I love how they put some bloody action scenes and fights. I love the story. So many lessons we can learn from the movie.

Here are some lessons I took home:

1. Life sucks if you don’t read the Bible.

2. The Bible changes a man whether we like it or not.

3.  Possesing the Word of God won’t mean a thing unless you open it up and read it.

4. We all have a message to deliver to the world.

5. If God calls you to do something – stay on the path.

6. I have the greatest job in the world. The privelege to preach the word week in and week out. To study it and ask God to reveal His words to me. I think everybody whether Christian or not should start reading the Scripture. Be a student of the word.

a cheap hire who could follow instructions really well and does what is required of him. A person who loves to be told what to do and acts on it. A hireling that could easily be replaced when things don’t work out. Advantage is that you get them cheap.

or

a weird person who innovates, who possesses human qualities, who goes beyond what is expected because it is not the norm. A weird short of heretic who does not follow the rules but brings dramatic results to the team. A person who does not need to be told what to do but knows what he is supposed to be doing and takes responsibility for his action. A valuable person who you know would leave a mark once he decides to move on to the next job even if you double his salary because he really is valuable that money can’t pay what he brings to the table.

So it’s your choice – cheap hire or expensive weird?

Related posts:

1. A letter to the graduates and the jobless

2. Shaun White is weird

Lord SUPER THANK YOU FOR…..

- a house I could call my own

- a fully paid car

- a wife who is loving, supportive and gorgeous

- 2 wonderful obedient kids

- the best job in this world

- for wonderful friends

- for allowing me to work with the most amazing people in the world

- for the food that you bless my family everyday.

- for the treats and surprises we received almost everyday

- for the freedom to read the Bible

- for my clothes, shoes, laptop

- for the tiny trivial blessings

- the health that you gave me

- the opportunity to serve in church

- my parents and siblings

- for the rain, for the heat

- for this blog and the blog readers

- for your grace, forgiveness and unconditional love

So many things to thank God for. Thank you Jesus!

Luke 17:12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance,
Luke 17:13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Luke 17:14  ¶ He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
Luke 17:15  ¶ One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”
Luke 17:16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:17  ¶ Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?

- I preached on authentic community. i am glad to be part of one. Victory family has been a spiritual family for me since I was 13. Wow – 17 years in this church.

- Got to Greenhills at exactly 3pm. Worship was out of this world again. Johann and the team are improving in such an increasing rate. I love our worship team. One of the best! Sally was Mommy Rocker!!!

- Joseph preached a powerful word on grace. Watch out for the podcast this week at our church site.

- Joseph’s preaching was life changing and hit the mark. We have to rely on the grace of God. Saved by grace, live by grace!

The world is changing. Virginity is now rare. The normal is to have pre-marital sex. Virginity is weird.

I was reminded of a college girl who was being pressured by his non-virgin friends to give in. Almost everyday – they would tell her to give up her virginity. Sometimes they would ridicule her and call her V-I-R-G-I-N.

So one day she had enough and she faced her friends:

” I CAN BE LIKE YOU ANYTIME I WANT TO BUT YOU CAN NEVER BE LIKE ME.”

Go girl…… Be weird. Virgins rule! You too Virgin Man.. you rock!!!!

Related Posts:

1. Shaun White is Weird

2. Dear Graduates and Jobless

2. What is Leadership?

3. Leading with the OLD

4. Hedgehog Concept

5. Take it to the next level

6. Leadership Challenges

7. Honest Feedbacks

8. Productivity

9. Authenticity

10. Why your Leadership Sucks?!

You dont have to be like everybody else. You are unique. You are different. You bring something new to the organization, team or church that you are in.

What are your skill sets? What are your dramas in life? That makes you unique. What are the things that only you can contribute greatly to make this world a better place?

If you have no idea then you are shortchanging us and yourself. No ideas means you are not investing in YOU and the art God has called you to be in.

Maybe you haven’t heard this before but let me tell you – you are extraordinary!

You have what it takes to be successful in this world. You have far more value than how the world values you. God has a specific purpose and plan for you. A plan to make you succeed beyond your wildest imagination.

Do not for a moment think that you are just a graduate with a bleak future because of what is happening in our nation. You don’t have to be normal. Weird is the new normal.

Normal is graudating from college and remaining jobless for at least 6 months to 2 years.

Normal is sending out resumes and waiting at home for someone to call you up.

Normal is being so broke after spending millions in tuition fees and having school debts that you will pay till you are 35 to 40 years old.

Normal is boring. Normal is not where God wants you to be.

Be WEIRD. Be Different. Weird is the new normal.

Weird means not accepting the status quo.

Weird is not succumbing to how the world works but looking for opportunities to be above the rest.

Weird is saying that is not my value. I am worth more than that.

Weird is reinventing yourself and branding yourself as the new NORMAL.

Graduates, we live in a different world right now. There is no good reason to remain normal. There is no reason to be jobless. The whole wide world is in your fingertips. God has placed you in such a strategic time – take advantage of it.

Don’t be NORMAL, Act WEIRD by the grace of God.

Rom. 12:1  ¶ And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Rom. 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Rom. 12:3  ¶ Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

related posts:

1. Shaun White is Weird

- signs and wonders, church in coffee shops, small group discipleship.

- most of them are visionaries and out of the box preachers.

- some of the groups roots could be traced back to the emergent movement that is sprouting in the US.

- they are organic, flexible and missional

at the other side of the coin they also believe that

- organized religion/church is not biblical

- they usually preach on radical grace that abuses the doctrine of grace ( more on that next week)

- they also try to fish from other churches

- they don’t believe in the office of the pastor

- they would rather have conversations than preachings.

Just one thing that bothers me about the movement is how they try to put down other ministries so they could steal the flock. No problem with me of they want to plant a church but to speak bad about certain churches and ministries is unethical and not biblical unless doctrines are in question.

Just some things for church planters to take note of:

1. Don’t fish on another boat. If you would really like to get some guys from a particular church I would advise you talk to the pastor of the church and ask permission.

2. We cannot be too organic and not create systems. Imagine if there is no pastor in a particular church – who would guard the doctrine of the church? Who would shepherd the flock? Who would be responsible? It is so easy to say that there is no need for a pastor if you have a small group but what if the church grows – who is leading it and who will be accountable?

3. A church that is disorganized would someday cease to exist. Once problems like money, disgruntled members and sensitive cases come into place where would the people go?

4. Organic is good. I am for an organic relationship with Jesus and fellow believers but an organic system to run and govern the church is impossible. I can’t have a 100% organic family. There is a need for greater accountability. At the end of the day – the one is leading is the one responsible.

A short video clip of Pastor Mark Driscoll describing the different church plants happening in the US.

You encounter them everyday

- email marketers

- click Chile and help and throw pillow apps at facebook

- personal messages that are not personal at all

- people interrupting you so they could sell their product

- brochures and leaflets at your windshield

- street evangelists sharing the Bible and asking for money

Yesterday I came home and was surprised to see an ad taped on our gate – that causes the paint to chip off.

So what do people usually do with spammers? They ignore them or in some cases delete them. Why? Because spammers interrupt us not just once, twice, 3x. They are irritating and at times rude. We have to understand people today, if they need something, would look for it, google it or ask a friend. Rarely do they entertain spammers.

As pastors we have to rethink how we could spread the gospel. We can’t afford to be spammers. People hate spammers and the gospel is not to be treated as one.