“Why are you talking about having no bread?

Do you still not see or understand? Are you hearts hardened?

Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?

And don’t you remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,

how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? …

And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,

how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? …

Do you still not understand?”^[1]

Jesus directed this question to His disciples but they did not understand what He was showing them through the miracles of the bread and fish. They failed to understand the miracles to the measure God had destined for them to start and end the church age. Simply from the fact that the eleven had accepted money that was laid at their feet in Acts 4-5 proves that they had missed Jesus’ point about the miracles. The early church had taken itself onto a path never intended by God, so when it is old, someone else will dress it and lead it where it does not want to go.

Acts 4.32-35 testifies, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

What if the eleven had understood Jesus in the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand, and they relied on miraculous power instead of slipping back into the ways of the world? Would Acts 4.32-35 read as follows: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had multiplied within their households. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned precious stones or gold and had leftovers in their ovens, multiplied them and put them at the apostles’ feet, and they were distributed to anyone as he had need”?

If the early church had started the church age in the prescribed way of the Lord, the Holy Spirit would be able to entrust the church with His full power because of her consuming zeal for Jesus and His words. Can you imagine what delight and honour the church at full power would bring to Jesus, and what a bore the ways of the world would be in comparison?

The forsaking of the power of God

Consider why it is written in Acts 4.33 that “much grace” was on the apostles. If the apostles were not in error when they neglected to meet with Jesus in Galilee as instructed by Jesus and the angel,^[2] and then, after He ascended, forsook the power of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ by accepting donations of money at their feet, would they be under God’s grace?

Grace is the suspension of a law of God, be it a command, rule or decree that was disobeyed, so that we may be pardoned and live. This applied under the Law of Moses. And it applies for the church under the Law of Jesus. For mercy and grace flow according to the law you are under. The prophet Isaiah wrote that grace is shown to the wicked,^[3] not the righteous. Where sin increased, grace also increased, as God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. However, consider the steady decline of the apostles’ miraculous power as it is recorded from Acts 2 onwards. What went wrong?

On one hand the apostles in Acts were preaching the glory and miracle of the resurrected Christ, who at that time, was due to return shortly.^[4] But on the other hand, the apostles were accepting money into their velvet bags. Hypocrisy in the church was never more blatant. What does money have to do with miracles? Does the Book of Acts testify that multiplying food and raising the dead were common practices of the apostles? No wonder the apostles were under the grace of God.

What was money to Jesus Christ, except that He acquired it by miraculous means? But what was miraculous power to Jesus Christ? We only need to look at His birth, His entire ministry and His resurrection to understand. In truth, miracles are natural to God. Miracles are God’s very nature. So for the church, miracles should have been first nature to us. But instead we allowed the worship of Mammon to defile this temple when money infiltrated the way we practise our worship.

The world will not hate you if you happily go along with its system of lack and money when you are in submission to the ways of the world. You pose no threat to the system. However, the world will hate you out of fear and jealousy, and will plot against you if you rise up against it with miracles of abundance and an abundance of miracles. This would fulfil Jesus’ words, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”^[5]

As early as the days of the eleven, the church has not understood the significance of the miracles of multiplying the fish and bread. We, the church of today, continue to live in ignorance to the power of truth and the power of miracles, so it is easier to raise money than to practise turning wood to gold. It is easier to go to the store and buy fruits, instead of practising Jesus’ words and multiplying what you have. It is easier to buy wine than to turn water to Shiraz, because we have not honoured Jesus at His word.^[6] We have taken the lazy way out. In general, churches have become like weekly concert halls with a few announcements. They give encouraging teachings, which are not for the mature, because the words of Jesus are not listened to, practised, taught and honoured above all else.

The churches are still not ready for solid food. As Paul wrote to the church of Corinth: “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”^[7] And the church is still slow to learn, as the writer of the book of Hebrews penned: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”^[8] Why haven’t the churches reached maturity by now? Because they have not been taught to listen to Jesus and put His words into practice under the supervision of the Holy Spirit as the forefront of their worship of Jesus.

In general, Jesus has not been able to give the churches His harder teachings, just like He said to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”^[9] We are unable to receive them because we have, by and large, remained as children and have not gone on to maturity. And why not, you ask? Because we have not listened to Jesus. We do not take Him at His word,^[10] and we do not put all His words into practice under the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Do you know what we have denied ourselves when we fail to listen to Jesus and hear what His Holy Spirit says to the churches? In turn, have you thought about what we have denied God? For example, how can a church receive the harder teachings when its believers and disciples do not believe in John 11.26?

Sure, there is a certain degree of faith in Jesus and faithfulness to God, but where is the full power to back up our testimonies about the word of God and Jesus? Where is the display of signs, wonders and miracles that accompany our testimony of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness, grace and truth, and His forgiveness, mercy and generosity under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? Do scattered handfuls of miracles fulfil these words of Jesus in Acts 1.8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth”? That was the purpose of the church. To testify with the power of the Holy Spirit to prove Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that He has a covenant with the Father to forgive sins. It is our training and duty to testify with the Holy Spirit until He can entrust us with His power.

Consider the two witnesses in Revelation 11.6. They are men who have the power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. It is not God doing so for them. The power and authority are vested in them. Imagine the level of training one would have to undergo in these words of Jesus before full power and authority may be vested in a man. Consider the obedience and understanding they would have in this command from Jesus: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”^[11] Why wouldn’t the Holy Spirit deposit His full power in us if we are pleasing and trustworthy in His sight? Yet how much do our characters have to be refined by Him to receive full power, lest we bring more ruin to God’s plans for Jesus?

The church chases the world and wants to be accepted by it. It thinks that by placating the world, Jesus would appear more palatable and the world would accept His gift of salvation. It is not our job to please the world because it must hate us so that Jesus’ words are proved true. It is our job to testify to the truth of Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus taught His disciples to preach the Good News of the kingdom:

· “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me.”^[12] (Firstly, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and not on anyone else’s walk with Him. It is Jesus alone whom we follow, and His message alone that we preach.)

· “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”^[13] (This is the Good News – that we are the beneficiaries under a covenant that forgive sins.)

· “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.^[14] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.^[15]” (This is what Jesus commanded His disciples to do, where to go and what He armed them with for His purpose.)

· “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all Creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”^[16]

· “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”^[17] (This is the seal of authority and the second command. The first command is to testify to all nations. The second command was to make disciples of all nations.)

Do you observe the sequence according to the words of Jesus? Has the church discharged this duty to the standard required of it by God? If we don’t listen to Jesus and believe in all of His words and the plans concerning Him, what are we really testifying about, and what is the depth of our testimony? Think about it.

A recent example of the church chasing the world instead of the other way round is that the world loves its celebrities and celebrities love yoga. Thus, the church now has “Christian yoga,” which is the marrying of Hindu practices and principles with Scripture. Again, what does Christ have to do with yoga? What has the church done in its quest to be popular and accepted by the world? It is so desperate that it has compromised the Spirit and the Truth. Do we really think that doing a form of exercise can attain everlasting peace? It seems to me that we have really lost the plot on this one. What gives everlasting peace? Or rather who gives peace? Listen to Jesus: “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put My sanctuary among them forever.^[18] Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.^[19]” It is the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins that holds the promise of everlasting peace from God. Doing animal-inspired exercises in a heated room does not.

Is the church a place where the Holy Spirit feels at home? Is it a group of people who fellowship with the Holy Spirit in spirit and seek to know Jesus and His Father in truth? For the churches have as many idols as Judah had towns. Because of the disbelief and disobedience of the church, suffering beyond anything that the Lord, the Lord and the Lord ever planned or intended has come into the church. This was not the way it was meant to be.

Because the early church never fully grasped the understanding of the significance of miracles, it permitted the introduction of money into its aisles. These days, money infiltrates its pulpits and poisons the minds of God’s people, keeping them as children and servants. It prevents them from growing into disciples, sons and daughters, friends, lords and kings. This poison is the amalgamation of all the various teachings that lead to any forsaking of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ and the power and Person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. It substitutes the things of God with the plans of men, which may be valuable to men but are detestable in God’s sight.

Following closely behind the footsteps of a god named Mammon are the idols of political, military, intellectual and technological powers. We have travelled so far off the mark that miracles are surprising to us, even very unnatural. In this day, a fellowship that opens the eyes of a blind man is considered to be a cult. We do not drive out a demon by one word like Jesus did. Rather, we need an entourage and a tool kit. Seriously, no wonder the world stays away. But praise be to the Father who continues to enable people to come to Jesus for salvation, despite our erroneous ways.

Weren’t we meant to drive out demons just by saying, “Go”? Where did Jesus teach that we need the cross, the holy water and a prayer book? Did Jesus need all those things? Didn’t Jesus say in John 14.12 that anyone who has faith in Him will do what He has been doing and he will do even greater things? The fulfilment of John 14.12 is not about arrogance. It is about honouring God in the way prescribed by Jesus. The reason a believer or a disciple cannot drive out demons by one word, just like Jesus did, is due to broken faith in Jesus and the failure to listen and practise the words of Jesus at the standard to which he is called.

We have broken faith with Jesus and His words and deeds. When we gather around the foot of the cross to share in the supper, do we also break the bread in remembrance of our Lord’s ways? The miracles teach us that the ways of the world are not our Lord’s ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, as surely as Heaven is higher than Earth. Each miracle vindicates our faith and proves our enemies wrong about Jesus, so that our enemies may be drawn to Jesus and we may have a firmer foothold in the Kingdom of God.

Yet we still keep talking about money in the churches. Money, money, money. Money to feed the poor, money to help hurricane victims, money to buy a building, and money for our programs and ministerial salaries. The more we rely on money in the work of God, the less we rely on the power of God and the Person of the Holy Spirit. The less we practise the words of Jesus under the training of the Holy Spirit to prepare ourselves for the days of distress, the more side-tracked we have become. Therefore, we are under God’s grace more than ever due to our many errors. From the beginning, man has not listened to God.

Do we rely on multiplying bread to feed a thousand people, or do we buy a thousand loaves of bread instead? Do we rely on the power of translation to get us from A to B, or do we pray to the Lord for a car? If we have a headache, do we rely on healing power first, or do we automatically reach for a Panadol? Do we at least give it a go? Is it on our minds and in our hearts? But enough about the problems, let’s talk about the solution.

This is the universal truth for all believers and disciples in Jesus Christ, the Son of God: Every single problem that we experience corporately in the church and personally in our homes as “Christians” comes from our sin of forsaking the Father’s single direct command to listen to Jesus. Every emotional, physical, health, material, psychological and spiritual problem in your personal life manifests because of your unrepentance and unforgiveness through the sin of not believing in Jesus, because we have not listened to Him. For faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.^[20] And because we do not believe in Jesus, we do not take Him at His word, nor practise His words and obey all His commands. If we had truly believed Him, we would practise His words and obey His commands. The fact that we don’t shows our unbelief in Jesus, which is the one sin the Counsellor convicts the world of.^[21] What did you expect when you have violated the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? Do you think that God, who loves you, would not discipline and correct you? Isn’t that what a good Father does when His children go astray?

Forget, “The devil is attacking me.” Are you so important that Satan should personally attack you? He is not omnipresent as God is. And don’t you dare say, “God is against me.” Did not God send His only begotten Son, the love of His life, to save you? What more do you want from Him? Do you want to draw more blood from Jesus? Do you want to crucify Him all over again? Or are you just too stubborn or slow of heart to accept responsibility for your failure to carefully obey the Father’s command to listen to Jesus and Jesus’ command to receive the Holy Spirit?

The Father did not send His Son and Spirit so we can listen to Them in a casual way. We are called to listen to Them and receive Them in a manner befitting of the King of kings and the Lord of lords! In our failure to hear and understand what the Holy Spirit says to the churches, we are disobeying Jesus because the Holy Spirit takes from what is Jesus’ and makes it known to us. Therefore, the solution to every problem begins with repentance and steering your eyes, ears, heart and mind steadfastly and exclusively back to the words of Jesus by the counsel of the Holy Spirit.

To those who love the Law of Moses: What is the key word in Deuteronomy 28.58-59? Moses said, “If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome Name - the Lord your God - the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses”? It is the word “carefully,” which denotes the measure of interest, mindfulness and diligence required when following God’s commands and practising His words.

Listen to Jesus. In the same way, He said to His disciples, “Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more.^[22] Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.^[23]” The principle of carefulness applied to the Israelites in Moses’ time and it applies to the church now.

God may change the covenants that we live under according to His seasons. He may send different messengers to speak His words. He may even inconspicuously declare the Law of Moses and the Prophets obsolete because Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, the Prophets and the Psalms, and He is now ministering a better covenant before God for us.^[24] Yet God’s principles will never change. You can count on Him because His principles are based on His delight, which is His exercise of justice, righteousness and kindness on Earth.

Kindness is a display of God’s mercy, for God is Love. Righteousness is God’s commitment to honour His word, even at great personal cost. And justice is perfection of judgment. God loves justice, and so He always judges with justice.^[25] This means His judgments are always correct. Who else but God is able is do this? He declared: “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”^[26] But God also desires mercy.^[27] After God delivers His perfect judgment, He can choose to have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and have compassion on whom He will have compassion.^[28] Righteousness and justice are the foundation of the Father’s throne; love and faithfulness go before Him.^[29]

So instead of wasting an hour of the Holy Spirit’s time preaching about tithing our finances, can we please have weekly discipleship sessions practising the words of Jesus? For example, we could practise turning water to wine and multiplying bread under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. Instead of hosting youth camps that feature loud music and guest speakers, we could organise them at swimming pools to practise walking on water. Let us first practise in secret with the Holy Spirit, as well as practise with our fellow disciples in public. Imagine and see each church as a cell group operating under the command of the Holy Spirit in the mission to usher in the arrival of Jesus Christ. Each cell group should aim to be entrusted with the power of God to remain alive till the end of the days of distress to greet Jesus in Jerusalem. The size of a church group matters not to the Lord. What truly matters is the degree of power that the Holy Spirit is able to entrust the group or individuals because of their depth of fellowship with Him and their love of the Father and the Son.

Church: Be practical. When the days of distress come, it will be most useful and imperative for the survival of you and your family if your thinking has been transformed^[30] to multiply a bread crumb into a loaf, and turn dirty water into clean water, because you have put in the practice. When Jesus told us to pray that we can escape all that is about to happen, He did not mean a quick exit to Heaven. He meant escape like Noah did. Noah was “smack bang” in the middle of the disaster zone. Yet he and his family survived the flood because he was a righteous man. Noah obeyed exactly the Lord’s command to him to build an ark in accordance with God’s instructions. What kind of ark do you think the church needs to remain alive during the days of distress unequalled since the beginning of the world? You would be kidding yourself if you think money or political power will help, or that taking on the mark of the beast would benefit you in the long run.

Church: Let us obey the Father’s direct command to listen to Jesus and follow Jesus’ instructions to put His words into practice. Have unbroken faith in Jesus. He said if we have faith in Him, we can do what He has been doing, and do even greater things than these because He has gone to the Father.^[31] Between the time the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way of lawlessness and Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit will leave this Earth in the care and authority of His elect, who are the sisters and brothers of Jesus. They are servants and students of the Holy Spirit who can be entrusted to exercise dominion over the Earth as co-heirs of the Kingdom of God. Imagine the glory and honour it gives the Father when we can accomplish His will, not at times of peace but in a time of distress unequalled from the beginning of the world, lest the devil taunts our God as he did in Job 1.9-11.^[32]

Churches: Stretch your imaginations and fire up your aspirations. Nothing is impossible for us if we are speaking the language of the Holy Spirit that unites us!^[33] Understand that the church of the end time is being raised up to hold the line and guard our Master’s house against attack during the period between the Holy Spirit’s absence when He no longer holds back the secret power of lawlessness^[34] and Jesus’ arrival. This is when the Earth will be at its most tumultuous state. Do you think money will help when a third of the sea turns to blood and a third of the waters turn bitter as it is written in Revelation?^[35] What good is an athlete training for the Wimbledon, when his game is actually the World Cup?

Wouldn’t the devil love to destroy this world so that Jesus does not have an Earth to reign upon for a thousand years? How Satan would love to make a fool out of Jesus and a lie out of His words. But we cannot allow that. This is our Jesus we are talking about, our Brother and our Saviour. He is our King. We have a part to play in the fulfilment of Jesus’ words because we are His witnesses. Does this seem impossible? With God, everything is possible. Does it seem too far-fetched? God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours. God is seeking glory for Himself, and rightly so. Thus, we should live to honour our King.

This is why the Holy Spirit was sent to be baptised into all believers who would receive Him, counselling them to hold on to Jesus’ teachings as disciples.^[36] And from them, He raises up ones in the stature of Christ the Son, for they are the ones who willingly obey Jesus’ commands out of their love for Him.^[37] This is why the Holy Spirit has tolerated the church for so long. It is all about the Father’s plans for Jesus. Everything else is incidental. The Holy Spirit is jealous for the Father and Jesus sovereignly. That is why the Holy Spirit does not speak on His own. The Holy Spirit puts up with our unbelief in Jesus, our loose and careless words, our hatred for our enemies, lack of repentance, our disrespect, arrogance, incessant whinging, immaturity and selfishness, because of His love for Jesus and the Father.

In the process of our refinement, which begins by listening to Jesus at the standard to which we are called, the Holy Spirit looks for ones who respond with humble, submissive obedience to Him. Out of Jesus’ disciples He calls His elect. They will carry on His task of glorifying Jesus and honouring the Father throughout the devastation that will hit the Earth so that it is preserved for Jesus’ millennial reign. This is not child’s play. This is our kingdom too, solely by God’s generosity and grace.

Is God contradicting Himself? He sends storms and disasters on the Earth with His left hand, yet with His right hand He sends healing. Then He shows us that the Holy Spirit’s elect at full power is the answer to the distress that will come upon the whole world before Jesus arrives. Has God gone mad? Is God cruel?

No, God is neither contradictory nor mad. And He is definitely not cruel, because God is Love and God is Justice. Judgment must come upon all the inhabitants of the Earth because justice cannot come without judgment. Jesus Christ is the peace offering of God to the world. God will take vengeance and avenge the blood of Jesus when the rejection of His Son and His Gospel has reached its full measure. God always commences judgment in His own house. And now is the time for judgment on this world.^[38]

All who have trampled the Son of God underfoot, treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who have insulted the Spirit of Grace will be held accountable for their detestable conduct and careless words, yet they will be given a last chance to repent on judgment day before the Great White Throne. Read Zephaniah 3 for yourself to understand God’s desire for mercy in His ultimate act of mercy under the Covenant of the Forgiveness of Sins. “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out My wrath on them - all My fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of My jealous anger. Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the Name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.”^[39]

A man would only think that God is cruel if he does not value the discipline that comes from love, and the correction that comes through discipline. However, in His wrath, the Lord always remembers mercy. In His kindness and righteousness, He has raised up His people called the elect, who will hold justice for Jesus as the measuring line and righteousness in Jesus alone as the plumbline. Do you understand the link between the purpose of the elect of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ teachings of the end days in Matthew 24? Remember Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5.13, “You are the salt of the Earth.” Salt is an ingredient for preservation, is it not?

Our Father is not like human fathers who can little change our circumstances. He always has the perfect solutions to our problems and He is preparing us through the Holy Spirit for what is to come for Jesus. He never leaves us empty-handed and unequipped. Moses and the power placed in his staff by God destroyed the strongest nation of its time. The power to part the Red Sea is the same power that will prepare the Earth for the return of the King.

Did Jesus leave us as orphans, helpless and powerless? No, He didn’t. We have a wonderful Counsellor who is able to guide us into ALL truth and has the graceful patience to match. Does our Counsellor live in the next town and only visits us fortnightly? No, He doesn’t. The Lord lives in us. He is in us and will be with us forever.

At this point, you should ask, “How can it be said that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever, yet He will leave this Earth in the care of His elect?”

The Holy Spirit will leave His post on Earth, where He had been poured on all flesh,^[40] to return to the Father in Heaven at the appointed time. He will entrust His power to those He has raised up, disciplined and refined unto perfection. This is the time of the calm before the storm when the Lord Holy Spirit continues to guide us into ALL truth and tells us what is to come to prepare us, if only we would listen and learn from Him. The Holy Spirit is our Counsellor, just as Jesus is our Teacher. He counsels us in the words and deeds of Jesus so that we may do the same things as Jesus did and greater things we shall also do. Though He is taken out of the way, He will remain in His elect^[41] and His elect in Him.^[42] To say that the Spirit lives in us forever means that the Father does not take a gift back once He has given it. How else can Jesus fulfil His promise in Matthew 28.20 to be with His disciples always, to the very end of this age?

However, what started as a small boat in the lake carrying the alpha disciples of Jesus Christ has grown into a heavily bloated Titanic that manages to stay afloat on a few miracles and a whole lot of cash by God’s grace. Does the omega church know how to minister to the Lord, heal His people, raise the dead or multiply bread? Does it practise so diligently? If not for the Holy Spirit, the church would not be able to complete the preaching of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations. The church cannot take credit for anything because the Holy Spirit’s own hands made it possible for us. He is the One who executes damage control.

Has every nation heard of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ? If you say, “Yes,” where is the proof? Have you cared enough to take such account? If you say, “No,” then know for certain Jesus cannot come back until it is done. Otherwise, He would have gone against His own words in Matthew 24.14: “And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Note that Jesus did not command us to preach the Gospel to all men. Neither did Jesus say that all men must believe at our preaching of the Gospel. We only have to open our mouths to testify. The end cannot come until the Gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

The perfect storm of the wrath of the Lord is coming upon all the inhabitants of the Earth in judgment of the blood of the Lamb that was spilt for the salvation of this world. No one will escape the judgment of the second death except those who are proved worthy for the first resurrection. God’s love is an all-consuming fire, and judgment will begin in the body of Christ. The Titanic that is the church will sink and its people will be thrown into the waterfalls of God’s justice. So if you have not been listening to Jesus carefully and practising ALL His words diligently, as one who completely believes in Him and His words by not only eating them but also actively living them regardless of success or failure, your chances of surviving the end days to greet Jesus in Jerusalem, and to be eligible for the first resurrection so that the second death has no power over you, are slimmer than slim.

If you do not have the power to withstand hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina, which was only a part of the beginning of birth pains, do you think you will be able to withstand the perfect storm of the Holy Spirit? And what is the storm of the Holy Spirit? It is not natural elements like rain, wind and floodwater. The storm of the Holy Spirit is the power of the Holy Spirit unleashing the fullness of the words of Jesus in wrath.

The perfect storm

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.^[43] Through the Word all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.^[44] And God saw that it was good, and it was very good.^[45]

Who has gone up to Heaven and come down?^[46] No one has ever gone into Heaven except the One who came from Heaven – the Son of Man.^[47] He was with God in the beginning.^[48] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.^[49]

Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of His hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the Earth? What is His Name, and the Name of His Son?^[50] He is called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.^[51]

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.^[52] Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?^[53] Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm?^[54] Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!^[55]

God established the force of the wind, measured out the waters, made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm.^[56] He stilled the storm to a whisper; and the waves of the sea were hushed.^[57]

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?^[58] Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?^[59] Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding.^[60]

Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?^[61] Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like His?^[62] Who then can understand the thunder of His power?^[63] God’s voice thunders in marvellous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding.^[64] And if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding^[65] … when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into ALL truth.^[66] He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, He who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the Earth - the Lord God Almighty is His Name.^[67] And He said to man, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”^[68]

Declares the Lord, “As the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the Earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”^[69] And Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are S/spirit and they are life.”^[70]

The Lord does whatever pleases Him in the Heavens and on the Earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the Earth; He sends lightning with the rain, and brings out the wind from His storehouses.^[71] “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.^[72] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,”^[73] said the Lord.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of His feet.^[74] All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.^[75] We feed on the wind; we pursue the east wind all day and multiply lies and violence.^[76] I know that it is our fault that this great storm has come upon us.^[77]

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “In My wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in My anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury.^[78] A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward My people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I pronounce My judgments against them.^[79] My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they do not know how to do good.^[80] From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practise deceit. They dress the wounds of My people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.^[81] Because this people draw near with their words and honour Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.^[82] Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbour, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. Should I not punish them for this? Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”^[83]

It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered.^[84] “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.^[85] He who is not with Jesus is against Jesus, and he who does not gather with Jesus, scatters.^[86]

A sword, a sword, drawn for the slaughter, polished to consume and to flash like lightning!^[87] These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword: “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them^[88] with the sword of My mouth.”^[89]

“Now will I arise,” says the Lord. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.^[90] You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My power!^[91] I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.”^[92]

Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.^[93] His thunder announces the coming storm.^[94] He will thunder against them from Heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the world.^[95] Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey His command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?^[96]

Jesus said, “I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”^[97]

The great day of the Lord is near - near and coming quickly.^[98] For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near - a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.^[99] In the fire of His jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for He will make a sudden end of all who live in the Earth.^[100] By standing firm you will gain life.^[101] But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.^[102]

Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the Earth.^[103] The east wind will break you to pieces in the heart of the sea.^[104] For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.^[105] For as lightning comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.^[106] At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the Earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the Heavens to the other.^[107] The Lord will come, and all the holy ones with Him.^[108] For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.^[109]

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.^[110] Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?^[111] Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. Repent and live!”^[112]

These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.^[113] Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.^[114] Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven.”^[115]

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the Earth.^[116] Indeed, the water Jesus gives us will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life.^[117] Now this is eternal life: that we may know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.^[118] For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God’s one and only Son.^[119]

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.^[120] If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.^[121] Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious Name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.^[122]

Amen Holy Spirit!

The knowledge of faith

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”^[123] So what is faith in Jesus? What do we know about faith, and how important is faith in Him?

The writer of Hebrews opens it up for us, and surely this verse has been quoted to the bone: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.^[124] It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”^[125]

Therefore, faith is an intangible substance pertaining to the invisible things we hope for. It is a state of being and a mindset of certainty, even though the thing or person we believe in cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt or by a balance of probabilities yet. Yet Jesus said that a mustard seed of faith is sufficient, giving faith a tangible aspect.

Logic is the world’s thinking, which is this flawed human intelligence that bars us from the Lord’s blessing, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”^[126] But faith has nothing to do with logic. In fact, God has nothing to do with logic. Is it logical that God should send His one and only Son to die on a cross? Faith calls for the perfect mix of courage and innocence, which are two qualities found in children. You only have to watch an eight year old fly down a mountain on skis, or watch their faces at birthday parties to understand this. This is why Jesus said in Mark 10.15 that anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

However, once we step into actual knowledge, faith becomes redundant and disappears. For example, I don’t believe that I am female, I know I am female. Thus, I don’t need faith to believe I am female because I know I am. By the same token, I not only believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I know that He is. Yet I cannot prove it until Jesus returns, except to combine it with the testimony of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth and Knowledge and Revelation.^[127] Even then, there is always room for disbelief in weaker minds and slower hearts. Remember the Jews did not believe that Jesus is the Messiah even though they were looking straight at Him. But truth does not depend on faith because truth exists and retains its integrity regardless of faith.

Truth gives rise to knowledge. Knowledge replaces faith. When the thing or person you believe in is brought into a state of irrefutable knowledge, truth has vindicated your faith. Your faith (which is personal) and the truth (which is universal) have become one. There is no reasonable doubt in irrefutable knowledge, for that would be stupidity. And there is no balance of probabilities because the scale has irrevocably tipped to the side of truth.

Man’s legal doctrines of reasonable doubt and balance of probabilities were created by a perennially flawed justice system that does not know nor delivers the truth, because the Holy Spirit does not reside as Judge. When Jesus returns to reign for the Millennium, we will have the privilege of a perfect justice system here on Earth - the way God meant for it to be. How glorious that will be!

The Law of Faith

Concerning the two parables of the mustard seed, Jesus said in Matthew 13.31-32, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

In Mark 4.30-32, Jesus said, “What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Linking on, Jesus taught His disciples that the mustard seed is faith. If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for us. We can command a mountain to move from here to there and it will move.^[128]

Jesus specifically taught on two kingdoms - the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Spiritually speaking, the Kingdom of Heaven is the kingdom of faith, and the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of power. Are the two kingdoms the same? Do they both start with the same mustard seed of faith and end with the same result? At a glance, they appear to be the same, but read the verses countless times and ask for understanding from the Holy Spirit, and the answer is no.

The key to understanding the distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God in the parables is faith.

First let me explain the Law of Faith under the Law of Jesus. It is one law with four building blocks to the understanding and exercising of the Law of Faith. It is as if Jesus was adding onto and expanding the understanding every time He taught His disciples. And so we should know which building block we are standing on. This is related to who you have faith in and how far you take your faith.

1. The first building block to the Law of Faith is the basic law that anyone with faith in anything can access. Read Matthew 17.17, 20-21 where Jesus said to His disciples who could not drive out the demon in the boy, “O unbelieving and perverse generation… Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Now the key to this verse is not the mountain or the glamour of moving the mountain. The key is why Jesus called His disciples “perverse”. Sure, they were “unbelieving” because they had so little faith. But why were they perverse in the Father’s sight? To answer this question, let us go to the second building block of the Law of Faith.

2. The second building block of the Law of Faith is in Luke 17.1-10. Because of the second building block, the first building block is capped. This means that a believer of any faith can only exercise the Law of Faith in limited consistent success. Now the key to understanding Luke 17 is to ignore the heading and formatting in the NIV. Also ignore the apostles’ interruption when they said to Jesus, “Increase our faith,” because it will mislead you into thinking that Jesus is teaching three separate concepts of “sin, faith and duty” as the heading in the NIV suggests. He was not, as it was a continuous teaching interrupted.

If we read Luke 17.1-10 through without breaking attention, what do we have here? “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat?’ Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Jesus linked faith with forgiveness in this passage as He was opening up His teachings under the New Covenant. Jesus was teaching us that things that cause your brothers to sin are bound to come. To save him from his fate, forgive him when he repents. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, and you apply that faith to forgiveness so that you are constantly forgiving your brothers, then the mulberry tree will obey your command. This is the power in the authority to forgive sins under the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins. However, after you have applied your faith to forgive your brothers and you can do miracles, do not be proud. You have only done your duty to your brothers in Christ under the covenant. Have you considered that it is important to believe that God will answer your prayers about your brothers and enemies, just like you believe that He will answer your prayers about your own needs? It is just as important, if not more, because of the covenant we live under. And in doing so, you have listened to Jesus and applied your faith to honour His words.

The Father had called the disciples “perverse” in Matthew 17.17 because they were unforgiving. The opposite of perverseness is blamelessness.^[129] So, perverseness is also blamefulness, which is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness comes from self-righteousness, which comes from pride. Pride gives rise to bitterness through unforgiveness, which poisons everything you do and say, leading to perverseness. When the disciples argued about who was greatest among them in Mark 9.34, they were perverse in God’s sight because they were boasting and blaming.^[130]

3. The third building block to the Law of Faith is Mark 11.22-26. Here our Teacher teaches us who to believe in, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your sins.” Here Jesus further linked faith in God with forgiveness. Jesus taught that when we pray, we must forgive the sins of those we hold anything against, and have faith that the Father will forgive our sins. Do not doubt this truth: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”^[131] Do you see the relationship between faith and forgiveness now? Do you understand that we have not applied our faith correctly, but selfishly? This is why it is so important to listen to Jesus and seek the full counsel of the word of God. Otherwise, you risk isolating a few verses and taking Jesus’ words out of the context of the covenant you live under. This is how we violate the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sin and go off on a tangent. And this is why there are denominations in the body of Christ under the covenant. We forgot that forgiveness is our primary duty under the covenant.

4. The fourth building block is John 14.12-14: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask for anything in My Name, and I will do it.” Here, Jesus taught us to have faith in Him. He is the Son of God and the Son of Man - the Alpha and the Omega. This means unbroken faith in Jesus. It includes His whole Person as God’s one and only Son, all His words and testimonies, and all the plans concerning Him, including the testimonies of the holy angels about Him. Unbroken - complete - resilient faith in Jesus, not in God, will result in you doing the same things He has been doing, and the greater things, so that He may bring glory to the Father through you. Whereas faith in God will move mountains and increase your faith. But merely doing your basic duty does not honour your Father. It only warrants you as an unworthy servant in God’s sight.

Is there a difference between faith in God and faith in Jesus, you ask? How many times have you preached the Gospel or the Father’s command to listen to Jesus, and you get the fuzzy reply, “Yes, I believe in God,” or “Yes, I go to church”? And you think, “But I wasn’t talking about God or church, I was talking about your relationship with Jesus.” What we profess reveals what our hearts are full of and whom our minds think of. People skim over details and miss the point. The point is always who we are called to be in Christ for the Father’s glory.

If you can accept that there is a difference between a mustard seed of faith in God and faith in Jesus and that they bring different results, then understand that Mark 11.22-26 is the Law of Faith in the Kingdom of Heaven (the kingdom of faith). John 14.12-14 is the Law of Faith in the Kingdom of God (the kingdom of power).

Have you been listening to Jesus carefully? If you have, you would not mix up the two parables in Matthew 13.31-32 and Mark 4.30-31 just because they both refer to mustards seeds and trees. The parable in Matthew 13.31-32 refers to the Kingdom of Heaven: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

The parable in Mark 4.30-31 refers to the Kingdom of God: “What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Jesus used the size of the mustard seed to show that both kingdoms begin with a drop of faith, and they both grow into beautiful big trees. But the comparison of the mustard seed for both parables does not mean that they are the same tree. Since they are not the same tree, then they are not the same kingdom. Kingdom of Heaven is not the Kingdom of God, and vice versa. It is two distinctively separate kingdoms. Just like North America is not the same continent as South America.

The Kingdom of God is figuratively the kingdom of power that manifests the full power of the Holy Spirit with the full authority of Jesus.^[132] It begins with a mustard seed of faith in Jesus, not faith in God. Because we cannot come to Jesus unless the Father draws us,^[133] so that we may come to know Him and the Father, the only true God, through listening to Jesus and the counsel of the Holy Spirit.

Notice the way the Lord responded to the apostles’ exclamation to increase their faith with the parable of the servant. Jesus was teaching the disciples to acknowledge their true position to fulfil their duty as servants of the Most High God. It is not just faith that has to be increased, but knowledge too. But you will never step into the knowledge of the glory of the Lord if you do not first have faith. You can diligently study the Scriptures till pigs fly, but you still have to come to Jesus for eternal life, and this requires faith for as long as He is not here on Earth in the flesh. Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.^[134]

It is not faith that makes the small seed grow into a big tree. It is the knowledge of the truth of His words manifesting in power that makes the tree grow. The seed is no more, because when the knowledge of truth comes in power, faith disappears. Let us look deeper into the Laws of Faith because Jesus asked us, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth, and how many will He find on the Earth who have faith?”^[135]

Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 11.22-26)

The two elements in the Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven are forgiveness and belief. Both come from the heart, not the mind. Remember Jesus told us in Mark 11.23 not to doubt in our heart and He said the disciples were “slow of heart to believe” in Luke 24.25. He also taught us to forgive our brothers from the heart in Matthew 18.35.

The Law of Faith of the Kingdom of Heaven is Mark 11.22-26: “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your sins.”

So why did Jesus say that from the time John the Baptist began preaching, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing and suffers violence because violent men lay hold of it?^[136]

It means that since the time John Baptist preached the message of repentance until even today, those who have faith in God, regardless of the umbrella of religion which they profess to belong, do not apply their faith in God to forgive others. They do not apply their faith that God would answer their prayers of forgiveness. And they do not apply their faith to come to know God as God the Forgiver, who enjoys forgiveness.

Men’s unforgiveness has caused the Kingdom of Heaven to suffer violence. This violence refers to physical violence that comes by unforgiveness and vengefulness, even committing murder in their heart. For Jesus linked murderous thoughts with forgiveness in His teachings in Matthew 5.21-26. The prescribed way of the Kingdom of Heaven is not faith in God in one hand, and unforgiveness in the other. Violence also means taking or doing something by force because of division. This means that the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered unforgiveness due to violent men.

However, Jesus said about the Kingdom of God, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the Good News of the Kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it, and strives violently to go in.”^[137]

The violent striving in the Kingdom of God^[138] is the division in the church of Jesus Christ because those who profess to have faith in Him reject the way given by the Father in His command to the disciples of the New Covenant: “This is My Son…Listen to Him.” Just like the priests of Israel who profaned the sanctuary and did violence to the law by failing to obey and uphold the Law of Moses for those who were under that covenant.^[139]

The violence or division comes from within the church of Jesus Christ where some follow Paul, some follow Cephas, some follow James, and some follow Jesus with partial Levitical Law, each enforcing their own way rather than Jesus’ way. Jesus’ word is law. This denotes the authority of His word, which also means that disobedience of His words carries consequences. Only we never saw His word as law because we did not listen at the standard to which are called. Believers and disciples of Jesus Christ are called to hold onto His teachings and obey His commands under the New Covenant.^[140] This is the Law of Jesus. It is about believing, obeying and living all His words, for His law is the way, the truth and life. It is time to stop the idolatry of the Levitical Law in the church of Jesus Christ. We are to follow Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and obey the Law of Jesus, which is the way, the truth and the life in Christ. Yet at the same time, we are to uphold the Levitical Law for those who remain under that law.

Without forgiveness, there is no unity. If there is unity, there would be no division. If there is no division, there would be no need for violence. And if there is no violence, the peace of God will flow.

We cannot be a peacemaker making peace for God unless we are careful and faithful listeners of Jesus. Only the Son and the Holy Spirit know the Father and what everlasting peace with the Father is, rather than peace with the world, which comes to a certain end. Only Jesus and the Holy Spirit can educate you on how to be a son or a daughter to the Most High God. Jesus is the Firstborn Son who received the hardest teachings from the Father and He sent us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship, to counsel us in His path of righteousness. Jesus paved the way for man because we fell away from the original plans of God, so that we may fulfil and testify to His words, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.^[141] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”^[142] Are you interested in making peace for your Father, Brother and Lord? If so, fall behind Jesus and start listening to Him with care. This leads us into the Kingdom of God.

Law of Faith of the Kingdom of God (John 14.12-14)

The two elements in the Law of Faith of the Kingdom of God are the powerful combination of Jesus’ declaration, “I tell you the truth,” and our unbroken faith in Jesus, who is the Truth. The practice of the Law of Faith involves actions and words that result in the Son’s glorification of the Father. Jesus said in John 14.12-14, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My Name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My Name, and I will do it.”

Why is the distinction relevant? Why should we care that there is a Law of Faith that applies to the Kingdom of Heaven, and a Law of Faith that applies to the Kingdom of God?

Simply this: We need to know which kingdom we are establishing when we exercise our faith. This is part of our testimony of Jesus and our work as disciples serving in the kingdoms of our God. You need to know which kingdom you belong to and which kingdom you serve. Because though both these kingdoms belong to God, there are differences. Otherwise Jesus would not teach two separate kingdoms by way of different parables. If you thought the two kingdoms are the same, it is because you have not listened to Jesus carefully. It is up to you to carefully read Jesus’ words in the parables and search out their meanings by crying out to the Holy Spirit for understanding. Our authority comes from above because knowledge and understanding come from the Holy Spirit who lives in us and takes what belong to Jesus and makes it known to us. The Laws of Faith are about the seed. The seed is the alpha. Coming to believe and know God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, starts with faith. The omega will be revealed to us as the alpha seed begins to bear fruit for God.

It is also important to know that the Kingdom of Heaven will be “absorbed” into the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God will never pass away. Jesus said Heaven and Earth will pass away but His words will never pass away.^[143] We don’t settle in faith, we settle in truth because we exercise our faith to acquire the knowledge of the truth of Jesus’ words. If you settle in faith, you will never grow and mature in the stature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. The Kingdom of Heaven will be “absorbed” when all that needs to be salvaged and used to glorify God is fully achieved at the Great White Throne judgment. If we want to look at it in worldly terms, it is kind of like mergers and acquisitions. The parent company is the Kingdom of God.

We understand now that forgiving our brothers and enemies, and exercising our faith for the impossible, such as moving mountains, establishes the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts by our faith in God. Moving mountains is a parable of God doing the impossible for us, for what mere man can move a mountain by his own might?

But the Kingdom of God is established by putting our unbroken faith in all of Jesus, by what we ask for in His Name and by our practice of doing what Jesus did and the greater things. Jesus said that He can bring glory to the Father by doing whatever we ask in His Name. Jesus has included us in this circle of love if only we would participate in strict adherence to His words. But apparent as it is, and this is worth saying: Just because we are able to do the greater things does not mean we are greater than our Teacher. A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.^[144] We are like Jesus when we stand with Him to unconditionally love and glorify the Father as sons and daughters who are also God’s faithful and true witnesses. The Holy Spirit will counsel us in finding the specific greater things to practise and succeed unto victorious justice for Jesus.

However, consider what Jesus meant by “greater things”. Do our minds automatically think of grand displays of power, worldly glamour and instant success? Perhaps, but remember what is valued by men is detestable in God’s eyes. Listen to Jesus: “Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”^[145]

The greater things are done by the least among us due to the ability to humble themselves in willing loving obedience like a little child, and doing all the things to increase their service as kings and lords of the Most High God out of love for God their Father, Brother and Lord. The greater things call for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. They also call for understanding and knowledge of God. It is precious and a true treasure, for coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is eternal life. The greater things may even look wrong or stupid to the world, just as the cross of Jesus looks weak and irrelevant to some people. But looks can be deceiving.

If we do not share in the Lord’s sufferings by carrying our own daily cross, we will not bear the fruits of patient endurance and faithfulness. We will not be entitled to share in His glory as children of God and we will not get the chance to honour God as His children. We are the heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ in His kingdoms and on His throne of grace. And we are only entitled to be co-heirs with Christ in His Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God because of His loving-kindness, enormous generosity, grace and mercy.

The purpose of learning about the Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God in their distinctions and commonality is to know which kingdom you belong to, for they are not one and the same. Ultimately, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.^[146] Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life, will not hand over the kingdoms to His Father in shattered pieces or when the enemy still has his mark on them. To understand the differences is to understand why the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of Heaven went off in a tangent in the first place. But Jesus did come to save all that was lost to bring everything under His feet and to ultimately make Himself subject to the Father so that God may be all in all.

Grace and mercy

What is grace? It is the suspension of the application of a law so that we will not perish, but will live.

What is mercy? It is the suspension of judgment so that we will not perish, but will live.

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God! In God’s freedom, He delivered Israel from Egypt. He complied with Israel’s demands and appointed Saul as their king. He dethroned Saul, the first king, and gave Israel a second king. He forgave David, the second king, and promised him an enduring kingdom. He then split the kingdom into two when Israel rebelled. Yet He still kept His promise to David through Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God and the Son of David.

And this is why He is God and why we love Him so much. In all of God’s freedom and despite the heartaches we have caused Him through the ages, He still chooses grace because He knows His purpose must stand. The Father applies His wisdom in such amazing grace that ultimately, and no doubt about it, His purpose does stand forever because only He is good.

God, our Father, our Brother and our Lord - in Their universes and eternities of unlimited complete abundant perfect freedom - still choose to be full of grace to us all the time, every time, without fail, without injustice, without weakness and without compare. Now that is amazing and it is why grace is amazing. In all His freedom to do whatever He pleases, God chooses grace. This is the righteousness of our God. So why shouldn’t salvation come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ? For as our brother Paul preaches, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”^[147]

How can anyone say salvation is by deeds? There is nothing we can do or say that will access the treasure of God’s grace, except by simply believing in His Son, Jesus. Dear unbelievers and believers who disbelieve, it is so simple and righteous. Just believe in the Name of God’s one and only Son because only His Name has the power to save, condemn and protect you.

God is righteous in His perfect grace. He is Justice in His perfection of judgment. Justice and righteousness are the foundation of His throne that endures forever. Long live our King in glory and honour!

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

The glory of the temple of the Holy Spirit is love driving the unity of faith, purpose and knowledge of the Son of God in the body of Christ, where believers and disciples are one as the Father and Jesus are One. How do we ensure that when Jesus returns, He will find faith in the body of Christ, and not decay, death and doubts because of our unbelief in the fullness of His words to Martha in John 11.25-26: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” How would Jesus find ones with faith in John 11.26 if most within the church are focussed on going to Heaven and are only interested in testifying to John 11.25? By our attitude and actions, we make Jesus out to be a liar if there is no one who lives and believes in Him and never dies.

A common mistake - much like the apple being depicted as the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - is the pearly gates of Heaven. Where does the Bible say that there are gates of pearl in Heaven? The word clearly records the testimony of the apostle John in Revelation 21.21 that the twelve gates, each gate made of a single pearl, are in New Jerusalem on New Earth. Have we even mixed up Heaven with New Jerusalem like we have mixed up Hell with the Lake of Sulphur? This is not misunderstanding of the word of God. It is negligence.

New Jerusalem does not have a temple. John stated that he did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple. There will be a new physical temple for the Millennium, but what of the spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit on Earth now?

Consider the words of the apostle Paul when he asked the church in Corinth and those sanctified and called to be holy together with all those everywhere who call on the Name of Jesus: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple^[148] … Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”^[149]

What is a temple of the Holy Spirit? What is the Lord’s purpose in giving the revelation to Paul, besides disciplining the Corinthian church that had become divided with denominations,^[150] sexual immorality^[151] and litigation amongst brothers^[152]?

What do we understand about the temple of the Holy Spirit? And please, let us go beyond the shallow understanding of “It is the body of Christ” and the elementary teaching of avoiding sin to achieve holiness. First of all, it is impossible to avoid sinning due to our very nature. The practice of sin avoidance rarely leads to continuous repentance. We were never meant to practise avoiding sin, but to repent of our sins and to master sin^[153] so that sin has no hold over us. Jesus taught us in the combined teachings of Matthew 5.43-48 and Luke 6.27-36 that perfection and mercy does not come by avoiding sin, but from love of our enemies in the prescribed way.

Secondly, true holiness is not a matter of eating, talking and drinking. True holiness for a disciple is complete separation unto Jesus that you live for Him alone, you listen to Him alone, you talk like Him alone and you love your fellow disciples as Jesus loved you.

A holy person is not necessarily someone who goes to church, dresses a special way or speaks in a certain way. A holy person is someone who would do anything and go anywhere just to maximise glory, honour and pleasure for Jesus. A holy nation is a group of people who are not lazy or indifferent, but would passionately risk and sacrifice every treasure, exhaust their imaginations and leave no corners unturned because there is nothing that they wouldn’t do, if only it would maximise glory for the Lord. A holy people are fearless, except for the fear of the Lord and the dread that God’s enemies will taunt Him. And a holy people are mighty in their will to bring justice for Jesus.

A people that merely celebrate festivals, sing hymns, abstain from sex and pray to be raptured do not a holy nation make. A nation that looks so upright and pristine to the world does not mean that it is pleasing to God. It could be like a whitewashed tomb in God’s eyes, looking beautiful on the outside but on the inside is full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.^[154] Consider how wrong it looked for the Son of God to be chosen over a notorious prisoner to be nailed on a splintered wooden cross like a common criminal - yet Jesus was being holy unto the Father. Consider how wrong it would seem for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all people, clean and unclean^[155] - yet the Holy Spirit was being holy unto God. Consider how inappropriate and immoral it looked to the disciples of Jesus when Mary, sister of Martha, poured perfume on Jesus - yet Mary was holy unto Jesus, and so she did a beautiful thing to Him.

Let me tell you, if you perceive that there is nothing you wouldn’t do, nowhere you wouldn’t go and no word of Jesus you wouldn’t practise, even to contemplating giving up even your eternity just so God would be exalted and honoured a bit more, then you have imitated Jesus and the Holy Spirit in Their worship of the Father. Because the Lord, the Lord and the Lord are jealous for Each Other and They long to see Each Other honoured and glorified.

Do I dare to challenge you to go the extra mile, or at least think about it? Would you say to the Lord, “Here I am, send me,” if He needs a volunteer to be the false prophet, knowing full well that your judgment would be the Lake of Sulphur? And if you were sitting in the bottom of the Lake, being tormented night and day, would you still praise His Holy Name and sing of His justice? Would you still love Him if you could never see His face again? It doesn’t take a big mouth to be a champion for God, only a drop of courage to quietly desire it in your heart - a soft note heard by God alone, and played only in His heart.

In truth, the temple of the Holy Spirit is not about sexual morality or wisdom. The temple of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit’s place of worship of Jesus and the Father - where God the Holy Spirit, who is on Earth, may worship God the Son and God the Father who are in Heaven. And the Holy Spirit does this through us because He lives in us and is with us, and we testify with Him about Jesus. Or did we think that everything the Holy Spirit does revolves around us? Was He only sent to make our dreams come true and our lives more comfortable? Grow up!

The temple of the Holy Spirit is His place of worship. He worships the Father and Jesus through us when two or more are gathered in the Name of Jesus, and He moves in power so that Jesus’ words are proved true through us. Witness the Holy Spirit worshipping the Father and Jesus when we sing in our spirits and send love songs from our hearts to the throne in Heaven - when we practise the words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit backs us up with His power to demolish every argument and pretension that sets itself up against Jesus the Truth - and when He disciplines and refines us in preparation to receive our King, Jesus Christ, on Earth for the Millennium. The Holy Spirit loves to honour Jesus. That is why He hangs around us…

Everything that the Holy Spirit does in putting up with an insolent church; enduring all of our hearts’ murmurs of evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly, without complaints and without a shield against our evil nature; and protecting every plan of God ruined by our disobedience to the Father’s command to listen to Jesus, the Holy Spirit does because He loves Jesus and honours the Truth, who is Jesus.

The faithfulness of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son has nothing to do with us. We are here for the ride of a lifetime only because of the amazing grace and manifold wisdom of God. We have no place with the Holy Spirit unless our hearts are filled to the brim with the love of redemption and our will to glorify and honour Jesus; our ears are red from pressing them against the words of Jesus; and our minds are searching out ways so that things would always be marvellous for Jesus. We would not even have the Holy Spirit living with us and in us if the Father did not send the Holy Spirit to us from Himself, in Jesus’ Name.^[156]

The Holy Spirit loves the Father, and HeHe is focussed on giving all of Himself to glorify the Son. However, if you do not fully listen to Jesus and practise His words to the standard worthy of Jesus’ death on the cross, the Holy Spirit can still use you to glorify Jesus, for God is no fool. But He will never offer His loving-friendship when we are not in love with listening to Jesus and disdain the standard that we are called to practise Jesus’ words.

Who gives the Holy Spirit rest as He goes forth to convict the world in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment? Is it not meant to be us, the church? Do we give Him rest from a world that neither knows Him nor sees Him? Rather, aren’t we the ones who neither know Him nor see Him, and neither honour Him nor adore Him? Are you someone to whom the Holy Spirit can pour out His heart? And if He did, would you turn around and break it?

The temple of the Holy Spirit is not an imposing church building. That is just real estate that an earthquake can destroy. Nor is it the people within who gather like clockwork to worship the Lord with their traditions. The body of each disciple is a temple of the Holy Spirit.^[157] And the most holy place of that temple is in the hearts of those who have made themselves one in their unity for Jesus by the glory He gave them. Their unity is not only based on the fulfilment of Jesus’ command to love one another as He has loved them, but unity in commitment to help fulfil the Holy Spirit’s will to bring to pass all that the Father has imagined for the glory, honour, power, wealth, wisdom, strength, praise and all the delights, passions and pleasures of the age to come for His Son Jesus. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”^[158] Let us repent, amend our ways and doings. Let us listen to Jesus exclusively and practise His words diligently to bear abundant fruits, which the Holy Spirit would be proud to offer the Father.

Do our churches gather on Sundays with the sole intention of being the Holy Spirit’s place of rest and peace for a few hours? Grow up, all of us, and wake up to the fact that the church has neither respected nor honoured the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Honour. Repent! Stop being children who are distracted by petty problems, and face up to the fact that the church has not made herself ready or is fit to receive the One who is her King.

What have we been doing all this time? Everything from infighting about the date of Easter, having endless discussions about baptisms and contraception and judging one another; preaching about money and sending the children of God out to preach the Gospel like beggars without power. The church has grown to become an institution of political pull, financial prowess and mediocre entertainment, rather than what God had in mind. One of the purposes of the church was to be the temple of the Holy Spirit where He can worship God in peace. The church was called to be the witness of God worshiping God worshiping God. And what a privilege it would be! However we have done everything except listen to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, and we have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Hear the word of the Lord in Isaiah 1.13-14: “New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.” If you say these words only apply to the kingdom of Israel, then I will ask you one question. The authority to celebrate Christmas, was it from Heaven or men? If it originated from pagan celebrations, then why do we do it? And if it is from Heaven, then why do we let a fictitious character called Santa Claus share centre stage with our Jesus? Should religious leaders wear a red Santa hat and dub Christmas as a time for gifts? Is it too pedantic for me to ask, or has the church become so lost it cannot differentiate the head of the church, who is Christ, from the tail of the lying serpent? Have the churches learnt how to honour Jesus, the Truth of God? What an unbelieving and perverse generation! How does the Holy Spirit put up with us? Praise be to Him! In any event, did Jesus teach us to celebrate or commemorate His birth? Rather, did He not teach us to eat His flesh and drink His blood in remembrance of Him?^[159]

The church has grieved the Spirit of our Father and our Saviour, so now what does God have here? A continuous mess wherein the Holy Ghost has to work overtime to make us fit for the reception of our King. If we do not get with the Holy Spirit’s program, He will move us out of the way and the kingdom will be given to ones who will produce its fruits. So watch out. The church is not indestructible, and no servant in the Kingdom of God is infallible. When we say an eagle is over the house of the Lord, what kind of blessing do you understand it to be? Do you think of prosperity and good times? An eagle is a bird of prey. It means that the Holy Spirit is watching closely to remove those who are a stumbling block to Him. Read the words of the Lord in Hosea 8.1 carefully: “An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken My covenant and rebelled against My law.”

How do we break the Covenant for the Forgiveness of Sins? When we fail to preach repentance and ourselves fall short of the practice of continuous repentance, and when we fail to forgive those who sin against us, for then the Father will not forgive us our sins.^[160] And how do we rebel against His law, the perfect single law to listen to Jesus? When we fail to listen to Jesus by the standard we are called, but instead listen to and store up in our hearts all sorts of garbage that come in the guise of wisdom or tradition. Chuck it all out! Go back to listening to Jesus and putting all His words into practice.

Therefore be earnest and repent! For we, the church, have grieved the Holy Spirit. We have not made an alliance with Him, nor asked and listened to what He wants done for Jesus. Instead, haven’t we been forcing our plans and agendas, and at best, our good intentions, upon Him, our Lord? Therefore, be earnest and repent!

The pleasure of faith

Hebrews 11.6 writes: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

The Father’s pleasure in faith lies in His delight in the beauty of innocence and the boundless imagination of a child. It is the innocence that comes by first accepting, and then seeking knowledge to expand the initial drop of understanding that bore fruit in a good and noble heart. It is a willingness to throw away what you thought was right and righteous. It comes from your humility and trust in God that He alone is good.

If anyone accuses you of your faith being blind, tell them your testimonies about Jesus and the word of God. Your testimony is all the “small” and “big” things that you have experienced in your flesh and mind, and witnessed with your eyes and heart regarding Jesus and the word of God. Your testimony is your treasure, for it is unique to you and the Lord, and no one can take it away from you. No one person has the same testimony about their relationship with Jesus and His word. It is your personal reminder that your faith is not blind, and that you did not arrive to Jesus suddenly without walking the road that was intricately designed by the Father and brought to fruition by the Holy Spirit. Faith is not blind as some say. Faith is personal.

All humans have faith and are capable of having faith. It takes faith even to be an atheist. An atheist believes that God doesn’t exist. A friend said to me that he does not believe in Jesus because he does not want to pick a side. He wanted to remain a free agent of faith. In truth, when you do not believe in the Name of Jesus, you have already picked your side. The side of John 3.18: “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God’s one and only Son.”

Condemnation is not about scaring people about Hell. Jesus said in John 3.16 that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. He did not say that whoever believes shall go to Heaven. Condemnation is not about Hell, it is the lack of eternal life. Eternal life is the knowledge of God, for Jesus said that eternal life is coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.^[161] When we choose to place our faith outside of God and Jesus, we effectively pronounce that we are better than God. We speak by action that we do not need Jesus, nor need to believe the all of Him. In truth, we all need God just as we need a Saviour, but many are too proud and ungrateful to admit it. But have faith in the Father who draws us to Jesus. We only need to respond to the Father’s call.

Faith is a two-way street. There is one who invests his faith, and another in which faith is invested. God’s pleasure in faith is the delight of innocence and imagination. Our pleasure in faith is simply, freedom.

Once you have faith in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in the Father, in Their words and Their deeds, Their plans, Their love, grace and mercy, in Heaven and Hell, in eternal life and condemnation, the first and second resurrection, the Millennium, His bride New Jerusalem, Justice, His opera, His grand design, His Creation, His glory, your future with Them and everything you have chosen to believe and accept as truth without compromising a syllable of God’s words, you are free. You are free to live and dream and imagine. You are free to imagine how we were meant to live on this Earth and how Jesus is going to “show us how it’s done” in the Millennium.

You have freed yourself from all the bondages and chains of this world, the words of men, the doctrines that have nothing to do with listening to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the unforgiveness and bitterness, the lack, the boredom and the mundane, the uncertainties, the diseases, the famines, death and everything that God did not have in mind for His Creation. Nothing is impossible for God. And as long as you are in God and for God, nothing is impossible for you who seek to worship the Father in spirit and in truth and to honour the One who gave you life. Faith is the alpha step into your freedom in and with Christ. You are free because the Son has set you free. The T/truth has set you free. So to go back to the slavery of this world is like crucifying Jesus all over again. That does not bring justice to Jesus.

It is freedom to live a life of miracles in abundance where the world finally has no hold over you or a place in your heart. It is freedom to love your life, because at last the Holy Spirit has found a listener of Jesus whom He can entrust with His power so as to put the final touches on the preparations for the return of His Christ, and to whom He can reveal the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God. It is freedom to imagine doing the greater things so God can bring glory to Jesus who left us the greater things to do after He has done the greatest thing. It is freedom to make every dream of the Holy Spirit for Jesus come true. Actually, the greatest treasure for us is not even about bringing Jesus back or preparing the world for His return. It is simply our freedom in coming to know and understand the Father, the Son and the Spirit. It is a treasure to be Their witnesses that we may know and believe Them, and understand that They are God.

Freedom is the total absence of fear. It is glorious, beautiful, amazing, gracious freedom, and it will change you.

We did nothing to deserve such freedom, so let us make sure that God is rewarded and blessed by the fruit of our freedom. For when we decide by faith that there is nothing we wouldn’t do and nowhere we wouldn’t go just to glorify and honour the Lord a bit more, just to make one more iota of the imaginings of God come true, just to bring more justice to Jesus so that it may be complete, then we have freed God. We have given Him complete freedom in our lives, present and eternal, that everything about us is not as we will, but as He wills. He does not have to “tip-toe” around us anymore. He can truly do and say as He pleases with full knowledge that we are with Him heart and soul.

Can you imagine what pleasure it would give the Father to have listening and practising churches that are zealous to glorify Jesus and exalt the Holy Spirit? I tell you, they are ones who are after His own heart, and He will say concerning them, “Since you are precious and honoured in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.”^[162] And after you have achieved all that the Lord has accomplished for you, would you exchange your glory so that your brothers and sisters may stand in your place and receive your due reward?

So be bold, innocent and imaginative like a child. Take Jesus at His word. Do not be afraid. Just believe all that the Lord has intended for you to believe, whether you fully understand the purpose, whether it makes sense, or seems too good to be true. God is so good He is perfect. And He is true. It is perfectly alright to put all your trust in the Lord even though you may have been hurt or disappointed before. It is perfectly alright to fall into the arms of your Saviour, for He will catch you. You can completely trust the Lord in all His ways for one sole reason: He is your Father - He is your Brother and He is your Lord. What other reasons are there? Who else are you seeking?

So when the Son of Man returns to Earth, will He find faith and many with faith, and will He enjoy the honour you give Him? It may be that a prophet is without honour in his hometown and in his own house. But let it be that our King will be fully honoured in His hometown, in His own household and on the whole Earth!

Amen Holy Spirit!

---

[1] Mark 8.17-21

[2] Matthew 28.7; Mark 16.7 in accordance with Jesus’ own words in Matthew 26.32; Mark 14.28: “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

[3] Isaiah 26.10

[4] Jesus said in Matthew 10.23, “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” But the apostles’ disobedience to His command to flee when persecution came in Acts 8.1 prevented the fulfilment of this truth at its proper time. This disobedience stemmed from their failure to carry out the Father’s command to listen to His Son.

[5] John 15.18-19

[6] John 14.12: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

[7] 1 Corinthians 3.1-3

[8] Hebrews 5.11-14

[9] John 16.12

[10] John 4.50: The royal official took Jesus at His word and departed.

[11] Luke 6.35-37

[12] John 21.22

[13] Luke 24.46-47

^[14] Luke 24.48-49

[15] Acts 1.8

[16] Mark 16.15-18

[17] Matthew 28.18-20

[18] Ezekiel 37.26

[19] John 14.27

[20] Romans 10.17

[21] John 16.8-9

[22] Mark 4.24

[23] Luke 8.18

[24] Hebrews 7.22

[25] Isaiah 61.8; Revelation 19.11

[26] Jeremiah 17.10

[27] Hosea 6.6

[28] Exodus 33.19

[29] Psalm 89.14

[30] Romans 12.2

[31] John 14.12

[32] Job 1.9-11: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

[33] Genesis 11.6: “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

[34] 2 Thessalonians 2.7

[35] Revelation 8.8, 11

[36] John 8.31

[37] John 14.15, 21, 23

[38] John 12.31

[39] Zephaniah 3.8-9

[40] Joel 2.28 KJV

[41] John 14.17

[42] Matthew 3.11; Luke 3.16 NLT subtext: “He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.”

[43] Genesis 1.1

[44] John 1.3

[45] Genesis 1.25, 31

[46] Proverbs 30.4

[47] John 3.13

[48] John 1.2

[49] John 1.1

[50] Proverbs 30.4

[51] Isaiah 9.6

[52] John 3.8

[53] Job 38.28

[54] Job 38.25

[55] Mark 4.41

[56] Job 28.25

[57] Psalm 107.29

[58] Job 38.22

[59] Job 38.35

[60] Psalm 148.8

[61] Job 38.34

[62] Job 40.9

[63] Job 26.14

[64] Job 37.5

[65] Proverbs 2.3

[66] John 16.13

[67] Amos 4.13

[68] Job 28.28 NASB

[69] Isaiah 55.9-11

[70] John 6.63 and footnote a

[71] Psalm 135.6-7

[72] Exodus 34.6-7

[73] Exodus 33.19

[74] Nahum 1.3

[75] Isaiah 64.6

[76] Hosea 12.1

[77] Jonah 1.12

[78] Ezekiel 13.13

[79] Jeremiah 4.11-12

[80] Jeremiah 4.22

[81] Jeremiah 6.13-14

[82] Isaiah 29.13 NASB

[83] Jeremiah 9.8-9

[84] 1 Samuel 2.10

[85] Zechariah 4.6

[86] Luke 11.23

[87] Ezekiel 21.28

[88] “Them” here in Revelation 2.16 means those who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans have their origins in Acts 6.5 when the twelve delegated their responsibilities of service to the widows to the seven. It was not written that the twelve chose the seven by consultation with the Holy Spirit. One of the seven was Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. Question is, what was a convert to Judaism doing in the front line of the work of the disciples’ of Jesus Christ?

[89] Revelation 2.16

[90] Isaiah 33.10

[91] Isaiah 33.13

[92] Isaiah 28.17

[93] Isaiah 29.6

[94] Job 36.33

[95] 1 Samuel 2.10

[96] Joel 2.2, 11

[97] Luke 6.47-48

[98] Zephaniah 1.14

[99] Ezekiel 30.3

[100] Zephaniah 1.18

[101] Luke 21.19

[102] Matthew 7.26-27

[103] Jeremiah 25.32

[104] Ezekiel 27.26

[105] Luke 17.24 NASB

[106] Matthew 24.27

[107] Matthew 24.30-31

[108] Zechariah 14.5

[109] 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17

[110] Joel 2.12

[111] Ezekiel 18.23

[112] Ezekiel 18.30-32

[113] Revelation 3.1-3

[114] Revelation 22.12

[115] Matthew 7.21

[116] Hosea 6.3

[117] John 4.14

[118] John 17.3

[119] John 3.16-18

[120] Luke 21.28

[121] Isaiah 7.9

[122] Nehemiah 9.5

[123] John 14.12

[124] Hebrews 11.1

[125] Hebrews 11.1 NASB

[126] John 20.29

[127] John 15.26; Isaiah 11.2; Ephesians 1.17

[128] Matthew 17.20

[129] Proverbs 11.20; 28.18

[130] To boast is to build yourself as the greatest, this comes from pride. To blame is to degrade or demean someone else due to their faults or errors, which comes from unforgiveness.

[131] Luke 6.37

[132] Matthew 12.28: “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.”

[133] John 6.44

[134] John 10.1

[135] Luke 18.8 NIV / NLT

[136] Matthew 11.12

[137] Luke 16.16 NIV / AMP

[138] Luke 16.16 AMP / NIV

[139] Zephaniah 3.4

[140] Matthew 28.20; John 14.15-21, 23-24; 15.10

[141] Matthew 5.5

[142] Matthew 5.9

[143] Matthew 24.35; Mark 13.13; Luke 21.33.

[144] Matthew 10.24

[145] Luke 22.26-27

[146] 1 Corinthians 15.24-26

[147] Ephesians 2.8-9

[148] 1 Corinthians 3.16-17

[149] 1 Corinthians 6.19

[150] 1 Corinthians 1.11-13

[151] 1 Corinthians 5.1

[152] 1 Corinthians 6.6

[153] Matthew 4.17; Mark 1.15; Genesis 4.7

[154] Matthew 23.27

[155] Joel 2.28

[156] John 14.26; 15.26

[157] 1 Corinthians 6.19

[158] Jeremiah 7.4

[159] Luke 22.19

[160] Matthew 6.14-15; Mark 11.25

[161] John 17.3

[162] Isaiah 43.4