講道材料

恒心•不灰心

【跌落六十九次】谭墨兰（Tammer Lane)是一位英勇的君王，常喜欢向朋友们述说他的早年轶事。他说：「我有一次，被仇敌追逼，不得已藏匿在一所破屋中。我在那里独自枯坐了几个钟头。那时万念俱灰，再也没有志气和勇敢去干前面的事业了。在绝望中，我看见一只小小的蚂蚁，背着一粒比它大有数倍的谷，沿着墙壁尽力向上拖走。它跌下来多次，但是每一次它仍旧努力向上。我曾数过它跌下来了六十九次；可是它并不灰心气馁。第七十次，它到达了高墙顶上。由此我得着启发，兴奋；使我终身不能遗忘这个教训。」我们服事主也该如此，不可灰心丧志。『为此我提醒你，使你将神藉我按手所给你的恩赐，再如火挑旺起来。因为神赐给我们，不是胆怯的心，乃是刚强，仁爱，谨守的心。』（提摩太后书一章六，七节）

【打倒了，却不至死亡】有一个信徒经营某种事业失败，垂头丧气的向牧师诉苦说：『完了！完了！一切都完了！』牧师说：『真的一切都完了吗？你有强壮的身体，又有个好太太；你在主里面，主也必在你里面作你随时的帮助，怎么说一切都完了呢？』他听了牧师的话，然后说：『错了，错了，我一切都错了。』于是精神焕发的去重振旗鼓了。

【要有克服挫折的意愿】有一位牧师在牧会上虽然极其努力，但是不见成果，也未见人数增多，以致心力交瘁，甚至怀疑神为甚么拣选他，他非常绝望的想要放弃服事主的工作。一天早晨，颓丧的他坐在窗前，忽然有一只八哥飞来，栖息在窗台上，吱吱喳喳的叫着，牧师仔细听着，鸟儿似乎在说：『放弃啦！放弃啦！』牧师心想，莫非是神派遣这只鸟来传达消息，叫我放弃？正在思量之际，师母进来，牧师说：『你听，神派它来，要我放弃啦！忘弃啦！』师母笑着说：『它叫得多开心，怎么叫你放弃呢？你再仔细听，它是叫你坚持啦！坚持啦！』牧师再仔细听，又看见鸟儿快乐的叫声，于是说：『原来神派它来叫我坚持下去。』于是打起精神，鼓足信心勇气，坚持在他的岗位上。

【坚持到底】惠顿大学(Wheaton College)的校长常讲一句话：「我们往往停止得太早(It is always too soon to quit.)。」的确，多少人在多少事上停止得太早而前功尽弃。司布真也说过一句很有意思的话，他说：「蜗牛凭着坚持，终于到达了方舟(By perseverance the snail reached the ark.)。」这是千古不移的至理名言─凡事不怕慢，只怕没有坚持到底的力量；有坚持的力量终究会到达目的地。─ 沉保罗《真知灼见》

【恒心是成功的必要条件】我们都知道「恒心」是从创始到成功的必备条件；没有恒心，必然半途而废，一事无成。印地安纳(Indiana)大学的健康中心里，有生物统计学家对五百廿一人作了十五年的研究，从桡骨基质的测量去判断日后骨折的可能性。他们发现骨基质愈多，日后骨折的机会愈少；就是这种成果也都由恒心而来。

【功亏一篑】早年的航海要比现在危险得多。一艘英国船预定回国的时间将到，海岸边的城市要张灯结彩欢迎它回航。那知这艘船在回港的前一晚，因暴风大浪而触礁沉没，船上的人无一幸免。船公司请牧师去向船长太太报讯，牧师走到船长家，但见船长那穿得如天使般的女儿来应门，一见牧师便说：「牧师，今晨我爸爸要回来了！」满屋的鲜花，加上咖啡与早餐的香味，船长太太迎上来，笑容可掬地对牧师说：「你知道我丈夫早晨要回来，我们正等着他。」当她发现牧师脸上作难的神色时，知道发生了变故。牧师坦诚地将恶讯告诉她，她哭着说：“Almost home, but lost!”(几乎到家，至终丧失！)

【坚持到底】探险家朗森在北极迷途，由于计算方位错误，他和同行的给养吃尽，最后不得不宰杀他们的狗充饥，同行的人都奄奄一息中坐以待毙。朗森却告诉他的同行说：「我要迈出最后的一步。」于是他在严酷的雪风中一步步勇往向前，突然却看到了迎面来的一支美国远征队，正是来寻找他们的。瑞德巴斯博士论此事说，当我们迈开最后特别一步时，并不知神究将如何，这也是许多人祷告时见一无回应就灰心绝望，乃至放弃祷告的写照；这也等于是以色列人当年围绕耶利哥城时，竟在第十二圈时停止下来，那岂不是前功尽弃吗？

【存心忍耐奔走前程】一九六八年阿克瓦利代表坦尚尼亚参加在墨西哥举行的奥运。

马拉松赛跑时，阿克瓦利不幸跌倒，双脚双膝都受重伤。到下午七点时，衣索比亚的选手赢得冠军，其他选手们也陆续抵达终点，并受到照顾。当只剩数千观众还在巨大的体育场时，大门口的警笛声吸引了大家的注意力。

卅六号腿上裹着沾血绷带的阿克瓦利拐着跑进体育场，在场的观众们在他跑最后一圈时纷纷为他加油。

事后有记者问他这个人人存疑的问题：「为何你在受如此重伤后仍继续比赛呢？」他说：「我的国家远送我到七千英哩外参赛，不是为了开始比赛，乃是要完成比赛。」

「...存心忍耐奔那摆在我们前头路程」(来十二1)。

【不可灰心】他墨兰常欢喜向他的朋友述说他早年的故事，他说：「我有一次被仇敌追逼，不得已藏匿在一所破屋中，我在那里独自枯坐了几个钟头。那时万念俱灰，再也没有志气和勇敢去干前面的事业了。在绝望中，我看见一只小小的蚂蚁，背着一粒比它大数倍的谷，尽力向墙上拖走。它跌下来多次，但是每一次它仍旧努力向上。我曾数过它跌下来了六十九次；可是它并不灰心气馁，第七十次它到达了高墙的顶上。那时我得了奋兴，我终身不能遗忘这个教训。」

【要有继续航行的信心与决心】当哥伦布初次航行大西洋探寻印度时，每天在他私人航海日记上记下一句话：「今天我们继续航行。」当时他正在极度绝望的情况中，他们共有三艘船，其中有一艘已失了舵，船上的水手已萌起叛乱之心...，但他却能坚持其信心，写下「今天我们继续航行」。这是多么伟大的信心与决心！今天的基督徒也该有这种决心，不管在任何艰困的环境中，仍有「今天继续航行」的信心，永不灰心，绝不气馁的走完人生旅程，因为那忍耐到底的必然成功。

※ 爱迪生六十七岁时实验室大火，烧毁两百万元设备，他说：『这把火烧掉一切错误，我要继续研究下去。』三周后发明了留声机。

【Discouragement】The devil decided to have a garage sale. Ono the day of sale, his tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. There were a treacherous lot of implements: hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lust, lying, pride, and so on.

Set apart from the rest was a harmless-looking tool. It was quite worn and yet priced very high.

“What is the name of this tool?” asked one of the customers, pointing to it.

“That is discouragement,” Satan replied.

“Why have you priced it so high?”

“Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a man’s heart with that, even when I cannot get near him with the other tools. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since so few people know it belongs to me.”

The devil’s price for discouragement was high because it is still his favorite tool, and he is still using it on God’s people.

【Endurance】Several years ago a man reported his observations of the effects of a hurricane on a southeastern Gulf Coast town. As he walked up and down the ravaged streets, he observed that the palm trees had been uprooted and flung about. Once tall and majestic, their root systems were too shallow to withstand the hurricane force winds. But as he proceeded, he came upon a lone oak tree. The leaves had been blown away and some of the smaller branches ripped off, but the roots had gone deep, and the tree held its position. And in due season it would again produce leaves.

So it is with us. If we are to endure in times of great stress and difficulty, we must beforehand have put down a depth of character that will sustain the blows of the trial.

【Endurance】”Our men were not braver than the enemy. They were brave five minutes longer.”—attributed to Lord Wellington after the great victory won over Napoleon at Waterloo

【Failure】John F. Kennedy said, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan; no one wants to claim it.”

【Failure】In 1879, a child was born to a poor Jewish merchant. In early life the lad suffered a haunting sense of inferiority because of the anti-Semitic feeling he encountered on every hand. Shy and introspective, the boy was so slow in learning that his parents had him examined by specialists to see if he was normal. In 1895, he failed his entrance examinations at the Polytechnicum in Zurich, Switzerland, though a year later he tried again and succeeded. Later he received a doctorate from the University of Zurich, yet obtained only an obscure job as a patent examiner in the Berne patent office at first.

Who was he? The man who formulated the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein, one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived. He never let early failures defeat him!