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Monitor Your Default Thoughts

2025-10-06 in /by

Proverbs 4:23  Above all else, guard your heart,  for everything you do flows from it.

Monitor your default thoughts. Most of us are unaware of the inner dialogue we carry on with ourselves each day. Appraisals. Criticisms. Assumptions. They are knee-jerk reactions. “I’m so stupid.” “I’ll never get this under control.”

When self-criticism or worry plays like a tape in your head, there is always a reason.  Someone trained you to think this way. They are the result of injury after injury, influence after influence, regret after regret—days, years, decades of immobilizing notions until a person cannot escape.

看不见吗？听不见吗？不记得吗？不明白吗？

2025-10-06 in , /by

马可福音8:14-21   门徒忘了带饼，在船上除了一个饼，没有别的食物。 15 耶稣嘱咐他们说：「你们要谨慎，防备法利赛人的酵和希律的酵。」 16 他们彼此议论说：「这是因为我们没有饼吧？」 17 耶稣看出来，就说：「你们为什么因为没有饼就议论呢？你们还不醒悟，还不明白吗？你们的心还是愚顽吗？ 18 你们有眼睛看不见吗？有耳朵听不见吗？也不记得吗？ 

「吃饭囉！」太太吆喝着。「好吃的吗？」总是有个期待，「哇！吃草哩！苜蓿芽…」在惊叹中享用晚餐。女儿抱着小纸盒进家门。「好吃的吗？」欢迎她回家。「来来来！吃吃看！一本书。」女儿逗趣著回应。

在家里，自己口头禅「好吃的吗？」似乎多过于「感谢主！」

「活在恩典很随意，认知恩典不经意」是我们的日常生活写照，耶稣的门徒似乎也是如此。

Open the Book

2025-10-05 in /by

John 8:31-32  To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I’ve listened to lesser voices. Locker-room know-it-alls. Godless teachers. Messed-up movie stars. Self-absorbed talk show hosts. They don’t know what they are talking about. I need an authoritative voice, an owner’s manual. And so do you.

I played catcher in Little League baseball, Pony League baseball, and high school baseball. I noticed something: the width of home plate never changed. It was always seventeen inches wide. The width of the plate was permanent.

七次提醒-刚强壮胆

2025-10-05 in , /by

约书亚记6:2-5    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。 3 你们的一切兵丁要围绕这城，一日围绕一次，六日都要这样行。 4 七个祭司要拿七个羊角走在约柜前。到第七日，你们要绕城七次，祭司也要吹角。 5 他们吹的角声拖长，你们听见角声，众百姓要大声呼喊，城墙就必塌陷，各人都要往前直上。」

七个祭司拿七个羊角，绕耶利哥城七日，第七日绕城七次，耶利哥城墙就塌陷了。七是圣经中的完全数，神用六日创造天地，第七日安息（创世记2:1-3），七日成为一周，七代表完美、完全。

最近我也经历七次「刚强壮胆」的提醒。前些日子读经，从申命记末几章读到约书亚记第一章，发现约书亚分别从摩西（申命记31:7）、神（申命记31:23，约书亚记1:6，1:9）以及以色列百姓（约书亚记1:18）得着五次鼓励，当「刚强壮胆」承接摩西的使命，降服于神，竭力追求神的旨意，带领以色列人进入迦南地。

多加种子，多增果子，多方施舍

2025-10-03 in , /by

哥林多后书9:10-11  那赐种给撒种的、赐粮给人吃的，必多多加给你们种地的种子，又增添你们仁义的果子， 11 叫你们凡事富足，可以多多施舍，就借着我们使感谢归于神。

使徒保罗在哥林多后书第九章鼓励教会信徒乐意慷慨捐献：「那赐种给撒种的，赐粮给人吃的，必多多加给你们种地的种子，又增添你们仁义的果子；叫你们凡事富足，可以多多施舍，就借着我们使感谢归于神。」（哥林多后书9:10-11）

种子或果实除了靠自体的掉落或弹力外，也会藉风力或水流等自然力量来传播，甚至利用鸟类、蚂蚁、动物来帮忙携带至远方。

作物成长需要日光、水、空气和营养素，营养素可由空气、水和土壤中吸收，也可以靠现代化的肥料来供给。

在神的创造里，祂撒种于大地，孕育作物成长，结出果实、成为粮食给人吃。从种子到结出果实、成为粮食的过程中，人参与其中，与神同行，且与神同工。

The Bible Works

2025-10-03 in /by

Ephesians 2:10  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Can we genuinely believe that the Bible is the word of God? The unique and ultimate standard? Many people don’t. Others of us, however, do so for good reasons. Here are my three:

Jesus believed it. When the devil came to tempt him, Jesus quoted Scripture. When Jesus rose from the dead, he taught from Scripture. He set his own stamp of approval upon Scripture. What else is needed?

Fulfilled prophecies confirm it. In his life Christ fulfilled 332 distinct prophecies from the Old Testament. The mathematical probability of these prophecies being fulfilled by one man is one in 840 untrigintillion. That’s 840 followed by 96 zeroes.

「十」分出「一」

2025-10-02 in , /by

利未记27:30-34

「地上所有的，无论是地上的种子是树上的果子，十分之一是耶和华的，是归给耶和华为圣的。 31 人若要赎这十分之一的什么物，就要加上五分之一。 32 凡牛群羊群中，一切从杖下经过的，每第十只要归给耶和华为圣。 33 不可问是好是坏，也不可更换；若定要更换，所更换的与本来的牲畜都要成为圣，不可赎回。」

34 这就是耶和华在西奈山为以色列人所吩咐摩西的命令。

拿供物献给神源自于该隐和亚伯两兄弟（创世记4:1-16），而最早的十分之一奉献，则是当亚伯兰杀败诸王回来，把所得的拿出十分之一奉献给来迎接他、给他祝福的撒冷王麦基洗德（至高神的祭司，希伯来书7:1）。

申命记14:22-26论及以色列人的十一奉献：「你要把你撒种所产的，就是你田地每年所出的，十分取一分；又要把你的五谷、新酒、和油的十分之一，并牛群羊群中头生的，吃在耶和华─你神面前，就是他所选择要立为他名的居所。这样，你可以学习时常敬畏耶和华─你的神。…」

Take Every Thought Captive

2025-10-02 in /by

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (GNT) reads, “The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.”

The image is that of a warrior, a soldier, a fighter. Our enemy is the unsolicited, unhealthy, and unwelcome idea. Rather than indulge such thoughts, we take a wrecking ball to them. We “take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” We poke a spear against the spine of toxic thoughts, march them outside, and toss them on their derrieres. Discipleship, at its core, is Christlike thinking.

一首摇滚上月球

2025-10-01 in , /by

哥林多后书1:4-5  我们在一切患难中，祂就安慰我们，叫我们能用神所赐的安慰去安慰那遭各样患难的人。 5 我们既多受基督的苦楚，就靠基督多得安慰。

《一首摇滚上月球(Rock Me To The Moon)》描写台湾罕见疾病家庭的日常压力以及病友间互相扶助的情谊，由六个罕见疾病家庭的父亲共同成立「困熊霸」(睡太饱)乐团，以登上贡寮国际海洋音乐祭表演为目标的奋斗历程。本片2013年获第15届台北电影节「观众票选奖」与第50届金马奖「最佳原创电影歌曲」。

来自六个家庭的父亲，职业从国中教师、网站设计师、捏面人师傅、课辅班老师、教会行政主任到计程车司机都有，相同的是家中都有罕病儿。他们组成乐团，六人从不会使用乐器到站上海洋音乐祭舞台，面向大海献唱《一首摇滚上月球》。

「尼曼匹克症C型」（Niemann–Pick disease, type C、NPC）是极其罕见的疾病，全台湾不到10个病例，如果一个家庭就有两个，而且医师宣告「可能都活不过20岁」，你会不会觉得，这样的苦难不是一般人所能承受的？

Practice Picky Thinking

2025-10-01 in /by

The space between your ears occupies about six inches. It buzzes with nonstop activity—processing data, issuing commands, making selections, and determining the course of your life. It exists to filter facts and make decisions, and it was designed and built by God. One rule matters above all others: truth. Good decisions depend upon reliable information.