Introduction

Our minds must be constantly renewed and transformed; the church cannot afford to be rigid. God desires new wine in new wineskins. People must continuously be renewed. Truth exists in varying degrees of magnitude and is irreplaceable. This concept is not difficult to grasp in our generation, but it has not been widely accepted in the church. Why is it that the church has become what it is today over the years? Day after day, year after year, the sermons preached by pastors remain largely the same.

In our era, we have moved from Motorola phones to Ericsson, from Ericsson to Nokia, from Nokia to Apple, and now to a plethora of brands like Huawei, OPPO, and VIVO. Regarding advancements in science and technology, regardless of the mobile phone you use, scientific and technological progress must never cease. Any discipline we study, including ancient mathematics, chemistry, and physics, is constantly advancing. We must not ossify the understanding of God and truth. We must recognize that in the last days, we shall ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the house of the God of Jacob. In the last days, we must scale spiritual heights, and there is no end to knowing God and truth.

Everyone must begin to cultivate the concept that understanding God and truth exists in varying degrees of magnitude. The Bible clearly tells us that faith, hope, and love endure, with love being the greatest, and faith as the foundation. Many will argue with me, questioning whether love or faith is the foundation. People often become confused, assuming that what is greater is the foundation. For example, is university the foundation, or is primary school the foundation? If university were the foundation, then people would start studying at the university from a young age. But in reality, people attend primary school before university. Do not underestimate the importance of the small things. If one does not do well in primary school, it is impossible to do well in secondary school, and if one does not do well in secondary school, it is impossible to do well in university. Therefore, if one's primary education is poor, their secondary education will continue to be poor.

Climbing Spiritual Heights

Since truth exists in varying degrees of magnitude, if we confuse what is greater and lesser, the entire system of faith will become chaotic. In our quest to know God, we have discovered a remarkable thing: in the last days, God raised up a prophet, Rick Joyner, who wrote a book called The Final Quest. This book describes the battle between the church and the devil, depicting an overwhelming scene of defeat, with the church on the verge of being destroyed. Later, God revealed to this prophet that he should ascend the mountain of the Lord, continuously climbing according to God's mountain. He recorded these visions in The Final Quest.

What exactly happened at that time? In the early days, the church fought against the devil and suffered repeated defeats. It was truly exhausting! It made me wonder why the church could not win, why it was in such a miserable state. Later, in prayer, God gave me a revelation to read Rick Joyner's The Final Quest. After reading it, I discovered a crucial concept: ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the house of the God of Jacob. We must put aside all the battles and ascend the mountain of the Lord, entering the house of the God of Jacob.

These spiritual peaks actually describe the different levels of understanding of truth. Lower levels include prayer, attending meetings, sanctification, and salvation. At these levels, the arrows of the devil can still reach. People at lower levels truly struggle! You will find that a person's height can solve problems. One's height is important. A problem that cannot be solved at a lower level can be easily resolved at a higher level. We continuously climb and know God on the peaks of truth. There is no end to knowing truth. Later, Rick Joyner said that after reaching the summit, entering the house of the God of Jacob and God's garden of love, when descending the mountain, he discovered that there were still many things he did not understand. Knowing truth is a lifelong lesson, and one cannot fully comprehend it in a lifetime.

Each recognition and breakthrough in truth is a new understanding of God. Therefore, our minds must be continuously renewed and transformed. You will find that your entire faith life becomes very exciting. In our church, you will find that we have this concept: you need to continuously know God, continuously renew your minds, and have new wine in new wineskins. We implement these things in the church, and you will find that the church is full of vitality and is constantly changing. Thank God! I do not like rigidity. If today is the same as yesterday, and it continues to be the same in the future, the church will remain the same after decades. If I were to do the same job for so long, I would find it unbearable.

Today, brothers and sisters, arise, ascend the mountain of the Lord, and enter the house of the God of Jacob. Climbing this spiritual peak is difficult at the beginning, but when you climb to the height of Galatians 2:20, I believe you will find yourself full of vitality.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Whether in building the church or in pastoral care, there has been a tremendous change, from a state of great pain to a state of great enjoyment. We know God, we know truth, and in the process of continuous pursuit, even if it is very difficult at first, do not give up, strive to climb. Recently, we have been studying Hebrews, and the author is a person who strives to pursue. Striving to pursue means leaving the elementary teachings about Christ and going on to maturity in the knowledge of God's truth.

Do Not Lose the Big Picture for Small Gains in Truth

In the process of striving to pursue, we have come to know many truths. Especially when studying Genesis, we see that truth exists in varying degrees of magnitude. This brings us some important insights. I will give you a relatively representative example: Jacob lied in order to obtain God's Mingding Destiny. Lying is bad, but this bad thing happened to Jacob. Today, many pastors talk about Jacob deceiving people and being deceived. Is what they see true? I must answer that it is true.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to find out whether you really are my son Esau or not.” Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied. (Genesis 27:21-24)

Jacob was clearly lying, but here's the question: Jacob had Mingding Destiny, and after receiving the blessing, he left home. On the road, while sleeping, God gave him a dream:

He came to a certain place and stayed there overnight, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (Genesis 28:11-12)

Why did God not criticize Jacob for lying? This is too strange. According to general principles, Jacob was clearly wrong. But the problem is that in our lives, we often have a concept called losing the big picture for small gains, or some people lose the small picture for big gains. Jacob did tell a lie in order to obtain Mingding Destiny. But God is not a 《Dao De Jing》God. God actually delighted in Jacob's actions.

There are many such examples. Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and had children, Shelah and Perez, with Judah. Disguising oneself as a prostitute, a daughter-in-law sleeping with her father-in-law to have children, these things are still difficult for people to accept today, but Tamar had Mingding Destiny. The problem is that sometimes we lose the big picture for small gains and become Pharisees.

If we lose the small picture for big gains, I have basically not seen God blame people. Some people question, Couldn't he have been wiser? How could he have been wiser? The king of Jericho asked Rahab, Are the Israelite spies in your house? What choice did Rahab have? She lied and said they were not there, and the spies escaped. This was an obvious lie.

Brothers and sisters, in this Christian faith, you must learn to grasp the big picture and not the small picture. In the face of greater and lesser truths, please choose the greater. The Bible tells us to submit to the authorities, but what if the authorities do not allow people to believe in the Lord? At this time, should we obey God or obey people? In fact, we often face this awkward situation. For example, the Pharisees. The Pharisees kept the Sabbath, but God was not pleased with their keeping of the Sabbath because they kept the Sabbath too rigidly, forgetting God's justice and mercy. We really need to be clear about the greater and lesser truths. This is fully reflected in the Bible.

Some people have faith to cast out demons, but they do not have love, which is troublesome. Later, God said, I do not know you. Is this not casting out demons in the name of Jesus Christ, speaking in tongues, and preaching the gospel? God said he did not know them. Why? Because there was no love within, no love for God. This is not to say that losing the big picture for small gains will necessarily lead to such outcomes, but we must continue to move from smaller truths to greater truths. The small things are the foundation. For example, faith. How can one enter into love without faith? That is impossible because God's love must be climbed through faith.

Truths Are Not Interchangeable

Truths vary in magnitude and are not interchangeable. In this generation, understanding truth is not difficult. The Bible says that drawing near to God is important and some people recognize this and do it, but forget everything else, which is problematic. Brothers and sisters, do not think that drawing near to God can replace spiritual warfare. The Israelites also worshiped God, but did the enemies die in the process? No. The Israelites took up swords and spears, entered Canaan, and drove out its inhabitants to possess the promised land. We do not see the Israelites using only worship to wage war. Is it necessary to worship God? Yes, but we need both worship and warfare. When Nehemiah built the wall, he held a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, building and fighting simultaneously. Do not foolishly believe that we can do nothing and God will protect us; that is not what the Bible says.

Today, the phenomenon of interchanging truths is quite common. For example, some think that if they can pray with understanding, they do not need to pray in tongues, that praying in tongues is not important, or that praying in tongues is a smaller gift, and we should seek gifts that build up the church. Is this correct? It does not sound too far off, but something is wrong: the interchangeability, thinking that praying with understanding can replace praying in tongues. In fact, praying in tongues cannot replace praying with understanding, nor can praying with understanding replace praying in tongues. Some see being filled with the Holy Spirit as everything, but it is not. Besides being filled with the Holy Spirit, there are other truths, just as reading the Bible cannot replace being filled with the Holy Spirit, nor can being filled with the Holy Spirit replace reading the Bible. Some say they only read the Bible and do not need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is interchanging truths. Believing in Jesus should be according to the complete revelation of the Bible; this is complete biblical truth.

We must pay attention: truths cannot be interchanged. I saw a sister who was constantly attacked by the demonic forces behind her family, causing her great distress. She drew near to God and worshiped Him, but after several days, there was no effect. I asked her what was wrong. She said she was very uncomfortable and that the Holy Spirit revealed to her that it was the demonic forces behind her family. I led her in prayer: In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the evil spirits to leave. The demons were cast out, and the sister was healed. What took several days was resolved in five minutes. Interchanging truths makes them ineffective. Everyone must know that casting out demons is casting out demons, speaking in tongues is speaking in tongues, holding a staff is holding a staff, and pastoring is pastoring. Do not confuse these things. We might feel that demons leave after singing a few songs, and this has indeed happened, but the Bible says that casting out demons is casting out demons.

New Wine, New Wineskins, Continuous Renewal

Many lies enter in this way, from the interchange of truths. I abstract it into a concept of Chinese Mingding Destiny: God wants our minds to be continuously renewed, and knowing God is endless. Stopping the renewal of our minds is stopping the knowing of God, and stopping the knowing of God will quickly turn us into old wineskins. God loves new wineskins filled with new wine. Our God is a God who does new things; He does not like to keep doing the same thing. Our God is the Creator, so the first book of the Bible is called Genesis. Our God is a God who does new things, a God who creates, and also a God who continuously creates. God will not rest after doing only one thing; we must constantly discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Churches becoming rigid and brothers and sisters becoming rigid are quite abominable phenomena. I often pray and ask God what to do with the church in the future. God told me that the church must be constantly renewed. I felt very good after receiving this word. Any discipline is endless, let alone knowing God, which is even more endless.

Today, the changes in the minds of our brothers and sisters are constantly innovating, with new things coming out every once in a while, and there are many things we cannot finish. For example, we used to have the 101 Course, and now we have the 201 Course, and we are still writing the 301 Course. There is a basic course on healing and deliverance, and later there will be an advanced course on healing and deliverance. We have recently developed courses on how to receive new people and how to speak. Brothers and sisters, we will never finish these things. From birth to death, we need to do the things of this life.

Like the training of children, we are actually training mothers. If the mother is not good, how can the child be good? Training mothers not to indulge the flesh of their children. Our minds are constantly changing and knowing God; our current knowledge of God is very superficial. According to the time of a person's birth, different ages have different problems: problems at birth, problems in elementary school, problems in middle school, problems with dating, problems with college, problems with finding a job, and later there are family problems, and so on, a whole host of problems.

We who build churches have endless things to do, and our forms are constantly changing. Brothers and sisters, do not stop, for stopping will lead to a lack of joy. Once a person stops growing, he is not joyful. It is impossible to stay in the past. A person's greatest joy is the joy of growth, and serving a person's growth is a very happy thing. Constantly advancing in truth is as difficult as climbing a mountain.

Conclusion

In the last days, we ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the temple of the God of Jacob, constantly climbing this mountain, continuously advancing in the knowledge of God, standing higher and seeing farther, our ability to fight becomes stronger, and the force of striking the devil becomes more and more powerful. We become more and more like Jesus, and our service and minds become more like Jesus, serving this age like Jesus Christ. Therefore, this path is endless, so every day is new for us, and we are doing new things. This is an important concept of our Chinese Mingding Destiny. May God bless everyone!