienced God's faithfulness. When we are willing to exercise our faith, we will experience growth in faith.   Also, maturing of our faith must go through patience and perseverance. We inevitably will encounter hardship in life and our faith will be tested. True faith from God must be able to persevere through trials, for it is not just empty words from one who stumbles at the first sign of trouble. In fact, God uses hardship to strengthen our faith and remove all the impurities in us, that way we can trust in Him wholeheartedly. That's why Peter said, in the book of 1Peter, that "these have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." When our faith is strengthened through hardship, we can ask God to help us to be patient and to persevere, so that our faith may overcome hardship and trials.         Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, I thank you because not only are you the God who gives us faith, you also complete our faith. Let us depend on you daily and fully experience your victory and abundance. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

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River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Hebrews 3:12-13   See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.   There's another reason why Israelites were hardened - Because of their unbelieving heart. It doesn't mean that they didn't believe in God or in miracles, for they were actually in the midst of miracles. Their unbelief is rooted in the fact that they cannot entrust themselves to God. Real faith is not just identifying with something rationally, but to entrust ourselves to almighty God. When things are not going well, do you really believe that God's way is higher than your way? When Lord's will is different from your will, do you really believe that God's will is higher than your will? Single brothers and sisters, do you dare to entrust your marriage in God's hands? Working brothers and sisters, do you dare to entrust your career in God's hands? It doesn't mean that you shouldn't make plan or do you best, but on top of all the effort you will make, do you believe that God will make all thing for together for good to those believe love God?   The reason why many Christians cannot experience God's abundance grace is because they don't really believe. In the four gospels, wherever Jesus went signs and wonders happened. But in Nazareth, where Jesus lives, He did not perform that many miracles. Matthew 13:58 says that it was "because their lack of faith." Perhaps you and I have received God's salvation by faith, but we might not have accepted the guidance of the Holy Spirit by faith, and thus enter into the abundance of God. If we don't really know the Lord's authority and abundance, we might not really understand that He's the true God who rules all things in the universe, and that He's still watching every one of His children. When our eyes in faith are opened, we'd know that God is almighty and abundant, and thus we will naturally believe in Him and depend on Him from the depth of our life.   The author of Hebrews says that we must "encourage one another daily," and that's why I often ask everyone to say something encouraging to one another in church and cell group. We don't need to talk about more secular matters in the church and we ought to encourage one another more. We must love the Lord more and follow the Lord more. When we follow the Lord and encourage each other daily, our faith in the Lord will be built up from inside.         Pray with Pastor Tong Liu          Lord, we thank you because you are the Lord who's "the pioneer and perfecter of faith." Please teach us to depend on you in our life, and let us encourage one another daily so that your Holy Spirit may strengthen our faith. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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