為何不可含怒到日落 Why not to stay angry all day

人是不可能沒有怒氣的。當我們遇到不如意的事,又無法改變那事,我們的情緒就會高漲,甚至生氣發怒。不管我們為什麼生氣發怒,就是以為自己所發的是義怒,對自己的身體、情緒和靈性都有損害。
保羅要求我們不可含怒到日落。他沒有說不可含怒,但不要含怒到日落,不要帶著怒氣睡覺。我們如果帶著怒氣就不能安睡,健康就一定會受損害。一個人生氣到睡不著,一定會胡思亂想,就很容易犯罪。所以保羅警告說,不要給魔鬼留地步。我們如果生氣到不能睡,就會給魔鬼機會來引誘或攻擊我們。我們如果從日落到日出都在生氣,如何能禱告靈修呢?心中一定有很多苦毒和怨恨,必定不能達成和解,就無法體現基督的赦免和愛。
我們求聖靈在情緒上幫助作屬靈的操練,並以耶穌為榜樣,有祂的柔和謙卑。基督徒最大的見證就是寬恕的美德,再加上喜樂與平安的生活,別人就會認識在我們身上所反映的主了。

It is impossible for us to avoid anger in our life. When everything goes against our will, and we lose control, we will easily lose temper. No matter what cause our anger, even if we can justify our anger with good reason, anger will definitely hurt our body mind and spirit.

Paul said, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry”. He did not say that we cannot be angry, but do not let ourselves stay angry too long. We should not go to bed with anger for it will hurt our sleep and eventually our health. When we are tossed and turned on bed with anger, we will be easily tempted to sin. Paul warned us not to give the devil a foothold. If we are too angry to sleep, we will give devil opportunities to tempt or attach us. If we stay angry until the next morning, how can we pray and have devotions? Our hearts will be filled with pains and hatred. Then we can not experience and show the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

We ask the Holy Spirit to help us with our emotions and to learn from Jesus’ examples of being gentle and humble. We can be witness for God through our forgiveness of others and through the peace and joy in Christ Jesus.

敬畏神 Fear God

箴言的主旨就是教導我們如何過敬畏神的生活,因此它有多處直接說,敬畏神能讓我們活得有智慧,這也是生活的第一原則。
今天的人並不缺乏知識,但卻常常活得沒有智慧。在日常生活中,我們常常不懂得分辨是非,也不知道什麼是應該或不應該,甚至不懂得孰重孰輕,活得本末倒置。現代人有一個困擾,就是知識日飛猛進,但卻又製造更多更複雜的問題,帶來更多的災難。人們只追求知識,卻藐視智慧,也嘲笑信仰,特別是基督的信仰。
人如果離開那位創造他們的神,不愛聽祂的話,也不願意遵守祂的教導,有可能把自己的人生和社會,甚至世界管理得好嗎?
箴言提醒我們,特別是我們稱自己是神的兒女,不要過糊塗的生活。智慧是從敬畏神開始的。我們如果勤讀神的話語,又樂意遵行,生活就必定能過得有智慧。

The theme for Proverbs is to teach us to live a godly life, therefore it repeatedly points out that only if we fear God (take God seriously or have reverence for God) we can live wisely, and in fact, fear God is the first principle in life.

Today we don’t lack of knowledge, but we always live unwisely. We don’t know how to discern between right and wrong, or don’t know what should or should not do, or even follow the wrong priority to mess up our daily life.

In this knowledge explosion era we are confused by more and more complicated problems and chaos that knowledge has brought to us. But unfortunately, people only hunger for knowledge but despise wisdom, even ridicule Christian faith.

If we exclude our Creator from our life, and don’t want to listen to Him, and hate to follow His instructions, how can we manage our life and society well?

Proverbs reminds us, especially if we call ourselves children of God, not to live an unwise living. Fear God is the beginning (the first principle) of all wisdoms. If we diligently study God’s word and are willing to follow His instructions, our life will be full of wisdom.

向神守時 Be Punctual to God

屬靈生活的操練,並不單單是讀經、禱告、事奉或奉獻。這些個人或教會的生活都很重要,但也不能忽略從生活中的小節上作屬靈的操練。我們生活小節上的操練,也可以看作是屬靈生命成熟的另類指標。耶穌曾提醒我們,「人在最小的事上忠心,在大事上也忠心;在最小的事上不義,在大事上也不義。」(路16:10)
我鼓勵大家重視敬拜的生活,因為敬拜是基督徒屬靈生活的中心。如果說我們愛神,又以祂為我們的主,但卻在敬拜祂的聚會中藐視祂,不尊敬祂,那麼我們的屬靈生活會如何呢?
我很高興最近常常聽到弟兄姊妹要追求靈命成長,追求聖靈的更新和屬靈果子,卻看見敬拜生活的遲到現象越來越嚴重,使我感到很困惑。我祈求主,不要讓我們的屬靈追求只停留在嘴邊,或只在讀經禱告上,卻沒有把神的話語應用在生活的情景中。
敬拜聚會是我們一週的屬靈操練的開始,讓我們互相勉勵,一起重視敬拜,從準時開始做起。我們的主日學是早上九點半開始,崇拜是十一時正開始。

Spiritual discipline is not only limited to Bible reading, prayer, serving in ministry or giving. They are the disciplines in our personal life and church life which are very important. However, we should also be careful of our little daily habits to witness that our spirituality is not just for showing and has no impact in our real life. They are in fact another measure stakes to our true spirituality. Jesus has once reminded us that, “whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.” (Luke 16:10)

I urge you to take worship service seriously for it is the center of our spirituality. If we say we love God and have accepted Him to be our Lord, but despise Him in His worship service, what kind of spiritual life that we have demonstrated?

I am so glad and encouraged recently when I have heard people making efforts in their spiritual disciplines. People have told me that they wanted to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and to bear spiritual fruit, but at the same time, I saw people despised the worship service. It makes me very confused. I pray to the Lord to let not us to pay lip service to the Lord in spiritual disciplines, and think that spirituality is only Bible reading and prayer and nothing else. Without letting the biblical teaching impact our life there is no real spirituality.

Worship service is the beginning of our weekly spiritual discipline, may we encourage each other to take it seriously to start with punctuality. Our SUNDAY SCHOOL starts at 9:30am and our WORSHIP SERVICE starts at 11:00am.

讚美與敬拜 Praise and Worship

讚美與敬拜這個觀念在今天聽來好像很新潮,仿佛是現代年輕基督徒的一種新時尚,以對比三四十年前的崇拜方式。傳道者說,「在日光之下並無新事」,在敬拜與讚美的形式上也是這樣。
我們隨便翻開詩篇,便馬上發現以前以色列人的敬拜是很新潮的,不比我們今天的讚美敬拜「古老」!
在敬拜中讚美是人向神表達的情感和愛慕,是真正敬拜的必然表現和行為。敬拜不是純智的活動,要聽好的演講;或單為鼓勵行善的聚會,學做個好人。敬拜其實最重要還是真誠地讚美神,向祂表示敬畏、感恩、順服和愛慕,因為神就是我們的主。
今天我們要再次強調讚美的敬拜是對的和應該的,因為我們的心靈已枯乾了很久很久了,對神已沒有感覺了,使敬拜成為只是人的活動,與神好像沒有關係。我們如果發覺自己不能投入在敬拜中讚美神,盡情歌唱,那麼就要好好反省和禱告,看自己的靈命出了什麼毛病,我們與神的關係為什麼那麼無情無感。
請你在敬拜前默默禱告,預備歡喜快樂地歌唱讚美神。

The worship style of Praise and worship seems to be very new, and is used to divide the old from the contemporary, that our younger generation Christians embrace as their style of worshipping God to reject the old folks’ style that was used for more than hundred years. But interestingly enough that the old sage in the book of Ecclesiastes said, “There is nothing new under the sun!” And it is so true even to our ways of praise and worship.

Surprisingly if we turn to Psalms, we will find it full of praise and worship and they look very contemporary. The old style of Israelites’ praise and worship is very new to us!

The function of singing praises in worship is to express our love and affection to God, and it is the act of a genuine worship. Our worship service is not just an intellectual activity to listen to a good speech, or a moral teaching and learning gathering to learn to do good. What is the most important thing for us to do in a worship service? It is the sincere praise that we love to sing unto our Lord. In singing praises, we express our fear, thanksgiving, submission, and love to God, because He is our Lord.

Today we should once again emphasize that our worship service must be fully filled with praises and singing, for our heart is dried for so long that we feel nothing in our worship service. Worship service becomes totally human activity, and has nothing to do with God. If for some reason that we cannot enjoy singing in worship service, we need to reflect on our spiritual life to see what is going wrong in our relationship with God.

I want to encourage you to pray for yourself and be prepared to enjoy singing praises in our worship service.

教會動態 News and Events

各項聚會時間表 Meeting Schedule

主日崇拜 Sunday Worship 週日 Sunday, 11:00am
成人主日學 Adult Sunday School 週日 Sunday, 9:30am
兒童主日學 Children Sunday School 週日 Sunday, 9:30am
嬰兒及幼兒班 Nursery / Toddler’s Class 週日 Sunday, 11:00am
Bible-in-Life 少青班 Youth Class 週日 Sunday, 11:00am
愛筵 Lunch Fellowship 週日 Sunday, 12:30pm
禱告會 Prayer Meeting 每月第二及第四個週三
2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 7:30pm
團契組 Fellowship Groups
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