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押撒和俄陀聂

2021-04-20 in , /by

〈约书亚记〉 15:19 她说：「求你赐福给我，你既将我安置在南地，求你也给我水泉。」她父亲就把上泉下泉赐给她。

阅读经文：〈约书亚记〉   15:1-63

在拈阄分地后，犹大支派所分到的地界，大部分是在迦南地的南部，包括了现在著名的希作仑、伯利恒和耶路撒冷等地。雅各祝福犹大：「你弟兄们必赞美你，你手必掐住仇敌的颈项，你父亲的儿子们必向你下拜。犹大是个小狮子。我儿啊，你抓了食便上去。你屈下身去，卧如公狮，蹲如母狮，谁敢惹你？ 圭必不离犹大，杖必不离他两脚之间，直等细罗来到，万民都必归顺（创49:8-10）」。约书亚介绍的第一个支派就是犹大支派，因为犹大支派出了一个信心的伟人迦勒，然后又出了另一位英雄俄陀聂。

在这一章里，我门会发现一件不寻常的事，信心伟人迦勒居然把他至爱的女儿当奖品，要悬赏给攻下基列西弗（底璧）并夺城的人！底璧距希伯仑以南十英里，曾被约书亚打败过，但是迦南人趁虚又住进去，因此迦勒需要再把它收回。这是为了宗族的利益，而不是为了他自己利益。因为他已经从他所要求的地，赶出了三个亚衲族长，他大可休战享受，但是因为底璧地处中央山脉的边缘，可雄视非利士平原，是一个重要的军事据点，是兵家必争之地，所以为了犹大族，此地不能不夺取回来。

虽然在古代，子女的婚事多数由父母定夺，可是这样的决定算不算草率呢？曾经读过一段有关押撒和俄陀聂，说来给大家参考。有一本犹太人的历史小说《迦勒的女儿》中说道，押撒是迦勒的独生女，她还有三个兄弟。迦勒很爱这个女儿，往往问她：「你要什么？」可能从小和兄弟们一起成长，她的性情非常自由开放，还爱上了一个风流且贪婪的军官。迦勒屡劝不听，非常生气。在一次和押撒沟通无效之后，便下了这道以押撒为悬赏的命令。

Blood That Cries Out

2021-04-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 4:1-12.  Let’s go!

Genesis 4:1 (NIV)
1  Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

On verse 1:  Adam and Eve welcome their first child, a son.  Even after they had sinned against God in Genesis 3, here we see Eve’s faith in the Lord as she name her firstborn “Cain” (which means “brought forth”), saying “with the Lord’s help I have brought forth a man.”

Genesis 4:2 (NIV)
2  Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

On verse 2:  Abel (“hebel” in Hebrew) means “breath”.  Especially considering that his life was cut short, Abel’s name reminds me of Psalm 144:4, which says “Man is like a breath (hebel); his days are like a fleeting shadow”.  To me it’s a reminder that we have no control over the day of our birth and very little control over the day of our death, but what is up to us is how we live in that hyphen between the day of our birth and the day of our death.  No matter how long or short our days on earth, like Abel may we live each day giving our best to God.  When we do, it’s a life worth living, no matter how long or short it ends up being.

Sin Creates Struggle, But God’s Love Makes Living Possible Again

2021-04-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 3:1-12.  Let’s go!

Genesis 3:13-19 (NIV)
13  Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14  So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16  To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17  To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

On verses 13-19:  What was the result of the man and woman giving into the serpent’s temptation?  Everything that used to be easy is now a great struggle:

因为他专心跟从耶和华

2021-04-19 in , /by

〈约书亚记〉  14: 11 我还是强壮，像摩西打发我去的那天一样。无论是争战是出入，我的力量那时如何，现在还是如何。

阅读经文：〈约书亚记〉  14: 1-15

相信每一个超过六七十岁的人听到迦勒的话都会羡慕不已。当别人正感到日头、光明、月亮、星宿变为黑暗，眼睛看不清楚；街门关闭，推磨的响声微小，耳朵听不见；人怕高处，路上有惊慌，杏树开花，蚱蜢成为重担，胆子变得很小；银链折断，金罐破裂，瓶子在泉旁损坏，血管狭窄、心脏、肾都不好使了；他在八十五岁时依然拥有四十岁的力量，何等令人羡慕。

在约书亚让以色列的九个半支派拈阄分地业时，迦勒勇敢地提出了他的要求。他向约书亚提出神当年借着摩西给他的应许：「你脚所踏之地定要归你和你的子孙永远为业，因为你专心跟从耶和华─我的　神。」或许有的人觉得一旦信了耶稣，就会变得懦弱，什么都不敢讲的好好先生或乡愿，但是迦勒给我们看到的榜样，是勇于为自己争取的榜样。迦勒为何有这样的信心和勇气呢？因为他对神的信心非坚定。

在他四十岁时，摩西选了十二个探子去迦南地。他是其中之一。当其他的十个人都散发著不利的言论时，只有他和约书亚挺胸而出，对百姓说：「我们所窥探经过之地是极美之地。耶和华若喜悦我们，就必将我们领进那地，把地赐给我们，那地原是流奶与蜜之地。但你们不可背叛耶和华，也不要怕那地的居民，因为他们是我们的食物，并且荫庇他们的已经离开他们。有耶和华与我们同在，不要怕他们。（民14:7-9）」

未得之地

2021-04-18 in , /by

〈约书亚记〉 13:1约书亚年纪老迈，耶和华对他说：你年纪老迈了，还有许多未得之地。

阅读经文：〈约书亚记〉 13:1-33

曾任台湾财政部长的白培英先生写过一篇文章：「春天，不要留白」。现在正是春天，读起来令人特别有同感。「春天就这样来了，在暖阳煦风中，在万紫嫣红中来了。可是，为时无几，当油桐花悄悄地染白了山头，一瞬间，春天便倏然而别，不给人挽留的机会。想这个春天又将无声无息地过去了。开春以来除了日常生活的琐琐碎碎外，竟还没有做任何特别有意义的事。去年呢？也没有做甚么特别的事；前年呢？大前年呢？也想不起做过甚么值得回味的事。你瞿然警觉，这些年的大好春天，你竟这样白过了。人生能有多少春天呢？」

他说起一个真实故事：有位年轻人名叫汤米。汤米在大学时，对老师所讲上帝创造万物的奇妙以及人生的意义，总是嗤之以鼻。毕业后若干年，患了末期的肺癌，医生告知只有数月的时 间。他想起老师讲的话：「人生最悲哀的莫过于没有爱过。」他想如果离开世界，而没有告诉所爱的人他爱他们，那也同样是莫大的悲哀。他和父亲比较疏远，于是 他先勇敢的向父亲说：「爸爸，我愿你知道我爱你！」父亲先是一愣，随即拥抱着他流着泪说：「儿子，我也爱你。」然后母亲和弟弟也都流着泪和他拥抱，彼此说 出心里的话：「我爱你。」他对老师说，他以为上帝不要他，但他现在内心充满平安，相信上帝就在身边，他即使离开世界也无遗憾了。老师对他说：「圣经〈约翰一 书〉中说，神就是爱，住在爱里面的就是住在神里面，神也住在他里面。汤米，神找到了你！」

当约书亚结束了多年的争战之后，终于不得不面对人生冬天的来临，他的年纪老迈了。神知道他的情况，对他说：「你年纪老迈了，还有许多未得之地」。这是不是每个人年老时都有的遗憾呢？

The Pursuing Love of God

2021-04-18 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 3:1-12.  Let’s go!

Genesis 3:1 (NIV)
1  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

On verse 1:  It is important to be aware of Satan’s tactics and the ways he wants to lead us astray.  That way you can guard yourself against them.  We see one tactic of Satan here in this verse: Satan likes to try to confuse us about what God actually said and what God actually requires.

Genesis 3:2-5 (NIV)
2  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”
4  “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

《启示录》绪论(下 )

2021-04-16 in , /by

基督照各教会灵性的程度来牧养

　　基督复活之后，对祂的教会的吩咐、差遣到底是什么，我们要仔细传讲耶稣给每个教会的信息到底是什么。每个教会有它不同的地方，有的教会非常满足主的心意，有的教会不讨神的喜悦，照着各地灵性的状况对他们宣讲。当你真心谨慎听，你会发现这个话是对我讲，是我自己要遵行、顺服、聆听，自己修改自己，我们的灵性才会进步。每个教会领受上帝的护理都是独特的，针对他们所要改正而发出劝戒。

　　这位曾经死过，现在活着，并且活到永永远远的基督，监察、照顾、牧养他的教会，用当讲的话警戒、安慰、照顾教会，这位生命的主、教会的元首发号施令，赐下应许。基督不是死了就死了，主清楚知道我们每个教会的毛病在哪里、失败在哪里、我们的需要在哪里，然后按照各个教会的需要，一个个来监督、来教导、来警戒，我们对我们所做的好事、对的事情，祂都知道，我们要爱上帝，因为一个爱上帝的人，是上帝所知道的人。上帝不但知道我们做的好事，也知道我们的败坏、错误，因此基督发出警戒、教训，使我们在他面前预备自己，领受他要给我们的指责、审判、责备，使我们不至于将错就错，以致于远远离开他，走在灭亡的道路上。

　　教会是主的身体，主一定用他的督责把我们带回正路。如果我们所做的是上帝所喜悦的事情，那么，上帝一定会赐福；如果我们所做的是违背上帝旨意的事情，他一定要刑罚、管教我们，带我们回到正路。这是耶稣基督作为教会的元首所做的事情。

Breath of Life

2021-04-16 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 2:1-14.  Let’s go!

Genesis 2:1-3 (NIV)
1  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3  And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

On verses 1-3:  God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired.  Rather He rested as an example for all of us, that we would rest from our work once a week so that we can be renewed, restored and refreshed (Exodus 20:8-11).  Often times it’s a lack of rest, a refusal to obey God’s command to rest, that causes problems for us physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally.

Genesis 2:4-7 (NIV)
4  This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—
5  and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground,
6  but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground–
7  the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

What Does It Mean To Be Made in God’s Image?

2021-04-15 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 1:20-31.  Let’s go!

Genesis 1:20-25 (NIV)
20  And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
21  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22  God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
23  And there was evening, and there was morning–the fifth day.
24  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
25  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

On verses 20-25:  One of the recurring phrases in Genesis 1 is, “And God saw that it was good.” (v21, 25.  See also v4, 10, 12 and 18)  In other words, God took pleasure in His creative work. 

南征北伐小总结

2021-04-15 in , /by

〈约书亚记〉 12:7 a  约书亚和以色列人在约旦河西击杀了诸王。

阅读经文：〈约书亚记〉 12:1-24 

看到约书亚做的报告，可以感觉到他是一个很正直的人。他没有隐藏摩西的功绩，虽然河东的仗也是约书亚带头在打。但那时是摩西带领以色列人，所以把功绩归给摩西是应当的。有人拿摩西的战绩和约书亚的相比较，摩西杀了亚摩利王西宏和巴珊噩，而约书亚杀了31个王。所以约书亚比摩西厉害功高，你同意吗？我觉得那是相当无聊的比较。其实在击杀河东之王时，摩西已经120岁，在这之前和亚玛利人的争战，摩西到山上祷告，约书亚在战场上争战。仗都是约书亚打的，但是摩西的祷告却是胜负的关键。摩西举手，以色列人就打胜仗；摩西的手放下来，以色列人就打败仗。所以亚伦和户珥必须扶助摩西的手，直到战事结束。

神交托给摩西和约书亚的工作是完全不同的。神交给摩西的工作是带领以色列人出埃及，约书亚的工作是带领以色列人进迦南。在人生的旅途上，我们都有各自的任务和使命，神对每个人的安排都不一样。所以我们不要羡慕别人的工作和成就，反而要在自己的责任上看见神给自己的使命，尽心尽力去做就对了。

摩西不是一生下来就做领袖，约书亚也不是一生下来就会打仗。神用了八十年的时间去塑造摩西，也用了超过四十年的时间去磨炼约书亚。正如迦南不是一天一夜打下来的，都是用了许多年，一步一脚印地打下来。所以我们不要以为只要有神的同在，成功就伸手可及。神没有立刻让以色列人成功，因为在努力的过程中，正是塑造一个人的机会，也是建立信心的最佳时机。仗是一个个地打，王也是一个个地杀，代表人生道路上的困难要一个个地克服，不能一下子全部解决。所以我们面对困难或自己的恶习时，不要想一下子就通通清除所有的障碍，只要有耐心和信心，靠着主，一个个地去掉它们。