Smallest Seed

runluaurun.com It seems we recognize the wooden cross more than what it symbolizes. The wooden church is more acceptable in church (it's placed on church buildings and inside altars) than the sufferings of Christ which we are called to: To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. [1 Peter 2.21] Of course, we're not to have ourselves crucified literally on the cross. Christ already did that to pay for our sins. We don't need to repeat it. But we have to embrace the life of suffering persecution for His Name and for living out his Word daily. The Jesus cross is also about staying meek and simple, "poor in spirit" and abandoning all forms of worldliness while being in the world. It's about living the holy life of Jesus and stopping feeding the flesh or ego. This Jesus cross is still foolishness to many church people and still serves as a stumbling block.  The meaning of th

Number of churches planted, how mega your church is, how many mega churches you have, big church income, big membership--everyone in church looks for these today. Everything's up-size. Everything's gauged and valued numerically and by size. Doesn't anyone look at what's in the heart anymore? Worse, meekness today is looked upon as a weakness. Everyone's out to brag. And great braggers make it to the top! When I was among young people, there was this church denomination that started a contest. The pastor with the highest number of new members and biggest church income would be given a Php 10,000 bonus. I thought it was funny. What was this, a franchise business? Even the born again church cannot recognize greatness except numerically--anything that translates to money value. But Jesus laid it all clear: Unless you change and become like little children, you will never  enter the kingdom of heaven.  Hence, whoever takes the lowly position of this child 

Again, many Christians may beg to disagree here, but if you're honest enough (and religiosity aside) you'd see how most secular love songs sound better and more inspiring than Christian love songs to God do. For instance, you'd see how lots of Christians are familiar with secular songs but few in the world are familiar with Christian songs. Or worse, many Christian composers imitate the tunes of secular songs to ride on their popularity. Sometimes, when I listen to the radio, familiar tunes are playing which I know to be secular. But then I discover that they are actually Christian songs patterned after popular secular songs. I get disappointed because the Christian world seems fond of pursuing after trends in the secular world. Don't they have the imagination to create originals? Why imitate? Well, the songs of some Christian artists, like Don Moen, are exceptional. You can readily sense how they have original tunes as well as lyrics. None of them were deriv

Naaman was addicted to greatness, same as many church people are. Just look at pastors--they want to handle the biggest church building, have the biggest ministry, have the biggest membership, have the biggest income, accomplish great things for God, and get the most number of titles. They want to have the biggest concert, be the most popular, and have the most number of bible studies. Big is always in. The Greatest Shall be the Least Naaman was like that. He was a great Aramean general who was pampered by great accompishment and special attention. I can imagine how he must have loved being greeted in public as the Pharisees were in Jesus' time. But Naaman was up for God's promotion so he needed to be humbled. The greatest shall be the least of all. So God allowed him to contract leprosy. In the eyes of the blind world that was bad news--but to God it was a precursor of true Kingdom greatness. An Israelite servant girl of Naaman's wife mentioned God's

Cheap wine in a grand wedding banquet?  The wedding at Cana where my Jesus' first miracle took place was saved with high quality wine. Wine saves weddings in Israel in Jesus' time, and weddings then took some days to celebrate, often 7 days. I don't know if it's still like that today there, but I'm sure quality wines are still very much part of such banquets. I can see this as a parallelism to the future big wedding banquet that will happen when Bridegroom Christ marries his Bride, the glorious church--his body, his one flesh--according to Ephesians. To save that event, Jesus needs to turn water into wine. That event is in danger of being spoiled by the lack of quality wine. Imagine cheap wine being served in that banquet? My Jesus said he wouldn't taste the fruit of the vine again until he drinks it anew in the wedding in the Kingdom. Of course, this wedding banquet in heaven is sure to happen as scheduled and with the best wine because it has be

It's easy to say, "Stay in God's will," or even in the center of God's will. The problem is, our concept of what "God's will" is always fits what our ego or flesh craves for. We imagine that will to always make "things work together for good." And work together for good to our minds means we'll "live happily ever after." We often forget that God's will and best place for his beloved Son was the cross. If that was God's best for the Son, how about for us? When my Jesus found himself nailed on the cross, he shouted, "Why have you forsaken me?" He was then in the center of God's will in the very true sense of the term. Some folks would say that being in God's will makes everything go well for you. It will give you money and convenience and favors in the world. Well, it didn't for Jesus. Because most times, being in God's will makes you cry, "Why have you forsaken me?" When my J

What Matters is the LIFE in You Early in my Christian life, some guys told me that the kind of bible version I read was very important. It should be the correct  and accepted version, the accurate one, and "correct" and "accurate" to them was the King James Version. Some other guys, smarter ones, urged me to make sure that I know the Hebrew and Greek versions of the bible. I had to find out the original meanings of words to get what the bible authors really meant. Later, God told me it was regardless of bible version. What matters is that you hear HIS voice. All that is good--correct bible version and Greek and Hebrew. In fact I had some basics in Greek and Hebrew and consult them now and then. I also have my King James Version (KJV). But now, after almost 30 years in ministry, I know that they're not that important. You can live victoriously in Christ without them. In fact, sometimes, God will even rescue you from them so you can be well attuned to

You fall first before you rise.  Because we're humans, this has become a sort of SOP--a standard operating procedure. We first fall into pride and self centeredness and rebellion, then God disciplines or punishes us, then we stand up again, if we repent and surrender to God.  Once we become born again, the same SOP happens. We join a church, be active there, fall into pride and self-centerdness and rebellion (all while "serving God" in church), then God disciplines us. If we repent and surrender totally to Him, we rise up again to quit our "church" ministry and do His will alone. If not, we regret our fall and say sorry to God, then continue in our rebellion while "serving" God.  "Therefore, I have begun to destroy you due to your sins," [Micah 6.13]. This is followed by a series of hard work "for God" without real fruit that remains. You eat but remain hungry, store up but remain empty, plant but not harvest, press

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

Only the spoken Word is Spirit and Life--so get the spoken Word, not just the printed Word! And I mean, spoken, as in spoken from God's own mouth. It can't be overemphasized (no one can say I'm exaggerating)--the spoken WORD is LIFE. Often, we treat God's Word as a mere book we bring to church on Sundays so we'd look Christian. Or a textbook to base our denominational doctrines or human theology on. But the Word is something else. Photo above by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash . 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing (zero). The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. [John 6]   See a free review of the e-book, God's Flesh." Click here. Jesus himself stressed the extreme importance of the spoken Word. In effect, he's saying that anything outside the spoken Word is flesh, and they count for nothing; they produce zero result in God's eyes. Zero. Pfft. Nothing. Nada. Only the spoken Word is Spirit and Life

Image from Flickr Jesus' resurrection--it was the first in the world. It was purely supernatural. And that resurrection is part of a believer's daily life. Resurrection is right NOW and yet to come. And it's purely supernatural. This is why you cannot afford not to believe that the supernatural still happens everyday. Resurrection is not just a decision to change for the better because you're now a regular church person. It's a supernatural transformation only God can effect in you. An e-book to help you get a genuine supernatural transformation from God. Click here. The Father could've willed to experience it himself but delegated it to His Son, Jesus Christ. It's an incredible way of transforming body, soul and spirit to the highest level of restoration after death. Before this, God, was spirit and Jesus was the spoken Word yet to be made flesh. People then thought that God's awesome power had been displayed in its fullest through the signs a

Jesus stressed it fairly enough--- "Do your best to enter the narrow door." Or "make every effort."  He didn't say try to enter or consider praying for it. He said unequivocally to " do your best to enter ." No less than best efforts. So, what effort have you spent on this so far? Photo above by  Scott Evans  on  Unsplash . Yet, you often see how it's the last thing most church folks would do. They'd do everything except enter the narrow door. In fact, a lot see it as a total waste--throwing off everything you'd worked for. Trashing your hard-earned trophies, achievements and everything you treasure in this world. Life that makes you enter the narrow door. Click this link. Here's the bible passage. “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door

There was no king like King Josiah--either before him or after him. One of Israel's greatest revivals happened in his reign. Photo above by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash . From the time of Judges, the Passover rites had been terribly neglected. Even great men like Gideon, David, and Samuel the prophet failed to restore the Passover. Idolatry aggravated and accumulated in various forms and fashions until God sent Josiah. It was time for judgment. See that? Josiah was God's blessing to His people, and it was also the time for judging them. Judgment is a blessing. God's judgment is God's blessing The book of the Law was discovered in King Josiah's time (after being lost for generations). When it was read before him by Shaphan the royal secretary, Josiah's heart broke. At once, he took the Law seriously, losing no time. He commanded his royal officials: "Find out what we must do in response" (2 Kings 22). Josiah knew that revelation serves as a warning