The Priest of God is an Exceedingly Honorable Office

Numbers 18 speaks of serving God as an exceedingly honorable office, where the priests and Levites receive far more than the Israelites. However, many today are unaware of this. Some people tell their parents: Dad, Mom, from now on, my younger sibling will take care of you; I am going to serve God. Upon hearing about serving God, it seems like one is destined for a life of poverty, unable to manage family or work. But that's not the case.

In Numbers 18, we see that the portion received by the priests and Levites far exceeds the average of the Israelites. Besides the tithe, the Israelites also offered various thanksgiving sacrifices, adding up to about seventeen percent of their income. In other words, God asked the Israelites to pay more taxes than the Singapore government asks of its citizens. If the entire nation were Christian, the church would be richer than the government. The taxes collected were given to the Levites, who then gave a tenth of it to the priests, so the income of the priests and Levites far exceeded that of the Israelites.

Besides these records, Numbers 18 also records various sacrifices. I do not want to talk about the different kinds of sacrifices today. I just want to convey a very important concept, one that is worth reflecting on, especially in Chinese churches: In my faith, serving God is an exceedingly honorable office, and the inheritance of those who serve God is Jehovah Himself. If one gains Jehovah, then those who serve God will not live in poverty. Today, when we carefully reflect on the Christian belief system and many things that happen in the church, it is because we have misunderstood.

A sister, after coming to Singapore, suffered from severe depression. She looked up the phone numbers of all the churches in Singapore (Singapore church list) and called each one. However, many church phone numbers were unreachable, and occasionally, when a call was answered, they would say: Sister, our church's Sunday service time is xx; please come. This sister was already severely depressed; did they expect her to wait until Sunday? If you are depressed and are told to wait until Sunday at a certain time, will that work?

Why does this happen? Many churches boast that they only use ten to twenty percent of their donations to hire staff, saving the rest of the money to buy property. They believe that giving this money to church coworkers is a sin or improper conduct, so they constantly cut costs when it comes to hiring full-time coworkers.

The Responsibilities of the Church

Later, I realized that our church has taken a completely different approach. The church is a human resource-intensive industry, meant to serve the brothers and sisters of the church. The priests were to serve the Israelites and take care of the tabernacle, the tent, and so on. Jesus taught us that shepherding my sheep means taking good care of the flock; shepherding is about human resources. Today, we can try calling all the churches and see how many are providing normal service. When I call some large organizations and companies in Singapore, it goes like this: ...Press 1, ...Press 2, ...Press 3. I hang up the phone when I hear 3; it's really annoying. Companies say that doing this is to reduce labor costs, but is the purpose of doing things to reduce labor costs, or to provide better service? In fact, your value lies in providing excellent service.

Today, I can boast to the brothers and sisters that our church's service is better than many enterprises, but we must continue to improve. As long as you seek, you will surely find us. Some brothers and sisters love me very much and are afraid of disturbing me, reluctant to call me. They send a message asking: Can I call you? I say: Yes, call me! Then they say: It's too late to call you, I am afraid of disturbing you. I say: It's okay, I sleep little; I am someone who sleeps little and works a lot. The sister I mentioned earlier who suffered from severe depression called our church, and after hearing her situation, I said: Come, let me serve you! So this sister came to us, and every night for the next three months, she came here to pray, and we accompanied her in prayer.

Thank God, there were not many people in the church at that time, so I could do this. Even today, I try my best to do so. If I cannot do it, it does not matter; my coworkers, and my coworkers' coworkers, will do it. We train batches of people to provide the best service for the church. Our church's ministry must not only have great breakthroughs in healing and deliverance, solving people's problems, but we must also do very well in training, teaching, instruction, theological foundations, and faith foundations.

The Mindset of Abundance

The service of the church must exceed that of multinational corporations, not just any casual church. Our church does not have a Press 1 for who to find, Press 2 for who to find... The customer service representative is busy, please wait patiently... I believe the church is a human resource-intensive industry, and these donations are used to provide for the priests. What does God want them for? God only asks eleven tribes to take out ten percent, and eleven tribes support one tribe. How many times more will the priest's income be than the average Israelite?

We must begin to understand that our God's design is like this, but today we often turn things upside down, especially in our Chinese land. Some time ago, I heard that a preacher only earns 500 RMB per month; I do not know if it is true. Later, I heard about 2,000 to 3,000 RMB; even that is very hard. I also heard that some preachers' families are terrified when their children want to become preachers; this is a misunderstanding. The church should treat its coworkers well; this is God's design. Whether one is a priest or a Levite in the church, it is an exceedingly honorable office.

So today, I hope everyone will rethink and no longer serve in the church with a volunteer attitude. If there are volunteers in the church, I am sorry, I do not need them! You can be an ordinary brother or sister. If you are a volunteer, you might as well find a good job in the workplace and do it well. If you want to come to the church to serve, you must meet a certain standard and receive a relatively generous salary. Some people say: Won't you mislead people by doing this? In fact, people will be misled whether you do this or not. If you do not do this, some people will think the church is poor. So brothers and sisters, Jehovah gives us the office of priest as a reward; do you understand? This morning, I met someone again, the person who sat next to me on the plane last time. He is no longer a pastor, and he said to me: I have finally卸下了这个苦差 (relieved myself of this burden). Is it a burden or a reward?

Brothers and sisters, this concept must change. First, in the office of priests and Levites, there are no volunteers. God does not like that. I have also observed one thing: those who build churches without taking a salary eventually build churches that are 接得青黄不接 (poorly managed). Because I am a volunteer in the church, there is no responsibility. You cannot demand anything from a volunteer. Can such a person build a good church? The sheep's wool comes from the sheep's body; this is the rule established by God, what about grain offerings and wave offerings?

Today, when you look carefully at preachers, you will find interesting phenomena. Some time ago, I met a preacher who was studying theology in Singapore. I asked him: You are studying theology in Singapore, that's very expensive! He said: It's okay, I live by faith. I said: You live by faith, so how do you live? I was puzzled. It turns out that小鸡不撒尿，它自然有道的 (even a chick that does not urinate has its own way). Did you understand what I said? If a person does not urinate, their kidneys will fail, which would be troublesome. Later, I heard that the tuition fee for one year was 200,000 RMB (including tuition and living expenses).

I myself do not quite agree with studying theology; let me state my position first. Because I found in the Bible that those disciples of Jesus did not study theology, and Jesus Himself did not study it either. As for how the matter of studying theology came about, I am not very clear. I myself do not quite agree with it; this matter is worth noting. Studying theology plus living expenses costs 200,000 RMB per year; where does that come from? Don't you find it strange? In the Bible, these things are all done in an orderly manner. What belongs to whom, what belongs to the priest; there is no ambiguity. There is no saying that I secretly slip you some money; I bless you.

Some time ago, someone gave me 10,000 RMB. I said: What is this? If it is a donation, I will transfer it to the church. I myself do not accept donations. That is a donation for you! I quickly found his pastor and said: Please go back and instruct him; we do not have this habit in our church. For example, if I am a full-time coworker in the church, whether the church gives me 1 RMB, 10 RMB, or 1,000 RMB, I know that I am a full-time coworker.

If I do some private work outside; preach a sermon at this church on Sunday and get 500 SGD; then preach a sermon at that church and get a few hundred SGD, and put it all in my own pocket. Then when the brothers and sisters of the church look for me, I have no time. What are you doing? I am preaching at another church. I am doing private work; how interesting! How proactive! I know a good friend who also built a church. Half of the year, he is not at home; where is he? He is running around everywhere. What is he doing? I think he must be捞点钱 (making money). Because he does not take a salary in the church. What is this?

None of the copyrights to the books I have written belong to me. Why? Because I wrote them during work hours; can they belong to me? Some pastors I know, it all belongs to them. When did he write them? Isn't that doing private work during work hours?

For example, XX Brother works at the institute. He does his own research during work hours and still receives a salary. When he finishes his research, he resigns and starts his own business, because I have finished my research. Don't you think this is a bit of a professional ethics problem? I take other people's salaries, and I do private work. When I finish my research, I do not tell you. The research is all in your head. You keep the valuable things for yourself and give the worthless things to the company. Don't you think there is something wrong with this?

So today, brothers and sisters, you must know that you should do things in the open. Do not整那些葫芦搅茄子说不清道不白、来路不明的东西 (do those confusing and unclear things of uncertain origin). I also encourage the pastors and leaders among us not to donate to themselves. Why? Because donations are brought to the temple, not secretly given to XX priest or XX Levite. They are all donated to Jehovah God. Then, God says this belongs to whom, that belongs to whom. So today, it is very important for us to understand these things. Do not think that a poor pastor will bless you. I hope that all the brothers and sisters among us will change this wrong idea. A pastor who is受了贫穷咒诅 (cursed with poverty) leads a group of brothers and sisters struggling in the curse of poverty. Do you think that is good?

I think it is good for a wealthy pastor and wealthy coworkers to lead a group of blessed brothers and sisters. Do you think it is a poor person who loves money, or a rich person who loves money? I tell you, a poor person loves money very much. Because not having money will take their life; it is really hard not to have money. A very wealthy person can have a mindset of abundance. A very poor person finds it difficult to have a mindset of abundance. I hope that all of our church coworkers will have a mindset of abundance and bless the brothers and sisters you lead. Without a mindset of abundance, the road ahead will be difficult.

So today, we must know for sure that serving God is a reward given to us by God; our portion is Jehovah God, and Jehovah God is our inheritance. We must not have any inheritance or portion among them, because Jehovah is our portion; Jehovah is our God.

So today, we must know that serving God is exceedingly honorable. You do not need to say to your mom: Mom, from now on, let my younger sibling support you; I am dedicating myself to God. You can say: Mom, from now on, I will take care of supporting you. Why? Because from now on, I am going to serve God! Fortunately, my mom has a son like me; otherwise, the old lady would have suffered. Today, all of our brothers and sisters must have a mindset of abundance.

Soaring Freely Like an Eagle

From now on, many will be blessed because of you. From now on, we must completely remove the curse of poverty and the mindset of poverty from among us. Some things are also difficult for me to understand, such as some people saying: You rich people should weep and wail. Does this have anything to do with wealth? Abraham, you should weep and wail; Isaac, Jacob, you should weep and wail, because suffering will come upon you, because your wealth has rotted and your clothes have been moth-eaten. What kind of talk is this? Is being rich a problem? Is being poor good? Do you want to make your church so poor that it needs to be supported by pastors from other churches? Today, we must definitely get out of this mindset of poverty and stop having this complaining attitude.

In fact, being rich or not rich does not necessarily mean that a person is guilty or innocent. A person's poverty does not necessarily mean that he is spiritual or unspiritual, and wealth does not necessarily mean that he is spiritual or unspiritual. Some rich people love the Lord very much, and some poor people also love the Lord very much; some poor people are cursed, and some rich people are cursed. Does this have anything to do with it? Why do we have to classify rich people into one category? Isn't that a poverty mentality?

Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must have a wealthy mindset. Wherever I go, I give, and I never take advantage of others. In the past, we sent out many books, which were worth a lot of money, but we were not poor at all. Today, I met a Singaporean who said that a prophet told him to donate one of his properties to a Chinese person. I told him: I am not interested in his money, I am very interested in blessing them. I told him about the things God has done in me, and he was very happy after listening. A few days ago, I sent some books to a former pastor, who was a former colleague in the workplace. He sent me a WeChat message today, saying: I have read your book, and although I have not finished reading it, I have found that you have very unique insights in healing and deliverance. I am also very encouraged.

So, brothers and sisters, today when we serve God, we must be a resounding priest, and when we are Levites, we must be resounding Levites, and when we are engineers, we must be resounding engineers. Never be perfunctory in the priestly office. Being a Christian carelessly will be cursed, and being a priest carelessly will be even more cursed. It is not okay to be careless in anything, let alone serving the living God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, the portion that God has measured out for you is extremely abundant, and God's words stand firm in the heavens. If we have not obtained it, there is only one explanation: we have not aligned correctly. The grace that God has prepared for us is extremely abundant. Therefore, we must get out of this wrong concept of serving God. Those who serve God must be very rigorous, so that people's lives can soar like eagles. It is not about putting people on a vent and then blowing them up by the wind. We are an eagle flying in the wind and rain, soaring like an eagle, soaring in the kingdom of God, and manifesting the glory of God!

Serving According to God's Requirements

Serving God is an extremely honorable office. Whether you can make this office honorable depends on how you do it. Serving God should have an extremely professional attitude of service. Just like you work in the world, you can't do well without a professional attitude, let alone serving God. It is very dangerous to not have a professional attitude of service, otherwise what are you doing? Because our God is a consuming fire. If you are handling a nuclear power plant, can you be careless? What if the nuclear power plant explodes? What if you are building an atomic bomb, what if the atomic bomb explodes? Anything with energy cannot be played with casually. If you do not carefully follow God's rules, it will really kill people. I encourage brothers and sisters to serve God, you must carefully follow. God says how to serve, let’s serve accordingly. And then I tell you, the reward that God has prepared for us is extremely abundant.

Therefore, our church will definitely not lack full-time co-workers in the future, and many people are lining up outside the door to squeeze into the ranks of full-time co-workers. Being a full-time co-worker in our church is definitely a blessing. Their salaries are similar to those of professionals in multinational corporations, of course, this is my dream, and it has not yet been achieved. The full-time co-workers in our church serve very carefully, we must provide very professional service. When we meet God, God will say to us, you are a faithful and good servant, you can come in and enjoy the glory of our Father. Do not regard serving God as a bitter errand, it is an extremely noble, glorious and beautiful Mingding Destiny.

If serving God is not regarded as a reward, but as a burden, it is very deadly. Some time ago, I served a pastor who had hydrocephalus, and he thought that serving God was a bitter errand. He said that he serves every day and only rests one day a week. How could he not get sick if he thought like this?

I said I haven’t rested for a day. Because you receive what you believe. If you see serving as a hard job, then what you receive is hard work. But I think this is the greatest reward God has given me, and I enjoy my full-time service very much. Every time I go to a place, I tell them that I have written more than thirty books. They think: Wow! Incredible! I work very hard, but today, how many people serve God very hard? Before, I met the younger brother of a local pastor, and he said that being a pastor is really good, working only two hours a week, just preaching on the stage. I guess his brother is such a pastor.

Summary

So today, brothers and sisters, we must come out of this market state and return to a rigorous and responsible attitude of service. After learning this chapter, everyone must know, do not desecrate your office, this is said to full-time co-workers. What is said to the brothers and sisters of our church is: do not despise those who serve God, their portion is Jehovah God, and Jehovah God is their inheritance. They are to bring you brothers and sisters into blessings! May God bless everyone!