Reflections on NT Adventures

Recently I enroll into a course module in my bible school learning about the New Testament from the bible. I like to take this opportunity to share with you my experience of what I have learn in the module.

When I first enter into the class, I was honestly very eager to start the class as I wanted to know more about the Scriptures other than just reading the text. Unexpectedly, the beginning of the class started with lots of history lessons of times before Jesus came to this earth. The teacher shared with us many historical events such as the times of the Hellenization, Ptolemies, Seleucids and much more to understand the symbolic world of the NT. I realized through the study and understanding of the historical events that happen before Jesus came gave me a clearer understanding of their culture and sufferings the Jews had to go through during those times before Jesus came.

One key idea I learn from understand the symbolic world of the NT is that many people who read the bible tend to read the context of the bible and relate the text to today’s context or culture. However, the bible was written about 2000 year ago and the cultures of that time are totally different from today’s time.

On top of learning the historical events and culture that happen before Jesus time, the teacher also covered many aspects of Jewish Religious communities which I found it quite interesting. I was shocked to learn there were various different communities during that time with different believes and practices and it’s exactly what is happening in our Christian community as well today. Among the communities during that time were the Hasidim, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots.

For the longest time that I read the bible, I have always wondered why the Jews did not accept Jesus as their savior. On top of that, they held an illegal trail against Jesus held at night in a closed meeting without  any witness to defend himself. That just shows to me, how much Jesus was not accepted by the Jews.

It was than later the teacher highlighted that the Jews had some expectations of a messiah. Before Jesus, there was King David (2 Sam 7) who gave a everlasting kingdom to the Jews. Therefore, they were expecting someone with authority and power to bring peace as a powerful messiah. When Jesus appeared, it did not appeal to the Jews he was the messiah as he did not show much of what a king David did that time.

What was worst was I learn that even the 12 disciples themselves were actually not too sure if Jesus was the messiah. Just like the other Jews, they expected a Messiah just like King David to bring that out of danger from the Romans but however what he does in the ministry seems to be totally different from what happen in the past.

It was because of this understanding that I realized why, the 12 disciples all left when Jesus was caught and many of them went back to do their business. It was only one person in the gospel that actually knew who Jesus was through his time on earth and he was a non believer!

It was mention in Matthew 27:54 that the centurion who was guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened said “Surely he was the Son of God!”.

Another key idea I learn during the understanding of the 4 gospels Mark, Matthew,Luke and John. That actually each gospel is written for a different audience in mind and purpose. For example, Mark was written to tell the message of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1) where as Matthew is focus on Didactic & Liturgical. Therefore, if you have that mindset in mind of the writer’s purpose it actually gives you a clearer understand why some verses were written in that way.

Throughout the entire class so far, what I take back the most was that Christians are to do things that is pleasing to God. It is only when we do things that pleases God that God will be pleased with us. God is free to do what he pleases and actually does not need to hear our prayers. As sinners we all deserve to die and go to hell but it was because of Jesus who love us so much he sacrifice him selves with all our sins to give us hope and salvation through him. I thank God for Jesus and because of his mercy and grace we can still be loved and forgiven as long as we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness Amen!

You Are Made To Be Rich

I have been doing business at a very young age at 21 but I only made my 1st million at the age of 29. I always been asked by many people around the world , “How do I make money online?”.

If that person is you, this message that I about to share with you will change your point of view of making money, so keep reading

According to the Webster dictionary “Rich” is defined as “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth”.

You always heard of many people’s dream wanting to be rich but many who claim to be rich do they have wealth?

So what’s wealth? According to the Webster dictionary “Wealth” is defined as “abundance of valuable material possessions or resources”.

So do you currently have wealth in your life?

Do you know that the word “wealth” was mention in the bible 340 times? ( click here for references ). So why is that important to note? Well from what I have learn in the bible school, when something is repeatedly mention in the bible means it’s pretty important and it’s something God wants us to take note as well.

Honestly speaking before I was a believer in Christ, Money was my motive in life. I am also sure you will agree without money we can’t get things we desire in life.

As I was reflecting from reading a book by Dr. C. Thomas Anderson about “Becoming A Millionaire God’s Way”. I suddenly realized actually God’s plan is great because he wants us to get rich and prosper

Last month in December 2012, I went on a mission to visit a really poor area in Philippines. What shocked me the most was the people were rich actually. They were not rich material wise, but rich in their hearts and happy with whatever they have.

Although they seem poor on the outside and have little to survive on but I realized most of the people in that village area were very happy people ( much happier than most stress people I see in Singapore ).

We live in a world where most of us live to satisfy what others think about us. Having an image of a person driving a expensive car or having a big house defines the meaning of being rich to most people.

In a way, it’s not wrong to think that way and it’s a good goal and motive in life to desire such wealth However I realized regardless how much we earn or how hard we work or no matter how much we have in our bank account. We always felt in our hearts it isn’t enough for us to satisfy our hunger for more money which defines “greed”.

Having lots of money is not wrong by the way, but it’s the love of money (greed) that makes people do things that is not really good in God’s point of view.

For example, I just got a bonus of $10,000 and the 1st thing I would do is to buy something nice for myself to pamper myself and later spend the rest of it on other things I desire to have. Everyone I know, including myself would have this same reaction when suddenly we have the money, we want to buy things we desire.

There’s nothing wrong in pamper ourselves with objects we desire but it’s the greed of money and not giving or helping others is a problem that not many are willing to adapt or try.

The bible teaches it’s is actually more bless to give than to receive from Acts 20:35. I did not fully understand that statement until I decided to give it a try myself.

2 years ago, in Dec 2012 I made $42,000 in a month. That’s a lot of money right wouldn’t you agree? So I decided to do something out of my comfort zone and to donate $4,200 to the poor. So I took that money, fly all the way to Manila and bought about 800 packs of 1kg rice and donated to the poor people there.

Honestly speaking on my way to Philippines in the plane, the thought of greed keep coming into my mind. Thoughts like ” Hey I can buy lots of things with $4,200, why am I donating this money away for what? I can buy myself a new iPhone, new computer “

I actually was regretting wanting to donate the money away as it was a huge sum of money but it was until one night when I donate 8 sacks of rice to a old folk home than I start to realized why it was more bless to give than to receive.

There was a lady who was in charge of the old folks home, she saw me deliver 8 sacks of rice to her home. She was really overjoyed because at the moment I was there, the home just so happen had just finished up all the rice in the home.

When she told me that, I though to myself. If I was selfish and did not give and took the effect to fly all the way from Singapore to Manila just to donate some money and buy rice. These group of 20 old folks in this home would have nothing to eat for weeks

It was actually at that moment, I felt the present of God was so real to me that he put the desire in my heart to come all the way to Manila just to buy this rice for this old folk home ( Click here for images from the old folk home ).

It was through that experience, I really learn that God really wanted to blessed me but in return of his blessing God wanted me to bless others too through the wealth he has bless me with.

So you may wonder, why am I sharing all this with you? What does it got to be with being rich?

Before you want to be rich, you first have to believe you will be rich and wealthy. Why? Because you will become what you believe in and what you say.

However in the process of creating wealth or when you are bless with money, I just like to encourage you to also bless others in return of what you bless with. That way God knows he can trust you with the wealth he has bless you with and will bless you even more

If you have the time, take 10 minutes of your own time and reflect down the things that you are blessed with currently and think about how you can help others. It may not be just giving money, you can also give by giving up some of your time to volunteer to help others

I pray from me sharing this message to you, you would not have fail into the trap I was in for 5 years when the only desire in my life was money and I was so greedy I did not give a single cent to charity during those 5 years of my life when I made my 1st million.

Now that I am a born again Christian through Jesus Christ. I am just so happy with my life and I hope to inspire you to inspire others that it’s good to give

Lastly this is a verse from the bible I would love to share with you which is something I be working on through out this year.

“Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,”I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” Let us be bold, then, and say,” The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” – Hebrews 13:5-6

Project Jesus Giving 2012 – Philippines

I did this same project last year here’s the link. I enjoyed blessing people so much that I organize another trip this year in the Philippines to bless the poor This time round my mum followed me. Here’s a little preview video of the journey

For photos of the event you can view them here, thanks again to all who supported this project. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

My Walk With God & Work

Some been a while since I updated my blog and some how personally I have been very passionate about my new found love for Christ that I have pretty busy doing God’s work

By the way just a quick update, my new game “Paper Duel” @ www.PaperDuel.com just hit over 1,800 downloads in these 4 days launch and even got featured #1 in new apps in the iTune store

I also just started a new class called “Mobile Apps Workshop” at the link here. I be conducting some free workshops in Singapore and like to share my experience on building apps If you are interested in that area do sign up

My New Goals And Plans

I also updated my new goals in life. I remember when I started in blogging my goal was to make my 1st million dollars and I managed to do it at the age of 29. Now here’s my new plan and goal in life.

- Evangelize 1 million people about Christ hopefully help make peace in this world.
- Setup My Own Non Profit Organization for a good cause
- Make my next million with apps & training to help the weak and do more mission work.
- Inspiriting example for others to follow
- Help 100 individuals succeed in apps
- Get that 100 to help another 10 people each

If you are wondering why the sudden huge interest in Jesus you may click here to find out more I was a Christian actually about 7 years ago when I first started my blog but I wasn’t really a serious believer and sin pretty a lot to be honest. I would say I would made a very bad example as a Christian in the past and I backslide for almost 5 years.

I believe I was only truly saved through Christ on the 28th August 2011 when I decided to be baptized and ever since that day my life has been totally transformed.

I do not know why, but some how I had a huge hunger for Christ since that day and I love him so much that I decided to devote as much time as I can for him as possible. I personally felt I just owe it to God to honor him for all the blessing he has given me since I started blogging

In case you are wondering why are Christian so caring and like to do good works. Personally I do it because I Love Jesus that’s why I do it. As what he teaches in his bible

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27

That verse above is actually the great commandment by Jesus himself So we are been taught to love others and in doing so that’s why I have decided to plan my goals in such a matter.

However not every Christians are a like, are there Christian who are not loving? not caring? Of course there are, because God gave us the free will not to follow his commands so please do not have the impression once a person is a Christian it means they are all caring

I do wish that is real that all Christians are loving but in reality it’s not entirely truth and whether is someone really saved by God a not or is truly a Christian only God knows that as he knows everything that you do

I personally believe all Christians & Non Christians are great sinners. Why? As it is written in the bible all humans are sinner by natural actually and because of that we need Christ is to save us from our sins.

So why become a Christian if you wonder? Well just like most of my brother and sisters, we want salvation through Christ to save us from our sins and be reborn again.

But does that really meant we can sin freely? Of course not. But we will always try our best to our individual abilities to not sin that often if possible In fact I realized personally since I was a Christian I tend to sin lesser now a days

I personally feel a true Christian is born again once they have honor and found new close relationship with Jesus Christ. As Christianity is not about a book call the bible, nor is it about going church, nor is it about doing great works. It’s actually all about having a close relationship with one man which is Jesus Christ

In having that great relationship with him, he taught us lots of useful values in life and that’s where all the other practices you see Christians do come from. Why some Christians do not follow God’s command? It’s simple they do not love Jesus enough and would care less about his commands. Just imagine, you have a relationship with someone and you do not really love him or her that much will you follow what they tell you to?

Benefits of Being Christ Like

My personally goal is to model over what Jesus Christ has done in his life and teachings. Will I be able to do everything he does like healing, blessing others, showing love to others, of course you can if you choose to believe you can With the help of the bible that’s where the instructions come from that we always try to follow

Here’s some things I realized since I became a Christian

- I became more humble and contented with the things I have now
- My interest in helping the poor and weak has increase
- My interest in helping others also increase
- I lie lesser now and try to be more honest than before
- I dedicated all my work and business to the Lord and let him be in control ( God the CEO )
- Everything in my life seems smoother now
- and much much more…

Helping The Poor

To be honest, before I was a Christian I always want to help the poor but I never really had the heart to really want to do it and always prefer the shortcut to just donate money to the organization and let them do the job.

It was only when I personally do it myself for the 1st time on 2th Dec 2011 then I realized the great feeling of helping the poor that money cannot buy You may see what I done that time at this blog post.

Through the many years of doing business I do discover lots of dark secrets along the way and sometimes wonder why do rich people donate to the poor? Well personally this is what I think but it does not apply to everyone I hope.

There are people in this world who do donation for no good reasons

- Get a placement to a good school
- Get a big deal from some big government or company agency
- Get a better branding for the company
- Avoid paying big tax
- Network with other bigger organization through charity events

Shocking? Well that’s the truth there are people who do donation for these reasons just that they do not openly say it Well if you are one of them, I pray you would reconsider what you are doing and really donate with a heart and help others without any benefits that’s what I call true donation.

Here’s what the bible talks about giving to the needy for your information

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:1-4

And note that this was written like almost 2000 years ago and still applies to today’s context pretty interested huh? Anyways I hope you take into consideration some of things I have mention and if you some thoughts or comments you like to share I would love hear them by commenting below this blog post