●基督活着……于你有何意义吗？
从一个人对死亡的评价，可看出他重视生命的程度。我认识一个人他从未认真思考过「死亡」，直到一天他发现自己得了癌症。 「刹那间，我的世界全改观了」他说：「过去我认为宝贵的事，现在看来一无所值；而那些我向来轻看的事，现在对我而言却是世界上最重要的。」
●预备承受永生
人人拥有肉体的生命，不过，我们晓得，迟早有一天，肉体会衰微，我们都要向死亡低头。死亡造访财主，它同样猝然临到穷人；它为名人风光的一生写下句点，同样也结束许多默默无闻的生命。在今年结束之前，可能许多读过这篇文章的人就要赴死亡之约。
许多人的态度是：「我相信有死后的生命，但我现在不关心那些问题，等到要死了再说吧！」真稀奇！人们可以花上几年时间为自己的退休生涯做好准备，对于预备迎见上帝，却连五分钟都不肯花。
也有人对死亡抱另一种态度：「我投靠基督耶稣──掌管生命和死亡的主；我将自己的生命交托在祂手中。」诗人大卫说：「我虽然行过死荫的幽谷，也不怕遭害，因为你与我同在。」（诗23：4）使徒保罗也说：「因我活着就是基督，我死了就有益处。」（腓1：21）他们两位在眺望死亡时，都十分镇定，因为他们晓得，通过死亡──今世生命的结束──就进入了永生。
耶稣说：「复活在我，生命也在我，信我的人虽然死了，也必复活。」（约11：25）死亡不一定是痛苦的结束──在基督里，它有如破晓的光辉。
●生命的确据……
耶稣活着！因祂活着，给世界带来了希望！耶稣从死里复活意味着罪恶权势被击溃、爱胜过仇恨、死亡的威胁消失、撒但的计谋也被粉碎了。上帝接受了耶稣基督在十字架上的代赎之功──祂为我们的罪付上赎价。有一天，宇宙万物都要发出再生的新歌。
耶稣活着！这是早期基督徒笃信的事实。他们相信，使耶稣从死里复活的力量，同样能运行在我们身上，将我们从疑惑、黑暗、失败，甚至死亡中，解救出来。
放眼当今世界，我们不免为所发生的事感到困扰。但基督的复活使祂的信徒免于惊恐。固然，我们关心世事，也应为这世界祷告，但我们却可以不必像其他人在恐惧中哭泣。
十五世纪的殉道者约翰‧哈斯因坚持对基督耶稣的信仰而遭火刑。他留下这么一段话：「这是我在牢里带着锁链写明的，明天我就要接受死刑──但我对上帝充满了希望，祂必保守我经历所信的真理。」
你拥有像他一样的盼望、平安和喜乐吗？
你能含笑面对死亡，确信自己将与耶稣基督同在吗？你可以拥有这样的盼望，只要你愿意从罪中回转，相信耶稣。何不现在就做个祷告，因为「你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信祂从死里复活，就必得救。」（罗马书十章九节）
●Christ is alive…
I have found that one can tell how a person values life by his estimation of death.
I once talked with a man who had never given serious thought to death until it was discovered that he had cancer. “Immediately my entire would changed,” he said. “The things I valued most are worthless, and the things that I thought were of little value are now the most important things in the world to me.”
●Getting Ready For Eternity
Physical life is a possession that we all cling to, and yet we know we must all sooner or later bow to death. It enters the home of the rich as boldly as it enters the apartment in the ghetto. It brings down the final curtain as swiftly on the famous as it does on the unknown. Before this year ends many people reading this message will keep their appointment with death.
There are many who say, “I believe in life after death, but I'm not concerned about crossing that bridge until I get to it.” How strange that people should spend years preparing for retirement and not take so much as five minutes to prepare to meet God.
Another attitude toward death is this: “I stand with Christ, the lord of life and death, and rest my case in His hands.” David said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). The Apostle Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Both men were looking ahead to death with calm assurance. They knew that this life was only a dressing room for eternity.
Jesus said, “ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). Death need not be a bitter end… it can be a bright dawning.
Assurance In Life… And Death
Christ is alive! And because He is alive, that makes all the difference in the world. In His resurrection evil has been defeated, love has conquered hate, death has lost its sting, and Satan has been defeated. God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross─He declared that the full penalty for sin has been paid. And one day all of creation will burst forth into a new song.
●Does It Make Any Difference?
Christ is alive! The early Christians proclaimed that truth. They believed that the same power that raised the Lord Jesus From the dead will work in and through us to rescue us from our doubts, our darkness, our failure, and even our death.
As we look at the world today, we cannot help but be disturbed by what is happening. But the resurrection of Christ tells us as His followers that we need not press the panic button. It is true that we are concerned and burdened, and it is certain we are going to pray, but we do not cry in terror as others do.
The day before John Huss, a 15th century martyr condemned for his faith in Christ, was to be burned at the stake, he wrote, “I write this in prison and in chains, expecting tomorrow to receive the sentence of death─full of hope in God that I shall not swerve from the truth.”
Is this hope and peace and joy yours? Can you face death with a smile, with full confidence that you are going into the presence of Christ? You can have this hope if you are willing to turn from sin and trust Christ. You can do it now. “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)
Billy Graham
认识苦难（一三五）── 能受苦的榜样
经文:
雅五9~11
钥节:
弟兄们，你们要把那先前奉主名说话的众先知，当作能受苦能忍耐的榜样。 （雅五10）
参考经文:
伯十三15；雅7~8
提要
第一三四个有关苦难的原文「kakopatheia（kak-op-ath'-i-ah）－GK2552」是个名词，其义涵「苦难」，中文圣经和合本译为：「受苦」。今日的钥节耶稣肉身的兄弟使徒雅各特别提到：「弟兄们，你们要把那先前奉主名说话的众先知，当作能受苦能忍耐的榜样。（Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.－NIV）」在此，雅各以旧约中众先知作为忍耐受苦的榜样。英文圣经NIV版清楚译为：「面对苦难及在苦难中」所显出的忍耐。这里的「忍耐」原文「makrothumia（mak-roth-oo-mee'-ah）－GK3115」意指一种特质，一种自我的节制，就是在困苦中不会轻易的屈服，且能坚定恒忍、克制地面对挑战，而不失去对上帝的信心，这是旧约先知的共同特质。
雅各教导我们以这些上帝的仆人真先知为榜样，他们都曾遭受各种逼迫，有些甚至为主殉道，但却没有一个退缩、离弃乎召他们的主。初代教会的许多圣徒，也都加入这个行列之中，例如保罗、司提、反雅各……等等，以及后来，更有不计其数的历代圣徒，成为这个受苦团队的一员。亲爱的，若你正在苦难之中，那是上帝给你的机会和恩典，若你能忍耐到底，你也将成为这一荣耀队伍的一员了。
默想
1.雅各对于旧约中的真先知下了两个定义：（一）奉主名说话（spoke in the name of the Lord.），也就是传真道的先知。 （二）能受苦、能忍耐（patience in the face of suffering），面对苦难艰忍不拔，愿意为主受苦。亲爱的，若想在苦难中荣耀主，这两项是不可少的。
2.雅各提到受苦和忍耐，便忆及古时的约伯，约伯的忍耐在于他对上帝的信心（伯十三15），虽然他当时经历许多难以忍受的煎熬，但主是满心怜悯、大有慈悲的上帝，至终约伯能以从苦境转回，使上帝得着大荣耀。亲爱的，绝对不要放弃，主深深爱你。
苦难的金言
1.上帝固然对人的一生有全盘的计划，但是撒但对人类也有他重重的诡计。 ──Bill Graham
2.上帝绝不会带领我们到一个祂的恩典不能保守我们的地方。 ──Bill Graham
|Archiver|手机版|小黑屋|╬ 神州团契 ╋（始于2006）
