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Faith in the Lord = Real Power

2025-02-25 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 13:1-10.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 13:1-10 (NIV)
1  By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.
2  He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: “O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'”

On verses 1-10:  King Jeroboam is now deeply entrenched in idolatry.  An unnamed prophet from Judah appears before Jeroboam while Jeroboam is offering an idolatrous sacrifice.  This unnamed prophet predicts that one day a young man named Josiah will be born to the house of David and “will sacrifice the priests who now make offerings here” (v2).  In other words, the prophet predicts that this young man Josiah would put an end to idolatry in Israel.

Let Faith in God’s Promises Empower Your Thinking

2025-02-24 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 12:25-33.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 12:25-27 (NIV) 
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. 
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 
27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” 

On verses 25-27:  Jeroboam is now king of Israel (i.e. all the tribes of Israel other than Judah and Benjamin).  King Jeroboam goes to Shechem, the very place where Rehoboam had been crowned king and sets up his house there. Jeroboam fortifies Shechem to make it as secure as he can.  But despite fortifying his house, Jeroboam still feels insecure.  Verse 26 says that “Jeroboam thought to himself”.

誰等候誰？

2025-02-24 in , /by

以賽亞書30:18   耶和華必然等候，要施恩給你們，必然興起，好憐憫你們，因為耶和華是公平的神。凡等候祂的，都是有福的！

詩篇25:5, 21  求祢以祢的真理引導我，教訓我，因為祢是救我的神，我終日等候祢。/ 願純全正直保守我，因為我等候祢。

阿水嬸手拿著牛皮紙袋，匆匆趕到台南市國稅局服務台，想起昨天下午遇見鄰居小美交代的話：「阿水嬸！明天把你們家的報稅資料拿來國稅局，我幫妳處理。」阿水嬸心想：真窩心！看著長大的小美前個月才從台北市國稅局調回台南工作，現在恰好可以幫我處理報稅的瑣事；報稅真煩！家中老頭光說不練、不幫忙，還好有小美，一定搞定。

服務台前幾條人龍排的長長的，依順序等候服務人員協助填寫報稅資料，阿水嬸看不見前方服務台，找不著坐在服務台後方的小美；她想：先排隊再說，反正小美一定會幫忙她，於是，阿水嬸拿出手帕擦擦汗，看著手錶的秒針繞圓圈，腳步也一步步往前移，耐心的「等候」。

耶穌在哪裡？

2025-02-23 in , /by

路加福音23:39-43    那同釘的兩個犯人，有一個譏誚他說：「你不是基督嗎？可以救自己和我們吧！」 40 那一個就應聲責備他說：「你既是一樣受刑的，還不怕神嗎？ 41 我們是應該的，因我們所受的與我們所做的相稱，但這個人沒有做過一件不好的事。」 42 就說：「耶穌啊，你得國降臨的時候，求你記念我！」 43 耶穌對他說：「我實在告訴你：今日你要同我在樂園裡了！」

耶穌在兩個犯人（強盜）中間，祂無罪，卻被列在罪犯之中，擔當多人的罪。

耶穌在兩個犯人（強盜）中間，祂無罪，但祂沒有遠離罪犯，祂為罪犯代求。

我在罪犯中間，我有罪，但罪得主赦免；我在罪犯中間，不遠離，但為罪犯代求。處在邪惡淫亂的世代，我們向神求一個神蹟，是僅存的神蹟，是先知約拿的神蹟，是讓世人悔改的神蹟。

…因為祂將命傾倒，以致於死；祂也被列在罪犯之中。祂卻擔當多人的罪，又為罪犯代求。（以賽亞書53:12）

又有兩個犯人，和耶穌一同帶來處死。到了一個地方，名叫「髑髏地」，就在那裡把耶穌釘在十字架上，又釘了兩個犯人：一個在左邊，一個在右邊。（路加福音23:32-33）

Be Quick to Respond to God

2025-02-23 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 12:16-24.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 12:16-20 (NIV)
16  When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home.
17  But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

On verses 16-20:  Now that King Rehoboam has rejected the people’s plea for a lighter workload, the Israelites, other than the tribe of Judah, reject Rehoboam as their king.  Rehoboam tries sending Adoniram his messenger to appease the people, but the people kill Adoniram and nearly kill Rehoboam.  The people appoint Jeroboam as their new king instead, in rebellion against the house of David.

Before You Make A Big Decision

2025-02-21 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 12:1-15.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 12:1-5 (NIV) 
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all the Israelites had gone there to make him king. 
2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 
3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 

On verses 1-5:  Israel is about to make Solomon’s son Rehoboam the next king of Israel.  While in Egypt, Jeroboam hears about this, returns to Israel at this crucial juncture in Israel’s history.  Jeroboam reconnects with the Israelites and together they approach the king with a request:

雞叫的時候

2025-02-21 in , /by

彼得在外面院子裡坐著，有一個使女前來，說：「你素來也是同那加利利人耶穌一夥的。」

彼得在眾人面前卻不承認，說：「我不知道你說的是甚麼！」

既出去，到了門口，又有一個使女看見他，就對那裡的人說：「這個人也是同拿撒勒人耶穌一夥的。」

彼得又不承認，並且起誓說：「我不認得那個人。」

過了不多的時候，旁邊站著的人前來，對彼得說：「你真是他們一黨的，你的口音把你露出來了。」

彼得就發咒起誓地說：「我不認得那個人。」

立時，雞就叫了。彼得想起耶穌所說的話：「雞叫以先，你要三次不認我。」他就出去痛哭。（馬太福音26:69-75）

信主的人啊！你是否是同十架上耶穌一夥的？曾否幾次不認得耶穌？曾否聽見雞叫？曾否因想起耶穌所說的話而痛哭？

God Looks For THIS Kind of Person to Bless

2025-02-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 11:26-43.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 11:26-30 (NIV)
26  Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.
27  Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father.

On verses 26-30:  Here we read of Solomon’s greatest human adversary, Jeroboam.  Jeroboam came from a tough background.  His mother Zeredah was a widow, probably meaning that Jeroboam’s father Nebat was not around for significant parts of Jeroboam’s life (v26).  Nonetheless, Jeroboam was a leader, becoming one of Solomon’s officials (v26). 

進窄門

2025-02-20 in , /by

「你們要進窄門。因為引到滅亡，那門是寬的，路是大的，進去的人也多；引到永生，那門是窄的，路是小的，找著的人也少。」（馬太福音7:13-14）

…耶穌對眾人說：「你們要努力進窄門。我告訴你們，將來有許多人想要進去，卻是不能。…

你們站在外面叩門，說：『主啊，給我們開門！』

家主回答說：『我不認識你們，不曉得你們是哪裡來的！』

那時，你們要說：『我們在你面前吃過喝過，你也在我們的街上教訓過人。』

他要說：『我告訴你們，我不曉得你們是哪裡來的。你們這一切作惡的人，離開我去吧！』…

Hurt People Hurt People

2025-02-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 11:14-25.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

1 Kings 11:14-25 (NIV)
14  Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.
15  Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom.
16  Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom.
17  But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father.

On verses 14-25:  In verses 14-22 we read of Hadad, an Edomite prince who, despite coming from a royal family, endured some incredible hardship.  When Hadad was just a young boy, Hadad lost his parents and his family when the Edomites were at war with the Israelites.  Hadad would flee to Egypt and be given many of the material comforts that royalty would come to expect.  Still, there was a pain in Hadad’s heart that none of those material comforts could heal, and a drive to get revenge on the country that was responsible for killing his parents.