Today's chapter of the Bible is to bear witness to the truth. The word truth is actually a bit awkward. When we Chinese talk about truth, we think it is a principle. In fact, truth represents reality. Jesus specifically bore witness to the reality, and whoever belongs to the reality will listen to my words. Whoever sees the reality will listen to Jesus' words (see John 18:37). So, who are those who see the reality? They are those who know that the spiritual realm is real. They know that what Jesus said is true. If a person does not know that the spiritual realm is real, he will live in the material and illusion of this world, which is a very sad thing.

The Lord Jesus Bears Witness to the Reality of the Spiritual Realm

This morning, I was ministering to a person. She is from another church, but she used to be a sister I pastored. There is a couple in the group she leads, and their five-year-old child has congenital heart disease and is suffering a lot in the hospital. They need a heart transplant. In order to take their child to the United States for a heart transplant, they may have to sell all their property, borrow money, and quit their jobs, which will cost two million US dollars. The question is, how do you see heart disease?

If you think heart disease is just heart disease! I don't think you know the spiritual realm. Today, everyone must know that things in the spiritual realm directly affect our lives in this world. That is to say, the entire Bible uses spiritual words to speak of spiritual things, explaining what happens in the spiritual realm, and what happens in the spiritual realm directly affects our real lives. I tell you, if someone in your family has a car accident, that is a spiritual event; if someone gets cancer, that is a spiritual event; if someone in your family is always unlucky, that is also a spiritual event.

A few days ago, Sister JY brought a friend from New Zealand to the church. When she came in, I was standing on the stage busy with my things. Then I looked back and saw a dragon on her back. A person with the spirit of a dragon is very unlucky. Later, I took her to the office and asked her: Is your shoulder very stiff? She said: Yes, how do you know? I said: I can see it. Come, stand up, and I will pray for you. After praying, the shoulder relaxed. I also asked her: Are you very unlucky? She said: Yes, very unlucky. Everything is unlucky, even drinking cold water makes my teeth ache.

I think that if people don't understand the things of the spiritual realm, they don't even know why they are unlucky, but I know because I am a spiritual person. Later, I grasped a key point, that anyone who understands the spiritual realm can solve the problems of people in this world. But because people don't understand the spiritual realm, they use the methods of people in this world to solve people's problems, which is almost illusory and chasing shadows, but they still think it is very real.

So, the person who got heart disease didn't know it was the work of an evil spirit. He thought that the problem could be solved after heart surgery, but it couldn't be solved. A person who had been a pastor for many years got heart disease, but he didn't know it was a spiritual matter, which was very sad! He later went to the hospital for heart surgery, recuperated for a long time after being discharged from the hospital, and then barely recovered. But less than a year after recovering, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. You can solve people's heart problems, but you cannot solve the spirit of death.

Today, brothers and sisters must know that you must learn to be a spiritual person, see the world with spiritual eyes. So, the spiritual person sees through everything, but no one in this world can see through him. The spiritual person can see through everything because Jesus bears witness for us. Jesus came specifically to bear witness to the truth, which is the reality, to tell you that the spiritual realm is real.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36)

So where does His kingdom belong? His kingdom is in the spiritual realm. You must know that God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. I once preached a sermon about worshipping God, that we must worship Him in spirit and reality. What is spirit and reality? Because our worship of God is reality. The reality is that God created all things in the universe, and God reigns, so it is natural for us to worship Him. If you don't know, then you are really too pitiful, you don't even know that the reality is God, and you don't know that the spiritual realm controls the things of this world.

Once, God opened my eyes and let me see many dark forces. Each of those dark forces took arrows to shoot at me. All the arrows fell on my chest, and then I had difficulty breathing and couldn't breathe at all. At this time, I prayed desperately. I prayed for a long time. I was about to die because I couldn't breathe. My prayer was actually silent because I didn't have extra air to support my voice. After I finished praying, I saw in the vision that many angels and heavenly soldiers came out behind me, and then the dark forces of the devil were defeated, and they all retreated like an avalanche. Then I could breathe again. I then realised that the spiritual realm is like this! Understanding the spiritual realm has almost become the theme of all my sermons. What I preach is what I receive in the spiritual world.

So why is a person blessed when he tithes? In addition to tithing, it also requires an attitude, because it is a spiritual matter. If there is no spiritual realm, then your tithing is in vain and you will not be blessed. Because there is a spiritual world, and the spiritual world determines whether you will be blessed. This is very important, but many people don't know, including many pastors and those who do pastoral work. They don't know the laws of operation of the spiritual realm. If they don't know the laws of operation of the spiritual realm, Jesus bears witness for him in vain.

Jesus Shed His Blood and Sacrificed to Bear Witness to the Truth

Jesus came and bore witness to the spiritual realm. In order to reveal the things of the spiritual realm to us, Jesus walked the road of the cross, was later crucified, buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day. After His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples. Why didn't Jesus appear to the people of the world? Because God wants to appear to those who seek Him. So today, brothers and sisters, if Jesus appears to those who do not believe in Him, that is not good. Because God wants people to believe when they have not seen Him. Believing when you have not seen, and seeing after you have believed, that is the effect of faith.

What God is looking for is a group of people who have faith. What do these people who have faith do? They believe without seeing Jesus, and God will appear to you after you believe. So some people say: Pastor, pray for me. If my illness is healed, I will believe. I want to say, forget it. Do you think God needs you to believe? Even if such people are healed, they will not believe, because these people are born with the bad habit of unbelief.

The spiritual realm is real. How did Jesus show this? He accomplished the grace of redemption. He died on the cross for us. Why did He die on the cross? Because He wanted to bear our transgressions. So why do our transgressions affect our lives? The transgressions on our bodies become the handle for the devil to control us. You must know that if the devil has a handle to control us, God can't do anything about it. So Jesus died on the cross for us, specifically to bear witness to the truth, to tell you that the spiritual realm is real, and also to open up a path of redemption for you, a path into the spiritual realm. So Jesus said:

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)

Enter the spiritual world from the door of Jesus. Jesus is the door. Don't think that you can't enter the spiritual realm except through the door of Jesus. There are many doors to enter the spiritual realm. Shamans and fortune tellers also operate in the spiritual realm, but that is the world of ghosts. For a while, I discovered that the Classic of Mountains and Seas talks about the spiritual realm. I flipped through it, but I felt particularly uncomfortable after reading it. I prayed and rejected it. Suddenly, I remembered what Jesus said, entering the spiritual realm through Jesus is entering the kingdom of God. Entering the spiritual realm through other doors is entering the kingdom of ghosts. It is the same spiritual realm, but it is worlds apart.

At the same time, I also thought of Rick Joyner. Rick Joyner wanted to understand the spiritual realm, but God did not allow him to understand the first heaven. God wanted him to understand the third heaven. Because the third heaven talks about the kingdom of God, and the first heaven is the spiritual realm described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. If you have read the Classic of Mountains and Seas, you will know that it describes many magical places such as Kunlun Mountain, and many strangely shaped beasts, which are very interesting. But later I didn't read the Classic of Mountains and Seas. I felt that it was the world of ghosts. You don't need to understand the world of ghosts, you only need to understand the world of God.

If a person understands the kingdom of God and the principles of its operation, and then looks down from the kingdom of God, the world of ghosts will collapse without being attacked. Why did I read the Classic of Mountains and Seas? Because the images of animals I saw in visions are often the things described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. We always thought that the Classic of Mountains and Seas was talking about geographical structures because it describes mountains and rivers, but it is not. It is revealing some things in the spiritual realm. So today I want to tell you that if you want to enter the spiritual realm, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, you are entering the kingdom of God. If you are not through the reality witnessed by Jesus Christ, you are entering the kingdom of demons.

The spiritual realm is very real. Redemption is that Jesus died on the cross for us, shed His blood and sacrificed for us, and rose from the dead for us, overcoming the dark forces and putting all our sins on Him. This is what Isaiah 53:4 says: He bore all our pain and carried all our sorrows. He shed His blood and sacrificed for us, washing away our sins.

So, the first point is that He bore witness to the reality of the spiritual realm. The second point is that He shed His blood and sacrificed for us, accomplishing a new truth. This truth is the redemption of Jesus Christ. He uses His precious blood to blot out our transgressions. Why do I say when I pray for brothers and sisters: By Jesus' wounds, we are healed? Because that is a truth, and it is also a reality. Because Jesus shed His blood and sacrificed for us, and suffered the scourging for us, we are qualified to be healed. But many people don't believe it or are doubtful, but anyway, many people have been healed. This chapter seems to be about the suffering of Jesus, but it is not. It is about Jesus bearing witness to the truth and bearing witness to the reality. Jesus bore witness for us through His own death on the cross.

Peter's Three Denials

This chapter tells a fascinating story: Peter's three denials of the Lord. Referring to other Gospels in the Bible, we know that Jesus foretold Peter's three denials:

Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. (Matthew 26:33-35)

Why did God say this? Because man can accomplish nothing relying on the flesh. You accomplish nothing relying on your willpower, your flesh, or things of the flesh. You must know that if a person wants to quit drugs, he needs a strong willpower to break free from addiction, but successes are very few, almost none, because relying on human willpower is still a fleshly method. But if a person relies on the grace of redemption of Jesus Christ, drives out the evil spirits behind the drug addiction, he will soon be released and quickly come out of the drug addiction. Then your willpower will work, because your willpower has become faith in Jesus Christ.

The flesh cannot accomplish anything. If someone thinks in his heart, I want to acknowledge the Lord, but he still does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as his Lord, he becomes very conflicted. I think Peter was very conflicted at that time. Later, in movies or other books, Peter left the scene after denying the Lord three times. He returned home crying, sad, and conflicted. At that time, Peter did not know that relying on one's own willpower, or relying on things of the flesh, nothing can be accomplished.

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6)

There is a law in the spiritual realm, that nothing can be done without the Spirit of God. That is why our brothers and sisters in the church insist on praying in the Holy Spirit. Some churches do not promote praying in tongues very much, but in our church, we must pray in tongues a lot. This is the difference. It is difficult to achieve things relying on your own willpower. It is not to say that your willpower cannot achieve anything. It can achieve some things, but at critical moments you will definitely not succeed. But when the Spirit of God works, many things become logical and successful. So the truth and reality that Jesus testified to is that the flesh cannot accomplish anything. This is the revelation that Peter's three denials give us.

The Truth of Life and Death Witnessed by the Lord Jesus

I am surprised that many people do not know the truth about life and death. Today, if you ask me, Pastor, do you know the truth about life and death? I say I know. You will ask, Why do you know? Because I read the Bible, and Jesus told me. You ask me, Why do you believe what Jesus told you? Because Jesus rose from the dead. Because He said He knows. Originally, I didn't know, but later I listened to Him, and now I know.

For example, sometimes when I listen to Pastor LT preach, he often talks about missionary stories in Africa. He said that Africans eat strange beans. He went there for half a month and ate that kind of stuff for half a month, and it was painfully miserable. I thought, Oh, so Africa is like that. People tell you what places you have never been to look like, and you listen to what they tell you. We have never been to heaven either. How do we know? Jesus came from there. He told me, and I believe it. Don't think that I have been to heaven. Of course, it would be even better if God took me for a spin, but I'm afraid I won't come back. The problem is that God wants you to believe what He tells you about heaven, what people are like, and what people's life and death are like. Do you believe it or not? People with faith are what God wants.

Through this incident, God tells us that He was sentenced to death. So what is Jesus's view of life and death? Jesus's view of life and death is very different from ours. Jesus's view of life is: I came into this world for this purpose, I am a king. Jesus was born to be a king. This means that we are born to be kings in this world. Our Jesus is the King of kings. He is not the King of kings of earthly monarchs. We are kings, so He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are born to know that we are born for this, we come into this world for this, especially to bear witness to the truth.

So today, as Christians, you must know one thing: Jesus did not ask you to preach theology. Before He ascended to heaven, He said, Go to all nations and bear witness for me, bear witness to the truth. But if we ourselves do not know the truth, we do not know that we came into this world to be kings, and we do not know that we came into this world to bear witness to the truth, what testimony are you bearing? At best, it is the testimony of the Pharisees. We were born for this, we came into this world for this. If a person does not know why he came into this world, at best he lives and dies, which is not of great significance. Jesus faced death with equanimity. He said, Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? If we want to bear witness to the truth in this world, you need to do one thing, put your life on the altar for God. That is what God has prepared for you.

When I first believed in the Lord, I had a hard time understanding one thing. I believe that many of us cannot understand it either. Jesus was crucified, Peter was crucified, and Paul was beheaded. You would think it's a pity. What a pity? That's much better than dying of cancer. Do you think it's better to die of cancer or be beheaded? Paul doesn't care what you care about. It's not your head that's being chopped off. Jesus was nailed to the cross. His view of life and death is completely different from that of ordinary people. In other words, if we look at life and death from a human perspective, you will be miserable. You will definitely live in fear of death.

When I minister to some people, I often say things that may not be acceptable to everyone, such as there is one more death and one less death in this world. He would say: How can you be so cold-blooded? But even if I didn't say that, that's still the fact. Do you think my saying this decided his life and death? Or did my not saying this decide his life and death? If my not saying this can allow you to live a few more days, then I won't say it, but the fact remains the same. You must see through life and death. When you see through it, you will also say like me: One more death is not too much, and one less death is not too little, let it die.

We cannot control life and death, but we can control one thing, which is to bear witness to the truth. Last night I was ministering to Sister WY. Her mother was waiting for the results of a cancer test. The process of waiting for this result is a bit like Jesus going to the cross. Jesus is waiting to go to the cross. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? (John 18:11) But Jesus went to the cross voluntarily, but those who get cancer will say: I don't want to die! But sometimes death is inevitable. When I ministered to Sister WY, I told her: Don't care. What are you doing by caring about this? If you care and get tangled up, sometimes you can't change anything.

We must come out of this bondage. Our hearts are not affected by anything. Die if you must die, and live if you must live. When we are like this, we have the ability to fight, because we know the truth, and the truth is the dark forces behind this family. The dark power behind the family is the target of our battle, constantly attacking these evil spirits. So why is Sister WY's mother worried about getting cancer? Because Sister WY's maternal grandfather and maternal grandfather both died of cancer. From the perspective of genetics, it is heredity, but from the perspective of the spiritual world, it is that their family has a spirit of death and a spirit of cancer.

So today, brothers and sisters, put down those things, recognize the truth, and then completely attack the dark forces behind the family, and maybe there is still a chance. Whether there is a chance depends on two things. First, we must strike down the dark power behind us and get rid of it. Second, the person who is released must choose to trust God. If he chooses to die himself, you cannot stop him.

So today, brothers and sisters, you must know what life and death are all about. In the grace of redemption, even Caiaphas, the high priest of this year, said, It is better for one man to die for the people. (See John 18:14). What is Jesus's view of life and death? If I die on the cross, I will bear the sins of the world, and I will fulfill the Mingding Destiny that my Father has given me.

So today, brothers and sisters, you must have such a concept: Anyway, people will always leave this world when they are alive. We are sojourners in this world. Since we are sojourners in this world, then live out the glory of God in this sojourn and start learning to let go.

Understanding the Spiritual World

Jesus also bore witness that if he fulfills the will of the Father, he will be resurrected from the dead. I think this is the testimony that Jesus gave. After reading this passage, you will find that in that era, Caiaphas, the high priest, although he had the title of high priest, knew nothing about the spiritual realm. Today, brothers and sisters, you can be a Christian, but if you know nothing about the spiritual world, you are doing Christianity in vain. We must understand the spiritual world and understand what is the truth that Jesus witnessed for us.