DTS Three Years Later

How has it been three years already? I feel like journaling, I feel like writing. Sharing what God has done.

I’m a walking miracle. It’s evident. I believe. I know it in my heart and mind. He has done a wonderful thing. Let me reminisce. How did it go again?

[This is purely based on my memory. There is no help, no notes. It’s as clear as it was a few weeks ago. Let me try and prove it]

Upon graduation, after Iris, after discipleship, after two short-term missions, and after two draining years of corporate life, I still had it left it in me. I was curious, I was hungry. God had instilled an insatiable desire for me to pursue hard after Him.  So I went.

Getting to Tauranga,

I arrived at 3:00 am in the morning and had left my phone in the taxi. On top of that, I was limping my way over because prior to arriving, I had slashed my foot against some rocks while swimming in Hawaii in my layover. Off to a great start! Nevertheless, I was greeted by sweet Maria with a hug, who ended up being my outreach leader.

Greetings,

It was a Sunday afternoon, I had slept through Sunday service and went out and were greeted by about twenty strangers mingling with one another. Introducing themselves awkwardly and politely all around. At this point I hadn’t even brushed my teeth. I knew I was thrown into the middle of this without a being mentally ready. But it felt okay. I wanted an experience and I was very open-minded.

Day One of DTS,

I remember feeling a bit nervous. Yeah I was like the only Asian kid, but that didn’t worry me too much. Still, I had committed my life there for 3-5 months and invested a lot of money into it.

The first, week was dedicated to sharing about our lives. What we went through, who we are, why we are there. Etc… It was about 40 people and it took us a whole week to go around sharing. I remember people sharing pretty deep into their hurts and it changed the atmosphere. It allowed us to know deeply and I felt safe sharing about me. Yeah, being the guy who cared a lot about reputation and wanting to look good, I did the best in my own version to share openly and honestly.

Day One of Lectures,

To my surprise, I was absolutely sold on this. I was paying attention to every word every minute because it was fascinating to learn about topic that was most important in my life at the time. And questions that are most important in one’s life were being discussed right before my eyes. The first lecturer was named Taumata Kim who was a brilliant worship leader and teacher. I knew he was different in the way that his relationship with God was so intimate. It was obvious, he referred to God as a father, someone who was very real in his life and I believed that he absolutely adored God.

First week of Lectues,

I feel that timing was right. Taumata helped me fall in love with DTS. He dove right in and expressed his love for the Lord and it permeated into every soul in the room. It was a topic on worship, and to me, it was about the posture of one’s heart and his love for God. I think that is the most fundamental thing when it comes to worship, and he taught us how to worship, how to love God and how to prostrate our hearts on the altar. He taught simply by demonstrating how he personally worships. He challenged us to ask  “Lord, what will you show me today?” He equated God’s presence as treasure and asked us to be treasure hunters. Everyday there is something new, something that God wants to show us. And from then on, I dared ask God EVERY SINGLE DAY, “Lord, what will you show me today?” Without fail, from as long as I remember and until I forgot to ask, he revealed something EVERY SINGLE DAY. This is still very fresh in my head because it was an ongoing miracle that lasted. So consistently I was convicted everyday to a point where it was physically exhausting. But spiritually, I was in awe. I was absolutely compelled by what was happening in my heart and mind. I determined that by week 2, when Taumata concluded his lectures, that my $10,000 was totally worth it.

Friends at the Base

First thing that I noticed… they were white. There were people from Canada, Colorado, California, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, England etc. But we shared the same objective. To make lasting friendships while in this DTS. And potentially more… for some. It was amazing how well we got along, playing sports, games, having lots and lots of side conversations. We were removed from our comforts and we made conscious decisions that we were going to have to get along. I remember how it felt weird sharing bathrooms/showers with females. Nevertheless, everyone felt like family, helping each other, encouraging one another etc. Aside from minor dramas (I tended to stay away from them because I was so focused on building my relationship with God and friends), it was a glimpse of heaven, how one can love others as one loves themselves.

First temptation

 There were so many girls. I believe the guy to girl ratio was 1:3 (~11 guys and 30 girls) at the base. Also from the 11 guys, half of them were dating. So really, the ratio was 1:6. This prompted tempting tendencies while living at the base. My eyes were wandering. Like an uncontrollable beast. Nothing sexual, but purely searching for potential love interest. The first week was difficult because I was exposed to so many females all at once, so fast. This is when I sensed that I needed to pray because it was causing a distraction in my studies. I prayed in my personal time with God, alone, in the chapel. Then he revealed chapter in Timothy saying that I should treat these girls as my own sister. A writing appeared in my head resembling 1 Timothy 1:24? The message was clear. I needed to stop lusting over them to be my own, but as sisters in Christ. This was the first warning that I heard from God, and I’m so glad this happened because this could’ve prevented me from hearing the Lord!

The Chapel

I remember spending every morning there. Every chance that I had I wanted to spend my time there. It was so peaceful and I felt the presence of God. It was a place of rest. It was a place that was anointed. It was where God resided in a special way. I heard many voices from the Lord in here. God hinted on what I should be doing after DTS in this chapel. He spoke to me about what I needed to give up. He gave me insight and wisdom and blessed me tremendously in this place. Oh how I miss the chapel...

Soul Surgery

One of the lecturers challenged us to take time working on allowing God to have a surgery on our souls and to go through the healing process. I found it helpful to reach out to those whom I hated or who had hurt me. I wrote them letters, and while it was super awkward, this was the time to be stretched and vulnerable. It was cringe worthy thinking about it now, but I feel like it’s good to go wherever you do not want to go if you’re following Christ. I made it my priority to my relationship with God first. I forewent the beach/sushi time and instead I fasted/prayed. It always pays off. My intimacy with the Lord was growing.

Idolatry

Around this time, God revealed a bunch of my idols. Through images of pokemon. I had realized that when I was a boy I hated to be left alone. So I needed something. In my fear, I latched onto something to cope. It was my obsession, it was Pokemon. As silly as this sounds, we grow up and we substitute our Pokemon with something else. Career, security, women, other thrills that give us a sense of purpose and meaning, even if they’re momentary, we will take them.  What this meant to me was that I needed to lay it down on the alter and trade them for Jesus. The fear of being left alone resulted in my obsession with toys as a child. Now Jesus offered me to trade in the fear with something greater, something better.

Rhema Reading

God was moving so powerfully and creatively. I’ve been asking him to reveal new things to me everyday. And without fail, everyday he was nudging me, pursuing after me. He would give me Bible verses that are on point, what I needed to read and know. He would give me images of things to communicate with me, so clearly. But whenever I would read His Word, he would highlight phrases and words that I needed to see. So I would take those words and apply them into my life. It was so personal, so real, so powerful.

Practicing Self-control

I noticed that mature Christians have this in common and that’s self-control - this full awareness of how to balance things and carry themselves. This was discipleship training and I wanted to learn and practice this. This realization stems from 1 Corinthians 10:31 (which became my favorite verse) and the verses prior, which talks about as freed Christians, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. So based on this logic, whether if we eat or drink or do anything, do it to glorify God. It boils down to self-discipline and discernment. So I limited my servings to one portion, no seconds. I limited myself to a bed time, and my relationships with friends in a healthy level of intimacy. Having these restrictions weren’t rules or should dos or shouldn’t dos. They were beneficial to my soul and I thank God for this realization.

Trekking

My memories of hiking can be summed into one sentence because there were lots of hiking within the 5 months. I felt like I was walking next to God. I felt so intimate with. I think this is because I was so remote and there was nothing on my mind except for surviving. And when it comes to surviving God comes first. Only he can control whatever will happen to me. Also, hiking in beautiful places in both NZ and Nepal reminded me of how absolutely beautiful his creation is. I was awestruck and this gave me such a great impression of who God is along with the teachings.

Intimacy with the Lord

At this point, I was so in love with God. It was quite the feeling… to be in a relationship with someone that is eternal. When you’re in love, the world looks different. The nature looks more beautiful, the trees, the sun, the stars, and His people.

Freedom from Bondage

Maybe it was the 7^th week.. was it the beginning of December? A miracle took place. The one that I cannot forget, the one that carries my spirit up to this day. Mandy Hudson, one of the lecturer, did not make too much of an impression at first, TBH. But the teachings were simple, honest, and practical. She challenged us to repent of our sin and wash our hands. There was a wooden cross and red liquid that represented his blood. She was a very Holy Spirit driven lady, and it was an opportunity that allowed God to move if He chose to. And He did! I repented of my sexual sins, which disgusted Him. And He really wanted to make that happen. I saw an image of fine linen, extremely white and pure. It was wrapped around me as if I was dead and coming back to life. Like Lazarus, Jesus commanded Life to spring forth something that was lifeless. Then out of pure joy I jumped and I declared that I would no longer sin in the manner that I’ve been doing for the past 10 years. But the voices of the enemy came over me saying I’ve been here before. I tried quitting, but it never worked. I was afraid. Genuinely afraid that I would end up in the same place. But a voice came over me, an authoritative one saying, “Get up, Take up your mat and WALK.” This gave me tremendous confidence and by then, I knew this was something different. Up to this day, because of this encounter, I am freed from porn and masturbation. It was a victorious moment and I intend to live up to this encounter.

Jesus Culture 

It wasn’t perfect, but we came pretty close. The way we lived our lives for the 3-5 months together represented the biblical community that was written. Yes we were young and we made dumb mistakes, but this is the best I’ve seen. The way we loved one another, unadulterated, uncalculated ways in which we served one another was ideal. I felt like we did a few things wrong, but God was delighted with us. I came to a point where I saw these people as family. I couldn’t  judge I couldn’t hate because they were my blood. There was no lust, no insecurity (this took some time), no greed, but only sadness knowing that I will lose this community.  I came pretty dang close to loving these people as I love myself.  This is the culture I felt like Jesus would be proud of. And it made me ponder about ours at home…  Oh and I almost forgot, the dance parties were fun, but at the same time, my experience was profound. These redeemed what dance parties are supposed to be for me (pure, joy and excitement to dance with friends we love) No ulterior motives.

Love interest and temptation

This is both heart breaking and encouraging. Things like working hard, building, pushing and handling, I can do. It seems like the hardest things for me to do is to surrender. There was a girl named Zoe. Really cute, sweet.. she had blonde hair blue eyes. At first it was innocent, really. I looked at her like a sister trying to help her in ways that a brother would a little sister. Somewhere down the line, maybe it was her smile or maybe it was my nice gestures, we began to grow intimate, without admitting this to each other. I was tempted to initiate and to fantasize ways to win her over. But if I had to give myself a grade, I would have to give myself a C. I passed the test, trial, whatever it was, I chose God. I felt like I stood the test. And though it hurts me to have let her go, I have gained so much more than I lost. I honestly feel like God would’ve fine with me, had I made moves on her. But it would have cut in on my intimacy with God and to me that was more important than Anything. Experiencing Him fully  I felt that His way is better, infinitely better, even though I can’t see or feel at this instant.. Second best is good, but God’s will was what I wished to pursue. To me, this was another victory.

Outreach Phase

Seven people with vastly different backgrounds, experiences, and personalities, pursuing God via a simple trip to Nepal with the agenda uncertain, looking to bless as many people as people… We headed out ill prepared, asking Holy Spirit to guide the path. We were all inexperienced, naïve, clueless. We were dependent on the guides there, and mostly on the one who was actually in charge. Meeting people, building relationships with the locals and with each other, giving God the praise… it was all so much fun. There were a few times where God met us there powerfully. Some other times where we were simply fighting to maintain our physical conditions. Aside from multiple personal revelations, here are a few things that God allowed us to experience:

·        The spiritually oppressed lady hearing voices from Hindu Gods. God freed her from multiple sessions (2-3 days of praying). She accepted Christ as her savior and her face looked like a completely different person. While she was under the influence of the Hindu gods, I saw her eyes. And from her face expressions, I knew that the voices were real.

·        Performing Jesus skit in front of 300+ people at a local volleyball tournament.

·        Hiking in the foothills of Himalayas, Trekking next to Jesus. It was the most breath taking sceneries and I completely felt surrounded by the Holy Spirit the whole time. It was the most exciting experience I had ever felt in the nature.

We faced unexpected commute hardships, evangelism episodes, friendships, and lots of diarrhea. All in all, how can I ever thank God enough? Really?

Friends for Life

Coming back from Outreach felt sweet. Seeing all our friends that we dearly missed. It felt like a scene from the Lord of the Rings when all the friends reunite. A week for re-entry felt way too short. I was in pain because of the goodbyes that were forced upon us. But from this not only did I gain relationship with the Lord, that nothing can replace, but also long lasting and valuable friendships. Jesus taught me so much through this community, and for that, a part of my heart will always be with YWAM family.

Conclusion

I guess I can say that the most valuable thing that DTS gave me, out of so many things, was that it allowed me to fall in love God in a way that I have never experienced in my 25 years of life. I see it this way, Discipleship Training School is supposed to be training for… something. That something I believe is how I will carry myself at home, wherever home is for me. Yes I don’t agree 100% with everything with how things were done there, and yes it was a bubble. There, I felt like I was in a pond being taught how to swim in God’s grace. Small sessions to ready me for the waves of the world that I would face back at home. So was I tossed in the waves when I got back? Was DTS worth it? (many ask). To me, it was worth it. A thousand times over I would make the decision to risk everything for the relationship with the Lord that I was able to achieve by His amazing goodness. I feel like the luckiest person on earth, that God paved the way for me even before I made the decision to go. And how he will reveal more of himself, which he had already prepared for me. “What will you show me today God?” I look forward to asking this question in the days and years to come.

The Prodigal Prophet - Tim Keller (2018)

• Pg. 90: “While we know from the rest of the Bible that changing social behavior is not sufficient for salvation, and that God cannot give final forgiveness without faith and an atoning sacrifice”
• Behavior modification is shallow
• Friend from ywam who preached love, through action, but removed faith
• pg. 94: “To work against social injustice and to call people to repentance before God interlock theologically.”
• Martin luther “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A Just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law”
• I have a dream speech he quoted the scripture from Amos 5:24 “Let God’s justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream”
• Why should we care where about social injustice? Not out of guilt or because you feel bad. Because God says he created us as equals. Where did this idea come from and why do people believe in it? Why do non-believers believe in this? We are obliged to desire what God desires. But wanting social justice alone is only half of what God desires, he wants all of you. He requires your faith.
• Pg. 100: Jonah was perplexed and was asking how can God promise his Israelites that he would accomplish his purposes through them. This was a theological issue. That he believed that mercy should not be extended to the evil gentiles.
• Jonah says in ch4, take his life away. He no longer has the desire to go on. He means that he has lost something that replaced God as the main joy, reason, and the love of his life. His willingness to throw away his life shows that he valued this one thing more. It was the highest love in his life. Yes, he had a relationship with God, much like us, he was a believer.
• Deep down in the belly of the fish, Jonah received a deeper understanding of his need for grace. However, everytime it seemed he had take God and his grace to the very bottom, it turned out that he needed to go deeper. [read p.109-110] What does it mean to get to bedrock in one’s heart??
• Recognize how we turn his blessings into ways of saving ourselves. Instead we recognize that we live wholly by God’s grace and learn to live and serve him just for who he is.
• Pg. 114 Jonah is like the ungrateful servant in Matthew (18:21-35) - I can relate to him
• We say…. ‘Serves them right’ ‘they deserve that’ - othering- detaching yourself from them, when really, you're no better since by grace you’re in your current position.
• P. 123 God had compassion on the Ninevites. He created them and loves them in the way we don’t know. Reminds me of my mom loving my brother even though he was rebellious towards her.
• Jesus is a weeping God of Jonah 4 in human form. 
• God is Just + Loving...
• One of the main reasons that we trust God too little is because we trust our own wisdom too much (p.139)
• We go do things to make ourselves happy bc. We believe it’ll work
• Deep mistrust of God’s goodness and His word.
• Abraham’s son - take your son and walk up to the mountain and I will show you.
• One reason for storms in our lives is to get us to depend on God and discover his love and strength in ways we would never do otherwise. (p.143)
• Satan would be happy to let you have a charmed and prosperous life for many years so that you don’t see the truth until it’s too late
• But God he pursues after us, even when people blame and curse him out, he takes it all and still pursues us
• Western society clashes with Christian culture.
• Individualistic mindset - people dont want children bc they don’t know sacrificial love
• “The essence of salvation is God subsituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God desrves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone - John Scott
• John Calvin’s emphasizes the doctrine of imago dei. That we should treat every human being as the ‘Lord’s deserves’
• The good samaritan
• James 3:9 ith the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness."
• 3I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44Andthey too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see Youhungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick orin prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’
• Evangelism + Doing justice
• It’s not necessarily “two wings on an airplane”. This analogy conveys the necessity for both, but it doesn’t say how one leads to another.
• When we give people things so they will turn to Christ, that means we’re doing good as a means to an end. It doesn’t go with Jesus’ teaching. (Luke 6:32-35 if you love those who love you) should give without expecting anything in return
• Also we should serve the needs of our neighbor even if they don’t share our faith (Luke 10:25-37 good samaritan - “lend to them without expecting to get anything back”)
• READ page 197-198 ***
• Martin Luther - epiphany with grace, Dietriech Bonhoffer, writing of cheap grace. Grace is powerfully. Understanding it moves you. It frees guilt and abolishes fear because we have nothing to achieve it, but we have it. 
• “On the one hand, such a received identity sweeps aside our pride and humbles us. How can we feel superior to anyone else if our standing before God is only by grace’s riches at Christ’s expense?
• One may question why did God give and take away Jonah’s plant, the only thing he had? It’s because he didn’t realize the only thing he had was not the plant, but it’s God.
• Its like he was saying, do you not see that if you loved me more than anything else, you’d be truly free? Find your all in me
• This call is also directed towards us. It’s a painful process to know this and to actually live it out, but God says it’s the only path to true joy

• MY RECAP
• Point #1: Grace is the overarching theme of the book of the prodigal prophet. We read that Jonah was not tolerant of the grace that God showed these inhumane, undeserving sinners. While on the other, he himself deserved death because “ALL have fallen short of the glory of God”. Jonah failed to see that he sinned differently than the Ninevites, and required God’s mercy just like the Ninevites. (Parable of the ungrateful servant Luke 18:21)
• Question: How is your attitude towards God and to others?
• Entitlement? ACTS prayer (acknowledgement - who is God, who is man
• Gratitude should be an indication of your understanding of God’s grace
• Point#2:  We discussed that social justice and preaching the Word are inseparable. When we give people things so they will turn to Christ, that means we’re doing good as a means to an end. It doesn’t go with Jesus’ teaching. (Luke 6:32-35 if you love those who love you) should give without expecting anything in return. Also we should serve the needs of our neighbor even if they don’t share our faith (Luke 10:25-37 good samaritan - “lend to them without expecting to get anything back”). We are to love and preach without expecting anything in return. Jesus did that for us - and we’re followers of Christ.
• Question: How are we doing this in our lives today? And how can we do this better?
• Point#3 On the last chapter, we discussed the sacrificial, substitutionary love. The Individualistic/consumeristic mindset bleeding into our Christian culture. However, the very nature of Jesus is others-oriented. He came to serve and not to be served. We call ourselves Christians aka Christ followers.
• Question:  How are we doing this in our lives today? And how can we do this better?

Martin Luther - The Man who Rediscovered God and Changed the World - Eric Metaxas [audio] (2018)

Standing up to the institutional church, challenging what is widely accepted. The corruption, the power and authority of the "church".


Penance and Indulgences
Huge "turn off" for Martin. Penance and indulgences are something that the catholic believers practiced as a form of confession of their sins. Penance is a form of prayer asking for forgiveness and indulgences are praying on behalf of the dead's salvation from purgatory. They could be done as a form of doing a good deed for their sins. Now, they monetized the way of giving, which paved the way of buying off their sins. Pope XI came up with the idea that they could technically give money as a form of a good deed to confess the sins on behalf of the deceased. This led to people paying $$ and lots of $$ praying for the dead and making the institution all the more prosperous.

A Quest For More: Living for something bigger than you - Paul Tripp (2015)

A Quest for More: Living for something bigger than you – Paul Tripp

Chapter 1: A Quest for More

Transcendence: The state of being beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience.

·        The Bottom line: You were created to be part of something big

o   “The Desire for transcendence is in all of us because God placed it there. He constructed us to live for more than ourselves (p.14)”

o   There was a guy named Jim who had achieved the American dream. He was ambitious and successful

§  “Jim did have it all, yet in getting it all he had denied his own humanity. In his quest for everything, Jim had missed the one thing that separated him from everything else that God made. Jim had constructed his own kingdom, indulged his every dream, and met his every need… But he had discovered that it was an empty kingdom … It was not that Jim had attempted too much. The tragedy was that he had settled for way too little, and that is exactly what he got. (p.15)

o   “The mistake that they have made is that they have shrunk their Christianity to the size of their own lives. They have taken God’s grace and wisdom as an invitation to a better marriage, a better relationship with their children, a better extended family life, better success at work etc. … the point of this little book: God invites you to so much more” (p.16)

o   Sin kills the desire to transcend. It quenches the desire to live for something great. And instead we aim too low. A Kingdom for ourselves. (The greatest enemy of great is good). God has hardwired us to live for His glory, but we have denied our humanity. “We again and again deny our humanity as we settle for something less than the transcendent glories for which we were created.” (p.25)

QUESTION: What is the big thing that you are living for right now?

Chapter 2: More or Less

Pretense: A false appearance or action intended to deceive

·        The Bottom line: Sin causes us to talk about more, but to settle for less

o   “A young person will forget the transcendent glory of an identity that is rooted in the presence, power, and grace of the redeemer. Instead she will live for the pseudo-glory of the approval of peers. She’ll pick up on and parrot her friends’ vocabulary, she’ll take on their sense of style … all because she convinced herself that she needs their approval. There will be moments when she will feel transcendent. She will feel as if her life has real meaning and purpose because she is connected to something bigger than herself. The sad fact is that she has opted for less. The community of her peers has actually become a replacement community for the transcendent glory of loving, worshipful, daily community with the Lord.” (p.27)

Can anybody relate? Genesis 1 is a welcome to transcendence, then Genesis 3 is about tragedy of the shrinking of transcendence. Adam and Eve traded in the participation in the transcendent glory for much less, though it looked like much more.

o   Sometimes, even though grace has expanded our borders until they touch glory, we still reduce the borders of our living to the boundaries of our lives. (p.31)

QUESTION: What is the “Less” that tends to capture your attention?

Chapter 3: A Total Disaster

Autonomy: “The quality or state of being independent, free, and self-directed”

The Serpent offered Adam and Even independent glory. The lie that the enemy tells us is that the key to transcendence is autonomy.

**Important. In the Christian context, for all of us, the danger of this is that our tendency to choose our own autonomy will seep into our Christian lives.

·        “Most of us have learned how to celebrate our inclusion in God’s great and glorious work, while functionally caring for little that does not directly address us. In doing this we have Christianized our autonomy. Essentially, we are asking God to give his endorsement to our attempt to shrink the transcendent glories of his kingdom to the size of our circle of personal concern. And even though we are trying to live inside of God’s boundaries, we have still manufactured a life where self is at the center. It is quite possible for our Christianity to be quite narrow and selfish and to not be aware of the shrinkage. “(p.40)

STOP and reflect. Do we shrink the size of God’s kingdom to our own little kingdoms and our own little Christian ways of life?

·        “We get so excited about the personal benefits of redemption that we lose sight of redemption’s greater goal. Yes, the personal benefits of redemption are amazing, worthy of eternal celebration. But redemption’s agenda is not to make our kingdom successful, but to welcome us to a much bigger, much better kingdom… Jim Collins makes this stunning observation in his best-selling book on corporate management, Good to Great… Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. WE don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain greater lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.” (p.42)

Question: Have you treated the size of God’s grace as if it were no bigger than the size of your personal concerns?

What does all this mean?

Ch1. “It is about living for a greater kingdom than the kingdom of my life, my family, and my job. And where do I live for this greater kingdom? In my life, in my family, and in my job! This book was not written to call you to stop doing everything you have been doing or to start doing a bunch of new things. Rather, it is a call to do what God has called you to do with a vision that is as broad and deep as the glory of God.

Stay where you are. Do your thing within the parameters of God given responsibilities

Ch2 “Things as mundane as … rise to a spiritually dangerous level of importance in the heat of the moment. These are the moments we live in every day. The normal day is a 24- hour collection of little moments. Day after day, week after week, and year after year, these little moments set the character of a person’s life.”

We participate in the glory of God in small little moments

Ch3 “Your sadness with sin should be bigger than the fact that it complicates your life. Your sadness should extend as far as sin reaches. Your celebration of God’s restoring grace should be bigger than the fact that it brings blessing to your private world. No, your celebration should reach as far as restoration is needed. God’s grace really does welcome you to think big and live large. God invites you to be an active and daily part of the “more” of redemption. His restoring grace gives you reason to extend the boundaries of your concern way beyond the borders of your own life. He calls you out of your little kingdom to give your talents, gifts, resources, and time to the glorious concerns of his big sky kingdom.”

In conclusion: “It’s not about you” - Pastor Paul

Heros of the Faith: Jim Elliot - Susan Miller (2016)

He was not wrestling because he liked wrestling, but wrestling was a means of keeping his body fit and strong enough for missionary work. University also was not to get only education and a Bachelor's degree, but a degree of A.U.G, approved unto God.

Determined that it was a profitable year based on how that year he had drawn closer to God and discovered truths in the Bible. Christianity to him was a real, living, daily experience.

The austere attitudes they had adopted were in accordance with the Apostle Paul's teaching about freedom of the Christian. Some things were simply good clean fun that built friendships. False spiritual standards - perfect liberty in doing things they used to condemn.

His work seemed unappreciated and he felt misunderstood. Naturally, his impulse was to defend himself. Instead, he knelt and prayed, renewing his commitment to be satisfied with nothing less than throwing himself into the hands of God.

- He waited patiently and did not decide on things that God didn't say 

For Ed to follow the leading of God, not to follow the leading of Jim Elliot. He asked God for wisdom in his words to Ed's family.

Sought after work and experience in radio, medical, educational work, which could be ueful applications to their future missionary work. Ever investment made for one goal. There was a pattern here.

*Do things that would help me in my ultimate calling. (Matthew Jaffare, picking up things and storing them in your bag)

Jim's years of training to be in shape, reading and knowing the Word inside out, did it all pay off in the beginning? He wouldn't use any of those skills in the beginning. He was so eager to do ministry work. "No matter how well they laid their plans, something always got in the way" ie. Snake bite, childbirth/death.

Fulfilling their calling to serve God did not after all mean denying themselves the love and support of a family. And their commitment living in the jungle, even with small children, proved they were serious about that calling. 

"They had given their lives trying to reach the Waoranis. At the time, it might have seemed that they failed, but thirty three years later, a savage tribe was living peacefully with its neighbors and teaching the Christian faith" Began with a vision, "a hundred flash lights" (angels)

What they started out to do was finally done. Interestingly, by women, rather than the single male missionaries Jim Elliot had thought were the only suitable candidates for pioneer missionary work.

Possibly in his death, Jim Elliot did more to spur interest in missions than if he had spent a long life speaking to student groups and churches, as he was formerly offered to do. He gave God all he had to give and by his death, inspired many others to do the same. Because he died his journals (Life Magazine) were published, many followed missionary life that he exemplified in his singularity of purpose in living a life wholly given onto God.

A Tale of Three Kings - Gene Edwards (2015)

David engaged in many such solitary battles. Because of this loneliness, he would play the harp, sing, and weep, and hunt. Of what was thought to be an unfortunate circumstance, this allowed him to be a great musician, sensitive, and fearless. The youngest, who would not have any opportunities to practice leadership, broke out because circumstances do not define you.

God wanted a broken vessel.
God has a univsersity. Few enroll, even fewer graduate. He was has people who claim to have God's authority, and don't. People who claim to be broken, and aren't. And people who do have hi authority, but who are mad and unbroken. And there are a great mixture of everything in between. In God's sacred school of submission and brokenness, why are there so few students? Because all students in this school suffer much pain. It's often the unbroken ruler (whom God sovereign picks) who causes the pain. Saul was God's chosen way to crush David. Was a divine ordination for Saul (unbroken) to be placed over David's authority.

You have your eyes on the wrong Saul, and you will blame him alone for your present hell. But God has his eyes on another King Saul, the King Saul in you. David would have grown up to be King Saul II except that God cut away the Saul inside David's heart. That operation took years and was a brutalizing experience that almost killed the patient, but God used the outer King Saul as the scalpel and tongs to remove this inner Saul in David.

There in those caves, drowned in the sorrow of his song of his sorrow, David became the best hymn writer and the greatest comforter of broken hearts.
The heartache and suffering from being chased to be killed, misunderstood as the evil/enemy. But, Suffering was giving birth. Humility was being born. By earthly measures, he uses a shattered man, by heaven's measure, a broken one.

This is the true way of leadership/conversion. David's followers, while he was living in caves, were a bunch of broken, angry people: Thieves, liars, complainers, and rebellions. But with David, they all submitted, even if he never spoke of the word submission. Legalism is not a word found in the vocabulary of fugitive. Nevertheless, they cleaned up their outward lives as well as inward. They didn't even think about the topic, much less discuss it.

Joab complained and rebuked David. David says "Better he kill me than I learn his ways. Better he kill me than I become as he is."
Saul was God's anointed and truly a warrior who masterfully fulfilled his duty as a successful king.
People pray without ulterior motives and sincerely, but dark desires are hidden in their  hearts. And the thing is, God still answers those prayers. However, those are outward clothing of the Spirit's power and the inward filling of the spirit's life. But the monster must be dealt with.

Is the authority that's placed on you David or Saul? Only God knows, but He won't tell you."Are you so certain your king is a Saul and not a David that you are willing to take the position of God and go to war against your Saul?" "Then thank God you did not live in the days of Crucifixion."
-The way you react to that leader, be he David or Saul, reveals a great deal about you.

Life is submission. David taught the art of patience. Legalism is nothing but a leader's way of avoid suffering. He feared no rebellion because He didn't mind being dethroned.
"Beginning empty-handed alone frightens the best of men. It also speaks volume of just how sure they are that God is with them. Their words, if truly understood, tells of their insecurity"
Absalom is pure and noble, but he hasn't been through the trials that David had gone through. He is only pure and noble.To stop Absalom from dethroning the kingdom, David would become Saul.
Perhaps David's time to rule was over. "The throne is not his to take, protect or to keep. What kind of monster could Absalom become if he overthrew his own father? We don't know, but we'll let God be God, it's all possible. Only he knows the truth, and it seems he will not tell."

Rebekah - Doug Sparks (2015)

• The Question asked of the text must not be "what is the answer", but "what does the text say?"
• Common fundamental truths: the deity of Christ, the fall of man, the death and resurrection of Christ, his need for redemption, salvation by faith, the Bible makes the core values of faith very clear
• But other issues not so clear
• Each of the books compromising the New Testament were conditioned by the culture of the day: The language, the social mores, the political influences, the philosophies, and other religions, 2000 years ago.
• What is the original intended meaning. The meaning of the words can only be understood in the context of the word written before and after. In other words in sentences, And individual sentences can be understood only in context of the preceding and following sentences.
• Hermeneutics means to take the original meaning of the text and then bringing it forward two thousand years and seeing how it applies today.
• "They wanted to keep heresy out. So they emphasized the sacredness of the scripture, the more the people feared doing anything that would harm its reputation. The church took the same approach and it became infallible, untouchable, and beyond criticism, but also corrupt. It must always be understood that God's word for us must be living and dynamic. If we fear questioning and looking at what it really says, we lose the true essence of its value."