SAT BY THE WELL

Different people have different ideas about what the Kingdom of God is. It often depends on what their church denomination tells them. In Jesus' time, people also had different ideas of the Kingdom, and often they compared it with grand things. That's how I imagine them to have thought of the Kingdom. Like how people today think of great things. Great has to be big, moneyed, spectacular and liked, like how people always opt to go large with their fries, Coke, chicken, etc.  Image by  StockSnap  from  Pixabay .  Generally, regardless of the time in history, people have always thought that big is correct. Big is power. Big is success. So even churches aim to be big, moneyed and peopled because they think these things are success measurements. They're "proofs" that God is blessing the ministry. And most church people prefer going to these big churches and support them to share in the blessings. It's easy to imagine how people and their religious leaders in Jesus...

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.  [Hebrews 3] Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess or acknowledge, and the Word says we must "fix our thoughts" on him. This means, among other things, fixing our thoughts on his teachings. Thus, our need to devote ourselves to his apostolic teachings. Do you know what his apostolic teachings are? If the Acts church devoted itself to it, it must be important. They devoted (or surrendered) themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. [Acts 2.42] Among Jesus' apostolic teachings is how to be genuinely and supernaturally led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus devoted several chapters on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, so he (the Holy Spirit) must be an important part of the Trinity, even our spiritual life and ministry, especially the supernatural nature that...

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” [2 Kings 4] Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash .   Here was a prophet who feared the Lord and yet lived a poor life. Elisha the prophet did not repute the claim--that this prophet feared God but was poor. So we can safely say that a God-fearing servant with a real calling can be poor. Provision doesn't always follow a vision. Confirming a vision is NOT always through material means. They popularized the idea that a real vision from God comes with provisions. They point to Jonah who paid for his ship fare when he veered away from God's vision for him. It's true but it's not a lone formula for visions and provisions. Obedience sometimes comes with nothing to test the hearts of those who are called for a task and those who'd see it, either to help financially ...

SAT BY THE WELL Due to a secularized church education, many believers fail to understand the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit and how believers are genuinely led by Him. The general idea is that being led is when you are active in church and do a lot of ministries, when you memorize Scripture, teach in bible studies, disciple, and share the Gospel. These are all good and needful, but you can do all of them without being genuinely led. In fact, you may seem to be doing nothing churchy but are actually led by the Holy Spirit.  For one, the absence of the supernatural moves of the Holy Spirit in your life and ministry is one sign you are not led. You can very well do things in the ministry and achieve success and be recognized for it while doing everything in the ways of men and the world (supported by lots of bible verses), and yet go entirely undetected of all its carnality because religion done seriously looks spiritual, as if "led" by the Holy Spirit. As if everything is...

SAT BY THE WELL AN INTRODUCTION The real tragedy in church today is that almost no one knows how to be genuinely led by the Holy Spirit. We're just fond of using the term, or claiming we're led by God, to probably justify what we do in church and get rid of guilt, but what we do today is a far cry from what Jesus and the apostles did. We look and sound more like a corporate bank or an LGU than a Jesus ministry. Yet we claim to be led. So, I thought of doing a short series on being radically led by the Holy Spirit. I hope people serious about Jesus would see these series of articles, especially those left behind after the rapture.  Photo by Ksenia Kudelkina on Unsplash . What They Think Being "Led" Is: Attending church faithfully Listening to sermons Being an active choir or worship team member Formal look Voice quality Lively singing Emotional prayer or worship Memory verses As long as you pray and read the bible Evangelism and church planting Try asking long-time ch...