One of the Most Important Tasks of the Church is Shepherding
In the church, shepherding is of utmost importance. In my early years at the local church, I often lamented that I seemed to be a sheep without a shepherd. So, for many years, I was essentially feeding myself, listening and searching everywhere. Later, when I established a church, I was puzzled about what shepherding truly meant.
In reality, the shepherding of the church is very important. We all know in our hearts that we love Jesus, and we also know the dialogue between Jesus and the Apostle Peter. The theme of this dialogue is love. It goes like this; let's turn to John chapter 21, verses 15-17 in the Bible. Those who have Bibles, please underline this passage.
**When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.(John 21:15-17)
This passage speaks very profoundly. We know that the Gospel of John speaks a great deal about love. So, what is feed my sheep related to? It is related to loving Jesus. If we love Jesus, the result of loving Jesus is shepherding the sheep of God. In the past few years, we have learned very deep lessons. If a church only has gatherings without shepherding, that is a tragedy.
Everyone has their own problems, and each person's problems are ever-changing. If a church is full of people who love Jesus, it should be a shepherding church, so that it can effectively solve everyone's problems.
What Exactly is Shepherding
My understanding of shepherding comes from reading the Bible. The Bible speaks very clearly about it; the Bible says that if we love Jesus, we shepherd the sheep of God. Is this related to gifts? No, it is not. It is that we love God, so we choose to shepherd the sheep of God. But I don't have the gift! Actually, this is not a question of gifts; it is a question of desire or lack thereof.
I myself am very eager to pursue this. To be honest, in my early years at the local church for so many years, I cannot remember a single thing that many pastors said today. Why can't I remember? Because I felt like I didn't know what they were talking about. And they also liked to arrange time, bring a bag of fruit to my house, sit there and chat, chat, chat, which I found very annoying. So, I was very confused; is this what shepherding is?
So, I went back to the Bible and began to deeply understand this matter. Before establishing a church, we didn't care too much about shepherding, thinking that everything others did was right, so we just accepted it. But from my personal point of view, is bringing a bag of fruit to my house and chatting what you call shepherding? I thought it would be best if they didn't bother me, wasting my time and being worthless.
Do I lack that bag of fruit? I don't lack it. Do I lack him accompanying me to have a cup of tea and chat? I don't particularly lack that either. What do they talk about? Actually, it's hard to say what they talk about. Do they have any scriptures? There are some scriptures, but that's about it. So, I began to seek what shepherding truly is.
I didn't want to bring a bag of fruit to people's homes to chat about this and that, so I knelt down and prayed about how to shepherd. Actually, God's word speaks very clearly in the Bible: if you love Jesus, then shepherd the sheep of God, feed the sheep of God. First, release people from the oppression of the devil; second, deal with the carnal habits on people; third, teach them the word of God; fourth, supervise, that is, supervise and observe the state of their implementation of God's word.
Our church is a church that does real shepherding. I hope friends online will forgive me a little. I may not yet have a shepherding relationship with you, but if you have a shepherding relationship with the people I have trained, you will know that we are very serious. Among the churches I know, is there a church that shepherds as meticulously as we do? I don't think there are many.
At least in the churches I know, that's the case. Perhaps I am ignorant, or I don't understand the situation, but as far as I know, they are mostly gathering-type churches, but we are a shepherding-type church, not a gathering church. Gathering is for shepherding, shepherding is not for gathering, do you understand? Our gathering is for shepherding.
I will not let brothers and sisters guard the matter of gathering, but the brothers and sisters of the church must be shepherded. What is the purpose of shepherding? It is to enable these Christians to gradually grow up and become mature, full of the stature of Jesus Christ.
Shepherding is Building People's Faith in God's Word
Later, in practice, I constantly pondered and understood what these four things were doing. Actually, it is building people's faith in God's word. Building people's faith in God's word can solve many problems. If people believe in God's word, many problems can be solved. So, faith is a fundamental issue.
When people invite me, I prefer to talk about the way of Jesus. Jesus heals those who are oppressed by diseases. As long as we turn to Him, He will heal us all. When we see brothers and sisters in the church being oppressed by diseases, or struggling in diseases, will we think about one thing: what would Jesus do? Jesus would heal them, because they are God's sheep. So, healing and deliverance has become a very important task in our church.
Because it is very hard for people to be oppressed by the devil. It's both bitter and painful. It's really not a good thing. If we do not release them under this condition, and find many reasons to prove that it is God's will that we do not release them, then according to this kind of reasoning, many people can easily understand God as a cruel God. In our generation, many churches promote worship and praise. What is this worship and praise for? Worship and praise is for shepherding God's flock. Do you understand?
Shepherding is not for worship and praise, worship and praise is for shepherding God's flock. Therefore, within the church, many concepts need to be adjusted. We really need to ponder this, I don't want to directly give you my answer. I encourage our brothers and sisters, especially those who listen online, to ponder and think more. Once, I went to an entrepreneur's club, where there were more than a hundred Christian pastors, but he invited me there because he felt that I could solve his problems. Why? Because wherever I go, I perform miracles and wonders.
The owner of a software company personally saw how I ministered to a child who had sprained her foot. I led her and her mother in prayer. After more than ten minutes, the child was jumping and running around. In fact, at that time, the ankle was still bruised, but she was already able to jump and run around. Because I went to his software company for a meeting, and halfway through the meeting, the child's mother asked me for help.
The customer service in our church is still quite good, but at that time I saw that no one responded, so I stopped the meeting and began to minister to them. The software company owner also temporarily stopped the meeting and watched how I ministered. After he watched me heal the child, he took my hand and said: You are the pastor I am looking for. I want to find a pastor like you.
As a result, he bought me a plane ticket and asked me to serve another entrepreneur in another city. After I went, there were just over a hundred pastors worshipping in his company. What pleased me was that he said to me: I have received many pastors, you are the only pastor who cares about my problems. That is indeed the case. What many pastors think in their heads when they meet entrepreneurs, I will not say for the time being. When they meet rich people, the things they think in their heads are a little complicated. But I think I only care about people's problems.
That night, the entrepreneur said that a sister was having stomach pains during the worship and praise training. I said that you should call her, and I will lead her in prayer for a while. Stomach pain is very easy to deal with. When the call came, I learned that the person had already been sent to the hospital. I was thinking, if Jesus were there leading the worship, and someone had stomach pains, what would Jesus do? Jesus would heal that person's stomach.
In fact, it is very quick to solve stomach pain with prayer. Our entrepreneur sister also has the problem of stomach cramps, and often has terrible stomach pain in the middle of the night. Our pastors are all diligent in serving, regardless of the time. Therefore, in the past few years, the brothers and sisters who have participated in serving in our church have developed a habit of staying up late.
Why do they develop the habit of staying up late? Because many problems are closely related to the spirits of the underworld and hell and death. You need to know that our diseases are closely related to the power of the underworld. The power of the underworld is very rampant between 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock at night. If you understand this, you will find that people get sicker in the second half of the night. Getting sick in the second half of the night is very hard.
Once I ministered to a family. A brother's father was dying and could not get out of bed. He could not get out of bed during the day and had to rely on others to help him turn over, but at 2 o'clock at night he would sit up and start talking nonsense. The brother called me, saying it was very scary, and his father was speaking the names of dead people.
Then I led him in prayer over the phone. As soon as I prayed, the person fell back on the bed and continued to sleep. The next day, he still couldn't get up, and most of the time he didn't know what had happened at all. So, in fact, people are often in a very spiritual state before they die. Today, such service is actually a very common thing, because these things are within the scope of shepherding. I think everyone has been to church and knows the situation of their pastors. Among us, you can slowly judge for yourself. In fact, I attach great importance to the sickness of brothers and sisters.
First, it is an opportunity to release God's power. Second, it can release brothers and sisters from the oppression of the powers of the underworld. Wherever we cast out demons by the Spirit of God, there the kingdom of God has come, and this matter is closely related to the kingdom of God.
The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep
Casting out demons a lot is a very enjoyable thing, and such things often happen at night. A church without shepherding basically doesn't do this. What exactly is feeding the sheep of God? Feeding spiritual words, feeding the word of God. If a sheep is taken away by a wolf, you have to drive the wolf away and save the sheep. Jacob often encountered lions and tigers when he was shepherding, and David often encountered lions, bears, etc. when he was shepherding.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. We should weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, which is a connection of love. In my environment, I am very tired. Once I was invited to attend a meeting, and they invited me to speak on stage, so I spoke about the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep, and if you love Jesus, you will shepherd the sheep of God.
As a result, this offended many pastors. People pulled me aside, saying that I couldn't say that. According to what I said, was I the only one who could do it? It's not about whether I can do it or someone else can do it. Many times, what I do may not be so in place, but shepherding the sheep of God is what God said, and since God said it, I will say it.
I have been working very hard to do according to God's will, so today our church is a shepherding church. I attach great importance to shepherding. I said to the brothers and sisters who participate in serving in our church that our customer service must surpass the customer service of multinational corporations, although customer service is not common in churches.
Healing and Deliverance are Basic Works of the Church
Healing and deliverance is a very important part of the church. I think this is the example that Jesus set for us, and that is Jesus' way of shepherding. For example, when Peter's mother was sick, Jesus touched her and she was healed. Jesus did things pretty much like that.
I often see a group where many messages are sent to pray for the diseases of a certain pastor, a certain brother, or a certain sister: I will pray for you! It is beautifully called intercession. As for whether it is effective or not, whether they are healed or not, it is completely beyond their consideration. Over time, everyone feels that this is normal, but I feel that this is not normal. This is probably just playing a superficial game.
If it is the real deal, can't we desperately pray with this brother or sister and kill the demon? But they don't want to do the real deal, and they also find many excuses. Once, a friend from Singapore invited me to dinner. That day happened to be a Sunday. He said that the pastor of their church took a large group of people to a Korean pastor to see how they did healing and deliverance. After watching, they came back and preached a sermon titled If God doesn't heal you, do you still believe?
In fact, when I come back to 《Bible》, I didn't see these words. I saw: I am healed by the whip marks of Jesus! That day, a couple came, and the sister who was the wife had severe urethritis. She had to go to the toilet every once in a while. Because of this, she ran to me, seeking help. I explained to her the spiritual truth in this.
A wonderful thing happened. She sat there with me for almost five hours. When she got up to leave, she said: It is usually impossible for me to sit for so long with urethritis. I will go to the toilet in a while, but I didn't have such a problem with you.
God is the God who heals us. I think we should establish faith in God. I don't think we should say that I want to be a millionaire and ask God to help, because these things are not in line with the 《Bible》. But if we talk about illness, then it is definitely the spiritual power of darkness. Then we will serve this sister, and her urethritis will be completely healed. For many years, she has been in that church for many years, but she has not been healed.
Striving to Pay the Price to Serve
There are quite a few examples I want to give. Why don't many churches dare to promote healing and deliverance like this? Because healing and deliverance requires paying a price. In our church, I set an example. If this matter falls into my hands, I will be serious about it, unless the person being served chooses to give up. If he doesn't give up, then no matter how busy I am, I will keep tracking until this person is released. This is the shepherding of our church.
I want to tell everyone one thing, my phone is not turned off 24 hours a day. Now the number of people in the church is gradually increasing, and I may not be able to take care of everyone. It used to be fine, 20 people, 30 people, 40 people, I could handle everything by myself, even if hundreds of people knew my phone number, I could handle it, but what about thousands of people? There is only one way, which is to train more people like me.
In my ministry, once I went to visit a family. The child in this family had meningitis. I led the child in prayer. As soon as I prayed, it was past ten o'clock in the evening. My co-workers and I served very late, and we didn't eat a pack of instant noodles until 12:30 in the evening. Because I was invited, I should go back to the pastor who invited me. I wanted to make a phone call to tell him that I couldn't go back, because it would take a while to drive, but I couldn't get through when I called. The next day, when I asked, I found out that he turned off his phone on time every night at ten o'clock. I was very surprised. I can't find you, how can your sheep find you?
To put it bluntly, you can't find him even if his mother dies, because things often happen at night, unless I really can't hear at night. May God have mercy on me, my service is such service, this is called shepherding the flock of God. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am not bragging, I really want to pass on a message in this generation: Do you love Jesus? If you love Jesus, then shepherd the flock of God. If you shepherd the flock of God, can you leave the sheep alone when they are sick?
I think this thing is very confusing, why turn it off? Once I went abroad to participate in a special meeting, and my co-workers and I were there listening to people talking. It was a pastor from a large church in the United States. There was a question and answer time in the middle, and someone wrote a note: Pastor, what are your hobbies?
One likes sports cars, and the other likes hunting. Then they preached a message on stage: Monday is his Sabbath, and no one can disturb him. I was very surprised, has it become like this now? When did you see the Apostle Paul arranging Monday as his Sabbath in the Bible? No, on Monday Paul went to make tents, on Tuesday to make tents, and he had to come back to serve at night.
We were very surprised. How many people really care about the sheep being taken away by wolves today? How many people care about this? They only care about their Sabbath. Did Jacob have a day off in the wilderness when he was shepherding sheep for his uncle Laban? No, he didn't have a rest for twenty years, and he didn't get hydrocephalus, did he? I am very confused.
Everyone must know that the English word does not distinguish between rest and Sabbath: rest. In fact, Chinese people translate it well. Sabbath is so good, rest does not solve the problem, Sabbath solves the problem more. My co-worker and I were sitting below, and my co-worker nudged me with his arm: What are your hobbies? I only have one hobby, which is to serve God! What could be better than this in the world? Since we have identified God, we will use our lives to serve God. This is a good thing beyond compare.
I think our brothers and sisters are really blessed! You can't get such shepherding in other places, and the concept of shepherding is also very weak. At best, it's just chatting and talking, without any real effect. Just the matter of healing and deliverance, even if every church rises up to implement it well, there will still be endless needs to serve in this generation.
Until today, I am still troubled by one thing, which is how to raise up more people to serve, how to train more people who are willing to lay down their lives for Jesus, and serve well with a heart that loves God. I think it is easy to introduce a doctor to someone, but is that shepherding? That's not shepherding. I don't object to you seeing a doctor, it's your choice, but if you come to me, I will take you to pray. It is your family's choice to introduce you to a doctor, I will never take away your freedom.
So I think that our generation lacks the concept of shepherding. So what exactly is shepherding? First of all, it is to release the sheep from the control of the devil. Then feed the sheep fully, fatten them up, bring them to the streams and green pastures, so that they can thrive and grow into mature Christians, full of the stature of Jesus Christ.
Why don't churches dare to do healing and deliverance now? Because healing and deliverance requires a lot of sacrifice. I see that the brothers and sisters in the church are deeply controlled by the devil. Sometimes it takes three months to be released. I am not kidding, that is a very heavy price.
A brother came to me. His church was doing healing and deliverance well. I said, why are you still coming to me? He said: Because I can find you anytime, but our church only has healing and deliverance prayer meetings every Tuesday. I was thinking, why only on Tuesdays? What would it be like if every hospital was only open on Tuesdays? Hospitals also have emergency rooms, how can churches become like this? How strange, isn't it?
A sister, who had previously suffered from severe depression. She raised three children, one of whom has Down syndrome. It was really hard, and they were all basic salary workers. Her husband lost his job in order to take care of the family and lives on the sponsorship of charitable organizations. Many churches couldn't fix this and she came to me. I drove the demons out of her body, and the phlegm she vomited was packed into two kilograms in plastic bags.
Later, two months later, she returned to her own church. After returning to her church, she came to me again when she encountered problems. After I led her in prayer, she got better again. I asked her, why didn't she ask her own church to pray? She said that our church only has healing and deliverance once a month, and it also requires a recommendation from the sub-group leader. I said that there is no such thing in the Bible, even those who come to Jesus from the street are healed!
Eliminating the Bad Habits of Catering to the Flesh
In fact, behind deliverance ministry lies a serious issue of catering to the flesh. That is to say, why do people attract demons? Because they have carnal bad habits. You ask me, did those who were healed by Jesus in the Bible have their roots removed? I tell you, the roots were not removed, because they catered to their flesh. Did their illnesses relapse later? I don't have biblical evidence, but I can say with certainty: they will definitely relapse. Why? Because people got sick before because they lived under a curse, and then they returned to the curse. Do you think they won't relapse?
The Bible doesn't even discuss whether diseases are completely eradicated or not. If you want to find a fundamental way to eradicate them, there is only one way: diligently keep and follow God's word. If you don't diligently keep and follow God's word, you will surely be cursed. As a pastor, if you read the Old Testament, God is very emotional, there are no good shepherds. They are not shepherding at all; they are slaughtering, killing, stewing, and eating the sheep.
I think this is a deadly matter, so pastors are deeply cursed. But I say this again, not just to the brothers and sisters, but also to the friends online. If you hear this, go back and study the Bible. The shepherds in the Old Testament are deeply cursed.
So our brothers and sisters ask me, why is the proportion of cancer among full-time workers in the church so high? It's very simple, because they are not shepherding God's flock according to God's will. To shepherd God's flock according to God's will, after we release them from the control of demons, we still have to do one thing, which is to deal with their carnal bad habits, because the root of the disease lies in their going their own way.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit and the desires of the flesh are in conflict. If people follow the desires of the flesh, they will surely reap corruption. Our brothers and sisters, if their spirits are not flourishing, how can they not get sick? So start pondering what I am saying. If a person is carnal, it is deadly if you don't deal with it.
Once I went to see a property, and then I went to see the pastor of that place. That pastor was really interesting. He made dumplings for the brothers and sisters of the church. When I went that day, a very sad thing happened. One of the members scolded the pastor and his wife. Why? Because the dumplings were filled with pork, and he wanted to eat fish dumplings. The pastor and his wife were talking to me while shedding tears. It was hard work. What is this? I was very emotional; is this called shepherding? This is called catering to the flesh.
Shepherding God's flock in a way that caters to the flesh, isn't that deadly? You are already very catering to the flesh, and your pastor is even more catering to the flesh, so how can you not suffer? If it were me, I was too embarrassed to say, just like when I was a child, I said, Mom, I want to eat fried dough twists. At that time, my family was poor, and my mother pinched my face very hard: This is a fried dough twist! Then let's not eat it. How can we eat this fried dough twist? Right? In fact, children become very well-behaved and filial when they grow up. Among us, if you are a mother, if you are very catering to your child's flesh, then I guess you will suffer when you are old.
Catering to the flesh is corrupting people. Can the church do this? He was cooking dumplings for them to eat. I used to do better than him: soy-stewed beef, roast chicken, roast duck, very rich, but later I found that this is not the way to build a church. What kind of people can be attracted by roast chicken, roast duck, and soy-stewed beef? They are all attracting a group of gluttons. Today, I want to attract people who will build a victorious church with me, who will release the captives with me, become a blessing to this generation, and manifest God's glory.
I was thinking: How can a group of pastors who cater to the flesh, shepherding a group of sheep who cater to the flesh, possibly be victorious? How can they cast out demons? How can they solve problems? The more problems are solved, the more problems there are. Why? Because they are using methods that cater to the flesh. Pastors who cater to the flesh, shepherding members who cater to the flesh, this is actually quite common.
One year, a pastor came to me. He saw that my website was well-built, so he came to me and said, Can you help me build a website? I said, Your church is ten times bigger than mine. I only have a few people, and I don't know who to ask to help me build it. I said, Why don't you ask your own members to help you build a website? He said, They don't want to do it. If they don't want to do it, why should I help you do it?
Later, one of our sisters said to me, Your requirements are too high. Then I dealt with her flesh very harshly. If you don't deal with her, can she be delivered? This sister has persecutory delusions, phobias, and skin disorders. She has a lot of problems. If you don't deal with her flesh, she will come back after being delivered. When will it end? So I dealt with her, and I dealt with her a little too harshly. I worked on her for a full eight years.
I have received a lot of grace on her and in her family. She had athlete's foot, so I held her stinky feet and prayed, and her feet got better. Her skin disease also got better after I prayed with her. Her phobias also got better. I paid a great price to serve her. Then I pushed her to shepherd, and I said, Do you love Jesus? She said, I love Jesus. But this is not just lip service. You have to show what you're made of.
She said, I can't do what you do to serve me. I have to go to bed early, and I have to go to work the next day. I said, You little rascal, who cares that I serve you until four in the morning? I still get up to go to work at seven or eight in the morning. As a result, she said, I can't be like you. One day she discussed with me: I want to go to another church to see. It was the church that asked me to build a website for them. I said, Then go, but don't come back. I said this quite seriously. Do you think you can just come and go as you please? This is a spiritual army, a place to fight spiritual battles. If you want to be trained, you have to show what you're made of and see what you are.
As a result, after she went there, she asked me to have tea after a while. I said, How are you doing? She said, I'm doing well. I said, Of course you're doing well. A pastor who caters to the flesh is perfect for you, a sheep who caters to the flesh. What I said was a bit harsh. It doesn't matter if it's harsh, but brothers and sisters should know that I don't avoid saying anything that is beneficial to you.
Why do I do this? I hope to be able to shepherd God's flock. In fact, breaking down the flesh is a very important thing. If the church doesn't break down the flesh, no one will build the website. Among us, we have a ministry of the word, and everyone is working hard to transcribe the recordings. I have a good friend who is a pastor who pays people to transcribe his recordings. Can paying someone to transcribe be the same as what I do? I ask you to transcribe the recordings as a blessing to you, not as exploitation. It is truly a blessing.
Why? Because it deals with people's flesh. Sometimes the management of the ministry is a bit harsh. You must complete the transcription within this time period. If you don't do well, we won't take you. What kind of church is this? This is our church. We are really good at dealing with catering to the flesh.
Shepherding must involve taking in the word of God. Later, I found that the people who do the ministry of the word listen to the word of God over and over again. My sermons and Bible studies are a good edification for them. How well the foundation is laid! In recent years, we have built a solid foundation in transcribing recordings. Almost every brother and sister does this. It is to make you thoroughly understand the word of God, not to play tricks. It's not because I need it, but because you need it. Because just me talking about it once, you hear it in your left ear and it goes out your right ear. It's useless.
The first thing is deliverance ministry, and the second is to break down the flesh. We have a series of shepherding methods to deal with the flesh. In the following days, we will have several more talks. We will talk about dealing with the flesh up to this point first.
Reading God's Word, Feeding God's Flock
The third thing is to read God's word. Reading God's word, feeding God's flock, and making people able to eat their fill. Do you know how important this is? Not many churches lead all the brothers and sisters to study the Bible. We study the Bible chapter by chapter. There is enough content on the website to listen to for a long time.
The recordings on our church website are provided free of charge. You see the number of clicks, tens of thousands. We want to be a blessing to this generation. We feed God's flock and cast bread upon the waters so that people can eat their fill. As soon as our website goes down, all kinds of phone calls and WeChat messages are sent to the assistant, who is very busy. When will the website be up? I need to use it to lead Bible studies! He uses my website to lead Bible studies, and he doesn't pay. But it doesn't matter. I bless him.
You can use some things from my website to feed your sheep, but when it comes to our pastors paying the price, can you do it? I think paying the price is very important. If you can't pay the price and just talk about God's word, even you don't believe it, and you don't implement it yourself, what can the people below you feel?
So I call the first thing deliverance ministry. This is the most critical step to show your love for the sheep. Paul said, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. That is, if your sheep have problems, such as back pain, leg pain, headache, can you feel their pain? Do you want to release them from their illnesses? That's why we put a lot of effort into deliverance ministry.
Among the churches I know, our church is definitely first-class in deliverance ministry. Among our church, the average brothers and sisters do better in deliverance ministry than many church workers. If preaching the word of God is not for implementation, then what are you preaching? So you listen to the stories I share with you, one after another. They are all my personal experiences. It's not that I'm using people to promote myself. I just want to promote Jesus and satisfy the will of Jesus Christ.
Even if a thousand or ten thousand pastors like me were raised up in the world, they would not be able to serve all the people. But this is God's will. I think God has chosen me to serve his people, to shepherd his flock, to do it well according to his will, so I will do it well.
We have a series of logical systems for studying the Bible. What is the purpose of studying the Bible? To make people implement it. For example, many people suffer from depression. This is a concrete manifestation of catering to the flesh and knowing good and evil. If you deal with catering to the flesh and knowing good and evil, won't depression get better? We have many ways.
Studying the Bible is to implement it. After reading God's word, you must put it into practice. We divide books into two categories. One category is called scriptures, such as the Bible, which highly summarizes and summarizes spiritual laws and highly condenses God's will. What we need to do in preaching, studying the Bible, and running courses is how to implement this matter. This is called discourse. So what I say is called discourse. The Bible is scripture. Reading the Bible is for implementation. I am teaching everyone for the sake of implementation.
In the process of shepherding, we follow up a little too closely. Some people say, Did you arrange some actors? How can they write notes so quickly? Isn't this how we train people? They listen and take notes at the same time, and the notes come out after the talk. Don't finish the talk and you haven't taken notes yet. What are you noting? So if you don't take notes, you won't remember anything. If you take notes, you can still remember a little bit.
Shepherding is Following up on a Person's Implementation
The first thing we do in teaching God's word in the church is to implement it. Shepherding is following up on a person's implementation. I serve a sister who has had a fiery temper since she was a child. She has the spirit of a little fire dragon. She has believed in the Lord, but her temper has not changed. Although it is much better, it has not been fundamentally removed. Why? Because she has not implemented God's word enough. Another problem is that she retreats when she encounters difficulties. Once I have targeted her, I will follow up to the end.
Some brothers and sisters have the blessing of being directly served by me. But I'm really sorry, some brothers and sisters send WeChat messages, and my WeChat often explodes. I can't reply to everyone in a timely manner, and sometimes I miss them. If you miss them, you can tell your pastor. Some brothers and sisters are directly served by me, and I implement it to the fullest extent.
This sister was used to retreating when she encountered difficulties from elementary school to middle school, and then to university. She also retreated when she encountered difficulties at work. Today, God is really gracious to me. I basically don't retreat when I encounter difficulties. Why is deliverance ministry so powerful among us? Because demons must retreat when they encounter us, and difficulties must retreat. It takes three months to solve some problems with deliverance ministry, and it takes a year to solve some problems. Shepherding is even more so. Therefore, our brothers and sisters should gradually be incorporated into the shepherding system.
Those who are not yet incorporated into the shepherding system in the group can contact the assistant and say that you want to be shepherded. If you want to be shepherded, we will shepherd you. We don't just grab someone off the street and shepherd them. We don't do that. But if we shepherd you, it is with the understanding that you will definitely grow, but growth requires paying a price.
We will never show any mercy in dealing with the bad habits in you. Some brothers and sisters have not accomplished anything from childhood to their twenties or thirties, and have gone through life in a daze. How can they have faith? If they say they have faith, then their faith is also false. It doesn't matter, we can help you build faith and walk with you for a while. So today we want to do one thing, to shape all the brothers and sisters who love the Lord and believe in the Lord, to become people who serve this generation, to become people who shepherd God's flock, to become people who feed the little lambs.
You know, feeding God's little lambs is like taking care of a newborn baby, who poops and pees. Fortunately, they only weigh seven or eight pounds. If they weighed seventy or eighty pounds, it would be troublesome. If they weighed a hundred pounds, it would be even more difficult to handle. Pooping, peeing, and feeding milk require paying a great price. It is very bad to only give birth to children and not raise them. If a person loves Jesus, God knows it. What God has prepared for those who love him is wonderful things that eyes have not seen and hearts have not imagined. Why? Because those who love him will shepherd his flock, and then the path that God opens up for you is definitely a very rich path.
Shepherding is Working with God
Why do we need to shepherd? Because shepherding is called working with God. You say that if we live in this world and don't see through this matter, we are just living for ourselves. If we see through it, we will live for God. If we live for God and love God to the point of madness, we will definitely pay a heavy price to shepherd God's flock. If we shepherd God's flock, can you not receive God's gifts? What are God's spiritual gifts for? They are for shepherding God's flock.
So I oppose those Christians who have nothing to do and hide in small rooms to seek visions, seek gifts, and get close to God. It's not that we have gifts first, but that we have a heart to serve first, and then gifts will come down. Why does the Holy Spirit distribute gifts to everyone as he wills? Because God gives gifts to people according to their desires. If people don't desire, then what are they waiting for? That's called waiting to die.
I think brothers and sisters who love God will shepherd God's flock, and then your life will be very exciting. If you want to live an exciting life, walk with God, and God will help you in what you say and what you do. There is a good saying in the Book of Samuel: Whatever Samuel said, God did it for him, and he accomplished it for him. Isn't that great!
Therefore, I encourage our brothers and sisters, if you want to live a life as exciting and glorious as God, then start shepherding God's flock. We will have a series of trainings to train people how to shepherd, which is a very personalized training. We will talk more specifically about how to shepherd next time. May God bless everyone.