Smallest Seed

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...

Jesus and John the baptizer led radically simple lifestyles to get across a powerful message. Unfortunately, though, the church seems never to get the point. We still want to attract the world on its terms. So we give it what it wants just to have the world come inside our churches and stay. Jesus could have come to earth as a materially impressive Messiah with strong connections and influence with the higher-ups in government. He could have built impressive religious buildings with state-of-the-art facilities. He could've displayed costly camels or chariots or started a big church with immense church membership to get a lot of church income from it---and further enlarge his ministry empire and make it more impressive to the world. He could've come as Ceasar's or Pilate's or Herod's son. But he didn't. Neither did John. John was the son of a priest, and priests were a privileged class in those times. They were amply provided quality provisions. ...

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 Youtube. We need to have a supernatural balance of things (especially radical things) in God's Kingdom. And we need to understand that often, Kingdom concepts seem to go against each other, although in truth they flow in harmony. Like God becoming man and God opting to take the form of a slave or being a little lower than the angels but actually most supreme of all. The Mind of Christ has no problems with that. Or the truth that God can both love and hate a person (yeah, He does not just hate sin but also sinners). But it rattles the human mind. So what others do is let go of one and hold on to the other, resulting to a denominational doctrine. Such doctrines believe only one side of the equation. Like, we do not turn into God but the bible says we do not remain mere humans either when we're born again. We turn or "grow" into something else. So we cannot stubbornly keep saying we are just humans and nobody is perfect and God likes us the way...

Image from  rundanceclimb. The mind of Christ---it has no problem with God being man or man being God (Christ), the perfect in imperfect (Christ in you), and the imperfect in perfect (you in Christ). Night is as day to him and darkness is as light. The Messiah is the son of David and yet David called him Lord. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah (not Levi) and yet he is the high priest of our faith. Or God is love yet he killed a lot of people in the Old Testament (almost killing everyone on earth in the Flood), even killed all the generation that left Egypt but who refused to enter Canaan. He is compassionate but didn't allow Moses to enter the Promise Land just because he hit the rock in the desert two times instead of one. The Mind has no problem with these seeming contradictions. But man's mind does. Christ was (and is) 100 percent God and 100 percent man. But even today a lot of born-again believers still can't get used to God's apparent "contradicti...

Image from Mysticurious. We've been long taught that sinners cannot have access to God in any way because sin blocks our path to him. And it's bible truth actually. Sin separates from God. Even if you pray a thousand times, God won't hear you. And he can't use you in ministry either. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. [Isaiah 59] But this prophet got away with all that [1 Kings 13]. He told a lie and still got Word from God and was even used by Him. To make matters worse, he caused the ill-timed death of a righteous man of God. Instead of him getting punished, God punished the young prophet who risked his life to obey God even if it meant possible death in the hands of a corrupted king, Jeroboam. It shatters our theology, our understanding of sin and it's ill effects on us. He was an old prophet from Bethel which was then in rebellion against God because of King Jero...

Image from AllWallpaper.in Here's the Past Article If you're a pastor, you should learn how to spot real generals of God in your church. As a pastor, you may or may not be a real general---yet. Earthly positions do not determine rank in God's Kingdom army. To be a general, you should understand how the least is the greatest and the greatest is servant of all. So, as a pastor, search for generals. These are lowly folks whose presence in church does not seem to count much because they are not that active and often merely sit in the back pews watching church does its thing---the usual operations and procedures in worship services and ministry. But they have strong faith and deep personal spiritual lives in Christ. They're well equipped in Scriptures and live according to the Word. Regular church members are good, but these low-profile generals move heaven and earth by their faith. Angels obey their every beck and call and devils shudder at their word. You r...