Cords of His Love

Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well by Billy Graham

2011-12-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

This is indeed a very moving account by someone who has done it. The verse that keeps recurring in my mind as I think of Billy Graham is:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2Ti 4:7 NKJV)

In this narrative, Billy Graham shares his personal experience of growing older and in almost every page of the book, you can see a man who is full of confidence in the Lord. Although he is not a perfect man but rather has his own struggles, yet as you read his narrative, you couldn't help but notice that his deep trust in God is really palpable.

In these chapters, he talks about how we should view material riches and money, and how we should view our lives with a sense of mission from God as well as retirement. In the chapter on work, he advises younger people not be slaved to work so much so that our entire self worth are wrapped up in our work.

Instead of one who is fear of death, as he nears his last lap of earthly life, again we can see a man who rather embraces death as his days are drawing nearer and nearer home.

One can also see a man full of humility. In chapter 3, for example, he said that one would keep learning until the day one dies. He said:

Others brag, "We've been there and done that!" The truth is that we gain new experiences until we die."

In conclusion, this is truly truly a worth account to read, so much gem to pick.

The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation. - Corrie Ten Boom

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Just in Case You Ever Wonder By Max Lucado

2011-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

This is a simple children book by Max Lucado illustrating the love of God and also beauty of family closeness and love. Very well written.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Night Night Blessings By Amy Parker

2011-10-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

This is also a good book to introduce kids to count their blessings.
It is also very well illustrated although the illustrations are not as attractive in ebook format.
However, I find this book to be not so readable compared to the previous ones.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Thank You, God, For Blessing Me By Max Lucado

2011-10-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

This simple children book is a good start to introduce kids to God, and a good one to introduce the concept of praying a prayer of thanksgiving for everything that God has blessed us with.

Amply illustrated although the pictures in the e-book (e-pub) edition are probably not as colorful and attractive as the printed ones.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: More Lost Than Found Finding a Way Back to Faith by Jared Herd

2011-10-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

I agree with what the author wrote in some chapters, but in other chapters, I disagree with him, and in many areas, I find that the author was fuzzy and vague in his writings.

In chapter 1, the author said that "all of us understand and relate to Jesus through the lens of our experiences and our culture" and as a "paradox, but to stay the same, the gospel must always be changing."

I find this to be rather confusing, and even bothering on the heretical unless the author took the trouble to explain what does he try to convey.

I beg to differ. I would rather ask, must the gospel or more accurately, the timeless truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ be always changing? Or should it be more appropriate to say that the way the gospel is presented must always be changing to fit the context of our contemporary culture?

True, as the author said, that there are a lot of "unmitigated" factors, but we should be interpreting the contemporary culture through the lens of the timeless gospel of Jesus Christ but not the other way around. Otherwise, the way we look at Scripture would be more eisegetical rather than exegetical.

Nonetheless, I also find a lot of good stuffs from this book.

In chapter 2, for example, the author talked about the secular-sacred divide. He talked about how the church has turned into a country club. As he said:

"There is Christian everything. It is possible to be driving with your friends from a Christian school on your way to see a Christian movie while you listen to Christian radio and chew on Christian mints. That car probably has a fish on the back of it too. In our culture, Christian isn’t a noun proclaiming the center of someone’s identity or spiritual life. It is an adjective convincing us that something has been sanitized and is now safe to use."

In chapter 3, the author talked about the illusion-reality gap. For example, he said,

"You were told what to become, but no one tried to understand how you became who you are. Perhaps this is why you felt guilty for all the spilled paint in your story. You are a drip artist living in a sketch art world. It isn’t that you no longer believe. It is just that you don’t have the tools to make sense of the messy picture you made."

As the result, like the author said, we would rather "deny certain realities about our lives, and we embrace illusions because they are easier than confronting something difficult."

But that is not what God wants from us. He specializes in the impossible. He "allows things to be ugly. He doesn’t work around reality—he works with it. Somehow he sees a way to redeem it and make it into something different than we imagined. And somehow he makes every painting beautiful in a unique way."

In the following chapter, the author dealt on the difficult subject of doubt. He talked about learning to embrace doubt as a friend rather than enemy in our journey of faith. As the author said,

"Perhaps doubt isn’t the enemy of faith. Perhaps it is just the enemy of religion. Maybe doubt leads us closer to reality. [This is because....] we are at our most vulnerable when we are asking questions. When we have shunned certainty and know that we don’t know, we are open to discovering God’s reality."

I am not sure how much I can agree with him. Doubt can be a good friend if there is someone else to come alongside us to show us the way. As Philip said to Ethiopian eunuch when he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:30, 31 NKJV)
In other words, I think doubt can be a good friend, but it can also drive us further into our skepticism.

Nevertheless, I like what he wrote in the following Chapter 5,

"For most people who go to church, it is usually limited to an hour-long experience on a Sunday. Outside of the church, most people understand it as a Sunday-bound activity. The hope is that this hour will change the direction of the 167 other hours experienced in a week. Given such a limited time frame, churches do the best they can to get across as much information as they can. The Bible is filled with lots of words, and churches are filled with a lot of words explaining those words. We all know that a relationship with our Creator is a mystical and transcendent experience, but very few of us would use those same words to describe the last church service we attended. More often than not, it is a lot of words. Some are applicable; a lot of them are not."

I tend to agree with him. Sometimes we want to cram as much information as possible into the minds of our church members with the hope that it will be adequate to equip them to wage wars against the trials and temptations for the remaining week in the workplace..but that is not how the Christian faith should work. The christian faith is a faith of communal living.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review - Gabby, God's Little Angel By Sheila Walsh

2011-09-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

This children book is about the humorous tale of Gabby, a guardian angel in training who has much to learn about taking care of God’s little ones.

Her new assignment is to protect a young girl named Sophie, but Gabby soon realizes that watching after Sophie is a bigger challenge than she had expected! After a close call while riding her pony, Sophie learns what the Bible says about guardian angels:

“He will put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go” (Psalm 91:11 ICB).

Basically this is a heartening, delightful and entertaining book to create the awareness among little children that God loves us so much, and He sends his angels to guard us.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends: Hermie, a Common Caterpillar

2011-09-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

This attractive children book is about the story of Hermie and his friend Wormie. Hermie and Wormie have always felt common. They don’t have stripes or dots, they aren’t very strong, and they can’t find anything special about themselves. But every time they pray, God tells them that He loves them all the time just as they are and that He isn’t finished with them yet. When Hermie becomes a beautiful butterfly, he realizes just how special God’s plan is for him!

Lessons I learned:
1. Sometimes we limit God -- we had the misconception that God cannot make something beautiful out of the "common". That's when the common is placed into the palm of the uncommon God.
2. We are impatient. We wanted God to answer us, and answer us NOW! But God has His purposes for us. And He will do it in His time!
3. We wanted to be someone else other than the person God has made us to be. We are unique in our own identity and our security should rest in the confidence we have in Him. We should be comfortable in our self-image.

In short, this is a great book to be read together with my kids.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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It Couldn't Just Happen Knowing the Truth About God's Awesome Creation By Lawrence Richards

2011-09-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is an extremely informative, excellent book on apologetics - answering tough questions like

“Did Earth begin with a ‘Big Bang’ cosmic explosion?”
“Does science contradict the Bible?”
“What happened to dinosaurs?”
“Is there life on other planets?”
“Did we evolve from apes?”
“What makes my body work on its own?”

I am really really attracted to the uniqueness of this book to make the enormously complex issues like ones highlighted above into simple, comprehensible materials that can be digested at the level of a teenage kid.

Although originally intended for kids, I find this book to be informative for myself too. As a lecturer and as someone who deals with college students in CF, this book is an excellent book for me to carry along in my iPad wherever I go, because it contains an enormous wealth of scientific information, that adhere to the sovereignty and creativity of our Creator God. To those who are not so inclined to scientific arguments, the materials contained in this book may seem a bit daunting and mind-blowing, but to those who love science, including myself, this book is simply, simply amazing!

Highly recommended!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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The Greatest Man Ever Live

2011-08-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

In chemistry, He turned water to wine.

In biology, He was born without the normal conception;

In physics, He disproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven;

In economics, He disproved the law of diminishing return by feeding 5000 men with two fishes & 5 loaves of bread;

In medicine, He cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs,

In history, he is the beginning and the end;

In government, He said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace

In religion, He said no one comes to the Father except through Him;

So, who is He? He is Jesus!

The greatest man in history

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him healer

He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Book Review: Smack-Dab in the Middle of God's Love By Brennan Manning & John Blase

2011-08-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Typical of Manning's style of writing on Abba's love, this first of his children books, is a delightful story outlining the fact that God, as our Heavenly Abba, wants us to enjoy his blessings more than anything we have done for Him. His love is pure, simple and fatherly.

Nonetheless, I find this Manning's book does not really flesh out concrete enough. The core message was not really put forth clearly. Probably a little conclusion section at the end to encapsulate the core message would help.

Other than that, this book is beautifully illustrated, and simple enough for children to understand.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: The Blessing - Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance By John Trent & Gary Smalley

2011-08-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley powerfully communicates biblical truths on how to pass on a blessing to others, particularly our own family members; it teaches us on how to instill self-worth and emotional well-being into others.

As mentioned in the book, there are five essential elements that comprise a blessing:

meaningful touch
a spoken message
attaching high value
picturing a special future, and
an active commitment.

As a medical doctor, I particularly like the part where the authors mention about the various physiological benefits of a meaningful touch.

For example, the authors mention that there are over one-third of our five million touch receptors centered in our hands!

In another part, the authors mentioned about the various studies done by Dolores Krieger, a professor of nursing at New York University on the effects of laying on of hands. What she found is that both the toucher and the one being touched receive a psychological benefit from this practice. Repeatedly, Dr. Krieger has found that hemoglobin levels in both people’s bloodstreams go up during the act of laying on of hands. As hemoglobin levels are invigorated, body tissues receive more oxygen. This increase of oxygen energizes a person and can even aid in the regenerative process if he or she is ill.

In yet another part, the authors mention about a study done at UCLA which found that men and women need eight to ten meaningful touches a day just to maintain emotional and physical health.

Even in the animal kingdom, meaningful touch in infancy causes rats’ brains to put a brake on the development of glucocorticoids and other stress hormones.

Therefore, as the authors mention, parents, in particular, need to know that neglecting to meaningfully touch their children can starve them of genuine acceptance—so much so that it can drive them into the arms of someone else who is all too willing to touch them.

Intrigued by what the authors wrote, I went to the back section of the bibliographic part. I was a bit disappointed to find that for some of these studies that the authors quoted, they did not quote the original sources (although in many others cases, they did). Instead of quoting the primary sources, occasionally they quoted secondary sources, even sources like Reader's Digest. I wish the authors could have quoted more from the original scientific papers as these would enable readers to go and find out more by retrieving these original publications.

Overall, however, this is a challenging book that should be read by all, especially those in positions of authority.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Don't Check Your Brains at the Door By Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler

2011-07-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Don't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler indeed is a great, attractive book for teens to read. It gives teens the answers that make sense, even for the toughest of questions.

In this book, McDowell and Hostetler offer clarity to these perplexing questions, and laced them with humor to expose common myths about God, the Bible, religion, and life to show how Christianity stands up to the test of fact and reason.

This book will help young people to better equipped to stand up for their faith as they begin to understand why they believe and why it's important to make a lifetime commitment to Christ and the church.

The contents of this book include common myths about God, myths about Jesus, myths about Bible, myths about the Resurrection of Christ, myths about Christianity, and even on more personal issues facing young people such as temptation issues, the sex questions, etc.

In other words, this book present apologetics in a lively, easy-to-relate manner to these young people.

I like the way the chapters are presented - short and crisp! Each chapters contain only 2 - 3 pages, can be easily read in a few minutes. The best part is the 'Brain Food' section found at the end of each chapter - more serious stuffs for those to go further and more detailed on that topic.

In short, this is a highly recommended! Highly recommended apologetic book for young people....

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: God's Love Letters to You. A 40-Day Devotional Experience By Larry Crabb

2011-07-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

This book is a 40-day devotional messages taken from the eternal story of God’s Love, the Bible, as revealed in the conversational experience of 66 Love Letters.

Each devotional reading is based on twenty Old Testament and twenty New Testament books of the Bible.

Written to help the reader listen to what God is saying in His Word, God’s Love Letters to You offers a life-changing encounter with God through the story He is telling.

Author Larry Crabb brings the big picture of God’s story into clearer focus, helping readers catch an enticing glimpse of how each of these forty books of the Bible advances the story.

Although I like Larry Crabb's style of writings and his biblical view on psychology, I wish that the main devotional message is scripturally referenced. Except for the introductory scripture verses that appear at the beginning of each day's message, there is very little scripture back-up in this book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Billy Graham in Quotes

2011-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

This book is not meant to be read in one sitting....it is a wealth of quotable quotes of Billy Graham compiled by his son, Franklin Graham. It is meant, instead, as a reference for Billy Graham's quotes that you can use in your sermons, speeches and writings.

Personally I am extremely delighted with this very useful collection and am amazed at the wisdom that God has bestowed upon this evangelist.

Here is a sampling of quotes that I find particularly inspiring and encouraging:

On abortion:

"The widespread acceptance of abortion is a symbol or sign of something
deeper within our society that should also concern us greatly.
This is the tendency today to decide moral
issues or questions only on the basis of
whether or not they are convenient or bring pleasure to a person."

On the Bible:

"We are not free to pick and choose the parts of the
Bible we want to believe or obey. God has given us all of it,
and we should be obedient to all of it."

On Christianity:

"Christianity is not an insurance policy against life’s ills and troubles."

"Becoming a Christian is the work of a moment;
being a Christian is the work of a lifetime."

On God:

"Most of us know about God,
but that is quite different from knowing God."

"If God can be fully proved by the human mind,
then He is no greater than the mind that proves Him."

"You will never understand who you are until
you understand who God is."

"The will of God will never take us
where the grace of God cannot sustain us."

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Book Review: Put Your Dream to the Test by John C. Maxwell

2011-07-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

No doubt, John C. Maxwell's Put Your Dream to the Test is a greatly inspiring book.

In this book, John helps people answer ten powerful questions to reveal a future where their dream is fulfilled.

1. The Ownership Question:
Is my dream really my dream?
A dream is only worth pursuing further if it is truly our own dream. We don't want to live out somebody else' dream - be it our parents', teachers, etc.

2. The Clarity Question:
Do I clearly see my dream?
If you can't see it, you can't seize it.

3. The Reality Question:
Am I depending on factors within my control to achieve my dream? I, not only need to know what are my strengths, but I also need to know what are my weaknesses.

4. The Passion Question:
Does my dream compel me to follow it? Do I have what it takes to drive me on despite the challenges?

5. The Pathway Question:
Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?

6. The People Question:
Have I included the people I need to realize my dream?

7. The Cost Question:
Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?

8. The Tenacity Question:
Am I moving closer to my dream? Am I willing to be persistent despite all odds?

9. The Fulfillment Question:
Does working toward my dream bring satisfaction? Essentially the flip-side to the Cost and Tenacity Questions, this question ask if it is worth pursuing the dream that may cost us considerably -- does this dream bring me fulfillment that I am willing to pay the price.

10. The Significance Question:
Does my dream benefit other?

There are numerous uplifting quotes, anecdotes, etc scattered throughout the book. This is definitely another of John Maxwell's books that is worth re-reading and re-reading again.

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Book Review: Max On Life Answers and Inspiration for Today's Questions

2011-05-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Unlike in previous years where Max Lucado's books are usually topical, this time, Max came up with a compilation of the questions that he had received from years of his ministry and the answers that he gave.

Typical of the Lucado's style, he wrote succinctly, often good at playing with the words. The topics that he covered in this book varies from apologetics to prayers to romance to parenting, etc.

He answered most of the questions very well, often offering much hope and encouragement. Above all, he demonstrated God's love in many of the answers he gave.

Five most important lessons I personally learned from this book:

Understanding God's love
We often say that we understand God's love, but actually we don't really because as Max said, we have never been to heaven. And therefore, we don't really know what it means to give up heaven, even just for one second. Furthermore, we have never been sinless, taking upon our shoulders, the sins of another human being. And finally, as Max said, he might gave himself a bit, for the bad guy, but he will never give up his daughter, even if he knows he will have her back. But God did.

Understanding Forgiveness
If you throw somebody in a prison of unforgiveness, you are no more free-er than the person you locked up in. In fact the prisoner can walk away free, but you, as the prison guard, would have to continuously guarding it as long as you throw in another prisoner into your wall of hatred. Let go of your need to compare and resent. It only stops when we forgive,

Understanding worry
The Greek word for worry (merimnao) which stems from the verb merizo (divide) and nous (mind). Worry saps our energy and blur our focus.

Death isn't always bad
Max dispels the myth that death is always a bad omen. In actuality, death liberates the cocooned soul. Not only death is inevitable, death is necessary for us to enjoy the new life in Christ. As long as see death as a failure, we will perceive God as being deaf to our prayers.

We are not defined by the things we have
When we die, we say bye-bye to what we buy. We are not our credit-card statement. Neither are we defined by the cars we drive. Our purchases may explain us, but they don't define us. Our hearts are who we are. If you define yourself by your stuff, you'll feel happy for a moment when you have a lot and bad when you don't.

There are many more gems I gathered from this book. But these are the five most important issues I learned from this book.

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Book Review: The The Take Action Bible

2011-05-29T05:01:00.000-07:00

Product Details:

Paperback: 992 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (April 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781418546496
ISBN-13: 978-1418546496
ASIN: 1418546496
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches

The Take Action Bible is a NKJV bible that offers you tips and ideas to apply the Word of God in five actionable areas - GO, SERVE, GIVE, HEAL and TEACH.

It features real-life stories and full-color photos of people who are putting their faith into action. The actions included in this bible range from raising money with a lemonade stand to relocating on the mission field.

Read their inspiring stories, and follow their examples with 52 ideas for you to put God's Word into action.

The special features of this Bible include:

48 full-color pages
15 real-life stories show how to take action with God's Word
52 Take Action ideas
Personal Take Action note pages
New King James VersionR (NKJV) UltraSlim Bible text
Translation and text notes
Words of Jesus in red
Concordance
Bible reading plan

The Take Action Bible is part of Thomas Nelson Bible’s God’s Word in Action campaign to empower people to change the world. For more information on the campaign, visit http://www.SeeGodsWordinAction.com.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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The Final Summit: A Quest to Find the One Principle That Will Save Humanity by Andy Andrews

2011-05-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Final Summit is about the story of David Ponder who is now 74 years old. Many years have passed since he discovered the Seven Decisions (If you are like me, have not read The Traveller's Gift before; but a good summary of the Seven Decisions can be found by clicking on the link provided. The summary of these seven decisions is also narrated in the first chapter of this book).

Nonetheless, even though David Ponder was very wealthy, he was discouraged about life due to the fact that he had recently lost his wife, the love of his life. The angel Gabriel then appears and whisked him away to heaven for a final summit -- a project that he must solve before the time stipulated in movement of the sand in the hourglass.

Together, with the team of his fellow travelers (comprising of wise and great men and women of the past), from Winston Churchill to George Washington Carver to Joan of Arc, he must work to discover the one solution that will save humanity.

Whenever I read this book, the one imagination that I always picture in my mind, is that the scene of this drama is somewhat similar to the scenes from the live TV series, the Apprentice. A group of apprentice is given an assignment by the mentor (in this case, the angel Gabriel). The mentor walks out. The apprentice team come together and work out the answer. And when they are ready, the mentor is being called back and a spokeperson of the group presents the answer to the mentor. The catch in this story is, David Ponder and his team is only given five chances to come up with the accurate two-word answer to this question: what does humanity need to do to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?

As expected, David Ponder used up all five chances before he was able to come up with the answer. In their discussion on each of these five decisions, I learned much wisdom. Indeed, as Chairman of Thomas Nelson, Michael Hyatt, said in his interview with Andy Andrews, this book is really choke full of wisdom, despite being a fictional book. There are so much truths, so much wisdom that we can learn from. There are certain books that I will never re-read; not for this one. This book will certainly goes to my reference shelf.

These are the lessons I learned from this book:

1. Success

Success is a journey. And that journey is founded on the principle of the path (adapted from Andy Stanley's book). The Principle of the Path says that direction, not intention, determines destination. And that destination for which we should strive is one of successful life, although not necessarily a life of success.

A Life of Success versus A Successful Life:

To me, a successful life means that I am heading in a right direction. Yes, there may be setbacks along that direction, but these setbacks do not hinder me or causing me to re-navigate my direction to another direction. A successful life means to be able to utilize every experience that I have gone through - successes, failures, warts and all, as stepping stone for the next step. A life of success on the other hand, means having 'success' in everything that we do. We may not achieve a life of success, but it does not mean we cannot live a successful life.

2. Hope

Hope is basic -- it is like the bread or water for our souls. One cannot live without hope, at least not for long. To quote Andy Andrew:

Hope sees what is invisible, feels what is intangible, and achieves what most consider impossible.

People can take away everything that I have, but one thing I must not lose is hope. Hope is the very bedrock for perseverance.

In another part of Chapter 5, the character Winston Churchill said,

....there are no hopeless situations, there are only people who have grown helpless about them.

As long as I have breath, I must not lose hope, because the very fact that I am still breathing means that I have not fully accomplish the very purpose God has intended me to have on this earth.

3. Wisdom

In chapter 6, wisdom is defined as "the ability to see, into the future, the consequences of one's choices in the present" and in another part, it is mentioned that wisdom is also the "ability to discern and....[understand] our perspective of life." As the character angel Gabriel said towards the end of chapter 6,

"...one of the reasons mankind has lost its way is our reliance on societal norm as life's blueprint. People have stopped questioning what the end result might be of certain actions and habits. We now rely on cultural trends - even celebrity behavior - to act as the compass guiding the decisions and behavior in our own lives."

The very fact that we are seeking wisdom means that we are wise. "In seeking wisdom, thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it, thou art a fool."

As the character Lincoln said:

The wisest folks I've been around weren't at all impressed with their own wisdom. The wise seem always to be on a search for wisdom.

Therefore, one of greatest pearl of wisdom one can attain is to be aware of how much one do not know. It requires wisdom to recognize wisdom. This is where people may confuse wisdom vs knowledge. We can be knowledgeable, but not wise. As Geoffrey Chaucer said:

The greatest scholars are not usually the wisest people.

Experience is not always the best teacher for wisdom. We cannot possibly experience every experience in life in order to attain the wisdom of life. Rather, other people's experience is often the best teacher! The wise often have uncommon degree of common sense. Unfortunately, people often look for wisdom only when they have exhausted all other means.

4. Courage

Courage is not merely a form of power. As the character Joan of Arc said:

I believe everyone possesses the power to achieve whatever they wish. Many however, lack the courage to do so.

But courage only genuinely appears when we are deeply passionate about the things or persons we care about. Because it is at that moment, we are willing to take risks that are beyond imagination in any context.

5. The cause of humanity's fallenness

The character angel Gabriel also appears to give a mini-lecture in chapter 8 on how very achievement of mankind is the source of humanity's egotistical nature and subsequent fallenness. "Pride goeth before a fall".

As the character angel Gabriel said:

"As humans, you think you are stronger than ever before. You worship your own intelligence. You've been to the moon and consider that a grand accomplishment, yet you are not clever enough to find the clues He left you about who made the moon in the first place!"

Along with pride is the humanity's perverse attribution to its achievement to chance and randomness. I like the paragraph of the description on the cosmological facts and figures (although I have yet to verify its factuality myself).

6. Bad Questions begets Bad Answers

Chapter 9 is where Winston Churchill refers to his own depression as the "black dog".

As the character Winston Churchill said:

"The quality of one's answers can only be determined by the quality of one's questions. If you want good answers in your life, you must ask good questions."

He goes on to say how on a daily basis our subconscious mind constantly processes the questions we ask ourselves. If we ask bad questions, our mind will descend to a state to produce bad answers. Winston Churchill said, "bad questions feed the black dog."

The character Abraham Lincoln then gave an example: rather than asking "why can't I solve this problem....?", ask "What is the best way to solve this problem....."

Ask questions like "What is the happiest, the fastest, the best way, etc, etc...."

7. Self-Discipline

This is the section where the character King David speaks the loudest. He exemplifies this quality - both when self-discipline is exercised (his practice with his slings before the showdown with Goliath) as well as when self-discipline is lacking (as with his temptation with Bathsheba).

As the character King David said:

"It takes self-discipline to practice because practice is rarely exciting....Exerting self-discipline is merely a process by which you remember what you really want."

The question each of us should ask is:

What do I really want?

Because this question will fuel our passion. This question will creates a strong desire within us to do something we don't particularly want to do in order to get a result that we would like to have.

8. Character

Character is what we really are in the dark. Nothing shows a person's character more than his habits. But character isn't something we are born with. Character is something we alone are responsible to build on the foundation of hope, wisdom, courage and self-discipline. While wisdom develops in quiet places, character is formed in the swirling storms that are the norms of the human life. As mentioned earlier in the book, adversity is often the preparation for greatness.

Character vs Reputation

Reputation is merely what others think we might be. Character is what we really are in the dark.

9. Do Something!

After four unsuccessful attempts* to give the answer to the question: "what does humanity need to do to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?", David Ponder and team finally got it right. The answer is surprisingly simple, Do Something!

This answer actually came out of nowhere, out of the desperation that they faced because of the extreme shortage of time. It was out of a sudden, somebody, somewhere, shouted the answer "Do something." It was the voice of Joshua Chamberlain. Joshua Chamberlain is also the subject of another Andy Andrew's book which I have read, "The Butterfly Effect."

As the character Joshua Chamberlain said:

"...when one doesn't know what to do, he should do something. At that moment of panic or discouragement, one cannot do everything, but he can do something."

And as Thomas Jefferson said:

"The question for each person to settle is not what he might do if he had the money, the influence, or the education, but 'What will a person do with the things he has?' To be discouraged about what you don't have is to waste what you do have."

In my personal opinion, actually I do find it a little bit weird that the real answer to humanity is do something. It is not that I disagree with the argument that in the moment of desperation when we do not know what to do that we should do something, but the question is do what? Do something requires a definite action, it can swing to the positive, do good, or to the negative, do bad. In other words, I do find it a bit kind of anti-climax to the story.

*The four unsuccessful attempts are:

Restore Hope
Seek Wisdom
Show Courage
Exhibit self-discipline

Conclusion

Overall, this book is a really good book to read and re-read. I have actually read it twice before writing this review.

I conclude that Andy Andrews is certainly the C.S. Lewis of the 21st century. He is able to weave in so much wisdom in a narrative account. I will attempt to read his previous books, particularly on The Traveler's Gift.

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Book Review: Always True by James MacDonald

2011-04-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

James MacDonald's Always True essentially is about the five great promises of God as stated in the Bible. The 5 promises that MacDonald talked about are:

Promise #1: God Is Always With Me - I will not fear

Promise #2: God is always in control - And I will not doubt.

Promise #3: God is always good - and I will not be in despair

Promise #4: God is always watching, and I will not falter

Promise #5: God is always victorious, and I will not fail

While I applaud MacDonald's attempt to encourage and strengthen his readers in the hope of God's promises, yet, I find these to be rather simplistic. I do not mean to be skeptical as I fully trust in the unchanging nature of our Lord, in His goodness, and in His unchanging promises. Nevertheless, living in this fallen world, and complicated with God's granting humans the freewill to make moral choices, these five promises seem to be more of a set of nice cliche to dress conversations.

In my opinion, I think MacDonald should invite his readers to wrestle with tougher questions such as:

If God is always with me, why at times, am I still fearful living in this world?

If God is always in control, why am I still doubtful as I see the ugliness of evil unfolding through series and series of world events?

If God is always good, why is there still evil and sufferings in this world?

If God is always watching, why am I sometimes feel far from Him?

If God is always victorious, why in many occasions, evil seems to be having the upper hand of things?

As I have mentioned, although I do not intend to be skeptical, I believe, if we believe in the infallbility of the Bible and the Christian faith we are living with, we should not be fearful to wrestle with these tough questions. Having wrestle with five life-perplexing questions, we can come out even stronger in our faith and confidence in our God.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the e-pub format of this book from Moody Publishers through Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Product Review: Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends: A Bug Collection

2011-03-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

Volume 3 of the Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends: A Bug Collection is a delightful collection with three complete DVDs:

Buzby and the Grumblebees—it’s about bee-having.

Haily & Bailey's Silly Fight—it’s about getting along.

Milo, the Mantis Who Wouldn't Pray—it's about prayer.

These stories are truly engaging for both adults and children alike, with plenty of opportunities for great discussion on some of the learning principles a child can learn from.

I watched all three movies with my kids. Out of the three movies, I like Milo, the Mantis Who Wouldn't Pray, the most. It is about this praying mantis named Milo, who inherited a four-generation snack shack from his great-grandfather. He was an ever bust mantis and he was very proud of the legacy he inherited. Due to a sudden wind storm one day, the entire snack shack was blown away. Being the ever Type A personality kind of guy, he wanted to quickly get back to action to rebuild his business. But when Wormie and Hermie suggested to him that he should slow down and pray, that caught him by surprise. He was a praying mantis who does not know how to pray!

He asked questions like how much does it cost to pray? How much time does it take to pray?

He expressed his concerns about prayers which probably many of us can identify with.
God must be a very busy executive and therefore he should pray as fast as he can, and send God with "shopping list as much as he wanted" OR

God must be a very intelligent person, and therefore, to speak at a level that is acceptable to him, we must use certain fancy words, praying in a certain posture. OR

God must be too important person and in order to get God's attention, he must do something.

Milo also expected God to answer his prayers the way he wanted, whenever he wanted. Wrong! God answers according to His own timing, with the answer He thinks is the best - and that answer can either be yes, no or wait.

Furthermore, Milo kept looking for answers to his prayers in everywhere else when God has already answered his prayers in the form of the companionship and help from his close friends.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received these DVDs free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Milo, The Mantis Who Wouldn't Pray

Buzby And The Grumble Bees

Hailey and Bailey's Silly Fight Part 1/3

Hailey and Bailey's Silly Fight Part 2/3

Hailey and Bailey's Silly Fight Part 3/3

Unravel The Idols In My Life

2011-03-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

Jared Wilson wrote a very poignant blog post regarding a list of checklist questions from David Powlison's book, Seeing With New Eyes, to help us diagnose the idols we might have hidden so deeply that we ourselves may not even be aware of. Here are the questions:

1. What do I worry about most?

2. What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?

3. What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?

4. What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?

5. What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?

6. What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?

7. What do I lead with in conversations?

8. Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?

9. What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?

10. What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?

11. What is my hope for the future?

The Kingdom of God

2011-01-21T20:27:00.000-08:00

The Kingdom of God, as taught by Jesus, is heralded by the early parables (Mark 2:21-22) that He used that seems to imply a “change of guard” – the Abrahamic covenant has now become the old religious order, and the kingdom of God has now arrived as a new covenant.

It seems that the phrase “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven” are used interchangeably. Specifically, the phrase “kingdom of God” occurs 68 times in ten different New Testament books, whereas “kingdom of heaven” occurs 32 times, and interestingly only in the Gospel of Matthew. One theory claims that the reason Matthew, being a Jew himself, used the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” extensively is because Matthew’s writing is specifically targeted for Jewish readers, with the focus to show that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the many Old Testament’s prophecies. Devout Jews avoided using the name YHWH, and rather substituted with an appropriate phrase to depict deity. Hence, Matthew often replaced “Kingdom of God” with “Kingdom of Heaven”, whereas Mark and Luke, with their focus on Greek readership, used the phrase “Kingdom of God”.

Although, a kingdom brings the connotation of having a king, which is Jesus Himself, unfortunately the Jewish’s concept of the “kingdom of God” is very much a physical kingdom - a militant concept, where they expected Jesus to stomp against the Roman empire and establish Israel as an everlasting nation. This is further supported that the Jewish people had been living under foreign forces as early as around 750 BC since the Assyrian invasion. Furthermore, it has been more than four hundred years’ lapse since the last Old Testament, Malachi, had spoken before Jesus came. The Jews had been dejected, possibly even doubted whether God would rescue them from further foreign invasion.

Jesus on the other hand, indicated that the kingdom of God that has come is not a physical one (Luke 17:20-21, John 18:36), but a spiritual kingdom. The entrance into the kingdom of God is heralded by a new birth (John 3:5) with a need for heart repentance (Matthew 3:2). Romans 14:17 further strengthen the fact that the kingdom of God that Jesus initiated is not about the external but rather the internal.

Dr. Alex Tang's Teaching Sessions on Biomedical Ethics

2011-01-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have attached Dr. Alex Tang's teaching sessions on the Biomedical Ethics According To Christian Perspective. Topics include abortion, death and dying...these are issues that many healthcare providers will face.

Kindly email me at cksheng74@yahoo.com for more details.

Alex Tang Biomedical Ethics According To Christian Perspective Teaching Sessions in KB

The Temptation of Christ

2011-01-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Temptations of Christ

This account follows immediately^{^[1]} after His Baptism. Whereas in the baptism account, the divine voice says “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (Luk 3:22 NIV), during the three temptations, the Son of God was tempted twice with the phrase “If you are the Son of God….” in attempts to make Him doubt His Messiahship or identity. The word “tempt” in Luke 4:2 is translated from the Greek word peirazō, which also means “to test”, although no explanation was given in the accounts as to why the testing was necessary. But what is clear is that He was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.

The significance of these three temptations

"If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." (Luk 4:3 NIV)

In the first temptation the devil suggests Jesus will die if He does not eat^{^[2]}. This temptation was not a temptation to immorality or sin in the traditional sense as there was nothing sinful in eating. Rather, it was a testing as to kind of Messiah that He would be. In other words, it was a testing whether Jesus would use His power and His privileges as the Son of God for selfish gains. Therefore, this was a test as to whether Jesus would trust His Father to provide for His basic needs or whether He would usurp the sovereignty of God the Father for His life.

"I will give you all their authority and splendor…if you worship me (Luk 4:6 NIV)

In this temptation, the devil promised Jesus success through a “cross-less” solution. He could have the world and rule it. With the kingdoms of the world given Him, he could meet the basic needs of the world - rid the world of hunger, war, injustice, poverty, etc. All He need do was worship the devil and His mission. The end justifies the means.

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here” (Luk 4:9 NIV)

The exact intention of this temptation is debatable. Some have suggested that it was a temptation to perform something spectacular. However, the problem with this view is that no one is mentioned as being present other than Jesus and Satan. The most likely interpretation of this temptation is that it involves a dare on Jesus’ part to make God rescue Him. Jesus recognized the fine line between trusting God for the needs of life and challenging him to rescue him from artificially created difficulties^{^[3]}.

[1] Mark connects the baptism account with the temptation account with his characteristics “And immediately…” (Mark 1:12), and Matthew with “Then…” (Matthew 4:12).

[2] The Bible said that Jesus did not eat for forty days. There was no comment in the Bible whether Jesus drank or not.

[3] This temptation is common among those who profess to follow Jesus. It is not always clear whether a “leap of faith” is an act of true faith or putting God to a test. That is true even if at times such a daring of God is called the “testing the promises of God.” The former would be an act of faith, whereas the latter is clearly an evil, presumptuous challenge. See Deut 6:16

Book Review: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible, NKJV

2011-01-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

I remember I bought my first copy of the Inspirational Study Bible, NKJV with devotional life lessons edited by Max Lucado in the year 1998 (see picture below).

It has been 10 years since and the new Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible, NKJV is a completely revised edition (with a different name as well) and for the first time, all the devotional materials in this new edition are excerpted from Max Lucado's entire career of writings -from his first book to his latest release, Outlive Your Life.

Comparing the older edition that I had with this latest edition, this new edition follows the same format as the previous one - with each devotional lesson starts with a "Situation", follow by "Observation", then "Inspiration" (which is the excerpted piece of writings from one of Lucado's books), and closes with "Application" and "Exploration".

The older edition has a special 48-inserts printed on good quality paper, offering encouraging words from Max on a variety of inspirational topics. This has been expanded and replaced with a series of 48-full page topical studies also scattered throughout the entire text.

The dictionary/concordance section from the older version has been replaced with a section of devotional index on selected life application topics (each topic is supplied with selected relevant verses with suggestions to read the related passages in the text).

The 100 of the most inspiring passages of the Bible in the older version has been replaced with two new sections "He Did This Just For You" verses and "Spiritual Growth" verses (new selections of bible verses).

I still prefer the older version in terms of the quality of printing paper (better paper quality in the older version) and I like the 100 bible passages personally selected by Max Lucado in the older version.

Nonetheless, the new version has a cool section of 30 Studies for New Believers. I find this section to be an excellent section even for not-so-new believers.

Finally, as with the previous editions, I personally think that this NKJV bible should be more aptly called the Lucado Life Lessons Devotional Bible rather than Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible, as there is really not much of exegetical materials or hermeneutics of the scripture that warrant it to be a study bible. Neither is this bible contains any maps or related materials. Even the dictionary/concordance section has been taken out. The only consolation would probably be the additional capsule outlining the main messages of each books of the Bible in the Introduction page.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Why Did The Son of God Submit Himself To Baptism?

2010-12-25T01:21:00.000-08:00

Francesco Albani's The Baptism of Christ

The baptism of Jesus has been difficult to interpret. Why did the Son of God submitted Himself to be baptized? Even John himself asked a similar question (Mt 3:14)

The three possible reasons why Jesus wanted to be baptized:

• His identification with the penitent people of God, the community of the Kingdom of God that John founded. Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. (Matthew 3:15 NIV)

• His readiness to break out from the silence of his past thirty years, and to usher in His messianic task

• His demonstration of His wholehearted commitment and devotion to His Father’s work. "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." (Mark 10:38-40 NIV)

Three unusual events that occurred at Jesus’ baptism:

1. Heaven being “torn open” (Mark 1:10)

Whether this event of heaven being torn apart is a physical event or indicating a theological reality or both, is unclear. The bottom line is, this indicates that Jesus possessed a direct access to God. Mark uses a similar term in Mark 15:38, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:38 NIV)

2. The Spirit “descending like a dove” (Mark 1:11)

Again, this does not necessarily mean that an actual dove was physically present. The significance of this is that, in Mark 1:8, John the Baptist says that “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Before the Son of God would bestow the Spirit on His followers, He must Himself be anointed by the Spirit. Jesus’ awareness of the Spirit’s anointing is also evident from the first sermon he preached in Nazareth where, opening the scroll of Isaiah 61:1-2, he said that "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21 NIV) (Stein, Robert H. "Chapter 6." Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996. Print.)

3. A voice from heaven was heard (Mark 1:11)

This does not mean that at that moment, God the Father adopted Jesus as His Son. In John’s gospel, for example, it is clear that Jesus is the Son of God even before His incarnation (John 1:1-4 predtes 1:14).

In other words, as Stein said, He (Jesus) is not “promoted” at his baptism. Rather, the voice is an affirmation of who Jesus was and a commendation that God was pleased with the silent years. (Stein, Robert H. "Chapter 6." Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996. Print.)

Three Critical Views Regarding the Virginal Conception

2010-12-25T00:48:00.000-08:00

Image: Heartlight.org

Three Critical Views Regarding the Virginal Conception

1. Wasn’t the Virgin Birth Story Derived From Pagan Myths?

According to this view, the accounts of Matthew and Luke arose among Greek Christians who were acquainted with the many myths in paganism that have to do with virgin births of various Greek gods and superheroes. For examples, the birth of Perseus was conceived when the god Zeus, appeared in the form of shower of gold, had sex with his mother, Danaë.

Nevertheless, a careful comparison of the biblical accounts of Jesus’ birth with the many miraculous birth stories would reveal that almost all the pagan accounts involve a sexual encounter between a god and a human woman because the god’s lust. In any of these cases, the woman had no possible claim to be a virgin, and if she was a virgin before the encounter, she certainly was not after the encounter.

This is in stark contrast from the asexual nature of Mary’s experience in the gospel account. There is no hint of God’s lust for Mary in any way parallels to that of Apollo for the mother of Octavius[1].

2. Wasn’t the Virgin Birth Story As A Result of Misinterpretation of Isaiah 7:14?

Perhaps the account of the virgin birth was the result of misinterpretation of the passage in Isaiah:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14, NIV)

Since this is a prophecy concerning a future virgin birth, it is claimed that church “created” the virgin birth in order for the prophecy fulfillment to take place.

However, it has to be acknowledged if we take into consideration the original context of Isaiah’s prophecy, it may not be exclusively about the virginal birth of Jesus. Rather, it referred to the birth of Hezekiah, the son and successor of King Ahaz.

This is because the Hebrew word where we get the word “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 (NIV) is the word “`almah”. This feminine noun means a young woman, which may or may not be a virgin.

Thus, as Stein said (in Jesus The Messiah: A Survey Of The Life of Christ, IVP Academic Press, p66):

“…whereas the interpretation of Isaiah 7:14 as referring to the virgin birth is understandable in the Christian church due to an already established tradition of the virgin birth, the reverse is not at all likely….It was the story of that gave rise to the messianic interpretation of this passage (of Isaiah 7:14), not the reverse.”

In other words, it is most probable that Isaiah’s prophecy in 7:14 has dual fulfillment, initially in Isaiah’s day, and ultimately, at the birth of Jesus.

3. Wasn’t the Virgin Birth Story Derived From Jewish Thoughts?

Closely linked to the above point of contention, according to some Jewish sources, the Greek word for virgin is the word “parthenos”. Jesus, it was argued, was not born of a virgin but was the illegitimate offspring of Mary and a soldier named Panthera. Thus Jesus was not conceived supernaturally to a virgin (parthenos). This whole myth of virgin birth was to cover up Jesus’ illegitimacy resulting from Mary’s adultery with Panthera. This is clearly a parody with the switch of the ‘r’ and the ‘n’. There was no such evidence to support such theory.

[1] See Probe Ministries Article: Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin? By Michael Gleghorn in Leadership University website. URL: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/virgin.html

Four Events Surrounding the Birth of Jesus

2010-12-24T23:49:00.000-08:00

Image: Heartlight.org

Four events surrounding the birth of Jesus which probably have been contemporarily misconstrued due to the popular versions portrayed through mass media:

The innkeeper that had no room for Jesus (Luke 2:7)

Traditionally the innkeeper has often been the labeled as “heartless” for turning away the holy couple as there was no more room in his inn (and this is often taken out of context to remind Christians to keep the central focus central - a good Christmas message as an antidote to the frenzied Christmas shopping!).

However, the Greek word from which most English translations (including ESV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NLT) render as “inn” in Luke 2:7 is the word “katalyma.” Although “inn” is one of the meanings of “katalyma”, this Greek word can simply means a lodging place, a guest chamber or even a dining room.

The argument is, if Luke, being a careful, methodical historian, were to mean “inn” in Luke 2:7, why did he use another word (“pandocheion”) in Luke 10:34 in the account of the Good Samaritan taking care of the wounded Jewish man? Unlike “katalyma”, “pandocheion” specifically means a public house for the reception of strangers. In other words, the “inn” that Joseph and Mary came to could possibly be simply a neighborhood house with an extra or two rooms to spare and the innkeeper could possibly be no innkeeper at all as it were, in a commercial sense.

Furthermore, given the fact that Joseph and Mary were returning to Bethlehem, the city of Joseph’s family origin, certainly Joseph had family or relatives there. Hence, the lodging place in which they were unable to stay could even be the home of a relative.

Thirdly, given the economic difficulty[1] that Joseph and Mary were in, it is likely that they could not afford a commercial lodging place at that time.

The third point has to do with the Greek word “topos” in Luke 2:7. This word is usually translated as “room” in many English translations (including KJV, NKJV, NLT, NIV, NASB). However, “topos” simply means a place, or space marked off, from the surrounding space. It does not specifically mean “room”.

The Shepherds tending their sheep (Luke 2:8-20)

Tending flocks, together with agriculture, formed the basis of the Palestine economy. However, the dryness of the ground made it necessary for the flocks to move about from places to places, usually during spring. At times, this requires a stay for months at a time in isolated areas, far from the owner's home.

On the other hand, Palestine is very cold in December. Shepherds are usually not in the fields in the winter time. The sheep are penned up. Arguably therefore, December 25th is probably not the date for Jesus' birth. Shepherds are in the early March until early October. Nevertheless no one knows for sure when Jesus was born . The irony is, Luke gave very specific details about the event, even down to what the baby Jesus was wearing (the swaddling clothes) and where he slept (in a manger) (Luke 2:12). These details are important because they speak of His nature and character - meek and lowly. Therefore, if God wants us to know in more specific details regarding the birth of Jesus, in His sovereignty, He could certainly do so through the accurate, inspired writing of Luke.

The second point regarding the shepherds has to do with the shepherds themselves.

To quote Stein:

"We should not romanticize this scene as being a pronouncement to hardworking and respected 'ranchers.' Shepherds were generally considered dishonest. The were unclean according to the law."

The truth is, due to the nature of these shepherds having to leave home to tend the flocks for months in isolated place, many of the sheep owners get hireling shepherds to do this job, especially so, as the shepherd job is also exposed to the dangerous threat of wild beasts and robbers. Unfortunately, many of these hireling shepherds have bad reputation as being dishonest and thieving, stealing some of the increase of the flock as well as the produce such as milk (as opposed to the good shepherd - this contrast is brought about by Jesus in John 10:12-13). Therefore, the shepherds mentioned in Luke 2 may not necessary be the owners themselves, but hireling shepherds.

To quote Stein again (Jesus The Messiah: A Survey Of The Life of Christ, IVP Academic Press, p75):

"Their [the dishonest shepherds] presence at the birth of Jesus was recorded by Luke to show his readers that the good news of the gospel is for the poor, the sinners, for outcasts, for people like these shepherds."

Wise Men from the East (Matt 2:1-12)

Popular folklore places three wise men at the manger alongside the shepherds at the time of Jesus’ birth. However, no where in the Bible does it mention three (the number is ambiguous in Matthew 2:1-12). Furthermore, Matthew points out that they found Jesus in a “house” (Matt 2:11), and not in a “stall with a manger” as in Luke 2:7.

Matthew’ reference to the slaughter of the children two years old and below suggests that two years had passed since the birth of Jesus.

The slaughter of the children (Matt 2:16-18)

This massacre is attributed to Herod the Great. Everything that we know about this man tells us that he was precisely the kind of person who would have done such an atrocious act. He was paranoid concerning his rule. He not only built fortresses such as Antonia in Jerusalem, Sebaste, Caesarea, Gaba, Herodium, etc. He killed his uncle Joseph, his mother-in-law (Alexandra), his sons Alexandra and Aristobolus, his favorite wife (Mariamne) and Antipater, the son he had chosen. As he was dying in the fortress of Herodium, he had the leading citizens of his kingdom gathered in the amphitheater of Jericho. Then he ordered that upon his death all these citizens be killed so that his death would be mourned! There was a saying that goes “Better Herod’s swine than his son” because Herod being half-Jewish, refrained from eating pork.

[1] The fact that Joseph and Mary were poor could be gleaned in Luke 2:24 when they could only afford two pigeons during Mary’s purification. According to the law, after the birth of a child, a woman would have to undergo a purification rite, which involved the sacrificial giving of a lamb and a pigeon or a dove (Leviticus 12:1-8)

The Various Literary Sources Available For Studying the Life of Christ

2010-12-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

The various literary sources available for studying Jesus’ life can be divided into the following categories:

Christian sources, which can be further divided into

Biblical
Extra-biblical

Non-Christian sources, which can be further divided into

Pagan sources
Jewish sources

It is evident that we do not learn a great deal about Jesus of Nazareth from sources outside the New Testament.

1. Christian sources

Biblical sources

Although much less is known regarding the life of Christ from Acts to Revelation, the following are some of the facts found scattered throughout from Acts to Revelation:

Attributes	Scripture References

His birth
He was as a descendent of David	Romans 1:3
He was raised as a Jew under the law	Galatians 4:4
He was truly a man (a real incarnation)	1 John 1:1-3, 4:1-3
He was poor	2 Cor 8:9

His character
He was gentle and meek	2 Cor 10:1
He was righteous	1 Pet 3:18, Acts 7:52
He was sinless	2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22
He was humble	Phil 2:6-8
He was tempted	Heb 2:18; 4:15

Events of His life
The Lord’s Supper	1 Cor 11:23-26
The Transfiguration	2 Pet 1:16-18

His Crucifixion
He experienced hostility	Heb 12:3; Rom 15:3
He was betrayed	1 Cor 11:23; Acts 1:15-20
The Jews present at His trial chose Barabbas over Him	Acts 3:14
The Jewish leadership bore responsibility in his crucifixion	1 Thess 2:14-15; Acts 2:23, 36; 7:52
He suffered without resisting	1 Pet 2:21-23
He was crucified	1 Cor 1:23
He rose from the dead	1 Cor 15
He ascended into heaven	Acts 1:9-11; Eph 4:8-10

His teachings	Romans 12:14 (compare with Matthew 5:44)
	Romans 12:17 (compare with Matthew 5:39)
	Romans 13:7 (compare with Mark 12:17)
	Romans 13:8-10 (compare with Mark 12:31)
	Romans 14:10 (compare with Matthew 7:1)

Extra-biblical sources

According to John 21:25, not everything that Jesus said or did is recorded in the four canonical Gospels.

In addition to the Gospel accounts, there are evidences to suggest that oral tradition concerning Jesus were remembered and passed down even after the Gospels were written.

Some of these possible sources of traditions include the apocryphal Gospels – especially the Gospel of Thomas.

These apocryphal gospels lack these three criteria to be included as canonical - apostolicity, consistency, and catholicity[1].

Many of these "lost Gospels" or "Gnostic Gospels" taught that Jesus was God, but not man (a heresy known as Docetism). In fact, the popular Gospel of Thomas likely teaches that Jesus is a divine teacher, but it is quite doubtful whether he is even human. Many of the infancy Gospels, such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas[2], etc., were written to explain how Jesus was basically non-human by having the child Jesus perform amazing miracles.

Many of these gospels were written after the second century and they depended heavily on the gospel accounts.

First, the Gospel of Thomas shows dependence on the first century New Testament writings, even parts of the Gospel of Mark that were edited by Matthew and Luke.

In fact, the early Church fathers who extensively cite portions of the New Testament show no awareness of the Gospel of Thomas in the early second century.

2. Non-Christian sources

These general sources do not reveal much about Jesus save for establishing beyond reasonable doubt the following facts:

Jesus was truly a historical person

Jesus lived in Palestine in the first century of our era

The Jewish leadership was involved in the death of Jesus

Jesus was crucified by the Romans under the governorship of Pontius Pilate

Jesus’ ministry was associated with wonders/sorcery.

(Ref: Stein, Robert H. Chapter 2. Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996)

Pagan sources

Example of pagan sources include:

Pliny the Younger

In a letter addressed to the emperor Trajan concerning the trial of Christians under his jurisdiction, he mentioned regarding the opportunity he allowed for these Christians to abandon their faith by calling upon the pagan gods. From his questioning of Christians Pliny learned that:

“….they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light [Sunday], when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up…..”

In Against Celsus by Origen, Origen defends Christianity against the attacks of Celcus, whereas in The Passing of Peregrinus by Lucian of Samosata, Lucian ridicules Christianity by telling of Peregrinus who feigned conversion in order to reap benefits from naïve and sympathetic Christians. In either case, mention is made of the life of Jesus, but as in the case of Pliny, this information is obtained secondhand from Christians removed by some time from the actual events.

Jewish sources

Josephus for example, wrote many great works – among which are his two most famous works, The History of the Jewish War and the Antiquities of the Jews. In the Antiquities, for example, there are two references to Jesus, and the famous of this is the Testimonium Flavianum (quoted below), although there have been some doubts regarding the authenticity of this passage:

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not cease. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life. For the prophets of God had prophesied these and myriads of other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still up to now, not disappeared.

[1] Three criteria for canonicity:

Apostolicity - Was a book written by an apostle or associate of an apostle of Jesus? This was the first and main criteria for allowing a book to be in the canon of Scripture. If a book was written by either an apostle or an associate of an apostle (i.e., Mark was an associate of Peter and Luke was an associate of Paul), then the book could be in the canon. An apostle was someone who had seen the resurrected Jesus and who had a close fellowship with Jesus (1 Cor. 9:1). However, if the book was written over a hundred years after the time of Jesus, as is the case with most of the Gnostic Gospels including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, etc., then such books were obviously not written by an apostle and should not be in the canon. The last apostle who lived was the apostle John who died around 100 A.D. Any epistle written after that time was definitely not apostolic.

Consistency - Did the book agree with undoubtedly authentic writings? Another criteria was whether such a book agreed with obviously authentic books of the New Testament. For example, the book of James was questioned because there was some doubt whether it agreed with Paul's writings (i.e., Romans and Galatians). No one seriously questioned whether Paul actually wrote a core number of epistles such as Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians.

Catholicity - Was the book circulated amongst various churches? Another criteria, but less important, was whether a book was circulated amongst various churches. This criteria was known as catholicity or universality.

(Reference: Myths about the Lost Books of the New Testament by Ryan Turner. In: CARM online. Available at: http://carm.org/myths-about-lost-books-of-new-testament. Accessed on 20 December 2010.)

[2] For example, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas describes the life of the child Jesus, with fanciful, and sometimes malevolent, supernatural events, comparable to the trickster nature of the god-child in many a Greek myth. One of the episodes involves Jesus making clay birds, which he then proceeds to bring to life, an act also attributed to Jesus in Qur'an 5:110. In another episode, a child disperses water that Jesus has collected, Jesus then curses him, which causes the child's body to wither into a corpse . Another child dies when Jesus curses him when he apparently accidentally bumps into Jesus. (Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2.1 to 5)

Troeltschian Principles In Studying the Life of Christ?

2010-12-24T21:12:00.000-08:00

Resurrection of Christ by Noel Coypel, 1700, using a hovering depiction of Jesus.

The German theologian, Ernst Troeltsch, apply the following three principles in all historical investigations to interpret any piece of document:

1. Principle of Criticism

According to this principle, all historical judgments are and will always remain provisional. And since any conclusion is subject to revision, historical inquiry can never attain absolute certainty but only relative degrees of probability.

If this is true, then, it will be impossible or risky to base one’s eternal hope on any event of the past.

By applying this principle to a document dealing with the resurrection for example, that piece of document could be subjected to a different interpretation depending on the findings of the different forms of criticism – source criticism, redaction criticism and form criticism.

Source criticism is the search for the original sources which lie behind a given biblical text. For example, the Markan priority with the addition of a possible ‘Q’ source in the two-source hypothesis of the synoptic gospel accounts.

Redaction criticism has to do with the editorial content of the author and by observing certain repetitive themes, styles, vocabulary, etc of the author, redaction criticism draws certain distinctive elements of an author/editor's theology. In the case of Matthew’s gospel, for example, Matthew’s prevailing theme is the emphasis on the Messiah-ship of Jesus, and to point to Jesus as the fulfillment of the many messianic prophecies for the Jewish nation.

Form criticism on the other hand, attempts to classify the various units of scripture by their literary pattern and that attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission.

2. Principle of Analogy

The principle of analogy assumes the uniformity of nature – past experiences are similar to our present experience. In other words, historical knowledge is possible because all events are similar in principle. The laws of nature in biblical times were the same as now.

As such, since our present experience is non-miraculous, our interpretation of the past must be non-miraculous as well. With respect to the life of Jesus, this means that his life must be interpreted as having been non-miraculous.

In essence, by applying this Troeltschian principle, one would have to conclude that, whatever that gives rise to the faith of the disciples, it cannot be the miracle of the resurrection. As Stein says in his book, ‘although never stating it quite so bluntly, an investigator of the Matthew’s resurrection account using the historical-critical method is essentially saying, “Let’s investigate what we can learn about the history of this account, but we must of course agree at the start that Jesus did not rise from the dead!” (Stein, Robert H. Chapter 1. Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996).

3. Principle of Correlation

According to this principle, the phenomena of history are inter-related and inter-dependent and no event can be isolated from the sequence of historical cause and effect. Therefore, any historical explanation must always take into consideration the preceding and subsequent events and be interpreted in light of them.

Liberal theologians employ an undogmatic, non-supernatural, historical method of biblical interpretation.

In the words of a liberal theologian, Rudolf Bultmann:

The historical method includes the presupposition that history is a unity in the sense of a closed continuum of effects in which individual events are connected by the succession of cause and effect….This closedness means that the continuum of historical happenings cannot be rent by the interference of supernatural, transcendent powers and that therefore there is no “miracle” in this sense of the world. Such a miracle would be an event whose cause did not lie within history… (Existence and Faith, as quoted in Stein, Robert H. Chapter 1. Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996).

One does not have to assume that the Bible is specially inspired by God, nor does the Bible contain any specifically divine discourse, or that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. Therefore, in the view of a liberal theologian, the resurrection account would have to be started with a non-miraculous presupposition.

By studying the life of Christ by basing on the Troeltsch’s principles, miraculous happenings would not be possible. And a study of the life of Jesus that excludes the miraculous is destined from the start to produce a Jesus who is an aberration. As it has been said, where one starts one’s investigation will determine the results one obtain.

As Stein said,

In light of the importance of presuppositions about the supernatural on the outcome of one’s work, authors should make clear from the start the position they take on this matter. It is misleading to say that “due to their investigation” authors conclude that Jesus was not born of a virgin, that the miracles are later myths created by the church, that the faith of the early church gave rise to the accounts of the resurrection and not the other way around, and so on. All these conclusions were predetermined before any investigation began. It should come as no surprise that when one starts with the view that miracles cannot happen, the conclusion is that miracles investigated did not happen.” (Stein, Robert H. Chapter 1. Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996).

Book Review: Jesus the Messiah

2010-12-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

Title: Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ
Author: Robert H. Stein
Hardcover: 290 pages
Publisher: IVP Academic (October 30, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0830818847
ISBN-13: 978-0830818846

Each of us has our own sets of presupposition. A presupposition is a thing that is tacitly assumed to be true beforehand at the beginning of a line of argument or a course of examination. And according to Stein, “..where one starts one’s investigation determines the results one will obtain… [and] before anyone ever investigates the miraculous accounts associated with Jesus’ life, he or she has predetermined certain outcomes.” (Ref: Stein, Robert H. Chapter 1. Jesus the Messiah: a Survey of the Life of Christ. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996)

Our presupposition influences our worldview, which in turn, influences the outcomes of any of our investigations. For example, David Hume, the English philosopher, used the following syllogism to eliminate the possibility of miracles:

A miracle is a violation of the “laws of nature.”
The “laws of nature” are inviolable.
Therefore, miracles could not be possible.

In the book, Jesus The Messiah, Stein adopted the orientation of looking at the life of Jesus through the lens of a Christian worldview. He assumes the presence of the supernatural and the possibility of the miraculous. It assumes that the Gospel accounts are reliable and are presumably truthful unless proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be otherwise.

This noetic orientation that the author adopts differs from the historical-critical method of looking at the life of Jesus.

Historical-Critical Method In contrast, the historical-critical method is about reconstructing the historical context of a text and then to determine the author's intended meaning from within those parameters. This method is not only historical but also critical.

The biblical texts are not to be considered as divinely inspired. As a result, according to this method, as with all other texts, the truth claims made by a biblical text are open to refutation. In other words, the biblical texts are to have no a priori standing. Unfortunately, such an approach to studying the life of Jesus is not possible, because the historian will still be influenced by his or her view on the historical possibility of the events surrounding the life of Jesus.

General Organization of the Book This book is divided into two parts. The first part, “Key Issues In Studying the Life of Christ” contains three chapters and it deals with the general approach that the author adopts in writing this book. He exposes the presuppositions that all of us have when we approach this subject of the life of Christ. He touches on the various sources (Christian, non-Christian, Jewish, pagan sources, etc) that are available to us to aid us in this endeavor.

The second part of this book deals with the various aspects of Jesus’ life – almost chronologically: chapter 4 deals with His virginal conception, chapter 5 regarding His boyhood, chapter 6 is about His baptism, chapter 7 on the temptation that He faced, chapter 8 is about the call of His disciples, chapter 9 on His messages, chapter 10 is about the Person of Jesus and His understanding of Himself and His mission, chapter 11 is about the confession of Jesus, chapter 12 is about the transfiguration, chapter 13 the events of Palm Sunday, chapter 14 the cleansing of the temple, chapter 15 is about the Last Supper, chapter 16 is about the events at the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal and arrest, chapter 17 the trial, chapter 18 the crucifixion, chapter 19 is about the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

In summary, although an academic book, I find that this book is written in an easy-to-understand format with much clarity and comprehensive.

Book Review: Then Sings My Soul Special Edition [Deckle Edge] By Robert Morgan

2010-12-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

Then Sings My Soul (Special Edition) by Robert Morgan indeed is a delightful collection to own, and I am so grateful to Booksneeze.com to make this book available for review.

It is a collection of 150 hymns for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, general all-time favorites, etc.

Each hymn is presented in a two-page format, the left page is the music score of the hymn, and the right page is a devotional styled story behind the hymn.

The music score is written in an easy to play format, and being someone who enjoys playing piano, this book is really a great compilation to have.

Then Sing My Soul includes some of the hymns that I love the most, for example:

He leadeth me

Be Thou My Vision

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

This is My Father's World

'Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus

It Is Well With My Soul

Take My Life and Let it Be

Amazing Grace

The Old Rugged Cross

I Surrender All

.....................and the all-time classic children hymn, Jesus Loves Me This I Know.

It also includes the newer 'Because He Lives' by Bill and Gloria Gaither. It is so encouraging to read the story on how the Gaithers wrote 'Because He Lives'. It was during the sixties when racial tensions were on the rise in America that the Gaithers were blessed with another newborn that they were not expecting. They were pretty worried for the future of the new baby that Gloria was carrying. As they prayed, God gave them comforting words. In the words of the Gaithers, they said:

While pondering and praying about these things, we came to realize anew that our courage doesn't come from a stable world, for the world has never been stable. Jesus Himself was born in the cruelest of times. No, we have babies, raise families and risk living because the Resurrection is true!

Furthermore, this special edition comes with the deckle or jagged edge with French flap cover that gives the book a classical feel.

I give a 5-star for this book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Product Review: Navigators' Topical Memory System Kit

2010-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

I remember I used to apply Navigators' Topical System to commit selected scriptures into memory but somehow I defaulted and did not have the discipline to persevere.

The Topical Memory System Kit (TMS), developed by The Navigators. is aimed to improve your knowledge of the Bible, deepen your walk with God, and memorize verses that will carry you through the hard times of life.

This kit includes:

60 verse cards in the NIV, NASB, MSG, ESV, NRSV, NLT, NKJV, and KJV
course workbook
verse card holder

I find that having the workbook together for me to work through the scriptures are incredibly useful. It makes the scriptures come alive! It helps me to reflect and think through. It helps me to apply the scriptures in real life situations.

To give an example, for Week 1 Series A (Live the New Life), the verses to memorize are 2 Cor 5:17 and Galatians 2:20.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 NIV)

And the questions for meditation for 2 Corinthians 5:2

What is the key to living a truly new life?
What has happened to your "old" life?
What things have changed in your life since you became a Christian?

And these questions remind me that the very essential thing that truly allows me to live as new life is about being in Christ. It is not about me, it is not about what I have done and not done. The old life is gone! The old life is dead and I do not need to obey to the lustful desires of my old life. The more I spend my time living the new life that Christ has enabled me to do so, the more I want to desire the new life. And the last question helps me to reflect on what had happened to my life ever since I become a new creation in Christ - hating the things that I used to tolerate, becoming more aware of sins as things that displease God, etc, etc - these are the slowing moving process that shape me day by day into the likeness of Christ, my Savior.

LIVE THE NEW LIFE
Christ the Center	2 Corinthians 5:17	Galatians 2:20
Obedience to Christ	Romans 12:1	John 14:21
The Word	2 Timothy 3:16	Joshua 1:8
Prayer	John 15:7	Philippians 4:6,7
Fellowship	Matthew 18:20	Hebrews 10:24,25
Witnessing	Matthew 4:19	Romans 1:16

PROCLAIM CHRIST
All Have Sinned	Romans 3:23	Isaiah 53:6
Sin's Penalty	Romans 6:23	Hebrews 9:27
Christ Paid the Penalty	Romans 5:8	1 Peter 3:18
Salvation is not by Works	Ephesians 2:8,9	Titus 3:5
Must Receive Christ	John 1:12	Revelation 3:20
Assurance of Salvation	1 John 5:13	John 5:24

RELY ON GOD'S RESOURCES
His Spirit	1 Corinthians 3:16	1 Corinthians 2:12
His Strength	Isaiah 41:10	Philippians 4:13
His Faithfulness	Lamentations 3:22,23	Numbers 23:19
His Peace	Isaiah 26:3	1 Peter 5:7
His Provision	Romans 8:32	Philippians 4:19
His Help in Temptation	Hebrews 2:18	Psalms 119:9,11

BE CHRIST'S DISCIPLE
Put Christ First	Matthew 6:33	Luke 9:23
Separate From the World	1 John 2:15,16	Romans 12:2
Be Steadfast	1 Corinthians 15:58	Hebrews 12:3
Serve Others	Mark 10:45	2 Corinthians 4:5
Give Generously	Proverbs 3:9,10	2 Corinthians 9:6,7
Develop World Vision	Acts 1:8	Matthew 28:19,20

GROW IN CHRISTLIKENESS
Love	John 13:34,35	1 John 3:18
Humility	Philippians 2:3,4	1 Peter 5:5,6
Purity	Ephesians 5:3	1 Peter 2:11
Honesty	Leviticus 19:11	Acts 24:16
Faith	Hebrews 11:6	Romans 4:20,21
Good Works	Galatians 6:9,10	Matthew 5:16

The complete set of these verses with commentaries (both in free audio mp3 download and pdf a single bundled file) can be accessed here (in the Navigators' Discipleship Library).

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Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Children Learn What They Live

2010-11-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

Children Learn What They Live (1998 version)
by Dorothy Law Nolte (1924 - 2005)

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

An older version..........

Children Learn What They Live (1959)

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn . . .
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight . . .
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive . . .
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself . . .
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy . . .
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt . . .

BUT

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient . . .
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident . . .
If a child lives with , he learns to be appreciative . . .
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love . . .
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is . . .
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice . . .
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him . . .
If a child lives with friendlienss(sic), he learns the world is a nice place in which to live . . .

WITH WHAT IS YOUR CHILD LIVING?

The Paradoxical Commandments

2010-11-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Photo by fotolia

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

The Paradox of Our Time in History

2010-11-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Image by Free-StockPhotos.com

The Paradox of Our Time in History
by Bob Moorehead

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom. Indeed these are the times!

Taming the Tongue: T.H.I.N.K Before You Speak

2010-11-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed Rodney Duncan's sermon in church last week on taming the tongue. Speaking from the book of James, he pointed out that the tongue has the power to:
1. Direct
2. Destroy
3. Delight

And finally he gave an acronym of T.H.I.N.K. We need to THINK before speak.

T - Is it True?
H - Is it Helpful?
I - Is it Inspiring?
N - Is it Necessary?
K - Is it Kind?

I myself have made many mistakes in the past before on words that I knew I should not have spoken. Once you have let your words out, there is no way you can retract them back. This acronym T.H.I.N.K is going to be really helpful to me. Everybody needs a little reminder from time to time.

7 Problematic Distractions

2010-11-03T02:25:00.000-07:00

Distractions! Distractions! Distractions!

Perry Noble describes 7 distractions that a Christian must be careful of lest he falls into one of them.

This post reminds me of Andy Stanley's statements on the Principles of the Path, which goes something like this:

Anything that grabs our attention, influences our direction, which in turn determines our destination.

Direction, not intention, determines our destination.

So, if you do not want to end up in a destination that you never wanted to in the first place (for example, broken marriages, failed exams, become enslaved by sins, etc), then be very mindful of the things, the people, the issues, etc that capture your attention, as well as those that you decidedly pay or not pay attention to.

Because these things will in turn influence the direction you are heading (a path you are taking, a spiritual downhill, a growing addiction, etc)!

Beware of these 7 'P's, the 7 'p'roblematic distractions that can potentially capture your attention, and in turn, influence the direction you are heading:

Pleasure
Pride
Procrastination
People – Someone is always going to not like what you do, who you are and what you stand for…always! (Galatians 1:10)
Performance – One of the greatest problems with success is that leaders can actually begin to believe that they are the ones that caused success to happen
Problems - We can’t view problems as God’s punishment…but rather we must view them as God’s preparation! David didn’t see the lion and the bear as a problem but rather he viewed them as opportunities to prepare him for the greater problems in life (I Samuel 17:33-37)
Passion - Passion can be a distraction when we use it to run over people rather than lead them!

Book Review: Beyond Opinion

2010-10-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Beyond Opinion is a great collection of apologetic essays by Ravi Zacharias and his team members of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).

I have always enjoyed Ravi's blend of apologetics that appeals not just to the minds, but to the hearts as well. This is evident in the opening statement of the chapter he himself wrote:

I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out.

As Ravi said, what angers many non-Christians about Christians is that while on one hand, the a believer is strongly condemning other's immoral life, the Christian's private life is no different from an non-believer. At least, the non-believer is more tolerant towards others - they give permission to others to make and set personal moral choices. The believer, on the contrary, would be charged with the problem of hypocrisy by virtue of his arrogance on the outside, while living a double-standard on the inside! In other words, apologetics is first seen before it is heard. This challenge is similarly alluded in Chapter 2, challenges from the post-modern youth.

It has also been a great experience for me to learn some of these truths from two of Ravi Zacharias' team members based in Singapore - L.T. Jeyachandran and I'Ching Thomas. I met both of them when they were here attending Varsity Christian Fellowship in Universiti Sains Malaysia and later on, speaking in some churches in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Much of the contents of their live talks could be found in chapters written in this book.

In Chapter 5, for example, L.T. Jeyachandran talked about the two end of a spectrum of the Hindu religion - on one hand, is the popular polytheistic form of Hinduism - the belief in a finite number of personal gods. On the other end, is the philosophical form of Hinduism religion, which is not really a religion, but more of a New Age philosophy. In this form, which is the pantheism form, there is the belief in the infinite, impersonal reality the Brahman state.

In the same chapter, L.T. Jeyachandran also shared about the two forms of Buddhism - the Mahayana school and the Theravada (Hinayana) school. The Mahayana school deifying Buddha and worship him. This form of Buddhism becomes the dominant religion in China, Tibet, Japan and Korea. Whereas, the Theravada Buddhism is basically atheistic. This form has flourished in Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc. But whatever it is, the Buddhists' worldview of universal suffering (the concept of dukkha) has no meaning if everything is suffering because suffering can only be known as suffering in the light of and in contrast with pleasure and goodness.

In the chapter on challenges from Islam (Chapter 4), I have learned much about the Islamic doctrine of takkiya, the doctrine of sanctioned deception, disguise and cover-up, in the name of advancing the course of Islam. This doctrine can be seen to have been very much played out during debates by the Muslim debaters.

In the chapter on trinitarianism, it is also fascinating to read how L.T. Jeyachandran approached this rather "abstract" subject on Trinitarianism and conceptualizes it into comprehensible lessons, although he does NOT simplify it. But more importantly, at the end of reading that chapter, he could actually persuade me as the reader from the position of seeing this subject of Trinity as a rather uncomfortable subject to be shunned away from whenever possible (especially in conversation with non-believers) to the position that in fact, trinitarianism is an ESSENTIAL or NECESSARY doctrine that must be embraced if we were to adequately give a wholistic answer to many challenging questions in apologetics.

In summary, Beyond Opinion is packed with the much needed information, and at the same time, it is a compelling book to shift the readers to perceiving apologetics as merely an intellectual exercise to the position of seeing it as a means of giving a lived-out answers to those outside of the Christian faith.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Software Review: Digeus' SnapIt Screen Capture

2010-09-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

I use both my Macbook and Windows PC to write blog posts. Occasionally I need to insert a screen capture of the website I am blogging about. This would be easy and cool in Mac Os especially when it comes to capturing a portion of the your laptop screen in focus that you want to highlight.

Here are the two simple commands I need to use when I need to do a screen capture in Mac Os:

If I want to capture a screenshot of the entire screen, and save it as a PNG file on the desktop - I use: Command-Shift-3

If I want to capture a portion of the screen that I am interested in and save it as a file on the desktop, I use: Command-Shift-4, then select an area of the screen that I am interested in.

But for Windows PC, it is difficult to do unless you crop the picture after you capture it.

But with Digeus' SnapIt Screen Capture, I can do this as I have been doing using my MacBook.

SnapIt is a user-friendly software that you can pick up and learn within minutes. With that, I can take "snapshots" of anything, anywhere on the screen, as exactly as I need, with a click.

Some of the features of SnapIt include:

Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard
Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard
Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images
Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats
Auto-names captured images

Download and install a trial version of SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7 here:
http://digeus.com/downloads/snapit/files/3/snapit_3_7.exe

Learn more what is included in SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html

GOOD NEWS!
Digeus offers a full version giveaway for anyone who write a review in any blog/forum/twitter/facebook, etc on SnapIt Screen Capture. Once you have done with your review, send a link to your post to Julia Taylor of Digeus at julia.taylor@digeus.com. She will issue a registration code for the software.

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Note: This is a sponsored blog post in that I received a free registration code for this software review.
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Four Fallacies That Destroy a Leader

2010-09-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

Perry Noble the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, Columbia, Florence and Greenville, S.C. wrote this article in Christian Post. Here are the four fallacies he talks about:

1. “I Cannot…”
The fallacy of this thought is, the One who called me, is the Most High God. The One who calls will equip the called.

2. “I Am Not As Good As…”
Perry Noble said:
"Comparing yourself to other ministers and/or ministries is one of the quickest ways to go insane and completely lose your focus on who God is and what He has called you to do. We should learn from “them” but focus on HIM!"

3. “I Failed Before”
Failures do not define a great leader. A great leader failed before, but they learn from their mistakes, pick up the pieces and move on!

4. “All Hope Is Gone”
"The only problem with that thought is THE TOMB IS EMPTY…and as long as that is a reality then there is always hope…ALWAYS!" said Perry Noble.

Book Review: Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

2010-09-05T04:06:00.000-07:00

Outlive Your Life is a new book by Max Lucado based on his sermon series preached from the Book of Acts. This book is meant to challenge the readers to get out of their comfort zone, and to act, and to behave and respond to God's call collectively as the church of Jesus Christ on this planet.

As Max prayed often "Dear Lord, thank You for Your wonderful Acts, What You did then, will You do it again? And what You did through them, will You do through us? In Jesus' name, Amen.

Chapter 1: Our Once-in-History Opportunity
In Chapter 1 Max paints a realistic picture on the world that we are living in. We, as the children of God (even within the Malaysian context as a whole), are living blessed lives materially and physically in the midst of sufferings, pain, poverty, hunger, AIDS, infectious diseases epidermic in other parts of the world. The statistic figures are just so overwhelming, so much so that it is painful to look at them. But these are the realities the world is facing. As he said it rightly, the problem is not in the supply, the problem is in the distribution.

Chapter 2: Calling Mr. Pot Roast
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8 NIV)

This chapter is about calling ordinary folks like you, me and the disciples to do His extraordinary tasks. The question is not about our ability, but our availability, or as Max called it, "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called."

Chapter 3: Let God Unshell You
(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" (Acts 2:11-12 NIV)

This chapter captures the very heart of the core message of this book. We are often so comfortably and cozily cuddle up in our own comfort zone. Our selfishness, our stubbornness, our ignorance, our "selective memory" (choosing to remember some events, while deliberately choosing to forget other painful aspects of our lives) can result in us ear-plugging our conscience to the pain around us. As Max said "Most of us have learned to insulate ourselves against the hurt of the hurting." But that is not what God intends us to be. God loves all nations, all people, all tribes, as shown in the Book of Acts in Chapter 2. The different languages of the nations are sweet tunes to His ears. He wants to unshell us out of our cliques, our comfort zones.

Chapter 4: Don't Forget the Bread
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39 NIV)

Essentially this chapter is about putting first things first. We can so often get distracted that our life priorities can get pretty messed up and mixed up. But not so with Peter in the book of Acts. Before the acts of the church begin, the Act of Jesus must be preached, understood, and accepted - that Jesus Christ died on the cross, so that we may have pardon for our sins.

Chapter 5: Team up
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:42-46 NIV)

Chapter 5 is about teaming up. Jesus did not issue individual assignments. Jesus issued a collective assignment for the entire church. As Max said, "None of us can do what all of us can do."

Chapter 6: Open Your Door, Open Your Heart
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:45-47 NIV)

Chapter 6 is about challenging us to take the first step to open our hearts to love and care. Many reasons could have kept us from opening up our homes and hearts - the plan is not perfect, the event is not significant, the meals are not good-enough, etc, etc. The sentence from this chapter that challenges me is this: "If we wait until everything is perfect, we'll never issue an invitation. Remember this: what is common to you is a banquet to someone else."

Chapter 7: See the Need, Touch the Hurt
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (Acts 3:1-6 NKJV)

If Chapter 6 is about the initiative we can take to offer love, Chapter 7 takes us further to challenge us to stop bustling our frenzied lives around so that we can take a good look at the hurt and the hurting. May we learn to stop by the Beautiful Gate, so that truly the man who is laying by that gate can become beautiful.

Chapter 8: Persecution: Prepare for it, Resist it.
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:18-20 NIV)

As the title suggests, this chapter is about persecution. I am personally convicted when Max shared about our unwillingness at times to give up "parking lots", let alone, talk about giving up our lives for our faith. But of course, the very fact that when we are outliving our lives, persecution is a possibility. As Max puts it succinctly:

"As long as you are stationary, no one will complain. Dogs don't bark at parked cars. But as soon as you accelerate - once you step out of drunkenness into sobriety, dishonesty into integrity, or lethargy into compassion - expect the yapping begin. Expect to be criticized. Expect to be mocked. Expect to be persecuted."

Chapter 9: Do Good, Quietly
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. (Acts 5:1-5 NIV)

If Chapter 8 is on persecution from without, Chapter 9 is on corruption from within. It is about the story of Ananias and Sapphira. It is about hypocrisy. And this chapter cuts into the very core of me too. Max offers three suggestions to keep hypocrisy checked.

The first one is worth mentioning, as it is especially what I need:

Expect no credit for good deeds. In that way, if no one notices, you aren't disappointed. If someone does, you [can quickly deflate it] and give the credit to God. Ask yourself this question: "If no one knew of the good I do, would I still do it?" If not, you're doing it to be seen by people."

Chapter 10: Stand Up for the Have-Nots
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. (Acts 6:1 NIV)

This chapter is about becoming a voice for the voice-less, and lending a hand to the helpless. To me, this chapter is more or less similar to chapters 5 and 6, but I am particularly touched and convicted by the story of Dadhi. Indeed, in the game of life, "why do a few of us have so much and most of us have so little?"

In any case, it is worth noting that while none of us can do everything, all of us can do something.

Chapter 11: Remember Who Holds You
"'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?' (Acts 7:49-50 NIV)

This chapter is about remembering who we are, and who God is, in the event that our heads get too swelled up, thinking that we have achieved all the successes by ourselves. Often we can get mixed up, thinking how big we are, and how small God is. We often forget who brought us out of our Egypt.

Chapter 12: Blast A Few Walls
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" [Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." The eunuch answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."] (Acts 8:36-37 NIV)

This chapter is about cross cultural mission. It is about bridging the gap. It is about crossing over the other side of the fence. It is about reconciling a Jew and a Samaritan (John 4:1-26). It is about breaking down walls.

It is about a Philip accepting and sharing the gospel with a Ethiopian eunuch.

Chapter 13: Don't Write Off Anyone
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 9:17 NIV)

While chapter 12 is about breaking down walls. chapter 13 is about not giving up on the person whom we are trying to build bridges with.

We can be an Ananias to a Saul, and we will never know who our Saul can turn out to be - a well-known evangelist who will change the course of history of mankind? When reading this chapter, I couldn't help but think of Mordecai Ham. Without a Mordecai Ham, there could possibly be no Billy Graham as we know of today. Without an Ananias, there would probably be no Saul or Paul who changed the course of history. God used Paul to touch the world. But before God used Paul, He first used Ananias to touch Paul. Don't give up on your Saul. When other writes him off, give him another chance. Stay strong. Call him brother or a sister.

Chapter 14: Stable The High Horse
He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. (Acts 10:28 NIV)

This chapter takes the discussion in Chapter 12 on differences we have with our neighbors to the next level. While chapter 12 is on breaking or tearing down walls, chapter 14 is about the warnings and dangers of erecting a wall, or applying labels God has not intended to. It is about a Jew (Peter) and a Gentile (Cornelius).

As Max puts it:

Labels relieve us of responsibility. Pigeonholing permits us to wash our hands and leave...Categorizing others creates distance and gives us a convenient exit strategy for avoiding involvement.

Chapter 15: Pray First, Pray Most
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. (Acts 12:5 NIV)

Chapter 15 highlights the importance of prayer. Remember: Satan keeps us from praying. He tries to position himself between us and God.

Chapter 16: That's Jesus Playing that Fiddle

This concluding chapter summarizes many of the points highlighted in earlier chapters, particularly on how we can spring ourselves to action. It is about not getting ourselves caught up until we forget to notice the beauty in the midst of our busyness. This is certainly contrary to what Jesus said:

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' (Matthew 25:40 NIV)

Summary
In summary, I find this book to be entertaining and enlightening with moving stories weaved in between pages of sober warnings, convictions of hearts. and encouraging words. More importantly, this book is certainly not just for read, but it should be a book that springs us to our knees in prayer and our feet in action.

Click here to watch or listen to the sermon series that inspire this book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews

2010-08-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is a simple gift book by Andy Andrews that can be read in less than 30 minutes.

What is the Butterfly effect?
The Butterfly effect was started in 1963 by Edward Lorenz who made a presentation to the New York Academy of Sciences.

According to this theory, a butterfly could "flap its wings and set air molecules in motion that in turn would move other air molecules—which would then move additional air molecule — eventually becoming able to influence weather patterns on the other side of the planet." (Andy Andrews, The Butterfly Effect - How Your Life Matters, pg 6)

At that time when Lorenz presented his theory, he was literally laughed out of the room and for years this theory was thought of just a myth. However, in the mid 1990s, however, physics professors from several universities successfully proved that the butterfly effect was accurate, viable, and worked every time. It has since been accorded the status of a law and is now known in scientific circles as the technical notion of the "Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions."

The point Andy was trying to highlight in this book is:

Everything You Do Matters.

Every Move You Make
Every Action You Take....
Matters.

Andy illustrated this concept with the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor who because of one decision he made, positively impacted the entire United States until today.

Andy then told the story of Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009) . He was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and the Nobel laureate recipient in 1970. Professor Borlaug received his PhD in plant pathology and deceloped the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties. (This story was also told in another book of Andy Andrews, The Boy Who Changed The World. See review.)

As Andy said:

"There are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next."

Click here to download wallpapers and FREE additional resources on The Butterfly Effect on Andy Andrew's website.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Michael Hyatt on 13 Idea-Starters For Stuck Bloggers

2010-08-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

Michael Hyatt republished a blog post on "13 Idea-Starters For Stuck Bloggers". In this blog post, Michael gave 13 suggestions on what a blogger can write on when he/she experiences "writer block".

Among the ideas include:

telling a personal story,
describing a historical event/story,
reviewing a book,
commenting on a powerful quotes,
providing a list of resources or
writing a guide to something popular, etc.

Click here to read more on this interesting blog.

Book Review: The Boy Who Changed The World by Andy Andrews

2010-08-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

'The Boy Who Changed The World' is a heart-warming tale written by Andy Andrews, about a boy by the name of Norman Borlaug, who had a desire to feed the hungry. But he could not have done it alone without the help of Vice President Henry Wallace, who in turn, was influenced by inventor George Washington Carver, who in turn was rescued by farmer Moses Carver.

It is a delightful read, easy to understand, and colorful. Children would love it. I am going to read it with my children.

Encouraging quotes from the book:

".....little things can make a big difference. Everything we do matters. Every action you take, even small things, can change the world.”
"every choice you make, good or bad, can make a difference. I’m proud of you for making a good choice today. [Remember: not choosing is, in fact, a choice.]
"God made your life so important that every move you make, every action you take, matters . . . and not only for you or the people around you. Everything."

Lessons I learned from this book:

1. Every big achievement starts with the seed of thought "What if...", "What would it be like....", "How can I......", etc. Never stop asking questions, never stop dreaming, for we will never know where our dreams will lead us to.

2. It only takes a spark to get the fire going. A chance encounter with someone may be God's appointment. These are our defining moments.

3. Never give up on your dreams. Be persistence. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

4. Our words are often more powerful than we can expect. Be generous to encourage, you will never know the impact that can make in someone's life.

5. Learn as much as you can, and enjoy the learning process. Make life long learning a habit. Knowledge is power.

6. Leverage your position of influence to advance the Kingdom of God. Be an influencer today wherever God has placed us in.

7. An act of kindness can go a long way.

8. Often when it happens, we are not able to see the "inter-connected"ness of our lives and actions with those around us. But like a interwoven tapestry, retrospectively we will see the beauty of God's achievements through us.

Note:
1. Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and the Nobel laureate recipient in 1970. He received his PhD in plant pathology and deceloped the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Monkeynomics - Interesting TED Talk

2010-08-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Book Review: The Money Answer Book: Quick Answers to Everyday Financial Questions by Dave Ramsey

2010-05-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

I have listened to Dave Ramsey's radio program before reading this book. This little book of 165 pages is packed with a lot of financial advice and tips, and formatted in an easy-to-read Q&A style.

Even for someone who stays in an Asian country, outside the U.S., this book offers a lot of financial principles that can be applied easily in any situation. Nevertheless, some specific topics addressed in the book, such as bankruptcy, divorce, estate planning, children college fund, etc, may not be applicable technically.

Essentially, Dave Ramsey adopts an aggressively conservative approach to finance management. His approach is an absolute, blanket-rule, NO to debt, particularly credit card debt - which in a sense is good, as the Bible says that "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" Prov 22:7, NIV. Read his articles on debt in his website here and here. Although this may seems unpractical at times, but we should not be a slave to credit card. Being credit card debt free must be one of our financial goals at all times. If you feel credit card service is indispensable, then you need to read Dave Ramsey's view on this issue.

I like the section on saving. According to Dave, saving is not a matter of having more money in your pocket before you can do so. Saving is a matter of emotional priority. You will only save money when it becomes an emotional priority. The secret to saving, therefore, is FOCUSED EMOTION. This is because advertisers everywhere will try to appeal to our emotions every day and tempt to take every dollar we have by blurring the distinction between WANTS and NEEDs.

In short, I enjoyed reading this book. It is written in a fun, witty and at times, rather blunt way - typical of Dave Ramsey's style - for those who have listened to his radio program before.

Notable Quotations from the book:

Personal finance is 20 percent head knowledge and 80 percent behavior.

"You don't drown by falling in the water, you drown b staying there" - Edwin Louis Cole

"God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest" - J.G. Holland

Your first responsibility is not the pursuit of your own happiness; it is to feed your family.

As long as you have what you need to physically survive, very few things are more important than getting out of debt as quickly as possible.

Saving vs Investing
The difference between saving and investing is that savings accounts are for money that you will want to use within the next five years. If you are willing to leave money alone for more than five years, then you can begin investing

Never invest in anything you don't understand. Never invest unless you understand how it works.

It is absolutely OK for a Christian to want to be a millionaire, because as Christians we know that no matter how much we have we own nothing. We are simply managers of the resources God has given us. If we can manage God's money, whether $100 or $1 million, we are OK.

Live on less than you make. It's not rocket science.

It is never too early to start teaching your kids about money.

Stuffitis is not an incurable disease. It just takes a little maturity and growing up.

Allowance spoils a child. Commission helps a child.

We DO make enough to save money; we just aren't willing to quit spoiling ourselves with our little projects or pleasures to have enough left to save.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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The Grad's Guide to Choosing Well: Wisdom for Life on Your Own by The Navigators

2010-05-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

The Grad’s Guide to Choosing Well is published by Navpress under its TH1NK line of materials.
It explores common tough issues and temptations teens and young adults will likely face as they head out for life on their own in colleges. These issues covered in the book are:

Future
Sexual Temptations
Dealing with friends and roommates
Dealing with family members
Practicing integrity in studies and work
Living out my Christian faith
Getting connected with a local church
Who am I? Identity issue
Making use of my free time
Handling money

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.

(Proverbs 3:5-6, The Message)

Using Proverbs 3:5-6 as a foundation for making choices and setting priorities in daily life, this guide follow a pre-set format of the so-called Choice Matrix where each line of Prov 3:5-6 forms a domain by itself. The four domains in the choice matrix are:

1. Trust God from the bottom of your heart
This domain is about trusting the prompting of the Holy Spirit inside you to do and not do certain things. This domain also include drawing insights from previous lessons you have learned through your growing up years and thanking God in faith that through this issue you are going to face, He will make the best out of it.

2. Don't try to figure out everything on your own.
This is about getting advice and wisdom from people around, especially from somebody more senior than ourselves.

3. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go
This is about digging into the written Word of God and see what this has to say regarding the issue you are facing

4. He's the one who will keep you on track.
This final domain is about drawing insights and lessons you have learned through your handling of the issue at hand and trusting God to give you the best, and molding you into the person He intends and so the cycle repeat itself.

Overall, although this book has covered the essential contemporary issues faced by young people, I find the writing of this book to be rather plain and to an extent, monotonous. It is hard to dig out the gems and "life lessons" out from the stories. It lacks specificity when it comes to dealing with a particular issue. I wish this book would have at least some charts, figures, more captions, etc.

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Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Plan B by Pete Wilson

2010-05-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

As Christians, we often expect God to show up the way we thought He would or even He should. When He does not, at times we are forced to abandon our initial plans and hopes, and have to turn to Plan B. What is Plan B? Simply defined, Plan B is the alternative plan that we have to adopt when the dreams, wishes, goals, expectations in our initial plan, Plan A, are shattered. What do we do? This is precisely what Pete Wilson, lead pastor of Cross Point Church, expounded on.

Pete started off by inviting the readers to face up a reality of life that we often wish we can escape: Plan B is not an exception, but rather it is an inevitable reality. Plan B does not just happen to some people. Plan B happens to everyone at some point of time.

Yet, as Christians we often assume God wants us well, and our lives would be smooth sailing all throughout. We may not even admit it, but we are pretty sure God is going to sweep down and provide for us the way only He could. And that is when we get ourselves into all kinds of troubles as we assume God must think and act the way we do.

Inevitably, dreams do get shattered; hopes dashed, and expectations failed. And when that happen, we often run away as an escape mechanism (Chapter 2). Not only do we run away, many of us do actually fall into some forms of addiction. Addiction has become the most common way for us to deal with our pain.

Nevertheless, Plan B also often forces us to change our perspectives. Pete said that from his experience, often people in their dying moments, almost always talk about how they finally "get it." They understand that they've spent too much of their lives worrying about things that weren't worth worrying about, and fearing things that just weren't worth fearing (page 58). Worry saps our energy. As Earl Nightingale put it: only 8% of all our worries are real, legitimate worries. Ninety-two percent are pure fog with no substance at all.

Not only that, for some, having to abandon Plan A because of failures, and unexpected turns of events can paralyze us with fear (Chapter 5). The way out is to replace these fear of the unknown with a healthy fear of God. To quote Oswald Chamber:

"The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else. whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else."

In essence, the greatest illusion is the illusion of control (Chapter 3). The fact that we have to abandon Plan A to adopt Plan B does not mean that our lives are spinning out of control, it simply means that we are often not in control of our circumstances!

Unfortunately, the tragedy, is that when life is not turning out like the way we have hoped it will, we almost always fall back to our default mode: God has abandoned us (page 69, Chapter 6). Pete then illustrated this with the personal tragedy of Tammy Trent. This naturally brings us to the question of God's will. Is this God's will for me? Is that not God's will for me? I like what Pete said on page 75 (Chapter 6):

When people ask me how they can know God's will for their lives, I tell them the best first step is to know God. Beyond that, I really don't have any steps.

Knowing God's will is not a science. There is no magical equation. Sometimes we get it all wrong. In fact, as Pete put it, it is often a matter of trial and error. At times we may encounter roadblocks as Paul did in Acts 16. Yet, Acts 16:6 says that Paul was"kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia" (NIV). It was the Holy Spirit Himself who kept Paul away from preaching in the province of Asia. As Erwin McManus said, part of the problem is that we are asking the wrong questions.

In fact, it is the Plan Bs that help shape us into the persons God want us to be. Pete quoted Erwin McManus again, saying:

"The process of becoming the person God wants us to become usually doesn't come from success, success, success. It's loss, success, failure, success, heartbreak, success, disappointment, success."

We need to allow God to be God. Andy Stanley said (quoted in page 98):

"Every day we have this choice to make - Am I going to define God by interpreting my circumstances or am I going to simply trust that God is who He says He is?"

In fact, in many occasions, we are living in Plan B because we have usurped God's throne. Sin occurs when we, instead of gratefully accept life and other gifts of life as gifts, we demand them, we seize them as if they are owed to us. My lust, my pride, my anger, my lack of forgiveness - all that comes from a heart that believes I am entitled to something.

Chapter 8 of the book deals with the subject of darkness. For many, we are often plunged into a depth of darkness when we have to live in Plan B. One of the results of darkness is doubt. We doubt about the goodness of God. Yet, Pete helped us to look at doubt in another way. The fact that we doubt is because we believe. Put it another way, if you have faith, you will always be susceptible to doubt. An unbeliever does not have to doubt; unbeliever does not even have the capacity to doubt, because he can't doubt something he does not believe in the very first place.

Chapter 9 deals with the role of community support when we have to adopt Plan B. Quoting writer Anne Lamott, the most powerful sermon in the world consists of two words: me too. Knowing that there is someone out there who understands the pain we have gone through, and who himself or herself has gone through the similar process of pain, gives us hope and strength. And that's the gift of community. But often we pretend. We dare not face who we really are. But we can't benefit from the power of community until we dare face who we really are.

As Thomas Merton said (quoted in page 129):

"There is no greater disaster in spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us."

Many of us fear of our nakedness, emptiness, hollowness. So long as we keep pretending that we have it all together, we will probably keep missing the hope our community offers us, because we can only be loved to the extent we are known. To put it another way, as long as I have hidden stuff from you, my heart is going to reject your offer of love and friendship. I'll keep thinking, "If you knew the real me, you wouldn't say that." Often, however, the church compounds and perpetuates the problem. These moments of authentic surrender like Jesus talks about seem to be rare in churches today. Essentially, churches have the attitude of what Pete described as "bring your Bibles, bring your religion, bring your mask, but don't bring your problem." Well, the way the church responds may have to do with fear - we fear that we won't have the answers to people living in Plan B. Therefore, people in churches often fail to bring their real problems to church. Often, in churches, we don't hear of stuffs until it is too late. They are filled with the "what if"s:
What if the divorced couple could have shared the problem of pornography earlier on? What if the suicide victim could have shared the problem of overwhelming darkness surrounding him?.......

In other words, the irony is, Christian community can be a dangerous place when your dreams shatter because Christians can be guilty of cliched answers, untruthful promises, and false expectations.

Therefore, Chapter 10 exposes some of the myths on Christianity. Being a Christian does not mean we have all the answers! (page 145). Chapter 10 also exposes us to the idols we often hold on to, and urges the reader to let go of these idols and to embrace the Cross.

Chapter 11 is a continuation of Chapter 10 - the hope and power that we can have in the Cross of Christ. It urges the readers to hold on to the Cross - the Anchor during the storm of life. God has been with us all the while. And when I feel distant from Him, it is not because He has left, it is because we have drifted away.

Chapter 12 is about waiting - something which many of us do not enjoy much of it. Yet, the Bible is full of accounts of people who had been on the waiting game (see Hebrews 11:13): Abraham and Sarah (Gen 11 - 21), Jacob (Gen 28-29), Joseph (Gen 30:20 - 41:39), John the Baptist (John 14:1-12), Noah (Gen 6-7), etc.

Chapter 13 is about transformation through tragedy - more or less a summary of points covered in many previous chapters.

Chapter 14, the final chapter, reminds us that ultimately in dealing with our Plan B, there is no such pre-packaged set of answers to all the Plan Bs. It is about a journey. A journey with God, to allow Him to change us and shape us into the person He wants us to be along the journey.

In short, reading this book reminds me of Philip Yancey's Where is God When It Hurts and Disappointment With God. Many of the points covered here are covered in these two books as well. But Pete's writing is refreshing. It is written with a tone of compassion and warmth.

P/S:
Be sure to checkout the book's website http://www.planbbook.com/

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently by Dr. John C. Maxwell

2010-04-18T09:48:00.001-07:00

For weeks I have been waiting for this book, not just because one of my comments in John's blog is featured in the book (page 35, Chapter 2), but because this book is loaded with so much wisdom, practical tips, quotes, etc that have to do with more than just the topic of connecting with others. I would say, this book is another indispensable book from John. Typical of John's style, he has packed in so much goodies in it that one can go back to the book, re-read it again and again, and yet there are still things one can learn from it.

As an outline, this book is divided into 2 parts. In Part 1, John shared FIVE essential principles of connecting:
1. Connecting Increases Your Influence in Every Situation
2. Connecting Is All About Others
3. Connecting Goes Beyond Words
4. Connecting Always Require Energy
5. Connecting Is More Skill Than Natural Talent

In Part 2, John shared FIVE connecting practices that one should cultivate:
6. Connectors Connect on Common Ground
7. Connectors Do the Difficult Work of Keeping It Simple
8. Connectors Create an Experience Everyone Enjoys
9. Connectors Inspire People
10. Connectors Live What They Communicate

Some highlights in this book which have particularly inspired me (especially in my role as a lecturer) and these include:

The seven-second rule by Roger Ailes who said, "You have just 7 seconds to make a good first impression."
People will not always remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The great teacher demonstrates.
The measure of a great teacher isn't what he or she knows, it's what the students know.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Florida Court Sets Atheist Holy Day!

2010-04-11T03:10:00.000-07:00

I received the following story from my friend. Not sure how true it is, but certainly it makes a point humorously!

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Subject: A Smart Judge

Florida Court Sets Atheist Holy Day!

Gotta love this Judge!
You must read this....a proper decision by the courts...for a change.

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY
In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,"Case dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, How can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays.."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day.
Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God..' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."

You gotta love a Judge that knows his scripture!

This is too good not to forward

In GOD we trust!

Global Reach - Lots of FREE bible studies material for donwload in pdf version

2010-04-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

I am currently taking a distance learning education (correspondence course) from Global University through their International Correspondence Institute office in Malaysia (to learn more about the courses in Malaysia, contact them through this email address: gicimag@gmail.com).

While browsing through the Global University official website, I found out that one of their websites contain lots of good free downloadable materials in pdf version. Click here (http://www.globalreach.org/index.cfm) to view the various bible studies materials available from Global Reach website.

The materials are divided into three categories:
1. Find God
2. Christian Life
3. Christian Service

Book Review: Living With Confidence In A Chaotic World

2010-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Dr. David Jeremiah's book “Living With Confidence In A Chaotic World” is one such wealth of gem full of clear, straight-forward, uncompromising biblical wisdom and richly illustrated with supporting real-life stories, eye-opening statistical facts, all packed in a single volume.

As the world that we know now that is sinking deeper and deeper into the quicksand of despair, economic downturn, natural and man-made disasters, moral decay, Dr. Jeremiah offers hope and confidence in the midst of the difficult times we are in. In it, he outlined ten habits (that starts with the letter “c”) we must establish that will form a pattern for living with certain hope in our uncertain times:

We need to stay calm in our hearts (John 14:1-6)
We need to stay compassionate toward others (1 Thess 3:12)
We need to stay constructive in building others up (1 Thess 5:11, Eph 4:29, Rom 14:19)
We need to stay challenged diligently to live up the Christian life (2 Peter 1:1-10)
We need to stay connected to the church (Hebrews 10:22-25)
We need to stay centered in Christ (Col 3:1-4)
We need to stay confident in your faith (1 Peter 3:15)
We need to stay consistent in your walk (1 John 2)
We need to stay committed to the Word (James 5:7-11)
We need to stay certain of His coming (Romans 13:13-15)

This is certainly a good book to read, yet a little suggestion here: with such a heavy amount of statistical facts, it would be better if the author could illustrate these statistical facts with diagrams, pie charts, figures, tables that would enhance and capture the impact of these facts.

Below are highlights of the book that I find particularly interesting to me:

On page 1 - 2, the author describes on weather warfare employed by certain nations - a new science of weather modification, tailor-made for their own benefits. China did that during the Beijing summer Olympics 2008. The US Air Force is determined to "own the weather" by 2025. Such weather warfare and modification can be extremely disturbing knowing the facts that earthquake could be triggered by well-placed underground nuclear explosion; volcanoes could be cooked up, typhoons and tsunamis could be triggered.

On page 45, the author highlights some of the 20th century's most famous atheists: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao ZeDong, and how these atheists, without the presence of a personal God, can results only in tearing down the world, rather than building up.

I was particularly inspired and touched by the heroic story of Professor Liviu Librescu duringn the Virginia Tech massacre (page 67-69). Librescu, a 75-year-old Holocaust survivor and professor of mechanical engineering, was in the middle of teaching one of his popular classes at Norris Hall yesterday when Seung-Hui Cho tried to enter the room. As his students start jumping out the windows of the second-floor room, Librescu stayed behind to block the door, according to his students. He was killed by the gunman.

On page 94, the author challenges his readers that although many of us may have hundreds of "friends" in social networking sites such as Facebook, this can never replace the soul-to-soul connection, especially during tough times. In fact, the Church should have a vision of "20/20", as described in Acts 20:20 that says:

"....I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house" (NASB)

It was saddening to hear the stories of Christians in North Korea. To be a follower of Christ in North Korea is equivalent to being a traitor to the government regimen, where only worship of the Kim Jong Il and his late father is permitted. North Korea has been "holding" the top spot on Open Doors World Watch List for more than seven years. (Click here to view the latest Watch List)

In Chapter six also, the author mentioned a financial principle found in Randy Alcorn's The Treasure Principle, where Alcorn offered the illustration that just as we will be interested to know the developments and progresses of the companies that we have investment in, when we invest in God's kingdom, our minds and hearts follow in the same way. For example, if we begin sending money to help African children with AIDS, we will begin to read more on that subject.

Pages 158 - 159 talk about the story of Corrie ten Boom and how she began to understand why the Word of God is referred to as her "Hiding Place."

Chapter 9 opens with the shocking suicide story of Adolf Merckle - one of the Germany's top ten richest man. Merckle made a speculative investment based on his belief that Volkswagen shares would fall; however, in October 2008, Porsche SE's support of Volkswagen sent shares on the Xetra dax from €210.85 to over €1000 in less than two days, resulting in losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars for Merckle. Adolf Merckle committed suicide on January 5, 2009 by throwing himself in front of a train near his hometown of Blaubeuren.

On page 221, the author discussed on the saddened declining moral standard among Christians, particularly with regards to pornography viewing, according to a National Review Online update.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers aspart of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Book Review: Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate - by Jerry Bridges

2010-01-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

Jerry started off the book by drawing the attention of the readers to the spiritual condition of the Corinthians church during Paul's time. Despite the mess and sins in the church of Corinth at that time, Paul addressed them as saints (2 Cor 1:1 and 1 Cor 1:2).

How could Paul address them as saints? Paul similarly used the word in other places like in Romans 1:7; 16:15; 1 Cor 1:2 and 2 Cor 1:1.

Jerry then explained that the Greek word used for "sainthood" and "holy" is "Hagios", which refers, not to the character, but rather a state of being (being set apart, separated for God) (1 Cor 6:19-20).

What are we separated for? Titus 2:14 says that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14, NKJV). In other words, we are set apart so that we will be zealous for good works. We don't become saints by our own effort. We are "made" saints by God Himself.

Yet, as Jerry pointed out, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that nearly every waking hour, we sin in thoughts, words and deeds. Our best motives are often stained with impure or mixed thoughts and intentions. Why such discrepancy between what God has promised for us with what we actually experienced in our daily lives? Galatians 5:17 says that it is because of the desire of our flesh."For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." (Gal 5:17 NKJV).

1 Peter 2:11 calls is a war. "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11 NKJV).

Unfortunately, it is not only that we are waging war against the lust or desires of the flesh, but we often soften our concept of sins. We categorise sins. We tend to evaluate our character and conduct based on the moral culture we live in. Often times, as we think of the blatant and obvious sins around us such as murder, rape, stealing, etc, we tend think of ourselves better than those committing such criminal offenses. We tolerate certain sins while condemning the obvious ones such as mentioned above. We let ourselves off the hook by saying that our sins of selfishness, critical spirit, impatience, anger, judgmentalism, etc are not as bad as the "sins of the world."

And this book is exactly about - addressing those sins that we often think are "respectable" or "tolerable". Unfortunately, every sin is serious because every sin essentially breaks God's law. And sin essentially is about "missing the mark", falling short of God's holy standard.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
(1Jn 3:4 NKJV)

And sins are cancerous; sins can spread to other believers; the sins that we tolerate can grow into something more serious. For example, the sin of anger, can grow into hatred, jealousy, etc.

The first six chapters of this book are a general description, dealing with the problems of sins, and the direction we should take towards the problem of sins. From chapter seven onwards, Jerry dealt with specific "tolerable" sins, one in each chapter. These are:

- Ungodliness
- Anxiety and Frustration
- Discontentment
- Unthankfulness
- Pride
- Selfishness
- Lack of Self-control
- Impatience and irritability
- Anger
- Judgmentalism
- Envy, Jealousy and related sins
- Sins of the tongue
- Worldliness

In Chapter six, Jerry pointed out some general ways that we should be heading towards in dealing with the problem of respectable sins:
1. Apply the Gospel
Jerry devoted an entire chapter (Chapter 4) to discuss on this important aspect.
As Jerry puts it in Chapter 4:
"The remedy for our sin, whether scandalous or acceptable, is the gospel in its widest scope.....[The gospel in its widest scope means that] Christ, in His Work for us and in us, saves us not only from the penalty of sin but also from its dominion or reigning power in our lives."

A very interesting practice that Jerry himself applied is "preaching the gospel to yourself every day". I agree with Jerry that this is an effective and important discipline we can develop. Not only do we need to preach it to ourselves every day, but we should also personalize it to ourselves, as Paul did in Gal 2:20:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
(Gal 2:20 NKJV)

See also 1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1Jn 4:10 NKJV)

[*Suggested verses by Jerry to personalize: Ps 103:12, Isa 43:25, Isa 53:6, Rom 4:7-8, Rom 8:1, Psa 130:3-4, Isa 1:18, Micah 7:19, Eph 1:&, Col 2:13-14, Heb 8:12, 10:17-18].

As Jerry said, the gospel is vital for Christians because:

a. The gospel helps us to see who we are - although we are truly saints in the sense of being separated unto God, all of us are still practicing sinners. The gospel helps to plow the ground of our hearts so that we can see our sin.
b. The gospel frees me up to face my sins. The gospel assures me that my sins are forgiven, and therefore, I am free to acknowledge and deal with it.
c. The gospel motivates and energizes me to grow my Christ-like character. Rom 8:13, Col 3:5

2. Depend on the Holy Spirit
Jerry also devoted an entire Chapter (Chapter 5) on the issue of the power of the Holy Spirit in this aspect.

As mentioned in Chapter 5, some of the ways the Holy Spirit works in us in bringing conviction of sin, include:

He causes us to see our so-called "respectable" sins as sins really!
He works through the Scripture (2 Tim 3:16)
He works through our conscience
He empowers us to deal with these sins (See Romans 8:13, Philippians 2:12-13, 4:13)
He brings into our lives the circumstances that are designed to cause us to grow spiritually.

We are responsible to put to death the acceptable sins in our lives; we cannot simply lay this responsibility on God, ad sit back and watch; yet at the same time, we are dependent. We cannot make one inch of spiritual progress apart from His enabling power.

3. Recognize your responsibility (as explained in the previous paragraph above)
Work as if it all depends on you, and yet trust as if you did not work at all"

4. Identify specific respectable sins in our individual lives

5. Memorize and apply specific Scriptures

6. Cultivate the practice of prayer

7. Involve a few believers with you - a sense accountability

In a way, I find this book "difficult" to read, it was not an easy read but it is a very vital read because as I read, the Holy Spirit, like a gentle surgeon, took the surgical blade and cut through the specific malignant areas of sins in my life.

Book Review: An Undivided Heart by Rita J. Platt

2009-10-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

My Review:
Although this book is primarily written for women as a bible study material, as I reviewed it, I felt a gentle nudging in my heart too, to experience a deeper satisfaction in God's fountain of love. My heart leaped for joy in knowing, experiencing God's love. As I savored the Lord's feast, served through this book, I can't help, but conclude that this book, although originally written for women, is also a book for men too. After all, we as humans, collectively known as the Church, is the bride of Christ longing for the love of the Bridegroom.

As the name suggests, this book is not to be read through quickly, but it is a bible study book, to be enjoyed, to be savored slowly.

Basically, week 1 starts off with knowing and experiencing the truth that we are the object of God's love. He longs to capture our hearts. He wants us to know that we are His beloved.
As Simon Tugwell said:

"So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about it - He is looking for us."

Week 2 deals with the hindrances that block us from reaching the intimate relationship with God. Rita gently helps us to dissect through the dark layers of our hearts; helping us to allow ourselves to expose our everything to God. As mentioned in the book, at times, we ourselves are our own enemy. We are unable to forgive ourselves, thereby block the flow of God's love. God wants us to enter into that complete freedom that He has prepared for us.

If Week 2 is about our past guilts and hurts that hinder us from reaching out to God's love, Week 3 is about us seeking approval from others, performing to impress and please others.

As David Benner said:
"There is no true life apart from relationship with God. Therefore, there can be no true self apart from this relationship. The foundation of our identity resides in our life-giving relationship with the Source of life. Any identity that exists apart from this relationship is an illusion."

And as Rita, the author, points out, though it is not wrong to receive affirmation from others, it is when our desire for approval from others rules us, when our pride erects an image or when we demand recognition which is really an empty cistern from which no water is available (Jer 2:13).

Week 4 is about voices and noises. Often times, there are so many noises and voices competing for our attention that we can totally miss out the still small voice of God. We need to be silent before Him. Be still to hear His voice. As Week 4 is about noises, Week 5 is about attention. Too often, many things caught our attention, and we can become easily distracted by things that never truly satisfy. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Week 6 is about being satisfied. Often when we come to realize that nothing else truly satisfies, it dawns upon us that He is our True Living Water. We return to the Fountain of Life as often as we desire.

Week 7 is about being held. Being held by the Love that refuse to let us go. As we "hold on" to Him, we realize that it is He who is holding on to us. We, therefore, need to constantly create that awareness that Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise.

Week 8, the final week in this study, is about being betrothed. It is about living as the Beloved. It is about being loved, more than we can ever imagine.

As Henri Nouwen said:
"Everytime you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you've touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper."

In summary, I am convinced that, except for the fact that the almost all the illustrations used in this book are stories of women, this book is definitely for men too. Men who are aware of their thirst for the Savior and Lord.

A synopsis:
Some of the points that I have penned down from the Bible Study book An Undivided Heart by Rita J. Platt:

An Undivided Heart
(An 8-Week Bible Study for Today's Woman)
- by Rita J. Platt

Week 1 To Know Him is To Love Him
Rita started off with a question for us to ponder:
How would you describe your heart today?

What type of symbol would you use?
- Waters that seem tranquil until stirred up
- A puzzle with a few pieces missing or out of place
- A clouded mirror
- A scuba diver exploring the depths of the sea
- A thirsty runner panting for a break

Jesus came in pursuit of our whole heart. He didn't wait for you to come looking for Him. He wants you to belong to Him, to give your hand to Him, to embark on an eternal love relationship.

"So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about it - He is looking for us." - Simon Tugwell.

Verses to study:
Luke 1:31
Luke 2:11
John 1:29
1 Cor 10:4
Rev 1:8
Rev 19:16
Matt 19:13-15
Luke 7:11-17
John 13:1-17

No one ever cared for me like Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as he
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me
Oh how much he cares for me.

O Living Flame of Love..........
How gently and how lovingly
Thou wakest in my bosom,
Where alone thou secretly dwellest;
And in Thy sweet breathing
Full of grace and glory
How tenderly Thou fillest me with thy love.
- John of the Cross

Week 2 Complete Freedom
Study Mark 5:25-34

At times, we ourselves can be our worst enemy. We may block forward momentum by subjecting ourselves to peronal condemnation.

"One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive forgiveness. There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning.....receiving forgiveness requires a total willingness to let God be God and to all the healing, restoring and renewing."
- Henri Nouwen

Study Mark 5:25-34

Week 3 Shaped By Perfect Love

Rita started off Chapter 3 with the illustration of an except from The Velveteen Rabbit:

"What is real?" asked the toy Rabbit, one day......"Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made,"said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, not just to play with REALLY loves you, then you become REAL"

Many of us live with unnecessary disability, living for the approval of others.
We perform to impress, and when it seems that we have succeeded in doing so, we go away ashamed and empty.
We spend a lot time and effort trying to keep everyone around us happy.

As a result we may experience fear of displeasing others. We fear of being:
- exposed
- rejected
- made insignificant
- disconnected

We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day--our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life--fear of death, fear of judgment--is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love--love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
(1Jn 4:16-19 MSG)

"Like runaway slaves, we either flee our own reality or manufacture a false self which is mostly admirable , mildly prepossessing, and superficially happy. We hide what we know or feel ourselves to be (which we assume to be unacceptable and unlovable) behind some kind of appearance which we hope will be more pleasing. We hide behind pretty faces which we put on for the benefit of our public. And in time we even come to forget that we are hiding, and think that our assumed pretty face is what we really look like." - Simon Tugwell

"There is no true life apart from relationship with God. Therefore, there can be no true self apart from this relationship. The foundation of our identity resides in our life-giving relationship with the Source of life. Any identity that exists apart from this relationship is an illusion." - David Benner

Even in times when we've lost sight of our true self, the Lord sees us and can help us see who we are in Him (Rom 8:1-2, 2Cor 5:17-21, Eph 1:3, 4, 5-6, 7, 11, 13, 2:6, 2:10, 3:12).

As Rita points out, though it is not wrong to receive affirmation from others, it is when our desire for approval from others rules us, when our pride erects an image or when we demand recognition which is really an empty cistern from which no water is available (Jer 2:13).

Some of the masks we tend to wear:
- clown
- pain free
- superman/superwoman
- thick-skinned
- no needs
- doormat
- perfect
- ultra-spiritual

"Grace to you and peace are my gifts to you and all my children. You have been seeking grace from people, believing it will bring peace. It never does. Only entering more and more deeply into the reality of my grace will bring genuine peace of heart you are dying for.
I already died for it.
And I rose so you would know it's true.
And I have the power to make it true for you.
Hear me.
Believe me.
Learn to rest in the peace of my grace." - Sandra Wilson

Week 4 Awaken To His Voice

Pivotal times of decision making might not characterize our typical day. There is constant competition for our attention. It is challenging to wake up to a silent place where we can hear our Beloved speak. It is as if we must continually fends off a multitude of voices trying to embed themselves in our hearts like secret agents of distortion. We fight the noise that threatens to lure us away or to block out the voice of Jesus.

Life seems to rush past and swirl around us.
We need to be silent before Him.
We need to allow ourselves to be interrupted.
Psalm 46:10

But as Dallas Willard said:
"Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life"

Week 5 Adoring Gaze
Where do you focus your eyes when life gets challenging?
What happens to your energy level, your heart, and your mind when your eyes drift? What helps you to fix your eyes on Jesus?
Luke 7:36-50

"Jesus, the very thought of thee, With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far thy face to see, And in thy presence rest."
- John B. Dykes, Jesus the Very Thought of Thee, 1823-1876

Week 6 Wholly Satisfied
Sometimes we fear being alone.
So we work our way to control our surroundings, and others' opinions of us.
We desire to make everything OK all the time, so that we will never need to fear abandonment.
But those desires are misplaced.

"If you are starving and can find nothing to satisfy your hunger, then come. Come, and you will be filled." - Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 55:1-3
Isaiah 58:11
Matthew 11:28
Revelation 22:17
Deuteronomy 8:10

Enjoy the following life feast of scripture bites
Psalm 103:1-4
Isaiah 58:11
Matthew 5:6
John 4:14
John 6:35, 48-51
John 15:11
Ephesians 3:19
Ephesians 5:18
Philippians 4:12-13, 19
1 Tim 1:14

Week 7: Hold on Tight
In our spiritual walk, we are to hold on tight to the Lord and rest in Him.
Deut 30:19-20
The word "hold fast" - dabaq, carries the meaning of "to cling to, to stick, to stay close, to stick to, to follow closely"

See also Psalm 63:8

Study Matthew 14:22-33
Try imagining you are in the situation.
Draw a graph tracing the disciples' emotions from the time Jesus told them to get in the boat until He joined them and they worshipped Him. Draw a graph depicting Peter's emotions.

Psalm 46:10
Psalm 18:16
Isaiah 40:11
Matthew 8:3, 15, 17:7
Mark 10:16
Luke 13:10-13; 15:4-6
John 10:28

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(From: Breastplate of St. Patrick)

Week 8: Living As Beloved
Life is a gift and living it out is also a gift, each day pulling up lies and becoming more rooted in truth, resting in our place as the beloved. Using Psalm 86, as a guide, ask the Lord to deal with the hollow and deceptive philosophies that threaten you.

"We are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehent it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurably love which our Lord in his goodness has for us." - Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

Song of Songs 2:4
I am [insert your name], the beloved of Jesus
Whisper it
Repeat it over and over.
Shout it with delight from rooftops. Journal it any ways you can.

"Everytime you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you've touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper." - Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved.

Matt 3:17, 17:5
Luke 9:35
2 Peter 1:17
Col 2:6-8

Six lessons I learned today from the life of John Maxwell

2009-10-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

While reviewing Chapter 5 of John C. Maxwell's 2010 book (available for reading online currently), I learned great truths from a rare life story of John as told by Charlie Wetzel [someone who has worked personally with John for quite a long time].

From that piece, I learned six lessons.

Six lessons I learned today from the life of John Maxwell:

1. Be generous with your praise to others where praise is due

2. No matter how bad someone has performed, there is always something positive you can affirm him for. Be on the lookout for his strength.

3. Be real and authentic - let others know that you are aware of your weaknesses and you are just as human as they are

4. Be humble - there is always lessons you can learn from others no matter who they are

5. Empower others. I do not need to micro-manage. Give others the space for them to develop the potential that they have inside them.

6. Treat each speaking engagement, or for that matter, any job assignment, seriously and with respect. Do your homework.

Book Review: How To Stay Christian In High School by Steve Gerali

2009-10-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

General comments:

"How To Stay Christian In High School" by Steve Gerali is a simple to read, straight forward, with many nuggets of biblical wisdom. It is written with great clarity, and with a modern twist to familiar biblical stories that opens up fresh, new understanding that can certainly connect with young people in our generation. With a mere 127 pages and a total of six chapters, it can be read even in one or two sittings.

Very readable. Challenging. And although this book is meant for high school Christians, I find that this book is equally challenging to Christians from all walks of life.

Lessons I learned from this book:

Chapter 1 starts off with knowing our identity in Christ. Before we can fully understand who we are, we need to know whose we are - to whom we belong to. The author then goes on to outline three significant implications of knowing whose we are:
- Knowing whose we are implies ownership (Romans 5:12-19)
- Knowing whose we are implies sonship (Galatians 4:3-7)
- Knowing whose we are implies partnership (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

I like this part when, after stating Romans 8:35-39, the author poses out six "what if" doubts that we often allow to come in between us and God's love:

But what if I did .............................................?
But what if I said ............................................?
But what if I thought ......................................?
But what if I went ...........................................?
But what if I tried ...........................................?
But what if I ....................................................?

The author says: "No matter what you put in those blanks ... God would still love you."

Chapter 2 focuses on Mary - the importance of building a firm foundation in Jesus Christ. It starts off with an illustration of two men building their houses, both of the same material but at different locations - one on top of the cliff, and the other right in front of the beach just because he loved surfing so much. Although the man who built his house near the beachfront might boast and pitied his friend for having to climb up and down, and although the man who built the house up on the cliff may sometimes doubt whether he had made the wrong choice or should he had taken a short cut like his friend below, there will come a time when the hurricance will come and blow off the house of the man below. (1 Cor 3:11-15 NIV)

To stay Christian in college days, we need to have a strong foundation. The storms hit both houses with the same intensity both houses build on two different foundations. The outcome depends on our foundations.

To quote the author:
"If you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't have Christ, everything that you have is nothing. You identity must be built upon the solid rock of Jesus......Your identity is the core of your character. It is who you are, the person who's still there when everything else is taken away and when nobody sees you. It is shaped by the things you allow yourself to be influenced by, day by day. It is developed by the values you believe in and hold dear." - Steve Gerali

Certainly I agree when the author says that anyone can say that "I will die for Jesus!", but if you are really willing to die for Jesus, then certainly you are willing to LIVE for Him. You will deny some things for Him. You will be willing to be embarassed for Him.

The author then proceeds to elaborate on the story of Mary, an average teenaged Jewish girl, whom, customary of her age at that time, was arranged to be married to be Joseph.
Being an average teenage girl, her life would probably be pretty much routine like any other girls of her age during her time.

So, we can imagine her reaction when the angel Gabriel came witht the salutation in Luke 1:26-38. How do you think Mary would have felt? Freaked out? Scared? Although we do not know whether Mary had, prior to that encounter, made a commitment to dedicate her life to God. But let's say, even if she did commit her life to God earlier on, this encounter with the angel Gabriel and the task of being pregnant is never part of what she sign up for. It certainly was not part of what she expected...this is totally unexpected.

Even after Mary had finally come to grip with the fact that this pregnancy was indeed true, next challenge that she had to face: how is she going to tell her parents about this pregnancy?
As the author had said, there has not been any case God himself impregnates anyone. What if daddy didn't believe such superfluous claim? What if her family suspected she was flirting around outside? What if the neighbours gossip about her "shame" in a Jewish upbringing?

Mary was risking huge rejection from her family. Mary risked misunderstanding.

The third challenge Mary faced: What about her growing uterus? This would mean that she would never get to wear her cute dresses anymore, but rather she would need to wear her maternity dress. What about the morning sicknesses she might be experiencing? What about the pimples? What about the leg swelling? The extra weight gain?

Next, would be the rejection she would possibly have to face from Joseph. Although this was an arranged marriage, Mary probably had grown to love Joseph and vice-versa. But Mary knew that she must consider losing Joseph and the marriage called off.

From I have learned in Chapter 2, to be a Christian, means
1/ to expect the unexpected
2/ to be willing to be inconvenienced
3/ to risk facing rejections from family and friends aroumd
4/ to be willing to die to self, self-interest, plans, etc.

At the back of Chapter 2, the author asked some thought-provoking questions:
When have you been the most misunderstood? How did you cope with the feelings?
How has God re-arrranged your plans for life? For college? Are there things in your life that you had to give up in order to maintain your identity as a believer? If so what are they?

Chapter 3 is about Daniel
Daniel 1 describes how Nebuchadnezzar, after becoming king of Babylon, swept into Palestine and surrounded Jerusalem and took many of Jerusalem's wisest men and most beautiful women to Babylon as captives. Daniel was among this group.

In Babylon, Daniel stayed far from his parents, in the sophisticaded Babylon of that time.
No parents to control.
Yet Daniel did not compromise.
New found freedom.
Yet Daniel did not abuse the freedom.

How about us?
Would you still obey the curfew even when your parents are not around?
Or would you compromise a bit, drop your guard a little? (Romans 12:1-2)

Bad influence usually creep in subtly.
"Even the smallest compromises are dangerous.
They lead to more and more compromise - and we may end up with a big problem."

As the author has pointed out, no one in his right mind would one day, when he wakes up, says to himself that he is going to destroy his life, or determined to get addicted to alcohol, etc.
God gave wisdom to Daniel what to say to the guards (verses 11-15).
The author suggests that we should take a look (or make a list) of some of the little things in our own life these days?

Question: Are you the influencer or the influenced?
The key lies in verse 8 (Dan 1:8): Daniel had MADE UP HIS MIND
We need to make up our mind ..way up front.
Daniel resolved not to.....

Question:
When are you most tempted to compromise?
What makes it harder to resist?
What makes it easier to resist?

What are some of the areas in which popularity and doing the right things have come into conflict in your life?

Chapter 4 is about Joseph when he was facing temptations as described in Genesis 39:6-10

Joseph had a right perspective about things (verse 9). Joseph said Potiphar has given all these things...but the sin would be against God. Joseph had a God-honoring perspective.

The key to overcoming temptation is in verse 12 (Gen 39:12): FLEE!!
Without explanation, Joseph bolted out of there.
He did not worry about whether he hurt her feelings.
He did not stay to enjoy some of it, and then draw the line when it starts to go too far.
He does not rationalize things.

Chapter 5 is about James and John, where as Chapter 6 is about Timothy.

The Replacement Principle:
I also like the Replacement Principle that the author describes. It works like this: If you want something out of your life, don't work hard to remove it. Instead, pour in something else that pushes it out. Replace something bad with something godly. To stay Christian in high school, replace rotten stuff in your life with good stuff.

Conclusion
In short, the author highligted a key lesson for each of the chapters:
Chapter 1: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, be absolutely certain WHOSE you are.

Chapter 2: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, you can't turn an identity on or off; make Jesus the foundation of who you are.

Chapter 3: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, step AROUND the moral land mines to avoid compromise at all cost

Chapter 4: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, constantly monitor your MIND-MENU - and leave temporary pleasures behind

Chapter 5: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, you have to be willing to allow Jesus to gradually replace the rotten stuff with the good stuff

Chapter 6: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, don't be perfect, just be dependent on Jesus.

The Need to Re-Align Myself Regularly

2009-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 13:5 indeed is a timely reminder to myself:

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”*(Heb 13:5, NLT)

In other words, it is a declaration that God is my enough. He is my rich resource. He is my source of strength.

Yet, in this age, where we are constantly being bombarded with choices, temptations are everywhere and we can easily drawn away. It has to be a daily deliberate decision on our part to remind ourselves – God the enough!

I find that taking short “breaks”, distancing myself from what I am engrossed in, constantly asking myself “Why am I doing this?” is a good way for me to re-focus myself and re-aligning my priorities.

Speaking To Impress or Speaking To Impact?

2009-10-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

John Maxwell reminds us that if you want to impress people, you can talk about your successes, but if you want people to identify with you, it is better to talk about your failures.

Sometimes, I have to admit that the ulterior motive of me speaking is to impress the crowd with how much I know. And this is dangerous: the moment we start feeding ourselves with the praise and adulation from others, we will yearn for more. We may end up losing the focus of our speaking – and that is to impart information to others.

I have seen speakers who keep on speaking on highly specialized and advanced stuffs that the crowds can’t follow, and this happens despite knowing the fact that the crowds are getting lost and disinterested.

Being in a position of leadership and a position of power as a lecturer, I need to remind myself that I may be able to keep a crowd, but I may not be able to keep a follower, if I am not connecting.

Bible vs. Cell Phone

2009-10-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

Bible vs. Cell phone

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing..

Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities?' And no dropped calls!

Note: I got this post from Gabriel Matthew Fletcher

Book Review: Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

2009-09-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

In Love and Respect, Emerson Eggerichs uses Ephesians 5:33 "However, each one of you [husband] also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband (Ephesians 5:33 NIV)" and dissected it to show that the love a wife longs for and the respect a husband yearns for mutually compliments each other in order to build a solid foundation of a marriage.

In Chapter One, the author shared on how, as a pastor, out of his need to counsel couples, that in 1998, God gave him the insight to see the inter-connectivity between love and respect. In that chapter too, the author is honest enough to share with the readers of his own difficult times he had with his wife, Sarah. The author made no attempt to hide his own weaknesses or appears as one whose marriage is perfect, without struggles. As the author said, the problem with life is that it is so daily, so routine that we may take our spouses for granted.

The first seven chapters form the first part and this basically deals with some of the common problems husbands and wives face. While it is good that the author shared many real life examples, nevertheless, I find that there are just too many testimonies and stories. And this has made the reading of this part very tedious and lengthy. Probably the author could have saved some of these testimonies to be included in an online supplementary section or in a blog or in the Love and Respect website (http://www.loveandrespect.com/), etc. Having too many testimonies tend to result in a loss of focus of the gist of the message.

Part 2 (chapters 8 - 22) is about the energizing cycle, where the author spelled out the six aspects of the love that a husband needs to show to his wife, and the six aspects of the respect that the wife ought to give to her husband.

The love that a husband should show to his wife can be defined by the acronym C-O-U-P-L-E:
C - Closeness
O - Openness
U - Understanding
P - Peacemaking
L - Loyalty
E - Esteem

The respect that a wife should give to her husband can be defined by the acronym C-H-A-I-R-S
C - Conquest (appreciate the husband's desire to work and achieve)
H - Hierarchy (appreciate the husband's desire to protect)
A - Authority (appreciate the husband's desire to serve and to lead)
I - Insight (appreciate the husband's desire to analyze and counsel)
R - Relationship (appreciate the husband's desire for shoulder-to-shoulder relationship)
S - Sexuality (appreciate the husband's desire for sexual intimacy)

The author elaborated each aspect of "C-O-U-P-L-E" and "C-H-A-I-R-S" in a chapter each.

A side note: on page 156, the author said that God intended for some conflict to exist in a marriage. When my wife and I sat down together to discuss on this, we find it hard to agree with the author on this statement. While God can turn a conflict into a victory, conflict exists, rather, as a result of the Fall back in Genesis.

I have always been cautious of books that offer "a number of" steps to success, "a number of" steps to overcome bad habits, etc. We must not be over-simplistic. Some of the problems that exist in a marriage could have deeper roots than what they appears to be. It could be due to past sins, past painful memories, past bad experiences in a previous marriage, previous traumatic experiences like being raped, etc. For such cases, simply applying these steps may not work; rather in such cases, forgiveness, emotional healing, counseling, etc is needed.

Nonetheless, I still do find this book to be pretty useful. To me personally, the greatest value of this book lies in the concrete and specific suggestions and steps found at the back of each of the chapters in Part 2. I find these suggestions to be very helpful, and can be easily turn into a-resolution-a-day kind of exercise. In other words, this book is actually more of a "to-do" book rather than a "to-read" book. As such, this book, should be more concise, direct to the point, focused, trimmed down, and should include more interactive features and questions for the readers to think and to reflect as they go along.

Feeling Inadequate?

2009-09-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah’s Call and First Visions (Jeremiah 1:4-10 NLT)

4 The Lord gave me this message:

5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.

Before you were born I set you apart

and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said,

“Look, I have put my words in your mouth!

10 Today I appoint you to stand up

against nations and kingdoms.

Some you must uproot and tear down,

destroy and overthrow.

Others you must build up

and plant.”

This passage in Jeremiah 1 on Jeremiah’s call also reminds me of my own situation.

Being called to preach in church as a lay leader at age 35 years old, sometimes I must say I really feel inadequate. Although it is a small church, I still do feel the inadequacy, but yet, if we were to wait for the “right” time, the moment may never arrive. Our feelings of inadequacy may cripple us. When will we ever be ready, if we were to wait for the right recipe, the right formula, as judged according to our own timing?

If God says can, who am I to say can’t? That’s why knowing that I am known is important. Knowing who I belong to, gives me a sense of confidence to move forward.

Observing the Sabbath: Am I Deceiving Myself?

2009-09-26T04:18:00.000-07:00

25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”
(Mark 2:23-27 NLT)

In this age where we are constantly being bombarded with overloading amount of information, all the more we need to take a day off to be still with the Lord. To wait for Him. To linger in His presence. To be renewed. To be restored.

For me, personally at least, I know, I needed to observe the Sabbath. I know sometimes I am deceiving myself, thinking as if I am observing the Sabbath by staying away from my workplace physically, but my mind is still occupied with the workload, and even bringing back stacks of paperwork to do.

How should I live in this evil world?

2009-09-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14, NLT)

Sometimes when I look at the evil, injustice, corruption, inequality of treatment, dirty political tactics, both in my country and around the world, I get very dejected, discouraged, and disappointed. Is there any reason for living in my country? Yet, these verses show us that:

“11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed…”

We are INSTRUCTED, we are commanded, we are exhorted to live a life of
- wisdom
- righteous
- devoted to God.

Why? Because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Unless we know who we really are, our identity, and our position, we can be easily swayed away.

Finishing what You Have Started

2009-09-24T21:59:00.000-07:00

11 Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. (2 Cor 8:11-12, NLT)

I am drawn to the word “finish”, or in some translation “to complete”. It is often easy to start something, to promise something, but to complete, needs perseverance.

Everyone can start a new project, a new blog, a new decision, a new resolution, but how many can follow through til completion.

Along the road, there may be many obstacles, many challenges, many things that distract us from the important things of our lives.

I need to remind myself of important things to me:
1. God - is my relationship with Him affected?
2. Family - is my relationship with my family members taken its tolls due to my busyness in the workplace, being too ambitious, being wanting to do too many things that distract me from my real focus.
3. Then only it comes to my work.

And that’s when we need to depend on the Lord, rather than on ourselves. We need to go to Him daily. I find it impossible to live the Christian life on my own strength.

In verse 12, “give according to what you have…”, in other words, if we have not first received from Him, how can we give? The giving of course, could means more than just financial giving. It could also means giving of our time, our talent, our attention. Have I first received from Him?

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

2009-09-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

(These are some of my thoughts I have made as comments to Chapter 3 of John Maxwell's forthcoming book)

John Maxwell says: "Many times each year I am engaged as a speaker..... often I request a call with someone in the organization prior...to learn the expectations of my host... My goal is never to simply deliver a speech. I want to add value to people...I always spend time tailoring what I’m going to say to fit what they need."

From personal experience, oftentimes, what determine whether I will successfully connect with my students or not is not really the contents of the lecture (though that is important); but rather, whether I am REAL or not.

I personally experienced and believe that people can see through you, beyond your talk, beyond your slides, beyond your outward appearance. They can see whether you are really genuinely care for them and concern for their performance and grades, or whether you are just up there to showcase how much you know.

At times, really, action speaks louder than words. Respect has got to be earned. When you earn their respect, you win the right to hold their ears for your talk.

In that book, John Maxwell quoted television executive, communication consultant and author Roger Ailes for the seven-second rule to make the first impression:

"You’ve got just seven seconds to make the right first impression. As soon as you make your entrance, you broadcast verbal and nonverbal signals that determine how others see you. In business, those crucial first seven seconds can decide whether you will win that new account, or succeed in a tense negotiation." I personally think we have got more than 7 seconds but no more than, probably, first 5 – 10 minutes to make that first impression. Within the first five to 10 minutes, they will decide whether you are worth their attention or not. You can force their presence in the room or hall, but you can’t force their attention and mind to your talk.

“People will not always remember what you said. They will not always remember what you did. But, they will always remember how you made them feel.” - Mike Harrison

I walked a mile with Pleasure

2009-09-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

My comments:
Although I like this quote, I do not believe that all pleasures are bad. Some pleasures are legitimate. James 1:17-18 says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." It is the lustful, illegitimate pleasure that we should be careful of.

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

- Robert Browning Hamilton

Into The Arms of Divine Love

2009-09-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

As soon as I woke in the morning I threw myself into the arms of Divine Love as a child does into its father's arms. I rose to serve Him, and to perform my daily labor simply that I might please Him.

If I had time for prayer, I fell on my knees in His divine presence, consecrated myself to Him, and begged Him that He would accomplish His holy will perfectly in me and through me, and that He would not permit me to offend Him in the least thing all through the day.

I occupied myself with Him and His praise as long as my duties permitted. Very often, I had not leisure to say even so much as the Lord's Prayer during the day; but that did not trouble me. I thought it as much my duty to work for Him as to pray to Him, for He Himself had taught me, that all that I should do for love of Him would be a true prayer.

I loved Him and rejoiced in Him. If my occupations required all my attention, I had nevertheless my heart turned towards Him; and, as soon as they were finished, I ran to Him again, as to my dearest Friend.

When evening came, and every one went to rest, I found mine only in the Divine Love, and fell asleep, still loving and adoring Him.
--ARMELLE NICOLAS

Psalm 23 Explained

2009-09-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

(This post was from an email forwarded to me by Gabriel Matthew Fletcher. Thanks Gabriel!)

The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship!
I shall not want = That's Supply!
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest!
He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment!
He restoreth my soul = That's Healing!
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance!
For His name sake = That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death = That's Testing!
I will fear no evil = That's Protection!
For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies = That's Hope!
Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration!
My cup runneth over = That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life = That's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security!
Forever = That's Eternity!

Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.

Why Are So Many Speakers Fail to "Connect" With Their Audience? Some Humble Ramblings From Me

2009-09-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

(Note: These random ramblings were my thoughts that I have posted at http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com as my comments to Chapter 2 of John Maxwell's new book to be published in 2010)

Although John Maxwell has stated immaturity and ego as 2 out of the 3 reasons why many people fail to connect, I think a deeper reason (especially within the context of public speaking) under-girding their immaturity and ego-centredness is INSECURITY, especially for new speakers. I can remember the first few times when I am asked to speak: I was literally shaking.

When the speaker is insecure, he will want to seek the approval from his audience. And the more he wants to seek approval from his audience, the more engrossed he is in his own self, and how he can impress others, and as a results, he is more likely to fail to meet the needs of the moments.

Communication is very fluid and dynamic. I can speak on the same lecture many times, but each group of audience has its own expressed and implied needs, and the dynamics of the communication would be totally unique and different.

Sometimes it depends very much on whether the speaker can "catch" the non-verbal cues being signaled and transmitted from the audience. A joke may sound funny to one group of audience but it can be not funny or even offensive to another group. For that reason, I believe jokes can never be re-cycled. We cannot tell the same joke in the same intonation, the same manner twice. For that matter, sometimes I find prepared jokes to be very artificial. Jokes have got to be spontaneous.

Another problem I find as a barrier to "connectedness" with audience is Power Point presentation. Sometimes power point presentation can paradoxically kills the spontaneity of the communication. Power point presentation can be a friend or a foe. I find it to be true with many speakers (and myself have made the same mistake too) that we speak for the sake of speaking. We are obsessed with the goal of finishing off the many slides we have prepared without really thinking whether the audience can understand the meaning or not.

Different audience will have different attention span (although a common rule of thumb would be no more than 45 minutes). For that matter, nowadays I am no longer dictated by my clock or by the number of slides I have prepared to know when to stop talking. I take it that the first audience member who yawns as a sign that I should finish off and wrap it up soon (usually to take 15 minutes or so although that is not a hard and fast rule).

Why are there so many Christian denominations?

2009-09-19T03:49:00.001-07:00

Why are there so many Christian denominations?

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