The Final Week: Your Calling

Lecture 1: Psalm 84:5
- Pilgrimage: Someone who goes on a journey with the hope of encountering God. - E.T. Wright.
The physical, outward journeys also reveal things on the inside. The recurring theme in the Bible is that God is saying, 'I'm not in that comfortable house, I'm out here in the scary waters.'
- Reflective Practice: Often we wonder, what just happened to me? If we reflect back to back frequently, we would be less surprised or confused. Test comes first and lessons come after. If you're making the same mistakes, maybe it's because you're not reflecting often enough. Investigation, Incubation (pause and simmer).
- My calling is to first and foremost, to follow Jesus. What is the point of doing anything if you're not called to do it? Better yet, what is the point of doing what you're called to do, if you're not following Jesus?

Lecture 2: "The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain.
- The reason the farmer takes his 8 year old son to work is not to just train him and impart knowledge, but it's because he wants a relationship. Similarly, God doesn't just call us to do, but to be. ie. Joseph.
- There are different callings for different seasons, perhaps preparing us for the ultimate calling. You build character while being faithful to doing the things in front of you. For each season, be faithful to the next steps (studies/work/marriage). During the preparation time prior to being released to your long-term calling, be sure not to get stuck in passivity/comfort. This preparation phase may be comparable to clearing up the security line at the airport before the take off, to make sure there are no explosives on-board. There are pastors who get up in the air, thousands of feet just to find that they have been carrying explosives.
- Do we go through the phases of our lives - preparation, releasing, fulfillment - just to fulfill our American Dream? Are our involvement in godly works incorporated in achieving our American Dream and not of God himself?

Lecture 3: Call To Be In Missions (Not the Disney Version)
- Christians are more confrontational because they "care" and have higher expectations/standards. Missionaries often leave the mission field because of other missionaries.
- Questionable reasons for calling for missions: Way to appease guilt, boredom, adventure, or unsure of their calling.

Lecture 4: Call To Be In The Market Place
- The attitude in which we pray to God, who wants to meet us daily and have an ongoing relationship, is often wrong. Two minutes of binge praying won't cut it.
- A diamond in the darkness shines brighter. Just like Daniel, who was known for his excellent work in his position. Be excellent in carrying responsibility, trust, diligence, integrity etc. They add value.
- Principles in the Market Place:
1) Luke 19:17 - Be faithful in the small and be trusted with much.
2) Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as for working for the Lord."
3) Exodus 20:8 - "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy." The difference between slavery and freedom is rest. Do you trust him while everyone else is working?
4) Matthew 6:33 - "Seek first his Kingdom and his Righteousness."
5) Deuteronomy 8:18 - "It is He who gives ability to produce wealth". Tithing is a law? It's pre-law because Abraham gave 10% of what he owned prior to Moses' laws. Pre-tax on tithing or after tax? Do you want blessings over the money that's pre-tax or after tax?

Lecture 5: Jesus' invitation to us - Come follow me... where? The next right step.
- We may stop seeking today, if God told us what the complete picture looked like. Again, he longs for a relationship. There's purpose and meaning behind trusting in God when we take the next small step in obedience/faith.
- Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's handiwork, but Paul never tells the Ephesians exactly what they're called to do, but rather tells them their identity. This is because we're individual creation of God. We're not mass produced. There's beauty in uniqueness (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:12-16).
The secret of the Poet's (God's) heart... "The place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need."

Week 8: Relationships

Lecture 1: 1 John 2: 3-6 - Know Him if we obey his commands; 1 John 5:3 - commandments are not burdensome.

- Commandment 1 through 4 is about how to relate with God. Commandment 5 through 10 is about relating to others. When asked, what is the greatest commandant, Jesus summarized by saying love your God, and love others as yourself (Matthew 22: 37-40).

- The foundation of all things are often based on relational issues. How you love God directly affects how you love others. To love is to take risks. How much you're willing to get hurt in order to show love is the depth of your love. ie. the cross.

Lecture 2: Matthew 5:21-22 - Even anger towards another is murder; Proverbs 18:21 - Power of life and death are on your tongues.

- The rice experiment: speaking love/hateful words brought about physical results.

- Renewing of the mind - Imagine when Cinderella got married, the day after on her honeymoon, did she go back to cleaning the house? That's all she knew previous to her transformation. We need to renew our minds and take every thought captive. We don't believe in the lies that we need to go back to our old ways. We're adopted in the citizenship of Jesus Christ.

- Taking offense is like walking in the middle of a bunch of hooks laying around and being yanked by them. When someone yells at you with hurtful words, rather listen to their heart. What they're really saying is, I need love!
"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead me to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison" - Nelson Mandela.

Lecture 3: 

- Sexual sins, like a steel rod, when you first bend it, it becomes easier to bend the next time. Also leads to other sins, to anger, bitterness, etc. God teaches us how to feel and master emotions (proper use of emotions). Be angry without sinning.

- Dating/Courting, principles fail when you're selfish in the relationship. The point is that when you're having a relationship with someone, you really don't know what to expect. It always goes back to if you trust God and who you are in your identity (Proverbs 3:5). Dating/Courting, in what I understand, is not the search for the best partner to make you whole, but is the search for the partner who you can best glorify God with together. (Some worship God best with a partner and some are given the gift of celibacy) 

- It's all about timing. For DTS, you don't proactively seek since it's time to devote yourself to learning. Also, if you're struggling with a sin, it may cause you to seek refuge in a relationship or other things as a substitute.

Lecture 4: 

- Jesus was said to be tempted of all things, but chose to live a sinless life. He was probably tempted sexually, but knew that it wasn't his calling to be married. He's saying, he has experienced it all and have overcome. He can help us because he can relate.

- How important is marriage? It is the building block of society. He could've made 1,000 people when he created us, but he meant for us to be a family. The enemy attacks by destroying family, the nucleus of this world, and one by one destroys society.

- Sex outside of marriage destroys trust. Dude said he had his needs, so the girl gave in before marriage. After being married, the dude went away for a business trip and she's wondering who's meeting his needs now? There were no typical modern day ceremonies in the OT, but sex was a form of the covenant of becoming one.