Saturday, August 3, 2013

WEEK 8 - New Job: To Bring in God's Kingdom through Healing (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: Matthew 4:23-25

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.


Please click this link to Matthew 4:23-25


Bible Study
     
     Jesus calls you to do a job for Him when you are willing to give up everything for Him. A new job!
     According to this passage, you must be thinking that your job is somewhat like what Jesus did - to be a healer. Yes, but to be a healer is not our main job. Our main job is to bring in God's Kingdom on earth through healing.

     Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright):
     Jesus really did have remarkable powers of healing.  But Jesus was never simply a healer pure and simple, vital though that was as part of his work.  For him, the healings were signs of the new thing that God was doing through him.  God's kingdom - God's sovereign, saving rule - was at last being unleashed upon Israel and the world, through him.

          N.T. Wright. Matthew for Everyone, Part 1. Louisville,KY:Westminster         John Knox Press, 2004, p.33-34.

     As disciples of Jesus and being anointed by the Holy Spirit, we should have quite a number of gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gift of healing may be one of those gifts. But we need to be very clear that all those gifts are for us to show to other people what the Kingdom of God looks like so that they are willing to repent and enter into the Kingdom of God. 

     Are you doing your new job of Kingdom ministry?
    
     
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

     The topic I received from Jesus today is : 
     New Job: To bring in God's Kingdom through healing
     
     What I received from Jesus today is a reminder of what gifts we should have and what is the purpose of those gifts. If you have the gift of healing, the end goal is not for you to be a famous and powerful healer. That's pride! The end goal and the purpose of your new job is your willingness and obedience to Jesus so that He can use those gifts you have to bring more people to God's Kingdom.

     Jesus also reminds me of what Isaiah prophesied about His new job as the Messiah:
     The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
      because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
     He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
      to proclaim freedom for the captives 
       and release from darkness for the prisoners,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.
                                             Isaiah 61: 1-2

      See the last line? Our new job is to preach, to heal and to free those who are in oppression and darkness so that they can enter into His Kingdom to taste the joy and sweetness of the Lord's favour.

     To do this job and to do it well, you need to have these three things:
1.  To be anointed by the Holy Spirit
2.  To receive new gifts to do a new job
3.  To bring more people into God's Kingdom

     How well are you doing this new job for Jesus?

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to do our new job well. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 






Questions for group leaders

Topic:  New Job: To Bring in God's Kingdom through Healing

新工作: 醫治釋放

Passage: Matthew 4: 23-25


Questions for group leaders
1. Read Matthew 4: 23-25 again now. What is the most important word or message you got from this passage? Why it is so important to you?

2. What could be the thing to block you from receive that new job from Jesus? What does "giving up everything for Jesus" means to you?  Have you got this new job from Jesus already? 

3. What kind of healing can you exercise? How can you bring more people into God's Kingdom through healing? Do you have any recent example concerning with healing and the Kingdom to share with us today?


4. What have you got from Jesus through today's message? 


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Open The Eyes of My Heart Lord


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我要向山舉目(詩篇121篇) I Will Lift Up My Eyes to The Hills



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Discipler123(Daily Devotion, with English and Cantonese podcast)

Daily Devotion on Fire 2(One year New Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire(3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build(40 days daily devotion- First Baby Step for new Christians, with English and Cantonese podcast): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study, with English and Cantonese podcast): 
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