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Let God Do It God’s Way

2024-11-17 in /by

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. 

加利利海的風浪

2024-11-17 in , /by

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。

加利利海的生命

2024-11-15 in , /by

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；

What a Christ-like Woman Can Do

2024-11-15 in /by

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:

我寧願有耶穌

2024-11-14 in , /by

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。

Don’t Take God’s Grace for Granted

2024-11-14 in /by

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.

Forgiving and Trusting Are Not the Same Thing

2024-11-13 in /by

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.

祂為我開路

2024-11-13 in , /by

但以理書 6:21-22     但以理對王說：「願王萬歲！ 我的神差遣使者封住獅子的口，叫獅子不傷我，因我在神面前無辜，我在王面前也沒有行過虧損的事。」

近代印度的大傳道人孫大信（1889-1933）有次到西藏的拉隆，這個充滿喇嘛教徒市鎮的教長不歡迎基督教，他無法在那裡傳道。但孫大信依著慣例，無論到何處、遇到什麼逼迫，都把傳福音當做他的使命。因此，他馬上被抓並帶去見教長，經過詢問，竟然非法地被判應受極刑。

在舊約時代，耶利米被投入泥水井裡，但以理被投入獅穴，現在孫大信也被投進一口放屍體的空井裡面。刑吏押他到井口，剝去他的衣服，將他推進井裡，因為顛落下去，右臂受到挫傷，在井裡黑天暗地，只有等待著死。井穴里屍臭撲鼻，骸骨累累，充滿了惡臭與死毒，手足所觸摸，莫非腐肉與朽骨，真像一個活獄。在此時此境，他如同十字架上的耶穌，呼求神說：「我的神，我的神，為什麼離棄我？」

Jesus Is the Rock Between You and the Enemy

2024-11-12 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 23:15-29.  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 23:15-18 (NIV)
15  While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life.
16  And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.
17  “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”
18  The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

On verses 15-18:  When David was hiding from Saul in the desert, Jonathan went to David and helped him find strength in God.  He spoke encouraging words to David and reminded David of God’s calling on his life (v17).