暗嫩诈病污她玛

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〈撒母耳记〉下 13:22押沙龙并不和他哥哥暗嫩说好说歹。因为暗嫩玷辱他妹妹她玛，所以押沙龙恨恶他。

阅读经文：〈撒母耳记〉下 13:1-22

有的人觉得《圣经》里记载这种哥哥强奸妹妹的乱伦之举，实在很羞耻。其他宗教的书，哪会记载不伦之事？这就是《圣经》与其他经书不同之处，人写的书都要高举自己，隐藏自己的不义；但《圣经》却反应出人类最真实的一面，让人看到自己的本相，污秽的内心和罪的本性，以及神的公义和审判，容忍和慈爱。世人都追求爱，但是世人说的爱，往往只是情欲。欲火攻心时，却误以为那就是爱，以致于悲剧不断地发生。

从暗嫩对她玛的贪念，到他接受损友约拿达的建议，一点都不顾惜她玛所作的举动，我们可以明白，那只是一种人性的占有欲，和爱完全无关。有的女性喜欢上一个男人时，也会想尽办法，让他背负上责任，以致于不得不和她结婚。这种异性之间的吸引原本是神赐给人极为美丽的礼物，但是当人只想到自己，而不为对方着想时，就变成害人的借口。而世间极为可怕的武器，便是美其名为“爱”，其实只是贪念和自私的产品。

大卫身为父亲，对儿女的认识却甚为浅薄。王宫里有那么多宫女和仆人，岂需要一个公主去侍候她哥哥的饮食吗？这不合常理的要求，大卫竟然答应了。她玛毫无防备，被同父异母的哥哥欺负了。可怕的还在后头，暗嫩亲近了她玛之后，竟把她赶出去了。这里面有“爱”吗？世人口中的“爱”是什么？就是发生性关系，然后呢？没有了。

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Getting to Know the Holy Spirit

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (NIV)
1  Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
2  You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
3  Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

On verses 1-3:  Have you ever seen people engaging in some spiritual activity and wondered if that activity is really from God or not?  In 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Paul gives one good guideline in helping you discern whether a spiritual activity is from God or is demonic.  The question to ask is: as the people are engaging in this activity, what are they saying about Jesus Christ?  Are they exalting Jesus as Lord?  Or, are they cursing Jesus and/or outright dishonouring Him?  If they are exalting Jesus as Lord as they do this activity, if the fruit is that Jesus is glorified through this activity, this should suggest to you that God’s Spirit is involved in some way.  But if they are cursing Jesus or dishonouring Him as they do this activity, it suggests that this activity is not from the Holy Spirit.  As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3: “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”

In deciding what to think of any controversial matter, always bring it back to Jesus.  It’s all about Him in the end.

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大卫的忏悔诗

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〈诗篇〉 51:10 神啊，求祢为我造清洁的心，使我里面重新有正直的灵。

阅读经文：〈诗篇〉51

读了大卫王犯罪，却没有读〈诗篇〉51篇，在感觉上是不完整的。〈诗篇〉51篇是大卫被拿单指责后所做的忏悔诗。大卫王纵情于声色之娱，以致犯罪了都没有感觉。但是在先知拿单指责之后，有如醍醐灌顶，一下子醒悟过来，明白自己犯了大错，得罪了神，立刻认罪。这就是大卫王和扫罗的不同。在撒母耳的指责下，扫罗不但不认错，还继续为自己辩护，以致于神弃绝他。但是大卫一点就明，并且立刻认罪，因此得到神的饶恕。很多人因为〈诗篇〉51篇而得到帮助，在犯错之后，也用这诗篇作为自己的祷告。更有许多作曲家为这诗篇谱曲，让我们可以有更深的感受。

大卫相信神是慈爱的神，因此求神的慈爱怜恤他，涂抹他的过犯。又求神洗除净尽他的罪孽。因为他知道他犯罪了，并且他肯认罪。不肯承认自己有罪的人，就没有办法享受到赦罪之恩，只能像扫罗一样，天天活在罪的腐蚀之中，被自己心灵的黑暗折磨到失去平安。惟有知罪认罪的人，才能得到神的赦罪之恩，脱离罪的重担。

大罪不仅知道自己的过犯，并且他经常想到他所犯的罪。当我们犯罪时，第一个得罪的是神，其次才是人。表面上好像先得罪人，其实心里起意时，已经得罪了神。因此当圣灵责备我们时，我们就就明白何为神的公义。在神的公义里，不容许有任何污点。所以我们在神的面前，怎能自以为正？在圣灵的光照里，大卫更看清他在母亲怀胎时就有罪了。大卫是否感受到那自亚当和夏娃来的罪性呢？

这世界上除了神，没有任何人或灵界的存在物有赦免的权柄和恩典。神要的不是表面的干净，而是内里的诚实。只有神，可以洁净我们的罪，洗涤我们，使我们比雪更白。在旧约里的除罪仪式多使用牛膝草，现在我们知道那些旧约的仪式里，所指向的、所喻表的，正是耶稣基督的宝血。因为〈希伯来书〉的作者说：“按著律法，凡物差不多都是用血洁净的，若不流血，罪就不得赦免了。（来9:22）” 基督用自己的血，只一次进入圣所，成了永远赎罪的事。（来9:12）。

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Remembering Jesus’ Body

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (NIV)
17  In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.
18  In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
19  No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
20  When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat,
21  for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.
22  Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!

On verses 17-22:  Here Paul tackles the next problem he notices in his church in Corinth.  It’s that when people ate the Lord’s Supper (also known as communion), they would do it for the wrong reasons.  Instead of treating communion as a time to solemnly and thankfully remember Christ’s death on the cross, they treated it as an all you can eat food and drink fest.  Instead of waiting for one another and making sure that everyone had a chance to participate, some in the Corinthian church would rush to consume as much of the bread and wine as they could, leaving nothing left over for people who came after them (v21-22).

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耶底底亚

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〈撒母耳记〉下 12:25 就藉先知拿单赐他一个名字，叫耶底底亚，因为耶和华爱他。

阅读经文：〈撒母耳记〉下 12:1-31

假如是一个平常人犯罪，可能有朋友或家人会出来指责，可是大卫高高在上，又有约押帮他遮掩，又有谁知道他的阴谋？谁知道他使坏？神差遣先知拿单去见大卫。假如拿单直接对大卫说，他犯奸淫和谋杀，你想大卫王会有怎样的反应？轻则把他赶出去，重则永远不再见他的面，这样就无法完成神给他的任务了。神给拿单什么任务呢？就是让大卫知罪。怎样让一个高高在上，有权势的人知罪呢？不用一点小技巧是不行的。拿单讲了一个富户欺负穷人的故事给大卫听。大卫听得义怒填胸，立刻下了判语。这时拿单的话好像一根大锤打下去：“你就是那人！”

神说：“一，我膏你做以色列的王；二，救你脱离扫罗的手；三，将你主人的家业赐给你，包括你主人的妻。主人若是指扫罗，主人的妻有可能就是扫罗的妻亚希暖了。四，若是不够，神还可以加倍赐福，你何必做坏事来夺取呢？”这也是神对我们说的话，一样两样三样的祝福，若是不够，再向神要。我们怎样都不必用自己的手去强豪取，用神所不喜悦的手段为自己争取利益。

神给大卫的刑罚极重，第一个刑罚是拿走他儿子的性命，第二个刑罚是极大的咒诅：刀剑必永不离开他的家。神要从大卫家中兴起祸患攻击大卫，必在大卫眼前把他的妃嫔赐给别人，他在日光之下就与她们同寝。这事应验在大卫的三子押沙龙身上。神说：“你在暗中行这事，我却要在以色列众人面前，日光之下，报应你。”这句话是神一直在使用的审判，跟随主的人若以为可以在暗中行不义，神必在众人面前报应他。看看有多少牧师、神父、传道人在暗中做了不义之事，都成了社会的头条新闻。神不怕失面子，反而，祂要让世人知道，祂必管教祂的儿女，不容许他们暗中行恶。好让世人晓得耶和华神是个公义的神，与罪恶誓不两立。

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Dressing to Lead, Not to Distract

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)
1  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

On verse 1:  Paul tells his church in Corinth to follow his example as he follows the example of Christ.  That’s the direction we should all aim to walk in, that as we do our best to follow Christ’s example, may we give those in our care a good example for them to follow also.  For we all need people in our lives who can model for us what it looks like practically to follow Jesus Christ. Of course, no one gets it perfectly right, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from others.  Take the good things you see from the lives of the leaders God has placed in your life and apply them to your own life.  Incarnation (Christ living in us) is often sparked by imitation, that is, we can become more like Jesus by seeing how others follow Jesus and by following their example.

1 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV)
2  I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.

On verse 2:  Here Paul is likely responding to a letter from the church in Corinth in which the church has mentioned that they are trying to keep to Paul’s teachings.  Paul commends them for this, despite the fact that Paul sees a number of serious problems in the way the church had been behaving.

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Using Your Freedom to Glorify God and to Bless Others

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 10:23-33.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (NIV)
23  “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is constructive.
24  Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

On verses 23-24:  “Everything is permissible” may have been a common saying during Paul’s time.  The saying was possibly used by some in Paul’s church in Corinth as a licence for them to do whatever they want, claiming that as believers they were free to do anything.  Paul challenges this “everything is permissible” way of thinking by encouraging his Christian brothers and sisters to think and live on a higher level.  Instead of just focusing on what I am free to do, I should even more think about what impact my actions have (i.e. what benefit my actions bring to myself and others, what harm my actions do to myself and others).  Instead of just seeking my own good, I am to seek the good of others.  Christians are called to this higher, more unselfish, more productive level of living.  In the verses that follow, Paul will illustrate what that looks like when it comes to a hot issue during Paul’s time, which is eating food sacrificed to idols.

1 Corinthians 10:25-26 (NIV)
25  Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,
26  for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

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大卫犯罪

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〈撒母耳记〉下 11:27b但大卫所行的这事，耶和华甚不喜悦。

阅读经文：〈撒母耳记〉下 11:1-27

在〈历代志〉上廿章，记载着约押再次打败亚扪人，打下了他们的首都拉巴，夺了亚扪王的金冠冕，灭了他们各城的居民。回到耶路撒冷的大卫，真是志得意满，意气风发。此时的大卫，真是不可一世啊！以色列的国势如日中天，各国都来称臣；外面有干将约押，里面歌舞升平，大卫开始享受人生，睡到自然醒，太阳竟已平西！保罗说：“因我什么时候软弱，什么时候就刚强了”（林后12:10b）。在这里，我们要转过来看这句话：“因我什么时候刚强，什么时候就软弱了”。此时正是大卫自觉最刚强的时候，却也是他最软弱的时候。

大卫在躲避扫罗时就已经左娶一个右娶一个，在希伯仑做犹大王时，已经有了七个妻子六个儿子；到了耶路撒冷更是后妃满庭院，儿女满天飞。情欲，是大卫人生中最大的弱点，因为他不知道何时要终止这样的游戏。他不知道这个弱点会带给他人生最大的污点，也不知道这个弱点将会把他拖入何等的深渊，带给他的家族何等的咒诅。大卫王以为性关系是一件很随便的事，所以当他看上拔示巴之后，就一心一意想和她上床。至于上床后可能发生的事，他完全不去想。很自然地，拔示巴怀孕了。这时大卫要负责任吗？没有，他要拔示巴的丈夫乌利亚回来承担这个责任。他只想要神不知鬼不觉地偷吃，可是天不从人愿。

乌利亚是个尽忠职守的将士，当他想到约押和其他战士们都在田野里安营或住在棚里，就不肯回家与妻子同寝。大卫试了两次，想要灌醉他，使他失去理智，没想到这个人如此忠心，宁可与大卫的仆人睡在宫门外，就是不肯回家。大卫想栽赃的计划不成功，顿生杀机。一个有勇有谋如大卫的人，若要做坏事，那真是可怕。大卫写了一封信，叫约押想办法让乌利亚战死在前线，要让乌利亚死得很自然，让人看不出一点谋杀的迹象。大卫被情欲所蒙敞，竟然为了遮盖自己的罪过，而杀害一个对他忠心耿耿的将士。乌利亚带着那封致己于非命的信回到战场。

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Overcoming Temptation with God’s Help

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.  Let’s go!

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV)
1  For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2  They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3  They all ate the same spiritual food
4  and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5  Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert…….

On verses 1-11:  Here Paul recalls the time when the Israelites, under Moses’ leadership, were escaping Egypt and wandering in the desert on their way to the promised land.  Back then, the Israelites considered themselves to be God’s people and experienced incredible miracles from God.  They “were all under the cloud” (v1), meaning that God led those Israelites by a pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21).  They “all passed through the sea” (v1), referring to how God amazingly led those Israelites through the Red Sea in Exodus 14:21-31.  Paul compares these experiences that the Israelites had with the pillar of cloud and the Red Sea to a baptism (v3).  They received special spiritual food (v3-4), which Paul attributes to Jesus Christ Himself, extrapolating that Jesus Christ Himself was with these Israelites during this time and was the source of the spiritual food and drank they consumed.

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大卫遣使诣哈嫩

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〈撒母耳记〉下 10:12 我们都当刚强，为本国的民和神的城邑做大丈夫！愿耶和华凭祂的意旨而行。

阅读经文：〈撒母耳记〉下 10:1-19

〈箴言〉十七章20节说：“心存邪僻的寻不著好处，舌弄是非的陷在祸患中”。亚扪人的王哈嫩不识好歹，大卫因他父丧，派人去慰问他，他反而听从小人之言，以小人之心度君子之腹，侮辱大卫的臣仆：剃去他们一半的胡须，又割断他们下半截的衣服，使他们露出下体。这样的作法使他们和以色列人结了仇恨，本来可以和睦相交，只因为做得不得体，以致为亚扪人招来极大的祸患。

文革批斗风盛行时，也有类似的做法：把人的头发剃一半、留一半，这样的发型，就叫“阴阳头”。一般是剃光左边、留下右边头发；因为黑五类、牛鬼蛇神等人都被划归左中右的“右”里面。有些人甚至对眉毛也同样剃一半、留一半。在一些遗留的民俗里，只有对小偷、妓女、败坏门风的妇女，才采用这样践踏人格尊严的方法代替肉刑。剃发之刑称为髠（音：困）刑，是中国上古五刑之一，把人的头发全部剃掉或部份剃掉。现代人流行标新立异，有的人故意把头发剃掉一半，觉得很标新立意，可能没想到这是属于耻辱刑的刑罚。在魏晋南北朝时，佛教徒剃光头，又不结婚，被认为大不孝，被称为髠人。许多民族，包括以色列人，都认为胡须是男性尊严的象征，在神赐给以色列的律法中，禁止男人剃掉“两鬓的头发” （指耳朵前边和眼睛之间的毛发），也不可刮掉胡须的两端（利19:27/21:5），因为那是外邦人的宗教习俗。

至于割断下半截的衣服，使他们露出下体，那就更侮辱人了。因为下体是人最隐私之处，大卫迎约柜时跳舞到忘情，不小心露出下体，就被米甲轻视了。更何况整半截的衣服被削掉，堂堂男子汉怎能受此大辱？大卫一听到这消息，立刻派人去接他们，并且让他们到耶利哥去住，等胡须长起再回去。这是大卫对下属的体贴，但是亚扪人从此就知道他们有祸了，因为做了令人憎恶的事。

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