Today's Passage - Acts 22:1-8

Acts 22:1-8 "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense." When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison... "About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' "'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. "'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. Paul met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. When a bright light flashed around him, he asked two very important questions. The first question is, "Who are you, Lord?" Our understanding of a person will determine our future relationship with this person. For example, if we are entrusting someone to bring our life savings back to our hometown, we will find someone who is loyal and dependable. Similarly, the extent we understand God will determine our relationship with Him. Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do people say I am?" Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and some say one of the prophets; In today's terms, they were saying that Jesus was a moral teacher, an idealist or a social reformer. Jesus went on to ask them, "Who do you say I am?" What is important is not what other people or even pastors say about Jesus. It is your personal opinion of who Jesus is that matters. For Paul, the moment he met the Lord, he knew clearly that this was the Lord who was going to change his life completely. And Jesus answered Paul saying, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." The Jesus that you and I believe in, is the Lord of our lives. He is in control over our lives. Jesus Christ not only loves us and has redeemed us, but He is also the Lord of the universe, and the Lord of life. He is not only the God of our church, our family, our work and our academics. Pray that the Lord will help us to welcome Him into our lives each and every day. Pray with Pastor Tong Lord, we thank you, because you came not only to be our Savior, but also to be our Lord. We surrender our lives to you and pray you will use us to be your channel of blessings so that those around us may be blessed as well. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen! Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 21:31-40

Acts 21:31-40 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd... When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!" As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?" "Do you speak Greek?" he replied. "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people." Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic. God is truly a God who pours out His grace upon us among the Gentiles. Look at the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was sold into Egypt, but he had favor from his masters and was put in charge of everything at his master's home. Even when he was falsely accused by his master's wife and put in prison, he had favor from the prison guards, and was put in charge of other prisoners. Later on, he was promoted to prime minister of Egypt, receiving favor from the king of Egypt. Why is this so? Because God was with him, so he prospered in everything he did. Daniel, too, while training in Babylon, he had favor from the chief official. When he asked to eat only vegetables and water, the chief official agreed. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. When it came to time to appear before the king, he had great favor from the king as well. In fact, this was also true of the life of Jesus. As Luke described, Jesus grew in favor with both God and men. Therefore, no matter what environment you are in, God can open a way for you; Psalm 23 says, God has prepared a table before us a table before our enemies. Pray that God will help us, not to be discouraged and not to lose heart because He wants to lift us out of the depths of the pit, so we may be great. No matter what your circumstances are, we need to keep trusting God and relying on Him in our daily lives. He can deliver us and rescue us from all kinds of situations we may be in, and defeat the enemy. Let us at this moment, give Him thanks and praise! Pray with Pastor Tong Lord, we thank you, because you are the God who bestows grace upon us in front of the Gentiles. You prepare a table for us before our enemies. We pray you strength the faith of every brother and sister, so that we may believe you wholeheartedly, and know that in you we have abundant peace, joy and freedom. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen! Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 21:27-30

Acts 21:27-30 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place." (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. Traditions can be beautiful on one hand, but can be scary as well. The scary part is when people live under the bondage of tradition. In this passage we see that the Jews were so caught up in the tradition of circumcision, they were ready to put to death those who did not follow their tradition and law. In reality, tradition is not the truth. Truth must be followed, but tradition is to be respected. Otherwise, tradition will only become a bondage to people. For example, you may get up at six o'clock the morning to do your devotion. You sing praise and worship songs before you read the Bible and you pray after you read the Bible. You think that this sequence is excellent, so you go to church and tell everyone they must wake up early to do their devotions in order to receive God's strength for the day, and promote it throughout the church. As a result, many people start to do this and before long, it becomes a law that everyone must follow to be considered "spiritual". People who do not do their devotions in the morning and are viewed as not spiritual or not being part of the church. Hence, although traditions can start off as something beautiful and helpful to others, it can easily become law. When it becomes law, the person will be trapped. Are there some of these traditions in your life? Have you forcefully placed the burden of these traditions on others, especially your family and those around you? Jesus performed many miracles on the Sabbath, and the Jews were angry with him because they thought Jesus was violating the law of keeping the Sabbath. But Jesus himself said, "I am Lord of the Sabbath"; In fact, Jesus is not only Lord of the Sabbath, but He is also Lord of all traditions. Sabbath is a beautiful thing, and is intended to give rest to people; but Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He is the One who can truly grant rest and peace to us. Although tradition has its advantages, God is above all traditions. He is the One who can truly bring freedom, joy and peace. Pray with Pastor Tong Lord, we thank you because in Christ there is real freedom. We pray Holy Spirit, that you will help us to live freely each day, and not be bound by any traditions, or impose our traditions on others. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen! Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 21:15-26

Acts 21:15-26 After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem... Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law... Paul was willing to lay down himself for God. He fought for the Gentiles the freedom they have in Christ, eliminating the requirement of the past that Gentiles must be circumcised according to the Jewish tradition. This time when he returned to Jerusalem, he was in the midst of the Jews who thought that they can no longer be circumcised and be Jews if they were to believe in Jesus. Paul saw that the truth he believed in had become the roadblock to the Jews believing in Christ. Paul clearly understood that the Jews needed the salvation of Jesus, but he also respected their culture. As such, he was willing to lay down his rights and join in the purification rites in the temple. From this passage, we see that there are several principles in living a Christian life: Firstly, in Christ, we enjoy true freedom. On the cross, Jesus destroyed any power that the enemy has on us. He also exempted us from the bondage of the law. Secondly, is the principle of self-denial. Although we have freedom in Christ on one hand, we are told for the sake of not stumbling our weaker brother, and for the sake of Christ, we need to be willing to lay down our rights. Thirdly, we must be led by the Holy Spirit, and not by what other people say. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and he knows first hand the situation we are in, and can best lead us through our circumstances. These three principles are very important. We need to have the principle of freedom, the principle of self-denial, as well as the principle of being led by the Holy Spirit, so as to enjoy true freedom in Christ in our daily lives. Pray with Pastor Tong Lord, we thank you for revealing to us through Paul, that Christians enjoy the ultimate freedom in Christ. As such, we can lay down everything in Christ, and enjoy everything in Him. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give us spiritual wisdom, that we may learn in our daily lives, to give you all the glory and honor. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen! Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 21:7-14

Acts 21:7-14 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day... After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done." The work of the prophet is to reveal the heart of God to men; Prophet Agabus prophesied over Paul and confirmed God's plan in his life. God was sending Paul to Jerusalem to suffer, and Paul already knew that. God was merely using Agabus to confirm this. Perhaps you have also received a word of prophesy in the past. When you receive prophesy, you need to know that a prophet's words has three characteristics: First, the prophet's words are often incomplete. Even if 99 of his prophecies are true, the 100th may not be true. Hence, we need to mediate over the words of the prophet multiple times in our heart. Sometimes we need to carefully discern the prophecy given to us, and ask the Spirit of God to confirm God's plan for our lives. Secondly, the prophet's words can be progressive. They do not necessarily mean now, and may be pointing to sometime in the future. Just as God promised Abraham a son in the Old Testament, there were 25 years that had passed between the time Abraham received the prophecy till the time Isaac was born. The prophecy you receive may not be something that will happen right away, and may happen only sometime in the future. Thirdly, the prophet's words can be conditional in nature. In order to receive the blessings of God through the prophet, we must first obey God. When the prophets say we have the gift of healing, we need to actually start exercising that gift in ministry. We must pray for others to be healed of their disease, so that we may see the gift of healing. When we obey, we can see the actual grace of God being poured out; As such, we need to learn to obey God in our everyday life. During the course of obeying, we can experience God's grace more abundantly. Pray with Pastor Tong Lord, we thank you, because you encourage our hearts through the words of the prophet. We pray that you will help every brother and sister to have an obedient hear in their lives and their ministries. Pray they may act according to your word, so that they can see the prophecies being fulfilled in their lives. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen! Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 21:1-6

Acts 21:1-6   After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.  We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.  After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.  Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.  But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.   During the time of early church, the work of the Holy Spirit was highly noticeable.  The believers were often prompted by the Holy Spirit, and they acted according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  Today, you and I can also experience the miraculous guidance and prompting of the Holy Spirit.  Many people believe that Holy Spirit will only prompt pastors or ministers, but that's not true.  Holy Spirit often prompts everyone of us.  At the end of services on Sunday, the pastor usually will pray this blessing: "may the grace of Jesus Christ, love of God and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all..."  We often overlook the grace we've been given, but the fact is that the fellowship and prompting of the Holy Spirit is with all of us.   The Holy Spirit often speak to us through a variety of ways, including a thought in our mind, message in the Bible, strong feeling inside, picture in our head, etc.  Let's not mistakenly believe that prompting of the Holy Spirit is something extraordinary, because the Holy Spirit may be prompting us in our daily life.  For example, the Holy Spirit may prompt you to visit someone; however, it's raining outside so you thought you'd go next time, but then you totally forgot about it.  The Holy Spirit often prompts us, but we also often put out the prompting, thus we can't follow through to witness God's miraculous guidance.   One time, during a cell group meeting, the cell group leader practiced receiving the Holy Spirit's prompting.  After worship time, he allowed brothers and sisters to speak out words of edification, encouragement and comfort.  One sister was prompted to speak out that someone among them wants to accept the Lord, so the cell leader proclaim it by faith.  Then, a non-believer friend who's been attending the cell group actually got up and said he wanted to accept the Lord!  Therefore, the meeting that day became an evangelistic crusade; God's grace richly poured down among them and they were overwhelmed with joy.  May God help us and give us a sensitive spirit, so that we may receive the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our daily life.   Pray with Pastor Tong   Lord, please give us a sensitive spirit before you.  Let us we hear your prompting and follow it in our daily life so that amazing miracles will happen among us every day.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!   Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.

Today's Passage - Acts 20:33-38

Acts 20:33-38   "I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.  You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"  When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.  They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.  What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.   Paul said that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" because that's what he lives by.  Not only does he provide for his partners spiritually, he also provides for their livelihood.  He's a truly self-less person who continuous supported brothers and sisters at church, and he weaved tents himself to provide for the needs of his coworkers.  He has set a truly remarkable example!  Paul clearly knew that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," which was also the example that Jesus Christ set for us.  He became poor on the cross on our behalf, so that we may become rich because of his poverty.  Paul profoundly experienced the grace of Christ, so in his life he also wanted to spread such grace around.   While we know the truth of "it is more blessed to give than to receive," we actually don't act on it much.  Chinese families in North America often only consider their own needs; meeting the needs of their children is actually done for their own sake too.  How will we step out from our circle of life and identify with the society that we live in?  Identifying with the society doesn't mean consenting with all that it does; rather, it is to recognize that we belong to this society and we have the responsibility to improve it.  Chinese people often cannot identify with the American society, feeling that this is not our land.  Actually, as long as we are living here, God has given us the responsibility to intercede for this land.  Not only should we pray for the rulers of the land, but we also need to enter into the society so that people would know about the love of Jesus.  May God help us to be willing to become poor after receiving all the riches so that others might become rich because of us.   Pray with Pastor Tong   Lord, please give us the spirit of generosity.  We trust that you are faithful, so the more we give the more we will receive from you.  May you grant everyone the blessing and grace of "it is more blessed to give than to receive."  I thank you and I pray for the victorious name of Jesus, amen!     Shekinah Glory - ROLCC Building Expansion Project - Follow the project on Facebook ! Help us to reach our Phase I Target, and witness how God expands His Kingdom on earth!  Click here to donate online.