Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone
by Rev. Dr. Samuel Stone
Welcome to Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone. Do you know your success depends on three elements—Spiritual Advantage, Local Advantage, and Social Advantage?You can learn to build Social Advantage and get a 33% chance to succeed. If you live in an advantageous location, you get another 33% (66% total). If you obtain Spiritual Advantage, you will accumulate a 99% chance of success.Furthermore, evidence shows Spiritual Advantage can overwrite other disadvantages you may have. Therefore, seeking Spiritual Advantage must be your first priority.Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mat 6:33).I am Rev. Dr. Samuel Stone. If you want to maximize your life and leadership and minimize your stress and anxiety, contact me for a free consultation.You can reach me by tweeting me @SamuelStone, Instagram @rev.stone, or simply text me at 551-333-1133. Looking forward to talking with you!
Episodes
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LOST – When Life's GPS Keeps Recalculating
I get frustrated when my GPS keeps recalculating. There's something deeply unsettling about that automated voice constantly announcing "recalculating" just when I thought I knew where I was going. It can be applied to life. I used to think that by this stage of life, I'd have a clear route mapped...
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The Courage to Disappoint: When Your Calling Won't Share the Throne
The Courage to Disappoint: When Your Calling Won't Share the Throne Luke 14:25-33 I used to believe that spiritual maturity meant keeping everyone happy—that if I just worked hard enough, prayed sincerely enough, and organized efficiently enough, I could fulfill every expectation without...
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ASK: When Life Feels Like Unanswered Prayers
I have to confess—I struggle with waiting, especially when my prayers for clarity or breakthrough seem to hang in the air like morning mist that never lifts. I used to think effective prayer worked like a business transaction: clear request, prompt response, measurable results. This reminds me of...
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FREE - When Life Feels Too Heavy to Carry
Summer is here, and like many of you, I love spending time at the beach occasionally. I'm one of those people who can't resist collecting beautiful stones during beach walks - each one catches my eye and somehow finds its way into my pockets. But I've noticed something interesting about my...
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How Jesus Speaks to Us Today and How to Hear Him
Let me start with a familiar story; I'm sure you've heard it before. It is both lighthearted and profound. A man lived in a flood-prone area, and when the rains came, the waters began rising rapidly around his house. As the water reached his porch, he climbed onto his roof and prayed earnestly,...
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Love is Not Authentic but Transformative
John 13:31-35 Here’s one of my favorite childhood folk tales: A farmer went to town to sell his produce and returned with a large chest of treasures. His family and relatives gathered around him to hear the story of his windfall of fortune. He said, “As I walked through the forest on my way home…
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The Prodigal Disciples: Toppling the Tyranny of Urgency
I used to misinterpret the story that I’m about to tell you. It’s a well-known story about Zhuangzi, the great philosopher. I discovered that I was not the only one who misunderstood its profound meaning. In fact, many scholars interpret it the way I did. Here’s the story, and see what you get…
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Think Deep, Aim High, Serve Bold in the Age of AI
You know I have been playing with AI apps for a while and love them. They have been evolving recently and becoming more useful every day. I encourage everyone, young or old, to experiment with AI. It’s not that hard because you don’t need to know the science behind it. Treat them as tools or…
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Beware of the Wet Monkeys – Mission Obstacles
One of my favorite fables is about a scientific experiment on monkeys. Once upon a time, a group of scientists decided to observe the behavior of monkeys in a unique setting. They placed five monkeys in a large room. At the center of this room stood a tall ladder, and at the very top of the…
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Mission Possible - Spirit-led Social Justice
Once upon a time, in a quaint little town, a wealthy traveler happened upon a sight that took his breath away. It was a magnificent two-story building, and the second floor, oh, it was a thing of beauty! The veranda seemed to whisper promises of relaxation, and the roof design was like nothing…
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The Best is Yet to Come - Tasting Wine from Heaven
There was a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctor gave her three months to live. She had a gift of evangelism and always loved sharing her faith. But now, realizing that her life was cut short, she decided to use her funeral as her final opportunity to share her faith. She...
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The Simple Secret to Life: Please God!
Life is complicated, but I am a simple man who likes to simplify complex concepts without losing their essence. Many philosophers have tried to resolve life’s issues, but I feel they still make it more complicated than I like. I want to find a secret of life that I can succinctly articulate and...
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How to Catch an Epiphany and Change Your Life Forever
Happy Epiphany! When was the last time you had an epiphany? I would love to hear about it. The Native Americans have a device called a Dream Catcher. But I would like to introduce Epiphany Catcher—not a device but a skill. Epiphanies can be big or small, subtle or vivid, but each epiphany raises...
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Start Your New Year Jesus’ Way: 3 Pillars of Personal Growth
Start Your New Year Jesus’ Way Luke 2:41–52 What I like about New Year is that it allows me to start over again. It’s like a fresh new diary book to write another 365 pages of my dream journey. Whether you regard 2024 as a successful year for you or not, the new year gives you another starting...
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Civilization Next: Are You In?
I read Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection a few years ago. It was his last novel, published when he was 71. I have discovered that reading someone’s final works gives you the best of their lifetime wisdom, especially from a great thought leader like Tolstoy. Most of you know Tolstoy for his famous book…
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Bear Fruits Worthy of Repentance
I am sure you’ve heard that Time Magazine named President-Elect Donald Trump the 2024 Time Person of the Year. He is the only person to have been selected twice. Let me clarify before I continue. I just want to prepare you for the upcoming year and new administration so you won’t feel tortured…
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Integrity Boosts Immunity
In England in 1535, King Henry VIII condemned Thomas More to death for treason, mainly for refusing to say that the king was the head of the Church of England. More was imprisoned, waiting for his capital punishment. More’s friend came to persuade him to say what the king wanted him to say for...
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Cultivate a Fruitful Life by Gracing Forward
During my college years, I gathered with some friends every Saturday morning at a tea house to enjoy our morning tea and talk. One day, a friend showed up with bandages over his head, arms, and legs. He had a nearly fatal motorcycle accident. He said he wished he had died that very moment because...
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A Lawful vs. Loveful Vision of the Scarlet Letter
Napoleon famously said, “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” His can-do spirit helped him make incredible achievements in history. In my dictionary, I want to delete the word “unacceptable” because I’ve discovered that acceptance is love in action, and it’s essential to developing our...
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How to Be Magnanimous and Thrive
During a TV interview, a reporter asked Bill Gates, saying, “Mr. Gates, Microsoft products have been illegally copied and distributed in China. How are you going to deal with that problem?” That was over twenty years ago when the software was convenient to duplicate. In those days, most people in...
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Descending to Greatness – A Countercultural Path
When I first came to America, I noticed many governmental organizations are named “services:” The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US Postal Service (USPS), the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), and others. Conversely, many other countries prefer to use the term “authority”…
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How to Change the World from the Bottom Up
I was reluctant to name this message "How to Change the World" because I could imagine many people might think I was bloviating. I know I am nobody and have no qualifications to speak on such a grand topic, but I believe it’s a matter of age. The older we grow, the more cynical we become. Let us…
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The Key to Answered Prayer (Mark 7:24-37)
There once was a king who sought advice from a sage about how to govern his kingdom so that it would enjoy peace, progress, and prosperity and be free of crimes, violence, and wars. The sage said, to govern your kingdom that way, you must govern yourself first. As the Son of God said, “Seek first...
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The Heart of the Matter is the Matter of the Heart
Many years ago, I met an elderly lady in our neighborhood. People said she was a good Christian and knew the Bible thoroughly. I was impressed. She held a Bible study group in her house, and people came to listen to her teaching. However, my perception was shaken when I heard about her strained...
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Tackling Big Problems with a Simple Solution
I am not fond of SMART goals because they are too mundane and meager. In case you don’t know, a SMART goal means using the word SMART as an acronym to set goals. SMART represents Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It’s a good starting point, but not for leaders because...
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Cultivate Compassion to Boost Your Energy
Do you know that one of the best-selling nutritional supplement categories is energy supplements? If you search for energy supplements on Amazon.com now, you will get over 20,000 items. Three years ago, I did the exact search and got 8,000, and I thought that was too many. It grew almost three...
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Protect Your Power of Integrity and Wholeness
Once upon a time, a woodcutter was chopping wood by a river. As he swung his axe, it slipped from his hands and fell into the river. The woodcutter was poor and could not afford to lose his only tool. Desperate, he sat by the riverbank and cried. Suddenly, the angel guarding the river appeared…
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Move On, Travel Light, Deliver Wholeness
I’ve discovered that life is limited by the capacity of imagination. Imagination is what makes us different from animals. It’s God’s image in us. The question is how we can stretch our imagination far enough to have no more limitations. In 1990, when I was about to leave for the U.S. from Burma…
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A Tale of Two Daughters and Adversity Advantage (Mark 5:21-43)
One of my most joyous moments in life was when my first daughter, Cassy, was born. I can never describe how happy I was when the nurse put her in my hands as soon as she landed safely on this earth. I started counting her cute little fingers and toes. It was December, so I regarded her as God’s...
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Serenity - Sleeping Through the Storms of Life
Home, sweet home! I am back from the Gift of Life mission trip in Vietnam. It’s a medical mission that provides heart surgery to children with congenital heart diseases who can’t afford it. This week, I had the privilege to observe the cardiac surgery of a 16-month-old child up close. It was…
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Define Yourself (or You Will Be Falsely Defined)
This week, I watched a thought-provoking debate between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Many of you know Richard Dawkins, a reductionist atheist who wrote the famous book, “The God Delusion.” I mentioned him a few weeks ago in another message. Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up as a Muslim and became…
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Love is Above the Law & Love Breaks the Rules
When I was in college, a friend invited me to join a Wisdom Society. We were required to write a philosophical essay every month, and the best essay received an award and was published. The first assignment was titled “God Created Humans or Humans Created God.” It was thought-provoking but not as...
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Eye-opening to the Alternative Lifestyle
There’s a Chinese proverb, “Men do not pass 8x8; women 7x7.” This saying comes from the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Medicine Manual, written in the 5th century B.C.E. What does it mean? It’s about the pattern of physical changes in males and females. Men grow in an eight-year cycle and women in a...
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Three Blind Spots of Life and How to Avoid Them
This week, I saw a video of an interview with Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist renowned for his book, “The God Delusion,” and his recently published “Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide,” teaching young people how to outgrow religion. He is a retired professor of Evolutional Biologist at Oxford...
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Breathe the Holy Breath and Be a Warrior
I hope everyone is safe and sound after the two earthquakes on Friday. Even though it was only 4.8 magnitude, for those born and raised on the East Coast, that was the strongest earthquake they had ever experienced in their lifetime. So, some were extremely shaken by the experience. Pun intended!...
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How Easter Sets You Free to Live, Love, Lead, & Leave a Legacy
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! What is more important for your quality of life, happiness or freedom? Many of you know I pursue happiness because I lost my happiness due to some unpleasant childhood events. However, some philosophers and thought leaders argue that freedom is more important...
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How to Know Everything – Discernment Secrets
I know the title is a little ambitious, but this message is not about me teaching you how to know everything but exploring together the secrets of discernment taught by Jesus Christ. Just as physicists have been trying to figure out the theory of everything, religions and philosophies try to...
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Hold Your Horse and Enjoy Your Eternal Life Now!
Are you joyful this morning, evening, or anytime, depending on where in the world you are right now? Jesus expects us to live our lives in complete joy. That’s the outcome he expects from us. He said, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be…
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5 Words that Turn Your Hardship into Happiness
I was fascinated by a chapter titled “Perfect Happiness” or “Ultimate Joy” in the Book of Zhuangzi, my favorite philosopher of the 4th century BCE. Zhuangzi was a hilarious sage, and, like Jesus, he used parables and fables to explain the metaphysical reality and spiritual truth. Zhuangzi sang at...
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5 Steps to Spring Clean Your Heart
When I first came to New York City, I was surprised to see the garbage bags and trash cans piled up on the sidewalks all over the city in the evening. It just happened to be one of those days of the week you take your trash out. But it didn’t look like the New York City of my imagination. As the...
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Crucify the Ego to Realize Your Divine Dream
If you had only three years to live and wanted to make the most out of your life, what would be your obstacle other than time? If you had only three years to live and wanted to leave a legacy that would last for generations, what would be your obstacle other than time? If you had only three years...
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Mindful Fast - Preparing to Win Big without Losing My Soul
There once was an evil dragon living on a high mountain. Every now and then, it would come down to burn the farms and destroy the villages. Every time a warrior went up the mountain to kill the dragon, they never returned. People assume the dragon killed the warriors. One day, a young man decided...
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Transfiguration: Exposing the Phantom of Reality
I am sure all of you have heard in the news that Apple launched the Apple Vision Pro, their first VR, AR, MR (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality) headset. I wonder how many of you have bought it. I think it’s overpriced, so I am staying with Meta Quest 3. I’ve been using Meta...
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Serenity is the Solution
Looking at a pile of correspondence and reports from around the world to review and respond, an emperor of ancient China felt overwhelmed and couldn’t concentrate on his work. He wanted something to calm his mind down to get his work done. He consulted the prime minister for a solution. The...
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The Secret to Wielding the Highest Authority
A friend told me that there are three levels of authority. Generalist Authority, Specialist Authority, and Celebrity Authority. Using doctors as examples, a Generalist doctor has an average authority and charges what average doctors charge. A Specialist could charge you much more because they…
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Receiving the Blessing of Epiphany
I want to begin with a provocative parable by the great philosopher Zhuangzi. Once upon a time, a man named “Mr. Knowledge” traveled north to the territory of the sages to seek an epiphany of the Truth. He encountered a sage named “Mr. Actionless Wordless” and asked the following three questions:...
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Is Jesus the Son of God, Really?
The great philosopher Zhuangzi told a fascinating story about a debate with his friend Huizi, another famous scholar and philosopher of the 4th century B.C.E. The story is playful but profound. Let’s see if you can unwrap the deeper meaning of the debate. Zhuangzi and Huizi were walking beside…
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What It Takes to See God
An elementary school teacher distributed sheets of plain paper and colored crayons to her class, asking the children to draw whatever they wanted. Knowing children are creative, she was curious about what they would draw. She approached a little girl and asked, “What are you drawing?” “A picture…
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How Can I Be Used by God?
Last week, I talked about how ultimate happiness comes from meaning. If you find meaning in life, you have happiness. The meaning of life comes from usefulness. So, when you make yourself useful, you find life meaningful, and you harvest the fruit of joy and happiness. Some of us may be thinking,...
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Finding the Meaning of Life – What Do You Want to Die For?
One of my ulterior motives to leave home and travel across the world to America was to find the meaning of life. Growing up, I was not satisfied with life. Later, I discovered I was not alone. Every teenager and young adult has an innate desire to figure out the meaning of life. Everyone has a...
About this show
Welcome to Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone. Do you know your success depends on three elements—Spiritual Advantage, Local Advantage, and Social Advantage?You can learn to build Social Advantage and get a 33% chance to succeed. If you live in an advantageous location, you get another 33% (66% total). If you obtain Spiritual Advantage, you will accumulate a 99% chance of success.Furthermore, evidence shows Spiritual Advantage can overwrite other disadvantages you may have. Therefore, seeking Spiritual Advantage must be your first priority.Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mat 6:33).I am Rev. Dr. Samuel Stone. If you want to maximize your life and leadership and minimize your stress and anxiety, contact me for a free consultation.You can reach me by tweeting me @SamuelStone, Instagram @rev.stone, or simply text me at 551-333-1133. Looking forward to talking with you!
Hosted by
Rev. Dr. Samuel Stone