Peter Tan-Chi - Succeed In Balancing Life
Today we continue our series on life goals. Do you realize why this topic is so important? The reality is this: No matter where I go, people often ask me: When there are leadership seminars abroad or in the Philippines, the most common question I am asked is this: How do I balance my life, can I balance career and family? strike a balance between? How do I balance ministry with family? The reason they ask this question is because they have seen many leaders who succeeded in one area of their lives and then failed in another area. I know you know a lot of business people who are very successful and very rich, but their families are in a mess.
When Pastor Billy Graham passed away, before he passed away, they released a video of his interview, what was his biggest regret? According to Billy Graham, if we could do it all over again, he would spend more time with his children. The reason: When he looked back on his life, he noticed that many of his children had gone through ups and downs. Three of his children were divorced and remarried, and one was divorced and remarried three times. One son became a rebel, but by the grace of God. His entire family is walking with the Lord today. All his children are serving the Lord today. That is because of God’s faithfulness. However, there is some pain that you don't need to experience.
Many times we experience unnecessary pain because we don't follow God's design. What is our topic today? Have you guys been sticking around to listen to our Life Purpose series? Today we’re going to talk about balance, and the best example of that is Jesus. Everyone, let’s read this scripture together: Luke 2:52 Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Notice, Jesus kept growing... There are different translations of this word, growth, growth, progress, but I like the tense here, you keep progressing, keep growing. The Christian life is like riding a bicycle.
I want to share a bicycle secret with you. One of my grandsons is only three years old and can ride a bicycle. You'll notice in our family, they love sports, and we love sports, so at a very young age, they were able to ride their bikes. But I noticed something, what happens when the bike stops? You will fall. I have used this analogy countless times, the Christian life is like riding a bicycle. The day you stop moving forward, you will fall. Let me repeat, you cannot afford to think that you have stopped growing spiritually once you have arrived, and many Christians have stopped growing. We stopped growing in knowledge, and we no longer exercised physically. We preferred to be close to God spiritually, and we preferred to be close to people socially. The day you stop growing is the day you start falling.
Just like riding a bike, there are no exceptions. So for my own spiritual good and health, I want to keep growing, in every area of my life, so you'll notice, I like to go to seminars, I read books, I go to leadership seminars, why? I want to keep growing, and I ask our pastor, and I ask our family members, how can I improve? do you know? I do this all the time and you should try this, you talk to your spouse, you talk to your wife, you talk to your husband: How do I improve? If you keep doing that, you keep growing.
So today, I want to share with you the importance of growth through a balanced life. What is a balanced life? Okay, based on the example of Jesus, let's read it again, everyone: Jesus kept growing, and He grew in wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, stature, physical stature, and favor with God in Him, and vertically, too. Love of people, emotionally, socially. I'll expand on this verse in a moment, but now, if you don't mind, what is our topic today? Here you go: Success in Balance in Your Life: Keep Growing. Now, to understand why you need balance, it's because of the reality of this tension, whether you like it or not, you're going to have stress, you're going to be nervous. Do I want to spend more time on my business? Do I want to spend more time in ministry? Do I want to give more time to my children? There will always be tension.
Ladies and gentlemen, the good news is this: Tension is inevitable, tension is good, but if you don't balance it, tension can become bad. Let me give you an example, guitar. You may not believe it. I can play guitar and violin. You may not believe it either. I have tried the violin. Please note that the word I used is tried, OK? There's something about tension. Strings have to have the right tension to make sound. Without tension, there's no music. However, if you make the string too tight, it will break. The same goes for your life. Tension is not a bad thing. Don't think that you can reach a point in your life where you no longer have any tension. A little tension is healthy, just like muscles. I try to exercise every day. I have certain weight machines, and if you put too much weight on them, it can cause damage to your muscles, so have the appropriate ones. balance. To succeed in balancing your life: keep growing.
So, I want to share with you some principles on how to balance your life. What is the definition of true success? Well, here's the definition: Real success, look, everyone, be everything God wants you to be, do everything He wants you to do, and hear Him say: Well done! A good and faithful servant. Notice it starts with who we are to be, everything God wants you to be. You see, what you are is more important than what you do, so if you want to know true success, you have to become the kind of person God wants you to be. We don't focus on behavior.
As I develop our leaders, including myself, our primary focus is your character: becoming everything God wants you to be. This involves your mind, your body, your spirit, your relationships. Be everything God wants you to be, so what you are is more important than what you do. Because what you do is a by-product of what you are. I do something because of who I am. I serve God because I love the Lord and He loves me. Therefore, first do something, and then do something. Notice the next sentence, Become everything God wants you to be. That's what we're going to learn today, so that you can do everything God wants you to do.
Now remember, I have different roles: I am a Husband, I'm a father, I'm a leader, I'm a pastor, I have different responsibilities and I'm supposed to do those things. But that should come as I continue to develop who I am. Guys, what is true success? Be everything God wants you to be. You have to keep growing. Do everything He wants you to do. So the bottom line is, you won't have time to do everything, let me repeat, you won't have time to do everything in life, but you will have time to do everything God wants you to do. I won't have time to do everything I want to do, but I will have time to do what God wants me to do, so that requires wisdom. From the moment I understood these principles, I continued to follow the Lord.
Do you know what will happen one day? From an eternal perspective, true success looks like this: You heard Him say—everyone, please read— Well done! A good and faithful servant. I don't care what the newspapers say about us and about me. That's not important to me. What the media says, what people say, that doesn’t matter to me. The most important thing is that one day, when I see the Lord, I want Him to say: Well done! A good and faithful servant. And you? Do you believe that one day you will see the Lord face to face? Will it? Now I'm talking to all of you, and I want you to think about this, when you see Jesus face to face, what will He tell you? Think about it. Then you will understand true success.
Again, what is our message today? Success in balancing your life: Keep growing. Okay, let's get started. According to the example Jesus set for us, the most perfect person who ever lived was Jesus. Jesus continued to grow in wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom comes from the Greek word sophia, wisdom is not knowledge itself. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Wisdom in the Hebrew concept was skill, so that you can apply what you know to situations in life. So wisdom is different from knowledge. Wisdom is using what you know. For example, God wants you to be wise. Whether you like it or not, the good news I have to tell you today is that God wants you to be wise. You can pray for wisdom. Let’s read this scripture together: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Note, if any of us lacks wisdom and is a sophia, we should pray to God.
Many years ago, I told the Lord that I was not the smartest. My brother has a very high IQ, and there were a lot of people smarter than me when I was in school, but I said, Lord, I need wisdom. Ask God for wisdom. We should ask for the one who has given generously to everyone, but to whom should it be generously given? Please speak louder for everyone to read. Give generously to everyone. Does that include you? Are there any conditions for His generous gifts to everyone? He gives generously to everyone and does not condemn anyone. What is the condition? Let him pray to God, and you to Him. Will you ask Jesus to give you wisdom today? Are you willing? So make sure today, when you and I are discussing this topic, that you quietly pray to the Lord and say, Lord, I need wisdom. Based on this verse, what is the context of wisdom?
James chapter 1 verse 5, so what are verses 1-4 of James chapter 1? You will understand the context, and the context of the context has to do with suffering. In the midst of suffering you don't know what to do, that's the context of this verse. That's why I like it when you bring your own Bible. You know why? This way you can underline the verses. Now let’s look at the context of this verse. Let’s read: James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. For we know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. But let perseverance also have success, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. That's the context, because here's the truth: some of you are hurting, some of you are suffering, and you don't know why, but the Bible tells you, count it all joy, but you're having trouble, just like what happened to us. On the body, we encounter problems from time to time.
Do you know what happened to me many years ago? We lost our business and I was kicked out of our own company. This was during martial law and I couldn't understand why God allowed these things to happen. The Bible says, ask God for wisdom. That way you know how to respond appropriately. Now some of you are encountering difficulties, financial, maybe your marriage, your family, some of you are in pain, what should you do? The Bible says that he should ask God for wisdom. So you need to learn. That's the context, the Bible tells us, Ephesians 5:15-17 Take heed, not to act as fools, but as wise. Make the most of the time, for these days are evil. Don’t be a fool, but understand what the Lord’s will is. To be wise, you need to understand the wisdom of God. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says, don't be like fools. Life is short, know the will of God.
Now let me ask you a question, how do you know the will of God. How do you know? Let me give you a hint, how do you know? Let me give you another hint, how do you know the will of God? the answer is? You have to read God's Word. How can you know God’s will if you don’t read it? Let’s look at this scripture and read it: Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Let me explain this scripture to you. The word blessed comes from happiness. How happy this man is! He does not listen to the advice of the ungodly. How happy this man is! He does not listen to the opinions and suggestions of those who do not know the Lord.
You see, the truth is, you are either listening to your friends, the media, or yourself. The Bible says that happy is the man who does not listen to the advice of ungodly people. What do you do? The Bible tells us, Psalm 1:2 Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditate on it day and night. He focuses on the Word of God, and because he focuses on the Word of God, God gives you a promise: Psalm 1:3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which bears its fruit in its season, and whose leaves do not wither. Everyone reads: Whatever he does, everything goes well. Did you know that no one can guarantee your career success? Except God’s word?
Think about this, I just came back from Kota Kinabalu, and I met a businessman who was almost 60 years old when he met the Lord, and his memory was no longer that good. But his discipler told him, you need to memorize scripture. He started memorizing scripture, and he memorized over 300 verses. He's almost 70 now, and during that time, God gave him a great idea for a business. He built a beautiful town, a resort, he acquired land, bought it for $1, and sold it for $200. He said, Peter... I asked him, how do you get these ideas? He said it all comes from God. My friend, will you listen to the Word of God? Wisdom is knowing what God wants, this man does not compromise, he does not corrupt, he has a project waiting for a permit, he has been waiting for 10 years. He refused to pay bribes. Listen to the voice of wisdom and you will know how to make choices.
Years ago, one of my sons was invited to be, like, a barkada gang member, a rebellious young man on the fringes of society, and they were fringe kids with problems, OK? They're a little bit naughty, and they're also very attractive, you know, because they're naughty and they like to make noise. But my son, praise God, he is wise. He made a decision, he made a choice. He said, Dad, I have chosen a group of friends who are well-educated, who do well in school, and they are athletes. Because in that school, to be an athlete, your GPA has to be at a certain point. I chose to be with that group of people, and by the grace of God, he was able to become a varsity teammate.
By the way, all of my kids, by the grace of God, love sports, they're all athletes in college, and they made a choice. My daughter, I praise God, my daughter knows the meaning of wisdom. Because she knows how important it is to choose a husband, my family, my children have a pact with us, they will never give their hearts to anyone, they will never give their hearts to a suitor, until They have our blessing. My daughter made a decision, after consulting us, to give up on the boy who was pursuing her. The boy was a graduate of Princeton, an Ivy League school. But she said, based on what the Bible says, I would choose God over this boy. Ladies and gentlemen, when you're in love, you think to yourself, just do this and I'll be happy. People don't marry for pain, everyone marries for happiness. It's just, just if you don't follow God's Word, God's ways, you think you're going to be happy, and ultimately you're not going to be happy.
Many people do not understand the heart of God, and many children do not receive proper instruction. Because parents don't understand God's Word, God's Word, God's heart is to bless you, He wants to protect us. But, you need to find happiness, His way, not our way. So, you need wisdom. Understand, friends, I don't know about you, but years ago, it's confession time, I was in my master's program, and this girl showed up and, you know, was kind of attractive, and after I graduated, she came to visit me in the office. I. She was married by then, and she said, Peter, I'm married now and I'm lonely. Loneliness, now if a woman comes to you and the woman says: I am lonely. Men, what would you do? My husband is in the Middle East and I am alone, understand?
Oh! I praise God and He reminded me of some scriptures, the Bible says, flee from temptation, flee, so you know what I did? I stayed polite and after the conversation I said, I pray for you and she left. I made sure, I didn't call her, I didn't follow up, I didn't do anything. Do you know why? I know my witnesses. Many men don’t think, and you won’t make good decisions. You need to be wise. Because a simple decision like that has eternal consequences. So please be wise. The Bible tells us that Jesus not only grew in wisdom, but Jesus also grew in stature. Now what is stature? My friend, your body is so important in God's plan, do you understand? Many Christians do not take care of their bodies. They feel that everything spiritual is important but the body is unimportant. Nothing could be further from the truth than this. What do I mean?
I want to show you some scriptures that really impacted me. Everyone read: 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God? The Bible says, you are the temple of God. Do you know what that means? Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? This is shocking! I was talking to my wife last night, and I said, Honey, did you know that our bodies are where God lives? Think about this, right at this moment, those of you who know Jesus, those of you who have invited Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, if you are a true Christian, who lives in your body? Please answer. God Himself, the Spirit of God, you know that is so important to me. Because this tells me that I need to take care of my body. Because the Bible says that God has given us a body, and we are not the owners (of our bodies), we are just managers.
Please look at the next verse, verse 17, if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person. For the house of God is holy, and this house is you. The Bible says, you shall not destroy your own body. That's why suicide seems to me to really come from the devil. I have been in this ministry for many years, and in all my counseling, I want to warn you, any time you think about suicide, destroy your own temple, I tell you, that is not from God, it is From the devil. How do we destroy our temple today? The Bible says that God is holy and you must take care of your body. Can I give you the context for this? How do we destroy our temple? It is very obvious in 1 Corinthians that there was something wrong with the church in Corinth.
In Corinth, people were very, very dissolute, and in the temple in Corinth, there were thousands of temple prostitutes, so it was a very immoral city, and these people came to Christ, and Paul was saying, Hey, everybody , your body is the temple of God, therefore, he tells you, 1 Corinthians 6:18,19 Flee sexual immorality... But whoever commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. This is a special sin, sexual immorality. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? This Holy Spirit lives in you. And you are not your own people. Do you know what this scripture tells me? Sexual immorality is a special type of sin because you are essentially dragging God along, and in the context of what you just read, if you commit adultery with a prostitute, Paul is saying, you are forcing your body to become one with the prostitute.
One body, and you're sinning against your body and sinning against God, which is a special kind of sin, and you're dragging God into what you're doing. Friends, I believe that many young people today do not understand how noble the body is. God is saying, please do not defile your body, because your body belongs to the Lord. God is saying, I live in your body. So why would you want sex outside of marriage? Why do you want to defile your body? A lot of young people today, it wouldn't surprise me, more than 50% of young people today are having premarital sex. The reason is that they don't know what the Bible is talking about. The body is the temple of God, I was telling my wife, and this verse had a profound impact on me. Because no matter where I go, no matter what I do, God is with us. God is with you too. So once you understand this, your perspective on your body will change.
Look what the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Not in your spirit you glorify God, but in your body, in your flesh, you glorify God. Do you know what this scripture is saying? Friends, you have to take care of your body. Do it for the right purpose. What do I mean? Look at the heart of God. He gave us a command to keep the Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-9 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. Ladies and gentlemen, why does God bother to command us to rest? Because the body is important. Have you ever thought about this? God is commanding you to take care of your body and work for six days. On the seventh day you shall rest.
Inside our home, our helpers, our drivers, everyone, how many days do you work? Six days. What must you do on the seventh day? rest. Of course today, people have changed this commandment and we only work five days. The Bible says, work six days and rest on the seventh day. Now, don't be deceived, some say, the Sabbath must be Saturday. Don't be fooled. See what the Bible says? When is the Sabbath? Read: Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. Any seventh day is the Sabbath. In Jesus' day, for the Jews, it was Saturday. What is it in the Philippines today? Sunday. For pastors, our Sabbath is Monday. If you're in the Middle East, the Sabbath for most of us is Friday. So don’t be legalistic, what day will it be? Every seventh day. You must rest. Because God wants you to take care of your body.
Now I want to ask you, please answer honestly. This is a question of self-examination: Are you taking care of your body? Let's start with the simplest things. How many of you exercise every day? Please raise your hand. Lift higher. Okay, anyone who exercises three or four times a week, please raise your hand. Sorry, others, you see, you are not taking care of your body. You want to die early, so you don't want to exercise, that's wrong. How many of you pay attention to your diet? Please raise your hand. Oh my god, pastors, look at all these people, they all want to die early. We have to watch our diet, I'm warning you, sugar is bad, I don't drink soft drinks because it affects you, sugar is food for cancer cells. So you have to pay attention to your diet, I eat vegetables, I eat fruits. I try to avoid eating unhealthy foods.
So, how are you doing so far? Are you taking care of your body? OK, you just showed me that you don't pay attention to your diet, you don't exercise, well, your sleep, how many of you get proper sleep? Sleep at least seven to eight hours a day? Please raise your hand. Praise God. Now those of you who haven't raised your hands, can I tell you? Sleep is very important, and they found that in people with cancer, can I tell you why? Your immune system has declined. Your immune system is strengthened only when you get proper sleep. When you sleep, your cells are renewed. If you don't sleep, you're going to have problems. Let me tell you why people don't think about these questions. Because no one has ever taught you. But you have to balance your life. Mentally, mind you, physically, my wife is very good at this. She had a schedule for my kids, as they were growing up, she had them run, she had them play sports, all my kids, all five kids.
Can I tell you, you have to take care of your body. But I want to share something with you. The most dangerous problem we have today is something we don't pay attention to. It 's called computer and Internet addiction. Do you know the dangers of mobile phones, social media, Facebook, and pornography? Many people are unaware of the danger. There is enough evidence, based on scientific research, that this phone is tricking people into thinking that multitasking is OK and multitasking is bad, and it reduces your productivity by 40%. In fact, cell phones, technology, and social media are now an epidemic called addiction. There's nothing wrong with technology, but this addiction is so bad. Let me give you an example. I have a grandson who is just two years old. His mother lent him her cell phone, so he started playing with it.
Now let me tell you why we do this. This is the cheapest and easiest kind of nanny, okay? If you want to take care of your kids and keep them quiet, just give them this thing and suddenly they'll be quiet. So easy, so convenient, you know what happened? They can't realize that this thing is affecting their earliest five years of life, which is when their brains are developing, and it's going to affect their brain development. So this three-year-old, I'm warning you, it only takes a little while, when mom says, give me my phone back, he refuses. He was angry. You know why? The symptom of addiction is that when you take something away, they get irritated and they get angry. That's how you know you're addicted. You want more, more. When you wake up in the morning, that little boy, the first thing he does when he wakes up is: Can I borrow your phone? Do you know what you're laughing at? Because you are like that too, right?
I also discovered a new word, and the new word I discovered was, Anhedonia Anhedonia is a medical term that refers to a reduced ability to experience pleasure. The word comes from two Greek words, "an" meaning "nothing" and "hedonia", the heavenly pleasure. Anhedonia, the inability to experience the simple joys of life. You know why? Because dopamine, are you familiar with dopamine? What does dopamine mean? Well, let me tell you, dopamine, look at me now, when you play your phone, your computer game, it gives you a certain kind of pleasure, addiction, addiction to porn, addiction to computer games, it affects what's going on in your mind. A certain chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is a microscopic neurochemical that transmits pleasure, causing pleasure in the brain, so dopamine... The thing is, the more you play computer games, the more dopamine you have, and the more dopamine you have, the more dopamine you have, the brain has to protect itself, To protect itself, the brain builds resistance.
Now the problem is complicated because the brain can only take so much dopamine. Because the next time you want to be happy, you want more, more, more. Just like porn, in the beginning, just a simple male or female arouses you, but soon, that doesn't excite you anymore. You want something more exciting, and soon you want child porn, and soon you might want an orgy. Whatever it is, dopamine affects your brain, and because it affects your brain, people today get bored easily. This is a miraculous disease and I can never find happiness again. Oh my God, parents, I'm warning you, do you know what's happening to your kids? So our Sunday school teacher asked me... The next generation, many of you allow your children to have cell phones, and they become the next generation, and then they play computer games.
Those of you who have the next generation of children, don’t give them cell phones. Do you know why? They won't die. A lot of people can't imagine what it would be like to be without their phone for an hour or two. They really can't imagine that. We are addicted. So can I suggest something, please discuss this with our pastor. No more cell phones in our meetings, I don't want any spoilers. In our office, no cell phones, you want to look at your cell phone? You can watch it every two hours. Can I tell you something? Bedtime, may I suggest, parents, don't allow your children to sleep with their phones. Take away the mobile phones. Today, many parents are afraid of their children. In the past, children were afraid of their parents, but today it is the other way around. You are afraid of your children. You don’t even have the courage to tell your children: Stop playing with your mobile phone. Do you know why? You're scared. But you don't know what's happening to our kids.
Who is the celebrity who built Apple? What's his name? Steve Jobs, you know what? He doesn't even allow his kids to have tablets, these new gadgets, he doesn't allow his kids to have these things, and he knows the power of addiction. Most of us don't even know this. Some of you are already addicted. You won't admit it. The symptom of addiction is that without this thing you will be angry, without this thing you will be angry, think about this. You need to do something. You must be serious before the Lord. First thing in the morning, don’t touch your phone and spend time with the Lord. I suggest the following in order to manage technology well, rather than letting technology manage you. Cell phones are not bad, technology is not bad, but you have to manage it well. How to do? The most important word: timing. set time. Talk to me, schedule, set time.
Do you know why? If you don't, I have another discovery for you. I discovered another new word called NSD. What is NSD? Non-Sadness Depression Non-Sadness Depression is an epidemic today. People feel depressed and they don't know why. Let me tell you why. It's because of dopamine. In your brain, the way your brain is wired is no longer normal, you need to detox, which is why a lot of people feel bored and depressed. So my advice is as follows, limit, tell me, limit, limit time. Use technology to your advantage, if you can create software, you can create something productive, that's good. But limit the time. Make good time arrangements, this is a magic word. In your family, keep cell phones off the table while you are eating. In fact, when they get into your house, we're going to store the phone somewhere and figure out what to do. I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just giving you suggestions. OK?
Another very important guiding principle, face to face, spend time with your children, play games, face to face. Instead of playing on the computer, think about this, another suggestion, an example. Parents, be a role model, actually read the Bible, use the Bible, set an example for your children, be a role model, and play games with your children. Being a role model is about spending time with people, not always through the Internet, which is destroying a lot of people today. My prayer is that you learn to manage technology and don't let technology manage you, that's dangerous. Today, more than 50% of pornographic messages are transmitted via mobile phones. Porn is really a problem today and it affects your brain.
Paul said, 1 Corinthians 9:22 I conquer my body, I conquer... This is a beautiful Greek word. What does it mean to conquer? I beat my body black and blue, I trained my body so it was black and blue, in other words, he was saying, I beat my body, the word to be precise, is me smiting, I conquer my body and bring it into subjection, lest I preach the gospel to others and be rejected myself. That's how serious it is. Balance your life means balancing your use of technology. Paul is saying, I smite, I conquer my body, I make it blue and blue, I smite my body. Luke 2:52 Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Favor, cognate with the word grace: charis. The Bible says that Jesus grew in grace and grace, and the favor between God and man increased together.
Do you know why these words are put together? The Holy Spirit knows that you need grace and favor from God before you know how to interact with others. Do you realize now that God's favor, God's grace, can increase? You should grow. For example, let’s read this scripture together: 2 Peter 3:18 Grow in grace (and knowledge), grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge of God. You can grow. Friends, do you know why this is so important to you? Many Christians do not understand the Bible and theology. They think, "Salvation is by grace, I'm already saved, that's it". I don't have to do anything else. Please listen to me, salvation is free, it is grace, amen? You can't earn it. God's favor can be increased and grace can be multiplied. This is not the case with salvation and justification. What do I mean?
Let me share it with you. Christ commands you to grow in grace and knowledge. This is something that is constantly growing. The Apostle Paul tells us to look at his life. 2 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore, whether we are living in the body or away from the body, we make it our goal to please the Lord. What does it mean to please God? Let me explain to you. I have five wonderful kids, and I tell my kids, I love you no matter what. They cannot earn my love. If their grades improve, I love them. If they don't do well in the exam, I love them, I love them unconditionally. But if they follow me and listen to me, I will smile. I will smile and if they don't listen to me, do I love them? I still love them. Will I smile? This is difficult. If you disobey me, will I still smile? I won't do that. If they don't listen to me, I won't laugh. Do they want to see me smile? What must they do? Submit.
I told my wife, Honey, I love you. Nothing can make me not love you, so my wife is very secure. Would I laugh if my wife didn't listen to me? Won't. The Bible tells us that you can grieve the Holy Spirit and you can grieve God. Not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but what would happen to me if my wife could listen to my guidance? tell me. I will laugh. That’s what I pray for: I want God to laugh. I want to see God smile. It’s not about earning salvation, I’m already forgiven, I’m already saved. But what do I want to see in God? Laughter. what does that mean? Let me explain to you, Jesus gave us an amazing insight into how to live the Christian life. Guys, let's read this scripture together: John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will obey it". My Word.
Let me read it again, Jesus said, if you love Him, what will you do? If someone loves me, what will you do? you will keep my word. Therefore, obey because you love Him. Obedience is not legalism. It is out of love, read the next verse: My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. What on earth are they talking about? I thought God already lived with us. ah? ! My friend, you will now see the difference between the theological presence of God and the experiential intimacy with God. The Bible talks about personally experiencing God’s intimate presence. You see, God is with us. Some of you don't feel God's presence, even though God is with you. God is saying, you love me, you obey me, and I will let you experience my presence. It's an amazing experience that God wants you to go through, because God is saying, my Father will love him too, and I feel like God already loves me. God loves us, doesn’t he? Why does it seem to be conditional? ah! Manifestations of God’s love are another matter.
You see, the Bible is very clear, John 14:23 Jesus answered and said, If anyone loves me... Now let me ask you a question, how many of you love Jesus, please raise your hands. Really? Please put it down. Do you love Jesus? If you love Jesus, what must you do? Jesus said, if you love Jesus, what will you do? If anyone loves me, he will obey my commandments. Friends, please don’t tell me that you love Jesus but don’t obey His Word. God is looking at your heart and He knows it. This is why the most fundamental question in Christian life is: Do you love Jesus? If you love Jesus, you must obey Him. Then He gives you a promise. What is the promise? He will keep my word, and my Father will... look at this promise: And my Father will love him. oh! I thought that God loves the world, ah! Demonstrated love needs to be experienced personally. And we will come to him, note: we will come to him, and make our home with him. That is a manifestation of God's presence.
Let me explain to you, one of my great goals in life is to hear Jesus say, to hear God say, as He said to Jesus, you know what God told Jesus? You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In the Gospel of Luke, the Bible tells us that when Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven, and the voice said, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. You know, that's what I pray for, is that one day, when I see Jesus, you know, what else will He say? You are my beloved son and I am so happy. My friend, this joy, this intimacy, I don’t want to lose. That’s why I do my best to live a life that pleases God. Because if I don’t follow God, I lose the joy of being in His presence. When I said I lost this joy, I knew something was wrong, and because I didn't want that to be a part of my life, I longed for His intimate presence because He gave me a promise: fullness of joy in your presence... Why would I want to live a life without the joy of the Lord in my heart?
So that's what motivates me. The joy of the Lord is in my heart. I pray that you will do the same. Do you love the Lord? Yes? Then obey Him. Is there anything in your life today, anything you are doing, business dealings, relationships, that is displeasing to the Lord? If you are doing something that is not pleasing to the Lord, I suggest you tell Him today, Lord, I want to make it right. I'm going to do this because I love you. You see, the worldly way tells you something different. I did hear someone advise another girl because her husband was unfaithful, and the advice was this: If your husband is unfaithful, then you are unfaithful, so let him suffer the consequences. leave him. What kind of advice is this! This is mentioned by Christians. No, you have to follow the Lord.
I met this woman recently and she told us that my friend left me because I didn't leave my husband, because I forgave my husband, and I wanted to save my marriage. Let me tell you, this girl understands the joy of God. She is happy now. I recently met her husband, who is now even leading a Bible study and teaching the Bible at home. Because God knows all of this, and you put God first, grow in this area, please God, and do everything that pleases God, then your horizontal relationship will be what it should be. But let me tell you, I'm not saying there won't be problems. Look what the Bible says, Luke 2:52 Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men. You know this: God first, then man.
Let me share with you this wonderful reality: You all know IQ, and you all know EQ, right? What is EQ? IQ, EQ. According to research, and listen to me, according to research, the key to success is not IQ, but emotional intelligence. They did a study, and the most common people who are expected to be successful, in the corporate world, in the business world, 90% of the time, are people with high emotional intelligence, not people with high IQ, emotional intelligence is more important. But emotional intelligence is affected by SQ, so what is SQ? Don't tell me it's Singapore Airlines, okay? SQ is spiritual quotient. What is spiritual intelligence? Spiritual quotient is seeing things from God’s perspective. You don't see things by sight. You see the situation from God's perspective through biblical principles. The Bible tells us that as you walk with the Lord, you learn to see things from a different perspective.
Psalm 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life. In your light we shall see light. That's why I study the Bible, and I meditate in the Bible, because God promises me that in His light I will see. Not people's opinions, the source of my thinking, I counsel people not based on what's popular, not based on what people are saying, but based on the word of God. So people may blame us for being so narrow-minded, but I can tell you, I know it works. Because God is all-wise and He wants what’s best, amen? You want to experience the richness and satisfaction of life, right? OK, then learn from God.
Now, what is EQ? EQ is a form of control over how we respond to adverse situations. That's EQ. You need to teach your children EQ. What is EQ? Temper, losing temper, low emotional intelligence. How do you say they lose their temper in English? Getting angry, yelling, losing control of your emotions... you know what? Emotional intelligence even affects people's income levels. According to American research, people with high emotional intelligence usually earn $29,000 more per year than those with low emotional intelligence. Even among pastors, effective pastors have high emotional intelligence, they understand there will be stress, and they don't react negatively.
Let me share with you, there was a traffic accident in the United States, and this person was very angry, and they ended up fighting each other. They started fighting with their fists, they used everything, and the police came and eventually they were taken to the police station and one of them died. Do you know how much it would have cost to resolve this accident? 100 dollars. You guys started fighting over a mere $100! Low emotional intelligence. This isn't IQ, it's emotional intelligence. Therefore, you must understand that in life, what happens to you is only 10%, and how you react is 90%. You have to teach your children how to develop emotional intelligence. And EQ only... Now listen to me, through training, through the word of God. Through the word of God and then through training, what do I mean by that?
You see, this is our brain, our brain has the limbic system, and that's where the emotions come from, the bottom, right here, in the back. And then there's the rational brain, which is where the frontal cortex develops, logic. Here’s the thing: the limbic system of the brain is all about emotions, but you can’t let emotions control your life. You want to make sure that this rational side communicates with the limbic system of your brain so that you can control your emotions. I discovered that, medically speaking, every cell in our brain can develop new connections. 15,000 nerve cells all have neighboring cells, so the more you let this guy control this, the more channels and the stronger the connections within the brain, so that the emotional side of your life can grow.
Let me explain to you, one day, confession time about our family. I have a son who didn't like people when he was growing up. When someone asked him: What is your name? I don't have a name. Where do you live? No place. Let's go home, let's go. I mean, that's his personality. Praise God that my mother, not my mother, but my wife, accepted this challenge: to train my children. When someone asks you, what is your name? You must answer: My name is... Where do you live? In other words, today, if you go and see my sons, they are very good people, amen? Emotionally, they are very mature. They don't get angry, they don't react aggressively or negatively. Why? EQ is a by-product of SQ, which controls the cerebral cortex and limbic system. I have a daughter and she asked my wife, I don’t know how to make friends. Do you have this problem? You know my wife told my daughter, if you want to make friends, you have to be nice to people.
Remember, my kids are homeschooled, so when they go to school, they want to learn how to make friends. In fact, they learn the most about making friends at home. Do you know what happened to my daughter? She won the Miss Congeniality Award, she was so relatable and everyone liked her. You can develop your emotional intelligence. You know, the meaning of this wonderful truth is, everyone reads this scripture, Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness , gentleness, self-control... This is With a Spirit-filled disposition, you allow the Holy Spirit to control you. How many of you are single? Please raise your hand. Singles, hold it high. Singles, look at me now, what kind of person do you want to marry? You want to marry someone, gentlemen and ladies, what do you want to be filled with when you want to marry such a person? Love, joy, peace, patience, wow! Where can you find such a person? CCF. Spiritual disposition.
Now, ask, are you filled with joy? Are you full of joy? Christians, you should be the happiest people. Can I encourage you, when you leave this hall today, I want to see you smile, when you come in here, you want to smile, and every Sunday, I want to check on you, okay? Laughter. Say it with me, smile. Do you know why? I heard the story of Spurgeon, and you know Mr. Spurgeon was a great speaker, and he told a story about something that happened to someone in his church. He was telling Dwight Moody. You see, take these people for example, you see the people in the front row, they all became followers of Jesus because of a smile. So they asked him, what do you mean by smile?
Spurgeon said this: Every time I finish preaching, I go home. I took my Bible with me and on my way home I saw the children playing and I smiled and they smiled too. The next Sunday, when I went back to church, I saw these kids playing. What do I do? I smile and they smile too. I looked down and smiled. Well, one Sunday, I saw that mother with them, and I didn't know if I should lower my head and smile, but I smiled, because the children expected me to smile. Guess what happened? The children decided to follow him one Sunday, and they discovered that not only was he a Christian, he was also a preacher! Do you believe it? The next Sunday, these children brought their whole family, their father, their mother, to hear Spurgeon, the preacher who always smiled. They all believed in Jesus. This is the power of smile. My friends, please smile.
Keep your emotions in check, we are in the family of God, amen? Want a gift? All right. Why aren't you smiling? do you know? It is a sin not to laugh. Where does the Bible say this? Very simply, the Bible says, how about everything? Give thanks in all things. Now try to give thanks for everything without smiling... (Shut up). My friends, let me end with a true story. There was a carpenter who worked hard for 50 years. He was an excellent carpenter. This story was written by Michael Josephson. I also read it in a magazine in San Francisco last Sunday. I mean a few days ago . The carpenter had worked hard for 50 years. He told his boss, "I want to retire". The boss said, "I really appreciate you. You work so hard. Thank you". Then the boss gives him a bonus. Five thousand dollars. Oh my god, this guy feels bad. After fifty years, I only got five thousand dollars.
Now the boss said, but I want you to build one last house for me, in this prime location, in the place of my dreams, my dream house. You'll make enough money for your retirement. But please build it for me. Well, the carpenter decided, okay, because he needed some money to buy himself a cabin. He wanted to have a cabin. So he started working, but because he didn't control his emotions, he felt bitter, so he didn't do as well as he could. Because he didn't control his emotions, he cut corners. He also lets unqualified materials go. Do you know why? He's unhappy, he's resentful of his boss. At the end of the construction phase, he told his boss that it was done. So the boss went there and the boss said, thank you! congratulations. So the boss gave him an envelope and he was not happy, he didn't read the envelope. When he got home, he opened the envelope.
Do you know what was in the envelope? It's the title deed for that house. He was shocked. He felt so embarrassed. He said I misjudged my boss. For the rest of my life, I will live in a house that could be better. You know what struck me? The Christian life is like building a house. Every decision you make today is like you are putting it into the building process of your house. If you allow your emotions to control you and you want to cut corners and take shortcuts, what kind of life are you building? We bow our heads in prayer. I know God has spoken to many of you that you need to grow, especially in your spiritual life and your emotional life, and if God has spoken to you and you want to give your emotions to the Lord, because only the Holy Spirit can Control your emotions, I want you to surrender your life to the Holy Spirit to Jesus today.
You say, "Lord Jesus, please take complete control of my life. Please take control of my emotional life". Every area of your life, you surrender to Jesus, because some of you may not even have Jesus in your life, you don't have God's presence in your life, but today you want assurance, you want assurance today in your life There is God in the world and let Him control your life and your emotions. Can you please raise your hand? Lift higher. Praise God, well, please stand up, those who have their hands raised. I will pray for you. If that's what you want, you surrender your life to the Lord and let Him take over every area of your life. You finally understand that a true Christian is having God and His Holy Spirit in you. Inside, you never surrender your life to the Holy Spirit and you feel like a Christian. But there is no evidence.
Today you said, I understand. Is there anyone else? Praise God! Many of you, this is between you and God, I want you to truly commit your life to Jesus, praise God! Don't resist, don't resist the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit asks you to offer your body, offer your mind, offer your emotions, then stand up. Surrender, this is the secret of the Christian life, don't fight with the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is not about obeying your own will, but about surrendering your will to the will of the Holy Spirit. It's possible that you're afraid, you're afraid, saying, Lord, I can't keep this promise forever, no, no, it's about surrendering your willpower to the Lord, anyone else? I know God is speaking to many of you, praise God! You pray this prayer with me, wherever you are, those of you who are standing up, you pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I am here, I need you, and I surrender my life to you today. Lord Jesus, my body is your temple, please come into my life. Please take control of every area of my life. Thank you for reminding me that I do everything because you love me and I love you. Please help me grow in balance in my life.
Lord Jesus, I pray for this group of men and women. I know that You have spoken to them and have now made Yourself very real in their lives. Please allow them to experience this intimacy, this joy, experience your presence. , By loving You, by obeying You, please bless everyone here, we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen! Amen!