Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

Acts 1:6-9

So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority..." And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

Verse eight of this passage can be regarded as the backbone of the Book of Acts. Book of Acts, also known as Book of Acts by the Holy Spirit, describes the process of how the apostles preach the gospel through the Holy Spirit. This passage specifically describes how the gospel is preached first in Jerusalem, and ultimately to the ends of the earth. In other word, gospel is always preached starting from wherever we are. Sometimes we would consider going to distant places to do missions, but overlook the needs right around us. We often think about witnessing for the Lord in undeveloped regions, but overlook witnessing for the Lord to our whole family. Gospel always begins with Jerusalem - wherever we are living - and then expand to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Expanding from this backbone, we also see how the Holy Spirit comes upon Jerusalem in Chapter 2, all Judea in Chapter 10, Samaria in Chapter 8 and the ends of the earth in Chapter 19. We see how the Holy Spirit worked in every place, and every time the Holy Spirit comes upon the believers, it brought forth revival and churches were established. We can only have real strength to live when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. It's like the Light Rail in San Jose, where the rail cars actually have no power, and it must be connected to electricity through a power wire that connects to the top of the car. If the wire is disconnected from the rail car, no matter how hard you press on the paddle, it's not going to move an inch. Similarly, we the believers are like the rail cars, because we don't have any power of our own, and our source of power is from the wire above us. Our life can only be filled with power when our life is connected with the wire.

The Bible clearly states that apart from the Lord, we can do nothing. We can certainly do a lot of things, but in the Kingdom of God they won't have any meaning and cannot accomplish the will of God. We need to ask God to help us in our daily life so that we may stay close to Him and welcome the Holy Spirit to work in our life.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Dear Lord, we thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit. Come and empower us so that we can be your glorious witness each and every day. May you put a clear mission inside us to urge us to let everyone around us receive the benefits of the gospel. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!