Review

Last time, I shared a topic called Let Faith Subvert. There are too many areas needing subversion in this generation. Because subversion is an attribute of God. In Genesis, God was displeased with a state of emptiness and chaos, so He decided to subvert this situation and create the world. God is not pleased with us staying where we are, which is why He often reveals new things for people to do. For example, God revealed to Jacob how two spotless sheep could produce spotted offspring; this subverted biological theory. For example, God revealed to David how to build his temple, envisioning its design in David's mind. The temple that David's son Solomon built actually subverted architecture. And the Lord Jesus turning water into wine completely subverted chemistry. Our God has the attributes of subversion and innovation. God is pleased with us constantly subverting and innovating. Our church is also gradually entering a new season. We are increasingly dissatisfied with staying in one place, and we are constantly thinking about how to break through, how to renew, and how to make a greater contribution to God's Kingdom. If God wants us to be able to constantly break through and innovate in all aspects of life, then we should be even more innovative in serving Him. Today, let us examine how we can serve God with a brand-new service in this new generation.

Scripture:

Isaiah 43:18-20: Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we ask that you grant us more wisdom and understanding so that we may know how to break through ourselves more in service. Let us constantly subvert the thoughts and intentions within us, constantly innovate our service methods, so that we can better serve you and serve the people you have entrusted to us. May you constantly renew our minds and intentions so that we may know what is your good, perfect, and acceptable will. Amen!

Scripture Analysis

This passage is God's own words, declared through the prophet Isaiah. It prophesies the breakthroughs and changes that the coming of the Lord Jesus would bring to this world. These words appeared around 700 BC. God created the heavens and the earth around 2400 BC. Last week, we talked about the first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus, which was turning water into wine. God has never changed His attributes; our God is a creative God. The first chapter of the Bible speaks of God creating the heavens and the earth, and in the New Testament, the first miracle that the Lord Jesus performed was also creation, turning water into wine. This also set the tone for Jesus' ministry: God is a creative God! Today's passage is also in the middle of this, a creative revelation from God. After prophesying a whole series of things that might happen in the future, Isaiah said this. God will do a new thing, which is to open rivers in the desert and roads in the wilderness. It is to make the impossible possible. John 14:12, the Lord Jesus said that we, who come later, will do even greater things than those in His time. God has promised us that we will break through the ministry of the Lord Jesus' time and be able to do greater things. When the Lord Jesus was in the world, He was serving God, and He did several things: healing the sick and casting out demons; teaching; and training. Today, let us look at how our church can usher in a brand-new season of service and break through our original service model from these three aspects.

New Teaching

Do you all know how the Lord Jesus taught? When the Lord Jesus taught people, He used parables most often. Why did the Lord Jesus use so many parables? Matthew says, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. The Lord Jesus used parables to separate those who were thirsty from those who were not, and to separate those who believed from those who did not. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. The Lord Jesus was sifting people with parables. Everyone, find that feeling! Today, we do not change the essence of this sifting of people, but we must constantly break through and innovate in the models we use.

Because I have a teacher as a girlfriend, I have learned a lot from PL Sister about teaching. The traditional education model is a cramming education model, where a teacher lectures, lectures, and lectures from above. Every student hears the same content. Efficiency is low on one hand. More importantly, teachers cannot measure the students' level of understanding, nor know which students have potential and which students are not learning at all. Because the teacher is lecturing throughout the class, it does not achieve the purpose of sifting. Now, many emerging education models are rising. I often hear the terms Learn-Think-Act and Haveruta, which are teaching models that encourage students to think actively. In these teaching models, questioning and guiding become very critical components. The effect is also very obvious: a very dull classroom suddenly becomes very active.

In fact, this works in much the same way as the Lord Jesus' use of parables in teaching. Why did the Lord Jesus use parables, and why did He say that those who have will have more, and those who do not have will have what little they have will be taken away. Imagine that there are thousands of people, sometimes even tens of thousands of people, in front of the Lord Jesus. After the Lord Jesus finished telling a parable, basically 99% of the people did not understand it. Who could understand it? Only those who asked understood it. What kind of people ask? Only those who are thirsty ask. Those who ask more gain more, and those who ask less gain less. And those who do not ask are basically confused after listening, and still do not ask. In an instant, people are separated. The emerging teaching of guidance and questioning is also the same. Those who are active, thinking hard, and answering gain more. Those who are not active and do not think gain nothing. The cramming method still allows one to gain a little even if they are unwilling, but in the current situation, if one does not think, one will gain nothing.

Moreover, when we do this, the efficiency is higher than in the Lord Jesus' time. The Lord Jesus had to spend time telling parables, but we directly ask and guide. In addition, we can put these questions and guidance materials on the Internet, and we can influence too many people at once. For example, I am doing such an experiment this week. The pastor and PL sister developed the 101 course, and I asked the new people I care for to do this. I will ask her to answer the questions in the courseware first, then listen to the recording, and then write a small summary after listening to the recording. After comparing her own answers with the summary after listening to the recording, she efficiently absorbs the content of the course. In this process, there is also a sifting process. Some people actively do it, such as GY sister that I care for; and some people do not do it. Those who do more gain more, and those who do not do gain nothing! After she gives me her answers, I will interject with small questions, such as How to apply these to your life?. Why do I ask this question, and when do I ask it? When I assess that she is also restricted by the questions mentioned in the course, I will ask her this after she has finished her homework. In this way, the effect of care is greatly improved.

New Training

Let's take a look at how the Lord Jesus trained His disciples. Luke chapter 9 verses 10 to 16 record such an interesting story, which everyone is very familiar with, but you may have overlooked many details. What is the story? It is the story of the five loaves and two fish. On this day, Jesus took 5,000 people, including his disciples, to the wilderness, where he taught them the way of the kingdom of God and healed the sick. Until the sun was about to set, his disciples came to Jesus and said, Can you let these people disperse and go to the nearby towns to find food, because they have no food in the wilderness? Can you imagine that the sun is setting and it is very late. If you don't eat lunch, you will definitely be hungry. At this time, you can imagine that these people, including the disciples, were very hungry. Then what did Jesus say? You give them something to eat!. Did Jesus know that they did not have enough food? He must have known that since He knew that they did not have enough food, why did He let them give them something to eat? Everyone knows that it is impossible for 12 people to carry food for 5,000 people.

Today, if I talk to you like this in our church, you will definitely be offended. For example, someone asked me, what should we do if we don't have faith? I would answer, Then have faith!. Someone asked me, what should I do if I am sleepy when I pray and read the Bible? I would answer, Then don't be sleepy!. Someone asked me, what should I do if I can't find a partner in the church? I would answer heh heh, or you can answer. Someone asked me, what should I do if I can't study? I would say, Then go study!. If I often answer you like this, you may really be offended. But this is how the Lord Jesus trained His disciples.

Lord, Lord, everyone is hungry, and we are also hungry, let us go out to find food. Then Jesus said, If you are hungry, then eat, you give them something to eat!. What would the disciples think? Is this Jesus dizzy from preaching in the sun? We don't have enough food to feed 5,000 people, we only have 5 loaves and 2 fish, don't you know? Actually, Jesus was just trying them out. One try is not enough, there is also a second try. What is the second try? Jesus asked the disciples to arrange these 5,000 people, 50 people in a row. Oh! It's really a toss! Just eat, why do you have to sit in rows? Just let these people line up one by one to receive it! Besides, I told you that we don't have enough food, we are so hungry that our chests are stuck to our backs, and we still have to do these physical jobs. 50 people in a row have to be arranged in 100 rows, and there are also many old, weak, sick, and disabled people here, sitting in a mess, how troublesome it is to arrange them in a row. Isn't this a toss? But when the disciples did as they were told, the story of the five loaves and two fish feeding 5,000 people was accomplished, and there were many loaves and fish left over. Actually, Jesus was training His disciples, training them in what? Training them in obedience, execution, and faith.

Today, we want to do bigger and more complete things than the Lord Jesus in training disciples. Here, the Lord Jesus only trained the disciples in obedience, execution, and faith. We want to train people's ability to endure injustice, stability, willpower, innovative ability, etc. How to train them? By deliberately wronging you, like the Lord Jesus deliberately tossing His disciples. In fact, there is no need to arrange 50 people in a row, they can still feed these people. Then deliberately put pressure on the brothers and sisters. Many brothers and sisters said that I am already very tired. Why should I be given these ministries and people to serve? It is to see whether everyone chooses to retreat in the face of pressure, or overcome the pressure through innovation. I learned a good way of care from CW brother's group, which is the mechanism of reporting at each level. Giving each person the opportunity to go out and care for others is one level of pressure, and then requiring them to report after care is another level of pressure, but people will grow. For CW brother, this is an innovative way to solve his pressure. But for the members of the group, it is a new pressure. Then the members of the group have to think about how to innovate and overcome this pressure.

Next, we will use more means to make the training model that the Lord Jesus did even bigger. The design of our courses will often revolve around these training models of the Lord Jesus. For example, we will design a scene drama, which can be completely recorded in video mode, to talk about the teaching of the Lord Jesus, copy it and spread it.

I also use this method a lot in the field of service, assigning homework to newcomers.

A Fresh Experience of Healing and Deliverance:

During the Lord Jesus' days on earth, He spent most of His time doing the work of healing and deliverance. Mark 16:14-18 says, Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.' Many people do not pay attention to verse 14. In fact, the faith of these eleven disciples was not that great, but the Lord Jesus commanded them to perform miracles and drive out demons. In other words, driving out demons and speaking in new tongues are very elementary things, while building up life is a very advanced thing, and the highest thing is love. So, there should be no more doubts about this.

Recently, I read a book called Unleashing Healing Power, and Pastor Curry Blake had such a record. In the past few years, Pastor Curry Blake had been suffering from back pain. One day, when he tried to get up from the floor, his back suddenly felt severe pain, so painful that he could not bear it, almost like a car accident. His feet could not step on the ground at all, and he could not tolerate any pressure. The doctor checked and found that the spinal nerve was injured. The doctor gave him many strong painkillers, nerve swelling medications, and high doses of painkillers. But it still hurt, and he could not even move slightly in bed. At that time, he had to do rehabilitation six times a week for 90 consecutive days, but it did not improve. Then he asked many famous friends with strong healing anointing to pray for him, but it did not improve.

Do you know how he got better later? At that time, he was in the United States, and his son was in Japan. His son used an internet phone to lead him in prayer. He was in pain 24 hours a day, but after praying, he only felt pain when his feet touched the ground. Later that day, he received a wonderful email from a businessman friend in the gas and oil industry. This friend had served with him in Brazil and India. His friend said that in his prayer, the Lord Jesus revealed to him that Curry Blake had a spinal problem. He sent an email to comfort Curry Blake, and then Curry Blake made a phone call to his friend, and his pain completely disappeared.

Among us, there is also such a testimony. A sister who had just come to the church suddenly felt weak all over and could not stand up. She worked in the service industry, and that day she did not have the strength to serve customers. Until 7:30 in the evening, when she opened the group video of our church meeting, her body was completely healed. The feeling of softness and weakness completely disappeared.

I also heard a testimony from a pastor that someone had insomnia. The pastor recorded a short prayer for him, and his insomnia problem disappeared that day. I have heard of such things happening in the ministry of many of our pastoral leaders.

Many people say that the Lord Jesus prayed for people face to face, so today, if we want to pray for people, we must also do it face to face. Wrong! If the Lord Jesus had computers and telephones at that time, He would definitely carry computers and telephones wherever He went. Today, our minds must begin to change. We must think about what is God's good, perfect, and pleasing will. Can people's illnesses being healed and bondages being removed reflect God's good will? Can it reflect God's perfect will? Will God be pleased because people are healed? Definitely! Since this is the case, does God care whether we use a phone or a computer to heal people? Definitely not! I even think that maybe in the future, we will put the photos of CW or someone else on the website, and people will be healed just by looking at them. If they are blind, we will record a voice and send it to them, and they will be able to see after listening to it.

Conclusion:

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'—the things God has prepared for those who love him. This is God's will. God will do new things in this generation!