害怕死去的麦子
起来行走
经文
使徒行传三1-16
1申初祷告的时候，彼得、约翰上圣殿去。2有一个人，生来是瘸腿的，天天被人擡来，放在殿的一个门口，那门名叫美门，要求进殿的人赒济。3他看见彼得、约翰将要进殿，就求他们赒济。4彼得约翰定睛看他；彼得说：你看我们！5那人就留意看他们，指望得着甚么。6彼得说：金银我都没有，只把我所有的给你：我奉拿撒勒人耶稣基督的名，叫你起来行走！7于是拉着他的右手，扶他起来；他的脚和踝子骨立刻健壮了，8就跳起来，站着，又行走，同他们进了殿，走着，跳着，赞美神。9百姓都看见他行走，赞美神；10认得他是那素常坐在殿的美门口求赒济的，就因他所遇着的事满心希奇、惊讶。
11那人正在称为所罗门的廊下，拉着彼得、约翰；众百姓一齐跑到他们那里，很觉希奇。12彼得看见，就对百姓说：以色列人哪，为甚么把这事当作希奇呢？为甚么定睛看我们，以为我们凭自己的能力和虔诚使这人行走呢？13亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的神，就是我们列祖的神，已经荣耀了他的仆人（或作：儿子）耶稣；你们却把他交付彼拉多。彼拉多定意要释放他，你们竟在彼拉多面前弃绝了他。14你们弃绝了那圣洁公义者，反求着释放一个凶手给你们。15你们杀了那生命的主，神却叫他从死里复活了；我们都是为这事作见证。16我们因信他的名，他的名便叫你们所看见所认识的这人健壮了；正是他所赐的信心，叫这人在你们众人面前全然好了。
信息分享
我们昨天提到当我们向自己的私欲死的时候，就会积极起来迎向生命。但这不是一种被动的行为，因为事实上，自我降服是面对生命一种最奇妙和积极的方式。
以彼得和约翰为例，他们遇到那个要求帮助的男人时，正如我们说，他们「阮囊羞涩」，没能力在金钱上帮助他。我们大部分人在遇到这种情况时，都会让事情就此结束，因为在这个世界，如果没有金钱还可以做些甚么呢？但彼得和约翰并不是这样，他们把他们的贫穷作为生命的目的，并加以利用。我的意思是：如果他们有点钱，就可以抛一个钱币给他，让事情就此结束。所以如果他们是在金钱上没有欠缺的话，反而会妨碍了更高的美善。
相反的，他们意识到自己不能在金钱方面服事那人，于是寻求在另一方面、就是在灵性上来服事他。结果，原来的阻碍被转变成为机会，他们对那男人说：「起来行走。」那人于是起来了。整件事情没有任何的被动！正如有人打趣说：「那瘸腿的人想要糊口，结果竟然可以行走！」原谅我以超出正统释经的解说来说明这事件，但我们确实需要注意身边一些「瘸腿」的事情，它们也许是在我们内心，一些重要的事奉、属灵的才能；我们必须对它们说：「起来行走。」然后我们才能走向更广阔有效的生活殿堂。
「在每个障碍里都存在机会」
进深研究
太九1-8；约十四13，二十31；腓二9-11
1. 为甚么耶稣的名字那么有力量？
2. 将来会有甚么事情发生？
祈祷
神啊，求您赦免我没有在每个障碍中看到机会。求您帮助我明白当某一方面被阻的时候，可以从另一方面求突破。我知道当我与您的心意合一时，就没有东西可以阻碍我前进。天父，我感谢您。阿们。
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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