<\/p>\n
(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/em><\/p>\n By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!<\/strong>) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and\/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!<\/p>\n Scripture Reading: Matthew Ch. 16 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (<\/span>vv.\u00a0<\/span>1-4) No good result will come out of approaching Jesus to test him! This was the attitude that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus with when they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. Jesus naturally knew their hearts, so rejected and ultimately left them. Jesus does not casually display his power unless it\u2019s for the purposes of showing God\u2019s wisdom and glory, or to build up God\u2019s kingdom.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In this conversation, Jesus said to them,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhen it is evening, you say, \u2018It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.\u2019 And in the morning, \u2018It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.\u2019 You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The Pharisees and Sadducees could\u00a0<\/span>easily<\/span>\u00a0predict the weather based on the\u00a0skies, yet\u00a0could not identify what works God was doing at that time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Do we also often act confident and full of faith because things seem to be under our control? Yet, at the same time,\u00a0<\/span>easily<\/span>\u00a0forget the works that God has done in all the intricate details of our\u00a0lives?\u00a0Today, open your eyes a little wider and observe a little more carefully, and see – in your sitting, standing, lying down, working and all around you – how is God leading you to experience him in your life? You\u2019ll be surprised, God really is everywhere!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (<\/span>vv.\u00a0<\/span>5-12) After this, Jesus gave his disciples a very important warning and reminder: to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees in case they are influenced by them. This was no easy task though; it took Jesus a lot of effort to have his disciples finally understand what he meant! It just so happens that on this\u00a0particular occasion, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread, so when Jesus was speaking about one thing (leaven as in the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees), his disciples thought he meant another (leaven of bread).<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The disciples seem to have forgotten that the Lord they followed had just finished performing two miracles, which not only allowed people to eat until they were satisfied, but also had plenty left over. They ended up worrying about not bringing bread, and misunderstanding Jesus\u2019 words. Was Jesus\u2019 teaching more important, or the fact that they didn\u2019t bring bread? Are we, also, too easily worried about the smaller issues in life that we forget to carefully listen to our Lord\u2019s voice, to understand His will? Let\u2019s always remember God\u2019s grace in our lives, continuously read and study God’s word, and strive to know Him better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (<\/span>vv.\u00a0<\/span>13-23) This passage is where we find the famous confession of faith. Everyone who believes in the Lord must have full conviction on the answer to the question,\u00a0<\/span>“Who do you think I (Jesus) am?”<\/span><\/b>! Anyone who\u00a0is able to\u00a0fully agree with Jesus’ identity as\u00a0<\/span>“the Christ, the Son of the living God”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>is the same as Peter when Jesus said,<\/span>\u00a0“flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>Isn\u2019t that the case though? The fact that we can know Jesus, believe in Jesus, and call Jesus Lord is\u00a0really not\u00a0due to how clever or wise we are. If not for the revelation and manifestation of God Himself, it would be entirely impossible for us<\/span>\u00a0to know him<\/span>. This is the great grace of God<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/b>For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(<\/span>Ephesians 2:8<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What Jesus meant by\u00a0<\/span>“You are Peter, and on this\u00a0<\/span><\/b>rock<\/span><\/b>\u00a0I will build my church”<\/span><\/b>\u00a0was that the church is built upon a group of people who are like Peter, who firmly believe that \u201cJesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d and have their faith founded on this truth.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The latter part of Peter\u2019s life fully confirms this point. When Jesus\u00a0<\/span>ascended into Heaven\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>Acts 2:36<\/span>)<\/span>, Peter said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cLet all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0After this, we see the conversion of many people unto the Lord, and the birth of the church! (Act 2:41-47)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Anyone who is a part of the church must be\u00a0absolutely clear\u00a0about who Jesus is, and their relationship with Christ. Do you know how strong and powerful such a church will be?\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\u201d!<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (<\/span>vv.\u00a0<\/span>24-28) Beloved brothers and sisters, \u201cJesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d shouldn\u2019t be treated as a cold dogma, saying or slogan. How is my relationship with Jesus? In my life, is Jesus just an ignored guest? Let\u2019s use the verses 24-28 to deeply reflect again. In my coming after Jesus, do I deny myself? In my following, do I take up my cross? Am I pursuing satisfaction for my own life or the life of Jesus my Lord?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: \u201cDear Lord, what\/where are you going to lead me to today?”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2174,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/2174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Scripture Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Devotional<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n