Two Kingdoms Working Together (1 Kings 5-7)

I love how Solomon asked Hiram king of Tyre to work among his people. It is like two kingdoms that comes together to accomplish one purpose: to build the Temple! We might think that the people of Israel build the Temple. No, the people of Israel worked among other servants! It amazed me to see two different kingdoms working together, even in Old Testament!

Solomon told Hiram "And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you now that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

I think Solomon and Hiram rock! I think any spiritual leaders who tried to get churches to work together as an equal to build a Church rock! But who cares about what I think, but what does God think? Yea, God thinks that you all rock! One of two greatest commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself" and even more, Jesus' final prayer at Mount of Olives was about our harmoniousness as the Body of Christ.

Solomon's neighbor, Hiriam responded, "Blessed be the Lord this day, w ho has given to David a wise son to be over this great people."

Because Solomon followed the Lord's command, now Hiriam turned to give God the glory! God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. But by loving our neighbor, we helped them to turn their heads to Him and give Him the glory! Let us follow Solomon's example and be one of the wisest leaders out there who will lead the people to glorify Him!

What's Wisdom? (1 Kings 3-4)

"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore [his wisdom surpassed the wisdom of many people]."

Solomon is able to discern the truth in two women who fought over one baby by testing them. He asked them to allow a servant to cut the baby into half so that they can share, purposely to test the true motherhood. One lady decided to give up the baby in order to save the baby's life, and that shows the true motherhood. So, Solomon knew that this lady is the true mother!

Through this story, Solomon shows that he doesn't know who, but he is able to proceed the truth by testing the truth! In the same way, we need the gift of wisdom to be able to test whether they came from God or not. If they don't come from God, then they are evil. So we need to know whether they come from God (righteous), then they are good. If they don't, then they are evil.

Wisdom is the God given ability to know how to handle things right, not to be above the others (as in competition). So that the people can enjoy our peace under that kind of leadership. So many people from other countries went to Solomon because they saw something different in him!

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Proverbs 1:7

Preparing for a Kingdom (1 Kings 1-2)

When David King's time to die drew near, he anointed Solomon as a king and instructed him to take care of few messes that he left in this kingdom:

1. Joab the son of Zeruiah- Although Joab served David well in battles, but he was the bad influence in David's kingdom due to some of his rebellious actions. He killed Abner in revenge for his brother Asahel's death after David had make a peace with him. He also did some other rebellious actions throughout David's reign, but David kept him (a bit of dirty political here!).

2. Shimei the son of Gera -He once threw stones at David King, cursing him. He vented his anger at David King when he thought that he lost his kingdom to his son Absalom. But when Joab rebelliously killed Absalom, David forgave Shimei and allowed him to live! But he knew that his opposition to the Lord's next chosen king to the throne of Israel may continue, so he told Solomon to take care of it!

"So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon" came after Solomon seriously took care of those few overlooked problems! Then after he took care of those, he recognized his need for wisdom, so he started to pray for it! He didn't just pray for it, but he acted! He acted by taking care of those visible evil influences in order to establish a kingdom, then he knew that he needed the wisdom to keep those overlooked evil influences away, to protect! So his miracle came after he prepared the way!

Luke 2:40 - "And the child [Jesus] grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor [grace] was upon him."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I [Paul] will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

GRACE = His power is made perfect in your weaknesses.

Choose Your Master Carefully (Joshua 22-24)

Before Joshua leave the people to die, he said, "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Are you like Mary or Judas Iscariot? Mary took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair! She decided to serve her Jesus so that she may keep it for the day of Jesus' burial! While Judas Iscariot said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" because he didn't like to see the money go to waste, and later he betrayed Jesus with thirty pieces of silver to deliver him to chief priests! Which one are you? Are you trapped into the money system and allowing the money system to control where you are going and what you are doing? Which controls you the most, God or the money?

Notice that Joshua told the people that they must choose whether to serve the Lord or to serve other gods, he didn't say god, but he said gods! So there are more masters out there! Money is one of the master, but there are some more masters out there! What or who is your other master?

When I grew up, I used to serve my Master and my master, but my God is my Master above my other master. For He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, God of gods, and Master of masters! I always say, "I love basketball, but God is in the top of my priorities!" Later I realized that I was just talking because I was willingly to do more for basketball than I would do for God! I was willingly to take a risk to transfer myself into a public school where I will be the only deaf student in order to move my game into a higher level! When I confirmed the decision to transfer after my sophmore year in high school, it started to hit me that I was willingly to do more for basketball than I would for God! That was when I started to push myself out of my comfort zone to be able to serve God more! So I was willingly to be the only deaf person attending the youth group in my church! So I started to commit myself to attending few months before the school year began, so that I would please Him! And I grew a lot throughout my junior year in high school because I choose to serve my Master!

Which master controls your life the most? Money system (your job) or other masters or God?

What's Grace? (John Bevere "Extraordinary" sermon)

Here is the imperfect notes from John Bevere's sermon about "Extraordinary", emphasizing on understanding the word of "grace"...

How do you explain about the grace of God?... most people will say: salvation, free gift that you cannot work or earn, or forgiveness for our sins. Only 1.9% of Christians understood that the grace is all about the power that came from God! (including the power of salvation, the power of forgiveness, the power of breakthrough, the power of deliverance, the power of etc!)

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "My grace is suffcient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I'll boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

By our weaknesses, His power will work the best in us!

In face the word "Christ" is often misunderstood as the surname of Jesus due to the numerous mentons of Jesus Christ in the Bible. But the actual meaning of "Christ" is either "the Anointed One" or "the Messiah". So that's why the followers of Jesus called themselves Christians, because they believed that Jesus was the Anointed One! But they also followed the examples that Jesus had set upon the earth, so that they may become Christians, the anointed ones like Jesus was. (I added some from wikipedia)
We are the divine influence upon others' hearts so that they'll recognize the Light through our action.

John 1:16 "And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." Grace upon grace, there is more than one grace, we have grace upon grace!

1 Peter 1:15 "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." We shouldn't strive for 70% holy, but strive for 100% holy. But we cannot strive on our own for we cannot stop sinning, but by grace we may become holy! In fact there are around 98% of Christians who tried to be holy by themselves without the grace.

Luke 2:40 shows that Jesus grew strong and was filled with wisdom as a child because the favor (grace) of God was with him! And by His grace, you can be extraordinary! Be creative and start to think big, bigger than your human brain can think! To create something that no one had ever thought of! You don't rule in heaven, don't say "I will", NO! You shall rule in this life by His grace, yeah in this life by His power!

STORIES OF GRACE:

Daniel 6:3, "Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom."
Daniel lived in a small Israelities in Babylon, a powerful kingdom! Israelities were captured and lived as their servants. But now Daniel became a leader of a powerful kingdom that's not of his kingdom, it is because of God's grace that he became a leader of a powerful kingdom!

John the Baptist was great in the ministry not in the kingdom like Daniel. But he was great because he was the lowest! So when Jesus came, Jesus was greater than John the Baptist because he was even lower than John the Baptist! Jesus came to serve and to die for us, so he was the lowest! Jesus was greater than John the Baptist because he was lower than John the Baptist, and John the Baptist was greater than Daniel because he was lower than Daniel!

John Bevere then explained about his background:
English was the worse subject in his high school years, he barely passed those classes just because his teacher didn't want to see him in the same class again! He hated English! But in 1992, God told him to write, but he thought that God was talking to a wrong person! Then within 10 months later, two persons came up to him to tell him that God is telling them that He wanted him to write! Now there's million of copies in 62 different languages of his books! Also he said that when he first started to preach, his wife almost sleep and his friends is drooling in their sleep! But now he is able to preach boldly because His power is in him!

NOW.... STOP comparing yourself with others! Because it is by His grace only that you can be extraordinary! STOP looking over your back!

All Leaders Are Servants (Joshua 19-21)

"When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritances among them to Joshua the son of Nun. By command of the Lord they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it."

Joshua is following "first will be the last and last will be the first"! Since Joshua is a leader, so he commanded them to divide the land first, then he allowed them to give him the land as the Lord commanded them to (through Moses)! Joshua didn't speak for himself, but allowed Him to speak for him! Just like how Jesus didn't speak for himself when the people accussed him of calling himself a "King of Jew" when he didn't! So Joshua demonstrated a true character of a true leadership because he imitated Christ-like character even though Jesus hasn't come upon the earth yet in the story of Joshua. So the people of Israel gave him the land he asked! So Joshua served his people and allowed them to serve him, a true Christ-like community!

"The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. These cities each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities."

Like Joshua, they were the last and the people of Israel gave them the land! So they lived among the people like Joshua did! It's like a church among the city today! The people in the city will offer the tithe as the Bible commanded them to. While the church staff serve the people in the city like Joshua and the Levites did!

Go Up By Yourself! (Joshua 16-18)

"If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you... You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong."

WHOA!!! Joshua told the people of Joseph to go up by themselves to possess the land! Even more, Joshua just promised them that they shall conquer the land, yeah, Joshua just made a vow! He answered their question with a Holy confidence, "If you are a numerous people, go up!" But how did he know what God will do without asking the Lord? Honestly I don't know!

But there is one thing that I know for sure, that his faith had increased hugely! Joshua knew that the Lord had given them the promise land so he promised the people of Joseph that they will claim those territory! It's like Joshua promised under His promise! DANG! I want the same kind of faith as Joshua had! But to have the same kind of faith, we have to meditate upon His words and know Him well like Joshua had, to be able to know more about what He had promised us. When we know what God has promised us, then we will be able to rejoice and proclaim His promise like Joshua had!

Stay in Him day and night, meditate upon His words and follow Him, then He shall be with you everywhere you go! And you will be able to go anywhere with 24/7 boldness! YEA!!!

Caleb's Spirit in Achsah Generation (Joshua 13-15)

"And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day."

Imagine any grandparents or yourself (if you are a grandparent already) grabbing any weapons to prepare themselves for the battle to protect the land or to conquer! That's what Caleb did! He fully believed in His promise, which makes him feel like he actually has the same strength as before, so he can face any kind of battles today like he can when he was young. It amazed me, it amazed you doesn't it?

BUT there is something more to this passage! What does it means to have the spirit of Caleb today? Caleb believed His promise from 45 years ago and went to claim His promise! In the same way, we can believe His promises from 45 years ago or 2,000 years ago or even 6,000 years ago!

Jesus said to us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12). When Jesus said, "Truly, truly" twice, he is sincere! Like "Martha, martha", "Peter, Peter", and more! It is probably the only time that Jesus said to us all, "Your name, your name" and to me He says, "Kari, Kari".

We are in the generation of Achsah because we aren't in the book of Acts today, but we are in the new generation. In the next generation, Achsah came to her new husband. 'When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water." And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs."' Notice how her daughter followed her father's example and went to her father to ask for the land like how Caleb asked Joshua for the land? Like Achsah, we should follow Caleb's example and by Caleb's spirit in the generation of Achsah, we go and conquer the springs of water!
Be the wellspring of life.

Joshua's Accountability (Joshua 11-12)

Under the leadership of Joshua, the Israel finally captured Canaan, the promise land that the 10 spies failed to encourage the people to conquer under Moses' leadership. So, now Joshua led the people to conquer the land and Caleb was able to be part of this because they both were two of twelve spies who believed!

It's strange how "just as the Lord had commmanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did" repeats in this chapter! When Joshua led the Israel to the victory, we learned that it is just as Moses had commanded him, he left nothing undone. Why do we need to know that? Why did God want us to know this?

I honestly don't know, but those statement just sticks! I feel like God is trying to tell us something through those statement being repeated in this chapter. In Deuteronomy 31:5, Moses said to Joshua, "And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you."

I think God wants to remind us that we need to have an accountability. Just like how God has commanded Moses to teach Joshua. Moses had no one to teach him, so God taught him directly, then he taught Joshua! Like Joshua, we will need to have an accountability given to us by God. Joshua was commended for his obedience in this chapter! God was pleased that Joshua had followed Moses' commandment because God had commanded Moses! It's amazing how God build us to have that kind of relationship! Just like how God commanded Job to pray for his friends, so that they will be connected through the community! God loves to see us working together. God is the Lord of the harmoniness!

The Gibeonite Deception (Joshua 9-10)

"Do not let your adorning be external... but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is God's sight is very precious." -1 Peter 3:3-4

There are some people who are doing the Gibeonite Deception out there who will adorn their external to deceive you. They had to adorn their external to look like the people who lives far away to deceive Joshua and his people. They were afraid of them, so they decided to go to them to make a covenant with them to save themselves. They prepared a dry and crumbled bread, burst wineskin, worn out garments and sandals, and worn-out sacks for their donkeys.

Joshua and the men took some of their provisions after seeing those worn-out items, so they believed that they came from far away land and make a covenant. BUT they didn't ask counsel from the Lord, so they were deceived! They examined them themselves, but they didn't ask Him for his counsel.

There are three things that we need to do to examine the people out there to see if we can trust them:
-Examine their Christ-like characters through their fruits (Gal 5:22-23). Like how Joshua and his men examined Gibeon by their actions (but they knew how to act).
-Take your time, and you will see their true actions. God's never in hurry, even He held the sun up until Joshua and his men finished their battle against 5 kings and their people! In fact, three days later, they found out that Gibeon doesn't come from a far away country, only if they waited!
-Ask God for His counsel because only He can see through the Gibeonite Deception. He also can open your eyes, so that you will be able to examine their Christ-like characters.

No Defeat, No Gain (Joshua 6-8)

After Joshua led the people to their first biggest victory against Jericho, then they faced a DEFEAT at Ai afterward. What?!? It's almost as if we were watching the best basketball team winning the first game in the season against the 2nd bestest team. Then they were overconfident that they were defeated by the lousiest team! C'mon, ballers! But they learned from it and won the rest of the games to get a winning season of 25-1 to end well! Dang, that little clumsy loss helped them to big time! No defeat, no gain.

"I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up!" the Lord told Joshua. So Joshua got up to accepted the defeat and with His guidance he patiently called tribe to tribe. Then clan to clan, then family to family, then member to member before he singled out Achan and removed Achan from his people. Then with the right foundation, Israel went up against the city with renewed strength.

In the same way, we may face a defeat once in our lifetime, but our defeat is a tool that we can use to learn how to win big! We will need to have Joshua's patience to look for something in our lives that caused the defeat. When we found the cause of the defeat, we will need to remove something from our lives like how Joshua removed Achan. Everything has to begin with the right foundation, we will have to build our godly characters in the right way before we can lead or walk into His victories.

It is your call to "get up" and be grateful for the defeat or to "crawl with facedown" and say I was defeated...

Altar of the Miracles (Joshua 3-5)

"When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, "Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, 'Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.'"

I imagined a man from each tribe walking back to the Jordan in search for the big beautiful smooth and shiny stone around the priests and the ark, surveying each stone to decide which stone they should keep as their altar for the miracles. It is amazing how God wasn't in hurry to stop the miracle from happening! God continued to keep the water from flowing while they are picking out a stone, I think God enjoyed being a show-off! Only twelve men walk around the Jordan in search of the stones that they will keep and pass down to their children in memory of what God had done on that day! Also I think the stones also show that God had exalted Joshua up on that day and people stood in awe of Joshua in the same way they stood in awe of Moses!

Sometimes we think that the miracle may only happen in few seconds. But I think that some miracles may take place for several hours or even several days. Did you ever thought about it? Or did you ever ask for it?

Are you willingly to keep something to remember what He had done, to boast about His glory? Maybe even sleep with something that help you to remember what He had done? I love how God told them to take a stone into the place where they lodge, so that they can marvel Him every time they cast their glance upon the stone!

Be Strong, Sons and Daughters (Joshua 1-2)

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their father to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go."

What does it means to be strong and courageous? I think it means believing that God will keep his promises and make them happen! God is telling Joshua to keep believing His promise and by his action, he led Israel into victories that God had given them. What kind of exercises did Joshua used to keep his courage at the peak? He used his mouth and brain to keep the Book of Law with him everywhere he goes to keep his courage at the peak. The Book of Law helped Joshua to remember His promises and feel encouraged everywhere he went!

Are you reading your Bible daily? Now it is a good start to jump in the Bible Reading Plan at http://fromgardentocity.com/, the spiritual discipline will help you to become strong and courageous like Joshua! I don't know what God had shown you, but I know that your Bible will be like the "walking stick". God wants to support you like the "walking stick" through His inspired scriptures as He communicates with you through those scriptures. We can talk to Him anywhere and anytime, but we need to hear from Him everyday. He loves you and wants to talk with you. How much do we want to hear from Him? How much?...

In the Center (Numbers 35-36)

"The pasture surrounding the Levites' towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall. The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides - east, south, west, and north - with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture."

Those verses reminds me of my previous visit at the national mall after the New Year Eve, I woke up early in the morning to take a walk to the Washington Monument for the sunrise. Here's what amazed me when I got there and took time to walk around waiting for the sunrise to come up, the monument is at the center! It reaches up to the skies at 555' 5 1/8". It stood between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol with "Laus Deo" on the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument, meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the world. "Laus Deo" means "Praise be to God"!

I love how God put the Levites' town at the center like how the Washington Monument is at the center! God wants to be in the center of our lives. The monument is "pointing" us toward Him, God be praised! Are we doing anything in our lives that are "pointing" everyone toward Him? Will our friends see God when they see you or your home? Is there anything at your home that will point you toward Him like how the Washington Monument will point me toward Him everytime I see the monument. I saw the picture of the monument at the Wizard basketball game several months ago and it reminds me of Him! So I glorified Him in my thoughts when I saw the monument! Let Him be in the center of your thoughts at all times!

If you would like to know more about "Laus Deo", you can read about it at:
www.snopes.com/politics/religion/lausdeo.asp

Leader Instructs and Sends (Numbers 32-34)

Some leaders like Moses and David will have to "plow the ground" by starting something new. Moses delivered the people of Israel from Egypt by His command, and led them through the wilderness. David killed the Goliath and make a way for the soldiers to follow and conquer the enemies, later he became a king of war and peace, conqueror. Althought both of them started something new, made a way for their people to go through, they both didn't enter something greater because God had assigned them to the next leaders. But what they did were great that they were remembered among the many, even more than Joshua and Solomon!

God assigned Joshua the Nun to lead the people into the promise land and assigned Solomon, King David's son, to build the temple. But Moses and David had the privelege to instruct their young leaders because they are old and wise! So God used them to instruct the young leaders!

Moses instructed the people of Israel and Joshua about dividing up the land according to the list of tribes. He also instructed the people how to inherit the land, "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them." He also instructed them about some other laws, then he departs. Leaving Joshua to lead them into the promise land, fought many battles and won! Joshua didn't need to create any new laws because the Lord created those laws through Moses, so that Joshua will focus into winning the battles. By Moses' instruction that is being passed down, he had made the way for Joshua to lead!

Are you making the way for your young leaders? Or do you have any older and wise leaders to give you any good advices or to lead you? We need people like Moses and David, but we also need people like Joshua and Solomon. We need to learn more about Him from the previous generation and pass it on to the next generation along with our new discoveries about His mysteries!

Balaam's Advice Pollutions (Numbers 30-31)

"Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord."

It's interesting how Balaam was the one who turned the curse into a blessing over the people of Israel when Barak called him to curse them. But Balaam was able to cause the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord. It's strange how Balaam failed to curse the people of Israel, but caused them to be cursed! How can it be?

With the influence, he caused the people of Israel to turn away from Him. By hanging out with Balaam, the people of Israel gave the room for the curse to come in by following Balaam's advice to get themselves out of God's covering.

Who do we hang out with the most? Are those the people with the good influence? We will need to know who we are hanging out with because the people of Israel hanged out with the wrong person, Balaam. Are we hanging out with the people like Balaam that will cause us to doubt our faith in God? Remember we need to guard our heart for our heart is a wellspring of life. If we don't know who we can hang out with, let's start with hanging out with Him. And ask Him to place the right persons in your life. We need to protect our faith.

Up the Mountain (Numbers 27-29)

The Lord called Moses up the mountain to get a glimpse of the land since he won't enter the land because he had rebelled against His words once in the wilderness of Zen. And they talked when they are on the mountain, Moses asked God one thing, to bring him a new leader to lead the Israel. So the Lord answered his prayer saying, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him... you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey."

This story reminds me of His command, Jesus called his twelve disciples to Him first before he gave his disciples the authority to do many things like he did. Called to Him, then received authority. What does it means to be called up to be with Him? It means to get know Him better, to talk with him like how Moses talked with the Lord before the Lord told him what to do. Moses went up the mountain alone, Jesus also went up the mountain alone to pray.

"Pray without ceasing" 1 Thes 5:17... but I like "Rejoice always" that comes before this verse. I think we need to keep rejoicing in Him, to reject any spirit of doubts or fears. Praising and rejoicing is our antibodies against the spirit of doubts and fears that will enable us to get our prayer released to Him. Without any distraction, we will be able to talk with Him better on the mountaintop like how Moses talked with Him alone. May we pray without ceasing!

Phinehas the Pioneer (Numbers 25-26)

"And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel; while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priset, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand... Phinehas has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel... in that he was jealous with my jealousy."

It amazed me how Moses and the whole congregation saw something wrong and didn't do anything about it! They were weeping when they saw one guy bring a Midianite to his family. Their battle wasn't finished when he took a Midianite woman! After the bloody battle, they seem to worn themselves out emotionally that they decided to do nothing when a small matter came up. But not Phinehas! He decided to do whatever it takes to see that the justice will be completed. So he stood up and left to take care of a small matter himself! Imagine yourself standing out in the congregation by standing up and walk out when everyone were watching!

Phinehas knew that he has to grief for the people and with the people, but he would rather to be with God emotionally. So, he left in "jealousy" because he knew that God was jealous! We need more people like Phinehas who will stand up when nobody will stand up and do something to receive His blessings! Maybe one of us need to walk up to the front to receive the prayer, to raise our hand up in response, to clap or wave our hands, or to do something that nobody has ever done to break down the barriers, so that the people will be able to join you!

Turn a Curse into a Blessing! (Numbers 21-24)

Three times Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, but the Lord put a blessing into Balaam's mouth and Balaam blessed Israel! Balaam told Balak that even the wealth couldn't make him "to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will."

It is amazing how God controlled Balaam's mouth! God's covering is already upon Israel, so no one can turn the blessing into a curse when God's covering is upon His people! In the same way, no one can turn our blessings into a curse as long as we are under His covering! Balak thinks that he can find a witchcraft who will curse Israel for Barak's kingdom because he knew that God is upon Israel's side. So he hoped that Balaam will curse Israel for him because he is powerless. But what he didn't know is that no one has the power above God!

In fact there is no type of witchcraft out there, any spells, voodoo, or magical powers, that can stop us when God is covering us! John Bevere shared one story about a girl who is an active witchcraft in his book, "Fear of the Lord". It is amazing how she came to a youth pastor to tell him that she couldn't put a spell upon a Christian, while she could put a spell upon the others, she didn't understand why. But she recognized that God is a true God after this and came to the Lord.

We are all under His protection, His blessings! No one can turn our blessings into a curse when we stay in our obedience to Him.

Water of Healing (Numbers 19-20)

"Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle."

Like the people of Israel, we all need to drink the healing water daily. Moses and Aaron were called to bring water out of the rock for the people. So they went and Moses struck the rock in obedience to bring the healing water to the people. God want us all to take a step to bring the healing water to our people, to each other. We are hurting daily, we need to be healed daily. If we won't get any water on any day, then we will find that our urine had turned yellow. In the same way, if we don't get any healing water, then whatever comes out of our mouth may be a bit yellow (defiled). "Whatever comes in your mouth doesn't defile you, but whatever comes out of your mouth is what defiled you." We got to take care of ourselves first by letting Him to heal us through His spiritual leaders, so that whatever comes out of us will be pure.

'And Moses lifted up his hand and stuck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly... and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you didn't believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I had given them."'

Although Moses and Aaron didn't do the right thing at the moment, but God allowed the healing water to flow to us. The people of Israel doesn't need to do anything, but to receive the healing water and allow God to take care of His business! He will bless and rebuke His anointed people Himself. All we need to do is to go and receive the healing water!

Guard His Calling (Num 17-18)

"The tribe of Levi... they shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you."

"And you [Aaron] and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve."

He called us all to guard His callings 24/7, to let Him be glorified. Maybe some of us are like the tribe of Levi, we got to guard our spiritual leader that He appointed to feed the others. We guard our spiritual leaders today by our intercession, by the words of encouragement from Him (prophecies), or by our actions. The Levites set their tent in the east facing the sunrise, so that they may guard their spiritual leaders who serve the Lord in the tent of meeting the first thing in the morning. They remained alert to any spiritual attacks in the spiritual warfare and are the first ones to fight against those evil spirits to protect their spiritual leaders and the Israel. It's an honor for us to become the ones who will fight in the spiritual warfare, "to plow the ground".

He called the spiritual leaders who are called to Him, to be with Him and hear Him firsthand so that they can care for their people. There are several different elevation of the mountain. For us who are in the lower part, we will draw the people to the higher level and they will draw those people to the mountaintop. But we are all viewed the same by our God because God judges us by our heart, by our willingness to serve and not be glorified by the people.

Caleb Spirit (Num 14-16)

"But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants will possess it."

Caleb and Joshua didn't let what they saw to overcome them because they knew that the Lord is way bigger than that! So they are given the promise to come into the land with their descendants just because they believed and prepared themselves to conquer the land! They had the Righteous confidence because they allowed God turn their low self-confidence into a Righteous confidence because of their obeidence.

Other ten spies allowed what they saw to overcome them, "we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." As consequence of their disbelieve, they later died of plagues. Also the people who followed them had to go through this formula of penalty: 1 day for 1 year. So they had to go through 40 years of wilderness, 40 years for 40 days that the spies had spied the promise land. So they had to walk around into the wilderness like those people with less confidence since they decided to follow their own confidence not the Righteous confidence that God had given them.

Do we see things around us through our own eyes or through God's eyes? Let us take our eyes away and let Him be our eyes.

Disaster of Complaining (Num 11-13)

"And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp."

It reminds me of how hard it is for me to coach those high school students when they keep complaining, "it hurts", "I am tired", "it is raining outside, I've got to keep my hair neat for the prom!", "I just got my hair done", "it is cold outside!", and many of other murmurs! My frustration began within me, but I love them (I often smiled at their cute little murmurs, "Ok... Come over"!)! In the same way, the Lord's anger was kindled because He knew that He will help us to get into the victory, He wanted us to follow His direction into that victory! But it is up to us to stop complaining and let Him train us into victory. In the same way, I patiently explained them that they will need to keep training in order to win those track and field meets, with some stories of some victories, they knew that their murmurs won't benefit them. I believe that God already showed us some of the victories throughout the Bible, all we need to do is to meditate upon those victories in His story to help us to learn how to stop murmur and let Him be our Lord as He will train us through the time of wilderness or struggles.

Keep Moving as He Moves (Num 9-10)

"So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped... whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time."

Will it be harder for the people of Israel to set out after two days, or a month, or a longer time? I think it would be harder for them to move after a longer time! The longer you stay, the harder it will be to move. When you go out to any cold places and sat at one place for a long time, would you be willingly to move to another seat to give this seat to someone else? No, I would move the chair along with me when I move because my bottom just heated the chair for me, so my chair is getting warmer now! In the same way, the people of Israel might start to settle down by plowing the grounds, or etc, which will make it harder for them to move! Will it be easier for us to become a new friend for those who are lost when we became too comfortable with certain friends? No because we are settled into a "comfort zone"!

The more we tried many new things, keep ourselves moving, and keep pushing ourselves out of every comfort zone we can find, the more we are sensitive to His moving. Do not ever become complacent! Once we moved up, we got to keep ourselves moving higher and higher! We will never be perfect, so we need to keep changing by allowing Him to keep molding us into His image every seconds, every minutes, every hours, every day of our lives.

Presenting Ourselves to Him (Num 6-8)

Nazirite vow and Levites vow awed me; they must be special to God.

Nazirite vow is "when either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord... all the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord."

Levite vow is "wholly given to Me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself... I consecrated them for Myself."

Nazirite vow is (similar to fasting) when you make an individual vow to God to give thanks or just to give honor. In the Bible, this vow includes five guidelines:
1. Voluntarily. One may enter this vow voluntarily. Samuel and Samson was presented by their parents to the vow (1 Samuel 2:8-28, Judges 13:1-5) and John the Baptist received the vow from the birth (Luke 1:13-17).
2. Both men and women can participate. (Women might need approval from her father or her husband if married in Old Testament)
3. Specific time frame. "when the period of his separation is over". Such as from Easter to the days of Pentecost
4. Specific guidelines and restrictions. To establish your vows. Nazirite will not drink wine (not even grape), go near a dead body, or shave their head.
5. Procedure to complete the vow. To celebrate, to put a strong finish to your vow. Nazirite will bring his gifts, and shave his head to offer it to the Lord.

Levite vow is when God has chosen you and called you into 24/7 ministry. God has a specific guidelines and restrictions for you to lead His people, to keep ourselves holy to Him. This vow doesn't include voluntarily, specific time frame, or procedure to complete the vow, but it includes:
1. God's calling. God called the firstborn to be given to Him from the people. In the same way, God called us to specific position in the ministry; we got to heed His leading.
2. Specific guidelines and restrictions. Levites shall serve at the tent of meeting, following the guidelines. What we should do and what we shouldn't do.
3. Procedure to enter the vow. Levites must be sprinkled with the water of purification, shaved their entire body, and wash their clothes and themselves, and then people shall lay their hands on them. We may have to change our old habits and establish our good characters (spirit of fruits) before we are ready to enter into 24/7 ministry.

Challenge: Make a voluntarily vow to Him and seek His specific calling for you.

Reading: Romans 12:1-2, Paul appeals to you, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Being Appointed to a Specific Task (Num 4-5)

"But deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die."

Aaron and his sons are appointed to be the high priests, in another word, they are anointed by Him to perform these things. In the same way, our leading pastors are anointed by Him to handle the church's visions and decisions along with the accountability. Aaron and his sons need to cover the ark of the testimony and deal with Kohathites by assigning them to specific duties that they will be prepared for so that they won't die. In the same way, our leading pastors are anointed to hold the visions and decisions until they are ready to be revealed to the congregation smoothly through the preparation. They also deal with us properly by delegating us to the specific positions that won't over-burden us, causing us to "die" with the overload or with the wrong type of duty assigned to us according to our gifts.

We must be careful to heed to His voice so that He may put us under the right umbrella under those anointed leaders. So we won't have to worry about being misused by them because God will deal with the anointed leaders like how God dealt with Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. When we are under the right umbrella, then we will grow properly under their leadership as we let them take the lead.

Holy Duty at the Tabneracle (Num 1-3)

Tabneracle of the Testimony is the place where God is being present to show the evidence of His glory. He appointed the Levites, Moses and Aaron's bloodline, to perform the Holy Duty to guard the tabneracle and His people. It is a serious duty! In fact, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, leaving Aaron with only Eleazar and Ithamar to serve as priests in the lifetime. Also God told them that if any outsiders try to come near, they shall will die. We wouldn't want to be Levites, being in danger of dying when we disobey the Lord by offering any unauthorized offerings!

But we are all the Levites today! Beware! I'm just kidding! Although we wouldn't die like Nadab and Abihu, but we can die in a different way. Today the tabneracle is within us! After Jesus died, God began to live within us when we accepted Jesus into our heart, so the Tabneracle of Testimony is in our body! Yes we can die when we disobey God like those priests literally. Since God lives within us, He is our Holy Flame. We are on the move when the flame within us keep burning, but we have to be careful not to disobey Him. It will cause the flame inside us to dim. Then we began to die to God sized dreams or passions. After we died, we will start to walk into wrong paths until He shaked our lives and it is up to us to turn back to Him or not. Keep moving in the obedience so that He will keep fanning the flame into us!

Post-Easter: Follow Me (John 19-21)

When Peter saw him (the beloved Apostle John), he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

Jesus asked Peter the "Do you love me?" questions again after the resurrection! Peter may feel offended by this repeated questions from pre-Easter! However, what he didn't realize is that Jesus is training him to follow him. It is easy for him to look across his shoulder to someone else when he saw that someone else is just reclining at table close to Jesus, looking relaxed. The envy began to build up inside Peter, so Peter said, "what about this man?"...

Jesus knew how Peter feel, so he challenged Peter by saying, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" He taught Peter something! He turned Peter's head toward himself, Peter was looking across his shoulder to someone else, but Jesus "turned his head" so that Peter won't compare himself with the others. Then he said, "follow me!"

I once heard a friend saying, "I used to look at other girls' body, I want that leg, I want that hair, I want that shape, and etc. But now I realized that other girls also want something I have that they don't have. So I learned to accept the way I was shaped and appreciate it!" In the same way, other disciples, even John, may see something in Peter that they wanted. Nowadays Peter is well-known among the Christians as the most fearless disciple! No fear!

Harmoniousness of Trinity (John 16-18)

Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven when he spoke those when he prayed before the arrest, "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."

I love how Jesus prayed that we will have the same harmoniousness as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit had, which we called Trinity! And the harmoniousness in us is called the Body of Christ. "Neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, no male and female, no hearing and deaf, no Republic and Democratic, no everything that separate us, for you are all one in Christ Jesus". But how can we work together in the ministry of reconciliation if there are some cultural or language barriers?...

Jesus continued his prayer, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in me, that they may become perfectly one, SO that the world may know that You sent me and loved them even as You loved me."

It's amazing how God enables us to work together in harmoniousness like Trinity by His glory! But did we see any harmoniousness in us, the Body of Christ? How can we become "perfectly one"? How can we include everyone into the "perfectly one"? Everything comes by His glory, so that the world may know Him. Did you see that? I love how Jesus gave us the answer by saying, "SO that" to make us focus on "the world may know You". Why does he pray for the harmoniousness in us? He prayed for it because he wanted us to glorify God by our harmoniousness!

In fact, when the team went to Nicaragua for the mission trip, I think we had a glimpse of harmiousness in us. All of us are deaf and hearing, hispanic, asian and white, young and older, and signers and non-signers. The harmoniousness in this group seems to attract one guy to say that he never seen a group like this and wanted to join us and felt like he is part of this Spiritual Family suddenly! I think he saw the glimpse of His glory through the harmoniousness.

I just got to pray this, feel free to pray this together as well (pwetty please), "Daddy Up There, help us to learn how to be one like how You all are One. Help us to change our attitude so that we may do everything here to glorify You. Open our eyes to anything that hinders us from being an authentic servant to one another. I know that You will father us and change our inner self into Your image likeness! Thank you, in the name of Trinity, Amen!"

Going Extreme (John 13-15)

Sometimes we can be out of balance in one way or another like the pendulum in the grandfather clock when we stepped out of our rhythm of life. I once went out of the balance! It is all about learning. I went out of the balance when I received the word, "Fight" into my heart from a sermon. After this message came into my heart, I have seen how God have been pushing me to grow in that area one by one through a teacher, a friend, a book, etc. So, after getting this deeper into my heart, I went back home to confront my dad in an extreme way. I believed that God wanted me to do this because He put this message into my heart. But, what I didn't realize is that I didn't have the wisdom to procceed this word of the Lord in the right way. So, through my mistakes, my pendulum finally start to "find it's place". I finally learned how to "fight" for the change in a right way, to start growing and cut off the cord. Of course, we all had to learn how to cut off the cord with our parents when we grow up, so that we will be able to grow healthy!

In the same way, Peter went to extreme when he told Jesus to wash his hands and head as well! After hearing Jesus' confrontation about "having no share with me", Peter changed his statement suddenly. In the same way, we may change something in our life when we heard something from God and change ourselves in an extreme way.

Before Peter went into extreme, he refused to let Jesus to wash his feet. Then after Jesus' confrontation, he asked Jesus to wash his entire being! Although we can see how Peter made a lot of mistakes throughout the Bible, he matured a lot out of his mistakes! Jesus pulled him out of water, Jesus taught him why he needed to be served by Jesus, Jesus showed him love and forgiveness when he denied Jesus, and more! But from all of this, Peter grew!

We may be holding something, let the pendulum begin to move. So that we will be able to find the center, to find the balance, to find what He wants us to learn!
"Let go, let God!"

Proclaim Them In Faith (John 10-12)

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that You have listen to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that You sent me."

Jesus prayed that prayer right before he commanded Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and out he came, wrapped from head to toe. Lazarus is probably the first mummy to come out alive as Pastor Mark mentioned in the weekend sermon! Here is our first Mummy movie... but before any of those miracle happened, Jesus decided to proclaim His promises in faith before he performs the miracle! Sometimes we knew that God will do something in our lives, but do we claim them? Do we proclaim about His promises in faith? Well, Jesus did.

Maybe some of us are like Thomas, the one called the Twin (also called Thomas the Doubt), who said to his companions, "Come along. We might as well die with him" after Jesus called them all to go back to Judea with him because they knew that the Jews are out to kill them. Well! He was right! If the disciples and Thomas went alone, they could be killed, but since they went with Jesus, they weren't! One of my favorite quote is: "If you think you can, you can! If you think you cannot, then you are right!". Basically, this quote is right in our Christianity faith, but with His promises not ours. If we are like Thomas the Doubt, then we need to increase our faith, to believe and act.

Jesus told them, "Are there not twelve hourse of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going." What does that mean? It showed us that we got to keep our eyes on Him and let Him be our light. So that we will know what we should do and where we should go! Jesus knew, so he went! Thomas the Doubt didn't, so he could have stumbled, but because he was with Jesus, he didn't! We need to keep ourselves in the daylight!

Faith is more than believing His words, it includes our action! Proclaim!