Noah

1 Corinthians 13:1

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and through I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity

Let’s go back in time a little bit. Let’s go back to the years of being a newborn baby to a young child and if you can’t remember that far back then just go back as far as you can remember. What was your life like? Simple. Fun. Happy. Sad. Frustrating. Exciting. When you were younger, you didn’t have to worry about bills or responsibility. For those that were fortunate, you had fun and you did exciting things. It was awesome when you got that new toy you always wanted, but frustrating when you didn’t get the thing you wanted like when one of your relatives bought you clothes. “Why’d you get me clothes?” is usually the thought you had in your mind but your parents would urge you on and force you to give a smile and say thank you. It was sad when you lost your favorite toy or something special to you at the time, but it was also exciting when you went out and learned new things. Seems like there’s something we’re missing here don’t you think? Reflecting back on those days, the fact that you are living now is a testament to this one big thing that is constantly overlooked today. Love. You see as a child or a toddler you’re given so much love in whatever situation you are in. You had some sort of food, water, shelter, clothes and entertainment. Even in the worst of families or the worst environments if you are living today that is living proof that love existed in your life no matter how hard it was. That idea of love seems to fade as those children get older and the parents are no exception either. Today, it’s almost like a standard. Growing up means that you love less and get loved less. Becoming an adult and being a responsible person shifts beliefs that we once had as children. The idea of love changed and this doesn’t just apply to non-Christians, it very well applies to Christians also. Just think about this for a moment and we’ll get back to it. 1 Corinthians 13 is a famous chapter in the Bible for a special reason and that is because it talks about what everyone craves. Love or Charity in the KJV version. Paul, the author of this Book, describes love in verses 4 through 7. Love is patient (suffereth long). Love is kind. Love does not envy or is not boastful (vaunteth). Love is not arrogant or rude (puffed up). Love behaves properly (doth not behave itself unseemly). Love doesn’t demand it’s own way (seeketh not her own). Love doesn’t get provoked easily and doesn’t think of evil. Love does not rejoice in evil but instead in the truth. Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. 14 ways to describe what love, true love, really is. I remember as a child in Sunday school we had an option to memorize verses in order to gain a prize if we said it all correctly. 1 Corinthians 13 just happened to be one of those verses... Well a whole chapter that I had memorized back then to win this prize that I can’t remember what it was anymore. As a young child, I didn’t understand the Bible; I understood some of the stories, but not really a lot of the technical things. It wasn’t until much more recently of going through God’s Word that I started to understand a lot more of the technical aspects of the Bible and paid more attention to the words that were being written. Love is one of those things that is really hard to explain, but easier to just do as an action. Instead of explaining love to someone or something, you perform an action like a hug or kiss or a genuine emotion where people understand what you are feeling without you even saying a word. The only issue with people’s definition of love is that it doesn’t coincide with what God’s definition of love is. Love in its fullest sense comes from God and God alone. You might ask how this is and the answer is quite simple. 1 John 4:7-8 says this: “7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Love is of God and God is love. So simple, yet so profound and difficult to comprehend, but to have love in your life means that God must be present because God is Love! Backtracking now to 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, Paul talks about using gifts from God but without love those gifts are nothing. Verse 1 talks of speaking in tongues of both people and angels but without love that gift just sounds like a brass or a cymbal. It’s just a loud noise and nothing more. Verse 2 talks of prophecy, understanding, knowledge and being full of faith to be able to remove a mountain, but without love it’s nothing, absolutely nothing. Verse 3 talks about giving to the poor and being willing to die, but without love nothing is gained from doing that. So just think, even if we had all these amazing gifts and talent and knowledge and wisdom, without any love all of that is irrelevant. It’s nothing. Just take that in for a second, because next we move onto the next set of verse 8 to 12. It starts with saying “Charity never faileth” or love never fails. Prophecies will fail, tongues or words will go away, knowledge will vanish, but love will always stay. I’m reminded of Jesus’s teachings in the Bible and all that He did and prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. However what stands out the most in all that Jesus did was this: He died and was crucified on the cross for all of our sins. Every single person to live at that time and to ever live. Not only that but He was resurrected and defeated death. Through Jesus and Him only, every single person has the opportunity to go to Heaven and have eternal life which in my opinion is the ultimate gift. If that doesn’t describe love to you then I don’t know what else to tell you. Jesus is a prime example of what it means to love; to truly love and over anything He did, His sacrifice is what is most notable for non-believers and believers alike today. This is also what sets us up for the next verses in 9 and 10 and it says: “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away”. Right now we only know a small portion of the puzzle. Our knowledge and our understanding of the Bible and God is so little. Even the smartest of all those that study the Bible only know a partial piece; the “in part”. However once the “perfect” comes, in other words when Jesus comes back for the believers in the rapture and the second coming, then the “in part” will be gone because at that point we will finally understand the full picture. This now leads us to verses 11 and 12 which correlates with verses 9 and 10. So now let’s go back to when you were younger, your childhood days. Think of how little you knew compared to now. Back then you were a child you thought like a child and talked like a child and understood as a child, but once you got older and became a grown man or woman now those childish ways are in the past now. Well for some people they might think forever young, but for most of us we eventually start to grow up. Next, you look into a mirror but it's hard to see. It’s dark and you see a figure. As that figure gets closer, you start to see a silhouette and eventually that figure is face to face with you. You now see that the figure you are looking at is Jesus and your understanding of everything is now unlocked and full. As believers, we all have a journey, a path that God has set before us. It’s up to us whether or not we want to follow it, but if we made the decision to believe in God and put our faith in Him and accept that Jesus is our Lord and Savior then our feet will go on that narrow path, but by God’s will, He will lead us through it. Love is a never ending mastery that we will always need to improve on while we are living on this earth, but the amazing part is when we meet God in Heaven our knowledge and understanding will be like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. It will literally be mind blowing. The biggest take away for love is found in the last verse, verse 13. “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Faith, hope and love comes naturally as we follow God and begin walking with Him, but if we were to focus on anything, the greatest of these things is love. So let’s love one another, love God, and even love yourself because you are God’s creation. God loves us unconditionally and we will never be able to love him equally back, but what we can do is share some of the love we received from God with others. So remember to love and love as God describes it, don’t put it in your own words. Let’s chase after God’s true love.

Matthew 22:34-4

Matthew 13:1-23: 1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Imagine a world much more different than the world of today. A world where persecution is the standard, a world where laws no longer keep people in order, a world where people’s hearts have turned cold to one another and to God. How would you be living in this world? Would you still be an individual who’s heart is still on fire for God? Would you be confident sharing God’s Word knowing that there is a possibility you could be killed any day because of your faith? Or would you just be like everyone else; cold-hearted, afraid, luke-warm in your faith, and close- minded where God can no longer work in your heart? Days like these are coming, in fact some of the things I talked about are already here. So we know this now, but as Christians how are we supposed to act and live in a time like this? In this chapter in Matthew, Jesus went out of the house He was staying in and a great multitude of people gathered by the sea shore to hear Him speak, so He told them and the disciples a parable about a sower. There were four results of where the sower sowed his seeds and each of them is a representation of a people living in the world. The first were seeds which fell on the edge of the road and fowls came and ate it all up (vs. 4). The second were seeds which fell on rocks and other stony places that sprung up quickly because there was not enough soil, but when the sun came up, they all withered away because they had no roots (vs. 5-6). The third were seeds which fell among thorns and the thorny plants sprung up and choked the seeds so they could not grow (vs. 7). The final result were seeds that fell on good soil and grew and produced fruit sometimes 30 times, 60 times or even 100 times the initial amount (vs. 8). Going back to the first result of the seed landing on the side of the road are the people who hear God’s Word but do not understand it, then the fowls or in this case Satan will come and eat them up and take them away (vs. 19). This type of person might have heard the Word of God through a pastor, or friend or possibly an evangelist but they turn their heart away or they fail to ask for understanding and move on in their lives. Because they do this, they are prone to Satan and his lies and may never come to accept the Word and have Jesus come into their lives. Going to the second result of the seed landing in stony places are the people that receive God’s Word and very quickly are filled with joy, but they develop no root, so they might endure for a while, but when the tribulation or persecution comes because of God’s Word, they are offended (vs. 20-21). This is an example of a weak Christian, who might’ve learned about Christ through a retreat, church or through another medium and get very excited because they hear of all the good things that come with being a Christian, but they do not read further into what being a follower of God actually entails. As a result, they do not develop a strong relationship or foundation/root with God (even though they might think they do) and when the true hardships come of the tribulation and persecution, they will fall away because their faith is not strong enough. Going back to the third result of the seed landing in the thorns is a person who hears God’s Word but cares for the world too much so it chokes the word and the person ends up bearing no fruit (vs. 22). This is a good example of the lukewarm Christian who thinks they understand some of the word and what it says, but they also want to live in the world and see all the riches it has to offer. So what do they do? Well, they compromise and start twisting and choking God’s Word to a point where God is no longer their focus and they no longer produce anything for God to fulfill His desires. I believe that Jesus says it best in Matthew 6:24 which says, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Now we get to the final result where the seed falls on good ground and produces good fruit up to 100 times the initial result. This person is someone who hears God’s Word and understands it, so now they grow and prosper into a person which bears a lot of fruit (vs. 23). This type of person is an example of a strong Christian who heard God’s Word and acted on it. In my opinion, if you truly understand something, then you will begin to start doing what it says or what you learned, and in this case that would be what you now understand in the Bible. This is a person that has a strong foundation or strong roots so even when hardships come, they do not falter and instead come back to the roots which is God’s Word, prayer and worship. From here that person becomes very fruitful, which does not necessarily imply that they will be rich with money but rich in mind, soul, body and spirit. So now we know a little bit more of what Jesus was talking about in His parable, but you might’ve noticed a key point in becoming a Christian with strong roots is in the understanding of God’s Word. The disciples asked Jesus a question in verse 10 which states: “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” Jesus responds in verse 11 that the disciples know the truth and should know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but the people that He is speaking to do not. Then, Jesus says in verse 12 that those that have the truth and know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will be filled in abundance, but those that do not would have their things taken away. In verses 13-17, Jesus explains that the people see but do not see and hear but do not understand because they are not listening with their heart, so Jesus says that they should be converted into understanding with their heart and get healed by Him. He later goes on to bless the disciples because they can truly see and truly hear and also let’s them know that many prophets and righteous people have wanted to see what the disciples have seen and heard but have not. The key verse I found in this section is verse 15 which says: “For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” This reminds me of the movie the Polar Express, which is a Christmas movie where the main character goes on a magical train with other children to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Throughout the movie you notice that the main character is always a little skeptical and his belief in Santa is no longer the same as when he was younger, so eventually when they get to the North Pole, he really has to test his belief. In one of the final scenes, him and the other children finally get to see Santa, the elves and the reindeer with their sleigh bells, but he notices that he can’t hear the sleigh bells while all the other children can. Finally, Santa comes out but the main character’s view is blocked by all the elves so he can’t see if this Santa is actually real or not. As a short time passes one of the reindeer’s sleigh bells comes loose and bounces over to him and now comes his big decision, essentially his turning point. He’s been in a conflicting struggle to believe because the world tells him one thing, but all the evidence that he now sees points to the truth. The big question arises, “Is Santa real?” and now he has to make a choice. He closes his eyes and says whole-heartedly, “I believe… I believe” and shakes the sleigh bell and to his surprise he finally is able to hear it! A few moments later, Santa comes over to him directly and the story moves on from there. Wouldn’t you say that our faith and belief in God is very similar to that? Hebrews 11:1 says: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The world being as wicked as it is tells people that God is not real and they try to make up evidence that tries to prove that point. Jesus once again says it best in John 8:32 which says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” All the true evidence points people in the right direction, but now it's time for us to make the big decision and either believe it or don’t. We cannot see God but at the same time we can. How you may ask? Well just look around and see all of the beauty that God has created in nature but looking even closer than that, look at God’s greatest creation which is mankind. Sometimes just looking in the mirror and seeing yourself no matter what state you are in, you can always tell yourself that “I was created in the image of God” which is found in Genesis 1:26. As we read God’s Word and continually grow our relationship one thing is very clear: wisdom, knowledge, understanding and faith all comes from God so in order to further ourselves in each of those categories, we have to continue to develop and grow our relationship with Him. We should all be asking ourselves what type of seed do I want to be? Do I want to be the seed that was scattered on the side of the road? Do I want to be the seed that was scattered in the rocks? Do I want to be the seed that was scattered in the thorns? Or do I want to be the seed that was scattered in good soil, that was able to grow its roots and bear fruit 100 times the initial harvest? All the answers are in God’s Words, but we need the wisdom to understand it and from that point we gain knowledge so that we can continually grow our faith. So who is the answer to all our problems and all our questions? God and God alone.

Matthew 22:34-40

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Who would you say is the most important person in your life? Who would you say is the person that you love the most? For this question, we’ll look into an actual person, but you are not able to use Jesus as an answer. Maybe that person is your parents; your mom or your dad. Maybe it’s a grandfather or grandmother. It could be an uncle, a friend, your wife or your husband. The answers are endless, but I’m sure there is one person that you would say is the VIP in your life. How do you treat that person? Do you love them tremendously? Do you care for them always? Do you show compassion when they are hurting? You see, this person in our lives, this VIP, and the way we treat them is exactly how it should be in our relationship with Jesus. With every single person, even this VIP, you are going to have your ups and downs, your highs and lows, but at the same time, it will be a time of enjoyment and laughter and peacefulness. When we walk with Jesus and begin to devote our lives to Him, our whole world begins to change. Things that you may have viewed as a bother are now extremely important things for you. Your frown is literally turned upside-down as you will find that you will find less and less things to be angry about. You notice that you begin to express love more and your words change from harsh to kind and uplifting. Of course this is not the same way for everyone, but as a template, someone that walks with God is sort of like this. They are different and not of this world. They might be someone that is hated by people, but loved greatly by the Lord. As a result, we go back to Matthew 22:37, which says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. I believe as Christians and believers of God, this should be something that we need to be thinking about daily. I also believe that this one thing is the biggest difference between someone that just says they are a Christian, but is not compared to someone that is a true believer. If we love God that much, then you begin to realize that you need to be giving everything up to Him and think to yourself how can I glorify Him in everything that I do?

A couple months ago, I had the opportunity to take control of the households finances. As a young adult, this might be a normal thing, but for a 21 year old to suddenly incur all this debt, it can be a scary and stressful thing to work with. However, the only thing was that it wasn’t. I felt that God was preparing me in advance to take over the finances and of course I got hints along the way. Even before I completely took on the challenge, I had to make sure that my own finances were in check with the credit cards, the car loans, and savings. Once I got the feel for that, then transitioning to a bigger amount was actually not that difficult. Some things that I learned right away is this: everything I make ultimately belongs to God, thus I should be giving up the finances completely to Him. Now this is not to say that I just do nothing and expect the bills to magically be paid, but it's more-so having faith in God that He will provide and He will bless the family through that. Just two months later, I’m finding that we’ve almost tackled all of the credit card debt and from there it’s on to taking on all of the other debt until we are home free. When you give up things to God and let Him take control, the burden that you have and the stress you receive is taken away. Now why is that? Well, it’s because God ends up taking all of that for you so you do not need to worry so much about it. God is truly a miracle worker and everyday I am amazed by all the things that He blesses me with but also blesses the whole family with so that we can keep moving forward. Through this I can truly see that God loves me so much, and I find myself loving Him more and more as I continue this faith journey with Him.

Loving God wholeheartedly is the most important commandment and this is coming from Jesus, but we also need to remember the second part and that is in Matthew 22:39 which says: “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought to yourself, “Dang, I look good”. Or sometimes it’s the opposite and you might say, “Man, I look terrible”. But I’m sure most of the time you might have that moment where you are proud of yourself. I’m also sure there are plenty of times where you spoil yourself with gifts, food, and other items to further improve your wellbeing, but have you ever thought the same way to someone else? Maybe even a complete stranger? In today’s society, we live in a very judgemental world. Everything is fueled by social media and everyone just has to know everything. The world is unfortunately a place where likes and comments determine one being popular and successful all the way down to someone being a “nobody”. A lot of the times people, myself included, can be so quick to judge someone based on the way that they dress and the way that they look. You begin to wonder maybe if I actually approached this person and talked to them and started to get to know them, then maybe you would understand why they look, dress and/or act the way that they do. Everyone can be in an ultra overdrive mode, but most of the time, I believe we need to be more on cruise control and actually take a look around with our own two eyes to see what is really going on. So next time you judge someone, ask yourself, “If I was in this person’s shoes, what would I do or how would I feel?” Bottom line, we as Christians need to be setting the example for other Christians struggling in their faith, but especially to non-believers. Always go back to Matthew 22:34-40 and re-read it over and over and over again. Jesus gives us two simple commandments to remember and also live by, so why not do it? Let’s love God with all of us, our entire being of a person, and with that love show the same love and compassion to others.

Revelation 6:3-4

"“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Has anyone ever asked you what your occupation was? Maybe it was an old high school reunion, maybe you were just out and about, or maybe it was with a big family gathering that you have once a year. In whatever situation, I find that whenever you get asked this question, it’s like a big ego game. You have to always “one-up” the other individual and if you have an occupation that is considered lower, then somehow that lowers your status as a person. The world we live in today is full of peer-pressure and everything constantly tests your ability to succeed and make it to the top. With this go-go-go world, there comes a lot of worry and pressure in order for you to “make it”. For most people, your life usually starts out in college once you move out of your parents house and try to make a living for yourself with cup ramen, mac n’ cheese, and thousands of dollars in debt. For others, it might even start before that when they are in high school. No one can really be prepared for what the world will throw at you and you cannot predict everything. Even people that are extremely good with numbers can fail to calculate things like a car accident or getting a major surgery done or maybe having a child. Life, no matter who you are, will be hard, even when you think you’ve made it. Jesus tells us in verses 25 to 30 to not worry about our lives and how we will make it. What I believe this means is that we shouldn’t need to worry about putting food on the table for yourself and your family. You don’t need to worry about not knowing what to wear to your interview because all your clothes have holes in it. You don’t need to worry about constantly working 24/7 just to make ends meet and worry about your credit card bills starting to continue to pile up. Now your first thoughts might be a couple things from these first few verses. Some might take this as a joke, some might take these words a little too literally and some might just ignore something like this and live their life the same way. When Jesus says this, He doesn’t mean to not worry as in you can now do whatever you want and Jesus will magically provide it for you. This is the wrong picture. We need to take this as, yes, we will still need to work hard, we still need to keep our jobs, and we can’t just do whatever we feel. But the key part in this is that we shouldn’t worry so much about the materialistic things and instead just worship God during times like these. I’m sure you probably already know what happens when people worry too much. I mean the first thing is that people that worry all the time, don’t trust anyone. For example, imagine you are a director that runs a team of well known doctors across the United States. There is supposed to be this big procedure scheduled for this executive person for a heart transplant. Now you know that everyone on your team is more than capable of performing this surgery and you even decided to choose your top doctor to run the operation. But now it's an hour before the surgery and you’re having second thoughts. You begin to get scared and wonder if the doctor will mess up and accidentally kill the patient. You start worrying about what if something gets contaminated and starts a chain reaction of disease throughout the hospital. You begin to wonder about the repercussions and are hoping that if this goes wrong the executive’s team will not sue you. You, as a director did not have trust in your top doctor to get this job done, even though the doctor has performed this over 100 times with a 100% success rate so far. I think this is a good picture of worry and of course there are billions of other scenarios where you can worry, but sometimes you need to ask yourself why you are doing this.

Like I was saying with this figurative director, trust is usually the biggest culprit when it comes to worry. Because we live in such a cruel and evil world, you really can’t trust everyone even if you want to. Every single person has been backstabbed at least once in their life and while some situations might be small, you may have a situation where this backstabbing changed your life and also your viewpoints. So then you ask yourself, who am I supposed to trust then? Well the answer is simple and there is only one answer. Jesus. You see, Jesus is the only person that was and will ever be the true definition of pure perfection. This was God in the flesh and He managed to not sin at all even though He was tempted many times just like you and me. Jesus reiterates for us in verses 31 to 34 that we do not have to worry about the essentials and our immediate needs. He already knows every single detail about each and every one of us; in fact, He knows us better than we even know ourselves. However, one key thing we need to remember always is verse 33 which states: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. It requires faith in Jesus to seek his kingdom and righteousness otherwise if you didn’t have faith in Him why would you go to Him? Worry, in my opinion, isn’t good for the mind, the heart, the body or the soul. I think worry is what causes a lot of the disasters in life and also pulls us away from God because it tells Him that we’re starting to lose faith in Him. Everyone will have their challenges and as we continue our walk with God. There will be difficult tests as well, but thankfully God will always give us a test that we can handle. Let’s always remember Matthew 6:33 and seek Him first before anything else. When we do that, God will tremendously bless us because we put our wholehearted faith in Him.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

"24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." vs.24-27

Have you ever had moments when you wanted something so bad, but knew deep down inside that it probably was not a good decision? Maybe you had a craving for food or a drink or something else, but you knew that you would regret it later on (and yes I’m talking about screaming in the restroom from explosions *insert explosion sounds*). Anyways, Paul is telling us in these verses of 1 Corinthians about self discipline which also correlates with self control. Some of my teachers and coaches in high school taught me some pretty valuable lessons about self discipline, but I felt like sometimes I did not take it as seriously as I should have. As far as my basketball season goes in freshman year, I sat almost the whole year on the bench. There were times I thought to myself that “Hey, I should be out there right now helping my team win this game” or “If I was in this game, I’m sure that I could make a difference and make an impact”. So what did I do? Well I would push myself to make sure I could be the best I could be in practice. The only issue was that compared to some of the other starters, my skills were not as polished, so even though I had physical quickness and strength on some of them, it just was not enough until I got better. What I realized now is that I could have done so much more by training outside of practice and maybe I would have had the chance to play regularly. You could also use the example of the runner to correlate to the verses (since it talks quite literally about a runner). Say you needed to run a marathon, which is about 26.2 miles and you had a goal of completing it by the end of the year, however the only issue is that you couldn’t even run a full mile jogging. What would you do? The first part of verse 25 says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training…”. What exactly does that entail? Well to start, you would probably have to run a mile or maybe more a day. Start slow and work your way up, but not only that, the diet has to change to be healthier, and the running form has to be worked on to perfection, then as the year goes along and you stay consistent with your eyes on the prize (which is completing the marathon), then by the end of that year, I would say that you would finish and complete that goal. What I’ve been talking about so far is physical and mental discipline, but what I have been leaving out until now is the spiritual discipline which I believe is primarily what Paul is talking about here.

Paul mentions in the second part of verse 25 that the runners run for a crown that will not last, but for us Christians, we are in a race for the crown that lasts forever. I mean think about it. Say you’re the number one runner in the world, but once you pass away, you’re not taking any of that stuff into Heaven and it is something that God and other people in Heaven won’t care about. At that point it would be how was your relationship with God. Did He know you? Were you talking to Him regularly and making sure to do His will? So here we move to verse 26 and 27. We cannot run without a goal in mind otherwise why are we running? We cannot work without a goal in mind otherwise why are we working? In verse 26, Paul is talking about intent or purpose. Did you know that the best players in sports history all have a very powerful imagination. Now what do I mean by that? Well I’m sure everyone has done this at some point in their life. But specifically for sports, these gifted players imagine that they are actually in the game when they practice. They go full speed, they imagine the opposing player and what they might do and how they might react, and then they react upon that. Their eyes would be incredibly focused so that when they are in a game nothing would phase them. So for us Christians we need to ask ourselves: Why are we praying? Why are we worshipping? And why are we serving? Is it for selfish gain? Or are we doing it out of habit. Honestly we should be doing these things to further our relationship with God and in order for us to follow His will and His direction. In verse 27, Paul is responding to his statements in verse 26 and says that he would strike blows to his body and make the body his slave, so even after he preaches to others, he won’t be disqualified for the prize. Just thinking about the notion of making your body your slave is quite amazing and just shows the amount of self-discipline that Paul had. Say you’re on a diet and you know you can’t eat any sugar, but you see this delicious cake sitting right in front of you and of course you are so hungry and are having this massive craving for it. You should have the self discipline to just walk away or if it's going to be that much of a temptation to you then you should just chuck it in the garbage and be done with it and move on. In the same way, for us Christians we need to do the same. We need to have the self discipline to throw the sin away because those are the small things that get us further and further away from God. We also need to preach God’s word to others when we get the opportunity, but don’t think that your job is done there. Our life as a Christian still goes on and we must never, ever stop trying to get closer and closer to God with every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, and every year. Let’s make sure that God is always our top priority and we make sure to have the self discipline to make time for Him everyday for as long as we can. If we continue to do this, then it should trickle down into the physical and mental self discipline and get to the point where nothing will phase us as Christians. Let’s become God’s Go-Getters. Let’s get after it.

1 Peter 1:13-16

"13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” vs.13-16

What are some words that come to mind when you think of holiness? Some people might think of divine, others might say to be sanctified or sacred, but I feel that most people think of the word pure when they think of holiness. To be completely pure, is something that is truly hard to obtain and/or do. Think of the refinement process and let’s use a precious metal, so iron as an example. So the start of the process you have the initial ore which is basically rock and metal combined. From there, you have to use extreme heat to be able to melt the actual metal and what comes out on top is the impurities or dirt/rocks, etc. You then have to remove the impurities and from there, it is just a rinse and repeat process until you get a metal that is completely without impurities or a “pure metal” at that point. Now the result of the refinement doesn’t only result in a shiny metal, but the more pure you are able to get the metal, the more stronger and longer lasting it will be. Verse 13 starts with Peter explaining that the mind has to be alert and fully sober to be holy and it makes sense that this would be the start of holiness. Starting with being alert, as Christians, I feel that we tend to put our minds on cruise control and almost relax too much like we are on a road trip with just our car and the road ahead. It’s almost as if once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we say, “Oh, I guess everything is good now so I’ll just make sure to keep in check every once in a while to stay quote on quote ‘holy’ and just wait till I die or Jesus comes back to take me”. In reality, our walk with God is like an extremely rainy day, where you as the driver has to be extremely alert in order to 1. Not crash into the wall, or into another driver, but also 2. You have to watch out for others because you do not know whether or not their car will slip and maybe cause an accident that’s just waiting to happen. If we were super relaxed during this type of event, I would probably call you a little crazy or some people like to say cray cray, but hopefully this shows you a good picture of what it means to be truly alert, so now we go on to becoming sober. Now, this is quite literal but figurative as well. Our human body is so complex that we as humans still know so little about what does what and we are constantly making discoveries about it. I have been listening to a podcast by PJF Performance where an NBA strength, conditioning, and skills coach talks about the body and goes into basketball oriented training which helps allow yourself to not only improve in basketball, but it helps you become a healthier person and gives you some understanding on how the body works . It’s so interesting because he goes into the different types of muscle fibers, some mind-muscle connections, and much more. So if you want to jump higher for example, they use science and knowledge about the human body to do just that. There was one episode where they were talking about the potential harm supplementation can do to your body (so think Vitamins, protein powders, etc.) and how it can affect the way that your body functions. I thought this was so interesting because if supplements have the potential to do this, then what about doing drugs or alcohol or smoking. I find it funny that we as humans have studies showing why doing these things are bad, but it’s almost as if we reach for it even more due to that being the type of environment and society we live in. So physically to be holy and clean, we need to make sure to stay away from these things, but there is also the figurative side or the mental aspect. I’ve mentioned this quote before, but a line from NF, who is a christian rapper, always seems to stick with me. He says that “the mind is a powerful place and what you feed it can affect you in a powerful way”. Both good and evil are byproducts of our mind, but when I truly look inside my heart for example, I find that if I do not pay attention or do not strive for holiness, then my mind sometimes gets filled with evil intentions and thoughts. I like to think of the drawing that Lilo made in Lilo and Stitch showing that Stitch was filled with bad, but then as he did good things he started to erase the bad and was left with complete goodness. However, as humans because we are born with sin, our first intentions will almost always be evil or in a sinful nature, so when you look back to the Lilo and Stitch image, that picture is probably almost filled with bad or red and there isn’t really that much that we can do for it. Now I didn’t say there wasn’t anything we can do, but maybe you caught my drift there. Anyways, Peter tells us in verse 14 and then 15 that we can’t conform to our evil desires and instead to be holy because that is what God calls us to be. At the end of the day, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) so when you think about who God is, which is 100% pure and perfect, it just goes to show you how far we have fallen from that perfection and holiness. So what is our first step in holiness? It’s making sure our mind is alert and sober with a focus on holiness. We need to also have a focus on striving to be like Jesus in any and every thing that we do. Always think to yourself, what would Jesus do in this situation or that situation. Even think about that for the things that you eat or the things that you buy so it just becomes a habit that eventually becomes unbreakable. Due to our sinful nature, we as Christians will fall and will sin, but let’s go back to the refinement process. We do not want to let the impurities continue to pile up because that is what makes us weak and allows compromise, but instead clean out those things as soon as possible. Repent for the sins that we do everyday and do it right away. Our walk with God and the path to holiness is a continual refinement process and because God has called us to be holy, it is something that we must strive for. So even if you fall, even if you sin, repent with the knowledge and faith that God forgives. Every day is a new day and we need to continue to keep moving forward in our lives and especially in our walk with God. So my question to you. What would Jesus do?

Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-16; 39-40

"1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible… 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-16; 39-40

Imagine a picture with me. You are an explorer, attempting to find this lost treasure of old, which is thought to be priceless, yet untraceable. With your research and the help of others, you go to the believed location of this treasure and eventually find your path to it. However, as you get closer, you notice that there is a very large, deep chasm between yourself and the treasure and there isn't a bridge or rope to get across. You go back to your research and apparently there is supposed to be this invisible walkway or path that leads straight to the treasure and the path starts right where you are standing. At this point, you decide there is no point going back and proceed to take the first step towards what you believe is nothingness. But to your amazement you find that you are indeed standing on an invisible bridge. Now I'm sure everyone knows which movie this is from, which would be Indiana Jones. But I think it does a decent job of showing an example of faith, but not only that but where it can take you (in Indian Jones's case it was the treasure). What do you think of when you think of the word, "faith"? Do you think of hope? Do you think of believing? Now that I just talked about Indiana Jones, are you thinking about that? Maybe even thinking, what if I was an adventurer and explorer... Anyways, faith, according to the dictionary, is the complete trust or confidence in someone or something. However, I find that Hebrews' does a better job of explaining it in verse 1 of chapter 11. Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. As Christians, our faith and trust in God should always be our number 1 priority. Faith is the first step on the path that leads to Christ and also gets us into the door of Heaven, because of what Jesus did on the cross. Faith should be our foundation that we should build on, just like a home builders first step is to lay the foundation and make sure it is level, secure, and sturdy.

Hebrews 11 is filled with plenty of examples where people in the Bible put their faith in God and trusted that He would make these miracles happen or would keep His people safe. From Sarah giving birth to a child at such an old age, to Moses parting the Red Sea to make a path/escape for the Israelites, to the walls of Jericho falling after the people marched around them for 7 days. Just look at all the things that were accomplished and things that can still be done by those who have faith in the Lord. There is no limit to faith, but it is sad because most Christian may never reach a faith like Abraham or Moses most likely due to the fact that they are too tied up in the world. Towards the end of verse 13, it says that they (the people of faith) were admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. It obviously doesn’t mean that they were aliens, but it just shows how “not of this world” they were and shows that to reach this level of faith, we can’t have these worldly desires and should only have a focus on God and Him only. One thing I will note is that you don’t need to have much faith in order for God to work wonders in your life. Jesus says in Matthew 17:20-21, that you only need to have faith as small as a mustard seed in order to move mountains. (To put how small a mustard seed is into perspective it’s about 1-2 millimeters long). Now I find that pretty amazing for a person just simply putting their faith in God can potentially move a mountain or mountains! That’s even more powerful than Yoda, one of the strongest of the Jedi, and his use of the force.

Now that we know about faith and what it does, how can we get faith and more importantly how can we grow? Well, it’s all found in the Bible. The whole Bible literally has faith written all over it; in fact in the NIV bible, faith is mentioned 458 times. But you can’t just read the Bible to read the Bible. Brandon Samchun made a good point when he was here a couple of weeks ago and said that you shouldn’t just do QT and listen/read the Word because you feel you have to, you need to want to. You have to have the passion and fire for God all the time not just some of the times. We need to be praying to God as much as we can to be honest and need to develop our relationships with Him and grow closer. I think another common misconception especially with other religions (Mormans, Catholic, Jehovah Witness, etc.) is that the more works you do, then it will supposedly get you greater rewards and you will get to be in Heaven (or the afterlife). While that may look good to the world and may add to your “holy resume”, Galatians 2:16 tells us that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Overall, we need to be in the Word, we need to live by faith, and we need to grow our relationships with God. On this narrow path we take to be a Christian, we will face trials and struggles, and may even take a step back, but we need to get right back on track and remember that every step we make is a step forward. A step in the right direction, and a step that will lead to eternal life with God.

On a side note, something that I found interesting was in verses 13 and 39, it talked about how they did not receive what had been promised (verse 13 being more specific and saying that they saw them and welcomed them from a distance, then proceeds in verse 16 to talk about a heavenly country and a city God has prepared). As a result and from what I was researching, I believe this is speaking of the New Heaven and New Earth which was one of God’s promises and which will occur when Jesus comes back to the Earth and after God cleanses the world of sin.