Show Hospitality! (1 Peter 4-5)

"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace."

Can a mailman delivers all of the letters and boxes to his home? Of course, the answer is "NO"! A mailman cannot keep all of the letters and boxes to himself, but to deliver them according to the labeled addresses. It is a mailman's job to deliver all of those to specific houses because the mailman earned for it. In the same way, we are designed to be God's mailmen. Each of us has received a gift from God, but we are to receive it in order to serve one another as His mailmen, to edify one another. Paul encouraged us all to edify one another at Church rather than ourselves.

But when we receive a letter or a box from someone at our house, we are designed to open those gifts at our home. When we are like His off-duty mailmen alone at home, we need to open those gifts to edify ourselves because we earned the rest! We edify ourselves so that we may feel refreshed and refueled to be able to edify the others when we are among our sisters and brothers. We are here to show hospitality to another without grumbling!

Be a good steward of His gifts!

Preparing Minds for Action (1 Peter 1-3)

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hopefully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

David once prepared his minds for action as he shepherd the sheep! Although he knew that he would be a king someday because God had anointed him to be a king. He still sing to Him and watch over the sheep, and God was the One who build him up. David didn't do anything by himself, except preparing his minds for action and allowed God to bring him the increasing grace. "From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace."

Some of us probably sang this once:
"When the spirit of the Lord moves upon my heart
I will dance like David danced
When the spirit of the Lord moves upon my heart
I will dance like David danced"

By singing and shepherding in a pasture, David must have had a lot of time with Him. Imagine how you'd feel if you're sitting at the roof, watching over the people you know walking on the sidewalk. I probably feel the inner peace as I meditate about His greatness and how He created all of us different and beautiful! In the same way, David must have seen His beauty through his shepherd that he cannot contain his words, so he sang! Some of us may sing a song to Him within our heart, some of us may sing a song with our hands or lips, whatever you do, sing to him.

By worshipping, we are preparing our hearts to the revelation, to learn. We need to open our hearts to Him before He can feed us. We had to remove any hinderances in our lives like how David sang to cast out the demons in Saul's life. So that we may understand what is proper by His revelations and act. "As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct."

Out of Order! (Colossians 3-4)

"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord."

I can imagine that Paul probably would say "Out of Order!" when someone in a Christian household didn't follow the guideline. Today I saw several people signing, "Out of Order!" in a business meeting when someone didn't follow the guideline! A business meeting includes all of "I motion this", "I second this", "Let this discussion be closed", and so on. If the members didn't know the guideline, then the meeting will never run smoothly like a broken notes in a music. So we had few parliament in the meeting to observe the order. If someone is out of order, then the parliament will check the guideline from the bylaws to correct the order.

In a Christian homes or a Church, when something is "Out of Order" a music in God's ear is full of broken notes because we didn't make any harmiony sound on the earth. It's not about who is on the stage, who is a voting member, or who is sitting in the back, but how we work together to achieve a purpose! In the same way, it is not about who is in the charge of the Christian household, but how we work together to achieve a purpose!

Generally I say: Wives had to submit, in order to allow men to lead. It is easy for women to take many leading roles with multi-task skills and to nag men about their limitation! Husbands had to love, in order to make women feel secured. It is easy for men to work hard physically toward one purpose with full focus and forget their companionship. Children had to obey, in order to allow their parents to be their greatest advocate.

Who's your household parliament? Is your household "Out of Order"?

Pulled Into This & That! (Phil 3-4)

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Some of us may feel like we are pulled into this and that! Being tossed to and fro by the waves. Being carried away by every wind of doctrine and any deceitful schemes. Our minds are clouded. Being vulnerable to anything that may come as we were tossed to and fro by the waves in the scary wide-open ocean... so huge!

"What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me- practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Learn how to stop allowing yourself being tossed to and fro by the wave. Start to stand up and walk in the midst of waves like Peter did with an intense focus. With that focus, we will have the God of peace with us. Don't ever look away from Jesus to look into the circumstances! Stay focused and let Him bring strength into your lives so that you can do all things through Him!

His Grace & Our Faith (Eph 1-3)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

God's the One who led us to where we are now! By missing the flight one day before the New Year Eve, God used it to turn my life around completely so that I may not boast. By the sleepless nights throughout the Easter weekend, God used it to direct me into Protege program, so that I may not boast. By giving the testimony at National Alpha breakfast prayer, God directed two men to speak in my life which led me to buy this netbook I'm using to type my blogs and shoot my webcam for vblogs, so that I may not boast! God directed us into all of those things so that we may not boast because He is the one who did it all! All of those things are given to us through His grace!

By receiving the revelations from God, God directed Paul to write and made him into a minister, so that he may not boast. So Paul writes to you, "Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly... of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace."

You are CALLED! By receiving His grace, you are called into something! You are called to receive His gifts, His grace! We are called to take a step in receiving the gift from Him, His grace. But we have to take a step to receive it. Winners had to walk toward the stage to receive the awards, in the same way, we have to walk by the faith to receive the gifts! We are called to walk as those winners toward the stage! Paul said, "We have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him."

His Grace + Our Faith = Our Callings (Awards) Retrieved!

Are Our Door Open? (Acts 27-28)

Acts began with, "In the first book [Luke], O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach." Let's look at what Luke wrote in the book of Luke, "It seemed good to me also having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."

Luke carefully wrote those two books in an orderly account so that we may see how Jesus began to do and teach, then the Church continued throughout the book of Acts! I don't know why Luke ended the book of Acts with this:
"Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the kingdom of God. He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open."
It seems like a good way to end all of the storms Paul went through doesn't it? He finally got himself settled down into his rented house. It is easy for us to settle ourselves into something comfortable with walls around us, secured. But Paul didn't do that even though he was settled down for two years! He kept proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance!

Are we too secured? Or are we keeping the door open to anybody to come in and go? Are our door open to anyone, even to someone weird? Push your door open for Jesus' sake.

No Problem: God Has Spoken (Acts 25-26)

Paul reminds me of Mother Teresa! In April 1942, when she was 36 years old, "God tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a picture for what her life would look like from that point forward. She was to serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, she was to live among the people she would be serving, she was to eat what they ate, dress as they dressed, and do so quietly for the rest of the days of her life." -Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels (pg. 256)

In the same way, I think God tapped Paul on his shoulder and gave him the picture of what he would do in the jail, so that instead of being free, Paul decided to appeal to Caesar. King Agrippa was puzzled when he said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." I believe that God placed Paul in this position to be able to speak into King Agrippa's live, causing him to ask Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?" After he heard Paul's testimony, he might think that Paul was crazy and knew that he could have been freed. I don't know what kind of effects Paul had on King Agrippa, but we all know that he was talking about Paul! After King Agrippa heard Paul, he said, "this man could have been set free [but he had chosen not to]!"

After Mother Teresa received a clear picture from God, she appealed to her boss to send her out to Calcutta, to let her go. She was a teacher at that time. For four months, she kept appealing to Father Van Exem and won. But she faced other obstacle: the archbishop said no. But she wrote letters to him like the persistent widow until he finally let her go! She could have stayed at her teaching job, but she appealed and got herself into poverty like how Paul got himself into an extended time in prison!

Would the assignment be difficult?
No problem: God had spoken.
Would it require her to be uprooted from the other sisters and from her friends?
No problem: God had spoken.
Would it involve her working the rest of her life with diseased and broken people in one of the poorest places on the planet?
No problem: "God has spoken," she said, "and I will refuse him nothing." Mother Teresa said yes, and she intended to fulfill her fully yielded commitment to God without delay. (pg. 260, Hybels)

I love how Paul and Mother Teresa kept sharing their vision with the others! They never gave up, or even avoided those tough calling: to go into the prison and to go into the poverty! There they boldly shared their testimonies!

Close-Knitted Families (Acts 21-22)

Two days ago, my grandparents took their time to turn their IDs at the airport counter to receive a permission to enter the small airport to be with me, waiting at Gate 7 until people started lining up to go on board the plane. 3 months ago, the NICA team arrived Nicaragua aiport to find Matt and Eva Barlow waiting among the crowd, waving at us when we arrived to welcome us! Less than 2,000 years ago, the families, including children, went on their journey to be with Paul and his team until they "were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we [Paul and the team] went on board the ship, and they [close-knitted families] returned home."

I was disappointed when the Bible didn't describe how Paul and his team felt when those families knelt with them to pray with them and see them depart! I bet they felt encouraged and energized like I did! But let's look at the opposing effect, those people who urged Paul and his team not to go. Paul said, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." Because those people didn't support Paul and his team like the other close-knitted families, they broke Paul's heart!

Do we want to be like those close-knitted families who knelt and pray with the team or be like those people who worried about the team? Do we want to build them up by our courage or tear them down by our fear? Do we kneel and pray with our sisters and brothers when they depart and greet them when they return? Well, let's take time to energize one another to do a ministry of reconciliation 24/7!

A Beautiful Thorn (2 Cor 12-13)

"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited."

A lot of us don't know what was Paul's thorn in his side. But according to the verse, it says that it is like a messenger of Satan to harass him. A messenger is the one who carries messages or performs errands as a military or etc. Imagine ourselves in God's bubbles, protected, then our lives would be easy (conceited)! But while we are in His bubbles, we still face the messengers of Satan around us with beautiful thorns, trying to puncture our bubbles to make us fall! So we have to scan the area and move our bubbles to avoid the beautiful thorns. Instead of sitting like those kings and queens in God's bubbles, we will have to keep moving and moving to keep ourselves safe in God's bubbles.

A lot of us thought, like Paul, that we would live perfectly when we received Jesus Christ into our heart and began to follow Him. That wasn't true! Each of us were given the thorn because the messengers of Satan is still around to harass us. Each of us might have a dream or a vision that came from God, and then we heard other voices that is harassing us. Those harassing voices came from the messengers of the Satan, trying to blow-up our God-sized dream or vision by giving us doubts, fears, guilts, anger, etc. Yeah, our minds are like a battlefield where we battles the messengers of Satan in the spiritual warfare! Most times we cannot conquer our mind, so it forces us to kneel and beg God to come into our mind and take over our battlefield! By His grace, He will come and conquer the messengers of Satan for Jesus Christ had conquered them in the spiritual warfare 2,000 years ago! If we have the capable to win the spiritual warfare on our own, then will we be able to kneel down before Him to beg in humility? Will we be able to lift up our hands to Him in reverence? I think our beautiful thorns gave us the ability to kneel before Him in reverence when we were in our own room!

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Stay dependent upon Him!

Present Action, Away Speaking (2 Cor 9-10)

"I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!" It's hard to imagine Paul like me or you people! I once asked my friends whether I should tell a guy that I liked him because I want to get it over with! But my friends once told me that it's better to tell a guy that I like him face to face. So I ended up saying nothing about it because I couldn't muster up a courage to say it in front of him. I am a bit more bold in my messaging in some ways! Now reading about how Paul was humble in front of his people, and wrote boldly when he was away amazed me! Was it one of his weaknesses? Is it one of our weaknesses. It makes me rethink about my friends' advices!

Well, I think we have some explaination from his people about his action here: "For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.' [then Paul responded:] Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present."

The people claim that Paul wasn't a good speaker and a good confrontation when present. So they criticized him, but Paul defended by saying, "we do when present". Paul is trying to tell them that it is better to act when present like how my power puff coach once signed, "Action speaks louder volume" on my yearbook. Sometimes we don't have to speak when we are present, but to set example by our action! Do we speak less and act more when we are present? Or when we are doing the ministry?

Afflicted At Every Turn... (2 Cor 7-8)

Sometimes we felt trapped at every turn! One way or another, we will always face those obstacles! What do we do? Paul felt that way once, "we were afflicted (hurt) at every turn - fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus." Sometimes there's nothing we can do, but to do what is right in His sight and allow Him to send someone to encourage us like how God sent Titus to encourage them!

Sometimes it is tough to be able to please God and please our sisters and brothers at the same time when they don't think alike! But Paul encouraged us to make an effort, "For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man." Maybe we are in a situation where we are trying to please God by submitting to our bosses, our parents, our coaches, our teachers, or our supervisors although they aren't fair! I recalled when I once was a student, I usually follow every directions and finish my assignments. My habit was consistent, but I later found out that few of my teachers began to use my commitment as a tool to push other students to finish theirs as well! Those teachers didn't realize that they are using 'deadly comparison'! So my peers began to beg me to throw away my assignment in order to be on their side, saying, "we didn't know" or "we couldn't finish our assignment because..." or creating any other excuses! I was tempted to please them because I don't want to be on teacher's side because I knew that it is wrong to compare! I also don't want to be considered as those "goody-goody" people. I want to take away the privilege from my teachers to compare me with the others. But I knew that I will be afflicted one way or another. So I chose to please Him by doing what's right, by not compromising my integrity. Yea, as I looked back, I realized that I could have talked with my teacher about how comparing may hurt their self-esteem, it's what I call a 'deadly comparison'. But if my teacher refused to listen, then there is nothing I can do but to keep my integrity so that I may be blameless in every point. We cannot do anything about what others may feel about us, but we can do our part by doing what's honorable before God and men.

"At every point you've proved yourself innocent in the matter."

Aim to Win! (2 Cor 5-6)

"So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him." It reminds me of many basketball practices and games! Our coach often told us that we should work hard at practices (home) or games (away). So we had to work hard to please our coach no matter what! As a captian of the team, I naturally acted like an assistant coach due to my increased experience and knowledge from playing some street ball and some league games in the summer. We all have to play hard in practices in order to win our games! Do we 'please Him hard' at our home in the same way we pleased Him among the people out there? To win the games, we have to play hard in practices! To win the lives, we have to START HARD AT HOMES!


"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation... we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found within our ministry." However, the problem existed when we faced an obstacle within the team when jealousy existed! Of course, as the captain of the team, the girls felt like I was being favored by the coach. They began to forgot that we play as a team that they allowed their jealousy to destroy us to the point when I finally had enough. At the end of the practice, our coach finally got us girls together. I found out that few of them thought I was being selfish with the ball, so I thought, "Oh! That's why a gap had existed between us!". But after a teacher and a fan of ours (by divine appointment he had showed up to observe this practice!) stood up to share his perspective in the meeting, which finally opened up their perspective. Now they knew that sometimes I blocked the opponent in order to make an opening for a teammate to make a lay-up. Passed the ball to the player who's wide-open than I am. Passed the ball to the teammate who is closer to the basket rather than shooting the ball myself. And so on! So one of them came to me after the meeting to apologize, after that the obstacle was removed and we improved as a team! Because we aim to win!


"You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also." Sometimes we may see things differently than the leader or the teammates do because we are restricted to our own view! We have to remember that we only have our own perspective, our own affections. So we need to open up our perspectives to see other perspectives to understand how we can work together as a team. Maybe you didn't make any eye contacts with your point guard. Maybe you didn't get yourself into the opening. Maybe you are positioning yourself wrong! You will need to know why your point-guard didn't pass you the ball. In the same way, you will need to understand how your teammates think. Widen your eyes and hearts to be part of the Church! Be part of the huge ministry of reconciliation!

Situation Wasted Away, Memories Cherished! (2 Cor 3-4)

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day... as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen."

Last Saturday, I had a great trip to the Outlander with the 2ndthief motorcycle group to do an outreach ministry there! It was a wonderful chance for me to get know other brothers and sisters! After several wonderful hours there, everything went upside-down when we stopped at a gas station to fill up our tanks when my motorcycle key broke into halves. One half was stuck in the gas ignition and I was holding the other half-end of the key. Man, this ain't right! I was supposed to do a ministry here! I believed that God has opened this opportunity for me to be part of the 2ndthief ministry, so why did He allowed this to happen? Is my faith being put into a test? Or is He trying to show me something?

After we made some phone calls, we found a friend who can help me out. We ate at Pizza Hut nearby as we waited for him to come. When he arrived, they helped getting my motorcycle up and secured, so I rode with him, Rotorwash, back home! I had a chance to get know Rotorwash and learned about his heroic story. Now I knew why he had a tiger tattoo on his left elbow! He had slaughtered a tiger in self-defense! It reminds me of how Benaniah had chased a lion down into the pit on a snowy day! I felt like I've overlooked a modern-day Benaniah, til I had the chance to talk with him as we roll over to DC!

When I got home, I sat on my favorite chair pondering about all of those things. I realized that the question wasn't about whether God had tested me throught this situation or whether I had done something wrong. It's about looking at the unseen. My motorcycle will die someday, but this loving memory will never die! It's worth for whatever it will cost me to have a locksmith get my bike fixed! Money will come and go even if I will get myself into a deeper hole. I'd rather see how much God love me through those caring brothers to be filled with His love! His love costs much more than we can afford! When my money is wasting away, I am being renewed by His love! If you are facing the same situation today, let's look at how those situations may bring something to be cherished into our lives!

Someone Had Caused Pain! (2 Cor 1-2)

Paul encouraged us to forgive whoever had caused us some pain because he didn't want us to be "outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs." But how can we be outwitted by Satan when someone had caused us pain? Well, when we forgive, we released the anti-love that is given to us by someone who had caused us pain. We released the bondage thoughts that may remain in our head when we are unforgiving. It is like being chained to such a thoughts of anger, revenge, resentment, bitterness and any other negative thoughts.

It's like taking some drugs. Some drugs are used to heal our bodies, while some other drugs are used to bring harm to our bodies. When we are taking wrong drugs, we escaped the pain for a short time, but the pain will come back when the effects are gone! We faced the harsh reality once again! Then we decided to take more drugs and so on! Now we are addicted to it and it caused some damage to our bodies! We are now bounded to addictive drugs! In the same way, we may be addicted to anti-love thoughts! We kept thinking about the act of revenge, maybe we think about the spot where we will punch a person with our fist, causing some blood to drip all over his chin, and then he might have a crooked nose forever! Well, that doesn't help! After such a thought, we realized that we entertained those thoughts to face the harsh reality that we will face any consequences if we put those thoughts into action! That's how Satan designed it to be! BONDAGE!

Well, how do we stop such a thought? Paul says, "this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him." Maybe we need to forgive that person and let those wasteful thoughts fly! So that we may be free, and so that this person may rediscover His love. Hopefully that person was rebuked by the majority, so that he/she may learn from it. But that person will need as much reaffirm as he/she can get from you!

Let the fragrance of our love spreads throughout everywhere, so that the Lord will be known!

The Work of the Lord (1 Cor 15-16)

Paul said, "I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." Paul knew that he did the worse thing to the followers of Christ because he once approved Stephen's death, which shows his anti-love for the Christ! He once desired to be an hero by persecuting the Church, thinking that he was doing the right thing! In the same way, some of us may think that we are doing right, calling ourselves Christians like how Paul called himself the true follower of the true God of Israel! How may we know whether we are like Saul (anti-love) or like Paul (love)? Anti-love is when we tear down one another, while love is when we build one another up. It is deadly to criticize one another! "You are an idiot!", "Dumb!", "This is screwed-up, don't you know how to do it right?", "Oh, little boy, here you go!", "You don't know any better!", "He could have done this.", "This person didn't do that!", and so on...

We all forgot to do the work of the Lord. Paul said, "My beloved brother, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." But we often thought that it meant "busy" and we began to get ourselves busy! We began to overlook the part where Paul said, "Let all that you do be done in love". Ta-da! The only work of the Lord that we can labor is to labor in love! But what does it means to labor in love? It is to labor in building one another up! We often tried to fix other Christians or nonChristians by criticizing them, trying to make them clean and perfect. Paul (Saul) once tried to make them perfect and clean, following all of Jews' traditions and laws. Jesus came to screw up some of the laws by healing someone on Sabbath! So the followers of Christ screwed up some of the laws by being led by the Spirit to reach out the Gentiles out of love! Paul (Saul) was here to destroy (killing) them, but the Christians were there to build up one another by love.

Since we cannot try to fix one another, we got to let it go and learn to love one another! Paul said, "All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss." SMACK! Well that was my holy kiss! I am just making a visibly noise "SMACK" for you all, not a real one! Is it awkward, eh? I think I'd done my part of labor here. Didn't I?

Together By One Spirit (1 Cor 12-14)

Within the Body of Christ, as part of the Church, Paul encouraged us to not be uninformed. He wanted us to know that there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are three categories of three gifts each:
-Know supernatural: discerning of spirits, word of wisdom, word of knowledge
-Speak supernatural: prophecy, different tongues, interpretation of tongues
-Act supernatural: faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles

All of those gifts are given to us as if we are the mailman. It is not for us to be glorified, but for us to receive those gifts and give it to someone who need it as a mailman and glorify the Sender by writing His name and address on the top-left corner of the mail. We are to use them to encourage one another by love. Like how the ants use their Holy Antenne to communicate with one another (Prov 6:6). If one ant died, they all will come together to carry the deceased ant! If one ant found a rich pile of food, then it will rejoice and call other ants through the antenne, so they will come together to carry those rich foods! "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

We need to watch those ants and learn from them about the harmoniousness, and see how we may be like them in edifying one another rather than oneself through His spiritual gifts. "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Whatever should break someone's heart should break His heart and because His heart is broken, our heart should be broken as well! So we should break our hearts together as a Body of Christ. It doesn't matter if we come from different races, cultures, traditions, languages, churches, etc, but we all come from the same Spirit.

Debating Divides! (1 Cor 10-11)

There are some things in the Bible that contradict one another, but there is one phrase that hits me, "Judge for yourself". It's amazing how most of us overlooked this short statement! I think Paul refused to give us a solid answer because he probably don't! It is as if he is saying, "I don't know, all I know is this or that... judge for yourself."

If you read the entire chapter carefully, you will see how smoothly Paul had switched from one point to another! I think he skillfully turned us from the man laws into God's grace throughout this chapter. We got to be extra carefully when we read Paul's skillfully letters! In fact, Peter warned us, "There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destriction, as they do the other Scriptures." (2 Peter 3:16)

"Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women [that also applies to the young and the old, married and singles, Jews and Gentiles, etc]. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her "head," her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines." -1 Cor 11:10-12 MSG

Sometimes we got to stop trying to figure out who's better than one another or who has more authority over one another. We all may forget that Jesus is the head of every man, but He came here to serve (as in under) every man! What does it means to have an authority when one is here to serve? Quit debating about who comes first for we bring division in a Church when we do that. BUT the good news is that God used the division to bring something!

"I hear that there are divisions among you... For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized."

Adorn Your Inner Self (1 Cor 8-9)

'This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up." -1 Cor 8:1

Some people memorized a lot of scriptures, some people dress themselves into a business suit, and some people walk with their heads up straight among the security. We may feel intimidated by those people who are well-known. Imagine ourselves walking pass Paul, the well-known apostle, maybe he walked in a business suit and he smoothly spoke about the gospel to everyone around him with his head lifted up with boldness as the disciples surrounded him. I don't think so!

Paul encouraged us to be full of love that lasts not full of puffs! Paul said, "to the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law that I might win those under the law... to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." If he will become like those around him, then what would Paul be like if he was in DC today? He probably would braid his hair and put on bandanas and dress in old black clothes to be among the ghetto part of the city. Or he probably would dress in the business suit to be among the senators as they meet. Or he probably would dress in a "In a Pit with a "Lion on a Snowy Day" t-shirt and a coolest jean with some holes when he walked among NCCers (people who attends National Community Church are called NCCers) at Ebenezers Coffeehouse as he puts his hands into his pockets.

That's what Paul is probably like! Although our perspective of Paul may completely change when he changes his outlook, but we have to remember that Paul will always be Paul for his inner self will never change! He will always have the "handsome" inner self... well that's from what we have been reading!

"Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." - 1 Peter 3:3-4

Be Yoked With Someone (1 Cor 5-7)

"Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches."

I believe that some of us are assigned to be married, some of us are assigned to be single. But Paul said, "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord." Those singles may roam around like a high-spirited horse because they aren't reined to anything. They may be able to 'gird up their loin and run ahead' like Elijah, wander into the wilderness like John the Baptist, and travel all around the world to do many powerful things like Paul did.

What can a married couple do? Well let's look into what Paul said, "Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." This verse is powerful! Do you ever feel like you are lacking a self-control? Paul is saying that married people need to go into their bedroom to do their X-rated thingy so that they may increase their self-control over the sexual immorality! Let's look into a horse-pull rule: one horse can pull 700 pounds and another horse can pull 800 pounds, how much weight will they pull yoked together? 700 + 800 = 1,500? Wrong! The two-horse team will pull their own weight plus the weight of their interaction to make it double. So they can pull 3,000 pounds yoked together! But they aren't able to wander freely like the free-spirited horse into any perilous grounds and do something dangerous for Him!

But all of us, singles, can yoke with someone like how Paul yoked himself with Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, and other same-gender-singles. We can 'horse-hopping' in our heavy-horse pull chores! Sometimes it may be a torture to look for another same-gender-singles to yoke with! In the same way, it may be a torture to look for a opposite sex to commit ourselves to. While we are looking for someone to be yoked with, let us be "anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord."

Baby Food Stages (1 Cor 3-4)

One mother asked: "I see the stages for baby foods such as 1st foods, 2nd foods, and 3rd foods. I have seen different charts that tell when they should eat certain foods and how much of them they should get at each month, however, when I go to the grocery store, I see the labels that say 1, 2, or 3, and I get confused. At which age group are each of them for and when I should switch between them? How many months should my baby be in order to start each of the groups?"

Here is a response to her question: "This can be a confusing topic. The problem is that each company that makes baby food uses a different label for each 'stage' of food. These stages aren't standardized, so you will have to do some findings. In general, begin with stage 1 foods for beginners, and don't offer your child toddler foods, which often contain chunks, until he is an experienced eater."

Paul said, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?"

The hardest thing about feeding the spiritual foods is that there is no standardized labels like the baby foods! But in general, if we see a division among the people, then we will know that they are not ready for the solid foods. But what did Jesus do? Jesus fed them parables, so that they will drink some milk, and those who aren't satified with the milk will come to Jesus to ask him about the parables to receive the solid foods from Him because they are ready. Jesus didn't force them to eat the solid foods.

If Jesus tried to force them to eat the solid foods, then they will spat them out like the babies due to their spiritual tongue-thrust reflex. The tongue-thrust reflex is a reflex that helps a baby to prevent choking (it usually disappear around 4 months). Until this reflex is gone, the babies will just spat out the solid foods and none of it will make it into their tummy's. So, why waste those solid spiritual foods if they won't go to their tummy? Give them spiritual milk.

They need time to get to know Him more before we start to feed them solid stuff. Give them the basic teachings such as using the Alpha courses that teaches: who is Jesus, why did Jesus die, how can we have faith, and etc. Don't give them harsh rules like how the circumcision party required the Gentiles to be circumcised. We may cause them to spat them out or to become some robots who may never know how to live their life to the fullest!