Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: January 2021

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 4:13-20

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Acts 4:13-20

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked... Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Peter declared here that there is no other name by which men may be saved. Jesus is indeed our precious Savior. Firstly, Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty of sin on our behalf. Through Him, we can receive the pardon from sin. Pardon and forgiveness are not the same thing. Forgiveness is forgetting the sin the other person committed. Pardon has a deeper meaning than that. It means wiping away every trace of evidence of that person's sin. In other words, there is no longer any evidence of sin in our lives. Jesus has borne it all. He took the penalty of sin on our behalf and pardoned us of our sins. We are as clean as a white sheet of paper before God. Praise the Lord!

The early church is a strong and courageous church. They were bold in being a witness for God. This boldness did not come from their natural personality, and was not from their education. Verse 13 states that the rulers, elders and teachers of the law realized that they were unschooled, ordinary man. They were shocked that these men would have so much courage, to speak the truth in court.

The early church members were made up of people who seemed like ignorant man. However, they displayed great courage. Where did this courage come from? I believe that this comes from a heart that fears the Lord. As such, Peter and John mentioned in verse 19, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God." In other words, when a person chooses to listen to God and to revere Him, he will find courage to fight the persecution by the authorities. The early church has this reverent fear of God which gave them incredible strength and courage. Do we have the same courage in the church today, to be a witness for God?

Sometimes when pastors preach the gospel, the non-Christians do not treasure what they say, because they think that the pastors are doing this because it is their job. However, when other believers who are not employed by the church share the gospel with non-Christians, it gets their attention. The non-Christians are amazed at how these believers could be a testimony to God and live out the power of God in their day-to-day lives. I know that the Christians in North America are very capable and I know they can be effective witnesses for the Lord in preaching the gospel. We pray that the Lord will raise us up to be a vessel testifying for Him!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you for giving us the early church as an example for us. Pray that you will grant us courage to stand up for you in our daily lives. By the grace that you poured down upon us, let us be a testimony of your glory. Help us and use us. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 4:8-12

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Acts 4:8-12

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Peter declared here that there is no other name by which men may be saved. Jesus is indeed our precious Savior! First, Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty of sin on our behalf. Through Him, we can receive the pardon from sin. Pardon and forgiveness are not the same thing. Forgiveness is forgetting the sin the other person committed. Pardon has a deeper meaning than that. It means wiping away every trace of evidence of that person's sin. In other words, there is no longer any evidence of sin in our lives. Jesus has borne it all. He took the penalty of sin on our behalf and pardoned us of our sins. We are as clean as a white sheet of paper before God. Praise the Lord!

Second, Jesus took our sickness and pain on the cross and gave us healing. Isaiah specifically mentioned that because of His stripes, we have been healed. He bore our suffering and infirmities on the cross, and His healing power is at work in our lives.

Third, Jesus took on our sins upon the cross and by that, we are deemed righteous. God placed all of our sins upon Jesus and we can be called righteous. This is not self-righteousness, but a righteousness that comes through faith. We can stand before God today, to serve Him and worship Him freely because of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Finally, on the cross, Jesus conquered death and gave us new life. This death is not a physical death, but a death in the spiritual sense. Jesus took away our spiritual death and revived our spirit life. By this, the spirit of God can now dwell in us and we can enjoy God's unlimited provision, strength and help each day.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you because you are our only Savior. You give us the peace from forgiveness, offer us justification by grace and bring healing to our lives. We are a new creation because of you. For all of this, we thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Friday, January 29, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 4:1-7

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Acts 4:1-7

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

We see here that not everyone is excited when the gospel is preached and people are saved. The rulers, priests, and elders were troubled when they heard of the number of people who believed in Jesus. Why was this so? This was because the message preached by the disciples was different from the message that they have preached in the past. They also saw that they lost many followers as people turned to Jesus upon hearing the message preached by Jesus' disciples. They were selfish and they did not care about what the truth was, or what was good for the people. They were only concerned for themselves, and for their own benefit. This is true even in the church today. Many Christians have the same reaction to the work of the Holy Spirit. There are many in the church who oppose to the work of the Holy Spirit today. It is not for the truth, nor for the benefit of others. It is often because they are afraid of losing their position and authority, afraid that they will lose the people in their congregation. Many non-Christians oppose Christianity, not because the gospel doesn't bring benefit, but because they are reluctant to relinquish their rights to be their own God. They are troubled because they are not willing to do so.

These men arrested Peter and John and asked them, "By what power and authority do you do these things?" This is such an interesting question: By what power, by whose authority, doing these things. We can sort of understand them asking by what power, but the strange thing is they asked by whose authority. As we can see, the name and authority is very important to them. The name represents authority. The elders, rulers and Pharisees, they all recognize that the name represents authority, as such asked the disciples for the name of the one by which they do these things. The apostles answered clearly, "By the name of Jesus Christ."; because the name of Jesus brings authority and power. Thinking back to Acts chapter three, at the gate called Beautiful, the crippled man pointed to Peter and John and asked for their money. However, Peter told the man that he does not have gold or silver, but what he has, he gave the man. What was it that Peter had to give? "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." The crippled man started walking. Sometimes, we fail to recognize the power and authority of Jesus Christ, and hence we are not able to say what Peter said. Pray that the Lord will have mercy on us and help us the power and authority in the name of the Lord Jesus, that we may learn to use the name of Jesus in our daily lives!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you because your name is the name above all names! We want to lift your name up high and let you rule and reign over our lives. We adore you and we worship you only. May your grace and blessings come upon us as we worship you. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 3:17-26

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Acts 3:17-26

"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-even Jesus... When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."

Peter reminded everyone there: "You must repent". Why do they need to repent? Here it specifically states it is because the Jews have crucified Jesus on the cross. Verse 17 says, "Brothers, I know it was out of ignorance that you did this. Your rulers were ignorant as well." From this verse, we can see that the people that Peter was addressing were generally the people of this generation, not necessarily the same ones who physically crucified Jesus to the cross.

We need to come before God and corporately confess the sin in our generation, and to repent for our generation. The repentance that Peter mentions here is not only a personal confession and repentance, but also one that acknowledges and identifies our sin with that of our country and our society. This is like what Nehemiah did when he came before the Lord and cried out to the Lord, "Lord, please forgive us of the sins that our ancestors have committed!" Nehemiah was willing to come before the Lord and repent for the sins of his ancestors. This is what acknowledging the sin of the present generation is about.

There was a period of time when Christians were going around the Muslim and the Muslim countries, asking for forgiveness for what the Crusaders have done many years ago, confessing the sin committed and repenting of the sin. Many Christians took part in this movement, travelling the road of the crusaders and asking for the Muslims to forgive them of what the Crusaders did a thousand years ago. This movement shocked the Muslims because they did not expect the Christians to apologize for what was done in the past. As some Muslims hear the confession, they were even moved to tears. As a result of what this movement, many Muslims were able to release the hatred and some hearts were even opened to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to learn how to confess and repent for this land that we live in, repent for our fellow countrymen, so that the curse of sin can be lifted. Only then can God's mercy and pardon come, and God's presence will return to our midst!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you that your love is so vast and wide. You pour your love out upon us, and it overflows to those around us. When we humble ourselves and repent for this nation and the people of this land, you will forgive us of our sin of idolatry, and you will have mercy on us, and cause this country to turn back to you. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 3:11-16

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

Acts 3:11-16

While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go... By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

Solomon's Colonnade was one of the grandest buildings at that time. The gate called Beautiful was one of the gates of Solomon's Colonnade. The entire gate was coated with bronze and glittered under the sun. The gate was shaped like a bunch of grapes, symbolizing that God's people experience abundance of life in Him. What a contrast to the grandeur of the gate, when right by the gate sat a crippled beggar! Perhaps you will say, well, at least we do not see crippled beggars sitting at the entrance of churches. Although the people around us may not be physically crippled, they are spiritually in bondage to other things in life, and do not experience freedom, just like the crippled man.

In the modern society today, there are many people with hearts bound by hatred. The bitterness accumulates throughout their life since young. Every hurt, every defeat increases the bitterness in the heart and causes lack of forgiveness toward others. Watch any television show today. Whether it is Chinese soap opera or American sitcom, these shows reflect the hatred and unforgiveness in the hearts of people, as well as the fear of the uncertain future. The fear and worry causes a lack of peace, resulting even in an inability to sleep at night. Sad to say, those who are trapped in all these hatred, unforgiveness, fear and worry are starting to get used to a life like this. This is like the crippled man at the gate Beautiful. He was used to being crippled and used to begging. Every day when he is being carried off to the gate, he thought that his only need was money for food and clothes. There are many people like him who are around us today, who do not recognize their real needs.

The mission of the church on earth is not just for meeting every Sunday. We need to reach out to those who are in need, to do what Jesus would have done. We are called to show the love of Christ in the midst of hatred and anger, to forgive as the Lord forgave, in the midst of a hurting world, to share our faith in a skeptical world, and preach a message of hope in a world full of hopelessness. We can do this not by our own strength, but by the grace and strength of God who lives in us.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we once again thank you and praise you! You are the God who works miracles and healing even today. Use us each day, Lord, to demonstrate your mighty healing power and saving grace, that those around us may be blessed. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

River of Life Christian Church | office@rolcc.net | ROLCC Website