Introduction

Last week, in our sermon, we talked about Aaron and the Israelites who experienced numerous miracles and wonders, unprecedented in history. Many of our brothers and sisters here today have also experienced quite a few. After experiencing so much, why did they still create a golden calf and proclaim it as the Lord God, observing a festival to it? God had just forbidden the creation of any idols, and immediately they turned around and made a golden calf.

Such things continue to happen repeatedly today. Those who come to me are mostly those with complicated and difficult problems, coming to us as a last resort. After experiencing so much grace, miracles, and wonders, with many difficult problems being healed and resolved, they then feel they have learned enough and want to go out and serve the Lord God. You can build a glorious church, and so can I.

However, many people create golden calves, and such things still occur in this era. Let us read a passage about how Moses built a tabernacle for God, a place to worship Him, according to the instructions God gave him.

Whatever You Do, Have a Rigorous Attitude

Moses built God's tabernacle, and God's glory filled it because Moses rigorously followed God's instructions. Recently, the global issue with Boeing 737-max was due to a lack of rigor. A piece of code was not written well, and the advanced design concept made the plane uncontrollable, causing it to crash directly, leading all countries to ground all aircraft of this model.

We must know that our God is the God who created the universe. Our God is powerful, a God of great ability. Building the church of the Lord, building the tabernacle of the Lord God, we must have a rigorous attitude. If we serve this God today without a rigorous attitude, without carefully observing and following His ways, we will not be able to continue. Preaching the gospel wrongly is worse than not preaching at all, as it incurs a deep curse. From today onwards, we must be rigorous; a lack of rigor is a flaw. Later, I discovered that even very rigorous people can make mistakes, so how much greater the mistakes if one is not rigorous? In my training, I prefer to train people in a rigorous attitude.

Today, as we read about Moses building the tabernacle, it is described very clearly.

“This is what you are to receive from them as offerings: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastplate. “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exodus 25:3-9)

Building a church is a high-risk industry because our God is a God of great ability, our God is like a consuming fire. We do what God says; this is a matter of attitude. God tells us these things clearly, and what remains is for us to believe, not to take it with a casual attitude.

In Christian baptism, Jesus baptized people in the Jordan River. Later, some people said, Where is the Jordan River? It's so far. So they found a tank, then changed it to a basin, and finally, it became a small twig, just dipping some water. If it continues to evolve, I don't know what it will become. People like to simplify God's things, lacking rigor, which represents a person's attitude of cutting corners. In many past shoddy projects, corners were cut, unable to withstand typhoons or floods. Today, we must all cultivate a rigorous attitude.

In Canada, there is a school of architecture where each graduating student receives a steel ring. Where does this ring come from? It is from a steel bridge built by the school's graduates, but the bridge collapsed, killing many people. Afterward, the school's principal bought back the collapsed steel and made steel rings for all the graduates to remind them to remember that the bridge collapsed because of a lack of rigor.

Emulate Moses and Solomon: Be Rigorous in What You Do

Building a bridge that collapses is worse than not building it at all; building an aircraft that crashes is worse than not building it at all; building a church without God's glory is worse than not building it at all. Therefore, I fervently desire to build a church with a rigorous attitude, but many people cannot do it because they cannot let go of many things. To build a glorious church, you must do according to God's word.

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)

Building God's church requires this attitude of paying the price; it is not possible without it. Moses' attitude in doing things, paying a great price, was very rigorous. We begin to know that Moses built the tabernacle, and what materials were used for the Ark are described very clearly.

Solomon and David were also very rigorous in building the palace for God.

Solomon assigned the priests to their duties, according to the regulations of his father David, and the Levites to their places to lead praise and to assist the priests according to each day’s requirement. He also assigned gatekeepers by divisions for each gate, because this was what David the man of God had ordered. They did not deviate from the king’s commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries. So all Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid until its completion. Thus the temple of the Lord was finished. (2 Chronicles 8:14-16)

The tabernacle built by Moses and the temple built by Solomon were filled with God's glory, which required rigor and no negligence.

The Standard of Jesus Christ Has Never Changed

Building a church is similar to building Moses' tabernacle, but many people lower the standard at will. The standard of Jesus Christ has never changed. Some people feel great after reading the New Testament, thinking it is all grace. But that's not the case! The New Testament is about offering oneself wholeheartedly as a living sacrifice to God! That is 100%! Some people say that the Old Testament is about keeping the law, and the New Testament is about grace. But that's not true. The Old Testament is about keeping rules, and the New Testament is about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, offering yourself completely! It's not about keeping the Sabbath; it's about dedicating 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, entirely to God. Everything we do in our lives, including work and life, is aimed at serving God.

Later, some people say that no one can achieve that and begin to lower the requirements. Originally, everyone was striving to achieve 100%, but the requirement was lowered to 50%. Then, they found that they still couldn't achieve it and lowered it by half again, with the standard reaching 25% of the original. Finally, they continued to lower the standard. The church is a place to train people in giving, not a place to train people in taking advantage. Early on, I trained a group of people who took advantage, but later I gradually adjusted it so that even if you come to church and take a bottle of water, you have to contribute one Singapore dollar. If the church is a place that caters to the flesh, can there be God's glory? It is impossible to have God's glory!

One day, a sister called me and said she was feeling unwell, asking me to pray for her. At the same time, I knew which church she attended, so I asked her, Why don't you find your pastor, but come to me? This sister said, Our church only does healing and deliverance once a month. I was puzzled. A hospital has an emergency room, but if the brothers and sisters in the church have problems with their health, do they just wait? I don't quite understand!

Building a Glorious Church Filled with God, According to God's Word

I once trained a person who had many dirty and filthy things in him. I spent a lot of time on him, and his problems were all resolved. I let him start serving, and he said to me, In this church, I can't stay if I can't serve until late at night, right? One day he said he wanted to leave for a while to see the outside world and come back after two months. So I told him, If you leave, you don't have to come back.

Later, he found a church that I was also quite familiar with. The church was very considerate of the flesh. I asked him how it was, and he said it was very good! The pastor of that church once approached me, saying that our website was good and asked me to build a website for him. I said, Your pastor's church is quite wealthy and large. Surely there are IT people among the brothers and sisters. He said they didn't want to do it; they were all very considerate of the flesh.

The problem is, when this person is building a church and everyone is unwilling to offer themselves, what are we doing? Can healing and deliverance be effective? We must know that we must build the church according to God's Word. If you are truly building the church according to God's Word, this church will definitely be filled with God's glory! What I say may not be pleasing to the ear, but it is all true!

Pastors often bring their families to me, and I wonder if I should ask them, What have you been doing all these years? Why doesn't it work? Why? There is no glory of God! How does the glory of God come? It comes from building the church strictly according to God's Word. The Bible is very clear in black and white. Therefore, the tabernacle that Moses built was filled with God's glory.

Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all their travels, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. (Exodus 40:34-38)

These words are very important. Brothers and sisters must have such a mindset to build a church filled with God's glory, with everyone consecrated to the Lord for victory in battle! In the spiritual realm, fight for God and obtain God's promises. This is the work we do.

Not only was the construction of the tabernacle very clear, but the work of the priests was also arranged very well. The priests had to take care of the lamps in the tabernacle. I wonder why they didn't just install a large oil tank so that the lamps could burn for three to five years with one filling! Just pour in a tank when they had nothing to do. But God's design was not like that. The lamps would run out of oil after burning for a while, and they had to be refilled. Wasn't that troublesome?

The priests had to do this work, adding oil from time to time! Therefore, brothers and sisters, in the temple of God, you must love the Lord our God with all your heart and strength. If you don't love God, you will find this matter very troublesome. This matter is closely related to our attitude. Is it really troublesome? It was very troublesome for Moses to do this. There were very clear rules for serving in the tabernacle. Aaron's two sons foolishly offered strange fire, and the Lord burned them to death, not even allowing Aaron to mourn. It was God who struck down Aaron's sons because they were not strict and did not follow God's Word!

Today, many people like to serve people. The other day I heard about a conflict between someone and the pastor over money. A sister built a coffee church, messed around, and ended up with many conflicts! Today, many people want to build a church to serve God, but they lack the right attitude. Perhaps you are offering strange fire before the Lord, and the fire of the Lord is released from the throne and consumes these people. Thank God that He didn't burn me back then. God knows my heart and has led me step by step to this day. You must be clear about what is in your bones. Don't be self-righteous like I used to be. Today, if there are still people among us who are self-righteous, make sure you understand things clearly before you serve!

Healing and Deliverance Are the Most Basic Work of the Church

Yesterday I heard a sister receiving a new person. This new person said that my worship and praise were good, and I sang well. I was thinking that the Bible doesn't talk about these things. When have you ever heard the Apostle Paul talking about a lot of worship and praise? For example, if someone in the church is sick, I wonder what Jesus would do. Jesus would heal him. For example, when Jesus arrived at the temple and saw a hunchbacked woman, He drove out the demon, and she was straightened, and her sins were forgiven.

Later, I gradually discovered that healing and deliverance are the most basic work of the church. If you don't do healing and deliverance, or if it's done poorly, for example, some churches have healing and deliverance once a week, or once a month, and everyone just waits when they have problems. I was thinking that there are many people who serve God, and many who are enthusiastic, but not according to true knowledge, which is very deadly.

Moses's construction of the tabernacle gives us many revelations. That is to say, we must gradually adjust ourselves and remove the self-righteousness within us. Some brothers and sisters fail as soon as they are tested, and the habit of discerning good and evil comes out. If these bad habits are not corrected, how can you serve? Today, brothers and sisters must begin to restore the good habit of reading the Bible.

Conclusion

The Bible describes very clearly how to build the church and how to enter into God's heart. What is the basic work of the church? The church is not about people singing on stage. That's not what I read in the New Testament Bible. I read something else. Today, we restore to the original foundation. We build God's glorious church according to what the Bible says, even if it means paying a heavy price.

Some time ago, a brother learned a little bit from us and went out to do healing and deliverance, often sending me messages saying that this person and that person needed healing. After a while, he had a terrible stomachache and asked one of our sisters to pray for him, and his pain was relieved. The foundation of healing and deliverance is to build a victorious church. We always want to find a shortcut, but there is no such thing! If you want to build God's glorious church, you must deal with the bad habits on your body and have a clearer understanding of God's Word, so that what we build is filled with God's glory.

May God bless everyone!