Introduction

Good day to all. Let us summarise the Book of Zephaniah. This entire book vividly depicts the history of mankind. Do not mistakenly believe it speaks of the end of the world. In reality, it narrates the events of our generations, all orchestrated by God in the human realm! One dynasty falls, and another rises. Human history is replete with melodramatic sagas.

As the saying goes, "Amidst the chaos, one departs, and another takes the stage." This line originates from "Dream of the Red Chamber." Let us summarise and organise the Book of Zephaniah. If you previously thought it was about the end of the world, you are mistaken! It actually speaks of our today, yesterday, and the day before – from the beginning of humanity until now, such melodramas have been repeating themselves. Human history is but a melodramatic saga.

Amidst the Chaos, One Departs, and Another Takes the Stage

"Amidst the chaos, one departs, and another takes the stage." This line was written by Cao Xueqin after witnessing the rise and fall of his family, much like the scenes of God's wrath described by Zephaniah. The entire passage goes thus: "A humble room, an empty hall, once filled with ivory tablets." What does this mean? A dilapidated house, once brimming with ivory, jewels, silks, and satins.

"Withered grass and barren willows, once a stage for song and dance." Meaning the grass has withered, and the willows have dried up, yet it was once a lively venue for song and dance. I will now recite it to you without further explanation.

"Spiderwebs fill the carved beams, green gauze now pasted on the thatched windows. What talk of rich rouge and fragrant powder, how have the temples turned to frost? Yesterday, yellow earth buried white bones, tonight, red lanterns shine on mandarin ducks in bed. Chests full of gold, chests full of silver, in the blink of an eye, beggars are scorned by all. Just lamenting the short lives of others, who knows one's own demise is near!" This passage speaks of Cao Xueqin's lament for the chaos of human life, the tragedy of human history!

I continue: "Strict discipline, yet one cannot guarantee future rebellion; choosing the wealthy, who would expect them to end up in brothels! Disliking the small official hat, one ends up carrying a yoke; yesterday pitying the ragged coat, today disliking the long purple robe. Amidst the chaos, one departs, and another takes the stage, mistaking a foreign land for home; how absurd, in the end, all is for the benefit of others!"

Do you understand? This entire system is the logic of the "Tower of Babel." People strive to climb to the top in this world, only to end up in Qincheng Prison, how absurd! We cannot understand these worldly affairs, yet Cao Xueqin depicts this melodramatic saga in this way, as "Amidst the chaos." People in this world, one after another, serve as vessels for displaying God's wrath, is it not chaotic? Yes!

We see the infighting between nations, yet the same was true of Nineveh, the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, and the Roman Empire thousands of years ago. China is no different, the same throughout generations! Dynastic changes are truly one melodramatic saga after another. Although many come into this world with a silver spoon, they end up in brothels, how tragic! Cao Xueqin wrote such a history, but he did not summarise it.

What Can We Conclude?

Through the Book of Zephaniah, what can we conclude? Let me summarise. Firstly, God's hand is directing one melodramatic saga after another. Why? God allows these melodramas to occur, yet people cannot understand that life is vanity. People simply cannot summarise it, thus they take worldly affairs very seriously, failing to understand!

I saw a comment on the website where someone said their teacher had deceived them. I do not think it is necessarily deception! The reason is that their teacher mentioned an investment opportunity and gave them an idea, so they took out a loan of 300,000 to give to their teacher, which turned out to be a scam. It serves them right that the 300,000 is not recoverable!

Later, they filed a lawsuit, and in the process, they fell ill and were hit by a car, truly unlucky! After that, they started listening to the sermons on our website. Even after experiencing so much, they still do not understand what life is about! Some people live and are destroyed by God, while others are set apart and are surely protected by God and inherit the land.

Carefully read the Book of Zephaniah, then listen to my explanation, and make a summary. We always feel that these things are particularly important, "Chests full of gold, chests full of silver," but in the blink of an eye, one becomes a beggar. Can gold and silver protect you? No! Gold and silver may even bring you disaster. Can we summarise these things? If we can, many things become simple.

Some time ago, a sister gave gifts worth 300,000 to someone to find a job for her child, thinking that this would secure the job, but it did not, and the 300,000 was not recoverable! Then she said, "God, why is this happening?" Have you not considered that you sent out the 300,000? You gave someone 300,000 to make money, which is very corrupt!

There are also those who give someone 300,000 and get a job, but are then fired after a period of time because they do not pass the probation period. You cannot blame others for not passing the probation period, and the 300,000 is not recoverable. People in this world are very bad. Why do they do this? Because they earn 300,000 every six months in a scam!

In fact, people bite the bait for money, otherwise how could they be deceived? They are professionals at this, and you cannot compete with professionals as an amateur! Some say they are lending money to others, but in reality, they are taking out loans themselves and giving the money to others, and they have to repay these loans themselves, not to mention the various stories of being scammed into Myanmar.

There are always a large number of people in this world who are destroyed according to God's will. God allows them to experience disasters so that they know that gold, silver, religion, and power cannot save people. Even so, people still do not see clearly that they need God.

Yesterday, I ministered to a sister who planned to give money to someone to arrange a position for her child, but the worst thing is that the money was given, and the position was not arranged. It is like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge.

Is it not possible to live well with God? The answer is yes! However, the people of Jerusalem thought that they could be protected by adhering to religion, but the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire came and destroyed them. So, having a religious appearance is useless. You must have the blood of Abraham in your bones, with Abraham's faith and genes.

Therefore, everything is destroyed according to God's will. If you are one of those who are destroyed, your life is a tragedy! Ponder this carefully. If you are set apart, you will surely be protected. Some say, "Teacher, I have no time." What do they spend their time doing? Making money! They have time to be busy with this and that, all for their work.

History proved one thing in Cao Xueqin's time, which is that everything is useless. Whether it is the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Roman Empire, including Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, generations lived so earnestly, but it was useless! This sister wanted to give money to someone, but I stopped her. I said directly, "How foolish."

Can our brothers and sisters summarise this, standing a little higher, and not be like some who say, "The one lesson that people learn from history is that they never learn a lesson." Is this not a tragedy? One "Dream of the Red Chamber" after another is being staged, and they do not know that God is destroying batch after batch of people in this generation, sweeping them all into the trash heap of history.

Our brothers and sisters must begin to rethink, what kind of person do you want to be? Are you trash in God's eyes? I tell you, all of history is directed by God. Since it is directed by God, shouldn't you have a good relationship with the director? If you do not have a good relationship with God, you will end up in the trash heap of history.

Why do people live for money? Why do they take exams for positions? Isn't it all for money and salary? In fact, people can live with or without anything. Can we have a good relationship with the chief director, who is our God? But people forget as they live, and end up among those who are destroyed by God, becoming extras.

"Everyone knows that immortals are good, but only fame and fortune are unforgettable! Where are the generals and ministers of ancient and modern times? A mound of graves with grass gone." I add, "They forget as they live." I encourage everyone to look around and learn the deepest lesson from history, which is to never become something that God destroys, to become trash in God's eyes, and then be directed by God in one melodramatic saga after another. Is this not a tragedy?

So, what should we do? You must be set apart in this world, surely be protected, and surely inherit the land. Life becomes very simple. I have made up my mind: in this life, no matter what, I will let God direct a comedy for me. I will be set apart, be protected by God, and inherit the land. Isn't that a good way to live?

In this life, I will seek what God wants me to seek. I have summarised it: the things of this world are all vanity of vanities. Only by seeking the imperishable blessing will God reward me with eternal life. How wonderful! I tell you, the only thing you can do is to set yourself apart.

Many people ask me: how to be set apart? Abraham in the Bible opened a path for us. We do not need to invent it again, just "copy the homework"! What did Abraham do? In his time, he understood the matter of living, and then he sought God, wanting to understand: God, how can I be set apart? That is why we call it Mingding Doctrine. Mingding Doctrine started with Abraham.

After seeing so many things and reading the Book of Zephaniah, do not say: God, why do you destroy? If you do not become one of those who are destroyed, will you not avoid destruction? Why ask God why he destroys? Can those rotten things not be destroyed?

In the eyes of God, some are treasures, and some are trash. What kind of person will you choose to be? This is very important! Let us take a closer look now. Many people live so earnestly! But living does not require so much effort. Having to give money to others to find jobs for your children, people in this world do not know that all the answers and provisions are with God.

You must know, do you rely on God or on that salary, that established position? When the entire economy collapses, will that established position still be effective? It will not be! Especially when an empire is declining, people are truly unlucky. But I tell you, even in a declining empire, if you understand God's will and seek God, can God protect you?

Among us, there are brothers and sisters, no matter where in the world you live, you may live in South Africa, Zambia, America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, or China. Where can God not protect you? If God can protect you, what other problems are there? No problems! So, what kind of person will you choose to be? In fact, the most important thing in a person's life is to see through things.

What Kind of Person Do You Choose to Be?

In fact, God wrote this book through Zephaniah to prevent you from loving the world anymore, from climbing the Tower of Babel! What you see after climbing up are piles of bones. You must not fail to see through things again. But people's vision is too poor, they cannot understand this world. After reading so many years of history, the only lesson learned is "we learn no lesson from history."

Do you choose to be a person who is destroyed and acts in melodramas, or a person who is saved by God? You have to choose for yourself. If you choose to be a person like Abraham, you will be extraordinary! That is called "chosen by God." Do you know what that means? If someone wants to bully you, God will deal with them. Others cannot bully people like Abraham. Why? Because the Bible has long said that those who curse Abraham will be cursed.

What kind of person do you choose to be? A person who is destroyed or a person who is saved? There are only these two kinds of people in this world. Is it so difficult to let you be "chosen by God," to be a person who is saved and pleases God? You say it is difficult, and it is difficult. You say it is simple, and it is simple. Where is the difficulty? The difficulty lies in it being too simple. Do you choose to believe? You must choose to believe!

How to believe? It is the belief of Abraham. Recently, I keep bringing up Abraham. Why? Because Abraham's path solves many problems. First, he solved cancer; second, he solved depression; third, he solved the lack of money; fourth, he solved the matter of being protected by God, and those around him dared not do anything to you.

Abraham is truly amazing. All the matters of living in this world are solved in Abraham. When I minister, I observe that people forget these things as they live. Where did Abraham start? I have to repeat a few more words because some people may not have heard it, and some people have heard it many times, but if you have heard it many times, you must do it!

Abraham believed that living is vanity. This is the foundation. If you do not believe that living is vanity, then you cannot walk Abraham's path at all. These things in life are not important, they are all vanity. Then why do we see these things as so important?

If you see them as important, it would be good if they could be solved, but if you see them as important, you will be played by the people of this world, and then you will become a melodrama. In fact, people give all their money to others because they want to earn more. Otherwise, why would they give money to others? Why don't they give it to me? If I ask you to give me 300,000, you won't do it. Why? Because I didn't tell you that I would give you 600,000 by the end of the year.

But your teacher or friend says: Give me 300,000, and I will give you 600,000 by the end of the year. Then you only think about that 600,000 and forget about that 300,000! So you borrow 300,000 from the bank, and after borrowing it and giving it to others, what do you become? You become someone who owes the bank 300,000.

Someone says: Teacher, I can't control it. Think about it, can you control your greed for money? So when you go to court to sue others, the court says very clearly: Investment has risks, don't you know? I can tell you nicely that I may give you 600,000 by the end of the year, but by the end of the year, you may not get a penny. Which investment has no risk? So you control it very well! But if you give it to me, I won't give you 600,000.

When can people deceive Abraham? If you say to Abraham: Lend me 300,000, and I will give you 600,000 by the end of the year. He says: You can take that 600,000 yourself, and I won't lend you that 300,000. After Abraham understood that living is vanity, what did he do? He went to seek God, and then God blessed him, and he obtained a Mingding Doctrine from then on. He lived for this, and his goal in life was for all the families on earth to be blessed through him.

If we look down on and see through the things of life, living becomes very simple. I rarely hear people say: Teacher, how come I haven't blessed anyone yet? I rarely see such people. Those who come to me all say: How can I make money? How come I am not blessed yet? Then how can you be blessed? You have to learn from Abraham to be blessed. It is not that Abraham's path cannot bring blessings, but you have to see through things to be blessed.

Although Cao Xueqin saw through these absurd things and melodramas in the world, he did not have the blessing of Abraham. He did not seek. What should people seek? Seek eternal life, seek incorruptible blessings. If you seek that incorruptible blessing, who can deceive you? Nothing can happen. So Abraham is the watershed.

By the time of Zephaniah, the Israelites no longer had the appearance of Abraham. They had all become people who invited destruction. So God destroyed Israel with the Assyrian Empire and destroyed Judah with the Babylonian Empire. Do you think these people can be safe just by being in Jerusalem? No! Can they be safe just by hiding in the temple? No! You have to have Abraham's skills.

I ask you: When have you seen Abraham nervous or stressed? He did not make himself neurotic in order to take an examination for an established position. Abraham did not have these problems. You also do not see Abraham being so anxious and entangled in order to live. He was protected by God throughout his life. So God opened up this path for us through Abraham.

Now the problem is: Even if you are a descendant of Abraham, you do not imitate Abraham. We are blessed. Although we are not physical descendants of Abraham, we all recognize Abraham's path in our bones. How good it is to live like that!

Have you seen some churches that are very miserable? Among us, there are brothers and sisters whose family members are preachers, and it is very miserable with all the chaos. There are also some brothers and sisters who came to us from some churches, and they were very miserable before. The gospel preached by their previous church was not the same gospel that I preach. The gospel preached by his previous church explained that cancer is a blessing in disguise, while the gospel I preach is that cancer is a curse.

I do not want this place to be a church with cancer. I hope this place is a church where cancer is healed, a church where hemiplegia is healed, a church where the poor become rich, a church that is blessed by God, set apart, and imitates Abraham.

So our church is not short of money. Our church is not supported by the offerings of brothers and sisters, but by God. We are all in God's provision. If my God cannot support me and I have to support Him, what kind of God is that? So brothers and sisters, from now on, choose what kind of person to be.

Then why does the church have cancer? Zephaniah said more than two thousand years ago that it invites destruction. The worst thing is what? You have already become someone who is destroyed and incurs God's wrath, and then you put gold on your face, explaining it again and again, always feeling that you are orthodox.

I thank God that I always feel that I have not done it right. Why? Because the knowledge of God is only "one hair out of nine oxen, one drop of seawater." There is still much for us to know. Where do we have time to feel that: I already know everything, I am already orthodox, I am already saved? There is no such thing! We must strive to pursue!

Our brothers and sisters, re-examine yourselves. What kind of choice have you made? Do not be a person who incurs God's wrath. I remind you again, if you give someone 300,000 for your child's job, it will immediately become a melodrama. Why? God will direct it this way, and you will become a person who is destroyed. God will eliminate these things on this earth. Why? Because that is not called trusting in God. A person who trusts in God does not need to give money to others and then become someone who incurs God's wrath. Can God not support us?

Always remember that living in this world is a very simple thing. Do not do these foolish things again. Always firmly rely on God, and nothing will happen! I tell you, many people have experienced God, but after experiencing Him, they still want to walk the path of inviting destruction.

I ask you: Have the Israelites experienced God? Yes! Have the people of Judah experienced God? Yes! Have the people in Jerusalem experienced God? Yes! Moreover, those prophets reminded them in their ears all day long, but they could not listen. Why? Because they were not Abraham.

Let us make a choice, to invite destruction or to be saved? A person who is saved will also obtain land, and living becomes very simple. If we repeatedly read the Book of Zephaniah again, do not say: God, why did you destroy? But tell God: God, I want to be a person who pleases you, I want to be set apart, I want to be saved by you. How good that is!

We will share this much. May God bless everyone!

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