Today's Passage - Luke 4:31-37

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:31-37   "Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people.  They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority...  All the people were amazed and said to each other, 'What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!'  And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area."   Back in the time of Jesus, when people saw how Jesus cast out demon, they were surprised, so they asked each other "what is this teaching?'  They thought it was a new teaching, but it was actually the principle of the heaven: Son of God has great authority.  1 John 3:8 says that "the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work."  The Gospel that we believe in is powerful, but we are much like the Israelites back in the time of Jesus, because we often ask "what is this new thing" or "what is this new teaching" when we see signs and wonders.  Because we never experienced them, thus we don't know that the Lord we believe in is almighty and He has the power to heal and to release.   Believers in the Lord are often used to being weak and powerless, thinking that it's perfectly normal or even the way it ought to be.  When we occasionally see Christians who are filled with great joy and power, our first reaction is: "this guy is a fanatic!" or "he must be in a heresy!"  One time Jesus walked on the water and the disciples were surprised by Him.  Their first reaction was: that must be a ghost!  If we've never seen it, then it must be from the devil.  The Lord surprised them by telling them not to be afraid, and then He revealed Himself.  It was indeed the Lord, but they thought it was a ghost.  Isn't that the condition of the church today?  Sometime the Lord performs something new among us, and the "new thing" is not even that new because it probably has been done everywhere by God since the day of early church, but it's new to us.  Our reaction might be fear and doubt, but we don't consider the fact that it might be from the Lord.  Some have said that if it's the work of the Lord, it should not have scared us.  That is also wrong!  In the Bible, the first word that God spoke to people when He revealed Himself was always "do not be afraid."  Our first reaction to the work of God will inevitably always be fear, and we'll only be released after we slowly understand God's work.   Have you experienced signs and wonders?  It is not necessary for us to pursue outward manifestation, but we must believe that God can still perform miracles today, and they can bring forth tremendous transformation in our life.  Let us also believe that the Lord has given the authority to perform miracles to the church and to every believer.  When we pray for others, we will see sicknesses healed, demon cast out, and hearts turn back to true God.  May the Lord reveal to us that we have authority in Christ, for Christ is ever more abundant in us!               Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you are the Lord with authority, and nothing is impossible in you!  I ask that the Lord remove all the doubt and disbelief in us, and we welcome you to accomplish miraculous deeds in our life today.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 4:25-30

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:25-30   'I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.  And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed - only Naaman the Syrian.'...  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.   In this passage, the Lord told the most truthful words to the locals of Nazareth.  Why is that?  Because the locals didn't believe Jesus Christ was the Savior.  Why didn't they believe?  It is because Nazareth is the hometown of Jesus.  In verse 22, when they saw Jesus, they asked "isn't this the son of Joseph?"  It seemed like they were looking down on Jesus.  Lord mentioned the story of Elijah here, because the Israelites didn't accept the way of God back in Elijah's time, but they went farther from God.  So God chose gentiles to be blessed by His grace.   In the town of Nazareth, Jesus wasn't accepted by his own people; Israelites also refused to accept this savior, so they didn't receive the Lord's grace.  Our hearts should be comforted when we ready this scripture passage, for even Jesus was looked down by people!  As we serve the Lord, we are often hurt and we may encounter setbacks, or even looked down on; many can easily criticize and judge us by our past.  When we, however, become new creatures in Jesus Christ, we may regain strength to face our new life and every new day.   We can easily become frustrated and disappointed when we encounter setbacks, but we thank God because that didn't happen to Jesus, for He continued to march forward.  He wasn't frustrated even when the Nazarenes wanted to push Him down the cliff, and He still kept on going because He clearly knew His mission from God.  When we serve God, we also need to know the mission that God's has given us.  We will surely encounter setbacks and we will be criticized and judged, but will we become frustrated and lose our determination?  May God have mercy on us, help us to really know the mission that He granted us, and also let us keep on moving forward without fearing criticism or despise, like our Lord Jesus Christ. I encourage you to stand up again.  No matter how deeply you were hurt in the past, get up for the Lord!  The Lord died for you on the cross, and He was also humiliated in many ways for your sake.  God has called you to follow Him today, and to follow Him under any circumstance.               Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because you were humiliated for our sake, and you experienced much suffering on the cross.  Please help us to courageously stand up again by your love and sacrifice, and to become glorious witness of yours.  I ask that you bless the brothers and sisters, especially for those who have been hurt, were frustrated and experienced setback before.  May the Lord encourage them, and help them to stand up again for you.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, thanks!

Today's Passage - Luke 4:16-24

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:16-24   "He went to Nazareth... and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'"   In this passage, Jesus proclaimed the beginning of His mission. In verse 18 and 19, He quoted text from the Book of Isaiah, which clearly indicates the work on Messiah Savior, the savior whom the Israelites have been waiting for since Old Testament time. After reading the passage from Isaiah, Jesus said "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." He clearly proclaimed that He is the Savior who was to come, the Messiah whom Israelites have been waiting for. On the other hand, Jesus also wanted to clearly proclaim who He really was before He started His ministry, and then He would reaffirm who He really is through what He would do. From the work and word of Jesus, we know that He for sure is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, and also our Savior.   The work that the Lord did on earth was to "preach good news to the poor." We may not look poor from the outside, but we are often poor inside, so we need to humbly come before God to acknowledge our needs, and be willing to receive the grace given by the Lord. He wants to free the prisoners, heal the blind and release the oppressed. Freeing the prisoners means the salvation of the soul; people who are in bondage of sin cannot have true freedom in their heart and spirit, and Jesus is here to free our souls from the authority of sin. Healing the blind means the healing of the body; people often lose hope when they are in all kinds of illness, but Jesus not only will save our spirit, but also heal our body, for the stripes He suffered on the cross will bring healing to us. Releasing the oppressed with freeing our soul; many people have bondage in their soul and emotion, and they live in the wound from the past that they cannot be freed from. Jesus will save our spirit, heal our body, and also free our soul. Hallelujah! His salvation is for our spirit, soul and body, and all our needs will be completely satisfied by Him!           Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I ask that you fill everyone who's heard or read this message with the joy of salvation. Please bring forth salvation of our spirit, freedom of our soul and healing of our body. Let your power and authority be manifested in each of us, so that we may experience the truth and salvation from you in our life. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 4:13-15

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:13-15   "When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.  Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him."   The devil tempted Jesus in three aspects of human nature:   First is the spirit - The devil wanted Jesus to worship Satan, but not the true God.  Second is the soul - The devil tested His understanding of God and whether He had true faith.  Third is the body - The devil wanted Him to satisfy His own desire for food with a miracle.  Just like what 1 John Chapter 2 says, everything in the world can be used by Satan to tempt us.   Although Jesus had the same human nature as we do, He did not sin like we have; otherwise He could not have become our savior.  Because His human nature was tempted, He could empathize with us when we are tempted.  1 Corinthians 10:13 says that Jesus was tempted so that He could "provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" and come out victorious.  The believers can be victorious against temptation not by our own might, but by the victory of Jesus we can claim victory against the enemy.  Many Christians try to win the battle against the devil by their own life and strength, but they find themselves failing again and again, which can be frustrating.  Don't forget that God can lead us to claim victory in Christ against the enemy everyday!  How do we claim victory against the enemy?  In all three times Jesus was tempted, He responded with "it is written..."  He always used God's Word to defend the devil.  We need to keep God's Word in our hearts in order to face all types of temptation by the devil.  Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."  We need to keep God's Word in our heads and recite it often and pray with God's Word, and Spirit of God will come and teach us.  We can resist the devil, not by our own strength, but rather by the power of the Holy Spirit and by His Word.   When we read God's Word, we must learn to memorize it, so that when we face different circumstances, we can fight the enemy with God's word and power of the Holy Spirit.  James 4:7 says: "Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  Every word from God carries power, so as long as we depend on God daily, the power that was in Jesus Christ will be in us, and we'll be able to resist any action of Satan!  Ask God to affirm our faith now!           Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, may your spirit affirm us again, so that no matter what our circumstance is, we can claim victory against the enemy in Jesus.  With the power of the Spirit and Word of God, we will resist the devil, and as you have promised the devil will flee.  We give you all the glory!  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 4:3-12

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:3-12   The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'...  The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor...  So if you worship me, it will all be yours...'  The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.  'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down from here.  For it is written: "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully..."'  Jesus answered, 'It says: "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."'   From the scripture passage that describes the temptation of Jesus, we can see that preparation is needed in order to face temptation.  Holy Spirit led Jesus to the desert for 40 days so that He could prepare in the spirit, for Jesus did not eat because He wanted to fast and pray.   In spiritual warfare, fast and pray is a good exercise for preparation.  Matthew 17:21 recorded a case when disciples could not cast out a demon, and Jesus clearly told them that such kind of demon will not be cast out without fasting and prayer.   Fasting is not begging God for something, but it's for equipping ourselves to face warfare.  Fasting normally has a specific purpose, like when Jesus was preparing for the temptation.  We need to come before God and seek Him with a pure heart; we need to set aside things of the world so that we can hear God's voice.   Additionally, filling by the Holy Spirit is also a critical part of the preparation, as we see that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to pray in the desert for 40 days.  The devil tempted Jesus in two ways: deception and accusation, which I character as Satan's left hook punch and right hook punch.  In verse 3 and 9, the devil said twice "if you are the Son of God."  Jesus was obviously the Son of God, but the devil's scheme was to make Him have doubts about it, just like how the devil tempted Eve by saying to her "did God really say..."  In verse 9, the devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12, but omitted a part of it, because God never told us to jump down a cliff, but rather God just said that He will guard us in all our ways.  The devil was trying to deceive Jesus by distorting God's word.  "If you are the Son of God" is also an accusation, as the devil was questioning how Jesus could be the Son of God and how was it possible for the Son of God to be so weak.  The devil often accuses and tempts us to have doubts about our status as children of God and that we are not worthy of God's grace.  We are indeed unworthy of God's grace, but we received His grace completely because God's mercy came to us.  May God help us to understand the deception and accusation by Satan, and to know how we can resist the devil in our daily life.           Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I once again come before you with thanksgiving.  I pray blessing on all brothers and sisters; if any of them is encountering temptation by Satan through deception and accusation right now, in the victorious name of Jesus I rebuke all the work of the devil.  I proclaim that they will receive freedom in the spirit and defeat the enemy by the truth.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 4:1-2

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 4:1-2   "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry."   When Lord Jesus was in the world, Holy Spirit and His work were closely linked.  "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit" was the transition point between two eras.  In the thirty years prior to it, Jesus did not perform any miracles, and His word did not carry authority.  After filling by the Holy Spirit, however, His work was no longer concealed, but it was revealed and carried power.  His word had authority that produced submissive hearts; His prayer carried power that healed the sick and cast out demon.  It's important to know that the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth began with filling of the Holy Spirit, since Jesus was able to minister full of power because Holy Spirit was full in His life.   The Bible mentioned that after Jesus was anointed, He did great deeds all around, healed the sick and preached the message of the Kingdom of God.  The church is called the "body of Christ" all the time, but never called "body of Jesus," but what is the difference between the two?  The meaning of "Christ" is "the anointed one", and church is closely tied to the anointing of Jesus.  Since Jesus Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit, and church is the body of Jesus Christ, therefore the church also received the anointing by the Holy Spirit.  This anointing will come upon us, and our ministry will carry power and authority.  That's why Jesus said "...anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these...", because work of Holy Spirit gave Jesus real power to serve.   In the same way, if we depend on the same Holy Spirit, we can also do miraculous work.  Why will we do greater things than what Jesus did while He was on earth?  It is because of what Jesus Christ had done on the cross.  Before Jesus was nailed on the cross, the authority of sin was not completed severed, so the Holy Spirit could only do limited amount of work.  After Jesus resurrected from death, the authority of sin was completed severed, and Holy Spirit can move around much more freely, thus bringing great release of power.  Jesus said "...anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these...", because the same Holy Spirit is within us, and Holy Spirit has much more authority and freedom to work compared to before.  May the Lord help to know the authority we have in Holy Spirit, and rely on Him to serve the almighty God.         Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you, because in you have authority and power to be victorious.  Please help me to serve those around with the Holy Spirit, and see to that my word will have authority and my ministry will carry power.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 3:31-38

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 3:31-38   "...the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."   When you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ, you might question why we read to read it, and why the genealogy is even placed here in the Gospel.  You might be bored reading the genealogy, but it s important because it links the characters of the Old and New Testaments.  The entire Old Testament actually prophesies the coming of Messiah Savior, but who is He?  Of course it's Jesus Christ in the New Testament!  We need to, however, confirm through the genealogy that Jesus is indeed the Messiah of all human race promised in the Old Testament.  Messiah can be related to the promise that God gave to Abraham.  In Genesis 22:18, God told Abraham that "through your offspringall nations on earth will be blessed."  The word "offspring" is in singular form, so it points to one person, not a group such as the people of Israel; therefore, the offspring points to Messiah Savior.  The promise of Messiah can also be related to God's promise to David.  In 2 Samuel 7:12 God told David that "...I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom."  The "kingdom" here is not the kingdom of Israel, but the kingdom of Messiah.  Genesis 49 talked about the coming out of a "Shiloh," which means the one who bring peace, also it points to the birth of Messiah Savior.   In this genealogy, we clearly see that Jesus was indeed an offspring of Abraham and David, and He also belonged to the tribe of Judah, therefore the genealogy effectively linked Old Testament with New Testament.  Spirit of God has made a great proclamation to the world here - Jesus Christ is the Messiah.  Whenever we read the genealogy, our hearts can be joyful because of the promise of the Lord, and we see how every word from God in the Old Testament will come true in the New Testament.  Word of God is trustworthy, so we put our trust in Him and rely on Him in our daily life.  Remember to bring all your needs before God, because He is God who begins and ends, and He will accomplish everything He promised.        Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because from your genealogy I know that your promises will come true.  Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah prophesied back in the Old Testament time.  Lord, help us to bring all our needs before you, and trust that you are the faithful God.  By your faithfulness you will accomplish great things for everyone.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Today's Passage - Luke 3:23-30

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 3:23-30   "Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.  He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph..."   This excerpt from the genealogy of Jesus describes the state of the nation of Judah after their exile.  The exile was the darkest period in Jewish history.  Back then, the Jewish people had two important questions: First, why did these things happen to us?  Aren't we God's chosen people?  Isn't God's temple in our midst?  Why were we exiled to a gentile nation to become slaves?  The author of the Books of Kings attempted to address one question - why did the exile happen?  In the 1 and 2 Kings, no matter how great the kings appeared to be, the author also recorded the sins they committed.  Although the Jews were the chosen people, the sins that their kings committed pushed God to punish the nation.  Compared to how King David is portrayed in the Chronicles and Kings, you will find two distinct perspectives on David, because Kings recorded his sin.  Even King David sinned against God, so God's fury had to come upon the nation of Judah, and ultimately exiled them to Babylon.   The second question from the Israelites was: Although we are in exile now, do we still have hope?  The books of Chronicles are trying to address this question.  Author's response was that: yes, we still have hope!  When he described King David and King Solomon, he seemed to be looking forward to Messiah.  David and Solomon had become the great kings that everyone looked up to and wanted to follow.  1 and 2 Chronicles explained that the hope for Israel actually lies in God Himself.  The hope for human beings is not in the change of environment, but rather in Lord Jesus Christ.  The genealogy of Jesus once again proved that He is the Messiah that God had promised to send.  We need to welcome salvation from God in our daily life, and also welcome the authority of Jesus in our life.  No matter what circumstance we encounter, even if we are in exile, or in a period of darkness, we still have hope because of Jesus Christ.  This is the important message from this excerpt of the genealogy.       Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because even though the time of exile is dark, in Jesus Christ we can have hope.  I ask that you place t he hope for salvation among brothers and sisters, so that no matter what circumstance we are facing, you will let us know that our hope is not in the circumstance, but only in you.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!