从天上赐下的复兴
光怎能没有生命？
经文以赛亚书五十九9-21
9因此，公平离我们远，公义追不上我们。我们指望光亮，却是黑暗，指望光明，却行幽暗。
10我们摸索墙壁，好像瞎子；我们摸索，如同无目之人。我们晌午绊脚，如在黄昏一样；我们在肥壮人中，像死人一般。
11我们咆哮如熊，哀鸣如鸽；指望公平，却是没有；指望救恩，却远离我们。
12我们的过犯在你面前增多，罪恶作见证告我们；过犯与我们同在。至于我们的罪孽，我们都知道：
13就是悖逆、不认识耶和华，转去不跟从我们的神，说欺压和叛逆的话，心怀谎言，随即说出。
14并且公平转而退后，公义站在远处；诚实在街上仆倒，正直也不得进入。
15诚实少见；离恶的人反成掠物。那时，耶和华看见没有公平，甚不喜悦。
16他见无人拯救，无人代求，甚为诧异，就用自己的膀臂施行拯救，以公义扶持自己。
17他以公义为铠甲（或译：护心镜），以拯救为头盔，以报仇为衣服，以热心为外袍。
18他必按人的行为施报，恼怒他的敌人，报复他的仇敌向众海岛施行报应。
19如此，人从日落之处必敬畏耶和华的名，从日出之地也必敬畏他的荣耀；因为仇敌好像急流的河水冲来，是耶和华之气所驱逐的。
20必有一位救赎主来到锡安─雅各族中转离过犯的人那里。这是耶和华说的。
21耶和华说：至于我与他们所立的约乃是这样：我加给你的灵，传给你的话，必不离你的口，也不离你后裔与你后裔之后裔的口，从今直到永远；这是耶和华说的。
信息分享
过去几天的思考让我们可以十分清楚的看见，复兴不只是带来无限的祝福，也会带来真正的危机。不过尽管有危机，教会存活的关键是在乎圣灵在复兴上适时的工作。
有些人认为教会不需要复兴。多年前我在杂志上读到一篇文章说：「现在的基督教会比历史上任何时期的都更强大。从数字上来看，今天的教会比过去任何时期的教会人数都要多；教会几乎在世上每一个国家都很具代表性，倘若教会有注意到自己的力量和规模并善加利用的话，她其实可以主宰世界，令世人敬仰。」
这些话听起来似乎很动听，但事实如何呢？教会从数字来说可算是强大，并在世界各地都有其地位；不过，是从甚么时候开始教会的力量是来自人数呢？教会的能力其实是源自圣灵，如果没有圣灵与教会同在、赐下生命力和复兴，那么，教会虽然可能有很多的光，但只会有很少的生命，而就是这种有圣灵内住的生命，是教会最容易失去的。
一般来说，教会擅于保护自己的神学立场，但不擅于保存生命，正因如此，神总是在某些时期、某个年代，以怜悯的心肠介入，透过圣灵的复兴来更新祂的百姓。每一个世纪的基督教会都需要那生命的重新注入，不过看来从没有比现在的需要更加迫切。
「没有生命的教会只是宗教会所」
进深研究
太二十三23-39；提后三5；赛二十九13
1. 耶稣怎么样对付法利赛主义？
2. 保罗怎么样形容它？
祈祷
天父，求您帮助我看到，无论您的教会拥有甚么，假如没有圣灵的生命它都只不过是宗教的会所。求您为我们注入生命，因我们不单要活着，而是要活得更有生命力。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。
Heaven-Sent Revival
What good is light without life?
Bible reading: Isaiah 59:9-21
9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.
11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.
12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due.
19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.[a]
20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the Lord.
21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the Lord. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever," says the Lord.
Message
From what we have been saying, it is quite clear that revival brings not only unlimited blessing but very real dangers. It is also clear that despite the dangers, the very survival of the Church depends on the timely and reviving work of the Holy Spirit.
There are some who think the Church does not need revival. A magazine article I read a few years ago said: "The Christian Church is stronger now than she has ever been throughout her entire history. Numerically, there are more people in the Church today than at any other period of her existence. She is well represented in almost every nation under the sun and if she would become aware of her strength and size and draw upon it she could dominate the world and have it sitting at her feet."
The words sound good but what are the facts? The Church may be numerically strong and well represented in different parts of the world but since when has her strength been in her numbers? The source of her strength and power is in the Holy Spirit. Without His presence in the Church, energising and reviving, there may be plenty of light, but little life. And it is life - the life of the Spirit - which the Church so easily loses.
Generally speaking, the Church has been good at protecting its theological position, but not so good at preserving life. That is why at certain times and in certain generations God mercifully breaks in upon His people to revive and refresh them by the Spirit. In every century the Christian Church has stood in need of a new invasion of that life. But perhaps never so much as now.
"Without life the Church is only a religious club"
Prayer
Father, help me see that no matter what else Your Church has, if it does not have life - the life of the Spirit - then it is nothing more than a religious dub. Breathe upon us for we want not only to be living - but lively. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Matthew 23:23-39
2 Timothy 3:5
Isaiah 29:13
1. How did Jesus deal with pharisaism?
2. How did Paul put it?
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