害怕死去的麦子
受害人还是得胜者？
经文
以弗所书一11-23
11我们也在他里面得（或作：成）了基业；这原是那位随己意行、作万事的，照着他旨意所预定的，
12叫他的荣耀从我们这首先在基督里有盼望的人可以得著称赞。
13你们既听见真理的道，就是那叫你们得救的福音，也信了基督，既然信他，就受了所应许的圣灵为印记。
14这圣灵是我们得基业的凭据（原文作：质），直等到神之民（原文作：产业）被赎，使他的荣耀得著称赞。
15因此，我既听见你们信从主耶稣，亲爱众圣徒，
16就为你们不住的感谢神。祷告的时候，常提到你们，
17求我们主耶稣基督的神，荣耀的父，将那赐人智慧和启示的灵赏给你们，使你们真知道他，
18并且照明你们心中的眼睛，使你们知道他的恩召有何等指望，他在圣徒中得的基业有何等丰盛的荣耀；
19并知道他向我们这信的人所显的能力是何等浩大，
20就是照他在基督身上所运行的大能大力，使他从死里复活，叫他在天上坐在自己的右边，
21远超过一切执政的、掌权的、有能的、主治的，和一切有名的；不但是今世的，连来世的也都超过了。
22又将万有服在他的脚下，使他为教会作万有之首。
23教会是他的身体，是那充满万有者所充满的。
信息分享
在开始今天的信息以先，我想问你一个问题：你在生活上有没有遇到甚么障碍和敌对？它给你带来甚么影响？它是令你充满怨恨，还是令你变得更好？关键不在于这些障碍，而是在于你自己。如果你真的向自己的关注和欲望「死去」，而你又愿意委身追求神的计划，那么问题就不是在乎环境会对你做些甚么，而是你会对环境做些甚么。
能够明白这一点的基督徒，就有能力向生命说：尽管做你最坏的事吧，我有足够的资源能把一切负面的改变成为正面。对于那些与基督一起把生命藏在神里面的信徒，没有甚么是可以击倒他们的。耶稣在祂的事奉中曾经经历很大的敌对，路加福音六章11节说：「他们就满心大怒，彼此商议怎样处治耶稣」。这是最可怕的敌对。
但是耶稣如何回应他们？路加福音六章12节说：「那时，耶稣出去，上山祷告，整夜祷告神」。祷告，是与神沟通和控制自己的有力方法。耶稣没有成为受害人，祂变成了得胜者，那不是因为环境，而是环境所带来的结果。神的主要目标之一是要塑造祂的儿女的品格，不是为了他们的舒适，不是为了他们的快乐，而是为了他们自身的品格。品格是怎样塑造的？其中的一个方法就是要透过克服困难。所以不要为了你今天所要面对的障碍和敌对而抱怨，学习在它们里面成长吧！要知道它们正在磨炼你的品格，以及你的智慧。
「敌对令你发牢骚，还是变得更好？」
进深研究
罗八28-37，五17；启一5-6
1. 我们透过基督成为甚么人？
2. 我们在生命中应该做些甚么？
祈祷
神啊，求您饶恕我，因为我常常祈求与能力相符的任务，求您帮助我懂得祈求与任务相符的能力。感谢您。阿们。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
Victim - or victor?
Bible reading:
Ephesians 1:11-23
11 In him we were also chosen,[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people,
16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[b] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Message
Permit me to ask you: What will the obstacles and opposition you meet do to you today? Will they make you bitter, or will they make you better? The last word is not with them, but with you. If your own concerns and interests are well and truly "dead", and you are committed to pursuing God's purposes, then the issue is not so much what your circumstances will do to you, but what you will do to your circumstances.
The Christian who understands this has the power to say to life - do your worst, I have the resources to take every negative and turn it into a positive. Nothing successfully opposes the believer whose life is hidden with Christ in God. Jesus once faced great opposition in His ministry: "They were filled with madness, and began to discuss with one another what they should do to Jesus" (Luke 6:11, Weymouth). Here was opposition in its most terrifying form.
What did Jesus do? Listen again to the Weymouth translation: "About that time He went out…into the hill country to pray" (v.12). Prayer, that powerful means of communicating with God and controlling, not so much the situation as the outcome of the situation, made Jesus, not a victim, but a victor. One of the major purposes of God seems to be that of producing character in His children. Not their ease, not their happiness - except as a by-product - but their character. And how is character produced? One way it is produced is through overcoming difficulties. So don't groan at the obstacles and opposition that face you today - grow in them. They help to sharpen your character - and your wits!
"Will opposition make you a bitter or better person"
Prayer
O God, forgive me that so often I cry to You for tasks equal to my powers. Help me to pray instead for power equal to my tasks. I ask this, not for my sake, but for Yours. Amen.
Further study
Romans 8:28-37; 5:17
Revelation 1:5-6
1.What are we through Christ?
2. What should we be doing in life?
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背景音乐版权属 赞美之泉音乐事工 所有，承蒙允准使用。