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耶利哥城的奇蹟

2020-04-22 in /by

约翰福音10章10节 b  我来了，是要叫羊得生命，并且得的更丰盛。

古耶利哥城是一个很了不起的城巿，它的城墙有里外两层，相隔12 尺，内墙有12尺厚，外墙则有六尺厚和30 尺高，里面住的尽是大能的勇士。兵士站在城墙上守卫，能极目远眺。迦南人认为它固若金汤，牢不可破。想要进去迦南地，就要先经过耶利哥城。想要得到迦南地，就要先攻取此城。

当以色列人来到约旦河畔时，耶和华晓谕约书亚说：「看哪，我已经把耶利哥和耶利哥的王，并大能的勇士，都交在你手中。」约书亚怎样带领以色列人攻下耶利哥城是旧约里一个非常振奋人心的事蹟，因为耶利哥城不是约书亚打下来的，整场战役都是神的工作。神说祂己经把耶利哥和耶利哥王，并大能的勇士都交在约书亚手里。就好像有人买了礼物，付了钱，把礼物交到你手中一样。

没有人像约书亚那样领取耶利哥的胜利，不费一兵一卒，不用一弹一箭，只是率领祭司和兵丁带着约柜绕城共13次，耶利哥的城墙就倒塌了。根据考古学家的研究，其外墙往外倒，内墙往内倒，甚是奇妙。耶利哥的失守，是神对以色列人应许的应验之一。

神己经把耶利哥交在他们手中，但是神要他们亲自上阵去领取这个礼物，成为与神一起同工的人。历史也把这功劳记在约书亚的头上。

God’s Love Drives Out Fear

2020-04-21 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 4:13-21.  Let’s go!

1 John 4:13-14 (NIV) 
13  We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

On verses 13-14:  In other words, the faith that John and his fellow apostles preach is not merely about believing in abstract ideas.  Rather their faith comes with a real experience of God’s Holy Spirit (v13), and their testimony is based on having actually seen this Jesus who was sent from the Father to be the Saviour of the world (v14).  In other words, Christian faith is not simply a bunch of philosophical principles and metaphysical ideas.  Rather, the Christian faith is grounded in historical fact and is accompanied by a real, life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit.

建立在磐石上的生命

2020-04-20 in /by

马太福音7:24-27   「所以，凡听见我这话就去行的，好比一个聪明人，把房子盖在磐石上。 雨淋，水冲，风吹，撞著那房子，房子总不倒塌，因为根基立在磐石上。 凡听见我这话不去行的，好比一个无知的人，把房子盖在沙土上。 雨淋，水冲，风吹，撞著那房子，房子就倒塌了，并且倒塌得很大。」

拉塞尔·凯尔索·卡特（Russell Kelso Carter）（1849-1928）是一位有许多恩赐和能力的人。他出生于美国马里兰州巴尔的摩，年轻时就被誉为杰出运动员，15岁时立志奉献一生给主，1887年被任命为传道人。他在宾夕法尼亚州军事学院担任过化学，自然科学，土木工程和数学教授。他也是个医生和音乐家。

在30岁那年，他患了很严重的心脏病，徘徊在生死边缘。他有一位要好的同事Connie Ruth Christiansen如此描写当时的卡特：他跪下来向神祷告，不管神医治他与否，他都立定心意服事神。他完完全全抓住《圣经》里的应许，把自己交给神。他相信神的应许，而不是看神是否医治才相信神。

我们常常说要有信心，但是我们的信心从何而来？很多人都凭自己的感觉和判断去揣摩神的旨意，但是凭感觉和判断的人很容易被打倒，因为事情的走向多数不是按着人的心意去发展。

How God Shows His Love

2020-04-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 4:7-12.  Let’s go!

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV) 
7  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him…….

On verses 7-12:  This is my favourite passage in 1 John, so much so that when Sharleen and I got married this was the passage we chose to be read at our wedding.  This passage is not just beautifully written; more importantly, it is one of the best summaries you will find in the Bible of what Christianity is all about:

复活的耶稣__颁下大使命

2020-04-19 in /by

马太福音28章18-20节   耶稣进前来，对他们说：「天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了。 所以你们要去，使万民做我的门徒，奉父、子、圣灵的名给他们施洗， 凡我所吩咐你们的，都教训他们遵守。我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。」

马太记载了耶稣和门徒们在加利利山上约会时，耶稣最后的嘱咐，也就是我们一般所说的大使命。路加在〈使徒行传〉里记载耶稣复活后，用四十天的时间向门徒讲说神国的事，让我们知道耶稣非常看重这十一个门徒，后来他们制签，又选出马提亚为第十二个门徒，取代了卖主的犹大。这十二个门徒，是耶稣终夜祷告后筛选出来的，在历史上有举足轻重的地位，在〈启示录〉廿一章所说的圣城新耶路撒冷，其城墙有十二根基，根基上有羔羊十二使徒的名字，表明了他们的地位何等重要。他们的工作如同建造圣城的根基。

在交待工作之前，主的第一个宣告是所有相信祂的人不能忽视的：「天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了。」换句话说，祂已经是天地之主，天上地下的掌权者了，没有任何善恶势力大过耶稣，也没有人的权柄大过耶稣。我们所信的乃是天上地下唯一的真神。在总统府工作的，即使是为总统倒垃圾的人，出了总统府都是趾气高扬的，因为他在总统府做事，和总统很近啊！而我们为天上地下的主做事，岂不更光荣吗？作主皂仆人要明白自己身份的重要性。先为自己定位，才能承担主的托咐。

主的吩咐里有先后的秩序，我们要按著主的秩序，才不会乱套。第一，要使万民做主的门徒。在坊间做徒都要先跟着师傅学习，师傅叫做什么，他就得做什么，要学得师傅满意才能升级或是独当一面。因此做门徒的意思就是要学习跟随主，明白信仰的意义，肯谦卑顺服主，才可以进到第二步。

Greater Is He Who Is In You

2020-04-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 4:1-6.  Let’s go!

1 John 4:1-3 (NIV) 
1  Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3  but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

On verses 1-3:  Why is John telling his readers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (v1)?  It’s because in John’s day false prophets were spreading ideas that contradicted the gospel message that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into this world, died for our sins, and rose again.  According to early church writers, there was a man called Cerinthus who taught that Jesus was not divine and that he was not supernaturally born of a virgin but that he was the naturally born son of Joseph and Mary.  Cerinthus taught that the only reason why Jesus had any connection with God was because at his baptism he received a spirit from heaven called the Christ and that this spirit left him at his crucifixion.   According to Cerinthus, Jesus and the Christ were two separate beings, implying that Jesus was not God, but a man who temporarily possessed a special spirit for a few years.

What to Do with a Self-Condemning Heart

2020-04-17 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 3:18-24.  Let’s go!

1 John 3:18 (NIV) 
18  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

On verse 18:  One of the big themes of 1 John is that true love is shown not just with our words but with our actions.  When it comes to love, actions speak louder than words.  I encourage you to memorize this verse.

1 John 3:19-20 (NIV) 
19  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20  whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

复活的耶稣_葡萄树和枝子

2020-04-17 in /by

约翰福音15章5节       我是葡萄树，你们是枝子。常在我里面的，我也常在他里面，这人就多结果子；因为离了我，你们就不能做什么。

亲爱的朋友，当我们即将进入行动管制令的另一个周末时，我们在家里与信徒保持联系，这里有一些伟大的名言和思想来激发我们的信心。

“没有素质的讲道，不会让人感到被冒犯；既不会让听道者对自己不满，他也不会去挑战传道者。”——乔治·怀特菲尔德（George Whitefield）

“如果你要与耶稣基督同行，你将会被敌对……在我们的时代，要做一个真正的基督徒，是需要遭受毁谤的。”——乔治·怀特菲尔德（George Whitefield）

“神给我生命的目的，就是要我渴慕荣耀祂，同时也渴慕经历在那荣耀中的喜乐，这两者是同一个渴慕。”——乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）

“立志一：我要为神而活。立志二：纵然没有人愿意这么做，我还是坚决如此行。”——乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）

“祷告是信心的自然的表现，就好像生命需要呼吸一样。”——乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）

复活的耶稣_提比哩亚海边的早餐

2020-04-16 in /by

约翰福音21章16节   耶稣第二次又对他说：「约翰的儿子西门，你爱我吗？」

提比哩亚海最初名叫「革尼撒勒湖」，后称为「加利利海」，最后因为湖畔新建的「提比哩亚城」而改名为「提比哩亚海」。所以提比哩亚海就是加利利海。

这是一个非常美丽而温暖的故事。彼得和几个门徒一起打渔去了，耶稣在海边为他们准备烤鱼早餐。就好像大约三年前他们的初遇，彼得和同船的人一夜辛劳，却一无所获。耶稣叫他们：「把船开到水深之处，下网打鱼。」他们下了网，就圈住许多鱼，网险些裂开，鱼装满了两只船。这次他们辛劳整夜也是一无所获，耶稣说：「你们把网撒在船的右边，就必得着。」他们便撒下网去，竟拉不上来了，因为鱼甚多。跟耶稣同工一定很有趣，在我们无能为力，十分失望时，只要祂一出声，必水到渠成。

〈约翰福音〉21章几乎可以说是以彼得为主角，因为1.是彼得发起去打渔，2.一知道是主耶稣时，彼得就跳下海到主那里；3.在早餐之后，主单单问彼得是否爱祂，4.并把喂羊的责任交给彼得，5.预言彼得的受难。

有的解经家把耶稣这三次问彼得的「爱」做了一些解释。第一个希腊原文是‘agape’，是神爱世人那种超越的爱（divine love）。第二个是‘phileo’，是属于兄弟、手足情分的那种爱（brotherly love）。主三次问彼得‘你爱我吗？’前两次用的是‘agape’，第三次用的是‘phileo’。而彼得三次都是以‘phileo’来回答主。有的人说‘agape’的爱超越‘phileo’的爱，但也有人持相反的意见。这两个字在希腊文圣经里经常交替使用，因此我们不要在这两字上伤脑筋。

Let God’s Word Bring Us To Our Knees

2020-04-16 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 3:9-17.  Let’s go!

1 John 3:9-11 (NIV) 
9  No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 
10  This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 
11  This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
 
On verses 9-11:  John puts it in such black and white terms: 

Those who do what is right belong to God.  Those who sin don’t belong to God.  (v9-10)
Those who love their fellow brothers and sisters belong to God.  Those who hate their fellow brothers and sisters don’t belong to God (v10b-11).
So say you’re someone who has trusted Jesus as your Saviour.  You believe you are a child of God based on John 3:16 and other Bible verses.  Yet you know for a fact that from time to time you still sin and you still don’t love others as you should all the time.  How are we to take these verses from 1 John 3:9-11?