Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 12:18-25 ...Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to increase and spread...       "Herod" is the king appointed by the Roman government over Palestine. King Herod is an Edomite and a descendent of Esau.  In the Old Testament, Esau and Jacob had been in rivalry and the hatred between them built up over generations.  The Edomites and the Israelites hated each other and do not get along.  For this reason, the Roman government deliberately put King Herod over the Israelites, to rule over the Israelites.  The Bible refers to several Herod. Herod the Great was king during the time Jesus was born. When the Magi from the east told him that Jesus was born, he ordered that all children below two years of age be killed. After his death, King Herod was succeeded by his son, Archelaus. The reason King Herod died was because he did not give God the glory that was due to Him, even considering himself to be God.  As such, an angel of the Lord immediately killed him.         The early church often witnessed an immediate punishment of people's wrongdoings. As in the case of Ananias in Acts Chapter 5, God's purpose is to use this to serve as warning. Those who follow God need to understand that God is not to be mocked. They must be led by the Holy Spirit, and act in accordance with God's will.  We really need to thank God, that he no longer does that today.  However, we still need to be careful, and not steal the glory of God.     How do we give God the glory that is due to Him?  The easiest way is through praising God. The book of Psalms teaches us to praise God seven times a day. Of course, the important part is not the actual number of times.  The number seven represents perfection.  In other words, we should praise God every moment.  Open your mouth to praise Him.  Praise Him first thing in the morning because when you start the day by praising God, your day will be filled with victory and joy. When our mouths are filled with praises of God, it brings much life and energy to our lives.             Pray with Pastor Tong Liu     Lord, we thank you because you are a faithful and true God.  You are holy and not to be mocked.  Help us, Lord, to learn to praise you each day with our mouths.  Let our hearts not be polluted by evil, but let our mouth be filled with joy. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 12:9-17 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision... Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished...     This passage is very interesting. Peter went to find his brothers and sisters when he got out of jail. At that time the people were fervently praying that Peter will be released from prison. When the servant girl Rhoda came to the door and saw Peter, she rushed back to tell everyone.  Unfortunately, the people who were praying told her she must be out of her mind.  Although the people were praying all night for God to save Peter, they could not believe it when they saw Peter standing in front of them. Is this not exactly a portrayal of the church today? Although we come before God and pray, we do not believe that God will answer according to what we ask, when God can really accomplish everything far more than we can ask or imagine. This is particularly true for the North American Christians.  We are often trapped by our logic and reasoning, and hence we do not talk about miracles or believe in them.  As such, we do not experience God's miracle. We need to pray for God's mercy, that He will open our eyes to see that God is still a miracle-working God. May God give us the confidence to believe by faith, and not by sight.  Do you believe that God hears our prayer? Every time when you bring your needs before Him, God not only hears your prayers, but will answer them as well. Once you have this certainty and assurance, you will find that your prayer life will come alive.  Prayer will no longer be just an emotional expression, or just mere ramblings.  Your prayer comes before the God Almighty, and He can accomplish more than all that you can ask or imagine, according to his glorious riches. As long as you truly believe in Him, your prayers will be vibrant and dynamic, and God will answer them.     Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, you are such a wonderful and great God. You delight in accomplishing all that we ask in our lives beyond what we ask or imagine. We praise you and give you all the glory. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 12:1-8 ... After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.     In Acts Chapter 8, an angel appeared to Philip and brought him to the Ethiopian eunuch.  In Acts Chapter 10 and 11, an angel appeared in a vision to Cornelius. We see from these passages that the work of angels is very important.  Hebrews 1:14 tells us clearly that angels are ministering spirits, and are different from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is God, but an angel is just a ministering spirit. Angels can only appear on the outside, and help to protect us from the outside, but the Holy Spirit can change us from inside out.  Although the angels can protect us from the outside, they cannot change our hearts from the inside.  Only the Holy Spirit can live within the hearts of the people, to bring about change. For each believer, God prepared for us a guardian angel. Matthew 18:10 tells us that God has indeed prepared to angels to protect us, just like in this passage - Peter was in prison, and an angel rescued him. Several years ago, the church youths went camping in Yosemite.  I was driving back from the Yosemite mountains and was stepping on my brakes all along the way. It did not take long before I started to smell the burning tires.  I pulled over to the side, and told the youths to get off the car, planning to rush the car off to the garage for repairs.  Unexpectedly, when I started the car and stepped on the accelerator, the car started to slide backwards.  There were small wooden sticks on the road behind my car, but these did not stop my car from sliding down the hill.  At this time, I heard what sounded like a loud thunder, and the car suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the slope, stuck among three trees.  When I saw this scene, it was like a hand had grabbed hold of my car.  I suddenly realized that it was the work of angels that saved my life. Do you know that God has sent an angel to protect you on your way today?    Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, we thank you because you sent angels around us to help us and protect us. We pray, Lord, that you open our eyes to see that your grace and protection is always in our lives. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 11:25-30 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.  During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)  The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea.  This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. This passage specifically mentioned that "disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."  In other word, they were not called Christians before.  The English word Christian consists of "Christ" and "ian."  "Ian" means the small one, so "Christian" means "little Christ."  We hear the word Christian so much that we don't think much of it.  If someone asks you whether you are a little Christ, you might hesitate and don't know what to say, but every Christian is supposed to be live the life of a little Christ in order to bear good witness for the Lord. Many would say that living in the time of the early church is much easier, because when we live in the US we need to face our boss' mood, bills at home, pressure at work, and kids who are difficult to deal with - there are just too many difficulties!  Even when we are in fellowship, we complain and whine to each other.  I've found that Silicon Valley is a crib for cultivating spiritual babies, because it's so easy to self-pity in this environment.  We should no longer be spiritual babies who live in self-pity.  Jesus Christ is victorious, so nothing can separate us from his love, all chains can be broken by Him, and all burdens can be borne by Him. Speaking of making excuses, the early church had far more excuses than we do.  Most of the believers in Antioch were those persecuted back in Jerusalem and made to escape.  They faced cultural differences, pressure on making a living, burden from family, plus putting life at risk.  They were not better off than us, but they all had the same determination, which was to live like Jesus no matter what the circumstance was.  Do we have the same determination in our life?  When others saw that the church of Antioch was like Christ, they called the members of the congregation Christians.  When will we stop making excuses with how busy we are or how much we are hurt, burdened and stressed?  Can we simply stand up and live by the principles of God so that we may be good testimonies for Him?    Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, we thank you, and we know that if we live to testify for you and set good examples, we can draw thousands to you.  As we are called Christians today, help us to live like Christ each and every day.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Act 11:19-24 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.  Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.  News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Acts chapter is very important, because not only does it discuss the issue of circumcision, we can also see God's work there.  The shift of focus in Acts went from the church of Jerusalem in the first ten chapters to the church of Antioch from chapter eleven onward.  Political, geographic and economic reasons certainly contributed to the shift of focus, but if you read carefully you'd find that church of Jerusalem was still mentioned after chapter 11, but it was about their repeated argument around the questions of circumcision. There was intense debate during the council of Jerusalem over the issue of preaching the gospel to the gentiles because, as recorded in chapter 15, they heard that gentiles accepted the Lord without being circumstance.  Even in chapter 20, Paul went back to church of Jerusalem for the last time and they told the local brothers that there were thousands of gentile believers who were zealous for the law.  The gospel had spread around the Roman Empire, but they were still arguing over legalities.  The shift of focus from church Jerusalem, therefore, was a result of the church no longer focused on the work of the Lord, but rather was wasting their time on minor details such as circumcision, thus they could no longer be a vessel of God.  On the other hand, as the believers scattered around and also reached Antioch.  The church of Antioch seemed to have restored what took place at the church of Jerusalem before, as believers gathered to worship and followed the way of the Lord.  They took care of each other's needs and had great testimonies of life of discipleship, just like the original church of Jerusalem.  What was the key for their revival?  It was because the Lord was with them. Indeed, whenever two or three of us gather in the name of the Lord, the Lord is with us.  It is a different story, however, whether the Lord's presence will actually be manifested so that others will see the Lord among us.  May the Holy Spirit help us, let us first seek to see God's presence manifested among us, so that we will love one another and pursue Him with more eagerness.  The priorities must be respected, so may God help us to welcome His work in our daily life.    Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, may your Spirit open our hearts to welcome you to move among us in our daily life.  May your presence be manifested in our lives, and let others see that we are indeed believers who have received your grace.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name, amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 11:11-18   "Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.  The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house.  He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.  He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'  "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'  So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"  When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." There was series of surprises from the time Peter saw the vision to when he walked into the house Cornelius.  First, Peter received a surprising vision.  When he was praying in Joppa, God revealed a vision to him.  A vision is nothing new because back in the Old Testament time visions is one of the way that the Holy Spirit spoke to people.  Three times in a roll, the Lord remind Peter not to be bound by his past experience, ideologies and narrow racism, and he must be prepared for the miraculous work that God will perform among the gentiles.  This is the surprising part of the vision that Peter received. Next, Peter also experienced a surprising confirmation.  When he thought about the vision, verse 11 says that three people came down from Caesarea to meet Peter, and that was a wonderful confirmation!  He wasn't really willing to go, but the Lord reminded him to go with them without reservation, so that was a surprising confirmation. Not on that, he also saw a surprising result.  Verse 15 tells us that as soon as he spoke, even before he could make an altar call, the Holy Spirit already came upon them.  The most surprising part was that those people were not Jews, but rather gentiles whom he didn't want to be close to.  By then, he already saw that the Holy Spirit had completed accepted gentiles to become part of the church of Christ.  Therefore, as he said in verse 17, "who was I to think that I could oppose God?" In our life, are we experiencing God's guidance in surprising ways?  Are we willing to humble ourselves to follow Him?  When God leads us in surprising ways, let's be determined to obey and follow Him!    Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, I thank you because you often use surprising ways to work in our lives at surprising times.  May you give us soft and obedient hearts, let us obey you when you lead us, so that you will may be done through our lives.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Acts 11:1-10 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."  Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.  I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.  Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'  I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'  The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean...' Many things contributed to the rapid growth of the early church, and one of the most important factors was that they were willing to let God change their attitudes.  Even though they have their own opinions and didn't agree on everything, but thank God because when God's hand started to turn them around, they were able to be turned.  During the time of Acts, God's plan was continuously moving forward; His plan of salvation didn't stop with the Jews, but was calling for all nations and all peoples to become disciples of Lord Jesus.  Today, if the church was to be blessed, it must also move forward with God in His plan.  From this passage, we can see that the early church was in an important juncture.  After the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts chapter ten, guided Peter to lead the first gentile Cornelius to accept the Lord, great controversies were aroused upon Peter's return back to Jerusalem.  The primary reason for the controversies was that the early church of Jerusalem valued their own kind more than others.  They have heard the commandments of Jesus, which was to go make disciples in all nations, but they thought that only Jews were meant to become the Lord's disciples.  They did receive power, but in their mind only the Jews - those who were physically circumcised - were real chosen people of God.  Those who were not circumcised and belong to other races have nothing to do with God's salvation.  They even thought that it was unclean to sit with gentiles; therefore, when they heard that Peter had eaten with the family of Cornelius and baptized them to become Christians, it was difficult for them to accept it.  Hence they wanted to ask Peter what really happened, and the response from Peter explained how he was guided by God's hand step by step to change his mind about the gentiles.  Eventually he led the early church to step out to overseas evangelism.  In our daily life, are we also willing to have our minds turned around by God?   Pray with Pastor Tong Liu      Lord, I thank you because I saw how Peter was turned around in your hands, and thus the early church got on the path overseas evangelism.  Lord, we are also willing to be turned around by your Spirit so that we may accomplish your will.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!