作者： admin

亲爱的弟兄姊妹，复活节平安！

对于生活压力极大，平时工作忙碌的我们，复活节是否只是意味着一个很好的假期？有些宗教人士把这些日子看得格外神圣，举行各种活动或仪式，以表虔诚。其实神向我们要的，不仅是宗教行为；更是建立与祂的关系。正如经上所记：“惟有里面作的，才是真犹太人；真割礼也是心里的，在乎灵，不在乎仪文。这人的称赞，不是从人来的，乃是从　神来的。”（罗 2:29）

感谢我们的天父，祂已经使我们的主耶稣从死里复活了！这就成就了我们今天人类信仰的更加明确且稳固的根基。

首先，经上说：“耶稣被交给人，是为我们的过犯；复活，是为叫我们称义”。（罗 4:25）我们知道，主耶稣所受的一切苦难，以至于最后被钉在十字架上而死，是为了偿还我们的罪债。而祂从死里复活，表明了祂已经完全战胜了罪恶和死亡。以此证明了唯有祂具备战胜罪恶并死亡的绝对能力。所以，父神许可一切相信耶稣的人，罪都得赦免，且从被定罪的地位上得着释放与自由。神称我们为义，且使我们得自由，如同一个罪犯从监狱里得释放，不是要叫我们继续犯罪；而是给我们改过自新的机会。但人类的历史告诉我们，人类靠自己是没有能力完全战胜罪恶的。故此，神的心意，是叫一切不但承认自己有罪，而且更是承认自己无能战胜情欲与罪恶的，都信靠主耶稣。“信靠主耶稣”的意思是：相信接受耶稣是我们的救主，把自己全然交给祂，顺服祂，让祂的智慧、爱和能力，在我们这原本软弱的人身体上得以彰显出来。请注意：只有当我们完全相信、接纳而顺服的时候，基督耶稣的能力才会在我们的生命中全然发挥作用。此乃父神释放我们的条件。

其次，经上又说：“因为我们作仇敌的时候，且借着　神儿子的死，得与　神和好；既已和好，就更要因祂的生得救了。”（罗 5:10）神儿子的死，除去了神人隔阂的罪；祂的生，即祂复活之后，活在父神的右边成为我们的中保，如此便保持了我们的得救的地位，即使我们又有软弱跌倒，只要保持我们对祂的信心，祂就一直拯救保护我们，直到我们的身体得赎而见祂面的日子。

因此，亲爱的弟兄姊妹，既然复活的主是我们信心的根基，我们就必得着勇敢坚定的心，去面对生活中的各种挑战，并把信心坚持到底。阿们！

一年一度的“受难节”就要到了。这个节期是为要记念约在两千年前，一位被称为拿撒勒人的耶稣；祂被犹太人出卖，又被罗马人钉死在十字架上的事件。从人的角度来看，这位被挂在木头上死去的耶稣，无权无势，身无分文，年仅三十三岁、彻头彻尾的无产阶级，凭什么祂的死却被普世上越来越多的人记念呢？可以说，这世上没有任何一个人的“死亡”是如此之被人记念的。为什么？

答案很简单：祂的死不仅仅是伟大的，而且是与每一个人有关的。

首先，耶稣基督的死，是因为爱而主动地选择。正如主自己说：“没有人夺我的命去，是我自己舍的。”（约10:8a）使徒保罗说：“为义人死，是少有的；为仁人死，或者有敢作的。惟有基督在我们还作罪人的时候为我们死，　神的爱就在此向我们显明了。”（罗 5:7-8）其次，耶稣基督的死是为救赎我们众人而作的牺牲，大先知以赛亚说：“我们都如羊走迷，各人偏行己路，耶和华使我们众人的罪孽都归在祂（基督）身上。……耶和华却定意（或作‘喜悦’）将祂压伤，使祂受痛苦。耶和华以祂为赎罪祭（或作‘祂献本身为赎罪祭’）。”（赛 53:6、10a）所以，希伯来书上说：“因为祂一次献祭，便叫那得以成圣的人永远完全。”（来 10:14）同时，耶稣基督的死彻底败坏了撒但魔鬼，“儿女既同有血肉之体，祂也照样亲自成了血肉之体，特要借着死败坏那掌死权的，就是魔鬼，并要释放那些一生因怕死而为奴仆的人。”（来 2:14-15）最最重要的是，借这耶稣基督的牺牲，除去了阻隔神人关系的罪，开通了我们与神恢复关系的“又新又活的路”（参来10:19-20）。如此我们便可以“坦然无惧的来到施恩的宝座前，为要得怜恤，蒙恩惠，作随时的帮助。”（来 4:16）

听啊，主耶稣说：“我就是道路、真理、生命；若不借着我，没有人能到父那里去。”（约 14:6）因为在这世上，有史以来，没有别人是为我们的赎罪而死的；也没有人这资格；唯有道成肉身的耶稣！所以使徒保罗宣告说：“弟兄们，你们当晓得：赦罪的道是由这人（耶稣基督）传给你们的。你们靠摩西的律法，在一切不得称义的事上信靠这人，就都得称义了。”（徒 13:38-39）亲爱的弟兄姊妹，这就是耶稣受难与我们的关系。

Title:                Conformed to His Image / Servant as His Lord: Lessons on Living Like Jesus

Author:           Oswald Chambers

Imprint:         U.S., Discovery House , 1996

Collation:     224 pages; 136*203 mm

ISBN:             1-57293-020-9

Class Code: 培灵 C T H I -OC

• Summary

Growing spiritually is a well-known Christian responsibility, but where can you go to find time-tested, biblical wisdom to guide you?

This collection by Oswald Chambers, considered one of the most influential teachers of the 20th century, brings you answers and practical applications to help develop your spiritual life.

This well-known author of My Utmost for His Highest walks you through topics like spiritual failure and frustration to help you find the authentic Christian life you desire.

Oswald Chambers also shows you how God uses adversity to reveal Himself and give your life a quality of Christ-likeness.

• From the Back Cover

Let go of the “old you” and become a new creature in Christ. In Conformed to His Image Oswald Chambers invites you to do this. Then he offers you a practical guide that will move you out of your doldrums of spiritual failure, frustration, and listlessness into the Christian life as you have imagined it could be.

With startling clarity, Chambers proves once again that the Christian life of power and satisfaction is not just for “saints” but for everyday believers. “The transformed life is not merely possible. It is the birthright of every Christian.”

In The Servant as His Lord, Chambers explores with compassion and insight why Jesus Christ predicted that His followers would experience many tribulations. But he goes on to show how God gives us a fighting chance to triumph, and he explains that Jesus Himself is eager to nourish and guide His saints in their hours of conflict.

The one great message of this book makes clear the truth that through it all, the Lord’s servant may be, and should be, “as his Lord.”

• About the Author

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) is best known for the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Born in Scotland, Chambers had a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan. He died at age forty-three while serving as chaplain to Allied troops in Egypt during World War I.

 

Title:               The Jesus I never Knew

Author:          Philip Yancey

Imprint:        U.S., Zondervan, 1995

Collation:     298 pages; 140*210

ISBN:             978-0-21923-1

Class Code:  福音 T J I K -PY

• Summary

“There is no writer in the evangelical world that I admire and appreciate more.” —Billy Graham

Philip Yancey helps reveal what two thousand years of history covered up….

What happens when a respected Christian journalist decides to put his preconceptions aside and take a long look at the Jesus described in the Gospels? How does the Jesus of the New Testament compare to the “new, rediscovered” Jesus—or even the Jesus we think we know so well? Philip Yancey offers a new and different perspective on the life of Christ and his work—his teachings, his miracles, his death and resurrection—and ultimately, who he was and why he came.

From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Yancey presents a complex character who generates questions as well as answers; a disturbing and exhilarating Jesus who wants to radically transform your life and stretch your faith. The Jesus I Never Knew uncovers a Jesus who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate, unpredictable, and ultimately satisfying. “No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same,” says Yancey. “Jesus has rocked my own preconceptions and has made me ask hard questions about why those of us who bear his name don’t do a better job of following him.”

• About the Author

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Yancey earned graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College Graduate School and the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of Campus Life Magazine in 1971, and worked there as Editor and then Publisher. He looks on those years with gratitude, because teenagers are demanding readers, and writing for them taught him a lasting principle: The reader is in control!

In 1978 Philip Yancey became a full-time writer, initially working as a journalist for such varied publications as Reader’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, National Wildlife, Christian Century and The Reformed Journal. For many years he wrote a monthly column for Christianity Today magazine, where he served for several years as Editor at Large.

The Yanceys lived in downtown Chicago for many years before moving to a very different environment in Colorado. They enjoy skiing, hiking, wildlife, and many other delights of the Rocky Mountains.

Title:            A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

Author:       William Law

Imprint:      U.S., Bridge-Logos, 2008

Collation:    367 pages

ISBN:            978-0-88270-453-1

Class Code: 培灵 A S C T –WL

• Summary

Originally published at the beginning of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, a time when rationalist criticism of religious belief was perhaps at its peak, William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life succeeded in inspiring the most cynical men of the age with its arguments in favor of a spiritual life. More than simply articulating a set of rules to live by, Law’s book examines what it means to lead a Christian life and criticizes the perversion of Christian tenets by the Establishment—whether secular or spiritual—whose real aim is temporal power. With a preface by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr., whose own direct engagement in social causes still finds inspiration in Law’s argument, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life is a book that can still speak to our time.

• About the Author

William Law, the 18th-century Anglican priest who heavily influenced the theology of John and Charles Wesley, lambastes pious hypocrisy and the corruption of the church in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, the latest reissue in Vintage’s Spiritual Classics series. Law’s prose is fresh and vivid as he illustrates the holy Christian life as one lived wholly for God. His thoughts on prayer, personal holiness and service to the poor will resonate with many contemporary readers.

Title:             The Normal Christian’s life

Author:        Watchman Nee

Imprint:      U.K., CLC Publication, 2009

Collation:    254 pages

ISBN:            978-0-87508-990-4

Class Code: 初信 T N C L -WN

• Synopsis

Watchman Nee’s great Christian classic tracing the steps along the pathway of faith and presenting the eternal purpose of God in simple terms. Its central theme: “Christ our Life.”

Watchman Nee based his speaking on the first eight chapters of the New Testament book of Romans. Nee takes the first eight chapters of Romans as a “self-contained unit” and divides these chapters into two parts: Romans 1:1 to 5:11 as part one and Romans 5:12 to 8:39 as part two. In the first part of Romans “sins” is given prominent attention and deals with the question of the sins man has committed before God. However, the second section deals with “sin,” that is the inward nature, or inward working principle, within man that causes a man to commit sin. Thus there is a difference between the acts of a sinner, sins, and the inward nature of a sinner, sin. Nee reveals that God’s dual remedy is the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Cross of Christ. The Blood “deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin”.[4] As Nee progressively moves along in his book, he first touches upon the Blood and then focuses upon the Cross for the remainder of the book.

• Review

If only every Christian and pastor would read this, take it to heart, and let the Holy Spirit lead. My thought is similar to Watchman Nee’s concern though, that many of us would take this to heart, but continue in our ways trying to make it happen, or turning it into our own ministry with our own rules and beliefs. Oh, that we would let the Holy Spirit lead. There is no division of the church or the Body of Christ except on the basis of Location. I think Watchmen Nee makes a very good case for this in this book.

• About the Author

Watchman Nee, or Ni Tuosheng (Chinese: 倪柝声4-11-1903— 30-05-972), was a Chinese church leader and Christian teacher who worked in China during the 20th century. In 1922, he initiated church meetings in Fuzhou that may be considered the beginning of the local churches. During his thirty years of ministry, Nee published many books expounding the Bible. He established churches throughout China and held many conferences to train Bible students and church workers. Following the Communist Revolution, Nee was persecuted and imprisoned for his faith and spent the last twenty years of his life in prison. He was honored by Christopher H. Smith (R–NJ) in the US Congress on July 30, 2009.

Title:             The Christian’s secret to a happy life

Author:        Hannah Whitall Smith

Imprint:      U.K., B&H Publishing Group, 2017.

Collation:    308 pages

ISBN:            978-1-4336-4999-8

Class Code: 初信 T C S T -HWS

• Summary

Sometimes it just feels like life is beating us up. We worry about our family, our health, our money, our time, and in the process, we run ourselves ragged. These stressors are not a recent phenomenon but have been with humanity since the fall. Even though The Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life is over 130 years old, author Hannah Whitehall Smith was aware of the age-old problems that plague humanity. In her studies, she discovered that there is a way to handle the stressors in our lives in a healthy way that builds us up instead of tearing us down. That way of dealing with life’s trials is through living faithfully in the rest and comfort that Jesus offers us. True happiness does not come from an absence of difficulty, but through the loving embrace of our Savior

• From the Back Cover

Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) did not have an easy life. Of her seven children, only three lived to adulthood. Her husband was unfaithful. And as a woman in ministry, she fought an uphill battle. In spite of, and perhaps because of, her difficult circumstances, she was able to advise Christians how to live a happy life through a close relationship with the perfect Parent, Savior, Protector, and Friend. Her words still ring true today for all Christians struggling to find joy.

The inspiring message of A Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life reveals the profound secret of true happiness. The wise counsel of this beloved author will nurture and strengthen your faith, your consecration, and your obedience to the will of God. You can be free of doubt, fear, insecurity, depression, temptation, failure, and much more.

• About the Author

Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) did not have an easy life. Of her seven children, only three lived to adulthood. Her husband was unfaithful. And as a woman in ministry, she fought an uphill battle. In spite of, and perhaps because of, her difficult circumstances, she was able to advise Christians how to live a happy life through a close relationship with the perfect Parent, Savior, Protector, and Friend. Her words still ring true today for all Christians struggling to find joy.

The inspiring message of A Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life reveals the profound secret of true happiness. The wise counsel of this beloved author will nurture and strengthen your faith, your consecration, and your obedience to the will of God. You can be free of doubt, fear, insecurity, depression, temptation, failure, and much more.