1. Foreword

The term shepherding has been familiar to me since I first believed in the Lord. But what exactly does shepherding entail? In my early days as a believer, some would visit my home, asking all sorts of questions about trivial matters in my life. During these interactions, I felt somewhat resistant, not considering it true shepherding.

Across various regions, brothers and sisters face numerous issues requiring resolution, often confiding in their pastors. One sister shared that after discussing her problems with her pastor, he responded, I am too busy to deal with your trivial matters. What was he occupied with? Pursuing theological studies, advanced education, and hosting dignitaries from higher up.

Last year, I delivered a sermon addressing situations I had encountered, hoping to inspire everyone with God's love and to effectively resolve issues. I spoke about a Christian entrepreneur who, despite supporting numerous church ministries, found no one capable of addressing her problems. The need for shepherding is immense in this generation. At the time, over 100 pastors were learning worship at this sister's estate. One sister had a stomachache, but no one prayed for her. She endured the pain the entire day and was eventually taken to the hospital in the evening. I believe our gospel is not merely about worshiping for the sake of worship, but about powerful worship. Last year, I had discussions with some pastors and mentioned from the pulpit that church shepherding is powerful, enabling the church to lead disciples. During the sermon, some pastors gestured, indicating they did not want me to speak that way. After the sermon, they took me into a small room and told me not to say such things again.

However, I know we are not to please men, but to please God, and to better understand God's will. The faith of this generation is real. I believe God can solve many of our problems, which is the purpose of a shepherding church. The Lord Jesus desires the same heart of shepherding. I deeply dislike churches that simply let their sheep roam freely. We train people in the church to solve individual problems, to become disciples who pay the price. I am not proclaiming this for show, but to inspire you to enter into God's heart, shepherding God's flock, which is of utmost importance.

Many in this generation need healing and deliverance. We must also build healing and deliverance centers in various places, as this is God's will. In this process, anything not aligned with God's heart must be replaced by His will. In every generation, God chooses those who are after His heart, from the apostle Paul establishing the church to Martin Luther's Reformation, constantly restoring God's will. The important thing is that we enter into God's heart together. No matter how busy we are, we must rise up to shepherd God's flock.

Last year, my mother suffered from Alzheimer's. When taking her for healing and deliverance, she was nearly taken away by demons on several occasions. At the brink of death, Jesus appeared to her and freed her from the bondage of demons. At that time, Jesus said to her: Go back and shepherd my flock. Today, I see a great need, a great need for shepherding the gospel.

Today, we will conduct healing and deliverance crusades globally. We Chinese owe a gospel debt to Singapore, the United States, Korea, and Canada. Today we must do one thing: reform religious faith and continuously restore God's will. In every era, God will raise up a group of people, a group of people after His heart. For this, we must pay a heavy price. Which era has spared suffering and suspicion for those who promote reform? But it doesn't matter; we were born for this, we live for this, and we are willing to pay the price of our lives for God's kingdom and righteousness.

The brother who just shared his testimony could have made a lot of money through some unorthodox methods. Today, his disciples can make a living with these skills, but that is not God's will; you will get trapped in it and live a miserable life. When he first came to us, I was really shocked by his face—an androgynous face, all related to what he had done in the past. But thank God, today he is gradually emerging from bondage through our shepherding.

In the past, because of selfishness, I had never seen anyone live a good life. I used to think that shepherding meant taking good care of people, and everything would be fine. Once, a sister came to listen to sermons and packed all the food from the church back home, storing it in the refrigerator and eating it for a week. Later, I understood. Today, will you continue to live for yourself, or will you walk a path of living for God? Today, will you manifest God's glory? Whether you are 80, 70, 60, 50, 30, or even a teenager, selfishness cannot solve any problem. Loving God means shepherding God's flock. Coming to church today is not just about listening to sermons, talking, and chatting. We are here to shepherd God's people and make them those who shepherd others.

2. Scripture

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)

3. Prayer

Lord, may you raise up people who are after your heart, raise up shepherds who are after your heart. Today, we come before you, and may every brother and sister desire to grow, desire to grow into the stature of Jesus Christ, desire more people to shepherd God's flock. Today, we want to be raised up in this generation, completely dedicating ourselves, so that every person after your heart can become a shepherd.

What exactly is shepherding? Later, I found that I didn't know what shepherding was. Over time, shepherding is very worthy of scrutiny. We often focus on going to heaven after death, but shepherding is shepherding the living. God gave me a very simple answer: shepherding is knowing God's will. The four keys to God's shepherding are: 1. Breaking the spiritual bondage on people, 2. Breaking people's carnal bad habits, 3. Restoring faith in God, 4. Practicing God's word.

4. Shepherding

What exactly is it? When I first started the church, I did not know what shepherding was. So I prayed to God, and over time, shepherding is worth exploring. I sought God. I always thought that salvation was going to heaven after death, but in fact, God wanted us to shepherd the living. Shepherding is building faith in God.

5. 4 Levels of Shepherding:

1. Break spiritual bondage on people. 2. Break carnal bad habits. 3. Put God's word in your heart. 4. Live according to God's word, and live out God's glorious image.

Many people think that salvation is very important, but living out God's glorious image becomes less important. Our shepherding is that we enter into God's will and live out God's image. We were originally made according to God's image. Adam propagated, filled the earth, and governed it. Shepherding is restoring God's glorious image, and salvation is restoring our original image.

This is the core belief system, and the position of healing and deliverance is very important. Many people can live out God's image through healing and deliverance, which is God's will. One of our brothers was very smart before the age of 6, but suddenly became mentally unclear after the age of 6. He came to our church for healing and deliverance training, and as a result, he did the same work as a normal person. We are restoring God's image. Intellectual disability, disease, finances, and poverty are all the work of the devil. Through shepherding, we are brought into prosperity, and many people can be restored. Our God is the God who leads Israel through the Red Sea as if on dry ground, and raises Lazarus from the dead. God can do many impossible things.

Recently, we wrote a book, Do Healing and Deliverance Like Jesus, desiring to live out God's glorious image, break bondage, and do healing and deliverance. God's will is that the church is built on the rock, and attacking the devil and enemies is the basic work of the church, restoring the truth of the church, the core value of Chinese Mingding Destiny.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)

Our God can raise people from the dead, and our God can do many, many things that we cannot do. Do healing and deliverance like Jesus, desiring to live out the image of Jesus Christ. God's will is for those who are bound to be set free. Healing and deliverance, attacking the devil and enemies, are basic requirements of the church. We must constantly restore what God said in the Bible: with God, all things are possible. To set the mind on the flesh is death, and we must begin to deal with our own flesh.

There was a brother in a church who told his pastor that he did not want to eat this dumpling, and the pastor changed it. This is not called love, it is called catering to the flesh. Catering to the flesh is not love, but breaking the flesh. The church is not here to cater to the flesh. The church needs to rise up now to lead people out of bondage. These catering to the flesh are attracting lazy people, not true lovers of God.

Catering to the flesh actually brings diseases. Eating, drinking, and having fun attract selfish people. Selfish people cannot stay here. The church must begin to raise up a group of people who can shepherd. Those who are possessed by demons can be released, but they must know how to be grateful and completely dedicate themselves to God.

6. The Key to Shepherding

The key to shepherding is solving problems. We must all become problem-solvers, in all aspects. Start writing reports now. How do you release others? Write down your experiences in shepherding. We must start growing now. Solving problems leads to more action and growth. If there are problems in education, start solving them.

I once had a pastor proudly tell me that he was leading a group of children to study theology. But we train our children to be able to solve practical problems.

Health, finances, relationships, and all kinds of problems are spiritual problems. The pastors among us and those you shepherd must not establish a buddy-buddy relationship but establish your image as a leader. You must force yourself to grow and become a person with leadership ability. Leadership ability is an important factor in getting things done. Therefore, a shepherding relationship must be established. This is a very individual relationship. If this is a church of tens of thousands of people, can I establish a shepherding relationship with the pastor on stage by listening to a sermon? Can I establish a shepherding relationship with the person next to me? I returned to the Bible and found that God said, Where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them. Not tens of thousands, but two or three people established a shepherding relationship. It's not that God is stingy, but that two or three people have established a shepherding relationship. If you say I love you and others don't know you, then it's just an illusion.

Implementing shepherding in practice depends entirely on the relationship of two or three people. The relationship established by two or three people is concrete and intimate. The Passover lamb was not eaten by tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people together, but by families. This is an intimate relationship. In our time, this is a one-on-one or many-to-one shepherding relationship, a very concrete relationship. We don't ask for large, but we ask for concrete.

In the era of the Internet and Industry 4.0, everything is moving towards personalization. This is also reflected in my education, which is not mass education. Mass production cannot solve problems. Education and shepherding must be personalized. Everyone's problems have personalized solutions. In this shepherding system, pastors will grow rapidly, and both pastors and sheep will reflect the image of God.

7. The Motives for Shepherding

In the process of shepherding, some people are generous, and some are stingy. Some people are selfish, and these people cannot go far. If everyone is for their own needs, such people are very foolish. If you do marketing, you need to know the needs of others. For example, Coca-Cola understands the needs of customers very well. Chinese Mingding Destiny, we understand that this generation needs a shepherding system. Colgate understands the needs of the entire market for people to brush their teeth.

Selfishness has no future. When I was a senior executive at the university, I taught my students not to be selfish. When the school issued scholarships, I found that many Chinese students had selfish motives, doing everything for their own benefit, and did not receive scholarships. But two people I trained, they began to answer the interviewer's questions with a spirit of dedication, and they both received scholarships.

This generation advocates learning from Lei Feng because Lei Feng is a dedicated person. Selfishness can never be the motive for serving and shepherding. So God asked Peter, Do you love me?—I love you.—Shepherd, feed my little sheep. This is the heart of Jesus. You must love God, this is the great commandment God has given us. If you are a person who loves God, you must be a shepherding person.

The Bible constantly criticizes those wicked shepherds and says that if you love God, you must love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. If you are a person who loves God, you must be a shepherding person, whether you are twenty, seventy, or eighty years old, you must shepherd. Today we tell God, 'I love you,' and today we will start shepherding well. If you cast out demons today, heal and release some bondages, but if the selfish desires in you are not changed, you can only experience a little of God's grace. Today I encourage you to start shepherding, shepherding God's people, dealing with more problems, working with God, so that you can return to God. If you have not overcome in the world and are like the devil, then after death, you will go to the devil.

8. Conclusion

Today, if you have not seen the essence of shepherding, in this vain life, if you want to manifest the glory of God, you must pay the price. If you cannot see the essence of shepherding, you will not be able to serve God. Some time ago, a sister who loved the Lord very much and gave a lot asked me a shepherding question. I told her to read the Book of Joshua. Why did it say you could not serve God? One of our brothers found a job when it was very difficult to find one, and then he said that I would serve God because God helped me find a good job. I said to this brother: Then you are not serving this God. Our God is a jealous God. Only by living for God can you serve God. This brother later changed and said, I live for God. Brothers and sisters began to deal with the kind of thinking that believing in the Lord means everything goes smoothly, believing in the Lord means complete dedication, imitating our Jesus, offering their lives completely as a living sacrifice. Only such service can live out the glorious image and receive God's grace.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:25-27)

More than a hundred years ago, the West sent many missionaries to China, sacrificing their lives. At that time, China was in a very backward state, suffering a lot and enduring a lot of sins in China. Today, the Chinese people can rise up because those predecessors paid an extremely painful price. They were unwilling to stay in their own country and not enjoy life in their own country. They hoped that our Chinese sons and daughters would receive the gospel and live out God's mission. We should follow their example. We owe the world a gospel debt. Today, we will take over the baton of God's gospel, constantly deal with people's carnal habits, and pass on God's spiritual truth to make people live prosperously.

We want to establish a shepherding system to shepherd God's flock. If you are willing to follow God and shepherd God's flock, please pray with me:

Lord Jesus, I am willing to completely offer myself, live for you, and be a shepherding person. May you work with me, let my shepherding be effective, let our image be manifested in your midst, may you give us more grace, and let us be a blessing to all nations and peoples on earth!