Dying to What Once Bound You

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 7:1-6.  Let’s go!

Romans 7:1-6 (NIV)
1  Do you not know, brothers–for I am speaking to men who know the law–that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2  For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3  So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4  So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
5  For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
6  But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

On verses 1-6:  Before you received Jesus Christ into your life, you lived in a system which New Testament writers like Paul call “the law”.  Under the law, the only way you could have any hope of a relationship with God or a place in heaven was to live your life perfectly in accordance with God’s written code. 

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留心思想

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箴言24:32    我看見就留心思想，我看著就領了訓誨。

閱讀經文：箴言 24:28-34

28不可無故作見證陷害鄰舍，也不可用嘴欺騙人。29不可說：「人怎樣待我，我也怎樣待他，我必照他所行的報復他。」30我經過懶惰人的田地，無知人的葡萄園，31荊棘長滿了地皮，刺草遮蓋了田面，石牆也坍塌了。32我看見就留心思想，我看著就領了訓誨。33再睡片時，打盹片時，抱著手躺臥片時，34你的貧窮就必如強盜速來，你的缺乏彷彿拿兵器的人來到。

28不可無故作見證陷害鄰舍，也不可用嘴欺騙人。29不可說：「人怎樣待我，我也怎樣待他，我必照他所行的報復他。」Don’t talk about your neighbors behind their backs— no slander or gossip, please. Don’t say to anyone, “I’ll get back at you for what you did to me. I’ll make you pay for what you did!”

在這兩節經文裡，一共有三個“不可”。這裡指的是要怎樣對待鄰舍，也就是和我們相近的人。俗話說，遠親不如近鄰。常常在我們身邊的人，若是成為我們的朋友，便是生活中極大的祝福；若是為了小事而反目，便有如芒刺在背，天天不得安寧。

我曾經有一鄰舍，為人極好。有一次我們出門時，沒有把大門關好。警鈴響了。他們在我們家門守候五個小時有餘，直到我們回家。這事讓我感動良久，依然無法忘懷。他們如此待我們，我們就更加善待他們。

但是若有不愉快的事，卻要盡量包容，不要以牙還牙，以其人之道還治其人之身，增加怨恨。因為怨怨相報何時了，人生就這麼幾十年，連鄰舍都相處不好，生活一定很痛苦。因此作者告訴我們，與相近的人相處有三誡：一不可無故作見證陷害，二不可用嘴欺騙，三不可以牙還牙。反之，便是要忠誠相待，彼此包容，互相幫助。

想要有好的鄰舍也要努力去做一個別人的好鄰舍，這樣的努力必然在生活上得到實質的報答。

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I’m Under New Management

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 6:12-23.  Let’s go!

Romans 6:12-13 (ESV)
12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
13  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

On verses 12-13:  In Romans 6:1-11 Paul was saying that we don’t want to use God’s grace as an excuse to go back to sinning because our very reason for believing in Jesus was that we could experience a new life in Jesus.  With that in mind, Paul says in verse 12, “don’t let sin therefore reign in your body” (v12), for we are under new management, Jesus Christ.  Jesus has dethroned sin as the master of our lives.  So instead of offering ourselves to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, we want to offer ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness.  In other words, we’re not living for sin anymore, but we’re living for God.

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凡事預則立

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箴言24:27    你要在外頭預備工料，在田間辦理整齊，然後建造房屋。

閱讀經文：箴言 24:23-27

23以下也是智慧人的箴言。審判時看人情面是不好的。24對惡人說「你是義人」的，這人萬民必咒詛，列邦必憎惡。25責備惡人的必得喜悅，美好的福也必臨到他。26應對正直的，猶如與人親嘴。27你要在外頭預備工料，在田間辦理整齊，然後建造房屋。

23以下也是智慧人的箴言。審判時看人情面是不好的。It’s wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice.

什麽時候可以看人情面呢？中文譯得很斯文，英文則直接譯為injustice不公正。有個華人孩子跟著母親去法國，在學校被同學欺負。母親直接去找校長，校長清描淡寫地說：“那是孩子之間的遊戲，不用太介意”。倘若你是那位母親，會不會覺得那位校長不公正？不用看什麽情面，就已經有坦護之心，所以三言兩語就把華人媽媽打發掉了。這種情形可能有些人都遇過，因為看人情面而使雙方都受到不公正的審判。不要以為吃虧的一方才是受害的一方；相反的，另一方因而失去了對公正的理解，以後一生都將受其害，無法在人生的路上走得正直。

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Why It’s Foolish to Keep On Sinning While Thinking “God Will Forgive Me Anyway”

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 6:1-11.  Let’s go!

Romans 6:1-4 (NIV)
1  What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
3  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

On verses 1-4:  Earlier in Romans 5:20-21, Paul explained that when our sin (or our awareness of our sin) increased with our understanding of God’s law, God’s grace increased all the more to cover all of our sins. 

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Adam’s Sin < Jesus’ Sacrifice

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 5:12-21.  The key to reading and understanding this passage is to read it slowly, verse by verse.  So that’s what we’re going to do.  In this case we’re going to look at the ESV translation of this passage because I think it’s a little easier to understand than the NIV.  Let’s go!

Romans 5:12 (ESV)
12  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
 
On verse 12:  Starting here in Romans 5:12, Paul begins to describe some of the problems that came about because Adam in Genesis 3 broke God’s command.  The first problem is that sin entered the world (“sin came into the world”) and affected us all.  The second problem is that, as a consequence of sin, humanity became subject to death.  By “death” Paul means not only physical death, but spiritual death (i.e. total separation from God).  Since Adam sinned, these remain two of humanity’s biggest problems: sin and death.

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身份和立場

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箴言24:19 不要為作惡的心懷不平，也不要嫉妒惡人。

閱讀經文：箴言 24:15-22

15你這惡人，不要埋伏攻擊義人的家，不要毀壞他安居之所。16因為義人雖七次跌倒，仍必興起，惡人卻被禍患傾倒。17你仇敵跌倒，你不要歡喜；他傾倒，你心不要快樂。18恐怕耶和華看見就不喜悅，將怒氣從仇敵身上轉過來。19不要為作惡的心懷不平，也不要嫉妒惡人。20因為惡人終不得善報，惡人的燈也必熄滅。21我兒，你要敬畏耶和華與君王，不要與反覆無常的人結交。22因為他們的災難必忽然而起，耶和華與君王所施行的毀滅，誰能知道呢？

這八節經文對神的兒女是一個很好的教導。因為我們在這個社會上，難免會和惡人有不愉快的經驗。神沒有應許我們，人生的路上花香常漫；神卻曾應許：生活有力，在試煉中得幫助，危難中有依賴；還有神無限的體諒和不止息的愛與我們同在。

聖經裡的惡人，不一定是社會上作奸犯科的人，而是指不屬神的人。因為不屬神，所以一天到晚想推翻神的律。就像當年建巴別塔的那些人，他們聯合起來，要建一座通天的塔，向神示威，和神一比高下。現代人也是如此，他們漠視神的存在。好像有份報紙的小編在某天，在臉書上寫：“台灣的自由和民主不是上帝賜的，也不是其他宗教帶來的”。為了爭取同性婚姻，他們立意要渺視神所立下的法則。

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真智慧如蜂蜜

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箴言24:10  你在患難之日若膽怯，你的力量就微小。

閱讀經文：箴言 24:10-14

10你在患難之日若膽怯，你的力量就微小。11人被拉到死地，你要解救；人將被殺，你須攔阻。12你若說「這事我未曾知道」，那衡量人心的豈不明白嗎？保守你命的豈不知道嗎？他豈不按各人所行的報應各人嗎？13我兒，你要吃蜜，因為是好的。吃蜂房下滴的蜜，便覺甘甜。14你心得了智慧，也必覺得如此。你若找著，至終必有善報，你的指望也不致斷絕。

10你在患難之日若膽怯，你的力量就微小。If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

台灣的同運人士曾經很努力地爭取婚姻重新立法，要求平等人權；另一方面，宗教團體組成一個愛護家庭大聯盟，簡稱「護家盟」，努力想維護緍姻一夫一妻的現狀。「護家盟」的秘書長張守一（一貫道）屢次代表發言，卻被妻子上告，他在外面不僅有小三，還育有一女。可想而知，對方立刻毫不留情地攻擊，以其人之道還治其人之身。

我們在挑戰面前，能不能站立得直，能不能面對困難，實在都要看自己是否已經有準備。我們之所以膽怯，往往是因為我們知道自己的軟弱或過失。我們面對困難時的能力，決定於平時的努力和準備。所以假如平時隨波逐流，不能拒絕誘惑，當重任在身時，也會像張守一一樣，被人抓住把柄，再也不能發揮能力。

我想，這也是為何神要我們過聖潔的生活。我們若不聖潔，撒旦隨持可以拆穿我們的假面具，化解我們的能力。所以平時就要保守自己，才能面對挑戰。在患難之日能不膽怯，是因為平常己經拒絕罪惡，凝聚了正義的心態和力量，那樣發揮出來的力量才能迎向黑暗。

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Do You Know How Blessed You Are in Jesus?

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Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 5:1-11.  Let’s go!

Romans 5:1 (NIV)
1  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
 
On verse 1:  Paul has spent the past chapter and a half (Romans 3:21-4:25) declaring the good news that God has made it possible for all people to be justified (that is, declared righteous in God’s sight) by faith in Jesus Christ.  Now in Romans 5 Paul begins to describe some of the benefits that we experience because we are justified by faith.  The first benefit we experience “since we have been justified through faith” is that we have peace with God.  In other words, our relationship with God is not filled with insecurity where we worry whether or not we have done enough to earn God’s approval.  Instead, we have peace with God knowing that Jesus Christ has done it all for us.  Also,  we have peace with God in that our relationship with God is not one of animosity but peace.  For we were once enemies of God, but now through Jesus’ blood we have become His family, His friends.  The first benefit of justification by faith is peace with God.

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選擇智慧

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箴言24:5  智慧人大有能力，有知識的人力上加力。

閱讀經文：箴言 24:5-9

5智慧人大有能力，有知識的人力上加力。6你去打仗，要憑智謀，謀士眾多，人便得勝。7智慧極高，非愚昧人所能及，所以在城門內不敢開口。8設計作惡的，必稱為奸人。9愚妄人的思念乃是罪惡，褻慢者為人所憎惡。

5智慧人大有能力，有知識的人力上加力。6你去打仗，要憑智謀，謀士眾多，人便得勝。It’s better to be wise than strong; intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel.

從英譯的經文來看，這是一個比較，智慧和勇力哪個比較重要？惡人靠的是勇力，但是人若有智慧，便可化解許多紛爭。尤其是打仗的時候，若只靠兵多將猛，沒有足智多謀的軍師，也很容易一敗塗地。三國時代的諸葛亮便是歷史上十分著名的軍師，他憑著上通天文，下達地理，可以把戰況掌握得瞭若指掌。

奇怪的是，在聖經裡沒有讓我們看到有諸葛亮這一類軍師，反而是很多英雄人物都是求神的幫助而度過難關。例如，士師記裡，以色列人屢戰屢敗，但何時他們轉向神，神就讓他們得勝。神教導摩西用禱告托住約書亞的手跟亞瑪力人爭戰，神教導約書亞怎樣攻下耶利哥、取艾城，教導大衛怎樣攻打非利士人，在神的國度裡似乎看不見軍師，因為神就是他們的元帥。

我們或許像劉備一樣，希望能找到一個像諸葛亮一樣的朋友，但其實神已經讓我們看見，祂是智慧的源頭，只要我們倚靠祂，將每一件事都交託給祂，祂比諸葛亮還厲害，更有智慧。諸葛亮再有智慧和知識，終究有限；神卻是無限，且永存。要倚靠人或是倚靠智慧的源頭，便是失敗和成功的選擇了。

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