深深挖地把根基安在磐石上

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路加福音 6:46-49
46 「你们为什么称呼我『主啊，主啊』，却不遵我的话行呢？ 47 凡到我这里来，听见我的话就去行的，我要告诉你们他像什么人。 48 他像一个人盖房子，深深地挖地，把根基安在磐石上，到发大水的时候，水冲那房子，房子总不能摇动，因为根基立在磐石上。 49 唯有听见不去行的，就像一个人在土地上盖房子，没有根基，水一冲，随即倒塌了，并且那房子坏得很大。」

耶稣用盖房子的比喻作为登山宝训的结语（太7:24-27，路6:46-49），祂给了个引子：「你们为甚么称呼我『主啊，主啊』却不遵我的话行呢？凡到我这里来，听见我的话就去行的，我要告诉你们他像甚么人…」（路6:46-47）

「行」的原文有制造、产生的意思，用于人的行动、神的作为，带着实践、遵行、履行、练习的行动表现。耶稣用盖房子来比喻「听见主的话就去行」，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」，「主的话」就是「磐石」。如此盖的房子，雨淋、水冲、风吹，撞著房子，它总不倒塌（太7:25）。

以前在学校修习流体力学，学习认识流体的流动，从理论开始，往往学得一头雾水、一知半解、一蹋糊涂，后来利用雷射实验观察流体流动，看见微小粒子在流体中的运动，才真正领悟书本上的知识。

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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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加利利海的风浪

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马可福音 4:35-41
35 当那天晚上，耶稣对门徒说：「我们渡到那边去吧。」 36 门徒离开众人，耶稣仍在船上，他们就把他一同带去；也有别的船和他同行。 37 忽然起了暴风，波浪打入船内，甚至船要满了水。 38 耶稣在船尾上枕着枕头睡觉。门徒叫醒了他，说：「夫子！我们丧命，你不顾吗？」

加利利海低于海平面213公尺，是世界上海拔最低的淡水湖，海拔第二低的湖泊（仅高于其南侧的盐水湖死海）。

加利利海东边的高原比西边的山地高，夜间高原的地表空气比加利利海湖面空气冷却得快，较冷和密度较大、较重的空气从高原边缘吹向加利利海，形成一股局部性沉降气流，称之为「下降风」(Katabatic Wind)。

这股强劲的下降风就是耶稣和门徒在加利利海上所经历的风浪，十七世纪著名荷兰画家林布兰的作品《加利利海上的风暴》描绘了福音书记载，耶稣与门徒在加利利海的风暴中航行，耶稣平息风暴的海难情景，这是林布兰唯一以航海为题材的作品。

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加利利海的生命

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约翰福音 4:13-14     耶稣回答说：「凡喝这水的，还要再渴，人若喝我所赐的水，就永远不渴。我所赐的水要在他里头成为泉源，直涌到永生。」

约翰福音 7:37-39      节期的末日，就是最大之日，耶稣站着高声说：「人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝！信我的人就如经上所说，从他腹中要流出活水的江河来。」耶稣这话是指著信他之人要受圣灵说的。那时还没有赐下圣灵来，因为耶稣尚未得着荣耀。

耶稣对生命饥渴的撒玛利亚妇人说：「…人若喝我所赐的水就永远不渴。我所赐的水要在他里头成为泉源，直涌到永生。」（约4:13-14）也在住棚节最后一天取水浇奠的仪式中，对着众人站着高声说：「人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝。信我的人就如经上所说：『从他腹中要流出活水的江河来。』」（约7:37-39）

活水是有源头常流不断的水，带来新鲜的养分，死水则滞留不动，容易滋生细菌和微生物。巴勒斯坦的加利利海有源自黑门山融雪的约旦河流入，再加上有地下泉水补给，加利利海富含渔产。约旦河经由加利利海流出，继续流向南端的死海，死海只有水流进去的河道，却没有流通到大海的出口，成了一摊死水；

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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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我宁愿有耶稣

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马太福音 16:26      人若赚得全世界，赔上自己的生命，有什么益处呢？人还能拿什么换生命呢？

「我宁愿有耶稣」诗的作者密勒夫人（Rhea F. Miller, 1894-1966）生平不详，但作曲者谢伯伟（George Beverly Shea, 1909-2013）却是现代著名的福音圣诗歌唱家。

谢伯伟出生在加拿大，父亲是卫理公会牧师，母亲虔诚爱主，他虽生长在基督化家庭，常在教会献诗，却不肯接受耶稣为救主。大学毕业后在保险公司工作，他有一副嘹亮的歌喉，经常被邀演唱，颇享盛名。

他的母亲不住为他灵命祷告，1933年某日，谢伯伟在家练琴时，母亲将密勒夫人的诗交给他，希望他能为它谱曲。谢伯伟诵读后，心受感动，就在琴上记写曲调，一面弹，一面唱，内心深处自问：「我终日忙碌，到底是为了什么？我若赚得全世界，赔上自己的生命有什么益处呢？」那一刹那，是他人生的转捩点，就此决心将自己奉献。

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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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