Sunday, June 8, 2008 |  
Just got back from watching Narnia the second one, and it was great! Didn't watch the first one, but found this one really really good! Anywaay, today has been soo busy, didn't have any free time at all..lots of prayer today as usual, which is awesome. And had worshipNet, which was great as well! Anne brought us back to the basics of worshipping as the Bible states.
The way we should worship(all with Bible ref.)
  • Sing
  • Clap our hands
  • Shout unto God
  • Spreading out our hands
  • Dance
  • Bow down
  • Kneel down
  • Meditation
  • Playing music
Learnt stuff like bowing down and kneeling down were different, what spreading out of hands meant, and the most shocking one was dancing. Well i guess since i've never seen people dancing at church before, so i never knew it was Biblical. Other things i learnt was that if we don't worship the way God wants us to, it is counted as rebellion, which is sin. In the NKJV version, long suffering is part of the fruits of the Spirit. In Matthew 7:22-23, there were many people who prophesied, casted out demons, and did miracles in Jesus' name, but however they could not enter into the kingdom of God! Found it hard to believe, that if people such as that could not enter, what about people like me who hasn't done stuff like that before? Wouldn't it be even harder for me to enter the kingdom of God? But i realised that there were reasons for that, e.g they moved away from God, grew cold, stopped listening to God, etc..

I woke up late today, didn't have time to do devotion in the morning, and the whole afternoon never really came back home and had time by myself once, and at night went to watch Narnia..So i haven't really had enough time to do a proper devotion. So i just did some quick reading on the stoning of Stephan in Acts 7:54-60.

54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

To me, i see Stephan as this amazing man of God who has no fear of men, but only the fear of God. He didn't care what the villagers thought of him, or what they would do to him, he was only concerned about obeying God and being God's mouthpiece. It's so interesting how after the villagers got all angry and furious at him, he being so full of the Holy Spirit remained calm, and still managed to look to heaven and see the glory of God with Jesus standing at His right hand. I could imagine that if that was me in the exact same situation, i would have ran away knowing better than to stay there and get stoned by those villagers. But Stephan remained calm and full of the Holy Spirit. He must have been so in tune and sensitive to the Holy Spirit that he was just living by faith, trusting in whatever God wanted him to do.

Then in v57-58, some weird things happen which i don't really understand the significance of. E.g people covering their ears and screaming? Witnesses laying their clothes at the feet of Saul? What were the meanings behind these actions? It looked as though they were demon-possessed and couldn't stand hearing the words of God.

Then Stephan got stoned, but the good thing is that in the Bible it is recorded that he fell asleep, not died, but fell asleep. I wonder what was the difference.. Was it recorded like that just so it sounded less dramatic? Or was it because at that time he looked so calm and peaceful that it seemed as though he was sleeping? If he looked as though he was sleeping, it must have been painless for him, which is pretty awesome.




King of kings and Lord of lords, glory hallelujah.. King of kings and Lord of lords, glory hallelujah..
Posted by L

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