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Showing posts from May, 2010

Accurate Kingdom Building: The Lampstand and Altar

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..so that they light the space.. (Exo.25.37) In the Tabernacle Moses built, only the Ark was in the Holy of Holies. In Solomon's temple, two giant standing cherubim of Olive wood, an altar incense, and an overhead chain embellishment--all wrapped in pure gold--accompanied the Ark in the inner room or Holy of Holies. God's move was from glory to glory. It kept progressing and increasing. It never stayed the same. Today the true temple of God is completely different. These are all vital to have God's flesh. Outside the Curtain The Holy of Holies was entered through a thick curtain (shielding curtain). Outside were the gold table, 7 gold lamps, and the gold incense altar. Further out, in the court, were the bronze sea and altars. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy of Holies is the head, where the mind of Christ should be seated, because Jesus is the Head of the church, the body, your body, our bodies collectively.  In t

Accurate Kingdom Building: The Table and the Bread of the Presence

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Next to the Ark was the Table. We saw in the previous topic (The Ark) how the ark symbolized Jesus Christ. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of the Testimony--the Word. The word is Jesus. Later, the staff of Aaron that budded and a jar of Manna would also be placed in it. Aaron's staff represented the holy priesthood, and Jesus is God's everlasting high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Also, Jesus is the Bread of Life, the real Manna from heaven.  Thus, we see, accurate Kingdom building is forming Christ in people's bodies, people's lives and character (Gal.4.19). It is all about Jesus Christ. It's really about living the life of Jesus on earth. That's "Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The Table is for the Bread of His Presence The table was made of acacia wood and covered thoroughly with pure gold. The poles to carry it with and the rings where the poles were to be attached were

Accurate Kingdom Building: The Ark of the Covenant

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There, above the cover between the two cherubim over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. Exo.25.22 In the last topic on Accurate Kingdom Building (Intro), we saw how accurate God is--his ways, Word, nature, and life. And he wants us to be equally accurate in our obedience and ministry. We are to build the Kingdom accurately. Each believer is a builder-- Have them make an accurate sanctuary for me (25.8). The Ark It is interesting to note that God begins with the Ark of the Testimony. Whenever the Israelites set out in the wilderness, they had to begin with the Ark. The shielding curtain was put down and used for covering the Ark. Moses would then tear down the frames of the tabernacle, the court coverings, and go. As they were going, when the supernatural pillar of cloud or fire stopped, Moses and the priests would set up camp from where the Ark was and put up the tent over it, and then the court. The Ark w

Accurate Kingdom Building (Intro)

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We worship an accurate God who wants everything done accurately. He wants no less than accurate lives, characters, and ways.  Denominations build using their human doctrines and policies. They select God's words that fit their designs. They build men's Babel kingdoms and use God to legitimize them.  But we build God's Kingdom on earth using God's accurate spoken Word in the bible. We do not select what verses fit our designs. We believe and apply the whole bible. God's Powerful Presence is With Accurate Builders God promises that with accurate Kingdom building comes his awesome presence. The promise is for accurate builders alone. God's powerful presence is possible only through the dabar and rhema Word, spoken from the Father's own mouth, given credence by the Holy Spirit. Aside from this, all works are zero, pfft.   Jesus said, his presence is predicated on his Word, and this accurately. In Matt. 28 he said, &q

Jesus Was a Great Critic

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Jesus was a great critic. In fact, he is the greatest critic ever. Why? Because he was a critic who was never guilty of what he criticized about. He taught that before you try to clean the speck of dust in your brother's eye, make sure you are living a holy life. Then you may criticize. People ignorant of Jesus say criticism is bad. They tag it as being holier-than-thou or being judgmental. They support this by quoting Jesus' "Do not judge." That verse is among the most used verse out of context. If we read the whole thing, it says that before you judge make sure you are not guilty of sin. If you are clean, then you may proceed to take out the speck of dust from your brother's eye. "Judge correctly," my Jesus said in John 7.24. Look at how Jesus criticized the Pharisees and Law teachers: Hypocrites! Brood of vipers! You fools! Woe to you! Just look at Matthew 23. Jesus was a great critic. And not only that--he also judged and condemned. Preacher

The Barren Heights

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The barren heights--people in Jeremiah's time made a lot of fuss over it. They thought that just because they made shrines and altars on the heights, they had high spiritual lives. They didn't realize that in God's eyes, they were barren. Being on heights is no guarantee you have the fruits. Fruit is only assured when you deeply understand and live out the Word. "Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people." Then and now, God's covenant is hinged on the spoken Word. God asked Israel through Jeremiah: "Did I just instruct you about sacrifice and worship when I got you out of Egypt? Don't you know that what matters is obedience to the Word?" Today, the barren heights still stand, erected by stubborn "believers." They focus on the quality of their worship (sound system, voice quality, and liveliness) and the quality of their church worship programs--especially their printed programs. I marvel at the useless attention

The Word Comes

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You Won't Get It Unless it Comes Always, "the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah," and to other men of God. The Word and the Spirit always go together. Thus, "the sword of the Spirit," (Eph.6). No one can separate them. And the Spirit always comes to people of God. Hence, the Spirit "came upon them and they spoke in tongues." You can never, by your own will and effort, get the Word or God's Spirit for yourself. Lots of preachers try to compose the Word. They prepare outlines for preaching. They say preaching should be systematic. And it has produced good results through centuries--even mega churches and great revivals. But what Word they got was not that which comes out of God's mouth--which Jesus said gives us life--but merely that which is composed by man's theology. It has some power--because God's printed Word has power--but it does not have the power of the spoken Word that created the universe.  The printed Word has

Useless to Aim for Perfection

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Before anything else, I say, Aim for Perfection, NOW! I have heard countless "ordained" ministers and other church workers who belong to "holiness" churches declare with confidence, pride, and finality that aiming for perfection "is useless." They add that "it is impossible to be perfect in this world and life." And by this they mean living a perfect holy life in God. They say that as long as we're humans we will sin. Then, they talk about how grace makes us go to heaven even while we sin here. Well, if you think like the above, you'll lose the present Move of God. You're always deceived by the enemy. Imagine how many churches think like that--that perfection is useless and unrealistic; that's the same number of churches that are actually synagogues of Satan. For one, grace is not a license to sin. Grace frees us (not excuses us) from sin (Rom.6.14). We cannot be perfect in the eyes of this world. We cannot be perf

End Times? Really?

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I hear many good preachers talk about the end times systematically and scholarly. You can see that they really know what they're talking about and have a good grasp of their subject. They are experts about the end times. Yet I wonder: If they know so much what would happen in the end times and if they're really so smart, why are they still in their denominations? These preachers all urge us to prepare for the Second Coming and the end times. How? By being more active in a denominational church? Well, that's what most of them conclude. But what very few preachers know is that Jesus is coming back for only one church. And this church is not denominational. It's Jesus' glorious church.  In John 17, Jesus prayed that all true believers be completely united. It was an urgent prayer, considering the time when it was offered--when he was near death. People near their death would say nothing but only about things really important for them. Like a last will and te

Poor And Yet Not Poor

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In most churches I have preached in, few understand the Kingdom principle of being poor in spirit and yet possessing all. When I start talking about being poor yet rich, and being rich yet poor, they start looking doubtful whether what I'm saying is correct. Poor and yet not poor? Jesus taught that there is only one way to being truly blessed in God's eyes--being poor in spirit. Blessed are those poor in spirit--theirs is God's kingdom! It's his first Beatitude teaching. And he didn't just teach it--he lived it. He was poor in the eyes of the world. Unlike some minsters with mega churches today who flaunt their material blessings around and yet emphasize simple living. James said God chose the poor in the world's eyes to be rich in faith. Thus, they are poor and yet not poor--they are rich; yet they are poor. Most Christians think the challenge to give up everything is only for rich people, as was given to the rich, young ruler. Well, Luke 12.33 demolis

The Secret Place

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Today, almost everyone is talking about God's secret place. I hope we all know where it is. Most Christians know the procedures on how to be a member of a local church, know the policies and doctrines of their denominations, but they don't know God's secret place--the secret place. It's secret but it's clearly specified in Scriptures. To be sure, you cannot claim to go to the secret place if you're not deeply grounded in the Word. I hear lots of church goers claim they know God's secret place and yet have no deep love for the Word. A secret road leads to the secret place, and that road is narrow--only a few choose it because the majority opts for the wide road to destruction. I see people who have lackadaisical spiritual lives talking about their "experience" in God's secret place.  The secret place is not a playground where anyone can go and be entertained. Some claim that you just have to worship expressively--shout and cry--to be ab