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Step Into Your Destiny as a Priest in God’s Kingdom

2019-03-06 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 8:22-30.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 8:22 (NIV) 
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 

On verses 22-30:  Here we see King Solomon leading the entire assembly of Israelites in prayer at the dedication service for the newly constructed temple.  This was Solomon’s most glorious moment where he steps into his role not only as a ruler but as a spiritual leader and priest for the people he is leading.  Just like David wore the linen ephod as a priest would and danced before God with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14), here Solomon is taking on the equivalent of a priestly role, praying on behalf of the nation.

我喜爱怜恤

2019-03-06 in /by

马太福音9: 10_13我喜爱怜恤

10 耶稣在屋里坐席的时候，有好些税吏和罪人来，与耶稣和他的门徒一同坐席。11 法利赛人看见，就对耶稣的门徒说：「你们的先生为什么和税吏并罪人一同吃饭呢？」 12 耶稣听见就说：「康健的人用不着医生，有病的人才用得着。 13 经上说：『我喜爱怜恤，不喜爱祭祀』，这句话的意思你们且去揣摩；我来本不是召义人，乃是召罪人。」

这段经文是说到在耶稣呼召马太之后，马太邀请耶稣到他家吃饭所发生的事情。马太也邀请了很多朋友一起来跟耶稣吃饭。想当然的，马太是税吏，他的朋友大多也是税吏，或是一些犹太人眼中的罪人，为罗马政府做事的。

法利赛人是一群很谨守律法的人，他们听了耶稣的教训，又看到耶稣行大能医治各样的疾病，他们可能觉得耶稣至少要记得自己的身份，最好和税吏或罪人划清界线。当然，他们不好意思问耶稣，就问耶稣的门徒，为何耶稣要和税吏和罪人一同吃饭？没想到耶稣的耳朵真灵，老远也听见，就立刻回答了。

耶稣说：「康健的人用不着医生，有病的人才用得着。经上说：『我喜爱怜恤，不喜爱祭祀』，这句话的意思你们且去揣摩；我来本不是召义人，乃是召罪人。」

God’s Preferred Real Estate

2019-03-05 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 8:12-21. Let’s go!

1 Kings 8:16 (NIV) 
16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’ 

On verses 12-21:  After a cloud of God’s presence has miraculously filled the temple (v11), Solomon tells God that this temple is for Him to dwell in (v12-13).  He then blesses the entire assembly of Israelites (v14) and tells them about how God faithfully fulfilled the promises He made to Solomon’s father David (v15).  Then in verse 16, Solomon quotes God as saying: 

“Since the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.” (v16) 

呼召马太

2019-03-04 in /by

马太福音9: 9_呼召马太

9 耶稣从那里往前走，看见一个人，名叫马太，坐在税关上，就对他说：「你跟从我来！」他就起来跟从了耶稣。

根据马可福音第二章和路加福音第五章，以及本章本节的记载，马太其实就是利未，亚勒腓的儿子。马太是希伯来文，利未是希腊文。马太形容，耶稣看见「一个人」；马可形容耶稣看见「亚勒腓的儿子利未」；路加形容，耶稣看见「一个税吏」。

在第一世纪，也就是耶稣的时代，那时加利利湖的沿岸设有多个港口，迦百农就是其中之一。迦百农又位于一条重要的国际交通干道之间，北达叙利亚、米所波大米，南至埃及，又是个港口，交通非常方便。其次是迦百农位于希律安提帕管辖区的边缘，过海便是希律腓力的分封地。在这两个地界的边界设有税关，要收出入境税，马太，又名利未，那时就在税关里做事。

这个税关是抽犹太人的税交给罗马政府，在犹太人眼中是无耻又可恶。所以当路加说耶稣看见一个税吏时，是说耶稣看见一个当时犹太人眼中的卖国贼，坏蛋! 马可说耶稣看见亚勒腓的儿子利未，也有隐含的意思，就是那个做税吏的! 只有马太说耶稣拿他当人看。你有没有不被当人看待的经历？当别人拿你当个人看待时，你有怎样的感觉？

Longing for More of God’s Powerful Presence

2019-03-04 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 8:1-11.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 8:1-5 (NIV) 
1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 
2 All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. 
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 
4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 
5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. 

医治瘫子

2019-03-03 in /by

马太福音9: 1-8_医治瘫子

1耶稣上了船，渡过海，来到自己的城里。 2 有人用褥子抬着一个瘫子到耶稣跟前来。耶稣见他们的信心，就对瘫子说：「小子，放心吧，你的罪赦了！」 3 有几个文士心里说：「这个人说僭妄的话了！」 4 耶稣知道他们的心意，就说：「你们为什么心里怀着恶念呢？ 5 或说『你的罪赦了』，或说『你起来行走』，哪一样容易呢？ 6 但要叫你们知道，人子在地上有赦罪的权柄。」就对瘫子说：「起来，拿你的褥子回家去吧！」 7 那人就起来，回家去了。 8 众人看见都惊奇，就归荣耀于神，因为他将这样的权柄赐给人。

这个故事在马可福音二章和路加福音五章都有记载。把这三个记载放在一起，我们就有一个很清楚的理解：这件事发生在迦百农，马太称迦百农为耶稣自己的城，表示祂和迦百农的关系亲密。那时耶稣在一座房子里教导人，有许多法律赛人和教法师也从加利利各乡镇和犹大地，及耶路撒冷而来。

因为房子里挤满了人，有四个人拼著一个瘫了的朋友要来请耶稣医治，却不得其门而入，因此想了一个拆屋顶的方法，把瘫子从屋顶正中央送到耶稣面前。当时迦百农的房子屋顶是由泥板及一些竹草合成的，每到冬天泥板湿了，便要用个杆泥棍把屋顶上的泥弄平，压实，所以要拆下来不是很难。但这事还是有一些危险性，万一弄不好，四个朋友也会一起跌进去。

Seek God’s Kingdom First and Everything Else You Need and More Will Be Added

2019-03-03 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 7:1-51.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 7:1 (NIV) 
1 It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. 

On verses 1-12:  Whereas it took Solomon 7 years to complete the construction of the temple, it took him 13 years to complete the construction of his own palace.  What does that tell us?  One theory is that at this time in Solomon’s life, the kingdom of God was more important than his own kingdom.  So when it came to deciding which should take priority — God’s temple or Solomon’s palace — Solomon chose to work first on God’s temple. The fact that the building of Solomon’s own palace is sandwiched in between two long passages about Solomon work on the temple further supports the theory that for Solomon, his first priority was the house of God.  As a result, the house of God was blessed, and Solomon’s own house was blessed.

鬼入猪群

2019-03-02 in /by

马太福音8: 28-34_鬼入猪群

28 耶稣既渡到那边去，来到加大拉人的地方，就有两个被鬼附的人从坟茔里出来迎着他，极其凶猛，甚至没有人能从那条路上经过。 29 他们喊著说：「神的儿子，我们与你有什么相干？时候还没有到，你就上这里来叫我们受苦吗？」

30 离他们很远，有一大群猪吃食。 31 鬼就央求耶稣，说：「若把我们赶出去，就打发我们进入猪群吧。」 32 耶稣说：「去吧！」鬼就出来，进入猪群。全群忽然闯下山崖，投在海里淹死了。 33 放猪的就逃跑进城，将这一切事和被鬼附的人所遭遇的都告诉人。 34 合城的人都出来迎见耶稣，既见了，就央求他离开他们的境界。

马太、马可、路加三本福音书统称为符类福音或是共观福音，同观福音，对观福音书。因为他们对耶稣生平的记载都很相似，只有少数细节不一样或缺少。马太很简单地描写这一段耶稣赶鬼的事，但是其他两部福音书有更精细的描写。

耶稣所到的加大拉人的地方，名字叫做格拉森，古时候的名字叫做加大拉。第一世纪犹太历史学家约瑟夫说加大拉位于湖边，有一些乡村。这两人住在坟茔，很可能是城镇以外的地方，郊外之类的。 因此马太说那儿是加大拉人的地方，而非加大拉。

How God Wants His House to Be Built

2019-03-01 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 6:1-38.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 6:7 (NIV) 
7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. 

On verses 1-10:  In verses 1 through 10 Solomon gets busy building the temple. Interestingly, according to verse 7, Solomon went to great lengths to make sure that the sound of construction tools could be not heard at the temple site.  He did this by moulding, shaping and dressing all the building blocks for the temple off-site.  Then he would bring them to the temple site where they could be quietly placed and displayed for everyone to see.   To casual onlookers, it might seem like the temple quietly sprung up overnight, since they did not hear many construction sounds, when in fact much of the hard work had been done off-site.

平静风和海

2019-02-28 in /by

马太福音8: 23-27_平静风和海

23 耶稣上了船，门徒跟着他。 24 海里忽然起了暴风，甚至船被波浪掩盖，耶稣却睡着了。 25 门徒来叫醒了他，说：「主啊，救我们，我们丧命啦！」 26 耶稣说：「你们这小信的人哪！为什么胆怯呢？」于是起来，斥责风和海，风和海就大大地平静了。 27 众人稀奇，说：「这是怎样的人？连风和海也听从他了！」

从昨天的经文里，听到耶稣对文士和门徒的回答之后，你还要不要跟从耶稣？你是不是在心里掂量，假如跟从耶稣不能发财，连房子也没有，是否值得走下去？你可曾担心，为了跟随耶稣，就要放弃一些传统的作法，会不会遭到社会或亲友的唾骂？这些事，耶稣都留给那两个想要跟随祂的人去思考，然后祂就上船了。

忙忽了一整天，耶稣一上船就睡着了。一点也没有察觉天气起了变化。这时船上至少有四个老练的渔夫，他们正奋力与灌进船里的海水战斗。情势越来越紧张，越来越控制不住，船身也开始倾斜。在他们完全没有办法时，他们来叫醒耶稣。

加利利海是个淡水湖，是地球上海拔最低的一个淡水湖，也是世界上海拔第二低的湖泊（第一低是死海）。加利利海大多时候是平静的、美丽的，里面鱼群众多，有许多好吃的罗非鱼，也就是旅客经常要品尝的“圣彼得鱼＂。加利利海位于约旦地势低洼的大裂谷中，这个大裂谷正好是非洲板块和阿拉伯板块的分界线，该处地震频繁，经常突然发生强烈的风暴，即使是老练的渔夫也无法预先测知。