Smallest Seed

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Pharisees and Law teachers sat on Moses' seat, said Jesus. They must be obeyed, though they didn't live out God's Word. The Pharisees could trace their leadership authority to Moses and the Law, and Jesus acknowledged that. They indeed sat in Moses' seat. The only problem with them was that they were hypocrites, snakes, and vipers.  But I don't know where denominations can trace their authority. They cannot claim to sit on Paul's or Peter's seat. Paul and Peter never taught about having denominations with separate doctrines, each often going against the other. At least, the Pharisees and Law teachers were strictly clinging to Moses' teachings--they overdid it, in fact, and became too religious for Jesus. Denominations today do not overdo the New Testament--they're doing completely different things from what Jesus and the Acts church did. For one, most of them are not headed by genuine apostles and prophets. They are run by chairmen and p