Q1: Not quite grasping justification by faith?
Justification by faith is a summary statement Martin Luther arrived at through his reading of the Book of Romans. But what exactly does the justification by faith spoken of in Romans entail? It is believing in the Word of God. Believing in the Word of God is, in fact, believing in what God has revealed in the Bible. What is revealed in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, is the victorious church.
If justification by faith is merely about individual good deeds, then one has veered off course. The Word of God instructs us to build God’s glorious church, a victorious church, to build the body of Jesus Christ, to love one another in Jesus Christ. The entire New Testament reveals the building of the victorious church.
Therefore, people get perplexed when they seize upon the phrase justification by faith. For example, some ask: Are you of the grace gospel? I am not even sure what they mean by grace gospel. The Gospel is, by its very nature, grace. As for the definition of this grace gospel, I cannot find it in the Bible. So, I ask: What is this grace gospel? Believe and receive grace. But what exactly are we believing in? People cannot articulate it clearly.
If you ask me what I believe in, I believe in what God has revealed in the Bible. God says how to build the victorious church, and I act accordingly. You might say you have to work. Well, I too have to work. You toil, I toil; you do housework, I do housework. I do not do any less than others. The issue is not whether we work or not, whether we go to work or not, whether we do housework or not, whether we raise children or not. We do all these things, but they are not our Mingding Destiny. Our Mingding Destiny, our highest priority, is to build the victorious church. Building the victorious church is the answer to all our problems.
Q2: Many feel that building the victorious church sounds like it requires specialized knowledge and abilities. They are insignificant and do not know what they can do to participate?
In truth, there are many things to do. First, one must study the Gaining Grace course, which teaches how to believe and how to live a victorious life in the church. Then, one should follow the pastors in prayer and spiritual warfare. First, gain deliverance, then begin to serve others. In fact, the most important lessons in the entire church are the works of deliverance and binding.
The victorious church certainly possesses the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. Holding the keys of the kingdom, one can draw upon heavenly resources and trample upon the powers of the underworld. Our church has much healing and deliverance because healing and deliverance are the most important revelations in the Bible and the most fundamental works of the church.
We all need to believe that, through Jesus Christ, you have already received the authority to trample upon the devil and the enemy. This is a corporate, unified work. If our brothers and sisters outside are discerning good and evil, being critical, and committing many offenses and injuries, that is not unity. That is eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our church has a complete pastoral system and courses, including 101 and 201 courses, Gaining Grace and Gaining Mingding Destiny, and healing and deliverance courses. All of these teach what we ought to believe and how we ought to believe.
Q3: What exactly needs to be done to build God's glorious church? What is the most crucial aspect of it?
The most important thing in building God's glorious church is to be reliable, to rely on God’s Word in the Bible. If something is in the Bible, we should do it well. If something is not in the Bible, we should not speak blindly. Distinguish between the major and minor aspects of the words in the Bible, and understand spiritual words clearly. We have taught that the entire theological system of Chinese Mingding Destiny is to continually summarize the most important truths and the second most important truths.
After summarizing, we let the brothers and sisters know how to implement them. When we talk about how to believe, many people like to recite the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. One sister recited these creeds fluently, but it was of no use. In the end, she suffered from severe depression. These things are useless and powerless because they are not the most crucial. The most crucial thing is the army of God. The army must be disciplined. Our requirements for the church are still quite high, and the requirements for the brothers and sisters are also relatively high.
Commitment is one of the most important characteristics of an army. We are against church-hopping. Church-hopping is a very popular practice today. I know some Christians who do not actively participate in the affairs of their own church. Instead, they actively participate in matters outside the church. They stir up a lot of things, and I cannot see what they are doing. Sometimes, I wonder: Why do some people do a lot of things without considering whether what they are doing is effective or not?
I have found that many people have this bad habit: they do things wrong, but they do not know how to think or change. In fact, church-hopping is spiritual adultery. Not to mention church-hopping, even when attending university, you cannot be at one university today and run to another university tomorrow. Even if you are serving in the army, you cannot be in the infantry today and run to the air force tomorrow. No one will recognize you.
Therefore, people must belong to their own troop. If you carefully read the Bible, you will find that when the twelve tribes came out of Egypt, they were divided into their respective tribes. When the land was divided, it was also divided within their own tribes. Today, church-hopping is very prevalent, and conference-hopping is even more so, but it is all useless. I do not understand why these people continue to church-hop and conference-hop. We should often ask ourselves what we are doing.
Church-hopping and conference-hopping are meaningless. Next, I will share with you an important theme: the shepherding of the church. Shepherding is a very important work of the church, yet many churches still do not have shepherding to this day. Shepherding includes preaching the Word of God. It also includes healing and deliverance, dealing with people's flesh, and then urging the brothers and sisters to implement the Word of God. This is a series of teachings that we have summarized from building the church that are in accordance with the Bible. For example, the conversation between Jesus and Peter is very interesting:
Peter, do you love me?
Lord, I love you.
Feed my sheep.
Shepherding is a very important work of the church, but what exactly is shepherding? When I was in the local church earlier, I was annoyed when the pastor came to my house because it wasted my time and did not solve my problems. If the pastor comes over just to engage in public relations, You are good, I am good, we are all good, then that is of no use. I have always felt that such a practice is not shepherding, and I do not want to do that kind of shepherding.
After I became a pastor, I kept asking God: God, what is shepherding? What exactly is shepherding? God said: Build up people's faith. Building up people's faith means causing people to trust in the Word of God. Trusting in the Word of God involves healing and deliverance, dealing with the flesh, and then obeying the Word of God. This makes the whole matter very clear. I encourage everyone to begin to understand the content of Chinese Mingding Destiny. In fact, the concept of Mingding Destiny theology was mentioned in the Bible long ago. It is just that God has now given me the wisdom to summarize and organize it. Mingding Destiny is actually living for God.
Someone asked me: If you live like this, can you still live your life? I want to say: If you do not live according to the Word of God, how are you going to live your life? Some time ago, there were two sisters. One of the sisters broke down. We ministered to her and introduced to her the concept of living for God. At first, she did not believe it very much. Her children at home were sick in turn. I thought to myself, How are you going to live your life? Everyone in your family is sick. My goodness! When I saw her pastor ministering to her, he prayed for their illnesses every day, but there was no effect.
In the end, this sister had no other choice but to receive what we had received, that building God's church is the most important thing. Only in this way can we solve the problems in our lives. Without such a mind, nothing can be done well. You live and live until you die, and life becomes meaningless.
Q4: Is church-hopping spiritual adultery?
Church-hopping is spiritual adultery. Adultery is unfaithfulness. Unfaithfulness means not knowing what you are doing, being in this church today and that church tomorrow, and not knowing what you are doing. I do not understand why people church-hop because people who church-hop cannot solve any problems.
There was a young couple who used to be among us. Later, they met a seminary teacher. In fact, I also know this teacher. This teacher often visited this young couple and took them away from our church. This couple was very interesting. They loved the Lord very much. When they were among us, they attended six meetings a week. Our church was one of their meetings. They also attended five other meetings, three on Saturdays and three on Sundays.
In the end, this couple left the church and went to another church to work full-time. As a result, after a period of time, that church was almost ruined by them. The senior pastor could not control them. In the end, he could not control them, so the senior pastor expelled this couple from the church. I thought to myself, The church has been ruined by these 'church-hopping' people.
If you are a Christian among us and you are still church-hopping, then you do not have to come anymore. Spiritual adultery is unfaithfulness. Of course, if you do not agree with our church's Mingding Destiny, vision, and theological concepts, you are also wasting time among us. Our church does not lack people. What our church lacks are people who share our Mingding Destiny and are willing to run with us.
I believe that church-hopping is spiritual adultery because each church has its own theological system. In fact, everyone can ignore what I am saying. Some of my views may not be correct, but everyone must go home and read the Bible carefully. One thing is certain: people who church-hop are unlikely to become people who build the victorious church. I have also never seen a pastor who church-hops who has been able to build the victorious church.
I am a very focused person when it comes to doing things. Let me give you an example: I put my sermons on the website. If you want to listen, then listen. If I am asked to preach at other churches on Sunday, I will refuse. I will not go because I do not want to church-hop. If I want to bless them, I can go online and listen directly, which is even easier. But if I come among us and have a need for healing and deliverance, I will arrange for someone to minister to them. After the ministry is over, they should go back wherever they should go.
I am determined to be a focused person. If you read the story of Joshua and Caleb, you will know that God said that they had a focused heart to follow God. Focus is a very important quality.
Q5: To build God's glorious church, what should we as individuals do first?
What you do yourself is not the most important thing; what is important is what the whole team does. The pace and progress of the entire team must be consistent. It is like military training. If others are marching in step while you are marching out of step, you will easily be kicked out of the army. During military parades, the steps are very synchronized. If each person goes their own way, strolling around like dancing in the plaza or taking a walk, it won't work. If you stroll around like that, even the plaza dancers won't take you.
So, to build a glorious church, we as individuals must follow the church together. First, we must start reading the Bible properly. The question everyone is asking is a good one. I think it is already very clear in our Chinese Mingding Destiny that being a disciple of Jesus Christ means paying the price for God and putting God's affairs in the most important position.
If you can do the things mentioned above, I guarantee you will live better than before. Actually, God does not want us to pay a price; God wants to bless us. If we diligently follow God's words, we will surely live in prosperity. The ten spies who went into the Promised Land with Joshua and Caleb all died, but Joshua and Caleb inherited the land. Which do you think lived better? Of course, those who diligently keep and follow God's words lived better.
Once, I received a phone call from a brother who had lost money in his business. He called me to ask me to pray for his money and business. I replied that I do not pray for these things. He said that the Holy Spirit moved him to pray for his money and business every day. I asked him: How did the Holy Spirit move you? He said: The Holy Spirit often wakes him up in the middle of the night and moves him to pray for money.
As a result, the more he prayed, the more money he lost, almost losing all three million. Later, he asked me: If it wasn't the Holy Spirit waking him up in the middle of the night to pray, then who was it? I said: It was an evil spirit, because I have never seen in the Bible that the Holy Spirit wakes people up in the middle of the night to pray for money.
Actually, our church used to pray for money, pray for renting houses, pray for finding boyfriends and girlfriends, pray for many things, but we didn't pray for the church. As a result, nothing worked, no problems were solved, and everyone felt very uncomfortable. But some things were very interesting. Some things, after praying for them, actually came to pass. Brothers and sisters, the devil likes to confuse people with these things. Even the words of people who jump rope often come true.
I have a basic theory: I basically don't do what is not in the Bible, and I don't pray for things that are not prayed for in the Bible. But when people get sick, we should do healing and deliverance for them. I myself feel that today's faith has problems. Some people are not familiar with the Bible, and it is easy for the devil to deceive them.
But it is difficult for the devil to deceive me. For example, the devil said to Jesus: If you are hungry, you can turn stones into bread. As a result, Jesus answered the devil: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus taught that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all the things we need will be added to us.
I don't believe I need to pray for these things. I believe that if I walk in God's plan, I don't need to ask for these things at all. I only need to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Praying for houses and constantly praying for these things is actually being led by one's own desires. With God, you have everything. Whether you have a house or a car is not important. I don't value these things very much. I sold my car and exchanged one car for two bicycles, one for my wife and one for me. The quality of life has not decreased, and we are living quite well.
I am very confused. I don't know why people spend their whole lives asking for these things. When I first believed in the Lord, I was greatly shocked. A Christian couple I knew loved cars and houses very much. So they prayed, asking God to bless their car. Cars in Singapore are very expensive. As a result, they rushed to buy a car when the price was relatively low, and then they went on stage to testify about how much they loved the car and how comfortable they were sitting in it.
Half a year later, the car was destroyed and they died. I went to the funeral. Their faces were all stitched up with needles. Looking inside the coffin from the outside, it was very tragic. At that time, I told God that I would not love the world or the things in the world for the rest of my life. Whether I have a car or a house, if I have it, I have it; if I don't have it, I don't have it. I don't care about these things. I only care about God.
Later, there was another young pastor in his 30s who loved cars very much. Many pastors love cars. When he was driving, he went under a large water truck, and suddenly the car was destroyed and he died. When I went to his funeral, I stood in front of his coffin for a while. The pastor's child was only a few months old at the time. At that time, I said in my heart that I would never love the world for the rest of my life.
Although I don't love these cars and houses, I don't lack these things. I never pursue these things. Even when I was a senior manager, I never cared about these things. So brothers and sisters, start to understand: Don't ask for the world and the things of the world, but only seek God's will. God's will is not houses, bread, or groceries. God's will is to build a victorious church, to build the body of Jesus Christ. God's will is for us to enter into his will, to set the captives free and to set the oppressed free.
Q6: Is it true that the prayers of pastors are more effective than the prayers of members? Why?
Everyone should know that I don't encourage you to pray on your own very much. The pastor's prayers for the sheep he shepherds are definitely much more effective. In the church, it is because we have a relationship of mutual love that God dwells among us. If you read the Gospel of John, you will know that it is God's command for us to love one another. God dwells in our relationship of mutual love, but if there is no shepherding relationship and no relationship of mutual love, then it is not very certain.
I do not approve of you seeking service from someone other than your pastor, because your pastor's service will be very effective. This is how the church is connected. But your pastor's pastor can serve you. I think you must not formalize it. I know that in Chinese churches, it is very popular to find people to lead prayers, encouraging a thousand or ten thousand people to pray for themselves. Actually, in the Bible, Jesus alone is enough, and we have not seen Jesus gather a large group of people to pray for one person.
Some of the things we are seeing now are very confusing. There is a pastor praying on the stage, and more than 300 people are praying for him behind him. Actually, such things are not in the Bible. Why did the Apostle Paul lead many people there to pray? Because he wanted these people to have one mind, one Mingding Destiny, and the determination to build God's glorious church.
Many people often have a confusion, that is, they like to find people outside the church to pray for them, but it is rare for prayers from people outside the church to be effective, because God does not like this. God likes people to have the determination to build the church. Seeking the prayers of the pastor is the thing that God is most pleased with, because the relationship between you and the pastor is the foundation of the church.
In the church, if the relationship between the pastor and the sheep is very distant, and they go everywhere to attend special meetings and various prayer meetings, I don't think highly of it, because doing so is not building God's church. If you want to build the church, then love one another well in the church with the brothers and sisters, and pray with your pastor, in your small family and in your pastoral district.
In my experience, a pastor's prayers for the sheep are usually useful. That is part of God's plan, not because the pastor is more capable, but because this is what God is pleased with, because this is building God's church. If everyone is cultivating alone at home and praying for themselves at home, then what is the point of building a church? I am against the idea of not wanting to trouble others with one's own problems and praying for oneself. If you think this way, then when others contact you and need you to serve, you will also find it troublesome, so we all need to readjust our mentality.