<\/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: John Ch. 18 (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 (vv. 1-11)\u00a0Previously in\u00a0chapter 13, Jesus had prophesied about two disciples: one was Judas who wanted to betray him, and the other was Peter who denied him. In this chapter\u00a018, we see that\u00a0Jesus fulfilled both prophesies. Although there are five chapters between the accounts\u00a0of the two\u00a0prophesies\u00a0(chapter 13 and chapter 18),\u00a0both\u00a0events\u00a0were\u00a0actually happening on the same night.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When Jesus and his disciples entered the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas led a group of soldiers, as well as the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, to arrest Jesus. According to the size of the legion at that time, more than a hundred people may have appeared before Jesus with lanterns, torches, and weapons in their hands. As a result, these menacing people actually backed down and fell to the ground after Jesus replied,\u00a0<\/span>“I am\u00a0he!”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>In that dark night, Jesus was the one with true authority.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Recall that Jesus said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cNow is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?\u00a0 Father, save me from this hour?\u00a0 But for this\u00a0purpose\u00a0I have come to this hour.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(John 12:27-28)\u00a0Now, when\u00a0he\u00a0saw Peter\u00a0struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear,\u00a0Jesus\u00a0touched his ear and healed him\u00a0(Luke 22:51).\u00a0And he\u00a0said to Peter,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cPut your sword into its sheath;\u00a0shall I not drink the cup that the\u00a0Father\u00a0has given me?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(John 18:11)\u00a0We\u00a0see that after Jesus obeyed God\u2019s will, the peace and strength he possessed in his heart was enough to allow Jesus to calmly face the forces of evil.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brothers and sisters, if we are willing to obey the will of our heavenly Father,\u00a0He\u00a0will give us the courage and confidence to overcome fear and the power of darkness!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv.\u00a012-27)\u00a0The Gospel\u00a0of John is different\u00a0from the three synoptic gospels:\u00a0Matthew, Mark, and Luke.\u00a0 The book of John\u00a0actually\u00a0recorded\u00a0Annas\u2019\u00a0initial inquisition\u00a0of Jesus.\u00a0In addition, the Gospel of John\u00a0recorded that Annas escorted Jesus to Caiaphas\u00a0(John 18:24) and from Caiaphas to Pilate (John 18:28).\u00a0\u00a0In contrast, the three\u00a0synoptic\u00a0gospels\u00a0only\u00a0recorded\u00a0Jesus\u2019\u00a0trial\u00a0before\u00a0Caiaphas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Caiaphas was the high priest that year and his father-in-law was Annas\u00a0(John 18:13).\u00a0Annas\u00a0also\u00a0served as the high priest prior to Caiaphas taking on that title\u00a0(Luke 3:2).\u00a0Although\u00a0the Roman government\u00a0dismissed Annas, the Jews still regarded\u00a0him\u00a0as the true\u00a0high priest. The office of the high priest was originally life-long, but\u00a0the governor of\u00a0Rome\u00a0destroyed this system after\u00a0subjecting the Jews to their rule.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Compared with Jesus’\u00a0<\/span>“I am\u00a0he”<\/span><\/b>, Peter’s\u00a0<\/span>“I am not”<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(John 18:17,\u00a018:25-26) became a clear contrast. We ask ourselves, after believing that Jesus\u2019 declaration<\/span>\u00a0\u201cI am he\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is the truth,\u00a0when and\u00a0under what circumstances\u00a0will\u00a0often make us anxious\u00a0and subsequently, deny our identity\u00a0as\u00a0Christians\u00a0–\u00a0like Peter blurting out,\u00a0<\/span>“I am not!”\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Remember Jesus\u2019 words,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cbut whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(Matthew 10:33)\u00a0We pray that next time, at the same time and occasion, we can take out our\u00a0courage and confidence\u00a0to\u00a0recognize our identity\u00a0as Christians!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (vv. 28-40)\u00a0In front of Pilate, the governor of Rome, Jesus said three times that he\u00a0has\u00a0a kingdom, but he also emphasized that his kingdom\u00a0is\u00a0not of\u00a0this world.\u00a0Jesus\u2019\u00a0kingdom\u00a0has\u00a0the laws of\u00a0God\u2019s kingdom,\u00a0the kingdom method of expansion\u00a0and\u00a0the kingdom\u00a0conditions for\u00a0becoming\u00a0a citizen of the kingdom of God.\u00a0It was\u00a0different from the Roman regime at that time and\u00a0from\u00a0any country, government, land, and sovereignty in the world today. Since the kingdom of Jesus does not belong to this world, Jesus does not need his servants to fight\u00a0to prevent his arrest. His asking\u00a0Peter to put his sword\u00a0away\u00a0is the best proof.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When Jesus was asked by Pilate again,\u00a0<\/span>“So,\u00a0you are a king?”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Jesus said,\u00a0<\/span>“You say\u00a0that\u00a0I am\u00a0a\u00a0king…”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>It means\u00a0\u2018you say I am\u00a0a\u00a0king, what you say is\u00a0true!\u2019\u00a0In addition, remember when\u00a0Jesus was\u00a0asked\u00a0in front of the high priest and the Sanhedrin\u00a0of this question,\u00a0<\/span>“Tell\u00a0us if you are the Christ, the Son of God”\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(Matthew 26:63-64),\u00a0Jesus also replied in the same way:\u00a0<\/span>“You\u00a0have said so.”<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus is indeed the Son of God\u00a0and the King, but He\u00a0did\u00a0not come to establish political power and kingship on earth, nor to establish a kingdom in the world\u00a0and\u00a0to use\u00a0religious power to interfere with the\u00a0Roman\u00a0government\u00a0at that time. He came to build a higher kingdom\u00a0and\u00a0was\u00a0in charge of the heavenly kingship. What He wanted\u00a0the world to understand is that his opponent was not the earthly Caesar. The real enemy he wants to defeat was\u00a0Satan. He did not come to save the Jews from the control of the\u00a0Roman\u00a0government,\u00a0but to save the world from Satan,\u00a0and asked\u00a0everyone to repent and turn to God. Because of\u00a0Jesus,\u00a0people\u00a0entered the kingdom of God and became\u00a0his people!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Only when we recognize our true identity;\u00a0the king to whom we belong\u00a0and\u00a0the mission\u00a0to be carried out, will we not fail the life and blood shed by Jesus on the cross.\u00a0We should ask ourselves: Do I\u00a0belong to the\u00a0World, or to God?\u00a0\u00a0<\/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-2395","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\/2395","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=2395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2396,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395\/revisions\/2396"}],"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=2395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2395"}],"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