We need to die our "self" so that our church can be in unity!

  



 

Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAX1HEXJn0

Bishop Silas conducting Vancouver Oratorio Society, VOS Chamber and Schola Cantorum singing Parry's I was Glad:

https://youtu.be/Qr4RThsdEjY?si=wh3sT_i3QE8kTgX6

Bishop Silas conducting Schola Cantorum Emmanuel and Vancouver Oratorio Chamber Choir singing Palestrina's O Beata Trinitas:

https://youtu.be/O4wiyr8oa_Y?si=l_cp4aRfVMRzaL6b


Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
      2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

     Praise and Thanksgiving
1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile. 
2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3.          **Sing a song to praise the Lord

      Please click this link to worship with us - 
      
       Be with You: City Harvest Church, Singapore


      10,000 Reasons

      
     Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method) 

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:
     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:
     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

**Please click this link to read how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.
             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Today's Time with Abba: Psalm 106:24-31, Isaiah 45:11-48:11;  Ephesians 4:1-16; Proverbs 24:3-4

Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link:http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/


Key passage:  

 “ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.


                                                   Ephesians 4:1-16



Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through today's TWA passages we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.

The topic I received today from Jesus is: We need to die our "self" so that our church can be in unity!

       Today Paul uses the word "one" seven times from Ephesians 4:4-6. Paul reminds us that in order to have unity in our church we need to:

        "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. "   Ephesians 4:2

        The fact is that this unity is impossible to experience because this is beyond our human effort. There are numerous examples the past two thousand years of Church history of separation and dissension. We can see in today's Ephesians 4:1-6 two steps to make unity happening:
      1. We need to surrender ourselves to be prisoners of Jesus. It means that our "self" needs to die and to submit our lordship to Jesus.

      2. If we are willing to die our "self" and submit our lordship to Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will fill us each day that we can have that transformation of being Christlike as describes in Ephesians 4:2-3. That's how Paul says in Ephesians 4:3 "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. "

      Also, Ephesians 4:2-3 is somewhat like an index check for air pollution of a city. If one day what it says in Ephesians 4:2-3 cannot happen in us, may be the spirit of separation, spirit of accusation is controlling us and that we need to cry out to our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to pray for the light of the Holy Spirit to shine on us that we can be able to know our sins and be willing to repent, die of our "self" again and surrender to Jesus again.

     The five fold ministry as describes in Ephesians 4:11 is one of the most important factor of unity for churches. We need to know that each one of us has similar or different gifts of the Holy Spirit to make the five fold ministry to work well in a church and to build brothers and sisters to be more like Jesus. 

      11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

     If we cannot have the five fold ministry work well in our church, what should we do?

     The answer is one word: LOVE.
     If we want our church to have unity, we need to die our "self" so that we can love one another to let the five fold ministry to work so as to build up our spiritual home, that is our home church.
    
     Dear Lord Jesus,  
     Help us to be willing to die our "self" so that we can build up a lifestyle like Mose and Paul to kneel down to pray for our church and that our church can taste the sweetness and power of unity. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:    

1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?

     2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do?
    
     Family Corner:
     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

       
       Please click this link to Old Testament Psalm 106 blog: 
       
     
       Please click this link to today's Old Testament Isaiah 45:11-48:11 blog and video:

       Please click this link to today's Old Testament Proverbs 24 blog:  


   For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):
     
     

       My first blog "Devotion on Fire"  was written in English only  (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html

My second blog "Discipler 123"  was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html

and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024): 

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-2017.html

 

 

Connecting Workshop 2025(Session 2)

Bishop Silas Ng on Three Streams

 https://youtu.be/xiSOSFF9Iw0?si=puDWFD9Cx01ADm-o

     

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