Smallest Seed

Unless God opens up the meaning of Scriptures to you, you won't understand any of it. At best all you'd get is what the smart and wise of this world also get--the letter--which kills, according to Paul the apostle. What counts in the Kingdom is getting the Spirit of the Word, not the letter. [Image above by Aaron Burden, Unsplash]. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [2 Corinthians 3.6] The Spirit gives life, says Jesus in John. "The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life." So, it's the "spoken" Word you should get--spoken straight from God's own mouth--without which all you get is an intelligent appreciation of the bible. An earthly interpretation. Intelligent but it does not remove the veil that the god of this world has covered minds with. It cannot remove the curtain that keeps you from entering the holy of holies. The same thi

To protect itself  from worldliness, Acts church disciples (or followers of the Way) devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings [Acts 2.42]. The modern church doesn't. In fact, most church people today do not know what apostolic teachings are. In these last days when the devil is hellbent on deceiving even the elect (if that were possible), the church ought to devote itself to the apostles' teachings more than ever. [Photo above from Aditya Romansa, Unsplash] The ignorant think you have to be an apostle to be apostolic. Worse, they think the apostolic invents new gospels or adds new teachings to the Word of God. Fake apostolics may do that, but not the genuine ones. The apostolic simply means taking Jesus seriously and applying his spiritual principles to daily life and ministry as the apostles did--nothing more, nothing less. God's Word and ways alone. Nothing whatsoever of the world. Like the least being the greatest . It's a powerful teaching of Jesus [

No, you don't have to become an apostle or prophet to be in the apostolic. Apostolic means being relevant to what God is doing. Being in the same Kingdom wavelength. The apostles had that connection to heaven. Their faith enabled them to do what Jesus did, and then greater things, said Jesus. They did nothing else. They didn't sit down and plan and decide things among themselves what's next and then asked God to bless it. [Image above from Karl Magnuson, Unsplash]. The spiritual disease of the modern church is its desperation to make things happen on its own so it can beat some deadline or be ahead in some competition for greatness. It has lost the discipline to wait on God. It plans and prays and does as it pleases. Often, it copies from the world or gets hints from it. It lures people (its number one mistake) by giving them what they crave for. It identifies with the crowd. But no matter what accomplishments you get using worldly ways, you remain irrelevant in the

In this world but not of it. Jesus taught this vital Kingdom operation to his disciples to show what life of a true believer is. So followers of Jesus have this peculiar culture even if they're hedged in by other cultures in this world. Paul said there are no more earthly cultures in God's kingdom, no more races. [Photo above from Chaozzy Lin, Unsplash]. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. [Colossians 3] There's only one life and culture--Christ. Christ is all . The reverse is also true-- all is Christ . Therefore, church people who still think in terms of their nationality, race or earthly culture still operate in the system of this world--which is the Babylon system. Some churches have worship services for Americans, another for Koreans, another for Filipinos, etc. and they think it's some kind of accomplishment. Some churches are heavily influenced by their local

We all know the passage--James 5.16--in the bible. And righteousness is by faith alone, not of good works, religion or anything else. But this is what strikes me. Watch the passage below: [Photo above by Aaron Burden, Unsplash]. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James was talking more of prayer that triggers the supernatural. We often connect this to our ordinary prayers, which is also good. But the context says more than that, and we shouldn't miss what it's really saying. James is telling us a key to miracles, signs and wonders and the supernatural. We shouldn't limit it to our ordinary needs. First, we note "co

I wonder where we got the idea that God sometimes gives us a "no" answer. Jesus never got a no answer from the Father and he taught us how to pray, right? This means, he taught us how to get yes answers from God. So how come the church now also teaches no answers from God?  Photo above from Simon Schmitt@helloschmitt, Unsplash. How did that teaching sneak into the church?  The thought keeps rolling over and over in my mind, and I can't help it. It's Jesus who taught us to pray, and his prayers never got a "no." Never! In fact, he never said anything about the possibility of getting a no from God (well, except when you don't forgive others who have wronged you). All he taught was getting surefire "yes" from God.  His disciples once asked, "Lord, teach us to pray." He taught them the Lord's Prayer which starts with a bold and confident "Our Father" and a lot of other things, but nothing about getting a "no" a

Here's Part 1 https://unsplash.com/photos/Ij7h-m4nJ18 It may seem the Babylon system affects only trade and commerce as portrayed in Revelation 18. As if only "merchants" and "kings" are affected. There's no mention of the church. But there is--when God told his people to "come out of her!" That's us, the church. "Come out" means we're inside and we have to go out to Him. We have to make sure we're cleared of any trace of the system. Untainted and spotless. You don't have to leave any Babylon church (but do so if God tells you) because the point here is leaving the system , not a place. You may be out of a Babylon church and still have the system fully operational in you. The Acts church was out of the system though they were still part of Judaism--until Judaism kicked them out. God is always after a heart sold out to him. "I have found David...a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him