Smallest Seed

Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21) so bad that he was ready to do anything just to have it. Why was he dying to have it? Well, people who understand nothing in the spirit grab whatever they can in this world, no matter if they're believers, non-believers, or backsliders. Believers? Sometimes, they even head the greed procession. They urge people: "Sell me your vineyard!" You see them do that in their frantic desire to own properties in the name of church planting . You've got to hold on to your God-given vineyard because the enemy will want to take it for his own, no matter what. He's going to offer you to buy it, replace it with a better one, or kill you to grab it from you. Naboth didn't want any other vineyard, but he lacked the power to protect it from Ahab. You may realize the value of your vineyard so well and love it with all your heart, but that isn't enough. Without power, the enemy will just take it by force from you. Many God-giv

We've got to understand that these were bible-believing and bible based spiritual leaders that were shutting out the Kingdom in men's faces. These were hardcore believers of the true God that Jesus was accusing. And today, the same vicious thing is being repeated and propagated--in fact, it's been going on for centuries. The church keeps to a routine church people have invented and called "sacred doctrines" to scare people from going against it and its system, and shun all moves of God towards a one genuine Jesus church, without denominations, spot, or wrinkle, or any other blemish. They won't enter into the Kingdom themselves (because they don't know how) and bars those who would, scaring them of turning into a cult. They don't know how to enter the Kingdom, like Nicodemus didn't. He was Israel's teacher and yet he didn't get what being born again was. Many churches today do not know what genuine born again is and make it a formula fo

Life is really defined by the kind of spiritual DNA that flows over or gets imparted into our lives. What life quality we manifest depends on where we source life. If it's Jesus's life, we should manifest its abundance, and this means our lives should reflect his sufferings. The cross is the greatest blessing of all. The Jesus cross is life abundance. This is what we should have in a Jesus DNA transfer. "Just as Christ's sufferings flow over (or are imparted) to our lives, so also through Him our comfort overflows," [2Cor.1]. When the Jesus DNA is transferred to us through our radical and extreme intimacy with him and through a genuine Jesus discipleship, the natural result produced is "patient endurance" of the very same afflictions your discipler suffers. Here's the mechanics: As your discipler walks closer with Jesus (living his life on earth), and he also walks closer to his discipler, the Jesus DNA is imparted to him. There's a genuine Je

"Like the way you (Edom) drank on my holy hill, so also all the nations will continue to drink--drinking and drinking like they've never been drinking. However, on Mount Zion it will be different--there will be deliverance. Aside from the mount being holy, Jacob's house will possess its inheritance there," [verses 16 and 17].  The Edomites desecrated God's holy hill--they drank there and got drunk in their wickedness. God promised that their deeds would return upon their own heads. And as other nations saw Edom being thus drunk in its foolishness, so would they keep drinking, following after Edom. Hence, "The Lord's day is near for all nations." You see, how the world behaves before God is according to how it sees God's prospering people behaving towards their poor brethren. The world cannot get ideas about God except what they get from God's people, especially how they live and behave. Remember that Edom was related to the house of

"As you have done, the same will be done to you." It's amazing just imagining that the same passage I am now reading in the book of Obadia, in this year 2011, was also the very same passage Jesus read about 2000 years ago. It warns about getting what you gave others.  Now, you link that with the truth that you cannot give what you don't have, and what do you get? This fascinating truth--you get what you deserve. Oh yeah, you always get what you deserve. What people give you is what you've given them--which most times you've forgotten all about. That's why the oft asked question: "What did I do to deserve this?" But Christ gave love to all and yet got the death penalty in return. How do we explain that? Well, even Jesus got what he deserved. You see, blessed are those who are persecuted for God's righteousness. And this is where the radicalism is. Often, when you have a pure heart after God, and you give that to others, you get what

God at times disciplines and punishes his own people. Israel was severely punished in the time of Obadiah. The story teaches us what God expects of us when we see our brothers under discipline by God.  Edom took advantage of Israel's downfall when enemies were attacking her, as God had permitted it to be so. God's design was three-fold: to discipline Israel, to watch how Edom would react, and to see how Israel's enemies would carry out the sentence. Edom screwed up. Instead of helping their brother Israelites, they "were like one of" the enemies. Here are 10 ways how Edom failed the test [verses 10-14]: The Edomites were violent towards Israel. They stood aloof while Israel was being slaughtered by the enemy. They looked down on their brothers when they were being punished. They rejoiced at Judah's downfall.  They boasted while their brothers suffered humiliation. They charged through the gates of their brothers. They looked down on them whi

In the day of pride birthed by successes, the proud tend to enjoy the support of the mighty. The mighty accept the proud into their alliances, and when you're accorded that privilege and recognition, it adds more to your success, and more to your pride.  But such alliances of the proud serve only to initialize your downfall, warns Obadia the prophet of God, because alliances like that eat your spiritual life to the bone like gangrene--without you detecting it. The whole thing is a curse from God.  Thus, Church alliances never end up with the one glorious church of Jesus Christ. They have been around for years, decades, perhaps centuries, but they never rallied churches to fall in behind the banner of the King of kings and Lord of lords as the completely one church of Jesus as he prayed in John 17.  No Flesh Shall Glory 4-Cassette Teaching Tape Album Teaching on the Danger of Pride and the Blessing of Humility (ALB134) Alliances eventually only end up with the p