Entries by

復活的耶穌__頒下大使命

2020-04-19 in /by

馬太福音28章18-20節   耶穌進前來，對他們說：「天上地下所有的權柄都賜給我了。 所以你們要去，使萬民做我的門徒，奉父、子、聖靈的名給他們施洗， 凡我所吩咐你們的，都教訓他們遵守。我就常與你們同在，直到世界的末了。」

馬太記載了耶穌和門徒們在加利利山上約會時，耶穌最後的囑咐，也就是我們一般所說的大使命。路加在〈使徒行傳〉裡記載耶穌復活後，用四十天的時間向門徒講說神國的事，讓我們知道耶穌非常看重這十一個門徒，後來他們制籤，又選出馬提亞為第十二個門徒，取代了賣主的猶大。這十二個門徒，是耶穌終夜禱告後篩選出來的，在歷史上有舉足輕重的地位，在〈啟示錄〉廿一章所說的聖城新耶路撒冷，其城牆有十二根基，根基上有羔羊十二使徒的名字，表明了他們的地位何等重要。他們的工作如同建造聖城的根基。

在交待工作之前，主的第一個宣告是所有相信祂的人不能忽視的：「天上地下所有的權柄都賜給我了。」換句話說，祂已經是天地之主，天上地下的掌權者了，沒有任何善惡勢力大過耶穌，也沒有人的權柄大過耶穌。我們所信的乃是天上地下唯一的真神。在總統府工作的，即使是為總統倒垃圾的人，出了總統府都是趾氣高揚的，因為他在總統府做事，和總統很近啊！而我們為天上地下的主做事，豈不更光榮嗎？作主皂僕人要明白自己身份的重要性。先為自己定位，才能承擔主的託咐。

主的吩咐裡有先後的秩序，我們要按著主的秩序，才不會亂套。第一，要使萬民做主的門徒。在坊間做徒都要先跟著師傅學習，師傅叫做什麼，他就得做什麼，要學得師傅滿意才能升級或是獨當一面。因此做門徒的意思就是要學習跟隨主，明白信仰的意義，肯謙卑順服主，才可以進到第二步。

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.

復活的耶穌_葡萄樹和枝子

2020-04-17 in /by

約翰福音15章5節       我是葡萄樹，你們是枝子。常在我裡面的，我也常在他裡面，這人就多結果子；因為離了我，你們就不能做什麼。

親愛的朋友，當我們即將進入行動管制令的另一個週末時，我們在家裡與信徒保持聯繫，這裡有一些偉大的名言和思想來激發我們的信心。

“沒有素質的講道，不會讓人感到被冒犯；既不會讓聽道者對自己不滿，他也不會去挑戰傳道者。”——喬治·懷特菲爾德（George Whitefield）

“如果你要與耶穌基督同行，你將會被敵對……在我們的時代，要做一個真正的基督徒，是需要遭受毀謗的。”——喬治·懷特菲爾德（George Whitefield）

“神給我生命的目的，就是要我渴慕榮耀祂，同時也渴慕經歷在那榮耀中的喜樂，這兩者是同一個渴慕。”——喬納森·愛德華茲（Jonathan Edwards）

“立志一：我要為神而活。立志二：縱然沒有人願意這麼做，我還是堅決如此行。”——喬納森·愛德華茲（Jonathan Edwards）

“禱告是信心的自然的表現，就好像生命需要呼吸一樣。”——喬納森·愛德華茲（Jonathan Edwards）

復活的耶穌_提比哩亞海邊的早餐

2020-04-16 in /by

約翰福音21章16節   耶穌第二次又對他說：「約翰的兒子西門，你愛我嗎？」

提比哩亞海最初名叫「革尼撒勒湖」，後稱為「加利利海」，最後因為湖畔新建的「提比哩亞城」而改名為「提比哩亞海」。所以提比哩亞海就是加利利海。

這是一個非常美麗而溫暖的故事。彼得和幾個門徒一起打漁去了，耶穌在海邊為他們準備烤魚早餐。就好像大約三年前他們的初遇，彼得和同船的人一夜辛勞，卻一無所獲。耶穌叫他們：「把船開到水深之處，下網打魚。」他們下了網，就圈住許多魚，網險些裂開，魚裝滿了兩隻船。這次他們辛勞整夜也是一無所獲，耶穌說：「你們把網撒在船的右邊，就必得著。」他們便撒下網去，竟拉不上來了，因為魚甚多。跟耶穌同工一定很有趣，在我們無能為力，十分失望時，只要祂一出聲，必水到渠成。

〈約翰福音〉21章幾乎可以說是以彼得為主角，因為1.是彼得發起去打漁，2.一知道是主耶穌時，彼得就跳下海到主那裡；3.在早餐之後，主單單問彼得是否愛祂，4.並把餵羊的責任交給彼得，5.預言彼得的受難。

有的解經家把耶穌這三次問彼得的「愛」做了一些解釋。第一個希臘原文是‘agape’，是神愛世人那種超越的愛（divine love）。第二個是‘phileo’，是屬於兄弟、手足情分的那種愛（brotherly love）。主三次問彼得‘你愛我嗎？’前兩次用的是‘agape’，第三次用的是‘phileo’。而彼得三次都是以‘phileo’來回答主。有的人說‘agape’的愛超越‘phileo’的愛，但也有人持相反的意見。這兩個字在希臘文聖經裡經常交替使用，因此我們不要在這兩字上傷腦筋。

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?  

復活的耶穌_不信的多馬

2020-04-15 in /by

約翰福音20章29節  耶穌對他說：「你因看見了我才信，那沒有看見就信的有福了！」

如果福音書只有前三本，我們就只知道多馬的名字，無從追尋他的事蹟。感謝主！約翰替我們記下了許多寶貝而獨特的史料，使我們得著教訓。

多馬是雙生子的意思。有人說，他本名猶大，後來見十二門徒中有雅各的兒子猶大，又有賣主的加略人猶大，為了分別起見，就叫他的諢名：雙生子。多馬又叫低士馬，多馬是希伯來語，低士馬是希臘語，都是雙生子的意思，與利百加生下以掃雅各「雙子」那個字是同一個字（創廿五）。想必他定是雙生子之一，就是不知道另外那個雙生子在哪裡？後來又怎樣？多馬卻因跟從主而留名於後世，受人紀念，可見服事主的人總不吃虧。

一、多疑的多馬

提起多馬，就想到不信，正如提起猶大，就想到賣主，提起底馬就想到貪愛世界一樣。聖經中提到多馬三次發言，三次都顯出他的疑惑不信。

第一次是在拉撒路死了的時候，主說：「拉撒路死了，我沒有在那裡就歡喜，這是為你們的緣故，好叫你們相信；如今我們可以往他那裡去吧！」多馬就對其他門徒說：「我們也去和他同死吧（約11:15-16）」。第二次是在最後的晚餐席上，主說：「我去為你們預備了地方，就必再來接你們到我那裡去。」多馬說：「主啊！我們不知道你往哪裡去，怎麼知道那條路呢（約14:5）？」第三次就是主復活後向門徒顯現，多馬竟不在場，後來門徒告訴他，他們已經看見主了。多馬卻說：「我非看見他手上的釘痕，用指頭探入那釘痕，又用手探入他的肋旁，我總不信（約20:25）」。

The More You Look at Jesus, the More Like Jesus You Become

2020-04-15 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 3:1-8.  I used to think that 1 John was an easy book to read.  While there are still parts of 1 John that I find very clear and easy to understand, there are other parts of 1 John that come across to me as a little cryptic and that require us to meditate deeply in order to grasp the deep truths that John is communicating.  So let’s break down this passage verse by verse to uncover what John is talking about.

1 John 3:1a (NIV) 
1  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

On verse 1a:  When our sin had disqualified us from God’s presence and we had no right to have anything to do with God, God lavished His love on us when He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross.  It is through Jesus Christ that we too can be called children of God.   That’s the identity changing love of our God.  Because of His love, we’re no longer the same.  We go from sinners to saints, from excluded to included, from being orphaned to being part of His family.  It’s not because of anything we have done but because of His grace.

復活的耶穌_向門徒顯現

2020-04-14 in /by

路加福音24章36節  正說這話的時候，耶穌親自站在他們當中，說：「願你們平安！」

復活節向世人證明了一件事，聖誕節是真實的故事。雖然我們無法確定耶穌降生的日期，但我們可以肯定，耶穌曾經出生成為人，在這世界上以一個人的形像，過了33年半的時間。

在耶穌復活那天，門徒驚疑不定。他們聚在一起，不敢再出去。一來敵人知道耶穌的屍身不見了，己經開始放話是祂的門徒偷走了耶穌的屍體；二是他們還在半信半疑之中。有人看見復活的耶穌，有人沒有看見，究竟是有還是沒有？是眼花還是幻覺？

今天有則新聞，有位老人家患了新冠狀肺炎，治癒後出院，街坊隣舍夾道歚迎，為他打氣。他也保持距離地感謝他們。這些人是切實看到老人家了，所以他們的喜樂洋溢在外。

但是門徒大多數沒看到復活的耶穌，怎麼笑得出來呢？約翰記載：那日，就是七日的第一日晚上，門徒所在的地方，因怕猶太人，門都關了。耶穌來站在當中，對他們說：「願你們平安！」 說了這話，就把手和肋旁指給他們看。門徒看見主，就喜樂了。(約20:19-20)

他們是真的喜樂了, 因為看到了復活的耶穌。沒有人開門，耶穌卻出現在他們中間，何等神奇。耶穌還有身體，甚至連祂的釘痕也還在，卻不被時空限制了。

You Can’t Have God Without Jesus

2020-04-14 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 John 2:18-29.  Let’s go!

1 John 2:26 (NIV) 
26  I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

What is going on in these verses?  The apostle John is warning his readers about false teachers.  These false teachers were originally part of the church that John led, but they left the church (v19) and were now teaching that Jesus is not the Christ (that is, not the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for nor the Saviour that we all need) (v22). 

These teachers were likely telling the people in John’s church, “You do not know the truth” (v21), accusing John and the other apostles of lying to them.  In response, John reassures his people that “you have an anointing form the Holy One, and all of you know the truth” (v20).  With more reassuring words, John writes, “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth” (v21).   He urges them to continue in the faith and not to feel insecure just because these false teachers were saying “You’re missing something!” (v27-28).