使徒行傳 第21章 中英摘要


  保羅宣教的第三次旅程即將結束,聖靈多次的讓保羅以及他的同伴們知道,在耶路撒冷有捆鎖及患難等待著保羅,眾人央求保羅不要前往,但保羅說:「我為著主耶穌的緣故,不但在耶路撒冷被綑綁,就是死在那裡也是心甘情願的。」

  這如同主耶穌告訴門徒,祂必須上耶路撒冷,受長老、祭司長、文士許多的苦,並要被殺….彼得拉著耶穌說:「主阿,萬不可如此,這事必不臨到你身上」耶穌轉過來,對彼得說:「撒但,退我後邊去吧!你是絆我腳的;因為你不體貼神的意思,只體貼人的意思。」

  聖靈所預言的患難,並沒有讓保羅卻步,神旨意的成全,才是保羅人生的目標。

  保羅說他「服事主凡事謙卑,眼中流淚….」服事會有眼淚的,但是這眼淚絕對不是自怨自艾的眼淚,我們為神國所流的眼淚,神都計數,並將我們的眼淚裝在祂的皮袋裡,將來在新天新地,神要親自擦去我們一切的眼淚。

  保羅服事主凡事謙卑,謙卑是我們該有的服事態度,但是謙卑絕對不是在服事上說:「我不行、我不能….」謙卑是少想自己,而不是小看自己;謙卑是願意放下自己,願意順服;謙卑是承認自己的短處,而不是否認自己的長處;謙卑是坦承自己的錯誤,而不是在真理上妥協。

  神是我們的主人,當我們願意謙卑自己來服事祂,我們就是忠心良善的僕人。服事的過程中,我們會漸漸磨成基督的樣式,我們會看別人比自己強,因為我們會了解到服事的困難。而那些不願意服事、任意批評的人,問題都是出在看自己比別人強。我們的神是榮耀的主,求神開我們的心眼,讓我們看見神的榮耀,我們才能如同保羅一般,捨身忘死的來事奉祂。

  聖靈給我們膏油與能力,神的話則是軌道,讓我們得以順著神的心意,乘載聖靈的能力,前去完成神的旨意。以弗所書第六章,神所賜給我們的全副軍裝中,只有聖靈的寶劍—神的話,是用於攻擊,神的話對仇敵是有殺傷力的。抵擋仇敵需要防禦,也要有攻擊,如同在足球賽中,倘若整隊的人都在龍門前防守,而不去射門攻擊,過程中只要不小心被對手踢進一球,則全盤皆輸;然而整場就算都沒被對手踢進半球,雙方頂多也只能打成平手;所以唯有勇敢的去攻擊,積極的去射門,比賽才有得勝的可能。

  神的話不難讀,就怕你不願意讀,讓我們大量地吃下神的話,當作我們的食物,也成為我們的兵器,來抵擋一切的仇敵。

2015/6/4 葉長老 風美小組信息 / 慶如 摘錄整理

yes-661435-1000

 Acts 21

  The third missionary journey of Paul was drawing to an end. The Holy Spirit warned Paul and his companion many times that prison and hardships were facing them. However, Paul answered, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” The hardships the Holy Spirit foretold did not frightened Paul, because to fulfill God’s will was Paul’s only goal.

  Paul said that he “served the Lord with great humility and with tears…” There may be tears in your services, but they are not tears of sorrow. God counts every tear we shed for His Kingdom, and He list our tears on His scroll. When the new heaven and the new earth arrive, God will wipe our tears with His own hands.

  Paul served God with great humility. We should humble ourselves when we are serving God, but being humble does not mean telling ourselves “I can’t.” Being humble is to be willing to think less of, not belittling ourselves. Being humble is to be willing to lay down ourselves and to obey. Being humble is to admit our insufficiency, not denying our strength. Being humble is to confess your mistakes, not compromising the Truth.

  God is our Lord. We are the good and faithful servants when we are willing to humble ourselves to serve Him. In our services, we will gradually learn to be like Jesus Christ. We will value others above ourselves because we learned about the difficulties in services. As for those who only criticize others but not willing to serve, their problem is that they value themselves over others. Our God is a glorious God. Pray that God open the eyes of our hearts so that we can see the glory of God. Only when we see God’s glory can we put our lives behind us to serve God, like Paul did.

  The Holy Spirit bestows ointment and power upon us. God’s word is our guidance to the will and principle of God. Because we have the words of God, we can fulfill God’s will, and not be led astray, with the help of the Holy Spirit. In full armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6, only the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, functions to attack. God’s words is harmful to the enemy. We need to defend ourselves, but we also need to launch attacks against the enemy. Take football games for example, if all the members in a team choose to stand in front of the goal, and no one goes out to shoot, they would lose if the other team manage to get just one ball into the goal. If the team did not miss even one ball, it would only be a tie. Hence, there will be a chance to win only if we attack courageously and shooting for the goal.

  The words of God is not hard to read if only you are willing to read them. May we swallow down God’s words in great quantity, making God’s words our food and our weapon so that we can fight against the dark forces.

2015/6/4  Message by Elder Yeh