Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

A few years ago, Facebook sent me an Oculus Quest (now it’s called Meta Qeust), a virtual reality headset, to review. I love it because it takes you to another world. Among many apps and games in there, I enjoy the National Geographic Explore VR because it takes you to exotic places as if you are there in-person.
I am sure many of you have played some VR games, or your kids might have let you try it out. It’s somewhat like a 3D movie, but you can interact with what you see. That’s just the infancy of what you hear in the news these days—metaverse.
In the future, you will be able to attend church without leaving your home but will get the same experience and feel as if you are sitting in the pew. You might even be able to appear in two or three places simultaneously because your avatar is there for you. You might be at the gym, classroom, and church at the same time, exercising your body, mind, and spirit simultaneously. You can become a trinity.
So, when I tell the younger generation that God is a Trinity, they say, “Cool!” They don’t argue with me because it’s not hard for them to imagine God being a Trinity. But if I talked about Trinity with the baby boomers or older, they thought it was absurd. Some would even argue with me.
A while back, someone commented on one of my sermon videos, saying the concept of “Trinity” is unbiblical and that the Bible never mentioned the term Trinity. Growing up, I have heard various arguments against Trinity. Some say, “You Christians are bad and math. How can one plus one plus one be one?”
I understand the difficulty of describing and explaining Trinity, but I am glad I didn’t dismiss it just because it’s hard to understand. Mysteries like this humble us and make us even more curious to explore the wonders of God’s nature, which pays off because it helps you understand life.
Contemporary science also has proven that the more we discover, the more we realize that we know so little about the universe. Quantum physics also has opened a can of worms against linear thinking. As we enter the age of metaverse, Trinty becomes even easier to imagine.
What’s most valuable about decoding the mysteries about God’s trinitarian nature is it enriches our lives. The more we understand God, the more we understand ourselves. The more we understand the Creator, the more we understand the creation, vise-versa.
Today is Trinity Sunday, the only Sunday in the year designated to discuss a doctrine. Other Sundays focus on the stories of God’s salvation process through Jesus Christ. The good news is I have discovered that understanding Trinity can help us enjoy life even at a greater level. So, let’s begin!

As the weather gets warmer, many people are throwing poolside parties. It reminds me of a story about a Texas billionaire who threw a poolside party on a hot summer day. He had a couple of pet sharks in his pool swimming back and forth, so the guests were fascinated by the sharks and, at the same time, tried to stay away from the poolside.
After all the guests had arrived, the host picked up the microphone and announced,
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a special announcement to make. Here’s my beautiful daughter, you all know. She is now at the age to choose a partner for life. I want my future son-in-law to be a man of courage. So, today, I have a challenge for all the men in the crowd. Anyone who dares to swim across the pool and get to the other side alive will get my daughter’s hands. But, don’t worry! If either of you thinks you are not a good match, I will give him a million dollars in cash for his courage to swim with the sharks.”
Suddenly, splash! A young man dove into the pool and swam across the pool swiftly. He got to the other side safely, jumped out of the pool, and looked at the crowd as if he was searching for someone. 
The crowd cheered for his courage, and the host asked him, “Young man, you are a true hero. Tell me what you want—the hands of my daughter or a million dollars in cash?”
The man kept scanning the crowd with a stern face without paying attention to the host. So, he asked again, “Young man, what do you want?”
He said in an angry tone, “I want … I want to know who pushed me into the pool!”
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Life is somewhat like a shark tank. The moment we are born, we are in this pool. The only way to survive is to swim to the other end swiftly and safely. There’s no use finding out who pushed you into this pool. The best attitude is to treat life as an opportunity and enjoy the swim.
Of course, life is not as dramatic as swimming in a shark tank. This story tries to depict a truth about life: the only way to find happiness in this life is to move forward and make progress. Don’t just take my word for it, but you can experiment with this truth. When are you really happy: during stagnation or progress?
Life is also like a stream of water. A flowing stream carries clean water, and a stagnant pool becomes stinky. So, don’t ask who pushed you into the water, but ask if you are making progress. Maybe the sharks are not there to eat you as long as you are moving forward.
Of course, not all progress makes you happy. Only meaningful progress brings true satisfaction. In fact, Jesus revealed that he wants us to make progress doing the meaningful works as he did. He says,
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12).
Doing “greater works” than he did might sound challenging, but not so if you understand that he means progress. The word “greater” is translated from Greek, “μείζονα,” meaning “greater, farther, growing, expanding, progressing.” So, Jesus is not talking about you will do mightier work than he did, but you will proliferate or propagate what he has started.
If this verse makes you anxious, you interpret it wrong because, in the context, he said he left peace with you. Progress will bring you peace. Progress is also the nature of a believer. He says, if you are a believer, you will do the works he did.
His life is also a progression of works, from teaching a small audience to a large crowd, from small miracles to raising Lazarus from the dead, from making small sacrifices to giving his life on the cross. It’s always growing, expanding, and progressing.
Jesus gave many parables revealing the kingdom of God is a progress. He said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that germinates and grows into a fruitful tree. He gave many parables like this. The kingdom of God is the place of ultimate happiness, and only progress will take you there.
So, he expects you to make progress in doing meaningful works as he did. Today, we have over two billion believers around the world. Believers have fed more homeless than ever before. Believers have built more hospitals than ever before. Believers have built more schools than ever before. We can go on and on to see how believers have made progress.
How about you? Are you part of this progress? Progress glorifies God, and when God is glorified, you are satisfied. That’s how we are created. In other words, like it or not, you are in the shark tank. Swim or die! Don’t ask who pushed you in; you are already in. Enjoy the swim and focus on the great prize you have been promised.
The good news is Jesus does not just reveal to us that progress brings you happiness, but he promises to give you a hand to make sure you get to the other end of the pool safely. So, today, let’s explore how Jesus planned to help you make progress by doing greater works based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

Life can be miserable for three reasons: guilts from the past, worries about the future, and anxieties about the present. On the other hand, life can be a great joy to live once these three problems are solved. I have a favorite fable that depicts life precisely.
I have shared this story with you several times, but I am telling it again because the truth must be told and reviewed frequently, or we forget and get sidetracked. I myself get sidetracked if I don’t reconsider these course-correcting parables. Here’s the story:
A man is taking a walk in the wilderness. Suddenly he hears some sneaky footsteps behind him, so he turns around expecting to see a fellow stroller, but it turns out to be a tiger trying to sneak up on him. So, he runs for his life, but soon, he reaches the edge of a cliff, leaving him no more room to run.
He turns around to face the tiger. Like a house cat, the tiger stops chasing when its prey stops running. Then, it tries to position itself to pounce on the man. Suddenly, he sees a vine dangling down the edge of the cliff, so he quickly grabs the vine and slides down the cliff.
When he reaches the middle of the cliff, he looks down to make sure it’s safe to keep sliding down. To his disappointment, he sees several crocodiles on the river bank with their jaw wide open, waiting to eat him for lunch. Now he is stuck in the middle of the cliff.
He looks up and sees the tiger still roaming up there, trying to find a way to catch him. He looks down and sees the hungry crocodiles waiting for their lunch. He looks up again, and shockingly, he discovers two mice—a black and a white—gnawing on the vine right below the tiger.
His anxiety shoots to the roof when he realizes the vine he is hanging on will break sooner or later. He tries to shoo the mice away, but they stop and stare at him for a moment and go back to gnawing. Then he tries to reach for something nearby that he may throw at the mice, but he sees nothing except a big red juicy sun-ripen strawberry in his arms reach.
He loves strawberries and knows that one must be incredibly delicious. Still, he can’t enjoy the strawberry because he is preoccupied with the tiger on the top, the crocodiles below, and the mice gnawing on his lifeline. Helplessly, he looks up at the tiger, down at the crocodiles, and then the mice.
After a long period of looking up and down, he decides to close his eyes, stretch out his arm, unplug the strawberry, and savor it as if nothing is happening. (End of the story.)
That is one of the most famous fables that depicts life. Once, a young lady asked me after I told this story, “What happened to that man after eating the strawberry?” That’s a good question we will answer today, but let’s look at the allegory first.
The vine represents our lifeline. We all slide on our lifeline from our past down to our future or gave. We are heading to the grave from birth, and we fear what lies beyond the grave.
The tiger represents our guilt from our past. Many people live their lives haunted by their past guilt, and that’s why they can’t enjoy life to the fullest.
Some people live with fear for the future. The crocodiles down the line represent the uncertain future. The current pandemic has made us even more insecure about what’s to come next. Fear or worry about the future can cripple our ability to enjoy life to the fullest.
The third common killer of joy is the present anxiety. The mice represent the annoyances that raise our concerns. The black and white mice represent day and night. They stress you out during the day and keep you awake at night. They also represent the time that doesn’t wait for us. Day and night gnaw on our lifeline like clockwork, but no one can stop it.
As a result, we can’t enjoy the juicy strawberry, which represents the gift from God for us to savor.
Some people may deny they have a tiger of their past, crocodiles of their future, or mice of the present. Like the man in the story, some religions teach you to numb your mind by clearing your thoughts and savor the strawberry in denial of the existence of guilt, fear, and anxiety. Denial doesn’t make things disappear, but it will still kill your joy from the inside.
We must solve these common human problems to enjoy life to the fullest. The good news is, in today’s scripture lesson, Jesus reveals the secrets to getting rid of the tiger, the crocodiles, and the mice. With these secrets, you will be able to enjoy life to the fullest. So, let’s begin!

Here’s one of my favorite childhood folk tales:
A farmer went to the town to sell his produce and returned with a large pot of treasures. His family gathered around him to hear the story of his windfall of fortune. He said, “As I walked through the forest on my way back, I heard someone groaning in a cave. I entered the cave and saw a dying tiger with a massive infected wound on his arm.
“I had pity on him, so I used my first aid kit to bind his wound and gave him water to drink. Since it was getting dark, I stayed with him overnight. The next day, he got better and gave me this pot of treasures to express his gratitude.”
Feeling envious, his brother’s wife inquired about the cave’s location and asked her husband to find the place and try his luck. The next day, he went and found the cave. Surprisingly, he heard the tiger groaning inside, so he went in and saw the dying tiger just like his brother had told them.
He thought, “Yuck! My brother didn’t tell me that the wound was so stinky.” He reluctantly bound the wound, hoping to get the reward like his brother. He slept in the cave dreaming about returning home with a treasure pot. The next day, the tiger got better and ate him for breakfast.
This story is based on Taoist philosophy calling for multilayers of interpretations. On the surface, it teaches people that you cannot copy someone’s success by superficially duplicating what they do. At a deeper level, the elder brother’s action stems from his sincere love for the wounded and suffering. Motive matters!
Then if we reach even deeper, it teaches us that nature reads your motive and rewards your heart over your action.
Chinese adults tell fables like these to teach children to cultivate morality. However, for those who love to think deeper, these stories serve as tools for spiritual development, much like Jesus’ parables.
We can look at the story as a lesson on how love can transform nature. It’s natural for people to fear a tiger, and it’s natural for the tiger to eat a human. If we are authentic, we cannot naturally love our enemies. When Jesus asked us to love our enemies, he asked us to rise above authenticity.
The culture today glorifies authenticity. In the name of expressing themselves, they gratify their authentic feelings. They can be rude and say, “I am just being authentic.” Paul said, we are to tell the truth in love. Telling the truth sounds authentic, but without love, the truth becomes a weapon to hurt rather than to heal.
The Bible says that our authentic nature is a fallen nature. If I am authentic, I rather eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If we are authentic, we cannot love the way Jesus wants us to love. The way Jesus wants us to love is not transactional but transformational. It requires us to sacrifice our authenticity.
In the story, the younger brother is authentic. His love for the tiger is a pretense—a transactional deed. The tiger was also authentic when he ate the low-hanging fruit. His elder brother was not authentic. He went beyond his instinct to love the tiger. The tiger was not authentic when he rewarded his prey. Touched by love, he has risen above his authenticity.
In this week’s scripture lesson, Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another. If you read the Old Testament, you would find that to love one another is not something new. So, why did Jesus call it a new commandment? He said this the night before he went to the cross, and he prayed that night:
“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” (Mat 26:39).
This prayer shows that if Jesus were authentic, he wouldn’t go to the cross—he would rather not drink this bitter cup. Yet, he went to the cross to fulfill God’s will—not his own will. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done,” because God’s will is not just a high road but a higher road that requires us to rise above authenticity.
Today, we will explore how to take a higher road of “Thy will be done” in our cultural norm of “My will be done.” Let’s begin!

I’ve discovered that preaching to the choir is one of the best ways to free yourself from stress. I know preaching to the choir has a negative connotation because it means you are trying to convince someone who is already convinced, thus wasting your time and energy.
However, contrary to the conventional wisdom, Jesus wants us to preach only to the choir when he says, “feed my sheep.” That means he has already chosen an audience for you to serve. He wants you to focus on the sheep, not the goats or pigs.
The opposite of preaching to the choir is “throwing pearls to the pigs.” Jesus said if you throw pearls to the pigs, they do not only unappreciative of your pearls but also attack you for giving them. That would be a formula for stress. How many of us try to feed the pigs and not the sheep?
In his book “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us,” Seth Godin presents the idea that each of us has a tribe waiting for us to lead. A tribe is like a flock connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. Our life is best used and meaningful when we find our tribe and serve them.
Godin asserts that your tribe is waiting for you to lead them. The problem is, how do you identify and find your tribe so that you don’t waste your lives on unfruitful enterprises? Don’t waste your life whistling in the wind. God has a target market for you to distribute your pearls.
I know, out of kindness, we don’t want to leave anyone out. We want to feed every animal, not just the sheep. We want to force-feed the pigs with pearls and complain about fruitlessness. Elbert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Let’s be wise.
The good news is that Jesus has taught us how to find the flock so that we can be fruitful by preaching to the choir and not wasting our lives throwing pearls to the pigs. So, let’s explore from today’s scripture lesson how to identify the flock we are called to serve. Let’s begin!

When I was living in San Francisco, my pastor took me on a fishing trip in Monterey Bay. We rented a boat, drove to the deep sea early in the morning, and dropped our lines. The sunrise was breathtakingly beautiful, seeing from the boat rocking in the glittering ocean as we waited for the fish to bite.
Soon I caught something weighty, but after reeling in, it turned out to be a giant Pacific octopus. It looked pretty scary and gooey as I had never seen a live one so up close, and I knew nothing about octopuses except in a thriller movie. We unhooked it immediately and dropped it back into the ocean.
Later I learned that they are pretty friendly to humans. Their eyes can see you and even remember you. They have nine brains. Can you believe that? Unfortunately, soon I became seasick and threw up nonstop. I felt sorry that the trip was cut short because of me. That was my first and only ocean fishing experience. Some fishermen told me fishing was an active meditation.
After Jesus’ resurrection and a week-long festival of Passover, the disciples returned to Galilee from Jerusalem. They had received the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ breath (which we discussed in my last week’s message). Not knowing what to do next, Peter was restless as usual. So, he decided to go fishing. Six other disciples that were with him followed him.
Many interpreters treated it as if they had returned to their old profession, but it doesn’t make sense since they just saw the risen Christ. Their spirit was high. I believe Peter went fishing not to return to his old fishing business but for the opportunity to talk with Jesus about his future, his calling, and his life purpose.
Fishing was their active prayer, meditation, and contemplation. You could do the same using any art form—painting, music, gardening, photography, or arts and crafts—as a form of prayer, meditation, or contemplation. For me, it’s photography.
The good news is Jesus showed up after the daybreak, and Peter received his higher calling. In fact, we can all learn a lot about our life purpose from this epilogue of John’s Gospel. Let’s begin!

I learned something fascinating this week about crocodiles. Do you know that crocodiles are conscious breathers? Unlike human beings, they cannot breathe when they are unconscious. That means you cannot sedate them. The moment they lose consciousness, they stop breathing and soon die.
Since crocodiles can’t breathe when they are unconscious, they can’t sleep because if they fall asleep, they die. Then, how do they sleep? Crocodiles are also known as unihemispheric sleepers. That means only half of their brain goes to sleep taking turns. So, they are only half asleep when they do sleep so that they can keep breathing. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?
Along the line, I learned that human beings are unconscious breathers. That means we breathe without awareness—we can be asleep and still breathe, or sedated and still breathe. That makes me think about a lot of things we do unconsciously, such as our digestive system working without our consciousness. Our digestives system involves thousands of parts and procedures. That alone is already mind-boggling.
In fact, human consciousness is only the tip of the iceberg. We think our brain is only inside our heads, but our digestive system has its own brain. Our heart also has its own brain, and that’s why it can continue to function even after the brain is dead. If our entire body relies on our head-brain to function, it will be overheated and fried.
Like the iceberg underneath the surface, our subconscious mind is much larger and more powerful than our conscious mind. What’s even more fascinating is that we can tap into our subconscious minds. It’s both fascinating and frustrating because how do we tap into the subconscious mind if it is subconscious?
Before Jesus went to the cross, he told the disciples that he was going to the Father, and they will continue his mission on earth, and that they would do greater things than he did. Have you ever thought about doing greater things than Jesus did? Jesus expects you to be superhuman, but how? He said that he would send us the Holy Spirit to empower us to accomplish it.
Of course, Jesus was not talking about that we would be more powerful than him, but he meant that since we have more time on earth and more numerous, we have more opportunities to accomplish more than he did.
Now, after the resurrection, Jesus gave his disciples what he promised—the power of the Holy Spirit to do the greater things. The question is, how do we harness the power? The good news is that Jesus gave us a clue as to how we can interface with the Head Office. That’s through our breath.
This message is vital because, without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are helplessly struggling and swimming in this sea of suffering like other humans. Since we have the Great Commission to fulfill to make this world a better place, we cannot ignore the power of the Holy Spirit. So, let’s begin!

Do you know how smart you are? Recently, I came across a research study called “Dunning-Kruger Effect,” which is about the cognitive bias whereby people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It means those who are less intelligent tend to believe they are smarter than others. It humbles me because it makes me realize that I am not that smart at all. What a discovery!
It began with a bank robbery case in Pittsburgh in 1995, where this man robbed two banks in a row in broad daylight without even covering his face. He learned from somewhere that if you wear lemon juice on your face, the security camera could not capture his face. So, when the police showed him the video from the surveillance cameras, he couldn’t believe it was real. He thought it was a setup, saying, “It’s impossible. I wore the juice.”
You might have heard about that case. The stupidity of that bank robber triggered the curiosity of social psychologists to study how people evaluate their own intelligence. Professors David Dunning and Justin Kruger published their discovery in 1999, and that’s why it’s called the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The research found that most people overestimate their abilities and think they are above average, but their test scores prove far lower than they assumed. The researchers say that way to overcome stupidity is to gain more knowledge because the more you learn, the more you discover that you know so little.
The key concept is “We know what we know, but we don’t know what we don’t know.” It’s more profound than it sounds. For example, if I have read 100 books. I know my knowledge is within these 100 books. So, I know what I know. But I don’t know how many books are still there to learn. It could be thousands or even millions. So, I don’t know what I don’t know.
The difference is that smart people have discovered that their ability is like a drop of water in a vast ocean. Stupid people think their ability is like 80% of water in a small teacup. They think they just need to learn a little bit more to know everything.
When you reach the point of humility to be able to say, “I don’t know what I don’t know,” you are getting pretty smart.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the theologian who plotted to assassinate Hitler, wrote a famous stupidity theory. He said that stupidity is more dangerous than evil. We can expose evil and find a way to confront it, but we are defenseless when dealing with a stupid person. We cannot reason with them or convince them, and they can be senseless and dangerous.
When Jesus was on the cross, he prayed to God, saying,
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34c).
This prayer indicates that their problem is not innocent but ignorant. Ignorance is so dangerous that it could put innocent people on the cross. All the research studies show arrogance is the root of ignorance. The foundation of wisdom is humility.
In that case, Easter humbles us significantly because it opens a can of worms by broadening our sphere of “we don’t know what we don’t know.” It reveals that what we don’t know is not just here and now but also an eternity to discover. Someone said, “I feel my brain expand as I think about Easter.” It’s a great metaphor.
We read about how Easter changed the lives of a group of simple-minded disciples and turned them from zeros to heroes. If we look at history, the message of Easter expanded the intelligence and imagination of the believers for two thousand years and advanced human civilization beyond limits.
So, today, let’s explore how Easter makes us feel like a drop of water in a vast ocean and how such humility expands our IQ, EQ, and SQ—our Intelligent Quotient, Emotional Quotient, and Spiritual Quotient. Let’s begin!