Monday 5h October 2020
RESCUE AND RESPONSE
Pastor Soong Kok Kee

Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

The sign outside Dave James’s shop in Seattle, Washington, says more about getting your life repaired than it does about fixing your vacuum cleaner, but Dave is in business to do both. The top line of the sign is always the same: Free Bibles Inside. The second line changes and features thoughts such as: Surrender Your Heart for a Brand-New Start.

Over the past decade, Brother James has repaired thousands of vacuum cleaners and given away thousands of Bibles to his customers. It’s his way of saying thanks to the Lord for saving him from destruction. As a successful businessman, Dave James had slipped into a life of drug addiction. “If God hadn’t taken cocaine away from me,” he says, “I’d be dead.” The Lord helped him get clean and find a new beginning. 2 Cor. 5:17 tells of Dave’s dramatic change “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Every testimony for Christ begins with a rescue followed by a thankful response: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever” Whether our experience of salvation is dramatic or not, the reality remains: “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col 1:13). Because we have been redeemed, we should want to tell others.

I was at the Church wedding of a Supervisor of a drug rehab centre. He related how as a drug addict, he was disowned by his family and chased out of the village he grew up in, as he would steal anything that could be sold, to buy drugs. He was always on the run and often slept under bridges – his life was worse than a beggar’s. That was until he came to know the Lord through a Christian drug rehab centre. He said half of those attending his wedding that day were former drug addicts who now have a career, are married, have children – something none of them thought were possible until they came to know the Lord through the rehab centre. Again a testimony of 2 Cor 5:17.

Someone had said the most powerful testimony is the testimony of a changed life. The apostle Paul used that to great effect – from a persecutor of Christ to a preacher of Christ. None of his accusers could refute that. What about you my friend? Do your family and close friends see the change in your life before and after you became a Christian?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, thank you for redeeming us from darkness to light. Help us to live a life which is evident of a new creation – that the old has gone and the new has come. And may that change be a silent but powerful testimony of your presence in our lives that would draw our non-Christian family members and friends to you. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus we pray, AMEN.

每日灵粮
星期一，2020年10月5日✅
标题：拯救与回应
讲员：宋国基牧师
翻译：郑振隆弟兄

诗篇107:1
要感谢上主，因他至善；他的慈爱永远长存。

华盛顿州西雅图市，戴夫•詹姆斯（Dave James）商店外的招牌所表示的不仅仅是修理吸尘器，更是关于修理自己的生命，戴夫是在从事这两门生意。招牌的顶行字始终一样：“内有免费圣经供索取”。招牌的第二行字会改换，特写出意念例如：为全新的开始，献出您的心。

在过去的十年中，詹姆士兄弟（James）维修了无数台吸尘器，并赠送了数以千计本圣经给他的客户。这是他对主将他从毁灭中救赎出来表示感谢的方式。成功的商人，戴夫•詹姆斯（Dave James）曾陷入了吸毒成瘾的生活。他说：“如果上帝没有从我身上挪走可卡因，我应该已经死了。”上帝帮助他戒除了毒瘾，并找到人生新的开始。【林后5:17】讲述了戴夫戏剧性的转变，“无论谁，一旦有了基督的生命就是新造的人；旧的已经过去，新的已经来临。”

为基督作的每一个见证都是从拯救开始，然后是感恩的回应：“要感谢上主，因他至善；他的慈爱永远长存。” 无论我们的救赎经历是否戏剧性，事实依然是： *“祂救我们脱离了黑暗的权势，使我们生活在祂爱子的主权下。” *【西1:13】因为我们已经被赎回，所以我们应该告诉别人。

我曾参加一位戒毒中心主管的教堂婚礼。他讲述了如何由于自己是一名吸毒者，家人与他断绝关系、他被赶出他长大的村庄，因为他会偷走任何可以出售的东西去购买毒品。他一直在奔逃，经常睡在桥下–他的生活比乞丐更糟。直到他通过基督教戒毒所而认识了主。他说，那天参加婚礼的人中有一半曾经是瘾君子，他们现在已有职业、已婚、有孩子。他们没有一人会想到这是可能发生的事，直到他们透过戒毒所认识主。再次印证了圣经哥林多后书第5章17节。

有人说，最有力的见证就是生命转化的见证。使徒保罗活出了这句话，带出了很大的效果 – 从一个基督的逼迫者转化为传扬基督的传道者。他的所有指控者都无法驳斥此事。朋友，您呢？您的家人和密友看见您成为基督徒前后的生命改变吗？

祷告：

亲爱的主，谢谢祢救赎我们出黑暗入光明。帮助我们活出一个印证新生的生命 – 旧的已经过去，新的已经来临。愿这改变成为祢在我们生命中无声而有力的见证，以吸引非基督徒的家庭成员和朋友就近祢。奉主耶稣的宝贵名祷告。阿门。