害怕死去的麥子
起來行走
經文
使徒行傳三1-16
1申初禱告的時候，彼得、約翰上聖殿去。2有一個人，生來是瘸腿的，天天被人抬來，放在殿的一個門口，那門名叫美門，要求進殿的人賙濟。3他看見彼得、約翰將要進殿，就求他們賙濟。4彼得約翰定睛看他；彼得說：你看我們！5那人就留意看他們，指望得著甚麼。6彼得說：金銀我都沒有，只把我所有的給你：我奉拿撒勒人耶穌基督的名，叫你起來行走！7於是拉著他的右手，扶他起來；他的腳和踝子骨立刻健壯了，8就跳起來，站著，又行走，同他們進了殿，走著，跳著，讚美神。9百姓都看見他行走，讚美神；10認得他是那素常坐在殿的美門口求賙濟的，就因他所遇著的事滿心希奇、驚訝。
11那人正在稱為所羅門的廊下，拉著彼得、約翰；眾百姓一齊跑到他們那裡，很覺希奇。12彼得看見，就對百姓說：以色列人哪，為甚麼把這事當作希奇呢？為甚麼定睛看我們，以為我們憑自己的能力和虔誠使這人行走呢？13亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的神，就是我們列祖的神，已經榮耀了他的僕人（或作：兒子）耶穌；你們卻把他交付彼拉多。彼拉多定意要釋放他，你們竟在彼拉多面前棄絕了他。14你們棄絕了那聖潔公義者，反求著釋放一個兇手給你們。15你們殺了那生命的主，神卻叫他從死裡復活了；我們都是為這事作見證。16我們因信他的名，他的名便叫你們所看見所認識的這人健壯了；正是他所賜的信心，叫這人在你們眾人面前全然好了。
信息分享
我們昨天提到當我們向自己的私慾死的時候，就會積極起來迎向生命。但這不是一種被動的行為，因為事實上，自我降服是面對生命一種最奇妙和積極的方式。
以彼得和約翰為例，他們遇到那個要求幫助的男人時，正如我們說，他們「阮囊羞澀」，沒能力在金錢上幫助他。我們大部分人在遇到這種情況時，都會讓事情就此結束，因為在這個世界，如果沒有金錢還可以做些甚麼呢？但彼得和約翰並不是這樣，他們把他們的貧窮作為生命的目的，並加以利用。我的意思是：如果他們有點錢，就可以拋一個錢幣給他，讓事情就此結束。所以如果他們是在金錢上沒有欠缺的話，反而會妨礙了更高的美善。
相反的，他們意識到自己不能在金錢方面服事那人，於是尋求在另一方面、就是在靈性上來服事他。結果，原來的阻礙被轉變成為機會，他們對那男人說：「起來行走。」那人於是起來了。整件事情沒有任何的被動！正如有人打趣說：「那瘸腿的人想要糊口，結果竟然可以行走！」原諒我以超出正統釋經的解說來說明這事件，但我們確實需要注意身邊一些「瘸腿」的事情，它們也許是在我們內心，一些重要的事奉、屬靈的才能；我們必須對它們說：「起來行走。」然後我們才能走向更廣闊有效的生活殿堂。
「在每個障礙裡都存在機會」
進深研究
太九1-8；約十四13，二十31；腓二9-11
1. 為甚麼耶穌的名字那麼有力量？
2. 將來會有甚麼事情發生？
祈禱
神啊，求您赦免我沒有在每個障礙中看到機會。求您幫助我明白當某一方面被阻的時候，可以從另一方面求突破。我知道當我與您的心意合一時，就沒有東西可以阻礙我前進。天父，我感謝您。阿們。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
Rise up and walk
Bible reading:
Acts 3:1-16
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade.
12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
Message
We said yesterday that when we die to self-interests we rise to meet life, not passively, but actively. In fact, self-surrender is the most amazingly active method of dealing with life.
Take, for example, Peter and John. When they met the man asking for alms, they were, as we say, "financially embarrassed" and unable to help in that way. Most of us would have let the incident go at that, for what can you do if you have no money in a world like this? Not these men, however - they took up this poverty into the purpose of their lives and used it. What do I mean? This: if they had had some money, they might have tossed him a coin and that would have been the end of it - their adequacy on that level would have blocked the higher good.
Instead, conscious that they could not minister to him at one level - the financial - they sought to minister to him at another level - the spiritual. The result was that the obstacle on one level was turned into an opportunity on another. "Rise up and walk," they said to the man - and rise up he did. Nothing passive about that! As one wag put it: "The lame man asked for alms, but instead he got legs!" Forgive me for extending this illustration beyond the bounds of proper biblical exposition, but there are many of us who need to look at the things lying lame around us, and perhaps even within us - higher ministries, spiritual aptitudes - and say to them, "Rise up and walk." Then together we shall walk on into the temple of wider and more effective living.
"There are opportunities in every obstacle"
Prayer
O God, forgive me for failing to see the opportunities in every obstacle. Help me to understand that when I am blocked on one level, then I can break out on another. Nothing can deter me when my will coincides with Yours. Thank You, Father. Amen.
Further study
Matthew 9:1-8
John 14:13; 20:31
Philippians 2:9-11
1. Why is the Name of Jesus so powerful?
2. What will happen one day?
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