Are you subject to curses brought on by no actions of yours but previous generations?

I’m not even sure where to start. The sermon taught at ECC today had a lot of information, perhaps it’s a sermon that can be taught in a total of a few weeks but we went through it in less than 40 minutes. What are your thoughts of the question above? What is your response to that? This, perhaps is also another post that is more for my own reminder and thoughts than anyone else but I always pray that you will be somehow blessed through it as well.

I’ll try to summarize it as best as I can. What is generational sin/curse? It’s the sin that many Christians have increasingly started to believe they are cursed in the way they are because of the previous generations, parents, grandparents, etc. Although Exodus 20:5 does seem to portray that exact thought at first glance, there is so much more to just that. In many versus in the bible, it tells us just the opposite.

Ezekiel 18:20…… “The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” This, I believe, applies to every single one of us, whether Christian or not. It teaches us that we need to carry individual responsibilty for our own sins, for our own troubles we caused and to know that we are not cursed from the previous generations.

Beth Moore once said… “Before we parents die of fright, let’s remember God is the only perfect parent. He’s not cursing three or four genearations over a little parental irritability. In fact, I don’t believe He’s calling a curse down on anyone. As believers under the New Covenant who have been cleansed by Christ’s blood, I think the concept of generational sin applies to us through its powerful repercussions instead.” The blood of Christ at the Cross changes everything for us, it covers all our sins.

What about Original sin? There are two points. The Curse of original sin simply means “we are sinful.” And The Cure FOR orginial sin is simply to put your faith in Jesus Christ. God looks at us through the lens of Jesus so our sins have been covered.

Personal Sin? What impact does it have on our lives and others? Three points here. One, There will always be consequences for our personal sin. We tell ourselves that it will only hurt ourselves but our choices of selfishness and arrograncy is never harmless and will always have an impact on others. Secondly, We need to be blessed through a life of holiness. God gave us 66 books of how to live a holy life and a life of holiness means simply making choices to worship our Holy God. Repeated acts of unholiness will lead to feelings of the lack of God’s prescence. Have you ever felt that before? I know I have.

And Finally, be a blessing to others. We’ve all heard this many times before but our words can be very harmful. Here’s what the Book of James tells us… “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” James 3:8-10

That has got to be one of the hardest things to follow for all of us. To constantly be verbally encouraging to everyone, including those we are not too fond of, to say words of blessings and affirmation. I know it’s one of the many areas I’m continously praying and asking God to shape me and mold me.

12 hours after this sermon, I am still trying to grasp all of the teachings. Reading and re-reading my sermon notes and the bible versus related to them. How I love Sundays. Side note: Next Sunday will be my last Sunday at ECC…. it’ll be hard not being at home again but December will come fast and I trust that God will bring me to a good church in Boston.

 

The midst of transition

It’s hard to believe the last two months have come and gone. It feels like just yesterday when I was on motos and tuk tuks to get to dinner across town. It feels like just yesterday when I was watching my first graders run around the playground and play “dead cockroach” during PE.

Although the last two months have flown by, no doubt it’s been a hard transition. It’s never easy packing up your life somewhere, even for a year. I was talking to a colleague the other morning and having a discussion about the lack of purpose we felt outside of Cambodia. The whole image is kind of ironic. Why is it that when we were there, we couldn’t wait to get out and now that we’re back in our comfort zone, we feel miserable? I assume that’s what people call culture shock, and the transition.

I had a short conversation with a friend this morning and our exchange of words stirred up thoughts in my mind about the way we act in different places, with different friends. People always say “just be yourself, you’ll attract friends who are just like you” and don’t get me wrong, that’s true. But at the same time, we also subconsiously adapt to the culture and lifestyle there.

It’s quite a mind boggling thought, at least for myself. it’s almost as if I’m battling to get back who I was when I was in Cambodia and the lifestyle there, in the fear that I will lose that memory if I don’t. But also knowing that it’s okay to be myself here, and to adapt to where I am and to the people I’m around.

Despite everything, one thing I know for sure is: I am so thankful and blessed to have a great church, great friends and a great family. God tugs at my heart every time I think about all that He has provided me. It’s no luck I have the life, the friends, the family and the church I have. Here’s leaving all in God’s hands…

“Whatever you’re doing inside of me, it feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace. Though it’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see, I’m giving into something heavenly.” Whatever you’re doing by Santas Real

 

chickflick triggers life thoughts

Perhaps luck exsists somewhere between the world of planning, the world of chance, and the peace that comes from knowing that u just cant know it all.

I watched an interesting movie last night. “Little Black Book”, movie came out about 5 years ago but I’ve only heard of it when I decided to randomly pick a movie off the rental shelf a few days ago. Looking at the cover and reading the synopsis, no doubt you’ll know it’s a chick flick but I found it quite entertaining and actually, has a lot of good thoughtful quotes.

I’ll try not to spoil the movie for those who are wanting to watch it, but I’ll mention a quick summary. Stacy, the main character is going through life trying to follow her own plans and expectations, the right guy, the right job, etc. When the mention of an ex girlfriend came up while talking to her boyfriend, her insecurity kicked in and when Derek, the boyfriend, was out of town… she decided to get in touch with his previous girlfriends and do a little research. As the movie would say: “look under the hood before you buy a car”. I’ll leave it at that, but spoiler… as many of you can probably guess, it gets out of hand.

I found it quite entertaining due to the fact that it portrays so well the personality of men and women. In general, women are very curious creatures, detail oriented, and wants to know everything… which unfortunately, we hurt ourselves in the end from knowing too much, worrying, doubting and then starting unnessary fights. We think Omission is betrayal. Just for that reason, men believe that what you don’t know won’t hurt you, ignorance is bliss and if somethings not important, its not nessesary to mention it. “Knowledge is a terrible and marvelous thing.” God definitely has a sense of humor to wire us the way we are.

Male and female differences aside. This movie talks a lot about plans, expectations, luck, changes and life in general. Some of us perhaps leave life to chance, whatever happen happens, go with the flow. I, personally, believe that God’s got all my plans set, whichever way I accidently drive down, He will find a way to bring me back. It makes me ponder whether it’s better to have high expectations and plans for our life or not? Pros and Cons. Eitherway, also be ready to be disappointed when it doesn’t work out the way you had always dreamt it will.

Not sure where I was going with this post,
but here are a few more quotes from the movie that I enjoy reading…..

• John Lennon said Life happens when you’re busy makng other plans
• You know, life’s funny that way. Once you let go of the wheel, you might end up right where you belong.
• I believe we write our own stories and each time we think we know the end… we don’t.

And that’s the end of  my jabber post for the day.

 

“You are never more Godly than when you forgive…”

For my own reminder, I like to write down a few points and messages that I recieve during church. It helps me rethink everything through in a timely manner… so here it is. I hope you can be encouraged by it in some way or another.

We went through the Book of 3 John two weeks ago. it’s the shortest book in the bible if you count by words. The book of 3  John teaches us to imitate the good instead of evil. First of all in 3 John:4 we are reminded to Seek First the Kingdom of God and everything else comes second. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” You can seem and pretend to be the most Godly person, performing Godly acts but none of that brings as much joy to God as Seeking Him and His Kingdom.

Gaius vs Diotrephes. Gaius was faithful in helping those in the church, despite whether he knew them or not. Diotrephes is an example of a heart that has gone astray. “…Diotrephes, who likes to put himeslf first…” he was quick to discern and judge. Worst of all, he did not have a heart of teachability. With that being said, many of us are teachable but only to specific people. The test of your bandwidth is who you are willing to listen to, and who can speak into your life. Sometimes God will bring a message to us in the most unlikely, discerning, uncommon way and therefore He can bring a message to us through our enemies, through uncomfortable situations.

This past Sunday, we went through the book of Philemon, in between Titus and Hebrews. A short book that most people seem to flip past as they read the bible…. okay at least I did! In this book, Paul, who is in prison writes to Philemon. Philemon’s former slave was a run away theft and was thrown into prison and currently working for Paul in prison as well as became a Christian through Paul.

At this point Paul sends Onesimus (the former theft), back to Philemon to repay his debt. Paul does not use his authority to produce the result he wants. He paints us a picture of radical grace, He is not manipulative nor controlling. He leaves the decision to Philemon, to have the dignity to make his own decision. Verse 16 “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother…”

Here we can learn a few signs of having Radical Faith and Radical Grace.
1. when you decide to view everyone as equal, everyone is made in the image of God no matter what. learn to respect, love and embrace them.
2. “You are never more Godly than when you forgive” No one deserves forgiveness but we never deserved God’s grace. It’s about extending that radical grace to others when you forgive.
3. viewing yourself in the image of God, moving towards sacrifice, cherish opportunities to reflect the glory of God, take risks and even when you get rejected, you will keep trying because you know God is in you and he will work through you in radical ways

Living in a multicultural city like Hong Kong especially, it allows us to have our paradigm challenged. We have the daily opportunity to have our bias and prejudice challenged.

But none of this changes overnight, it’s a long standing, perhaps lifelong challenge for each and every one of us, to become more like Christ, to extend radical grace to those around us.

 

the wonderful trap of phnom penh

It’s hard to believe a month has gone by since I left Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The last few weeks has flown by. I’ve seem to have adjusted back to Hong Kong and slowly reverting back to the Hong Kong lifestyle and mentality, whether that’s a good thing or not, you decide.

One of the things I struggled with was the fact that there are some people out there who doesn’t really care all that much about what you’ve done in Cambodia or why you were there, they might just not understand and therefore, don’t care much about listening to you or asking questions. I seem to focus so much on those people that it slips my mind there are also those who are very intrigued and loves to learn about it.

Over lunch a few times the last few days, I’ve had the chance to tell some of my colleagues about Cambodia. Because HK is so money and success driven, many of us would not ever think about living in a third world country. They are so intruiged about Cambodia, about why I would want to live there and why I like it there. Many of those questions are hard to answer, but after all those conversations, I always end up coming to the same conclusion in my head. And thus the following:

I’m very priveleged to have lived in Cambodia.

Sure it was not always the most pleasant place to live in but thinking back, there is something so unique about phnom penh and cambodia that attracts and sucks in everyone who goes. The way the traffic is, transportation itself, the way Moto and tuk tuk drivers hassle you one after another, the fact that we have to go to more than one grocery store to buy all the nessesary ingredients to cook or bake, the way Cambodians stare at you straight in the eye when they have no idea who you are, and the list goes on.

No matter how stressful everything about and within Cambodia can become, it is also mysteriously relaxing. Hectic, but slow. Overwelming yet once you’ve adjusted to the daily routine, everything seems easier and more convinent than you think. Ah, yes. However long and painful your day might’ve been, you could always step out at night (despite the heat and the mosquitoes), look up- and sit for hours admiring the beautiful night sky with the thousands of stars shinning down at you.

It’s the best of two worlds. I’m very thankful and blessed to have gotten this chance to meet hundreds of friends from all over the world, to explore the culture and to live somewhere so different from home. Of course, can’t forget to mention my parents who supported me in every aspect of the year.

I’ll be back soon. I, along with a number of others, have fallen into the wonderful trap of Phnom Penh and it cannot keep us away for long! God has a wonderful plan for me and I can’t wait to discover more as the years go by.