Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

This week is the first Holy Week in three years that we are able to gather for worship in person. After more than two turbulent years of the prolonged pandemic, I am sure we all have a new appreciation of life, health, well-being, relationship, and worship.
Jesus said that he came so that we may have life and have it to the fullest. How do we live life to the fullest in this fallen and broken world? King Solomon said there’s nothing new under the sun, and he urged us to obtain the wisdom from the past to face the present and prepare for the future.
When we look at the entire Bible and the whole teaching of Jesus Christ, we discover that God expects us to become prodigal sons and daughters expressing extravagant love, grace, and joy because that’s the only way to live your life to the fullest. Paul wrote from his prison cell to the Christians:
“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4).
These are the words of wisdom from a man persecuted, chained, and imprisoned, waiting for execution. He used to belong to the elites and intellectuals who persecuted Christians until the extravagant grace of Jesus Christ touched him and enlightened him with a more profound meaning of life.
Two weeks ago, we talked about God as the Prodigal Father who expressed his extravagant grace to humanity, not even sparing his only Son to come on earth and die for us. Last week, we talked about the Prodigal Daughter, exemplified by Mary’s extravagant devotion to Jesus Christ.
In today’s scripture lesson, we discover Jesus expects us to become Prodigal Disciples, extravagantly glorifying Jesus Christ despite the threats of persecution by the authority. The fact that Jesus approved their jubilant behavior means that’s the life Jesus wants them to live—shining bright in the darkness.
Today is known by three different names: Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, and the Sixth Sunday in Lent. It’s a day of complex emotions—high, low, and suspense. The Holy Week is the culmination of what Jesus prepared himself in the wilderness with his forty days of fasting and passing the tests of his IQ, EQ, and SQ—Intelligent Quotient, Emotional Quotient, and Spiritual Quotient to handle the challenge of this holy week.
Can you imagine the scene of Jesus entering Jerusalem jubilantly, knowing he was about to die? Having been warned many times, the disciples also knew Jesus was in danger. Yet, they didn’t let their fear overcome their opportunity to celebrate like prodigal disciples.
Jesus teaches us to live by the non-anxious presence in this anxious world. The jubilance of Palm Sunday should be our way of life despite the imminent dangers. Jesus has told us in other parts of his teachings that the worse is yet to come, but we must be jubilant no matter how dark the world turns. How?
From today’s scripture lesson, let’s learn how to become Prodigal Disciples exuding extravagant love, grace, and jubilance in this anxious and broken world? So, let’s begin!

One of the deepest desires in life is to leave a legacy, make a mark, or contribute to the community. Jesus compares our life to a seed that finds fulfillment when it bears fruit. Therefore, we can never discover meaning and happiness until we become fruitful.
I have heard of a hospice nurse who had many conversations with patients on their deathbeds. She was surprised to hear so many people talk about their regrets in their final moments—the things that they failed to do and the things they wish they had done.
Even Bertrand Russell, one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, a peacemaker, and a prominent atheist, told his wife on his deathbed that he had never found peace in his life except in her arms. It sounded so romantic, but it was his fourth wife. The sad part is to hear that he never found peace in life.
The question is, what should we do so that we won’t regret it on our deathbeds? Is it given down or giving up? Giving down means contributing to the poor and needy. Giving up means offering to God.
The answer is worth exploring because we cannot afford to miss this wisdom if we want to leave a lasting legacy in life.
After some careful research, I found that the greatest contributions in human history are made by giving up, meaning by the power of love to our Creator because our devotion to the Creator makes us creative. Creativity is the key to leaving a lasting legacy.
I wonder if Bertrand Russell listened to classical music—Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, etc. I wonder if he appreciated the arts of Davinci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, etc. These greatest artists drew their inspiration from the Creator, the Prodigal Father.
Last week we talked about God as the Prodigal Father, and this week we are given a passage to discuss the Prodigal Daughter. I didn’t plan it. I’m just following the lectionary, and the scripture lessons just fall together beautifully.
It prompted us to talk about the extravagant love of a woman as a perfect response to the extravagant love of God. In these extravagances, the greatest contributions in life take place. Maybe that’s why we call a genius a prodigy.
I am sure most of us are not dreaming about becoming a prodigy like Mozart or Michelangelo, but at least we want to find out what makes life flourish to the fullest so that we can also live a fruitful life and have no regret on our deathbed. Let’s begin.

It has been a month since Russia invaded Ukraine. Over three million refugees have been displaced, many lives lost, and buildings destroyed. There are political, economic, and military actions being taken to resolve the problem.
As a church, we’ve also contributed and will continue to contribute to the refugee relief efforts. As Christians in worship on Sunday, I would like to look at the spiritual aspect of the problem. I would like to quote my favorite Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, who said,
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ~Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy was a highly gifted author known for his War and Peace. However, after his conversion, the books he wrote were even more impactful. He had influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. on their social justice movements. I believe Tolstoy’s book, Ressurection, should be read by every Christian.
At a time like this, most people are thinking about changing the world or figuring out how to eliminate Putin to stop the atrocity. The more tragedy we see, the more our minds turn toward vengeance, even though his atrocities have not directly affected us.
The media is also cheerleading the attitude. The vengeful mindset is not good for our spirit and is against Jesus’ teaching. We are in the Lenten season, and Lent is the time for us to consider changing ourselves.
Before Jesus began to change the world, he changed himself by his forty days of fasting. You might think it’s inconceivable to say that Jesus needed to change himself since he is the Son of God. However, don’t forget he is fully human and fully God. Like every one of us, he had to fight his flesh. If you treat him only as God, you will fail to learn from his human examples.
How do we know we are in a vengeful mindset or Christlike attitude? The way you want Putin to go down will determine your spiritual maturity. Today’s scripture lesson will challenge your level of grace or your Spiritual Quotient (SQ), just like your IQ and EQ.

Today, we have an important message from Jesus Christ that we all need to hear, especially at times like this.
I have been watching updates on the war in Ukraine several times a day this week. I am sure all of us have. We all are concerned about our neighbors and the ramifications of the war.
At the same time, we must learn NOT to let the negative situation affect our minds because it will then affect our health and well-being. After all, we already have had two years of the pandemic. Will the stressful situation ever end?
There are two kinds of stress: acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is good for you. It’s like exercising, playing sports, or accomplishing a challenging project. You get stressed out for the moment, but it goes away afterward, and you feel relief.
That kind of stress boosts your strength and vitality. Stress makes your body release cortisol, a hormone that regulates your metabolism to handle stress. However, too much cortisol is not good for the body.
So, prolonged or chronic stress is destructive. According to the medicine, chronic stress or too much cortisol can cause:
Chronic disease: high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases.
Weight gain: stress can shift metabolism to store fat.
Lack of energy: it can impact sleep quality and length.
Difficulty concentrating: chronic stress reduces productivity.
Impaired immune system: chronic stress can hamper the immune system, making it more difficult to fight infections.
Inflammation: it causes the body to develop aches and pains.
I used to have all of them, but now I have recovered from almost all of them.
According to recent statistics, about 90% of doctor’s visits have to do with sicknesses stemming from chronic stress. It seems that if Satan cannot make you sin, he will make you stressed.
How do we live in a fallen world and not let it affect our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being? How do we live wisely through trying times? How do we not let our lights grow dim by the force of darkness?
Jesus said you are the light of the world. Then, how do we keep shining in dark times? The negative news will evoke negative thinking, and negative thinking dims our light and weaken our well-being.
If there’s a fast way to switch your mind from negative thinking to positive thinking, would you learn it? We all need it now because we live in an anxious world.
The good news is Jesus has given us a piece of profound wisdom for times like these in today’s scripture lesson. So, let’s begin.

There’s a cute childhood fable that most of us might still remember.
A rabbit is sleeping under a tree, and suddenly he hears a loud noise. It is so loud that he thinks the sky has fallen, so he starts running. On the way, he meets a deer and tells her, “The sky is falling. Run!” The deer becomes anxious runs with him.
They meet a tiger on the way and tell him, “The sky is falling. Run!” So, the tiger starts running with them. Then they meet elephants, wolves, cows, and soon animals from the entire forest are running. Suddenly, they see a lion standing facing them who stops them from running.
“Tell me what’s going on,” the lion asked. Everyone was anxious, “We must run because the sky is falling.”
“Who says the sky is falling?” the lion asks. “Everyone.” The anxiety is rising.
“Everyone?” The lion tracks it down and discovers it is the rabbit who started it.
“Show me.” The lion asked the rabbit to take them back to where he started.
The anxiety of the entire forests rises even higher. No one wants to go back because they are supposed to be on the run before the sky falls. However, in reverence to the king of the forest, they walked back.
When they arrive at where the rabbit slept, they discover it is under a coconut tree. After some forensic observation, the lion concludes that a big coconut fell from the tree and landed on the dry leaves, which made a loud noise. For a timid rabbit, it sounded like a sky fall.
Have you ever heard this fable before?
I think it depicts the reality of this world. Everyone is anxious to some degree, emotionally running around like crazy, especially after a prolonged pandemic and threat of global war.
The lion represents equanimity, the opposite of anxiety. Equanimity is similar to serenity, but serenity just means calm and peaceful, but equanimity means level-headed. The first part of the word gives us a clue “equa” means “equal.” So, equanimity means balanced, level-headed, and sober-minded.
Dr. Edwin Friedman called it “non-anxious presence.”
If you want to live happily in this anxious world, you must develop equanimity. Equanimity does not just allow you to resist the contagious anxiety of society but also enable you to influence others, just like the lion’s non-anxious presence that dissolves the anxiety of the forest.
In other words, equanimity gives you internal peace and external leadership. Today we will look at an example of equanimity from Jesus Christ and learn how to attain it. This is a very important message for all of us. Let’s begin!

When I was young, I always wondered why Jesus was able to fast for forty days. Most people gave me an easy answer, something like, “Because he was God,” but I called it a lazy answer. I had a lot of questions about Jesus’ forty days of fasting that no one was able to give me a satisfactory intellectual, biblical, scientific, or spiritual answer.
Why did he fast? Why was it so important for him to go through that? Is it important for us to fast? How did he fast? Did he drink only water? When did he fast? Did he fast only during the day? However, the Bible said,
“He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.” (Mat 4:2).
That means he fasted for entire days. It also says he was famished by the end of forty days. That eliminates the divinity argument. If Jesus’s forty-day fasting was to prove his divinity, why would he be famished? Like any human being, he felt hungry.
Later I found out that even most pastors cannot answer these questions, partly because they don’t fast and partly because they don’t know how to. It has become a lost art.
In Judaism, this month (February) is part of Shovavim Tat, a Jewish Lent for six to eight weeks of fasting—six for regular years and eight for the leap years. That is 42-56 days of fasting. I’ve found out that less than one percent of Jews fast for this season. Many of them don’t even know about this tradition.
That’s why I said fasting is a lost art. Most Jews or Christians, Rabbis or Pastors, don’t know why, how, when, and what about fasting. That’s why they are not able to teach people to fast. So my quest began some years ago to learn about fasting.
After many years of research and personal experiments, I can tell you that fasting is a fantastic experience. Today, we have a great deal of scientific data to back it up. I am so sorry that many people today have misunderstood the great value of fasting.
You have missed out on a great spiritual adventure if you have never fasted. So, I want to introduce the lost art of raising your IQ, EQ, and SQ. Your Intelligent Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ), and Spiritual Quotient (SQ) will soar, and you will never be the same again. You will see fasting as enjoyment rather than torture. Let’s begin.

You are getting a Black Belt and have become a spiritual warrior after this step. If you have followed the series and practiced the steps to heaven on earth, you are at the highest point of spiritual fitness: Enlightenment, which we discussed last week.
However, Enlightenment is not the final step to spiritual maturity. You need one more step beyond Enlightenment: Endurance. The reason is we live in a world of darkness, and when you shine your light in the dark, you disturb the evil force, and it will try to take put you out. An enlightened person is a threat to this dark society.
For example, Abraham Lincoln shined his bright light on the darkness of his days, and he was assassinated. Marti Luther King, Jr. shined his bright light into the darkness of injustice, and he was murdered. Jesus Christ, the light of the world, was crucified. There are uncountable examples like that in human history. Jesus said,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Lk 13:34).
A prophet is someone who enlightens the society of their time. They are what Jesus called “peacemakers.” If a holy place like Jerusalem cannot contain the prophets, don’t expect the rest of the world to be better.
I don’t mean every peacemaker will have the same fate as the above-mentioned saints and prophets. I am just highlighting some extreme cases to demonstrate the nature of the beast. You must be aware that this dark world does not welcome your light. The path after enlightenment is as rough as the path before. That’s why Jesus said you must carry the cross “daily” to follow him.
If you want to have a comfortable life, go with the follow of the fallen world. It means that if you get up in the morning and find your life is running smoothly, you may be heading the wrong way. The brighter you shine, the more likely you are persecuted by the dark forces.
Jesus does not want us to be like a straw fire that flames out in a short moment, but he wants you to shine forever. He said,
“And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (Jn 15:16c).
To bear the lasting fruit means to shine your light for eternity. So, he offers us the blessing of Endurance. The good news is that his method of endurance is easy.
Before we continue, let us refresh our memory of the Eight Steps to Heaven on Earth. They form the acrostic CAREFREE:
Consciousness
Abandonment
Reliance
Edification
Forbearance
Refinement
Enlightenment
Endurance
Jesus has taught you a very simple way to sustain your success as a peacemaker. Let’s explore his secret of Endurance through today’s scripture lesson.

A friend posted on Facebook, “Don’t pray ‘Our Father’ on Sunday and live like an orphan the whole week.” I think that’s both funny and enlightening! It triggers a question about how often I live like an orphan during the week. Are you aware of how many days of the week you live like an orphan?
Even as a pastor, I noticed that I have orphan-like moments even though I am primarily busy preparing for Sunday, small groups, prayer groups, personal devotions, and meeting with believers. I can imagine that it must be hard to maintain the consciousness of being children of God for those who spend time with God only on Sundays.
It reminds me of Boney M.’s song, “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child.” I wonder how many people feel like orphans during this prolonged pandemic, especially when away from the church.
“Don’t pray ‘Our Father’ on Sunday and live like an orphan the whole week.” See, a simple statement like that could kindle a series of enlightening thoughts bringing awareness to something you have never noticed or forgotten.
Enlightenment is awareness. Some are just small awareness, and others can be life-changing. It’s like a lighthouse shining into the sea, bringing awareness to the danger and attention to the location. Sometimes, awareness comes early, and other times, it comes late, like a rude awakening. So, we want enlightenment to come as soon as possible.
Everyone wants enlightenment because, without it, you feel like groping in the dark. We live in a fallen world swimming in the sea of suffering. Enlightenment makes life easier and allows us to stay afloat or walk on water.
The English word “Enlightenment” has a double meaning: it means the state of being enlightened, as well as the action of enlightening. It means learning as well as teaching. When you learn, you get enlightened, and when you teach, you enlighten others. That double meaning is also quite enlightening!
You can only reach a limited level of enlightenment by learning. Sooner or later, you must teach in order to learn. Teaching is a form of learning. When you study for Ph.D., you are required to teach about 120 hours to graduate. Teaching enlightens you deeper and broader.
As a Teaching Elder, I have been teaching for over 26 years now, and I feel incredibly grateful for what I learn by teaching. If I were to start over, I would do it again, even without pay. You can’t put the price on enlightenment. I would encourage anyone to teach. I started teaching Sunday School when I was in high school. That’s when I realize the value of teaching.
So, I encourage you to pick up opportunities to teach—Sunday School, Small Group, Support Group, preaching on the pulpit, mission trips, or whatever provides you with the teaching opportunities. It’s for your enlightenment.
We have covered six steps to heaven on earth in the previous six lessons, primarily by learning or enlightening yourself. Now, it’s time for you to enlighten others to enlighten yourself further. How do you enlighten others? Let’s unpack what Jesus taught us in his seventh blessing from the Beatitudes.