Understanding Jesus

Matthew 9:1-13

Well it's the first Sunday of the semester and it felt great to be back. It was nice to see everyone again and I wish the best of luck to everyone for this semester. The sermon that Joe gave was very good in that it challenged us. No matter where we are in our beliefs, we always doubt and question the existence of God. As we learned, the evidence is more than enough and is available to us in the Bible. What WE have to do is read it and understand it. So it's really up to us.

Most of today I kind of thought about that and kind of googled around for what people thought. There's a lot of stuff on the Internet and so for those who are interested and have some time, try reading some of it. Now keep in mind that every website is not 100% trustable, and that goes both ways. Meaning, some sites that claim Jesus to have existed may use some questionable evidences and others claiming otherwise also have questionable content. You really have to keep an open mind and research "smart." My first advice would be to look towards sources you know. Then start digging in from there. It's quite interesting what you can find. Maybe if I find something interesting, I'll post it on here.

Jesus Heals A Paralytic
This is another story of how Jesus healed someone that needed help, but it was different in that He showed that He was indeed the Son of Man. Jesus, before He told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, saw where the people's faiths were at and therefore wanted to clarify things for them.

Many people are probably very skeptical at this point about Jesus. They heard of the things He has done and of the things that He can do. Yet, they're still skeptical about it. It's just like any great performance we see today. You see someone do something that's just extraordinary and you want to see it again just to make sure. Take magic for instance. Someone performs a magic trick and you can't believe your eyes. The first thing any person does is deny that it has ever happened and that it's just some trick. And we keep questioning it. It's the same concept here, but the difference is that Jesus isn't just pulling up a trick.

So in order to clarify and comfort the audience, Jesus showed what He was really capable of doing, which was to forgive sins. That was His purpose of His arrival. And that's why we believe in Him.

The Calling Of Matthew
Jesus meets Matthew, who is a tax collector and eats with him and other tax collectors and sinners. Now this is a rather strange concept to the Pharisees because here is Jesus who stands for all that is holy, and yet he's hanging out with the sinners. But that's the beauty of it. Jesus replies that He did not come for the righteous, but the sinners, the same way the doctors are there for the sick and not the poor.

This is something that we as Christians forget a lot and something that we get criticized a lot for. I think I mentioned something about it, as I mentioned judging others. We come to church and a lot of people feel as if they are being judged. We have to understand that the church is there for the sinners like us, not for perfect people. Just because we are Christians, does not make us less of a sinner. A sinner is a sinner. In those terms then, nobody is better than anyone. Jesus is here for all of us, and in this case Matthew was an example.

Summary:

Jesus Heals A Paralytic
1-3 Jesus returned to His town and some men brought to Him a paralytic. Jesus told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven and the teachers of the law cried out that it was blasphemy.
4-8 Jesus explains that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins and showed that He has healed the paralytic. Everyone was in awe of what has occurred.

The Calling Of Matthew
9-10 Jesus saw Matthew, who was a tax collector, and asked him to join Him. Matthew did. Jesus ate with the sinners and tax collectors.
11-13 Pharisees questioned why Jesus did this, Jesus replied that just as the sick need the doctor and not the healthy, He is here not to call the righteous, but the sinners.

The Storm

Matthew 8:23-34

Saturday is almost over already. Weekends go by way too quickly. I haven't done much of anything today. We had leader's meeting in the morning and kind of went over the semester. Overall the semester looks very hectic; we need to pray a lot this semester. We'll have to take it step at a time and make sacrifices. Sometimes things are not going to work in our favor, but we just have to do the best with what we have. That's just life.

After the meeting I took a nap that lasted 3 hours. I felt bad at first, but seeing how much energy it gave me, I felt pretty good. Sometimes we need rest like that.

I've been reading a couple things today and just been lingering around. I figure after today I won't have times like these especially with the way my classes are shaping up. It's going to be a tough semester.

I want to make my blogs a little more less-plain by adding pictures when I can. Fortunately for today's reading I remembered a painting from Rembrandt van Rijn, a Dutch painter. It's one of his rather famous works:

The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee, Rembrandt van Rijn (1633)

Jesus Calms The Storm
This reading could not come at a better time for me. It's about how Jesus calmed the storm when His followers were scared of it. They had little faith in Jesus and were crying for help. This is the kind of situation I'm in right now. I have so many things I'm worried about. In general, my future is very unclear. When I think about it, I am on a boat with a storm fast approaching. Not knowing how it will shape up, I'm very anxious. I'm worried that my life will go down the drain. Where's my faith in Jesus? Is this what He taught me? I need more faith than this. He is capable of calming down anything. Have faith in Him.

The Healing Of Two Demon-Possessed Men
This story is still a bit confusing to me. I understand the events that occured. Two demon-possessed men approached Jesus and the demons asked to be sent to a herd of pigs if Jesus was to drive them out. The part I'm confused about is why the town would ask Jesus to go away.

I could only think up of one reason: because they're not ready for it. They're living sinful lives and they were afraid that if they accepted Jesus, they would have to give that up. The town could be so sinful that the demons actually had control over these people. When they saw that Jesus was able to drive them away and ultimately to their death, they were afraid of what they would have to give up.

One possible lesson, or challenge I can get from this is where do I stand at? Am I ready for Jesus to take over my life? That could mean getting rid of the very things that bring me joy. I would have to ask myself what's more important to me. Am I willing to put 100% of my faith into something that may ultimately result in having to sacrifice a lot of things. It's a pretty big question I think. Hopefully I am ready for it.

Summary:

Jesus Calms The Storm
23-25 Jesus and his disciples were on a boat as a storm hit. Jesus was asleep, and so the disciples were scared and woke Him up.
26-27 Jesus replied asking why they had such little faith and calmed the winds and waves. The men were amazed.

The Healing Of Two Demon-Possessed Men
28-29 Upon arrival in the region of Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men approached Jesus and asked what He wanted of them.
30-34 Jesus drove the demons out into a herd of pigs. The herd rushed into the lake and drowned. The whole town was afraid and went to Jesus and asked Him to leave.

Cost Of Following Jesus

Matthew 8:14-22

TGIF!!! This week couldn't go by any slower. I'm so happy it's Friday. It's been a very difficult and tiresome week. I hope it's just because it's the first week back and I'm just not used to going to school because it's been 3 weeks since I've done that.

Our Friday night went well even though not a lot of people showed up. It's tough to have a big crowd when the weather is so bad. Everyday it's been getting worse and when I woke up today to go to classes it was -34 with windchill. My face hurt going to class. Well now I'm in my room with the heater on full blast. I love Friday nights.

On to my readings!

Jesus Heals Many
Jesus continued to go around and heal the sick. This was a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled. This is just going back to yesterday's reading about how Jesus came to help us and heal us. He does what He promised to do. There is nothing that is impossible with Jesus. So if we have any sicknesses (whether it be an actual physical illness, mental, or spiritual) trust God is able to heal it.

The Cost Of Following Jesus
This passage was a little more difficult to comprehend. What I got out of it was that in order to follow Jesus, you have to be ready for anything. You have to be situated in a way that you're not so attached to your surroundings. Jesus talks about how foxes and birds have their places of rest, but Jesus doesn't. Jesus goes around and heals while not resting in one spot. If we want to follow Him, we have to be willing to do the same.

I think for me this means that I cannot get too comfortable with one thing. Say I do get settled and my life turns out to be great. That's not really following Jesus. I don't think it's necessarily saying that you shouldn't be comfortable at any time. Instead I think it's saying we shouldn't be too attached to being comfortable because it can be taken away at any time. In order to serve God, we need to be ready for anything.

Summary:

Jesus Heals Many
14-15 Jesus went to Peter's house and healed Peter's mother-in-law of her fever.
16-17 Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of taking up infirmities and carrying our diseases by driving evil spirits away from demon-possessed people.

The Cost Of Following Jesus
18-19 As Jesus went around, the crowd followed him and a teacher of the law asked to follow Him.
20-22 Jesus told them that while animals may have their homes, He does not have a place to rest. And when the people asked to bury their fathers before they follow, Jesus said let the dead worry about that themselves.

Jesus In Action!

Matthew 8:1-13

So there seems to be a recurring theme these days: cold. Today was no exception. In fact I think today was the worst thus far:
For those who can't really fathom how cold this is, it's so cold it hurts. Like when you start walking in this weather, your skin feels like it's actually going to rip apart. Not protecting any part of your body is suicide.

Classes started off well today as I did pretty well on my quiz in Chinese. I was hoping it would continue to go this way, but my Senior Design class ended up crushing my day. Oh and I did not forget to post my actual project up. I will do that as soon as I have time and understanding.

The readings for today were both about healing. They were also very insightful about faith.

The Man With Leprosy
This is one of the many times Jesus comes around and heals people. Leprosy was a huge thing back in the day from what I've learned. I don't know how serious of a disease this is nowadays but back in the day it was one of those things that put you in the lower society. As a kid, learning about leprosy in Sunday school always scared the heck out of me because I had no idea what it was and the symptoms sounded horryfying. I got a better picture of it in Braveheart because one of the characters in the movie was a leper. Anyways before I get too far off from the subject, Jesus was able to cure this leper. That's a huge deal cause once you became a leper, you were forever a leper. There was no cure (is there one now?). Nothing was too much for Jesus. So what have we got to worry about?

The Faith Of The Centurion
The other encounter is a little different. This time a centurion (who would be a rather powerful individual at this time) comes to Jesus to ask for help on one of his servants. What's interesting about this is that the centurion believes that Jesus does not have to go through the trouble of coming to his house. He believes firmly that if Jesus wants it, it will be done. Jesus honors this and gives the centurion His word.

This is what we need to be like. We're so dependent on seeing things to believe it. I know I am for sure. The faith of this centurion is admirable. If a man of this much power can do it, what makes me so special to not have that kind of faith? Be strong!

Summary:

The Man With Leprosy
1-4 Jesus came around to a man with leprosy, who asked for help. Jesus heals him and tells him to show himself before the priest.

The Faith Of The Centurion
5-7 Jesus encounters a centurion in Capernaum. The centurion tells Him that one of his servants is suffering.
8-13 The centurion shows much faith and says that Jesus has no need to come to his house as he does not even deserve Jesus to come into his home. He says that he will trust Jesus' words and that if Jesus says it will be done, then it will be done.

Like A Rock

Matthew 7:13-29

So this morning was a little chilly. OK, it was (as weather.com likes to put it) BITTERLY COLD. This morning was a little like yesterday and because I know some of you don't know what cold means (all you Californians take notes), I took a picture of what I saw this morning:
That's right. Cold here at Purdue isn't 60 degrees "omg i need a sweater" kind of cold. It's more of a -4 degree "omg my ears are about to fall off" kind of cold. The best part of it is that it's going to only get worse. Right now it's -6 degrees, and it may get down as low as -25 by this Friday. I'm secretly hoping it'll get worse so we'll have a blizzard and classes will get cancelled. But then again, that means professors will cram things and give us a headache.

Today was a little better than yesterday in terms of classes though, but I was still fretting over my classes. For one, my easiest class (Chinese) may be the hardest to pull off a good grade in. I never realized so many other students knew how to speak Chinese as well as, if not better than, me. Like I said, it's going to be a long semester. I'm just learning to take it day by day and make sure I'm not missing anything. Hopefully it'll be enough to survive the semester.

The Narrow And Wide Gates

The first topic I read about was about Narrow and Wide Gates. Now when I first read this I didn't know what to think (and I still don't). I did some reading outside on the Internet and everything seemed very simple. Maybe that's what it is, just a simple concept. It's one or the other. Narrow or wide. So there's no other alternatives. You're stuck with one or the other. No detours, no shortcuts. Now then, why is it narrow? Other than the fact that the Bible states that only a few will enter, I had no clue. Maybe it's indicating that it's narrow because there's only one way to go through it, and that is by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. In other words, there is only one way to enter through that gate and because it's only one way, it's very narrow. The wide gate is wide because there are many ways to enter THAT gate. I'm still uncertain, but that's the most I got out of it. If anyone else has any other ideas, please feel free to comment on it.

A Tree And Its Fruit

The next topic is about false prophets. This is a really self-explanatory passage that explains to us that there will always be people out there to get us. We have to look at their "fruits" to see their real intentions. As Jesus explains about the tree and the fruit that it bears, a person with good intentions will have good things to show for it. We have to be on our guard for this. The latter part of this reading explains how not everyone claiming they know God will enter His kingdom.

While this reading is very simple and clear, I decided to think about how it would deal with me. I'm not talking about my encounters with false prophets, but really a check with myself. Am I a good tree? Do I bear good fruit? This is something that's really difficult to answer. As I lead Bible studies, I need to make sure that I have a strong foundation. So while this passage talked about our need to protect ourselves from false prophets, I also got that we, as Christians, also need to sure we don't become those false prophets. As the Bible states, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

The Wise And Foolish Builders

That brings us to this last topic, which is what's really important. It discusses about our foundations. If we put into practice all of Jesus' teachings, we will be able to have a solid foundation. The key is putting them into practice. Because as it states, not practicing will be like building your foundation out of sand. That's the real challenge. Because I've heard all these messages and teachings. I've read a good amount and also prayed a lot. But all this is for nothing if I don't put it into practice.

Summary:

The Narrow And Wide Gates

13-14 Jesus tells us to enter through a narrow gate because the wide gate leads to destruction. A lot will enter through the wide one and only a few will enter the narrow one.

A Tree And Its Fruit

15-20 Jesus explains to watch out for false prophets. We will be able to recognize them by their fruit. If the fruit is good, the tree is good, and vice-versa.

21-23 Jesus explains how not everyone claiming "Lord, Lord" will enter heaven. Your true intentions are always known.

The Wise And Foolish Builders

24-29 Jesus explained to the crowd that if they practiced His teachings, they will be able to build their house on a rock. If they didn't practice them, they will build their houses on sand.

Asking, Seeking, Knocking...

Matthew 7:1-12

It's really cold. Really. Cold. I walked out all happy and confident, ready to conquer the world. Then, I felt a snow flake land on my head. Oh, heck no. Ran straight back into my apartment and grabbed a beanie to at least cover my ears. That's one thing I've learned while here in the Midwest. Protect your ears and you'll be fine. I still had 3 layers of clothing and some long underwear. I know you Midwesterners are laughing. I saw a couple crazy kids walking in shorts. Like really? Are you serious? Whatever, it'll take me a while to get used to being cold again. But if some of you see me on campus and I have this big frown on my face, I just came back from 70 degree sunshine, so you know why.

I only really had two classes today but they were both really tough to get through. Not because I was tired or cause I had a tough time paying attention, but because I was honestly worried. The first was Chinese 202, in which by this time, most of the students who have struggled with the language have dropped. We had I think about 4 classes of 40+ students in Chinese 101. It's now shrunk down to about 40 students total. Thus, we now have the best of best students combined in one class with a teacher that's speaking in a foreign language (literally). Fun times ahead...

To add to that I have Senior Design class. Now at first I was excited about this class because it's what every engineering student looks forward to. However, after class today I felt......dumb. The professor was explaining concepts I had no idea about. I felt like just walking out of class. Yea, that bad. Anyways I asked around to see what the others thought about it. Fortunately, most of them were on the same boat, but still a good handful of them knew what was going on (that or they just wanted me to feel stupid; which is very possible by the way because engineers are just like that). That got me worried. Really worried. Pray for me... I'm going to post what my actual project is tomorrow after I clarify a couple things with the professor because I don't think I'm understanding it clearly.

I really need to suck it up though. Here I am claiming I believe in God, and I'm worried. I have to keep telling myself this and just do it (yea Hsieh, I heard ya).

To Judge Or Not To Judge...
The passages covered today were about two different concepts, but both equally important. The first was about criticizing others. This I think is the biggest problem people at church like to point out. People in most churches I believe hate the fact that they come in feeling like they are being judged. It's even worse in Asian churches because Asian communities just love comparing people. It's like we thrive on other people's shortcomings. But I think we're missing the point. We're all at church because we're weak. We're sinners and we have problems.

What's so true about this passage is the latter part of it. The part where it talks about how we should not use a measurement to judge people because that's the measurement that will be used on us. And that we should not point out mistakes when we make mistakes ourselves. This is one of the biggest problems that churches face. So many of the nonbelievers use this as a reason for why Christianity is a turn-off for them. Christians like to differentiate themselves almost to a point where they're hanging out by themselves because the others are just not "holy" enough. Now I'm not saying that that's the intent with every fellowship and that all the churches follow this, but many times that's what it may seem to people outside. I'm guilty of it myself.

This is always a tough one, and I'm going to have to make sure I get better at it myself.

Asking, Seeking, Knocking...
The second topic is just as my title suggest. Jesus teaches us, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." While this is very simple and clear, I don't know why I struggle with it. I find myself not being able to do this on a daily basis. Why is this? It may be that I'm still struggling with my faith and I'm just weak. God clearly states that He will provide if we ask for it. Yet, I find myself struggling to be comfortable with only that. This is another thing that I need to work on.

Summary:

Jesus Teaches About Criticizing Others
1-2 Jesus describes how we should not judge others because then we too will be judged. We should also not judge by a measurement because that same measurement will be used on us.
3-6 Do not look to point to someone's mistakes when you make mistakes yourself. Do not give these sinners anything pure that they will simply trample on.

Jesus Teaches About Asking, Seeking, Knocking
7-8 Jesus explains how God will always provide for us. He says, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you."
9-12 As even the evil would give their children the good gifts. God will provide even greater for all of us as we are His children.

Chains For Christ

Philippians 1:12-30

It's been a while since I've written in here and I apologize for those who's been reading (I've had a couple people tell me what happened). I have a whole bunch I want to enter as an entry because I did do a couple interesting studies and heard some great sermons over my Winter Break. I will make sure to do that as I get better at doing this.

Hope your breaks have gone well. Mine has been relaxing and I've actually been to a lot of places meeting people I haven't seen in a long time. This includes many family members as one of my cousins just got married.
The passage I want to talk about is actually not one from my continued reading. I actually came across an interesting read over ESPN about Tony Dungy.
For those of you who do not know Tony Dungy, he's the coach of the Indianapolis Colts and he has declared today that he will be retiring. Coach Dungy is known for his strong faith and for being a class-act. And his retirement speech was nothing short of that. He even quoted the Bible and tried to explain how what he wants to do reflects that. I was sad as a Colts fan, but happy as a fellow believer.

Dungy said something in his speech that really made me reflect on how I want to live my life. Hopefully it will for you as well. He quoted the Bible in saying something along the lines of, "'If I live, it's good. If I die and go home with the Lord, it's better.'"

This one little quote got me thinking a lot about how I was living my life thus far. What exactly was I doing? And what was I doing that for? And a lot of this got me to realize that it was for selfish reasons. I am a student now trying to do well in school for what? To live the life that I tried to create based on what everyone has told me was good. I avoided things because people advised me it's bad, and done things because people supported those things. Now, I'm not saying that this is in anyway a bad thing, but when it's the sole foundation for the life I set out to live, it makes me ponder about a lot of things.

The way the society is set today, it's really hard to break out of it. When we're raised as kids, there are certain things that every kid must do to succeed. Once you pass that, you must do the next set of tasks to compete with the rest of the world. That's just the way it seems to work. I'm not saying that a kid should break out of it and not take his SATs. Rather I'm promoting that we start living our lives with a purpose. And as Apostle Paul stated, and Dungy agreed, it's better to live and die with the Lord.

When diving into the text, Dungy was talking about Apostle Paul's message about how he was in chains for Christ and will rejoice living for Him. I know this is a really tough task especially with the motives we have in our lives. However, we have to realize what is truly greater. And that is knowing Christ. That's a challenge I'm going to have to live up to.
Oh and thanks Coach Dungy for the last 7 years of great football. You will be missed.