深深挖地把根基安在磐石上

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路加福音 6:46-49
46 「你們為什麼稱呼我『主啊，主啊』，卻不遵我的話行呢？ 47 凡到我這裡來，聽見我的話就去行的，我要告訴你們他像什麼人。 48 他像一個人蓋房子，深深地挖地，把根基安在磐石上，到發大水的時候，水沖那房子，房子總不能搖動，因為根基立在磐石上。 49 唯有聽見不去行的，就像一個人在土地上蓋房子，沒有根基，水一沖，隨即倒塌了，並且那房子壞得很大。」

耶穌用蓋房子的比喻作為登山寶訓的結語（太7:24-27，路6:46-49），祂給了個引子：「你們為甚麼稱呼我『主啊，主啊』卻不遵我的話行呢？凡到我這裡來，聽見我的話就去行的，我要告訴你們他像甚麼人…」（路6:46-47）

「行」的原文有製造、產生的意思，用於人的行動、神的作為，帶著實踐、遵行、履行、練習的行動表現。耶穌用蓋房子來比喻「聽見主的話就去行」，需要「深深地挖地，把根基安在磐石上」（路6:48）「行」就是「深深地挖地」，「主的話」就是「磐石」。如此蓋的房子，雨淋、水沖、風吹，撞著房子，它總不倒塌（太7:25）。

以前在學校修習流體力學，學習認識流體的流動，從理論開始，往往學得一頭霧水、一知半解、一蹋糊塗，後來利用雷射實驗觀察流體流動，看見微小粒子在流體中的運動，才真正領悟書本上的知識。

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Jesus Makes You Humble AND Confident

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 26:13-25.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 26:13-16 (NIV)
13  Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them.
14  He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?” Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
15  David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king.
16  What you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, you and your men deserve to die, because you did not guard your master, the LORD’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”

On verses 13-16:  Here David boldly calls out Abner, the commander of Saul’s army on his failure to protect Saul because he was fast asleep. 

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Let God Do It God’s Way

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 26:1-12.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 26:1-2 (NIV) 
1 The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?” 
2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search there for David. 

On verses 1-2:   Previously in chapter 24 Saul had an emotional encounter with David and with God where his sinfulness was exposed and Saul seemed to be repentant.  Yet here in chapter 26 we find Saul returning to his old ways, hunting David down again.  How did Saul’s bad habit restart?  Verses 1-2 give us a clue: The Ziphites, who had previously committed to helping Saul hunt down David (1 Samuel 23:19), were still acting as informants to Saul, telling Saul where David was hiding. 

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加利利海的風浪

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馬可福音 4:35-41
35 當那天晚上，耶穌對門徒說：「我們渡到那邊去吧。」 36 門徒離開眾人，耶穌仍在船上，他們就把他一同帶去；也有別的船和他同行。 37 忽然起了暴風，波浪打入船內，甚至船要滿了水。 38 耶穌在船尾上枕著枕頭睡覺。門徒叫醒了他，說：「夫子！我們喪命，你不顧嗎？」

加利利海低於海平面213公尺，是世界上海拔最低的淡水湖，海拔第二低的湖泊（僅高於其南側的鹽水湖死海）。

加利利海東邊的高原比西邊的山地高，夜間高原的地表空氣比加利利海湖面空氣冷卻得快，較冷和密度較大、較重的空氣從高原邊緣吹向加利利海，形成一股局部性沉降氣流，稱之為「下降風」(Katabatic Wind)。

這股強勁的下降風就是耶穌和門徒在加利利海上所經歷的風浪，十七世紀著名荷蘭畫家林布蘭的作品《加利利海上的風暴》描繪了福音書記載，耶穌與門徒在加利利海的風暴中航行，耶穌平息風暴的海難情景，這是林布蘭唯一以航海為題材的作品。

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加利利海的生命

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約翰福音 4:13-14     耶穌回答說：「凡喝這水的，還要再渴，人若喝我所賜的水，就永遠不渴。我所賜的水要在他裡頭成為泉源，直湧到永生。」

約翰福音 7:37-39      節期的末日，就是最大之日，耶穌站著高聲說：「人若渴了，可以到我這裡來喝！信我的人就如經上所說，從他腹中要流出活水的江河來。」耶穌這話是指著信他之人要受聖靈說的。那時還沒有賜下聖靈來，因為耶穌尚未得著榮耀。

耶穌對生命飢渴的撒瑪利亞婦人說：「…人若喝我所賜的水就永遠不渴。我所賜的水要在他裡頭成為泉源，直湧到永生。」（約4:13-14）也在住棚節最後一天取水澆奠的儀式中，對著眾人站著高聲說：「人若渴了，可以到我這裡來喝。信我的人就如經上所說：『從他腹中要流出活水的江河來。』」（約7:37-39）

活水是有源頭常流不斷的水，帶來新鮮的養分，死水則滯留不動，容易滋生細菌和微生物。巴勒斯坦的加利利海有源自黑門山融雪的約旦河流入，再加上有地下泉水補給，加利利海富含漁產。約旦河經由加利利海流出，繼續流向南端的死海，死海只有水流進去的河道，卻沒有流通到大海的出口，成了一攤死水；

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What a Christ-like Woman Can Do

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 25:23-44.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 25:23-27 (NIV)
23  When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.
24  She fell at his feet and said: “My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.
25  May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name–his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent.
26  “Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal.
27  And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you.

On verses 23-27:  As I read these verses I see Abigail as a picture of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Here are 5 ways Abigail reminds us of Jesus Christ:

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我寧願有耶穌

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馬太福音 16:26      人若賺得全世界，賠上自己的生命，有什麼益處呢？人還能拿什麼換生命呢？

「我寧願有耶穌」詩的作者密勒夫人（Rhea F. Miller, 1894-1966）生平不詳，但作曲者謝伯偉（George Beverly Shea, 1909-2013）卻是現代著名的福音聖詩歌唱家。

謝伯偉出生在加拿大，父親是衛理公會牧師，母親虔誠愛主，他雖生長在基督化家庭，常在教會獻詩，卻不肯接受耶穌為救主。大學畢業後在保險公司工作，他有一副嘹亮的歌喉，經常被邀演唱，頗享盛名。

他的母親不住為他靈命禱告，1933年某日，謝伯偉在家練琴時，母親將密勒夫人的詩交給他，希望他能為它譜曲。謝伯偉誦讀後，心受感動，就在琴上記寫曲調，一面彈，一面唱，內心深處自問：「我終日忙碌，到底是為了什麼？我若賺得全世界，賠上自己的生命有什麼益處呢？」那一剎那，是他人生的轉捩點，就此決心將自己奉獻。

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Don’t Take God’s Grace for Granted

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 25:1-22.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Samuel 25:1 (NIV) 
1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Maon. 

On verse 1:  Chapter 25 begins with the death of Samuel.  It was fitting that all Israel assembled and mourned for their leader Samuel, whom they bury in his hometown of Ramah.

1 Samuel 25:2-11 (NIV)
2  A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
3  His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.
4  While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
5  So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

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Forgiving and Trusting Are Not the Same Thing

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 24:1-22.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Samuel 24:1-4 (NIV)
1  After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.”
2  So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.
3  He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.
4  The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

On verses 1-4: What was the significance of David cutting the corner of Saul’s robe?  It showed how easily David could have killed Saul if he wanted to.  This grace and mercy David showed Saul foreshadows the grace and mercy God would show us.  God could easily have killed us in His wrath, yet in His loving self-control, He withheld and instead laid His wrath upon His own Son Jesus so that we could be forgiven and set free.

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