行动的教会
我曾在一次会议中，拜访一间教会，名字叫“行动的教会”。他们的聚会和我习惯的传统教会很不同，这个教会的名字一直萦绕在我心头。我开始欣赏那个教会名字背后的意义。
教会生活对我们许多人来说是静止和平淡无奇的。我们有自己的常规事务。我们甚至会坐在同一排，同一张椅子上，周复一周。虽然基督希望祂的教会不断成长，邀请各种各样的人来认识耶稣。但如果我们允许，教会可能很一成不变。
在我们今天的经文中，圣灵指示腓利往一个方向去，很快他就遇到一个埃塞俄比亚人，坐在车上读以赛亚书。这个人不明白他所读的。神差派腓利就是为这一时刻，由于这次相遇，一个新的门徒诞生了。
神的灵很快又带腓利去到另一个地方，那个埃塞俄比亚人带着耶稣的福音回到了家乡。虽然这个人是个太监，不可能有孩子，但如今的埃塞俄比亚教会显明，他是一位属灵的父亲。
作为一名耶稣的门徒，你能在哪里，以怎样的方式帮助神的教会持续“行动”呢？
主啊，我的神，我们为着圣灵在我们生命和心中运行的方式感谢你。愿我们忠心地跟随圣灵，每一天都按着你的意愿行事。阿们。
使徒行传 8:26-40
26有主的一个使者对腓利说：“起来，向南走，往那从耶路撒冷下加沙的路上去！”那路是旷野。
27腓利就起身去了。不料，有一个埃塞俄比亚人，是个有大权的太监，在埃塞俄比亚女王干大基的手下总管银库。他上耶路撒冷礼拜去了，
28现在回来，在车上坐着，念先知以赛亚的书。
29圣灵对腓利说：“你去，贴近那车走！”
30腓利就跑到太监那里，听见他念先知以赛亚的书，便问他说：“你所念的你明白吗？”
31他说：“没有人指教我，怎能明白呢？”于是请腓利上车与他同坐。
32他所念的那段经说：“他像羊被牵到宰杀之地，又像羊羔在剪毛的人手下无声，他也是这样不开口。
33他卑微的时候，人不按公义审判他。谁能述说他的世代？因为他的生命从地上夺去。’
34太监对腓利说：“请问，先知说这话是指着谁？是指着自己呢，是指着别人呢？”
35腓利就开口从这经上起，对他传讲耶稣。
36二人正往前走，到了有水的地方，太监说：“看哪，这里有水！我受洗有什么妨碍呢？”
38于是吩咐车站住，腓利和太监二人同下水里去，腓利就给他施洗。
39从水里上来，主的灵把腓利提了去。太监也不再见他了，就欢欢喜喜地走路。
40后来有人在亚锁都遇见腓利；他走遍那地方，在各城宣传福音，直到恺撒利亚。
Church On The Move
“They came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’” — Acts 8:36
I once attended a conference in which we visited a church called “Church on the Move.” It was a congregation that was quite different from the tradition I am used to, and the church’s name has stuck with me. I have come to appreciate the meaning behind the name of that church.
Church life can be static and stale for many of us. We have our routines. We may even sit in the same chair or pew, week after week. Though Christ has intended his church to be a community that is always growing, inviting all kinds of people to come to know Jesus, the church can become rather stationary if we let that happen.
In our reading for today, the Spirit sends Philip in a certain direction, and Philip soon meets an Ethiopian who is reading from the book of Isaiah in his chariot. The man does not understand what he is reading. God has sent Philip for this moment, and a new disciple is born out of this encounter.
The Spirit of God soon took Philip to another place, and the Ethiopian man went back home, bringing the good news of Jesus with him. Though this man was a eunuch who could no longer have children, the church in Ethiopia today points back to him as a spiritual father.
As a disciple of Jesus, where and how are you helping to keep the church “on the move”?
Lord and God, we thank you for the way the Spirit moves into our lives and hearts. May we follow the Spirit faithfully, moving in line with your will each day. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
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