The Season of Bigness

We are living, like never before, in the season of bigness. Not greatness but bigness. It is a plague that affects so many that are trapped in a 3D illusion. All over the place we see people looking for big things; big houses, big cars, big cities, big stores, big this and big that, and also… big churches. Some people that I know, they can’t be part of a small church. It just doesn’t work for them. There’s a mindset that many have developed and nurture it on a daily basis, that if it isn’t big, it’s not good, it is not great. For many, big is the symbol of good. And this mindset cancels any possible discernment to analyze, to find out, how good it really is in proportion to its… bigness. And that is; If there really is any possibility, if there really is any parametric equation that will show what measurements are required, what size, that will equal… good.

What many people don’t see, don’t get, is the fact that NOTHING in this entire world, starts big. Great things start small. Big churches started small. And for them to be big TODAY, somebody (many) paid the price of growth. For sure, in most cases, the price was always a high price. But they paid it and God honored it.

Big churches never started big.

Question: What is a big church? How can we describe or define a big church?
Answer: Big churches do not exist.

First of all we cannot define a church by the size of its building. The word church in the Greek is “ecclesia” which (in a very simple way) means “assembly”, an assembly of people, a group, more specifically, a congregation. So by this, the size of a building is irrelevant.

Now, what we really see is churches, congregations, with a small amount of people, others with a substantial amount of people and then we have others with a large amount of people. This is the only difference that we can find from one church to another - The amount of people. But if the concept and the purpose of a church changes by how many people it has, then we have a problem.

The church of Jesus Christ is many times (through biblical context) called; the Body of Christ, being He the head.  Now, the body is always subject to the head, which makes the head superior to the body. Many churches get so big that they become head and body. Here the ends don’t justify the means. It’s like going to a school and trying to analyze students’ knowledge by how big, how large or how tall they are.

This boils down to one thought.

From the beginning God always did great things with just a handful of people. He always moved forward with just a few. With only twelve Jesus changed the world.

We don’t need "big" churches (don’t get me wrong), what we need is committed people to do great things. As I said in the beginning, many are not comfortable in small churches. Small churches usually don’t have all the entertainment, all the programs, all the fascination, all the attractive features, etc. etc. Many go, because many are going. It’s an influential impulse. There is no purpose. At this point any result obtained has no effect. It is useless. Impulses die, but purposes, become goals that when active in the spiritual realm, impossible becomes possible. I say a lot of times that "if ten thousand people are doing the same exact thing, that doesn’t mean that thing is right".

Jesus compared His church to a bride. I’ve seen others comparing it with an umbrella, meaning that when you’re under it, you’re protected. Others have compared it with a hospital. I compare it with a table, where you go and you sit and you’re fed with the Word. The rest is irrelevant. This means that the size is not subject nor is it dependent of the purpose.

In Matthew 19:30 Jesus said... “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”  Then in chapter 20:16 He makes the final statement: “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.” 

Read "The Experience" about a small congregation with greatness. read now 

Principles to Overcome

I have a few devotionals around the house where I can pick a daily verse for every day of the month. Most of them also have a comment on the verse.

This morning I grabbed one, and the daily verse that I have known since I was a child, just popped up with high intensity like never before (Amazing how the Word of God is “new every morning”).

John 16:33  (NASB)

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

Here in this verse Jesus is giving the formula to overcome life’s struggles and vicissitudes, life’s storms. Peace is the key. There is nothing in this life that can turn you down, if peace is a constant. Peace is so powerful, so needed, so desired that the apostle Paul said to the Philippians (4:7) that the peace of God “transcends all understanding”. Other versions say; “exceeds”, “surpasses”, or, “goes beyond” (anything we can imagine).

Now… This peace we can only get it in Him, Jesus. For me (this morning) to get something from the kitchen, I need to be in the kitchen. I cannot get something from the kitchen if I’m in the living room. No matter how close I am. To have the peace that He said “in Me you have”, I have to BE IN Him. Not close, not at the door… in Him.

To be in Him and have access to His peace, we need a pass, a key, a springboard. That is, His Word. Notice how He said it. “these things I have spoken to you”. His Word is like a magnet that pulls us to Him, in Him, and in Him we get hold of His peace.

Before Jesus notified His disciples that times of trouble would come, first He gave them the good news (This is the perfect example for us to be careful on how we approach people with good and bad news). He gave them the good news first, then the bad, and then more good news. In other words, He gave them the bad news in a way that they could not be afraid, dismayed, or suffocated to the point of giving up at the starting point. Here we can see a very strong differential between life’s storms and peace.

See how Jesus put it (I can see the picture of Him talking to His disciples and moving from the left to the right in order to emphasize His message so that they could understand these principles).

He said; “in Me you have peace”. Then He moves to the right and says; “In the world you’ll have tribulations”. Now… He didn’t tell them “pick one”. NO. He made them aware of both. But He also, at the same time, prepared them for the bad days to come by telling them that before those days come… “you can have My peace”. And “if you get My peace NOW”, you’ll be prepared, you’ll be ready to face the storms of life that will come to turn you down, later.

If we carefully analyze Jesus’ statement, we can see that this protection, this armor, this… as David expressed himself in Psalm 91; “the secret place of the most High”, we can see and accept that God’s peace, has a double effect because… we can have it, and have it, in Him. No joke, huh?!

After this we see Jesus explaining that for them to take hold of these principles as lifesavers and not let it go, they needed to be courageous. In other words, Jesus was telling them to “hold on”, “keep your hands on the helm”, “don’t get distracted”, “don’t give up”.

Jesus knew for sure that just by saying this (take courage) sooner or later they would, someway, somehow, slip, get distracted and be suffocated by the afflictions and negative circumstances, storms, and has He said… tribulations, that He had to give them an anchor, a guaranty, something to hold on and be (as the apostle Paul said) more than conquerors.

Jesus told them (and told me this morning); “I have overcome the world”. What in reality Jesus was saying is that He did it for me. Now I have a reason to “hold on” and “not give up”. Because if I’m IN Him (in Him we live and in Him we have our being) I can overcome life’s storms. And He did it for me as a testimony that I can do it, in Him, through Him.

This is why (later) John said in his first letter (5:4,5); for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

We can see by this statement that John experienced how to overcome the world by being in Him. This is why he said; “for everyone born of God overcomes the world”.

Only when we are born of God are we in Christ, and in Christ, in Him… we overcome life’s storms.

Ignorance is a Killer

I was in my late teens when in my church’s bookstore there was a book that many where buying, but I can’t remember if I bought or not. If I did, I know for sure that I didn’t read it. It was written by the General Superintendent of my church’s denomination which I left in my late thirties. The title of the book was “My Friend Cancer”. It happened that he died of cancer. As I said, I know for sure that I never read the book. The title really didn’t impress me enough (this was in the late seventies). In those days many believers had this poor mentality nourished by the ignorant “theological doctrine” that God would give diseases to punish, correct, discipline, teach, humble, etc. etc.

I receive, probably once a week, an email from Godtube. It announces the most watched videos. A couple of days ago I got another one, and the video just dragged me thirty something years into the past. It was like a recap of some event that was lost in my memory. I just couldn’t believe that this “hell’s doctrine”, was taking control of a Christian’s life to the point of (like in the past) being part of his testimony as a believer.

I watched the video and it hurt so much the words of a thirty-two year old man from South Carolina, son of missionaries, met Jesus when he was five, went to Bible Seminary, working at a local church in the information technology field, married with three kids and life was going good till the moment that he was diagnosed with cancer. On May 16, 2010 he went home to be with the Lord. Before he passed away he made this video and here are some of his words:  

"God has a plan for my life. I know that God is in control. The Bible says in Matthew 7:11 that God gives good things to those who ask. God cannot give me a bad gift. And it is through that lens, I can say that cancer is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am a better husband and a better dad. A better boss and a better employee. A better friend and a better follower of Jesus. And through cancer, God has shown me some amazing things about himself. Those are indeed good gifts…

I am praying for God to heal me. That is my desire. I want to walk my daughter down the aisle. I want to watch my sons become men. I want to grow old with [my wife]. And I want to live my life with my friends at work. But I may not be able to work much longer. And I may have just celebrated my last Christmas with my family. This I do know, if God chooses to heal me, then God is God and God is good. If God chooses to not heal me and allows me to die, then God is still God and God is still good. To God be the glory".

From a very young age I’ve been concerned with people that don’t know God. The lost. But lately… like never before, I have this anguished feeling concerning the ones that know God, the ones that are saved, but are living as if… they were lost. And by this believer’s words we can see that in perspective. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of so many out there that know about God, but they don’t know God.

If God would want to correct, discipline, teach, punish us by sending, or even by allowing us to be sick, in that case, many of us, many many, would be sick from a very young age and many many, that are alive and in good health, would already be dead. One day a lady that was in the prayer line told the man of God that God had given her that infirmity to teach her something. The man of God asked her (in a very natural way) “are you taking any medicine?”. She answered, yes. He then replied to her… “naughty, naughty, naughty”, “if God wants you sick, why are you trying to get well”? Contrast, isn’t?

This young man said that God had a plan for him and that God was in control.

No question that God has a plan for our lives. How do we know this? In Jeremiah 29:11 God said: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Can’t be clearer, more specific. Notice that here God doesn’t mention any diseases inside His plans. And the plans that He has for us, He says that they are to prosper and NOT to HARM. Plans with a hope and a future. Is there any room here for diseases? NO!

One day, from the pulpit, a preacher was saying; “God is in control”! People got very excited and lifted up with such an astonishing message. At the end, a minister that listened to him, approached him and asked; “So… God is in control”? “Oh, yeah! God is in control” replied the preacher. “What is God in control of”? Asked the minister. “EVERYTHING”! Said the preacher. Then he continued saying; “Everything that happens was planned by God. The will of God is done on earth”. For a moment the minister talked to himself; “What a fabulous belief. So comforting. It removes the burden of decision making and God get’s blamed for everything that happens”. Then he looked the preacher in the eyes and asked him; “so… when a man rapes a girl, we cannot prosecute him because God is in control”. The preacher stared at him. He continued saying; “If someone breaks into your house… I’m sure you don’t use locks since God is in control… if someone breaks into your house, ‘God was in control’, so you don’t prosecute him, right”? The preacher’s response was… “I hadn’t thought about that”. The minister again talked to himself… ‘if you’d think twice, you would be the genius in your family’.

Is God really in control of everything? NO. God gave Adam the control (dominion) over all the earth. Adam lost it. He inadvertently gave Satan the keys. This is why Jesus in Revelation 1:18 said that; “I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”. This is why he said to Peter; “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven” (NLT). We, believers have the control through the resurrection power of Jesus. Other versions say that; “whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven".

When Jesus died on the cross, a big percentage of Christians have the knowledge that he died to redeem us from sin. Which is correct. But what many forget or don’t even acknowledge, is that He also died so that we may have the health of God, and we can be free from all curses. Through Isaiah 53:4 and Matthew 8:17 we come to the understanding and the belief that Jesus took Upon Himself Our Infirmities. Here a question comes on the surface (and many times I ask it when I have to pray for the sick). If Jesus took them, why do we have them? If I take something away from someone (whatever it might be) that person no longer has it... because I took it. Makes sense? One thing we know for sure. The Word says that He took them upon himself. This is why Isaiah (53:5) says that; “by His stripes we are healed”.

Here’s how different versions have translated it:

Possible versus Im-possible

Today, I sent out my periodical email on ministry updates to my partners and I always send them a devotional to uplift, to empower them for the week ahead. When I was writing it, a soft voice inside of me said: “Share this with others - post it on your blog”. I obeyed and here it is.

The Bible says that nothing is impossible for God and it also says that everything is possible for him who believes. When God sent Moses to speak with pharaoh, Moses asked God for a name so that he could tell pharaoh who sent him. So God told Moses "say that I AM sent you".

Now look again to the word im-possible: I-M-possible. Got it?! God was saying that "with Me, through Me, by Me... everything is possible”. God was saying…"I AM POSSIBLE"! I hope that you got this one. This is a perfect parallel with God’s name, “El Shaddai”, which means: “The All-Sufficient One”, or, as brother Hagin designates it (which I love it): “The God Who Is More Than Enough”.

Another way to look at the word impossible is by analyzing the difference with the word possible. What is the difference? Can you find it? The difference between impossible and possible is I am. Not God but “I”. Got it? “I” am the difference, “I” am the one that stands between the need and the miracle, “I” am the one that is blocking God's active power to operate. “I”, “my ego”, “my unbelief”, “my fears” and “my doubts”. If I substitute (get out of the way) "I am" with "I AM", the possible will take place in my life, in my needs in my dreams and in my goals. Got it now? I hope so, I pray so.

If you have been blessed by this truth, do what I did. Share it with others.

.

Environment That Works

According to Webster, environment is the circumstances or conditions by which one is surrounded. This definition is very clear, very specific and very common. No question that we all are subject to some kind of environment wherever we might be.
 
Many times we select our environment, other times we are subject to an environment. By selection or by subjection, we can be found in the wrong environment that will bring to our lives and our relatives (especially the ones subject to us), apathy, nostalgia, despair, pain, and if we don’t do anything about it, sickness and misery might take place.

Webster also defines environment as the act upon an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival. By this I understand that we all need to find our environment and be able to process with determination our way of life with fashion (form). This means that we need to select the place we live (city, neighborhood, street), where we work, with whom we associate and what church we attend. The best way to understand this is through the example that I use many times. If you take a fish out of water, he will die. Everybody knows this, right? But not everybody knows that if you put a fresh water fish in the ocean, he will die. And if you bring a fish from the ocean to a river, the same way, he will die. Now, if you bring a fish, for instance, from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, he will die. Why? Because he is not in his environment. Different waters, with different temperatures, different movements, different food, different light, etc. etc.

We need to select and change our environment in order to live the good life that God has planned for us. Look what happened to Adam when he was kicked out of his environment. He died. If you live in a bad neighborhood, get out of there! If you live in an area with high unemployment, move! If you work in a place where your personality, your behavior, your beliefs, your health, your honesty and your character are being affected, look for another job! If where you live is messing up with your children’s mind, attitudes, emotions and behavior, you need to make some changes no matter what.

Some people can live and will live in poor neighborhoods, because that’s their environment. Others can live and will live in cities or towns where there’s a high percentage of immorality, because that’s their environment. Some people have no problem to work in a place where there are a lot of schemes, lot of swearing, dishonesty and all kinds of irregularities that don’t dignify the purpose of a business, because they are in their own environment. Here I can think about the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12, where He says that; “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

Webster also defines environment as; the aggregate of social and cultural conditions that influence the life of an individual or community. In other words, for a healthy living to be a constant and have a presence in one’s life and his family, all conditions have to match. If you live in a great city but you hate your job, your environment is messed up and you’re not living with comfort, with happiness and joy. Another factor that is part of our environment is the people that we associate with, directly or indirectly, on a daily basis. They talk different, they think different, they act different and they behave differently and they are different because they are in their environment. When we find ourselves in this status quo, it is time to move on, no matter what.

When someone is in the wrong environment he’s in poverty. Benjamin Franklin once said that; “The best way to help the poor, is to make them uncomfortable in their poverty”. This quote from Franklin fits very well in this context. Franklin is saying that when we feel uncomfortable… we move – we get out of whatever the situation might be – we do something about it. And the reality is that when we feel too comfortable, we create a comfortable zone that will hinder us from pursuing our destiny.

Influences from the wrong environment can stop you from developing your vision towards your assignment for progress. You might live in a great city, in the best neighborhood, working in the place of your dreams and wherever you go you’re surrounded by people of integrity that match you, but… you’re attending a church where you go in empty and you come home empty. In other words, you’re not being fed with the Word of God. You might pick up some crumbs here and there, but that nutrition will never empower you to live (as I say many times) a life above average - the abundant life that Jesus promised to every believer in Him. Because in Him… “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

At this point, your environment is not perfect, it’s in jeopardy. Here you need to make some tough decisions. You need to upgrade your environment, you need to find the right church where you can receive the Word of God in its essence and be able to move on with your life, having the ability, God’s ability, to live the fullness of God’s promises, with joy. In Matthew 5:30 Jesus said that; “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell”. Here Jesus (in reference to this subject) is saying that there are times in our lives that we need to make some tough sacrifices in order to get to our goal. In order to reach the objective that our dreams (like Joseph) have presented to us as our future. Sometimes we get to comfortable with our environment, we stagnate. If you have a big dream, whatever it takes, whatever you need to cut off, you have to do it, to succeed. And like Jesus said, to be “more profitable”. 

At first sight Joseph was in a good environment. But in reality he had more enemies than friends. His dreams presented to him something big that he himself could not understand it. He was brought to a new environment that with some sacrifices here and there (some cuts) got him to the ultimate stage of his dreams. In reality, what he went through, were necessary transitions. Each factor was simply adjustments to his new environment where he settled in victory. So, whatever needs to be done, let’s do it. If your dreams don’t come true where you are now, that’s a perfect sign that you’re in the wrong environment. That’s a wakeup call for new beginnings. It is time to move on. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that; there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven (NIV).

Knowing God's Presence

Lately I’ve been very disappointed when people of God get together and His presence is “confirmed” through emotions of the flesh. I understand that this is a very heavy statement. Please understand that the weight of this statement is created by the pressure of the spiritual misconceptions that are flowing in so many churches where the presence of God should be real, instead, the flesh takes control and at the same time it “reveals” an unrealistic presence of the Spirit of God. Why does this happen? Why do Christians misinterpret God’s presence through their own emotions? 

Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been able to recognize God’s presence and decipher the camouflaged astuteness of the flesh powered by emotions. Sometimes it happens that a superficial parallel is shaped and it creates a spiritual fog. In other words, it looks like it… but it’s not. Here, the threshold of consciousness activates reason to the enigmatic interpretation, and what “should be” is suffocated by, what “took place” . 

What I mean with this, is the fact that we cannot rely on assumptions of the flesh. We need to have a true experience of God’s presence and not stay at the threshold of that presence. At this point, if a believer doesn’t have a true experience of God’s presence in his life, if he’s never been in God’s presence, the desire and the need (of His presence) can be mislead by the flesh. The reason many believers fall in this area has to do with the simple reason of not knowing what the presence of God is. In other words, if a believer has never been in God’s presence, if a believer never experienced the presence of the Spirit of God in its essence, any emotional moment above its normal, above the average emotional feelings of joy, happiness, love and fullness, can trigger a similarity of God’s presence that many don’t have the possibility to decipher.
 
The fact is that, this happens to be a good feeling, acceptable, and many Christians, many churches, don’t have the power to tear the veil of ignorance and enter into His presence. The unreal suffocates the real. The natural puts on the mask of the super-natural. It looks so real that there’s no reason to seek more. The acme of His glory has been apparently reached. 

This is why we see so many stagnant churches where believers are beggars of God’s favor instead of heirs of His richness. They let the Devil categorize them as “poor little Christians”, subject to his manipulations. They become dominated when in reality they should be, dominators. Christians need to be conscious that they are a spirit, that has a soul and lives (temporarily) inside a body. God Is a spirit. This is way Jesus (John 4:24) said that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. There’s no flesh mentioned here. Then in Romans 8:9 the apostle Paul states that, “you are not in the flesh but in the spirit”. Bottom line is that God doesn’t do anything with our bodies (we do), He doesn’t do anything with our soul (we do), God only communicates with our spirit. (This is a small thread of the seminar “The Threefold Nature of Men”)

To God Be The Glory

It is a great pleasure and a satisfaction to officially launch my new website today. It has been a few months working on it, but today I can finally take a deep breath and say; To God be the Glory. Of course, this is like when someone builds a new house and gets to its final, there’s always new ideas popping up with so much color and so much life in a very wide perspective. Here we all have the same expression; “if I could start over again I would do it this way”. 

Well, to be honest, I’m very satisfied with the final results of this new website. There is no question that new ideas are popping up all the time, but in reality, this has been happening since day one. Obviously, there’s always updates to be done, but what is done, is basically what will stay. Probably the next step will be a Portuguese section in order to give the Portuguese speaking people in the Portuguese speaking Countries, colonies and communities around the world, the same opportunity. 

I still have a couple of pages under construction and the media section will take some time. There’s a lot to be done in studio for audio and video. It will take some time but we’ll get there. The web store will be the last job to be done on this site. Nothing can be done on it now because it is subject to the audio and video projects that will be accessible through it. Again…the most important part is done and that satisfies me at the moment when people can log on and have a clear perspective of this ministry. To God Be The Glory.