12 PHRASES FROM YOUR PASTOR THAT EXPOSE WHETHER YOU’RE IN A RELIGIOUS CHURCH OR A KINGDOM CHURCH By Yemi Success, MD

 12 PHRASES FROM YOUR PASTOR THAT EXPOSE WHETHER YOU’RE IN A RELIGIOUS CHURCH OR A KINGDOM CHURCH 

Yemi Success, MD

What your pastor says from the pulpit tells you everything about the spirit of the house.

Some churches are stuck in religion.

Others are advancing the Kingdom.

You better know the difference.

Why?

Because your environment determines your destiny.

So here’s a check list.

If you hear these phrases, pay attention.

Your life and your legacy may depend on it.

PHRASES FROM A RELIGIOUS CHURCH

1. “This week is your week.”

Meaning: We offer vague and vain promises. The attention is on you, what God can do for you and not what God can do through you.

This isn’t the Gospel.

Jesus didn’t die to give you a nice life—He died to make you new (2 Cor. 5:17). And through that newness, that he ‘may’ find you useful.

A Kingdom church calls you to DIE and be reborn.

Religion tries to make you a well-behaved corpse.

2. “Politics is very dirty.”

Meaning: We’re cowards when and where it counts.

Kingdom doesn’t avoid culture, it confronts it.

We are not called to escape, we are called to invade.

Jesus wasn’t killed for being polite.

He overturned tables and rebuked rulers.

He stood up to the religious leaders of his day.

Political leaders were not spared.

He was charged for state offences and treason.

They killed him because he dared to ‘speak against Caesar’.

If your pastor can’t talk about corruption and corrupt leadership, ritual killings, child trafficking or injustice—

Get out.

3. “We just focus on souls.”

Meaning: We abandoned the nation. We are escapists.

Kingdom churches disciple nations, not just individuals (Matt. 28:19).

Kingdom Church is obsessed with transforming systems and discipling them.

A religious church ignores the systems—education, media, government—while hell takes over. Some will even say, ‘Let’s ban Television’.

They can speak in tongues on Sundays, while the devil trains their children from Monday to Friday through the corrupt systems in the society.

They can pay tithes and build big church buildings whilst their children die in the deserts and on the seas, trying to escape ‘hell’.

No more escapist faith.

We’re here to occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13).

4. “Let the Pastors and ministers pray for you.”

Meaning: You’re powerless. We are more anointed than you are.

Religion makes you dependent on the stage and the robe.

‘If you are a son or daughter of the house…’

‘The grace upon this altar…’

‘The anointing upon our Pastor…’

‘The covenant of our G.O….’ etc.

Empty phrases from empty religious minds.

Kingdom equips you for war.

Kingdom says, ‘no one is more anointed than you, because Christ (the anointed one) is in you’.

In Acts, everyone laid hands, cast out demons, healed the sick.

You don’t need a collar.

You don’t need a pulpit.

You don’t need Microphones.

You need boldness.

5. “Don’t question the Pastor or the leadership.”

Meaning:We’re controlling.

A Kingdom pastor invites accountability, humility, and truth.

The degree of accountability shows whether you have joined a secret cult or not.

Even Paul got rebuked (Gal. 2:11).

If your pastor thinks he’s untouchable, he’s not a shepherd—he’s a kingpin. 

You are in the midst of Mafias.

6. “God just wants you happy.”

Meaning: Welcome to Ice-cream Church, where you use God to meet all your needs.

Lies.

God wants you to grow, not just happy.

God wants you to be a reformer, not just excited.

God wants you to become a son, not to remain a child forever.

Children love ice-cream, sons seek change through pain and challenges.

Sometimes God breaks you to build you.

He doesn’t coddle your weaknesses —He consumes it.

PHRASES FROM A KINGDOM CHURCH

1. “You were born for dominion.”

That’s right.

Not survival.

Dominion.

Genesis 1:28 wasn’t a suggestion.

You’re called to govern, build, create, and lead.

A Kingdom church tells you: Take territory.

You are called to be an ambassador and represent God in your land of promise.

2. “The Spirit of God lives in YOU.”

No more pew-sitters.

You are the revival.

You are the hope of your city.

You are the answer to someone’s cry.

You are a mobile upper room.

You were born in response to the groaning of a generation.

You are Heaven’s ambassador on earth.

Kingdom pastors don’t just preach fire—they light it in you.

3. “God is raising you up to influence systems.”

Not everyone is called to preach.

But everyone is called to impact.

You are a Pastor.

Whether in business, tech, art, politics, entertainment or parenting—

You bring heaven into broken places.

This is how nations change.

One Kingdom carrier at a time.

4. “We build people, not empires.”

You’re not a donor.

You’re not a seat-filler.

You’re a warrior.

Your allegiance is to God, not your Pastor.

You don’t go to your Pastor for prayers each time you are in trouble.

You go to God directly, because you have same access like anyone else.

Kingdom churches don’t care about lights and screens.

They care about disciples who can stand in the fire.

5. “Holiness is not optional.”

Holiness is not legalism.

Not shame.

Holiness is power.

It’s freedom.

It’s God’s fire inside of you that makes demons flee.

Holiness is understanding your place in the Kingdom.

You are a son, not a slave.

Hence, nothing can have dominion over you, 

Kingdom churches preach repentance because they know:

‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people’ -Prov. 15:34

6. “We’re here to take back ground.”

No retreat, no surrender.

No compromise.

No ‘show-yourself’ Sunday service.

No ‘covenant Sunday of this and that’

‘Special Sunday of Ice cream and Yoghurts’

"A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats" - Charles H. Spurgeon

Kingdom churches are embassies of heaven.

Every believer is an ambassador.

Every sermon is a war briefing.

Every altar call is a launch pad.

Every day is an opportunity to live and die for the king.

Ask yourself:

Does your church preach Kingdom—or just religion?

Are you equipped—or just entertained?

Are you a son or just a child being fed ice-cream and sugar to make you happy?

You don’t need another comfortable service.

You need a spiritual revolution.

You need a destiny CPR.

You need a purpose de-fibrillation.

If the pulpit isn’t shaking hell,

Then hell is shaking the pews.

You’re in the wrong room.

TIME TO CHOOSE

Religious churches raise members.

Kingdom churches raise warriors.

Religious churches escape the world.

Kingdom churches transform it.

We are not called to escape,

We are called to invade.

So tell me:

What’s your pastor really preaching?

And more importantly…

What are YOU becoming?

Choose Kingdom.

Choose power.

Choose the cross, the crown, and the call.

Because if the church wakes up—

The nation will too.

Yemi Success, MD

May, 2025