Archive for 八月, 2006
海蒂貝克發出令美國不自在的信息
「我也將萬事當作有損的,因我以認識我主基督耶穌為至寶。」她在講道中引述腓立比書4章8節,並數度以她招牌式的尖聲咯笑打斷講道。
這不是要討好聽眾的平常講道。
「貝克的信息令我不自在,但這是完全有價值的。」
身材細小,46歲金髮的貝克於「接觸網絡」(Encounters Network)在辛辛那提市舉行的會議上,告訴聽眾如果想被神大大使用,就得學習放下權利。她說﹕「神曾對我說﹕我要你從最低之處做起。」
貝克其實不難以基督教超級巨星的身份出現。她能操數種語言,具有高等學歷,而且是個有恩賜的溝通能手。在過去30年的事工中,她曾目睹令人驚訝的神蹟,特別是在莫三鼻克,她與丈夫勞倫(Rolland)自1990年起便建立了超過7,000個「叢林教會」(bush church)、5間聖經學校和4個兒童食堂。
就在抵達辛辛那提市前數日,貝克在莫三鼻克Pemba基地的帳幕聚會中,為兩個遊蕩而來的瞎眼乞丐禱告。當貝克那沾過口水而濕滑的手指離開他們的眼睛之際,他們立時回覆視力。
這些令人駑訝的神蹟,對海蒂和勞倫來說是平常事。他們曾目睹神超自然地增加米飯和辣椒餵飽飢餓的孤兒。海蒂也見過癱瘓的人經過禱告後第一次起來走路。經貝克夫婦訓練出來的莫三鼻克土著傳道人,至今已令53人死裡復活。
但是,海蒂貝克並沒有以名牌佈道家的姿態出現。她沒有穿著名牌衣服或乘坐豪華轎車前往會議。她沒有向觀眾揮手,把自己的衣服丟向羣眾,或郵寄印刷精美的雜誌,上面刊登著自己站立在大羣非洲人前面的照片。
為病人服侍的時候,她往往叫她所訓練的隊工作大部份的禱告。有時,她會叫小孩子為殘廢和垂死的人禱告。
她明白事工不是她的。
「這是無價的榮幸,能夠看見聖靈將喜樂和慈愛,像瀑布一樣傾倒在那些歷盡人生淒酸苦楚、失望和極度孤單的人身上。」貝克在她近期的網上事工報告如此寫著。
「從保加利亞東部冰凍的吉卜賽小屋,到115度高溫的蘇丹難民營﹔從加拿大北極圈零散孤立的印紐族人,到尚比西河流域的赤貧農民,我們看見貧窮低下的人渴望神。耶穌知道他們的苦難,而祂要抬舉他們。祂要作他們的神,而他們要成為祂的子民。祂要使用他們去令聰明人羞恥,令世界嫉妒他們在祂裡面享有的富足。」
在這個由靈恩派傳道人James和Michal Ann Goll主辦的辛辛那提會議中,貝克用她那甜甜的和令人放下戒心的作風斥責美國教會。在非洲如「爛泥」般極貧窮的人當中生活,她說神教曉了她聖經裡面的原則,然而複雜世故的西方基督徒是難以明白。
她說神要在西方教會「擰一些東西」,因為他們太注重地位、知識和人的能力。
她跟著跪下來示範解決困境的方法。「神想要的是捨己的愛。」貝克說。「讓我們的面埋在地氈上,懇求耶穌謙卑的心來摧毀我們的驕傲。」
上週末海蒂貝克的聚會,令我重新排列自己價值觀的次序。我被提醒﹕事工並非在乎曝光率﹔而是在乎暗地裡的服侍。事工並不在乎精心策劃,令觀眾欣然受落的演出﹔而是不惜去冒犯人的聰明而得著人的心。事工不在乎要令富有的基督徒自覺心安理得﹔而是在一個飢餓和染上愛滋病的小孩子面上,看見耶穌的面容。
貝克的信息令我不自在,但這是有價值的。我是否要自甘降卑,達到一個謙卑的地步,以至神的同在和權能得以彰顯?
我盼望大家對此深思。
祈禱:求神賜下謙卑的生命給眾聖徒,讓祂的愛和權能得以隨意彰顯。
長假奇蹟の出現
地上的日子 是我們自己寫的劇本
哭泣 是代表我開心
過去 終究會過去
人說愛情 終點叫作伴侶
我依然肯定 就是你
我要說聲 我愛你」
(聖經詩篇63:3)
(聖經羅馬書8:35-39)
(聖經馬太福音16:25)
(聖經約伯記19:25)
幸福頻率 Beautitude Frequency
Beatitude Frequency
若有人拿家中所有的財寶要換愛情、就全被藐視。
從月光 傳來訊息
那是種 幸福的頻率
我相信只有你 讓愛融在雪地
化成聲聲音符 心心相繫
愛你 想你
一次微笑 一聲嘆息
都烙在腦海裡 你依戀的神情
總是可以 卸下我的防心
讓我勇敢給我肯定
我想這就是愛情
你是白雲 高掛在我心裡
讓天空 藍得美麗
當夕陽 覆蓋著大地
隨晚風去旅行 你會化作流星
點亮我的黑夜 直到天明
愛你 想你
看你眼神 聽你呼吸
是幸福動力
若說愛有限期
我會陪你 看著時間老去
給你擁抱給你決心 我們的幸福頻率
說我愛你 愛如此 讓人著迷
如果眼淚 是愛過後才允許
哭泣 是代表我開心
過去 終究會過去
人說愛情 終點叫作伴侶
我依然肯定 就是你
我要說聲 我愛你
Heidi Baker’s Uncomfortable Message to America
American missionary Heidi Baker is not a normal preacher. When she spoke at a conference last week in Ohio, she delivered half of her sermon while lying on the floor. She was clutching the microphone while her forehead was resting on the carpet.
「I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,」 she said, quoting Philippians 3:8. She interrupted her message several times with the high-pitched giggling that has become her trademark.
This was not your average, seeker-sensitive sermon.
A petite, 46-year-old blonde, Baker told the crowd at the Encounters Network conference in Cincinnati that those who want to be used by God in powerful ways must learn to relinquish power. She said: 「God told me once, 『I want you to come up to the lowest place.』」
Baker easily could have positioned herself as a Christian superstar. Fluent in several languages, she is a gifted communicator with advanced educational degrees. She also has seen astounding miracles during her 30 years of ministry, especially in Mozambique, where she and her husband, Rolland, have planted more than 7,000 「bush churches,」 five Bible schools and four children’s feeding centers since 1990.
Just days before she arrived in Cincinnati, Baker prayed for two blind beggars who wandered into her tent meeting at her base in Pemba, Mozambique. Both men instantly received their sight after Baker wet her fingers with saliva and touched their eyes.
Such astounding miracles are common to Heidi and Rolland. They have seen God supernaturally multiply rice and chili to feed hungry orphans. Heidi has watched paralytics walk for the first time after they received prayer. And indigenous pastors the Bakers trained in Mozambique have raised 53 people from the dead so far.
But Heidi Baker does not carry herself like a celebrity evangelist. She does not wear designer clothes or arrive at conferences in limousines. She does not wave her hand over audiences, throw her coat on people or mail slick magazines with photographs of her standing in front of crowds of Africans.
When it is time to minister to the sick, she often calls her trained team to do most of the praying. Sometimes she asks children to pray for the crippled and dying.
She knows that ministry is not about her.
「It is a privilege beyond price to see the joy and affection of the Holy Spirit poured out like a waterfall on people who have known so much severe hardship, disappointment and bitter loneliness in their lives,」 Baker wrote recently in her online ministry report.
「From the freezing cold gypsy huts of eastern Bulgaria to the 115 degree heat of Sudanese refugee camps, from the isolated native Inuits of arctic Canada to the dirt-poor subsistence farmers along the Zambezi River, we see ravenous desire for God among the poor and lowly. Jesus knows their suffering, and He will make it up to them. He will be their God, and they will be His people. He will use them to shame the wise and make the world jealous of their wealth toward Him.」
At the Cincinnati conference, which was sponsored by charismatic ministers James and Michal Ann Goll, Baker rebuked the American church in her sweet and disarming way. Because she lives 「in the dirt」 among the poorest people in Africa, she says, God has taught her principles from the Bible that sophisticated Western Christians struggle to understand.
「God wants to tweak some things」 in the Western church, she said, noting that we place too much importance on position, intellect and human ability.
She then demonstrated the solution to our dilemma by kneeling on the floor again. 「God wants laid-down love,」 Baker said. Hundreds of people—myself included—put our faces in the carpet and asked for the humble heart of Jesus to wreck our pride.
Being with Heidi Baker last weekend helped me reorder my priorities. I was reminded that ministry is not about visibility; it is about serving in secret. Ministry is not about giving people a slick, culturally relevant presentation; it is about offending the mind to reach the heart. Ministry is not about making rich Christians feel good about themselves; it is about seeing the face of Jesus in the face of a starving, AIDS-infected child.
Baker’s message made me uncomfortable, but the squirming was all worth it. I’ve decided I want to go lower—into a place of humility where the presence and power of God can be known.
I hope all of us will take that plunge.
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