I. Introduction

Good day to all! Today, we continue with the series on wisdom and discernment. It is important to know that wisdom and discernment are inseparable. When a person possesses wisdom and has a true understanding of God through discernment, I tell you, their condition is entirely different. Why do people get deceived? It is because they lack wisdom and do not understand the ways of deceivers through discernment. Therefore, today, we continue with the series on wisdom and discernment, entitled 'Do Not Despise God's Discipline'.

A person without wisdom and discernment is bound to be muddled, so muddled that they give their money to swindlers. That is just how it is; a lack of discernment leads to tragedy. Many things in this world are incomprehensible because of a lack of wisdom and discernment. For instance, some commit crimes and face no consequences, while others are immediately disciplined by God. That is precise, with harsh discipline. We are then perplexed. We think, Look, I believe in the Lord, and if I commit even a small sin, something immediately goes wrong, but look at him, he commits a crime and nothing happens. Today, I will explain to you that if it were not for God's discipline, you would not have made it to today. This Mingding Destiny is not easy to walk. If you did not have a teachable heart, you would not have made it to today. Know that it is not easy to get to where you are today.

Some have been dragging along with us for over a decade, and during these ten-plus years, they have experienced considerable discipline. This path of eternal life, filled with God's grace and glory, is not something that ordinary people can comprehend. It is because God wants to mold you into the likeness of His Son, to mold you into the likeness of Jesus Christ, so that you can inherit God's inheritance. Think about inheriting God's inheritance; it is no laughing matter. Think about how the former emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, trained his sons. He trained them as emperors! It was not a joke; it was not like raising pigs; he was raising emperors.

Therefore, our God is going to do one thing, which is to mold us into those who can be princes, who can inherit His inheritance, who can be managers. If you are not disciplined, how can you become capable? This is not something ordinary people understand. If you are not disciplined and follow your own nature, how can you become a prince of the living God? How can you manage God's vast estate well? I tell you, God's estate is exceedingly vast. The Bible says, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over ten cities. Ruling over ten cities, are you kidding me? One city has ten million people, so ten cities have one hundred million people. If you manage one hundred million people, you are a regional governor; that is called feudalism. Maybe in heaven, it is feudalism or a centralized system; we are not too sure, but it is about management.

If you manage well, that is amazing. If you manage ten billion people well, God will say, Come, good and faithful servant. Seeing that you are good, help me manage five cities; be the king of five cities. If you are not disciplined, can you handle this job? If you are not disciplined, you will ruin all ten cities, and things will become more chaotic under your management; that is called corruption. So, when it comes to wisdom and discernment, some are born smart, and some are born foolish. But that is not important. What is important? The innate intelligence or foolishness cannot be changed. But one thing can be known: we are becoming increasingly wise and increasingly discerning. Are we not teaching you today? Think about it, when you were little, if your parents spanked you, you would call the police. When your parents spanked you, you would say, You are not my real parents!, which would infuriate your parents. That is how it was back then.

Today, upon hearing this, ah, I understand, even if I am beaten, I am still their own child, and you become smarter. Some say, The child is father of the man. But today, we are not looking at that. We are looking at increasingly knowing God in wisdom and discernment. If God disciplines, ah, thank God! Never think, when God disciplines, Oh, I must be adopted. Some people are just silly. I have served so many people like that.

They always ask, Am I the vessel created by God to manifest His wrath from birth? And I say, Yes. You ask, What should I do?. Born to be a vessel to manifest God's wrath. Why ask such a thing? There is something wrong with your head. When you see a child, whether he is smart or not, look at whether he hates his parents. He does not admit his own fault when he is beaten, but goes to the police station to accuse them, to retaliate. Why? He plays on his phone and does not study. After being beaten, he still wants to defend his rights and accuse his parents of domestic violence. His head is filled with dung. What should be done? From childhood, you must remove the dung from his head, remove this garbage.

One of our sisters, when her husband disciplines their child, the child immediately says, I'm going to report you for domestic violence! He was watching his phone, but his father would not let him. That silly child, after living to thirty years old, when God disciplines him, he comes back with, Am I a vessel of wrath? Am I adopted? Am I illegitimate, raised by a stepmother?. At this time, we must adjust him; we must make his discernment clear! When you are beaten, find the reason in yourself and see what needs to be repented of. Today, I lead everyone to pray, now for this illness, now for that illness, either the eyes or the mouth, either the mouth or the throat, these problems are all God's discipline.

Why must people repent? Because without repentance, how can you be like Jesus? If you live according to your own nature, you will definitely live out the likeness of the devil. Some children, when disciplined, do not feel like they are their parent's own, and then they are disciplined, it is as if they are their own. That is called smart. Some are their own, but when they are disciplined, they think they are not their own. Their minds do not work well, and they will suffer much in adulthood. From childhood, you can see how much a child is teachable, and you will know how much suffering he will endure in the future. If you are already sixty years old, look at how much suffering you have endured in your life, and you will know what is in your head. If there is too much garbage in your head, can it work well? If your head does not work well, you cannot even distinguish who is good to you and who wants to harm you. When a swindler comes, he thinks he is a good friend, but those who discipline you and correct you, you think they want to harm you. What kind of brain is that? Not distinguishing between good and bad; that is why I particularly dislike foolish people. I particularly hate serving foolish people. To serve these foolish people, all my nerves are on edge. I must not reenact a modern-day version of the farmer and the snake.

The modern-day farmer and the snake, those who cannot distinguish between good and bad are dangerous. If you are a hundred times good to them, and one time not, it is all over. That kind of mind. So, may God have mercy. I say, God, take these people wherever You want to take them. This means that the matter of discipline itself proves whether one is legitimate or illegitimate. If someone is outside and unrelated to me, I would just chat casually. Ah, sister, peace be with you, Jesus loves you, and I love you too, and that's it. Do whatever you want to do. But if it is someone I am pastoring, that will not do. Can I just say, Jesus loves you? That is just deceiving them. I must say, This problem must be changed, that problem must be changed! If I do not say anything, what will happen? I must say it; it must be changed. And once I seize upon it, I will not let go until it is changed, and God is working with us.

Why are we disciplined when we sin? Because we are beloved children, sons of God. Therefore, do not despise God's discipline. If you did not despise your parents' discipline from childhood, you will not despise God's discipline when you grow up; you are a wise person. I was not naturally a studious person when I was little. Who likes to study? Studying makes your head buzz, it is so tiring. As a result, one time I skipped school and went out to play with a group of bad kids in our neighborhood. Thinking about it now, it was quite dangerous, but at that time, I was just silly and did not know it. Do you know where we went to play? We went to the air-raid shelters, which were very deep, to explore everywhere. If we could not find the exit, would we not have died? Would we not have become mummies inside? At that time, there were also military exercises, with tanks and explosive packages, Bang, bang, it looked so fun, live ammunition exercises.

There were so many things you could have done, why do something so dangerous? When I came back, I was beaten. That belt whipped on my buttocks, Smack, smack, and it immediately whipped me into a prestigious school. To this day, I am particularly grateful for my parents' discipline. Although I was not beaten often, because I was teachable, I was not beaten often. If I had been beaten and then gone to the police station to accuse them, to defend my rights, to accuse my parents of domestic violence, today would have been a completely different ending, and my head would have been filled with dung. Later, after I believed in the Lord, God disciplined me very strictly, which is why I have been able to get to where I am today.

It is not you, it is me. If it were not for God's discipline, how could I have gotten to where I am today? Getting to where I am today is truly all thanks to God. Walking the red carpet, receiving an award, first I must thank my God! If it were not for discipline, how could I live well? We should all thank God that He disciplines us because we are His children. If you want to be beaten more, do not be disciplined; if you want to be beaten less, be more disciplined. Are these words backwards? It means you cannot despise God's discipline; learn a good lesson after being disciplined once.

Know that the Israelites who left Egypt died in the wilderness, and no matter how they were disciplined, they could not understand God's will. This is a tragedy; they all died in the wilderness. What did they say? Did God bring us out of Egypt because there were no graves in Egypt? Did we have to come here to die? What kind of brains are those? Therefore, today, brothers and sisters, we must know that if someone is not coming to run on this glorious path, do not bring them along.

A few days ago, I heard a pastoral case. Alas, our pastor is so kind-hearted; he talked to them for half an hour, trying to enlighten them. What is there to enlighten? You cannot enlighten; you cannot force them. They came to resolve impotence. Since they are no longer impotent and their wife is pregnant, then let us send them away peacefully. Lest they follow us on this path, walking like the slaves who left Egypt, how tiring. Walking and then dying in the wilderness, how exhausting. Wasting his time and wasting my time; how awkward.

This path is not something that ordinary people can walk. It is for those whom the world is not worthy of. Without a certain vision, without a certain wisdom and discernment, you cannot get through it. How can you walk? You cannot get through. Some time ago, a member of a pastor's church came to me, sick, and came to me for deliverance. After only two lessons of the 101 course, they said, No, I am not here to do this, and went back. Some churches accept such people; our church only accepts those with a Mingding Destiny. Everyone must think this through. It is not that you cannot receive grace among us; you can definitely receive grace, but if you truly want to run on this path, it is not something that ordinary people can walk.

So this is how it is. Among us, it is impossible for you not to be disciplined. You will definitely be disciplined by God. Why? Because He wants to make you a child of the living God, and inherit God's inheritance, and manage God's vast estate. If you are not teachable, you cannot go on. Even if you want to do a small business, you need training. So the matter of discipline is actually dealing with the flesh. People do not feel good at all, but those who have been refined bear good fruit, do they not? We have a saying: If a sapling is not trimmed, it will not grow straight; if a person is not disciplined, he will be stubborn.

A few days ago, I was ministering and happened to meet a brother who had a three-year-old child who was a bit naughty. Then the couple had different opinions on disciplining the child. Do you know which side I was on? I was on the side of the child needing a beating. I listened to their conversation: Oh, is the child crying because he lacks nutrition? It is not a lack of nutrition, it is a lack of a beating. My disciplining of children is to beat them. After being beaten, they are in pain, and after being in pain, are they not afraid? If you continue to do this, I tell you, little one! In this house, you are a servant, you are a son, do not think you are a king.

Among us, there are some who are grandfathers and grandmothers, grandpas and grandmas, who often spoil their children. Do you not know that you are harming your children? They know, but why do they still harm their children? So muddled! So children are naturally muddled. If you do not remove that muddled, that foolish thing, there is no way; you cannot reason with them. If your child grows up and becomes like this today, honestly speaking, it is because you did not do it right in the past, you did not discipline them correctly in the past. And you always feel that you disciplined them correctly, but that is not the case. Of course, disciplining correctly does not guarantee a good result, but disciplining incorrectly is definitely a disaster.

So I later told this brother, Beat him. There must be a way. Children cannot not be disciplined when they make mistakes. You must speak nicely about what should be done, but they cannot be willful. If you can get a passport and fly to Canada, then fly to Canada. If you cannot, then stay here and follow the rules. It does not matter if you discipline them harshly. People have a natural nature, which is the flesh. If you do not deal with it, they will become an evil person; they will not fear God.

A few years ago, one of our sisters came to me with her child. That child was so naughty, my goodness! Whoosh, zoom, bounce, he was so naughty that he could not be controlled at all. The mother had not disciplined him well since he was young. It originally took about forty minutes by subway, but the child cried and made a fuss and would not cooperate. They had to get off and coax him for a while, and then take the subway again for three hours to finally get to me. When they came to me, it was easy to handle. Did you know whose territory this was? This was my territory; you had to follow the rules. If he did not follow the rules, he would get a beating, and after forty minutes, he would immediately become well-behaved. Two weeks later, he revealed his true colors, the old problem recurred, and his mother brought him to me again. This time, I disciplined him for two hours. Later, when they left, I took a wooden stick. I said, Take this back with you. This thing is called the Imperial Sword. It will be good when you go back. A few days ago, this child came to me for dinner, and he was quite well-behaved.

Then you say his parents must thank me, otherwise, what will happen to this child in the future? So today, those of us who are being disciplined must gain wisdom, must ask God, must understand God. When we do wrong, we must know what the right thing is. Do not ask me, Where was I wrong? The right thing is like this; anything not like this is wrong. There are thousands of ways to be wrong. So today, brothers and sisters, we must know that our heart of repentance is very important. Someone brought out a picture of a 'ruler' at home, well done. How many tiger moms are there among us? Good tiger moms, congratulations, you are amazing, you are still relatively amazing. But have you used it? Some just raise their hands high and let them fall gently; that is useless.

So today, I want to tell everyone, do you know what God hates the most? What God hates the most is constantly arguing with God, saying that you have not followed My way, have not followed My word. No, I have indeed followed it, was that not Saul? So in this generation, how many times must a person be disciplined before they can deeply repent? If you can deeply repent after being disciplined once, how smart you are. So today, brothers and sisters, we must begin to know that what we are doing is to guide everyone to the presence of God, so that everyone can restore the glorious image of God.

II. Scripture

And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father speaks to his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! Our human fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11)

III. Prayer

God, today let Your words be engraved on our hearts. Today let us be true sons in Your house. God, may Your discipline always be upon us, and may we gain enlightenment and wisdom, and may we often repent when we receive Your discipline. God, may You lead us, let us be shaped and molded into those who are full of the measure of Jesus Christ, let us be vessels to manifest Your glory in this world. God, let us have a teachable heart, and not despise Your discipline, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

IV. Scripture Background

The background of this passage, the Book of Hebrews, was written to the Jews. The Jews were the first to establish the church. Who built it? Peter, James, and Jesus' mother Mary, they built the church. What happened? Jesus' mother Mary, Peter, about one hundred and twenty people prayed in the Upper Room, and the Holy Spirit descended. But after the Holy Spirit descended, Peter established this Jerusalem church, and some aspects were not in accordance with the Bible's teachings. They did not copy Jesus' work; they created their own set. As a result, the Jerusalem church deteriorated. From when? From the time when the Jerusalem church was persecuted. Later, when I was studying the Bible, I discovered why the Jerusalem church was persecuted? Because the church was constantly decaying. How do I know the church was decaying? It is written somewhat obscurely in the Bible. This was written by Luke. At that time, when Luke wrote it, Peter and James were still alive, so he could not write nonsense, or he would cause problems.

As a result, Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles, mentions managing meals. Peter responded with a statement: We are devoted to prayer and the ministry of the word; how can we spare time to manage meals? Later, I found this peculiar. Some tasks are the responsibility of the top leader, and as the top leader, you must handle them; you cannot delegate them. If you let subordinates manage, they will mismanage. Therefore, the top leader must bear this responsibility. I wondered how Peter could manage God's kingdom if he couldn't even manage meals. If you were given a city, managing meals would be quite a challenge. So, I believe a preacher must first be able to manage. Not just meals, but everything needs to be managed.

Consequently, the state of the church deteriorated, with the most severe problem being a large number of Pharisees infiltrating the church. Can you say that the church doesn't need discipline? After being disciplined, the church declined further. When Paul wrote the Hebrews, the Jews actually disliked him. Hence, Paul did not want to identify himself as the Apostle Paul when writing Hebrews, as the Jews wouldn't listen if they knew it was him. So, Paul wrote an anonymous letter that circulated among the Jews. At that time, the Jews had transformed the Gospel of Jesus Christ into what? The Law of Moses.

If you read carefully, you'll notice that James highly respects the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are not the same thing, so they suffered much discipline after getting it wrong. If you ask them if they believe in Jesus, they do, but they still suffered much discipline. Therefore, Jewish Christians in that era suffered a great deal, which puzzled them. Thus, Hebrews chapter 11 speaks of faith, while chapter 12 discusses whether you still believe in the midst of discipline—that's the logic.

So, discipline is the practice of faith. Why discipline? Because of sin, because of the sin that entangles us and all kinds of burdens. As a result, these Jews, especially the church in Jerusalem, were encouraged to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. It's written quite subtly; Paul had to rack his brains to hope that the Jews could receive the true Gospel because they were walking the path of works-based righteousness, cursed by the Law. So, Paul wrote Hebrews to bring them back to the path of faith and be blessed again. So how can I put it?

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you (Hebrews 12:4-5).

This is speaking to the Jews. These Jews began to doubt in their understanding, wondering what was wrong with them and if they were still children of God. Actually, they are children of God, so God disciplines them. I tell you, the church in Jerusalem experienced a great deal of divine discipline—to the extent that the church in Jerusalem was extremely poor. This extreme poverty can lead us to understand something: the church in Jerusalem was disciplined, the Jews were disciplined, so this whole thing made them very troubled. Did the Jews love the Lord? Of course, there were Christians who loved the Lord, and then they explained what discipline is all about.

Furthermore, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! (Hebrews 12:9)

In fact, the whole thing is talking about discipline. But what is the problem? The problem is: what is the goal of discipline? The goal is to obtain a kingdom that cannot be shaken, so people must be holy. You need to know that you are a child of God, but if you are not a holy child, you cannot see the Lord. So, if you want to become holy, isn't it a step-by-step process? Some Christians live and remain at the level of a three-year-old. What is a three-year-old like? Mom, I want food, I want milk—that's about it. They never grow up. Do you think God won't discipline them? Therefore, God's discipline methods differ as you grow to different stages, until you grow to the full stature of Jesus Christ. What is the goal of discipline? To enable us to inherit the Kingdom of God.

So, this is a huge grace, so that those who read Hebrews know, and that these people become heirs of God's unshakable kingdom. Everything that can be shaken will be removed so that what cannot be shaken remains. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, we should be thankful. Why? The reason is very simple: if you want to get an unshakable kingdom, you must have the image of the Son of God. If you don’t have the image of a Son of God when you are alive, He will discipline you until you do. This is the path to holiness. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. This passage is about that.

5. Be Sensitive to God's Discipline

When God disciplines you, never be stubborn. Some people immediately repent and get better as soon as they are disciplined. Some people are not sensitive to God's discipline, which is stubbornness. I'm not wrong; God is wrong. I tell you, God won't make mistakes, and neither will demons; it's we who make mistakes. How long will it take you to repent? Some people develop hives, some people's eyesight deteriorates—all sorts of things. They can't eat, they often have fevers. You must know that this is God's discipline. Those who are sensitive to God's discipline are wise. Never think that once you are disciplined, you just need the pastor to pray for you—it won't work.

Don't think that once you are disciplined, the pastor can pray for you. Once, someone asked me to pray for a sister, but I couldn't. God said her illness came from Him. What can I do? I can't go against God. So, brothers and sisters, you must know that we are not yet like Jesus. Don't be like those fools who say, Look, unbelievers are living well. Then go ahead and join them, right? Look, God doesn't care what they do. What are you comparing yourself to them for? Those people have nothing to do with God; how would God discipline them?

So, all of us must imitate God in disciplining our children in any way we can. God doesn't really care if you have an extra illness or less; God doesn't really care if you have a fever more or less; God also doesn't care if you have one more leg or one less leg; God doesn't care if you have one more eye or one less eye. Isn't it written in the Bible, If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off? They say, Oh, so everyone in God's kingdom is disabled? That's not the point. God wants people to know how serious this is. We should be sensitive to God's discipline and should not hate God.

6. God Disciplines Us Because We Are His Children

So, this passage says that you must not make light of divine discipline, or lose heart when under his reproof, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Isn't it written in the Bible, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. So, we are children of God and being disciplined is a good thing. Once we are disciplined, we know we are blood-born, we are God's children. If God doesn't discipline, uh oh, there's trouble! We all know it in our hearts. Otherwise, try discerning good from evil; try indulging in the flesh; you will definitely suffer, definitely struggle. Why? God is disciplining you.

If the demons don't want to come, God will send one to mess with you. Some of our brothers and sisters have gradually escaped poverty and are not as dedicated in their service anymore. That's fine, why? It's better than the poor days of the past. But some people say, Pastor, I don't have passion for service, and God doesn't discipline me; Pastor, I don't feel anything when I serve. You'll find that it's all good. Later, they leave to have fun, and they enjoy it without discipline. Do you want to be such a person? If you want to be such a person, congratulations. Tell you, some people God doesn't discipline. Why? Because the things they pursue in their hearts cannot be hidden from God. God knows.

Now you know why God doesn't discipline? Because they are not children of God at all. So, when we see these things, we feel a bit emotional, because people don't see far enough. If people don't come to run this path, don't want to be children of God, and just want to have a good time, spend money well in this world, then we must respect their ideas. God will discipline us. If you have not experienced God's discipline, you must know not to stay here. You should do whatever you want to do, live out your true self. But I can't; I don't have your stuff. I get beaten up as soon as I try, God whips me into the Kingdom with his belt. My dad whipped me into a prestigious school with his belt, and later I lived well. Right? My dad whipped me into a famous university, and my God whipped me into the Kingdom of God. If not for God's discipline, I wouldn't have come this far; I couldn't have, because I am a child of God.

7. God Disciplines Us Because He Wants Us to Be Holy

Once people are entangled in the sins of the world, they will definitely experience discipline; once people value money, they will be disciplined. You ask me how I experienced discipline? As soon as I love money, oh, it's uncomfortable. Other people love money and don't feel uncomfortable, but when we love money, we feel uncomfortable. A colleague told me a few days ago, Pastor, as soon as I think about money, my mind becomes confused. Isn't that strange? Because God wants us to be holy. Look, we have so many witnesses surrounding us like a cloud. We should lay aside all burdens and the sin that so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race set before us.

Get rid of those sins that easily entangle us, because those things make us unholy. The things of sin must be dealt with to become holy and to have a share in holiness. What does it mean not to despise God's discipline? It means that as soon as you are disciplined, you know you must live out God's holiness. If God has one method of discipline when you are three years old, and God's discipline is different when you are seven years old, you cannot live as a three-year-old. At the age of seven, you start going to school and doing homework; are you still asking your mom for milk like a three-year-old? At the age of ten or so, you have to do housework, and then at the age of twenty or so, you have to work.

We cannot measure ourselves by the original standards. We are in God's discipline throughout our lives. You said, Pastor, do you experience God's discipline now? Of course! I fear God as I feared my parents when I was a child. Thank God! So, get rid of the sins that entangle us so that we can become holy, because without holiness, no one will see the Lord. If you are not pursuing seeing the Lord, but you are pursuing seeing the devil or seeing the King of Hell, you don't need to be holy. Just live however you want, and you can go see the King of Hell. Do you all understand now? So, there are so many entanglements in the world. Think about work, life, relationships—everything tests our holiness. Everything is dealing with our selfishness. Try it and you will know.

So, I want to tell you that people really need to know that they didn't do it right. I know many people who are not filial to their parents have a set of theories that they explain very clearly and always think they love their parents cutely. So, in the process of dealing with ourselves, we are constantly being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Some of our brothers and sisters feel awkward and uncomfortable when they see others succeed in investing and fail in their own investments, or when they see others living well and they live poorly. It's uncomfortable to even think about it, right? They sold when the housing prices were low and can't afford to buy when the prices are high. Can they not feel uncomfortable? Of course, they feel uncomfortable at first glance. What is this? This is actually the sin that entangles us. People can live however they want, but our goal is to pursue God's unshakable kingdom.

8. God Disciplines Us Because He Wants Us to Get an Unshakable Kingdom

What does it mean to get an unshakable kingdom? Because God's plan in this world is that the kingdom of this earth will become the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because we want to get an unshakable kingdom, which is not like the countries we live in today. Every period of time, there is a change of dynasty. You can be president of the United States for eight consecutive years, and president of Russia for twenty consecutive years. The government offices remain, but the officials change. What can last forever? Only the Kingdom of God lasts forever. We labour and endure in the world, being disciplined by God to become holy, so that we can inherit the Kingdom of God and manage the work in God's Kingdom. It's not that after we go to heaven, we do nothing but sit there and shout hallelujah—it's not like that. So, start exercising your wisdom and understanding, knowing that God disciplines us so that we can manage the things in His Kingdom.

9. You Must Be Careful

What does the Bible say? See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Brothers and sisters, you must know that many people have fallen short of the grace of God and bitter roots have sprung up, defiling many. I can give you many examples. Once people leave the church, they can definitely give you a reason. The reasons they give are indeed reasons, but they defile many. Why? Because what you have inside you is also that kind of stuff, not the things of God's Kingdom. These people have lost the grace of God and have fabricated some stories, and some people are deceived. So, you must be careful; people will not do things without a reason. They will definitely do what they think is reasonable, but it will defile and produce bitter roots. Do you understand?

So, brothers and sisters, let's start rethinking. Be careful that there is no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his rights as the firstborn for a single meal. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change his father’s mind. So, you must be careful. If you don't have wisdom and understanding, you'll be deceived in a few moments. You must exercise your wisdom and understanding, and know God's discipline.

If God disciplines us again and again, and you despise God's discipline, you will also fall short of the grace of God, and bitter roots will spring up, defiling many. It is possible that you will become like Esau, losing your birthright, losing your status as a child of God. You will also lose the Kingdom of God, not become holy, and no longer be a child of God. So, be careful. Coveting worldly things is Esau. We must do our best to deal with this kind of thing while living in the world. Because as soon as we think about worldly things, many things become very upsetting and disturb us, because that in itself is God's discipline.

After talking so much, let's lift up our drooping hands and weak knees, right? Don't be discouraged because of God's discipline; instead, be stronger because of God's discipline, because God's discipline reaffirming that you should run this heavenly road. All who have experienced God's discipline in this world must be careful and constantly grow in God's discipline. Amen!

We are going to sing a song to collect the Sunday offering. If you do not understand the meaning of the offering, please do not give. Because that is cursed and not blessed. Only those who know the meaning of offering are qualified to give. Okay? What are you living for? If you live to build a business and make a lot of money in this world, I have to tell you that it is vanity of vanities, utterly meaningless. If you don’t know it’s vanity of vanities, you can’t run this road.

Some people’s goal in life is to build a unicorn business in this world, which is also vanity. Some people want to start a business and make a lot of money in this world to show off in front of people, which is also vanity. If you do not have eternal life as your goal and do not pursue the Kingdom of God, you cannot walk this path. So, we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and no longer be foolish. Continue to grow in understanding and wisdom, knowing that the things of this world will pass away, and only that which cannot be shaken will last forever.

Those who have been disciplined should reorganize their faith, strengthen themselves, and offer themselves again to walk this path full of God's glory and become a blessing to many people! Those who do not know how to discipline their children should learn to discipline their children from God. Let your children know God's discipline. It doesn't matter if they are seriously ill or the illness lasts a long time. What matters is that people do not despise God's discipline, okay? Let's say a closing prayer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen!