Smallest Seed

Here's Part 1 Ylanite Koppens While Waiting for More Instructions After that, they had to wait for orders from heaven again. They didn't sit down and figure out what to do next. What they did was devote themselves in apostolic teachings, communion and prayer while waiting. The apostles did signs and wonders. They met together in the temple courts and fellowshipped in their homes. As they did, the Lord (it was the Lord!) added more to their number. So, they continuously shared the Word in their vicinity while waiting for further instructions. Then comes chapter three. Peter and John "happened" to be in the temple (God again arranged this) and saw a guy lame from birth. Led by the Spirit, they healed the man and the thing attracted multitudes to gather around them at Solomon's Colonnade. Again, Peter had opportunity to preach. They didn't sit and meet to make these things happen. "OK, this time we go to the temple and heal a lame there (or ...

Raw Pixel It wasn't because they didn't to go out and do mission work that God allowed them to be persecuted and scattered abroad, which suggests forced missionary work. God does everything by grace, not force, coercion or compulsion. But the story floated around by some preachers said God allowed the church to be persecuted because it refused to carry out the great commission and remained contented staying in Jerusalem. This is grossly inaccurate. From the start since Pentecost, the church has been excited about evangelism. Prior to Pentecost they locked themselves up in the upper room, but only per Jesus' instruction. He said wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. And the disciples knew well what "wait" meant. The modern church doesn't. It just does anything it sees effective and gathers crowds. It loves doing what I call just-do-it evangelism . The principle is similar to the days of the Judges--they did as they saw fit. Modern Ch...

Steemit. Here's Part 2 What happens to residual blessings in Christ if we’re caught up in artificial church success? Well, to be sure, there are some bad effects. Paul said we’ll all face the judgment seat of Christ in the end where we get what we deserve—“whether good or bad” [2 Cor. 5]. So, there are “bad” results and they’re sure to be due to misusing the things of God. And bad results reap bad harvest. I imagine them to be residual bad effects. You start something bad and it spreads, reverberating down the line, to the third and fourth generation. And you reap everything one way or another. Lots of churches are like that. They started in Christ but tried something else along the way and have been doomed to it since. They can’t seem to get out. The ones who started it will reap a bad harvest from the bad fruit of everyone affected, residual bad effects. Their work will be “burned up,” says Paul, but they themselves will be saved. Effect on the Body of Christ ...

Image from Wealth Academy. Here's Part 1 Remember, we’re one body in Christ, and when Paul talked about this he, of course, referred to a “healthy” body in Christ. If every believer and church in the world believed this, the body and its parts would function as God designed them to and get their respective passive or residual blessings in Christ. All things will be balanced---if we all believe. But an unhealthy body will cause problems. As with our physical body, unhealthy happens when a body part is abused. And “abused” means wrongly used. The liver, for instance, is designed by God to detox whatever toxins we get from eating real food. And when I say “real food” I mean food meant to feed the body. Good, healthy and natural food still contains some toxin levels, though tolerable to the liver. That’s normal. Abnormal Body But God didn’t design the liver to filter out synthetic chemical flavoring and other artificial ingredients (especially in bulk) on a daily ba...

Pexels Whatever good or fun things we have on earth is really but a poor version of what's in heaven. Never think that what we have here are originals. Nope, they first became realities in heaven before some smart guys came up with the ideas here---as God permitted them. Like residual blessings in Christ. Residual income is a big marvel in network marketing. Your account goes on making money for you even when you've stopped working it out. Residual means abiding and enduring. Something keeps being left in your reserve after you've long stopped doing the business. It never ends. But long before it became a reality in network marketing, it's been a reality in Kingdom rewards systems. Through a Glass Darkly Have you noticed how the principle of duplication has become a top strategy in network marketing? Well, long before the computer and the internet came to being, duplication has been used by the Kingdom since creation. Binary, unilevel, points-system or ...

Pexels Part 1 Here Is Being Small Sin? They've made it a doctrine that small is sin. They won't admit it but it's there. Most pastors lose sleep over it. They lose their health, happiness and temper wondering how not to be small. It's become these pastors' number one fear---being a small church. They think small is "dead" especially if you remain small. Some smart Aleck inculcated into their minds that God gets so angry when they're small. Actually, it's nowhere in Scriptures. Yes, God wants us to evangelize and make disciples of as many people as we can, but he never commanded anywhere that, "thou shalt be a big local church!" Numbers and growth remain God's decision alone. He decides the size of your church. Your only responsibility is to be faithful with what you're given, period. So, you shouldn't fear having a small church or even losing members. No reason for pastors' number one fear. So neither the one w...

Image from OneClipArt. It's good chow when you're a dinner guest of a rich man who's turned genuinely generous. You get to be served the best meats and wines in town, not to mention the dessert. It's probably why Jesus preferred to stay at Zacchaeus' house---well, among other reasons, that is. After calling Matthew (another tax collector), Jesus was also found in his house eating (again) with tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors must have been really good dinner hosts or sponsors, choosing only the best cuisines and drinks for their guests. Jesus loved food (like I do) so a lot of his stories are on food. In fact, some people thought he was a glutton [Matthew 11.19]. Thus, he may have anticipated a swell dinner at Zacchaeus' place, so he invited himself to it. I would, too. But Jesus saw in Zacchaeus something more. I've always admired Zacchaeus for what he did just to see Jesus. It's a very rare scene seeing a rich man climb up a tree ju...

Image from Reliable Plant. They always see it this way---a church that remains without a "daughter church" is on "maintenance mode" and in danger of extinction. Yeah? Says who? I don't know where they get concepts like this and treat it as bible-truth. Just because some popular guy (or a guy with a super mega church) said it, they think it's infallible word. So they collect all what he said and make a big deal about it. They base everything they do on his words. Church Idols They're all prone to worship popular ministers and theologians. What about the WORD? They've grown tired of searching the WORD and started pursuing man's words and precepts. I even heard it said that people in church have had too much of God's Word. They need to look at something else. What? Too much of God's Word? Really? They look for strategies and systems for church growth devised by some so-called church planters who have "proved" themselves...

Image from 123RF. Let's not see it with the eyes of the Pharisees and law teachers. It reeks of toleration. They thought Christ mingled with sinners to assure them of God's love even if they continued enjoying sin. And that's how a lot of people see it today. But then, on the other hand, there are church people who shun the company of sinners altogether and would have nothing to do with them. So we have two extremes---those who teach that God tolerates sin and those who are repulsed by sinners. Oh, there's a third extreme---those who don't give a damn. Jesus didn't just fellowship with sinners. He sought to "call" them [Mark 2.17]. We already know this, but often we still miss the point. We see it as the Pharisees and religious leaders did---that Jesus simply enjoyed sinners and he was a bad example because we aren't supposed to be seen with them. I've seen churches put in active ministry or position people wallowing in sin beca...

Image from ZipRecruiter. One book author said it well. Most churches today lack love, especially for sinners. They may love each other in church but they often neglect non-Christians who sometimes feel left out or out-of-place because believers keep their church fellowships too tightly sealed---like an exclusive club. Non-believers find it hard to squeeze their way in. But what's the solution? The popular notion today is to give special treatment to the unchurched. I even read something about asking people what they want or expect from a church and build church from that foundation. In other words, go after people. They say that demonstrates "love" for sinners. Yeah, once upon a time I also thought so. I made sure I entertained visitors in church, made them feel welcome so they'd go back next Sunday. I thought that was how Jesus did it---until one day I sought Scriptures to confirm it. Sinners Should Pursue Jesus (That's God's Love) To my surprise,...

Image from ShareFaith. You'd probably say an angel told the shepherds to go to the manger scene so they ended up there. Not quite. But this is what most people think happened. Actually, the angel simply tickled their imagination and aroused their curiosity. Anyone proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ should use this Kingdom principle instead of "trapping" people into attending their churches each Sunday. But why shepherds? Why did they have to be there? Why not prominent people like Herod or the rich? Shepherds were the poorest people and the lowest type of laborers at the time. They were unschooled and often rough mannered. And yet, they were the first to be told of the birth of Jesus. But first things first---take note that God chose to send his Son to a poor family when he came to the world to save us. It was no accident. It was pre-planned. Father, Son and Holy Spirit sat down and carefully planned all this and decided to go to a poor and weak nati...