Introduction

Good morning. Today, we will be looking at the first chapter of Titus, with the theme of building a holy church. Many years ago, I discovered something very peculiar: the devil is very familiar with the inside job of building a church. The devil plants many of his people into the church, including the elders, pastors, and those so-called people who manage the church, all of whom begin to resemble a Cretan.

What kind of person is a Cretan? Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Today, we must know that the church that the Lord Jesus wants is a holy church. The church that the Lord Jesus wants to build is the body of Jesus Christ. If I bring filth and uncleanness into the body of Jesus Christ, I will surely be judged.

So why would I go against the Lord Jesus and build a dirty and filthy church? Today, a cancer is detected, then another cancer after a while, and then another cancer is detected after another period. I tell you, isn't this life-threatening? Would you want to go to such a church? If you want to go to such a church, I tell you, this church is a very flesh-pleasing church. To be carnally minded is death, and a miserable death at that.

So, a long time ago, I discovered a secret in building a church: to build a holy, united, and God-glorifying church. This is our vision and mission.

God Has Entrusted Us with the Responsibility of Proclaiming the Word of Eternal Life

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. (Titus 1:1-3)

God has entrusted us with the responsibility of proclaiming the word of eternal life. God has never asked us to preach a gospel that pleases the flesh. A gospel that pleases the flesh will not edify people; it will corrupt them. So, the requirements of our church may seem a bit high in your eyes, but in fact, according to the standard of the word of eternal life, it is not very high.

Then contradictions will often arise between us. What is this contradiction? Because being carnally minded means you want to corrupt yourself, but I want to edify you. I seek your benefit, and you also want to seek your own benefit, but the results of your methods are corruption. Do you think there will be contradictions between us? Actually, there is no contradiction, because I seek your benefit. I don't need to hesitate to tell you what is beneficial to you. I can tell you what is beneficial to you straightforwardly, can't I?

I tell you, God has entrusted us with this word of eternal life. So, what should we do when we are entrusted with it? We should build a holy church, at least a clean church. Later, in the early days of the church, we accomplished a very good trend, which is that the requirements are constantly increasing. Until today, do you feel that the requirements are a bit high again? Definitely, the requirements must be constantly increased. Why? Because dealing with the flesh, the flesh is too corrupt.

If you ask me why some churches have so many people getting serious illnesses, not simple illnesses, but serious illnesses, it is because a flesh-pleasing pastor shepherds a group of flesh-pleasing sheep. I don't do flesh-pleasing shepherding, because God has entrusted me with the responsibility of the word of eternal life, and then I offend God. I don't do what God has entrusted me to do, and I do a bunch of things that God has not entrusted me to do. Isn't this asking for trouble? Isn't it?

Do you do this at work? You don't do the work your boss asks you to do, and you do a bunch of work your boss doesn't ask you to do. How will you explain it to your boss then? Isn't it? Since God has entrusted us with this word of eternal life, let us together hold fast to this word of eternal life in Jesus Christ. This is the knowledge of the truth that accords with godliness.

The Cretan Church Has Abandoned the Truth

The Cretan church is basically corrupt from top to bottom. The elders, leaders, and pastors of the church have led the church astray.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. (Titus 1:5)

The entire Cretan church, a flesh-pleasing pastor leading a group of flesh-pleasing sheep, and then all kinds of strange situations begin to appear in this church. You slowly ponder, how is this Cretan church so similar to our previous church?

Cretans are lazy gluttons, full of lies, and evil beasts. What kind of situation have these Cretans reached? For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:12-16)

This is the situation of the Cretan church. What to do? Paul had done half of the work in Crete, and there was more important work to do, so he entrusted the task of governing this Cretan church to Titus. After Paul left, although he repeatedly exhorted them, it seemed that something was missing, so he wrote Titus. The first chapter talks about how to govern the Cretan church.

This Cretan church, from top to bottom, some leaders occupy the pulpit. These people think: If you can go up and preach, why can't I go up and preach? I tell you, this is quite corrupt. The characteristic of the people in Crete is that they are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.

If you build a church that pleases the flesh, you should be able to build it, and there will not be too few members. If you build a church that does not please the flesh, there should not be too many members. Why? Because the people in this world have not suffered the pain of pleasing the flesh, so they do not know the corruption brought about by pleasing the flesh.

These Cretans covet unjust gain, teaching what they should not teach, corrupting whole families. So Titus sealed their mouths, not allowing them to go on the pulpit again. Do you think this is life-threatening? The church has become like this.

Now that I think about it, there were many sad things in building a church a long time ago. Speaking of sad things, why am I happy? I remembered such a scene at that time. A sister said to me: Pastor, I want to leave the church temporarily. I said: What are you going to do? She wanted to find a church, that is, to treat me as a backup. If she couldn't find one, she could come back to me. Is that what it means? I said: It's not like that. If you want to leave, don't come back.

After a while, I met her again. I said, "Come, let me buy you a cup of coffee." I asked her, "Have you found a church?" She said, "I found a church." I said, "How is it?" She said, "Very good!" I said, "Of course it's good." I am too familiar with the church she found. I said to her, "Your church has a flesh-pleasing pastor shepherding your flesh-pleasing sheep, which is very suitable."

This person received a lot of grace from me. Sometimes I served her day and night. She got a disease called phobia, which is mental illness. Mental illness is definitely pleasing to the flesh. I was exhausted from serving her. I said: How I serve you today, you will serve others in the future. Good fellow, she said to me: Teacher, I can't be like you, because I have to go to bed at 10:30, and I have to go to work the next morning. I also went to work at that time. Didn't I serve you early and late? I didn't delay my work.

When it was her turn, I saw that such a person would be so dirty in the church. She has been in the church for many years, but according to her spiritual condition, she is still a huge baby, very carnal, with all kinds of diseases, including dirty diseases. I thought I would not keep such people. If I keep them for a long time, the church will be full of such people, then I will be in trouble.

Before that, I had seen a pastor who was sued in court by the leaders of their church. After the leaders of the church sued him in court, he got depression, and maybe he had other more serious diseases. Then, we pastors raised our hands under the stage to pray for him, but I didn't have the mood to pray for him. I was thinking: This matter is worth studying. After studying it, I understood that building a church means building a holy church. If you want to build a pastoral district, build a holy pastoral district. If you want to build a small group, build a holy small group.

You must have a number in your heart, and you can release words of building faith, but we must know that it is the flesh that corrupts this person! If you don't deal with his flesh, and he doesn't deal with it himself, if you don't deal with his worldly concepts, and he doesn't deal with them, how can you bring him into the blessings of the word of eternal life? How can you bring him into the blessings of the word of eternal life? It's very, very difficult.

Today, we must know for sure that it is ourselves who corrupt ourselves! Ghosts don't have much ability, but you are very capable! Are you a Cretan? If you are a Cretan, then this Cretan church is about the same.

In fact, there are many people among us who come to our church with many inexplicable problems. I tell you, the answer is very simple, which is to build a holy church. If you have this aspiration, then you are very blessed! If you have this aspiration to deal with your own flesh and tear down the worldly things inside you, you are very blessed! That is your calling.

So the Cretan church has abandoned the truth. Today, brothers and sisters, don't think that a church is a church. Is it a clean church or a dirty and filthy church? Then you have to distinguish clearly. I found that there are really many people in the church who get cancer. Sometimes I sigh, sighing that there are really many people who get cancer. The solution to the cancer problem among us, I tell you, is to build a holy church. It's very simple, build a holy church.

The Cretan church has abandoned the truth, and then what task did Paul give him? To appoint elders in Crete and the surrounding cities to govern the church, because you can't do everything by yourself.

I experienced a lot of things in those years. Once I got COVID-19. Some people said: You also got COVID-19? Hey, I am a model of sinners! Come on, you have to understand that I am not a model of righteous people, I am a model of sinners.
I got COVID-19. Two weeks later, there was a pastor in our group who also got COVID-19, but he recovered after two or three days. I said he was cleaner than me. After he recovered, he wrote a very long article saying that he wanted to build a church full of love. He was very dissatisfied with his own church, because he had built a church full of infighting, with factions, fighting for power and profit.

This pastor wanted to build a church full of love, a church that indulged in the desires of the flesh. Then, you know what? Three days later, news came that he had suddenly died. You know, during the COVID period, many people seemed to recover from COVID, but then suddenly died. I know this, he was suddenly snatched away by demons.

After he died, I thought, wasn't the church his own creation? Weren't the rules all set by him? He did not shoulder the responsibility that Jesus Christ gave him to preach the way of eternal life and establish a holy church, and he was suddenly snatched away by demons. To die suddenly is basically to be snatched away by demons. He didn't even have a chance to repent. Did he not feel responsible?

This further solidified my thinking: God, this is the responsibility you have entrusted to me. I will uphold the Mingding Doctrine and see your face! God, help me, let the church I build be in partnership with you, building a church filled with your glory. This was a very, very strong feeling in my heart at that time.

Therefore, the elders appointed to govern the church, what kind of leaders govern what kind of church; what kind of pastoral leaders govern what kind of pastoral district. I thank God that many of our small group leaders and pastoral leaders, many of our brothers and sisters, actually listen to my Bible study every week, listen to my preaching every week. Even if they are small group leaders and are not paid much attention, it is still alright, because the Mingding Doctrine we preach is for everyone to benefit in Jesus Christ. May the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ be fully obtained by us. May all of God's promises in Jesus Christ be fulfilled in us.

The key is that you must pursue holiness, you must deal with the worldly things inside, and you need to walk according to the Mingding Doctrine. You cannot know God and act contrary to him, can you? If you say you know God but act contrary to him, you are detestable and rebellious. Wouldn't you say this is life-threatening? Wouldn't you incur God's wrath?

Appointing elders, then what are the conditions for appointing elders?

An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:6-9)

You must know that if a person's own behavior is not in accordance with God's word, who can he teach? Like this Cretan, lazy and gluttonous, full of lies, a vicious beast, yet he becomes an elder of the church, an overseer of the church, a pastor of the church. Can this place be good?

Why did I come out to build a church before? To be honest, there was no church to go to. It was too hard to listen every Sunday. After listening, I sat under the stage, listening and sometimes dozing off. When I woke up, I still heard words that contradicted the Bible, not just a little bit, but really life-threatening.

So brothers and sisters began to thank God. I have you, and you have me, and together we have God, and together we govern God's church. Do not compete to be leaders, why? Being a leader is not about being glamorous, it is a responsibility!

Recently, the pastoral district I am responsible for received a sister. After a few months, the evaluations they gave me, I thank God for them. In the process of her serious illness, I was still helping her to constantly tear down the fleshly and worldly logic. I think the church is not a place to compete for power, the church is a place to compete for responsibility. If you see how I serve, I also hope that you will serve in the same way. Serving in this way is not for anything else, but to please God.

To please God, the church does not worry about money, the church never worries about money. Our church's expenses, you may think it's the internet, but I tell you the expenses are huge, the expenses on the internet are too big. But God has never failed us, allowing us to have all that we need.

Some churches lack money. When they lack money, they get anxious. When they get anxious, everyone prays for the economy. Praying for the economy has nothing to do with the church. Our church especially hopes that the economy is not good, do you know that? The church is good when the economy is not good. When the economy is good, everyone runs to make money. What is a meeting? There is no time to meet.

Now the economy is not good, and the mood is not good either. But there is a place where you can go to church to seek God. Do you know how God destroys the logical system inside people? If you are fleshly, you are especially willing to break the flesh after you get sick. Why? Once you pray according to the logic of breaking the flesh, the situation will improve. If you can't find a job, break the flesh and break the love of the world. The worst thing is to recover from the illness and finally be qualified to love the world again.

Governing the Church Must Be Strict

This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. (Titus 1:13-14)

Those who reject the truth also have commandments. Do not listen to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. After appointing leaders, what is appointed? That is, governing the church must be strict. What is strict according to? According to the Mingding Doctrine that Jesus Christ entrusted us to preach. Dealing with the flesh is endless! Tearing down the worldly logical system is endless!

In fact, people should never look at things according to the logic of the flesh. If you look at things according to the logic of the flesh, this person is going to die. Because people are like that when they are going to die, aren't they? Have you seen the condition of people who are going to die? The body is getting weaker and weaker, and the weight is getting lighter and lighter. Will the time of death come? If the time of death comes, then the time of death comes, but maybe it is not the time of death. We don't know. But if it is according to the gospel of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, Lazarus has been dead for four days and can come out of the tomb. Then I ask you, you still have a breath? If the time of death has not come, and God wants you to live, then it is not a difficult thing.

The problem is that we don't know when the time of death will come, and we are not fortune tellers. But we know that the Mingding Doctrine that God has given us is not a fleshly doctrine at all. If you really believe in the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, you will actively tear down worldly things and tear down things that cater to the flesh. Be strict! Governing the church must be strict. Some people say: Why are your requirements so high? This is not high, this is Jesus Christ's requirement. What will be the result? I tell you, even if some people have already passed away, they may come back and still live.

Therefore, governing the church must be strict, must be severe, and must rebuke people sharply. Why? Because this Mingding Doctrine is to put the flesh to death, and to cater to the flesh is death. Do not have many bad habits that cater to the flesh. Every bad habit that caters to the flesh is life-threatening! When you see that the bones are like this, if none of the problems on the body have been dealt with, then the bones will continue to die, won't they?

Some people say: Teacher, my bones are protruding and growing thorns. I'm not kidding, they can really grow thorns. Why? When I see this disease, I think with my heels, I don't even need brain cells, I don't need a CPU, I think with my heels, it is catering to the flesh. What should I do? I have to use my eighteen kinds of martial arts, play Tai Chi, right? Draw the knife, use the axe, and slowly give you a major operation to remove the three things of catering to the flesh, loving the world, and distinguishing good from evil.

I am quite good at doing this operation, and you are quite willing to let me do it, because I can do it well. I don't make you angry. After I finish, others will feel very comfortable. When I was uncomfortable when I was a child, my mother would say: Is it time to clean up again? What does cleaning up mean? It means cleaning you up, getting a beating, and after cleaning up, people feel better.

Today, as parents, how you deal with your children's flesh will determine how your children will be filial to you in the future. Remember, if you don't deal with their flesh, it will be bad, won't it? Their temper will get bigger and bigger, and they will need to be cleaned up. If you never clean them up, their flesh will get bigger and bigger. This is all because we parents spoil our children. Spoiling a child is like killing a child, isn't it?

Therefore, building a church must be strict, and we must not pursue numbers or offerings. God is my witness to this. I do not serve for money, I serve to serve, serving you as if serving God. This is the eternal life that God created for us before the foundation of the world, full of promises! There is no better doctrine in the world! I am willing to live for this, willing to die for this, and I am willing to offer myself for this. This is such a good truth, how good!

Therefore, building a church faces the logical system of this life, faces a group of fleshly people, and faces the deep-rooted worldly things. Today is not easy, and we often have to fight alone. Thank God, God is working with me, and to this day, there has been no failure, because I seek everyone's benefit. If you want to benefit, run according to the Mingding Doctrine I said.

Persist in the Mingding Doctrine That the Lord Jesus Wants Us to Preach

Because we often need to persuade in understanding God, and in the process of persuasion, the Lord often works with us, and you will see that God is really with us. Then you will say: Wow, that's great! This is the key.

Brothers and sisters, when we build a church, we must not build a church where demons are present. Then, one person is checked and found to have a serious illness, and another person is checked and found to have a serious illness. That's terrible. Why is our church not busy? Because I deal with it so strictly. So today, thank God, our brothers and sisters have saved a lot on medical expenses, haven't they? They have also saved a lot of time in hospitals and on sickbeds. What could be better than this?

If you listen to me and make up your mind to run forward in Jesus Christ, on this path of eternal life, you can run forward tirelessly. Let us follow Paul's advice and build a holy church full of God's glory together. Amen!

May God bless everyone!

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