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What the Holy Spirit Makes Possible

2022-09-14 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 8:9-17.  Let’s go!

Romans 8:9 (NIV)
9  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
 
On verse 9:  Here in Romans Paul uses the names “Spirit”, “Spirit of God”, “Spirit of Christ” and “His Spirit” interchangeably since they are all referring to the same thing, the Holy Spirit.  How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit?  You believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, that He rose again and is alive today, and you’ve trusted Jesus to be your Saviour.  If that’s you, then the Bible says that the Holy Spirit lives inside you (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:5) and you have the Holy Spirit.
 

柔和的力量

2022-09-14 in , /by

箴言25:15  柔和的舌头，能折断骨头。

阅读经文：箴言 25:14-15

14空夸赠送礼物的，好像无雨的风云。15柔和的舌头，能折断骨头。

期待与落空

「空夸赠送礼物的，好像无雨的风云。」(箴言25:14)

与人交往，不要如干旱地的风云，给人期待，没有实践，不过是无雨的风，不过是天空的浮云，过去了无痕，逝去无踪迹。

这世界有太多无雨的风云，像是政客的承诺，商标的虚假，广告的不实，泡沫的市场，虚有其名的人，只肯享受的人，追求成就不在教育的老师，卖假牛肉的牛肉店老板等。

愿我们给人的承诺不是空包弹，给人的礼物不是说说而已，是带着滋润的雨，给人供应，对人有实际的帮助。

Your Identity in Christ Surpasses Everything Else, Even Your Mistakes

2022-09-13 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 8:1-8.  Let’s go!

Romans 8:1 (NIV)
1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
 
On verse 1:  The word “therefore” in verse 1 connects what Paul was talking about in Romans 7 with what we’re now reading in Romans 8.  In other words, when we, like Paul in Romans 7, struggle with sin, we must remember that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v1).  In other words, in Jesus Christ we are not condemned as sinners; rather we are justified (declared righteous) by God’s undeserved kindness.  To think that our biggest mistakes do not change who we are in Christ.  That’s not to downplay the size of our mistakes.  That’s recognizing just how powerful and unshakeable is our identity in Jesus Christ.  Praise God!  As Paul will write later on in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from His love – not even our worst mistakes or our biggest regrets.

金苹果与银网子

2022-09-13 in , /by

箴言25:11  一句话说得合宜，就如金苹果在银网子里。

阅读经文：箴言 25:10-13

10恐怕听见的人骂你，你的臭名就难以脱离。11一句话说得合宜，就如金苹果在银网子里。12智慧人的劝诫在顺从的人耳中，好像金耳环和精金的装饰。13忠信的使者叫差他的人心里舒畅，就如在收割时有冰雪的凉气。

为什么好用律师争胜之徒，有臭名？

「恐怕听见的人骂你，你的臭名就难以脱离。」(箴言25:10)

不要以为法律的审判，会还人清白；不要认为法庭胜诉，可以证明自己无辜。许多用律师，经常法庭得胜的人，拥有的是欺压别人的臭名，或是苛刻尖酸的恶名。

爱用律师是民主制度的陷阱，许多律师为了找案子，乐意成为富人的宠臣，合法的打手，为他排除垃圾的清洁工，为他搬走阻碍的马前卒。形成法律行业，与企业财团的贪婪共同体。结果合法，却不合情，一直得胜的背后，是臭名。

不要好诉讼，不要好打官司，法庭掀开的资料，有时我们不如自己想像的那么美好。双方互揭疮疤时，我们也会惹得一身臭。

The Struggle of Every Christian

2022-09-12 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 7:14-25.  Let’s go!

Romans 7:14-25 (NIV)
14  We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.
20  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

On verses 14-25:  In describing his struggle with sin, is Paul talking about what his experience was like before he became a Christian or his experience even after he became a Christian?  While arguments can be made for both sides, I believe in the final analysis it is best to see Romans 7:14-25 as Paul sharing very candidly his own personal struggle with sin and temptation even after he became a Christian and all the way till the time he as an apostle was writing Romans.

不可泄漏人的密事

2022-09-12 in , /by

箴言25:8  不要冒失出去与人争竞，免得至终被他羞辱，你就不知道怎样行了。

阅读经文：箴言 25:7-9

7宁可有人说「请你上来」，强如在你觐见的王子面前叫你退下。8不要冒失出去与人争竞，免得至终被他羞辱，你就不知道怎样行了。9你与邻舍争讼，要与他一人辩论，不可泄漏人的密事。

知道要退下

「宁可有人说请你上来，强如在你觐见的王子面前，叫你退下。」(箴言二十五：7)

上帝知道我们的软弱，喜欢滞留在权力的位上，退不下来。喜欢留在高处，但不守望。喜欢与有钱人相处，不看望穷人。喜欢人生一直往上爬，不愿有下台的阶梯。受人欢迎的那幕戏，喜欢一直演下去，永不落幕。

上帝啊，只有祢永远配坐宝座，不是我。求主不要让我们为了维持业绩，而驻留在高处。忘了要关起门，进入隐密之处与祢见面。忘了走到野外，静看小花小草的美，静听虫闻鸟叫的美意。忘了成功亮丽戏台的底下，有许多灰尘也需要扫一扫。

不要以为成功的见证，才是一生焚烧的祭坛。上帝啊，让我一生单纯的事奉祢。

上帝救烂人

2022-09-11 in , /by

箴言25:4  除去银子的渣滓、就有银子出来、银匠能以作器皿。

阅读经文：箴言 25:3-6

3天之高，地之厚，君王之心也测不透。4除去银子的渣滓就有银子出来，银匠能以做器皿；5除去王面前的恶人，国位就靠公义坚立。6不要在王面前妄自尊大，不要在大人的位上站立。

天高地厚也藏不了

「天之高，地之厚，君王之心也测不透。」(箴言25:3)
有许多事，我们可以看清楚，但是人心，我们测不透。我们的聪明有极限，我们的逻辑有不逻辑。上帝在此告诉我们，人的心很复杂，放在高处，如同天上的云端，我们抓不到资料；放在地下的深处，有如许多防火墙、防爆库，又加密锁码，加上层层的保护。

我们宁愿像小孩子，带颗单纯的心思，来到上帝面前，不要像君王，有一堆重装备，贴身保镳，掩藏自己，却不来到上帝面前。上帝可以开启人的云端资料，可以钻取人隐藏的密码，可以比维基解密更爆料。

上帝现在让稗子与麦子一起长，稗子自以为了不起，可以混得不着边际。稗子忘了，有一天上帝会分出稗子，用火焚烧。

God’s Law Is Good and Jesus Is Even Better

2022-09-11 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Romans 7:7-13.  Let’s go!

Romans 7:7-13 (NIV)
7  What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
8  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
9  Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11  For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13  Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

隐祕的事与上帝的荣耀

2022-09-09 in , /by

箴言25:2  将事隐祕乃神的荣耀，将事察清乃君王的荣耀。

阅读经文：箴言 25:1-2

1以下也是所罗门的箴言，是犹大王希西家的人所誊录的。2将事隐祕乃神的荣耀，将事察清乃君王的荣耀。

隐藏的文字工作者

「以下也是所罗门的箴言，是犹大王希西家的人所誊录的。」(箴言25:1)

我们不知道这个隐名的誊录员是谁，也不知道他在何种状况下发现所罗门王剩余的箴言，所罗门作王965-925B.C.，希西家作犹大王在715-687B.C.，这位隐名的誊写员，是在所罗门作王后约250-238年，他抄录下未被发表的箴言，公布给世人。

将被人遗忘在古老灰尘里的羊毛皮卷，或是莎草纸里宝贵的启示，重新抄写，让人阅读，这是文字工作者的服事，没有人知道他是谁，上帝知道他就可以了。每个世代，都是遗忘的世代，属上帝的宝贵见证，复兴的信息，总被人有意或无意的埋在灰尘里，沙堆下。感谢主，有忠心的仆人默默地挖掘，耐心的寻找，仔细的重抄， 无私的发表。

何等羡慕如此的服事，重现古老的见证，让人知道在每个世代中，都有上帝的作为。

Dying to What Once Bound You

2022-09-09 in /by

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.