Thursday, October 30, 2014

A Tennis Ball: The Secret of Unity






One day, I was playing tennis with some friends. When I was taking a rest, I was watching other people’s playing. Though the ball is small, it turned my head where it was. It was not only me. When I watched the heads of the audience who were watching US Open Tennis Tournament, the heads and the eyes of all the spectators were controlled by a tiny tennis ball.

That made me thinks of the source of unity of a family and a church. If a family or a church looks at Jesus and serves him alone, there will be unity among church’s members. Therefore, looking at Jesus as the pattern of our lives, serving him alone as the purpose of our lives, and trusting His power as the source of our strength for success will unite us all. 

Furthermore, if you look at Jesus asking what would Jesus do and obeying the instruction of the Holy Spirit, there will be unity between you and the Holy Spirit that will spring the unity in yourself and with others.  Looking at Jesus is indeed the secret of unity.

If you don’t look at Jesus and if there is no unity between you and Jesus, there will be an estrangement or separation in yourself, and with others.




Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The secret of living with joy and peace in every situation

by San No Thuan


Introduction:

When Paul writes the letter to Philippians, he encouraged them by saying, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!” At that time he was imprisoned in Rome but he was filled with joy and peace. The main reason why he could live with joy and peace at any time and any circumstances is because he know how to live. Then, what is the secret of living that Paul has learned. In other word, what is the difference between Paul and us?

Four differences of Paul from mere Christians

1. His Purpose: What is the purpose of life? Living is for Christ (Phil. 1:21)
·      Unbelievers: they try to magnify or live for themselves. It is natural for them to strive for money, popularity, power, pleasure, and prestige.
·      Our first priority and purpose of life is not for money, popularity, power, pleasure, and prestige.
·      Then, what is it?
o   Phil. 1:21 – “for to me, living means living for Christ”
o   The true purpose of human life is “to live for Christ.” In other word, the purpose of life is to bring glory to Christ.
o   Living for Christ” means to magnify or glorify only for Jesus Christ.
o   Are you living for God’s pleasure or your pleasure?

·      Can we magnify Christ in our lives?
o   A Telescope brings distant things like stars and moon to be closer to human beings.
o   Microscope makes tiny things look big.
o   Believers must be like telescope and microscope that brings others to see Jesus and believe in him.
·      For unbelievers, Jesus Christ is very small. Other things are far more important.
·      To this unbelieving world, the purpose of Christians must be to bring Jesus Christ closer and bigger to their lives. How can we do that. We can do that through our lifestyle or patter of our life.    

2. His Pattern (Phil 2:5)
·      What is the Pattern of your attitude or lifestyle?
·      Human life is developed by the examples of their environment that they see and experience every day.
·      “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
·      Pattern of Jesus:
1.     serving others with humility
2.     resisting every evil structure or ways of life out of love.
§  Cleansing the temple.

3. His Prize (Phil. 3:14)
·      “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phi. 3:14)
·      the secret of success is to expect nothing form human beings but only from God alone.
·      Put your hope and expectation only from God.
·      Live not to please human beings but God alone.
·      Gal 1:10 - “Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant”

4. Power (Phil. 4:13)
·      Phil. 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
·      E.g. Jesus heals a lame man by a pool of Bethesda (John 5)
o   When there is the end of human power and ability to live like Jesus,  remember there is the power of God who can turn the water in wine.
o   “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk” (Jon 5:8)

Conclusion

Paul’s secret of living with joy and peace in every situation can be learned in four Ps.  Those differences can give us a great impact in our daily life.

1.     For your purpose: is your purpose to serve the Lord instead of serving for your own pleasure?
2.     For your pattern of life: is your pattern of life to follow the likeness of Christ.
3.     For your prize: is your expectation of the prize for your hard work only from the Lord?
4.     For your power: is the power of God is your main energy and power?


_____________________
San No Thuan
Chin-Mizo Fellowship Sermon
Oct 26, 2014

6 Ways to Earn the Right to Lead People


By Rick Warren
PrayingYou’ll never have to earn God’s favor. God loves you and is pleased with you completely because of grace and not because of your performance. People, on the other hand, are a little different. If you want to lead people, you must establish credibility and earn the respect and the right to lead them.
Leadership is influence. The way you can tell you’re a leader is to look over your shoulder. If somebody’s following, then you’re the leader. If nobody’s following, you’re not the leader. The moment you have to say to the people in your ministry, “I’m the leader!” you are no longer the leader. Leadership is something that is earned. You earn the right to lead through six character qualities in your life.
1 Timothy 3:1, 7 says, “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task… He also must have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
If you set your heart on being an overseer, that’s a good ambition. It’s okay to have an ambition to be a leader. But if you’re going to be leader, you’ve got to have a good reputation. The key to a good reputation can be summed up in the word “character” – your inner attitudes, your values, and your actions. There’s a difference between reputation and character. Reputation is what people think you are. Character is what you actually are. D.L. Moody said, “Character is what you are in the dark.” Character is what you are when nobody’s around. Character is what you have left when you’ve lost your reputation. It’s what’s left over. The key to a good reputation is having good character. The problem is, we’re more concerned about image than character.
If leadership is influence, then influence is earned by respect. If you don’t have the respect of people, you’re not a leader. There are six character qualities, all in Proverbs that establish the respect we need to lead.

1. We earn respect through integrity.

If you don’t have integrity, it’s not real success; it’s phony success. Proverbs 10:9 says, “The man of integrity walks securely. He who takes crooked paths will be found out.” One of the benefits of walking in integrity is confidence because you have nothing to hide. Confidence comes from having no fear of being found out.

2. We earn respect through humility.

Proverbs 29:23 (Good News) “Arrogance will bring your downfall but if you’re humble, you will be respected.” The Bible also says, “Clothe yourselves in humility”. If you want to dress for success, that’s a good way to dress. Just about the time I think I’ve got it all together, God pulls the rug out from under me. It’s no problem at all for God to humble you. You can either humble yourself or He will humiliate you. Those are the options.
I remember hearing about a school principal one time who made a major mistake and everybody in the school knew about it. He thought, “I’m not going to apologize to everybody. I’d be embarrassed and go down in the kids’ eyes.” Then he changed his mind. So he spoke over the intercom to the entire school and said, “I made a mistake and I apologize. I want to ask this whole school to forgive me for this decision.” He became the most honored principal of that school, simply because the teachers and the kids were so unused to having someone admit it when they were wrong. The kids went up to him saying, “I just wish I had a father like you. I wish I had a dad who could admit it when he was wrong.” The Bible says, “Before honor is humility.” So, when we admit we’re wrong, rather than being downgraded in people’s eyes, we’re raised in people’s eyes.

3. We earn respect through dependability.

We admire people who can be counted on, people who are reliable, who are trustworthy. Proverbs 25:15 says, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.” Have you ever met anybody like that? Always promising the moon but delivering nothing. Always saying they’re going to help you in the ministry but they don’t. They’re always long on promises but short on performance. Napoleon once said, “Promise everything, deliver nothing.” He could have been a politician. That’s not the way to live.

4. We earn respect by living by right priorities.

Respect is earned through living by priority. Proverbs 11:27 says, “If your goals are good you’ll be respected.” Proverbs 14:22 in the Good News translation says, “You will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good.” If you want to be a leader, have good goals. If your goals are respected and your goals are good, you will be respected. The average American will live 25,550 days. How you invest that time is totally up to you. You can waste it, you can spend it, and you can invest it. But you’ve got to have worthy goals.

5. We earn respect through generosity.

Proverbs 11:16 declares, “He who gives generously to the needy and shows kindness will be powerful and respected.” The fact of life is, no one is ever honored for what they’ve received. They always are honored for what they give. We’re never honored for what we keep, what we get, but what we give away.
Andrew Carnegie once wrote down some goals and when he died they found them in his desk: “I’m going to spend the first half of my life making all the money that I can and I’m going to spend the second half of my life giving it all away.” And he did. As a result, his name is still known years and years later. Generations later.
There’s only one problem with that philosophy. Nobody knows when they’re going to die. How are you going to know when to start giving away? How does he know when he’s at the half way point? Do your given’ while you’re livin’ then you’re knowin’ where it’s goin’. When it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing.

6. We earn respect through spirituality.

You earn respect by making God the priority in your life and getting close to Him. Proverbs 3:4-6 (Living Bible) “If you want favor with God and man and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely. In everything you do put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.” Notice it says, “If you want favor with man as well as with God…” When you put God first in your life, it not only gives you favor with God but it gives you favor with man. People are drawn to those who naturally love the Lord, those who are naturally in love with Jesus Christ.
These are the six areas that produce respect. We earn respect through integrity, humility, generosity, spirituality, dependability, and living by priority. These are the issues. Twenty years from now what are people going to remember about you? Leadership is influence, but you cannot lead without these issues. They are the basis to build respect. When you have the respect of people, people will follow you anywhere.

5 Ways to Excel In Your Ministry and Leadership

 

By Rick Warren
Target


God is more concerned with your progress than your perfect performance. The very nature of discipleship is progressive. God’s purpose is that you become more and more like His Son, Jesus, and He will use your entire life to work that process out. As ministry leaders, we are not exceptions. We are examples. If we aren’t growing and challenging ourselves to move to the next level, personally and professionally, we can’t lead a congregation or a team to do so.
Excellence, in and of itself, isn’t a core value at our church. We’d rather launch things imperfectly than wait for perfect conditions, which never really arrive. Having said that, excelling or growing and improving is another matter. While we don’t have to have reached perfection to serve God, we must be willing to grow. Some Pastors and leaders excel and grow, while others don’t. What makes the difference? The Bible mentions at least five factors that cause us to excel…

1. People who excel work with enthusiasm.

Emerson once said “Nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm.” Regardless of whether the job is big or small, give it your best. Great performers give their best effort, no matter what is the size of the audience. The Bible says, “Whatever your task is, put your whole heart and soul into it, as work done for the Lord, and not merely for men.” (Colossians 3:23)

2. People who excel sharpen their skills.

They never stop developing…growing…learning…improving. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the ax is dull, and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.” It takes more than desire to excel, it takes skill! Remember – you’re never wasting time when you are sharpening your “ax”.

3. People who excel keep their word.

They are reliable. They can be counted on to do what they say they’ll do. So they excel because people of integrity are rare in our society. “Everyone talks about how loyal and faithful they are, but just try to find someone who really is!” Proverbs 20:6 (GN) Reliability trumps talent in the long run every time.

4. People who excel maintain a positive attitude.

Even under pressure…or change…or unrealistic demands, they don’t allow themselves to become negative. Complainers never excel at anything except complaining. “Do all things without grumbling or arguing…and you will shine out like a light in a dark world.” (Philippians 2:14-15) And remember “If the boss is angry with you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit will quiet his bad temper!” (Ecclesiastes 10:4 LB)

5. People who excel do more than is expected.

This is a secret that every successful leader has discovered. You’ll never excel by only doing what is required – the bare minimum. Jesus said, “If anybody forces you to go a mile with him, do more, go two miles with him.” (Matthew 5:41, Ph)
Oscar Hammerstein told that story of seeing the top of the head of the Statue of Liberty up close from a helicopter. What impressed him was the incredible detail the artist had sculpted on an area of the statue that the artist never expected anyone to see. The artist had no idea man would someday fly above his statue!
When you are tempted to cut corners and think “No one will ever know” remember God is looking down and sees everything you do. Give it your best this week!

Where do billionaires go to university?


GraduateThe ultra-rich are more likely to be graduates, not self-taught self-starters
Are the super-rich more likely to be better educated? Or have they spurned scholarship and dedicated themselves to the serious business of being seriously rich?
According to a global census of dollar billionaires, almost two-thirds have a university degree. That means that even for countries with a high level of graduates, billionaires are disproportionately likely to have gone to university.
In the UK, more than four out of five billionaires were in higher education - not so much rags to riches as rag week to riches.
The educational insights are from an annual profile of the uber-rich, the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census, produced by the Swiss banking group and a Singapore-based financial intelligence firm.
It examines the wealth and background of more than 2,300 billionaires - and the findings undermine the image of the wealthy as being self-taught self-starters trained on the market stall.
As well as being much more likely to be graduates, a quarter have postgraduate degrees and more than one in 10 has a doctorate.
This map of wealth also shows that these dollar billionaires - worth at least £620m and typically more than three times this amount - are likely to have attended some of the traditionally most prestigious universities. 
The top 20 for universities producing billionaires is dominated by blue-chip, elite US institutions, which take 16 of the places.
Elite institutions
The University of Pennsylvania has produced more than any other institution, followed by Harvard, Yale, the University of Southern California, Princeton, Cornell and Stanford.
And the most likely way of making money is by dealing in money, with billionaires mostly making their fortunes through finance, banking and investment.
University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania has produced the most billionaires
But there are also some indications that the geography of the super rich is changing. Reflecting India's growing economy, the University of Mumbai is in ninth place in the league table.
The only UK university in this wealth list is the London School of Economics, in 10th place, with no place for Oxford or Cambridge.
The rise of Russia's wealthy is reflected in the 11th place for Lomonosov Moscow State University.
But the dominance of the US universities is not simply about the US producing more billionaires. More than a quarter of the billionaires who attended US universities to take undergraduate degrees were from other countries.
This was even more the case for postgraduate courses in the US, where 39% came from overseas.
There could also be something of a time-lag, because the average age of this group is 63, attending the university systems of four decades ago.
University donations
The connection with university carries into later life. More than half of billionaires are involved in philanthropic projects and the biggest single cause they support is education - and within this category, it is particularly higher education that gets their backing.
It helps to explain how Harvard's fundraising drive could set an eye-watering target of $6.5bn (£4bn).
LondonBillionaires are increasingly concentrated in a few global cities, such as London, Moscow and New York
The study shows a pattern of wealth being concentrated in a small number of places. More than 40% of billionaires in Europe live in just 10 cities, headed by Moscow and London. Globally the biggest city for billionaires is New York.
It also creates some jarring contrasts. Nigeria has become the country with the most number of children without access to any education - while this report shows that Nigeria is on course to have the most billionaires in Africa.
There have been repeated international studies from organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showing that going to university remains a strong investment in terms of improving the chance of a higher-income job.
Such studies have rejected the idea that not going to university could be a smarter move or that the value of a degree will fall below the cost of tuition.
But Frank Furedi, author, social commentator and former professor of sociology, says that one of the "big secrets" of the expansion of higher education has been a growing gap between the most prestigious universities and the rest.
"The hierarchy has become more fixed," says Prof Furedi.
These top universities have become the place where "global players gather".
He says there has always been a tension between universities promoting social mobility and being the route for handing on advantage to the next generation.
"Education has always been contradictory, it's the way that some people make their way up and it's the way of consolidating privilege."

Most billionaire graduates

1. University of Pennsylvania
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. University of Southern California
5. Princeton University
6. Cornell University
7. Stanford University
8. University of California, Berkeley
9. University of Mumbai
10. London School of Economics
11. Lomonosov Moscow State University
12. University of Texas
13. Dartmouth College
14. University of Michigan
15. New York University
16. Duke University
17. Columbia University
18. Brown University
19. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
20. ETH Zurich