Bible for Business Seminar#8 Resources & Balanced Scorecards

We covered two key topics in the seminar:

• Resources
• The Balanced Scorecard

Resources
As Christians, we can draw upon the special resources provided by God. We covered Prov 3:1-14 showing God's vision for us and the strategies to realize the vision:



We covered the process of learning as given in 2 Tim 3:16-17 Judging Rightly

1. Teaching-Doctrines: learn the truth and put into practice.
2. Reproof - when practicing it, there could be an error, so point out the error.
3. Correction - point out the right way to do.
4. Training in Righteousness - build up the right quality & standards of behavior and making them into good habits

Most people need training 1st before counseling. Or put in another way, so-called counseling is actually very time consuming and effort wasting training - it is training one on one.

Strategy Map Driven Balanced Scorecards
We covered the Strategy Map as the cause-effect business model of objectives across 4 or more perspectives. Each perspective is an earlier on view. Each objective must be related, with measures defined, and target set. When actual achievement is below the target, the strategic initiative will then be undertaken to close the gap. Such a method will ensure the focus and alignment of resources and people toward achieving the corporate vision. Focus means saying NO to everything else. Alignment means unity in purpose and actions. We use a budget airline example to illustrate the drawing of the Strategy Map and the setting up of balanced scorecards.

The Unified Corporate Performance Management Framework.
The various management methodology is unified and illustrated with the strategy map below:



The Biblical Basis for BSC

• Alignment – Concentrate All Energy towards Fruit, not Leaves
• The secret to fruitfulness is not adding more. It is pruning – channel the energy from growing leaves into growing fruit.
• Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2)
• Objective Driven
• “…Run in such a way that you may win. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air” (1 Cor. 9:24, 26).
• Continual
• “…Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1).
• Focused
• “ but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:12-14)

The Gathering & Feedback
About 12 of us gathered together for the seminar. The overall rating is 90%. The highest scores of 96% go to Subject Area Coverage, Expectation Met, Knowledge of Speaker, Technical Level, and the lowest score is the length of talk 70%. I am surprised by the high score on the technical level as I was concerned whether the BSC topic is too in depth but the scoring put me at ease.

We have a good time sharing after the talk. We spoke about 2 main aspect of Corporate Performance - The Method, such as BSC and The People. Highly passionate and motivated staff needs to know the method to channel their efforts to achieve excellence. Just having passion without the right methods will result in fighting, activities without positive outcomes. Methods alone without passion will result in the achievement of minimum standards. Some other points are reflected in the feedback report below:

Like Best

1. Strategy Map & Scorecards
2. BSC
3. Prov 3:1-4 Teachings - completeness + God vision + Strategies for us
4. Less is more - 2 miracles in the Bible - Putting our faith in God + obey
5. We are no greater than our belief.
6. Scorecard
7. Introduction of the strategy map & balanced scorecard. Learned new things. It gives a guideline to running an organization, yet not confusing between the overall picture & profitability

Like Least

1. The ending seems a bit hasty, probably due to the shortage of time.

Others

1. Please give us the example of BSC
2. Maybe can change the seminar title to Bible for Success so that more people can attend and benefit

Business Equivalent of Biblical Terms

To apply Bible for business, we may need to translate the Biblical terms in business equivalent. For example, righteousness is a main Biblical term. It means right standing with God. It also means meeting up to God's standards. Hence, a business equivalent term for Righteousness could be Quality.

The other terms:

1. Love = A type of Values, Relationship, Trust, Understanding, Passion.
   
2. Faith = Execution, Work of Faith, Faith must result in action.
   (Jas 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.)
3. Hope = Vision
4. Discipline = Monitoring Progress and Make Correction
   

Here are some additional explanation on applying the Beatitudes into Business....
The Beatitudes Mat 5
These values are reflected in James 3:17

1. Poor in Spirit Mat 5:3 - Face up with the realities and know your needs. They will get Kingdom of Heaven=Wealth & Influence
2. Mourn - or Compassionate & Empathy Mat 5:4 --> comforted
3. Meek or Humility Mat 5:5 – Ever ready to learn – agile. --> inherit the earth
4. Righteousness Mat 5:6 – Doing Things Right, Meet Standards – Quality. --> satisfied
5. Merciful Mat 5:7 – kindness begets kindness
6. Pure Mat 5:8. Singleness of Purpose. Ensure motive & practices are legal, ethical & above reproach. Keep things transparent and opened. --> See God (understand, in His presence and be honored)
7. Peace-makers Mat 5:9. Try to resolve issues with customers, suppliers or staff amicably and to maintain good and close relationships. “War is the last resort” vs “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” 1Co 6:7 To have lawsuits at all with one another(believers) is already a defeat for you. --> Sons of God= Winners
8. Willing to suffer loss for Righteousness Mat 5:10-12. Right Thing to do over Profits --> kingdom of Heaven = Influence & Wealth
   

Voices - Reasons & Conscience & Sensuality

There are three voices that influence us when we make decisions.

One is the voice of reasons - our mind. The facts, the logics, the advantages vs disadvantages, the risks and the likely outcomes of various options.

The other is the voice of conscience - our heart. The values that we hold and the sense of right or wrong beyond the material and physical benefits of our reasoning.

The third is the voice of sensuality - our body. What will give us pleasure and make us feel good.... taste good, smell great, look good, etc.

The voices correspond to the tripartite nature of man --- spirit, soul, body.

When we have to make a choice, which voice do we listen to ?

Josh Billings has a famous quote "Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does."

It is common belief that the order should be Conscience over Reasons over Sensuality.

This is not to say that Sensuality is always wrong. There is nothing wrong but in fact it is good that we enjoy good food and sex (with the right party - your spouse). This order comes into play when there are conflict of interests.

e.g. smoking -

Sensuality says : Ok. It gives temporary pleasure. (for me, it does not. But for some, it does).
Voice of Reasons says: No. It is harmful to the body in the long run.
Voice of Conscience says: No. It is harmful to those around us.

So, the conclusion is no.

e.g. profiting by selling thermometer at price during high demand time of SARS day
Voice of Reasons say: Yes. It is profit maximization.
Voice of Conscience say: No. It cannot be so highly price so that only the rich can afford.

So, remember that when there is a conflict,

the priority is Conscience, Reasons and then Sensuality.

Feeling is Not Always Wrong - Listen Carefully
With this understanding, I want to clearly differentiate the different types of emotions or feelings. There is the common misunderstanding that one should not listen to our feelings but to our reasons implying that feeling is bad. This is incorrect. Our feeling is a response to something deeper.

We have to differentiate the source that causes the feeling.

* It is from the external through our body senses, or
* due to our thinking and reasoning, (we feel sad or happy when watching movie) or
* due to our conscience.


If the feeling of peace or uneasiness comes from our conscience, we need to listen to it. When we feel uneasy from our conscience, we sometimes want to use our reasonings to overcome it. We should not. We should always listen the inner voice of our conscience. However, if we continue to suppress our conscience by our reasonings, our conscience will be numbed. To ensure we have sensitive conscience, we should feed it by reading Bible, prayers, and obedience.

Feeling can be directed by our thoughts and our conscience. The best kind of feeling is the passion we felt for doing a good cause according to our conscience and our reasons.

Let Go & Let God - Spiritual or Just Plain Lazy?

There are many so called 'grace-based' preacher that preach men should not do anything and let God do it. There is this nice phase that say "Let go and let God". They see that any effort on man part is of the flesh and men should just lay back and wait to receive from God. Such teaching without clearer explanation is very misleading and wrong. It resulted in people just plainly waiting for God.

It is clearer to say "God initiates and man respond". Man duty is to discover God's plan and then follow accordingly by faith. God has initiated in speaking to man in the past through His prophets and His son Jesus (Heb 1:2) . We are to respond in faith by receiving Jesus as our Savior and Lord. That was the 1st step. Subsequently, we have to discover more of Jesus and God and follow accordingly. The discovery is through the study of God's revealed Word (the Bible) and communication with God. We have the static Logos word and the dynamic Holy Spirit inspired Rhema word of God. This discovery (of the spiritual laws at work) will increases as we experience the working of the spiritual laws through our application by faith.

We can see this in the natural world which are governed by natural physical laws. To do well in the physical world, we need to understand the natural physical laws governing this universe. We understand gravity easily enough to know that we could not fly. However, when we understand fluid dynamics, we learn about the 'lift' as air flows through a wind-shaped object, and then we could build plane that fly. By understanding and application of natural laws, we can do thing that seems to defy natural law. Actually, we did not. Our ability to fly still follows the natural laws, except that we use the law of lift to overcome the law of gravity. Both laws are at work when we fly. We can never defy natural laws.

Similarly, in the spiritual world, if we want to have good success, we must understand the spiritual laws and apply accordingly. Without application according to the spiritual laws, we will not have any benefits. So don't be fooled. We need to do work - work of faith - of discovering God's will and spiritual laws - and putting them to work.

If we are hurt by someone, we are to rely on the Love of Christ and to forgive the person causing the hurt. It is very hard on our flesh. But we must put our trust in God's spiritual laws - love our enemy with the love that Jesus has given me.

If we are out of job, we spend the time discovering God's will, preparing and learning new skills and getting new jobs, trusting God will bring the right job at the right time to us. But we are not to just wait lazily. We are to occupy till He comes Luk 19:13.

Bible for Business Seminar#7 Designing Strategies

Some who attended the seminars previously felt that as employee, the talks on mission, vision, values and strategies seem not too relevant to work. As employee, we need to understand how our work contributes to our company's mission and visions. I wish to encourage that all to think like your bosses or owners so that one day you will be one. The values covered the previous and this talk tell us the how to behave so that we will be promoted and be successful in life.

We covered the 2nd point of "Appreciation Situations" that not completed due to lack of time. That is to understand the trend and be ready all the time and at any time. We covered Porter's Five Competitive Forces that determines the profitability of a business in the medium & long run.

With the materials given in BJ#6 Strategies the following additional points were added:

1. The Beatitudes of Mat 5 could be seen as the "Commandments" of NT. These are positive commands - be meek, seek righteousness, be merciful, be pure, be peace-makers etc. This list is comparable to James 3:17. We should and are able to do all these because we are rebirthed as children of God with Jesus in us. We gave the business viewpoints of those virtues.
2. Branding & Communications - we should have strategies to create our brand, deliver to expectation and to communicate. We are light for the world to see that bring glory to God. We cited Mat 6:1-4 charity giving, 6:17-19 fasting not as exaltation not to tell but exaltation not to be hypocrites. We are not to give to charity to gain glory or to fast to show our piety. Branding is both - telling and fulfilling the expectation. Branding is a promise. Branding should have consistency of experience, look-and-feel, quality, differentiation and repeated exposure. All strategies, while described in details, should have a tagline for ease of communication and memory. e.g. Customer Intimacy, or High Touch Experience, Operational Excellence etc.
3. Cutting costs uniformly, cutting marketing, training etc are short-term methods with harms on the future. The better method is to cut wisely. Cut the dead weights either in offerings or customers. Be innovative to do more with less. Build employees enthusiam. Outsourcing wisely.
   
4. In the Globalization Strategy of the Church, we stressed how God used Saul to get the church to move out of Jerusalem. We sometimes need to have or to create crisis to move us out of our comfort zone to move into higher plane. God used Paul to address a wider market segment - from the Jews to the Gentiles and setting up an HQ in Antioch to address to expanded market.
5. The Strategies Check List is summarized as:
   
1. Support the Values of Corporations
2. Pursue Differentiation & Excellent / Perfection
3. Building Relationships – Customers, Staff, Suppliers
4. Branding (Authentic Experience) & Communications
5. Be Lean – Cut Losses, Remove Dead weights.
6. Take Positive Initiatives
   
7. Work with Your Competitors Wisely
8. Do the Talk
   
9. Internalized by Staff

About 8 of us gathered together for the seminar. We have a good time of sharing after the talk. Some are reflected in the feedback report below:

The overall score is 84% with the highest score to Speaker Knowledge, Subject Area Coverage, and the lower scores to length of talk 74% and time of talk 66%.

Like Best

1. Cut loss & stop bleeding, prune the tree so that it bear more fruit
2. Toyota sharing their technology and expertise with competitor & supplier
3. Cut loses & Stop Bleedings It is very practical.
4. Pt 6 take positive initiatives - nuggets of biblical truths which can apply even for personal working life.
5. Also more examples given this time to explain & expand the various points

Like Least

1. Ending seems a bit hasty, probably due to the shortage of time.

Others

1. Give assignments for completion
2. It will be good to slow down and not to cover too much information in such a short time

Normal Christian Life Style

An excellent teaching on the normal Christian Life Style that we should be living is given by Peter in 2 Peter 1:1-10. It is about knowing God and knowing what we have in Jesus Christ. This knowledge is to be followed by actions so that we realize the calling and election of God for our lives.

The 8 stages of Christian growth, which also represent the growth of Peter's own life, are pointed out in v5-8, are faith (the beginning stage), virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. The mind map below gives more detail on the exposition of the verses.

Better than the Lord's Prayer

What could be better than the Lord's Prayer of Mat 6:9-13?

The Lord's Prayer has been widely recommended as the Model Prayer. A model prayer is a template when the content can be changed to meet the needs of the time. However, for quite a few, they just memorized it and recite it at times without much thought to the content.

Jesus' prayer in John 17, recorded for our knowledge and learning, is Jesus applying his own teaching to himself. It is an illustration of the Model Prayer with updated content. As a diversion, let me point out a critical and common error as we read the OT and pray like the OT. We must know that many prayers, especially in the Psalms, are already fulfilled in the NT and we should not pray like the OT people as if God has not answered in the NT. Christ came to fulfilled the OT and so for those prayers in OT that have been answered, give thanks instead. Back to Jesus' prayer in John 17. He was going to the cross. His task on earth is coming to an end. He gave a review and the needs for the future - for us!

The similarity to the Lord's Prayer and additional points are shown in the mind map below:

The key point is that Jesus has answered in John 17 the requests in the Lord's prayers. He has empowered and provided for us all things to live out the requests of the Lord's prayer. When we have 'eternal life' (= knowing and oneness with Jesus and Father God), we glorify His name (hallowed be thy Name) by fulfilling His calling on us here (On earth as it is in Heaven). We forgive and love one another as we have oneness in all and in the Father, and the Father's love for Jesus is also in us. Father kept us from evil and His Word sanctify us (deliver us from temptations). His Word is our daily bread. We should eat it daily.

Bible for Business Seminar#6 Appreciation of Situations

About 15 people gathered together for the Seminar#6 on Appreciation of Situations. We have a quick review of Vision and Values. We quoted

• "A life that has no order and discipline is a life that focuses on survival, not vision."
  from Jeff Calloway's new book , "VisionalLife".
  

Using examples of J&J Tylenol and Perrier incidences, we stressed the importance of values in action - Choosing Life over Profit or Integrity over Profit.

Besides covering the content of Appreciation of Situations, the following additional points were added:

• Luke 14:28 - We must make sure we have enough cash to cover the cash-outflow in the initial stages of the new business until the business can be self-sustaining in cash. Many businesses fail prematurely due to lack of cash (funding). Conserving cash is a key principle in running new business.
• Luke 14:31- tells us to consider whether we can overcome the competitors in the market we are entering.
• On SWOT analysis,
  
  • We stressed on capturing the keys 2-3 factors and not too many.
    
  • Strengths and Weaknesses are to be viewed from the external Market Opportunities and Threats.
    
  • We advocate the "Strengths Based" approach and challenge ourselves to see how we could convert Threats to Opportunities. By re-phrasing problem, like high-turnover rates, into a positive one, like "making the company attractive to attract new and retain old", put our mindset into positive mood to work out the many possibilities.
  • We can use our strengths to overcome weaknesses. We cited examples of learning. Each of us learn differently, typical school-teaching method is Left-Brain based and so Right-Brain people has difficulty. If we change the teaching to suit the learning methods, reading to watching tv, to motion and exercises, etc according to the student learning profile, all can do well.
    
  • Another easy way to overcome our weakness is to outsource it to others with the needed strengths.
    
  • On the eternal O&T, we are to look at the macro-economic factors P.E.S.T (Political, Economic, Social, Technology), Environmental & Legal/Regulations. On the micro-level, we look at our firm, competitors, market, customers, suppliers.
  • As a reminder, SWOT should leads to a plan of actions, also called strategies, to use our strengths to exploit the opportunities and minimizing the risks of threats. Also a challenge to convert the threats to opportunities - applying the Invert Operator of BVITS.
    
• In the area of looking at Customers, we combine the contributions of "Strategic Insight in Three Circles" HBR Nov 2007, "Seeing What's Next" and "Blue Ocean Strategies" to classify customers into
  
  • customers that bought from us - what are our differentiating factors?
    
  • our customers who also buy from our competitors, - what can we learn? why are they better?
    
  • customer needs not fulfilled by us -why not?
  • our products&services not bought - to be take away,
    
  • overshot-customers - exposing to disruptive low-end entrants,
  • undershot-customers - opportunities for sustaining innovations,
    
• non-customers
  
  • those falling off the edges
  • those rejected us
  • those we have not address
    
• non-consuming context
  
  • barriers to consumption.e.g. mobile phone opened up opportunities that line-phone could not. e-Learning allows new overseas customers to sign-up.

We did not have the time to cover the 2nd aspect of AOS (Appreciation of Situation) which is reading the trends and getting ready and Michael Porter's 5 competitive forces that determine the profitability of firms in a market. These we will cover in the next seminar on 12 Mar 2008.

The Seminar Feedback
10 Feedback forms were received from attendance of 14. Overall score is 82% with highest score to Speaker Knowledge 92%, Subject Area Coverage 86% and lower scores to Expectation Met 76%, Relevance to Job 72%.

Like Best

• SWOT:working on strengths; converting weakness to strengths; consideration of internal and external factors d study on market share.
  
• Check multiple sources and verify claims, not be be misled
  
• Case Study, better understanding
• Overall Good
• SWOT
• Dissection of the SWOT Analysis and how to go about doing it.
• SWOT, something new to me
• Focus on Strength
• HBR-3 Circle, own, customer, competitor. This is a new angle of looking at the business. Had done SWOT before, a good refresher.
• SWOT analysis, more detailed and easy to understand compared to other lecturers in schools :)
• SWOT, because I can use it for my own business to see it in a different angle

Like Least

Others

• More practical application will be interesting and better understanding. Can touch more on area where we can apply in our daily operations, especially for employees (not business owners)
• May be can be given some exercise.
  
• Suggest to use a well-know e.g. in the mkty textbook to apply the analysis(SWOT)
• Make the seminar more interactive and participative. make this group like a case-group style. Know each other and may be one day can do business together.
• More real life examples and relates to those who do not have their own business
• Get the student to do a "SWOT" before the class & submit to the lecturer for case study. Have a website we can automatically input our "SWOT" results.

Bible for Business Seminar#5 Vision & Values

#5 Painting the Vision & Choosing the Values

I. VISION

Vision is a picture of what we want to become. Vision gives life to mission. It describe what accomplishing the mission will look like at a future point of time. Vision is the dream, a destination. Values are what you stand for and give character to your corporation. Values determine the framework and boundaries for your strategies to realizing your vision. Mission, Vision and Values are related. A person or corporate is created with a mission with character of values trying to accomplish a vision. It is what you are (mission-identity), what you will become(vision) and how(values) to do go about achieving it.

Importance of Vision

You will not be greater than what your vision is. Prov 29:18, Pro 23:7.

Keys in Defining a Vision

Have faith in God. Prayed to discover what God want you to become. Do we fall into the following errors?

• Looking at our present limitations or past failures to define your vision. If so, it would be very restrictive.
• Be satisfied with your present and do not want to change. If so, you are growing old.

Recommended book : Joel Osteen's "Becoming a Better You"

Recommended Message: AR Bernard's"Audacity"

A Good Vision Statement.

1. Use the Terms and Things of your Audience.

We cited Mt 4:19, John 4:13, John 6:35, John 3:16, 7:38, 8:32, 11:25, Mat 11:28 as examples of Jesus describing the same vision in various ways to convey it correctly to the people.

2. Must offer "Things of Values" or "Benefits" to your customers, staff, and partners and owners.

3. Vision needs to be written down and communicated often. Hab 2:2

4. Vision must covers different aspects for the corporation - customers, processes, learning & growth (staff, skill, training, culture), social & environmental perspectives.

5. Chip Heath's 6 basic traits to make a message stick are:

1. Simple
2. Unexpected: audacious,challenging,
3. Concrete: measurable and have targets. You can tell whether you reach it.
4. Credible: challenging and yet believable. If it is incredulous, it will be ridiculed.
5. Emotion: motivating, giving pride,
6. Story: a good story or a good dream.

6. Must be communicated often and shared by all.

II VALUES

Values are what you believe as most importance, what you stand for, for which you will not compromise. They provides the decision making framework when there are no clear guidelines. They determine the Corporate character that is the sum total of the individuals working in the Corporate.

Bible tells us to see Corporation as

1. Living Being (Rom 12, 1 Cor 12, Eph 4) - we are all members of the same body.
1. Differences are respected, appreciated and treasured.
2. Differences must be aligned and synchronized towards achieving the shared mission and vision.
2. Family - relationship of love, care, protection, up-bringing.

Typical Values

Commitment – Passion, Perseverance, Overcoming, Creativity.
Empathy – Understanding Others, Culturally Savvy and extending help.
Respect & Trust
Integrity – Honesty & Competence
TRIP – Trust, Risk, Innovation, Progress
Learning, Innovation, Agility
Humility
Fun & Play

We cited two books "How" by Dov Seidman, and "The Future of Management" by Gary Hamel, that show how the business world are moving towards seeking significance on top on profits and share values, and adopting Biblical Principles in their business practices. Having employees satisfaction leads to profit too. 100 Best Companies to Work for in America between 1998 and 2005 returned 14% per year, compared to 6% a year for the overall market.

Seminar Response & Feedback

Yesterday was Chinese New Year 7th day -the People's Birthday. So we see many people having dinner at the restaurants around our church and causing quite a big jam. It took me extra half hour to reach church. There were 12 people who attended the seminar. The overall satisfaction rating was 86%. The highest score go to 'Knowledge of Speaker', 'Recommend to Friend'... with lowest score to time of talk, but still at 78%.

Like Best

• The definition of vision/mission and factors to consider to derive a mission statement. The biblical references. It's a diff and unique perspective that is biblical & practical at the same time.
• About setting of our vision beyond our limits. It's really encouraging to hear that.
• Vision; It gives practical advice on how to set good vision statements. e.g characteristics of a good vision statement is very informative & helpful for those setting their vision statements
• Applications

Like Least

• Value topic. Not quite understand how to apply on my work.

Others

• more of such sessions
• overall presentation is grounded and very practical yet biblical.
• Review the Previous Seminar
• Coming to this seminar is like listening to 10 authors summarizing their books

Timing of Seminar - 2 times a month for the future.

Majority of those present supported the idea of having the seminar fortnightly instead of the present monthly.

The next seminar#6 "Appreciation of Situations" will be conducted on 27 Feb, Wed, 8pm at Church.

Judging Rightly

In the last post Judge Not yet Correcting , we said Jesus did not tell us not to judge (Luke 6:37) but tell us not to judge blindly with prejudice, subjective, biased and hasty conclusions about others. We are told by Jesus in (John 7:24) to judge with right judgment.”

We said the proper way to judge is to really follow the process of the typical court. Paul in 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us how to do it properly.

• 2Ti 3:16-17 KJV All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

I. The Truth & Standard

Firstly, we must have the truth - the correct doctrine as standards for measure. In other translation, teaching is used in place for doctrine. We must have the materials - the Bible and then we must teach and train our people.

Secondly, in the application of our learning, our behavior, words or beliefs can be compared and validated against the Biblical teachings, and judged to be right or wrong. GNB uses "rebuking error" for reproof - pointing out the wrong beliefs or lies we may hold.

Thirdly, knowing one's error is not good enough, we need to know what is correct belief. Correction is more than saying what is wrong and must say what is right. Rebuking & Correcting is better known as Counseling. This order is very important - Training comes before Counseling. Counseling is needed when we put our training into practice and encountered diffculties when we need Coaches to help us. Most people don't attend training and expect just Counseling to solve their problems. It is not effective and waste more time.

So, judging correctly must begin with an understanding of the Biblical Truth & Standard and then observing and finding the behavior and comparing against the Standard, rebuking and correcting towards re-establishing the right thinking and right behavior. If judging is not a good word to use, substitute "Counseling" or "Coaching" in its place. We are not to blindly judge but to counsel one another wisely in gentleness and the Biblical Truth.

The forth part is "training in righteousness" or in GNB "instructions for right living". The Biblical Teaching or Truth in part 1 should result in practical applications and instructions for right living. Paul in his letter always start with doctrines and then cover the practical applications - how one should behave as a Christian, as parents, children, bosses, employees, elders, etc. Making an error helps us to understand the "instructions in right living" better.

II The Observations
A potential error in making judgment is the not observing correctly, insufficient or wrong facts, unvalidated hear-says, and so forth. At times, even the witness may make observation errors or there are false witnesses. The Biblical teaching is very clear, Mat 18:16, 2Co 13:1, 1Ti 5:19 evidences(not hearsay) of two or three witnesses. The accused should have the right to face up with the witnesses and questions them for clarification. 1Ti 6:12, 2Ti 2:2, many witnesses should be preferred. Because of the possibility of false witnesses, the character of the witness should be considered as well.

III The Internal Motivation
Finally, the true judgment should be made of the intention of the heart and not the outward behavior. But we can only infer the intention. Only God knows. Our judgment could be wrong. Hence the need for more judges.

With such difficulty, it is no wonder why Jesus admonish us not to judge blindly. Nevertheless, we have the responsibility of helping and counseling our brothers when the needs arise. We prayed that we can do them wisely and gently with insights from the Holy Spirit. As a reminder, Training must comes before Counseling.

Judge Not yet Correcting

On the one hand, we have Luke 6:37 teaching us not to judge another so that we may not be judged. On the other hand, we have the responsibility of admonishing, rebuking, correcting our wayward brothers in Christ(2Tim 2:25 ESV, 2Tim 3:16 ). How can we correct another without first making a judgment? Is the Bible inconsistent?

The Bible is the written Word of God (2Tim3:16) and hence cannot be inconsistent. Whenever we come across such seemingly contradictory teachings in the Bible, we must first conclude that it is our outstanding and not the Bible that is at fault. We must also congratulate ourselves that we have hit upon a treasure of wisdom. If unravel the contradiction, we would have gained a great understanding.

• 2Ti 3:16-17 KJV All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Way Out 1 - Differentiate the Act and the Person
In Luk 6, we can see that the text refers to the people more. We can judge the actions as evil but not condemn the person at the same time. We are told to love the person and not his evil or sinful acts. We have the Bible as the standards of right and wrong and we can for many cases make a sound judgment provided we have all the relevant facts. However, the intentions of the heart are not easily observed. We could only make inferences. Even if the accused said what his intention was, his words need to be evaluated as to whether he was speaking the truth or not. This leads us to the next interpretation of 'Judge'.

Way Out 2 - What is the Meaning of 'to Judge'
To make a judgment of right or wrong, we need to have the following steps as shown in the mind map below:

I think the 'judge' used by Jesus in Luk 6:37 does not mean the whole fair process of collecting the facts from all angles and then making the best conclusion, but a hasty, narrow, biased and prejudiced conclusion. This interpretation is supported by the following verses. In v39, it was recorded for our benefits that "He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?"... showing he meant making a blind judgment. In v41 "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?", it shows we are making a biased and prejudiced view of our brother actions. Jesus also provided the answer on how to judge rightly in v42 "Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. ". We need to first remove our biases and prejudices first. i.e. follow the proper judicial process to arrive at a proper judgment. Since only God knows the intent of the heart, God is still the best judge of all. We must humbly acknowledge that we have a biased tendency and need to take steps to minimize that.

So, I think a better translation of Luke 6:37 is: "Do not jump to hasty & biased conclusions about others so that you are not similarly judged....."

2Tim 3:16-17 shows the better way of making judgment and correcting our brothers .... next post judging rightly and see also Making a Judgement and Being Judgemental

God Initiates & Man Follows

There is much confusion about man's effort in relation to God. On one side, we hear that man should rest on God's finished work and hence man should do no work, otherwise it is of the flesh and that is against God. On the other side, we hear that man should be the light and the salt of the world and hence need to do good work. People who lack understanding will be struggling between Book of Roman's Grace and Book of James' Work.

Hopefully, the chart below, a 2x2 matrix, can shed some light:

We starts with Quadrant 1 when God and Man make no effort. In this case, Man will naturally go to hell.

In Q2, God still rest and Man tries his best to save himself. Man comes out with all kinds of religions, every educational efforts to save himself. Man tries to follow God's laws to get justification. All he ends up with is either self-righteousness ( I attain the standards of God by my own interpretation) or self-condemnation when I fail. All these man efforts without revelation of God's will and initiated by man alone are dean works. After all the hard efforts, man still go to hell.

In Q3, God does all the work of saving man (by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for us). Man just rest and really rest on God's finished work. He does not want to take any effort, everything is wait on God. There is the extreme case that since God has already saved me and then I can do all the things I like, including sinning.... we have this abuse of God's Grace.

In Q4, God initiates and man responds by following God's direction. In this way, the saved and new spiritual inner man is revealed in the outer man of good works that bring glory to God and satisfaction to man. God is glorified through the victorious living of man. Man is relying on God's grace to live up to God's standards. This is the desirable and ideal state. Man needs to do the work that God has called us and saved us for. Eph 2:10.

Dedication Prayer - What's Wrong

The Dedication Prayer

This is a typical and considered very good dedication or repentance prayer easily found on internet:

Lord Jesus,
we have not always put you first.
Our lives have not always be in submission to you.
Our hearts have not always been focused on you.
Forgive us, Change us, turn us around, transform us!
In Jesus' Name, Amen

Can you find any thing wrong with it?

Do you think God can answer prayer like that?

The first part is confession of facts - not put Jesus 1st.

The 2nd part, the change, is usually where the misunderstanding occurs that resulted in most Christian living a defeated life.

The main error is that we are asking God to do the thing that He has already done!

It is like having the money in our hand and in our bank account and then still asking our parent for more money.

God cannot give you again what He has already given you. His answer to our such prayer will be "I've done it. It is with you. Use what I've given you. It is not with Me. It has already been given to you through Jesus Christ.

We have, in a subtle way, asked God to do the thing that we should be doing - believing and acting on the accomplished work of Christ.

We have passed our task back to God. We are told to speak to the Mountain about God and not speak to God about the Mountain.

Mar 11:23 KJV For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

#1 Forgive Us

This is the acknowledgement of our wrong doing. We must be able to face up with our wrong doing so that we can change. Repentance is about changing our mindset and behavior to follow Jesus. We must be clear about the timing - when did God know about our sinning? God know about our wronging doing before we discover about it. We need to rest on the fact that all sins, past, present and future have been paid for and forgiven by Jesus' death on the Cross two thousands year ago; at that time, all our sins are in the future and have been nailed to the cross. Our sins or wrong doings are not forgiven at the time of our confession but forgiven 2K years ago. 1 John 1:9 is given to assured us of His forgiveness and for us to use against the Devil's accusation, causing us to feel guilt and shame and to run away from God. (BTW, Devil's tricks are lies, temptation, accusation and driven from Fear. He tell a lie to tempt us to sin and then accuse us.) When we sin, we must come quickly to the throne of grace Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Do not be tricked by the devil that God is holding our sin against us. Get up from the floor and move ahead with the change because God has already forgiven us though Christ and get the Grace Power of Christ in us to move ahead.

#2 Change Us

When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are changed already - our spiritual man is rebirth by the Holy Spirit. 2Co 5:17 KJV Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. So, this request have been answered. God change us from the inside and we are to work it out Php 2:12. Rom 12:1-2 tells us to offer our body as a living sacrifice, and be transformed by the renewing of our mind (with knowledge of God - starting with the Bible). We has control over our mind and body. We do the change that God has already started within us.

#3 Turn Us Around

God makes not robot. We have ownership of our will. We must will to follow God's will. It is our responsibility to exercise our will.

#4 Transform Us

As pointed above, God has already transformed us from Adam's nature to Christ's nature. All we need to do it to work it out - that our soul and body becomes the medium of God's character that is inside. We become the instruments of God in this present work - touching lives and glorify God with our work.

Conclusions - I can do all things through Christ

Don't ask God to do thing that He has already empowered us, through the Grace in Jesus Christ, to do. Don't blame God for not answering our prayers when we should be one doing the things He has asked us to do. Get up, know the Bible, know His will and just be obedient to His calling and His will and move forward courageously and victoriously. Don't get stuck in the mud of self-pity and blaming God. The 2nd part of the dedication prayer should be : I have realized my mistake and want to turn around. Thank you God for forgiving me. Thank you God that you have transformed me and had given me a New Life and Identity. I'm your children. I've Christ in me. I can walk this new way because Php 4:13 KJV I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.

A Positive Dedication Prayer
The following song used in a Children Church presentation is an example of a good dedication prayer.

• Dear God,
  
  • Thank you for loving me. And giving me Your all.
    When I grow up, I will still be serving You.
    want to know you more. I want to love you more.
    I will never forget You Lord.
  • In Jesus' Name

Taking Back the Initiative - Going the Extra Mile

With reference Mat 5:38-48, especially v39, "...But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also", many people are confused about what it means. Some people even misunderstand it to mean Christians are to give in to bullies.

In the passage, we have the contrasting teachings of the world and the kingdom of God.
The worldly teaching is

1. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. vs38
2. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. vs43

In contrast, the Kingdom of God's teaching is:

1. Do not resist the one who is evil - give more than than he needs. v39-42
   
2. Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you.

In v39, we must first differentiate the 'one', the person, from his 'evil' deed. The evil deed is defined in the context of slapping (one has not such right to hit another), suing to take tunic ( he is using legal means to get something that is probably not his), going the extra mile ( the special privilege of the Roman soldier) and so forth. The evil is making unreasonable demand on someone.

Surprise him - Do more than is Needed!
The worldly wisdom is for us to fight for our own right and to strike back or counter sue. Here, Kingdom's teaching wants us to look the need of the person who resorted to such evil act. He must be in dire needs to do such thing. Our reaction is not to fight back, but to find out the person's motivation and needs behind those evil actions. Jesus want us to ignore the bad acts and to empathize with the person and to help him instead. We need to go deeper to fix the problem at the root. Instead of fighting back, we ask "why are you doing it?", "what is your real need". Once we find out, we go out of our way to truly help him out.

Making unexpected reaction will surprise the aggressor (he expected us to fight back) and we take back the initiative so that we can be in position to influence and change the outcome for good.

Let's go One Step Further!
Not resisting evil and going the extra-mile while is good, is still not good enough. It is relatively passive in helping others; we are waiting for them to take action first before we response. So, Jesus go further in v44 that we should take the proactive step of loving enemy; praying for them first.

Before we argue with God that it is impossible for us to that, we need to know that God already know that we could not. That is why God has given us Jesus Christ in us to enable us. Because we are children of God with God's identity, then we could what God want us to do (v45, 48). We are to love with the love of Jesus that is in us. I call this the Rhodium Rule (Rodium is about 4-6 times the price of Platinum). As a side track, the three rules of love are:

1. The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would others do unto you (empathy is implied)
   
2. The Platinum Rule - Do Unto Others as They Would Have You Do Unto Them (Do they know what is best for themselves?)
   
3. The Rhodium Rule - Do unto others as Jesus would have us do unto them (For their Good from God's viewpoint).
   

Applying Them in Our Lives
We can apply the "Going the Extra Mile Rule" in our lives - in our business, family, and friends tec. In business, it means delighting the customers and differentiating our services from our competitors. Innovation Rules (BVITS's Intensified/Extremity) operator) tells us to look the needs and feedback not just from our normal customers, but the extreme ends of our customers. Those that are extremely happy with us and those that hate us. Digging deeper into their feedbacks can tell us a lot about our product and services and give us leads on to how to improve our products and services.

In business, going the extra mile for staff means

1. as staff: giving our best in our works from our hearts as if we are working for Jesus Christ (Eph 6:5-8).
   
2. as bosses: treating our staff with fairness, recognition, appreciation, trust and delegation of decision making authority, accountability and forgiveness for failures (Eph 6:9).

As a spouse, as parent, as children, etc are all covered well in Eph and Col.

Where is Our Confidence?

As we start the journey of a New Christian Life, our main concern is how we can live a life that is pleasing to God. Some older Christians are even worrying about whether they can keep their faith in the increasing uncertainties and evil in the world.

It is best to get guidance from the Bible, especially from Paul. The book of Galatians (AD 49) was the earlier writing of Paul and 2 Timothy (AD 66) was his last. When Paul started his ministry, his motto for life was in Gal 2:20 as shown below:

The key to Christian Living is living by the faith of Christ in us. The mind map below shows an exposition of the verse.

By the end of his life, Paul gave the reason for his confidence and the driving force behind his life of victories - overcoming all the sufferings in various forms he described in 2Cor 11:23-28. It is in 2Tim 1:12 shown below:

After 17 years of living in Christ, Paul used the word "oido" for know - to know completely. According to Vines 'The differences between ginosko and oida demand consideration:

• ginosko, frequently suggests inception or progress in “knowledge,”
  while oida suggests fullness of “knowledge,” '.

We need to know Jesus Christ, believe in Him, and be fully persuaded and convinced that He is able to keep the work He has entrusted to us.

Our confidence is in our faithful Saviour - Jesus Christ to complete the work He has given to us. It is so simple - He gives and He ensures our victory in life. Let us rest on the fact that He is our assurance that we will live up to His calling for us. We work from this sure foundation of victory and success.

======
A Summary:

Learning from Galatians 2:20:

Galatians 2:20 encapsulates the profound transformation that occurs in the life of a believer, emphasizing the Lordship of Christ and the essence of true discipleship. This verse provides a rich theological foundation for understanding the believer's union with Christ and the daily implications of living a crucified life.

1. Crucifixion with Christ:

   • “I am crucified with Christ:” This signifies the believer's identification with Christ’s death. The "old me," which includes the old nature, the ego, and the self-centered way of living, is considered dead. This death means:

     • No longer being one's own god.
     • No longer needing to justify oneself.
     • Surrendering the right to rule one's own life, handing it over to Jesus.

   • Romans 6:6 and Galatians 6:14 further illustrate this concept, highlighting the abolition of the body of sin and the believer's separation from the world's influence.

2. New Life in Christ:

   • “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:” The believer now lives a new life empowered by Christ. This new life is characterized by:

     • Becoming a new creation in Christ (Galatians 6:15).
     • Receiving a new heart and a renewed spirit, which includes:
       • Intuition and communication with God.
       • An awakened conscience.
       • A new relationship where God and Christ are first and all.

   • The soul, which includes the mind, emotions, and will, undergoes transformation:

     • The mind needs renewal through the Word of God (Romans 12:2).
     • Emotions are stirred by the love of God, producing fruits like joy and self-control (Galatians 5:22-24).
     • The will learns to yield to the Holy Spirit.

   • The body becomes an instrument for good works in Christ, living as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1, Ephesians 2:10).

3. Living by Faith:

   • “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” This indicates that the believer's daily life is lived by the faith of Christ within them, not merely faith in Christ.
     • Philippians 2:13 supports this, stating that God works within the believer.
     • This faith brings confidence and assurance, as expressed in 2 Timothy 1:12 and Jude 1:24.

4. The Lordship of Christ:

   • The believer belongs to the Lord, whether in life or death (Romans 14:8-9).
   • Living is for Christ, and dying is gain (Philippians 1:21).
   • Christ died and rose again to be Lord of both the dead and the living.

5. Practical Application:

   • Colossians 3 outlines how this new life in Christ should be lived out:
     • Seeking things above and setting minds on things above (Colossians 3:1-4).
     • Getting rid of the old self and its sinful practices (Colossians 3:5-9).
     • Living out the new self by loving and building up one another (Colossians 3:10-17).
     • Embracing godly roles in various relationships (Colossians 3:18-25, 4:1).

By daily choosing Christ's way over our own, believers continually live out their new identity in Christ, growing in faith and reflecting His lordship in every aspect of life.

Bible for Business Seminar#4 Personal Mission & Journey

#4 Your Personal Mission Statement & Life Journey
The following main points were discussed at yesterday meeting.

• Identity of Man – Purpose of Creation of Man
• Your Unique Calling – Discovery of
  
• Your Life Journey – Importance of
• Your Helps & Hindrances – The How of Victory
• Your Rewards

Identity of Man
Eph 1:4-5 tells us Man is created to be Sons/Daughters of God through Jesus Christ to be Holy and Blameless(Righteous). God did not create many men to be his children. God begets us and want to father us as his children. The whole universe is created for His children(Us!) for our living.

Your Unique Calling – Discovery of

• By Name & Direct Calling
  Abram Gen 12:1-3, Moses Exo 3:10, Paul Act 9:3-6
• By placing an unquenchable desire in a heart
  Nehemiah ; Isaiah 6:8, ..Writer, Dancer, Musician, Businessman.
• By arranging a clear path (Pray for Opportunities – Opened Doors)
  Daniel, Josiah 2 King 22
• By preparing an attractive option
  Elisha by Elijah. Stephen as Deacon.
• By your talents & gifts.

Our ability to hear requires a desire and devotion to God… spend time in His presence to recognize His voice from the noise. Calling is Progressive…need to get your feet wet first.
Your assignment may change but the calling is fixed. (Story of Joseph). Calling is the Key to Contentment in your vocation/business. Lots of Noises --- from family, friends, colleagues, commerce and community and you need to stay your path.

Your Life Journey – Importance of
The journey is important. Else, we all will go straight to heaven upon conversion.
In this journey, we can truly learn to experience the love and relationship with God.
No matter what, God is there for us, in joy and sorrows (2Co 1:4). Jesus is Lord.
Knowing more stimulates the desire to know more …. That is growing in love with Christ. Php 1:9, 3:10.

The How of Victory - The Unified Model of Transformation
This is an updated chart 1st appeared in Christian Transformation & Growth -The Unified Model.

Kent gave some very good illustrations. We can compare the above chart as driving a car - moving forward. But after a while, we find that we are not moving as forward as fast as we should. We then discovered that we did not release the handbrake - the load. Another picture is sailing a boat. We started off fine and then we just some how got stuck - unable to move forward any more. We then discover that we have not pull up the anchor. The anchor - the load, need to be lifted for the boat to go forward. The recommendation is that we use the resources given to move forward and when we find we are immobilized, we should examine the loads and resistances that are holding us back. We may need to seek counseling and healing before we can go forward again.

Work of Flesh vs Work of Faith
We also pointed out that some Grace-Based teachings ignore the journey to a destination and just want the final good outcomes. Some have mistakenly assume all effort is work of the flesh. Whether work is of the flesh or of faith depends on the underlying motivation. Below is table to show the differences.

Flesh	Faith
Justify Self	Glorify God
Self-Initiated	Response of Faith, Obedience to God’s Calling
Self-Capability	Grace-Empowered & Capability (Greater Results)
Have-Do-Be	Be-Do-Have

About 23 people attended the seminar with overall rating of 84%. Below are some of the comments:

• My identity is not defined by a vocation. My journey may take me through different vocations to arrive at destination. Personality and Environment is the key to contentment in our vocation. Why? Because I struggled for years with all that and tonight I am getting some clear directions.
• Disover my calling through God's word
• Examples of Joseph's Identity to know God's callings. Be-Do-Have (process) vs Have-Do-Be
• Disover my calling.
• Discernment between works of the flesh and faith driven works. Clear Dictinction.
  Content is clear.
• Chart, map very good.
• Use skills + knowledge to guide people of God in the market place; not so much spiritual talk but can somewhat relate Bible scriptures to work related or investments.
• Christians Growth Chart. Summary of the Drive/Force.
• Discover your own strength.
• talk too fast, can slow down a little.
• Many Gems in 1 hour. Some speaker has 1 gem in hour. The key is balance - some points need to elaborate.
• I thought this was one of the best sessions yet. Everything that was shared was fresh insight and hence refreshing to learn.
• The part about the importance of the journey also resonates with something that God taught me some years back about the fact that (borrowing from one of Singapore Airline’s marketing slogans) the “Journey is the Destination” and that our God is one who focuses so much more on who we BEcome (human BEINGS) rather than necessarily what we achieve ( not human DOings).
• The clarification of the underlying motivation of work (flesh vs. faith) was important in qualifying the grace message very succinctly for me personally. Thanks!
• The “How” of Victory was also fresh and instructional.
• Have-Do-Be v.s Be-Do-Have was also insightful and follows on from the fact that while the devil works from the outside-in, God works opposite to that – from the inside-out.
  
  

The Lord's Word & Doctor's words

Do we give the Bible the same weight as our medical doctor's words?

We say we believe the Bible is the Word of God. It is the standard of our behavior. It's promises are true. Its commands are to be obeyed. Yet for many of us, when we feel God wants us to do something, we want to decide first - whether we should do it or not.

However, when our medical doctor gives us a prescription and advice, we are quick to follow, knowing for sure that they are for our good.

Why is that so? Do we trust our God less than our medical doctor?

One reason I can give is that at times we are not sure whether is word is from God or not. We want to be sure it is from God. 

At times, even when we know it is from God, we are unable to see how to execute it. God will make it clear to us when we have the intention to follow Him. Taking time to make sure, and seeking wisdom for execution are good for us to learn to hear God better. 

But we must make sure we don't treat God's Word less than our medical Doctor's.

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ChatGPT gives the following summary:

In summary, while it is natural to wrestle with these issues, the journey of faith involves growing in our ability to hear, trust, and obey God's Word, just as we trust and act on the advice of a medical professional. Balancing discernment with trust is key to deepening our walk with God.

Gemini said:

Ultimately, the goal is not to pit faith against science but to integrate both in a way that honors God and benefits our lives. By approaching both with respect and discernment, we can cultivate a deeper trust in God's plan and purpose.

Perplexity:

The key might be to develop a more integrated approach to decision-making that values both spiritual wisdom and practical expertise, recognizing that both can contribute to overall well-being. Ultimately, for believers, cultivating a deeper understanding of and trust in God's word could lead to it being given equal or greater weight in decision-making processes.