How to read the Bible in a proper way

It's so good to have this Bible Study time. Today we look at Exodus Chapter 4 which is an amazing chapter. I assume everyone has read through the text, so that I won't read it for you. When we come together, we make sure that we read the original texts of the Bible as the foundation. Some people like to listen to sermons, and some like to listen to Bible Study, but they do not read the original texts of the Bible. I think there is a problem in terms of the learning approach.

When you read the book, you better read the original text. It doesn't matter if you know Hebrew or Greek; you can read the text in English, Chinese or Korean. For the text itself, our learning approach is to extract the core meaning. Even some words may be translated or may be misleading, but the core meaning of the chapter or the book will not go too far away. There will be a problem if you zoom in and only see the words but do not see the chapter or paragraph as a whole. Many people study the books word by word, which is probably why you won't go anywhere, because you need to understand the whole meaning or see the entire picture, then you can zoom in for each individual sentence. some people are leading the Bible Study, but they study word by word; if you do not see the whole picture, you will easily get into the wrong path.

Our God is a God who performs miracles

Today we look at Exodus Chapter 4. What do you think Moses was trying to tell us in this chapter? Moses was trying to tell a story when he was 80 years old, he encountered God in the mountain, and nobody knew. People came up with questions: "How did you come to meet with God? How did God speak to you?" If I were Moses and said: "I saw angel and God, God was speaking to me." The problem is nobody knows. How can you trust me, and how can you know if God has really spoken to me?

One day I was listening to a sermon; the Pastor was on the stage and was saying: "Every word I said is from God." When I heard of this, I said: "Oh my God." That was bluffing. How can people say: "What I said all comes from God?" Moses had precisely the same problem when he went to Israelites and said: "I have encountered God." The problem is, who knows if Moses had ever encountered God.

When God called Moses in the last chapter, God said to Moses: "I will send you to Egypt, and you will be leading my people out of Egypt, and what they have suffered and their misery I have seen, and I have heard. I'm going to send you to the place and to lead the people out."

If you and I face this kind of situation, you better learn how to ask a question. I think Moses was thinking in this way: "What if they do not believe me or listen to me? What if they said the Lord did not appear to you?" That is a very challenging question, but it's not so difficult for God.

Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand"? "A staff," he replied. The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it. (Exodus 4:2-3)

Moses was holding the same staff in his hand for years. The staff did not worth much, and it was just a piece of shepherd rod. So the question is, why did the staff become a snake? Because God remembered and used a miracle to show the people that God had spoken to Moses. The staff became a snake, Moses stretched out the hand and held the tail, and the snake became a staff again, but many people do not believe that.

In the spiritual world, anything can become a snake, and the snake can probably become anything. God is a very powerful God. If you deal with people today, people are full of doubt when shown this miracle. Do you know what they would do? People would say: "This is magic." Is it a miracle or magic? A lot of people may turn out and say: "I will put up the camera and see how you have done it, and I will figure out how you bluff people. I will see whether it is authentic or not."

We can perform miracles by seeking God

Let me tell you, a miracle is a miracle, and magic is magic. How do I know that? Because I have performed many miracles. When I read this part of the Bible Exodus Chapter 4, I had precisely the same question. When I preach the Word of God, I am also thinking about how I can make people believe me. I am a well-trained engineer. I know that people won't believe me if I do not deliver results and just keep on talking and talking. But, on the other hand, I'm probably a philosopher, a person who can talk about theories, and I don't trust by just talking.

Do you know who can talk well? When I was talking about miracles, a lot of people would say: "People seek a miracle, and that's why they get the miracle." Let me tell you, you cannot get a miracle by seeking merely a miracle. You can only get a miracle by seeking God. I hope you agree with me on this: the centerpiece is how people know God sent you. If you do not trust Moses's writing, you can trust what Jesus Christ had done unless you are not a Christian. If you are not a Christian and believe in something else, you better trust your own God.

But for me, I am a Christian, and I read Bible. So I see Jesus also did the same thing by demonstrating to the people and letting people know God sent him by miracle. Moses was also sent by God.

The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. The Lord said: "This is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you." Then the Lord said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous — it had become as white as snow. "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. (Exodus 4:3-7)

That was very powerful evidence to demonstrate that God had sent you to the people. I look down on those people who cannot give evidence proofing God sent you. So only talking is not going to work. I would tell you that was not what the Bible revealed to us. If we pull away from the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Almighty God, and if we take away the miracle through the power of Almighty God, the Bible will be very thin. If we take away all the miracles performed by God, the Bible only has a front and back cover, and it will become nothing.

Deliver a Result by Performing Miracles

From the first day when I was leading the Bible study, I said to God: "God, I want to deliver a result." That's why our church and doctrine are crucial; the miracle is a very important part of our doctrine. It was not invented by me but revealed by the Bible. If you encounter God in the mountain, you better ask the same question: "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and said the Lord did not appear to you." What would you do? You better ask God this question; you and I both better answer this question as well. Do you know how I am going to answer this question? I studied what Jesus was trying to tell me. And you know what Jesus said?

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:18-19)

That's what Jesus said. You probably have encountered someone who can only talk and give prophesy. They can prophesize well, yet they don't do bind or loose. Did they do what Jesus said? No! Do they hold the keys of heaven? Probably not. When I was studying the word of God, I said: "God, I want to do what you did. I want to follow Jesus Chris, and I want to follow the footstep of Jesus Christ. "And that is precisely how it came out to the day. We have a lot of miracles today; the sick was healed. Jesus trained disciples and sent them out to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. This is what we are following in Ming Ding doctrine.

For those people who do not trust the second miracle, God prepared another miracle:

Then the Lord said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground." (Exodus 4:8-9)

This was what Moses had written, and this was how he encountered God. There were many exciting stories in my past years that many people shared their experiences with me. They would say to me that they encountered God. They have all kinds of stories about how they encountered God and were paralyzed for 14 days. Oh yeah! That's alright. I was not there but probably what they said was true. So when I studied the Bible, what I saw is that this is the way of encountering God.

God chooses those who know they cannot, but God can

When Moses was in the last chapter, I was sharing with you Moses psychologically really thought he was nobody. He was nobody, but probably you don't quite believe in that. Do you know what he said to God? He asked God to send someone else, and he was not going. He was not worthy. He was nobody, and he only needed God. He also stated he was neither eloquent in the past nor since God had spoken to him, and he was slow of speech and tongue.

Moses said to the Lord, "Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." (Exodus 4:10)

Moses was not trying to give an excuse. Trust me, and I don't think Moses was trying to provide an excuse to the Lord. He thought if God wanted to send him, he had to be eloquent. He had to be good at speaking. He could give speeches, and his tongue could rap and do tongue twisters; He could even conduct a talk show, and people could enjoy the humor when listening to what he said. However, God did not think so:

The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say. But Moses said, "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else." (Exodus 4:11-13)

After hearing what God said to him, Moses kept silent and would not be challenging the Lord anymore. Moses did not argue with God. "Oh no! I cannot be like I'm not good at speaking." Then Moses pleaded with God to send someone else. Moses knew that he was inadequate and could not accomplish it by himself. If you think you can do it, most probably cannot. If you feel you really cannot do it, and God will choose you. Are you with me?

God was not beating around the bush and went directly onto the topic mentioned about Moses's brother Aaron. Aaron would meet him, and his heart would be glad to see him. God told Moses what to do and gave him reassurance in Verses 14-17: "Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both speak and teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it." God asked Moses to take the staff to perform miracles. Do you know what happened in the end? Moses was not talking back to the Lord and went home. He spoke with his father-in-law and informed him about his plan of going back to Egypt. He would return to his people and see if any of his people were still alive.

Definition of Humbleness

In the Bible, some people thought they really could not, and God also could not. That is not humbleness. **True humbleness is: if you know you are not capable and think you cannot speak well but you believe God can, then you are humble. ** Humbleness is not referred to as the person who says: "I cannot, I am very weak. I'm very lousy. I cannot do this. I cannot do that." They are not called humble. **Humble is when you know you cannot, but God can. ** If you are a young person, you better see this truth.

The Bible's definition of humble is so different from how human beings perceive it. **When human beings perceive humility, someone said he was humble, and he was not humble.**Do you believe in this kind of statement? When I studied Bible, Moses said he was a very humble person, and the apostle Paul said, "I am a very humble person." Jesus Christ also described himself as a humble person. These were the truly humble people. Can you understand? Moses said I was humble, but according to human beings' definition: if you see yourself as a humble person, you are not humble. I heard this "theory" from some people preaching on the stage. Probably the preacher never read the Bible well and did not understand the Bible. He did not understand and probably pointed his finger at Moses and Jesus Christ. He did not understand humbleness. He was referring to people who said "I am not that good" as humble people. No. Humble people are the people who trust in the Lord.

We are not good enough, but never mind, God is very powerful. God can perform miracles in our life. We should never depend on our capabilities and skills. If you rely on your capabilities, for example, how you speak, how eloquent you are in speaking, then you are not humble. If everything you see that I am not good at doing, God can. If you are lousy, God can change you. Our God is a supreme God, and supreme God can do anything. That is the definition of humbleness in the Bible.**

Obey God and spiritual authority will be given to you

After talking to God, Moses went back home and spoke to his father-in-law about his encounter with God in the mountain to bring his people out of Egypt. Then Moses took his wife and son on a donkey to Egypt. He took the staff that God had given him to perform miracles. The staff represented the authority and power of God. This is the building of the fundamental understanding.

God chooses you and me to give us spiritual authority, are you with me? It is not because we are good, or we are not good. Even though you cannot speak well, it does not matter, and it is a matter of God choosing you. Do you know what kind of people God will choose? God will choose those people who will obey and listen to him. Although it seemed like Moses were talking back to God, telling God to send someone else instead of him. God was not bothered and instructed Moses to go. God mentioned to him that brother Aaron would be there to meet him and Moses did according to what God told him to do.

To God, many people are very difficult to be of use. Do you know why? God said to them to go; they said yes, they would go. When they went home, they kept quiet and never went. This type of people, God will never be pleased with them. They only pretended to say yes, Lord but never executed what God asked them to do. They said yes to everything like a "Yes Man" but no action. Are you with me? Moses did what God told him and started his incredible journey noted in the Bible. Genesis to Deuteronomy were all written by Moses. His life was so colorful and full of excitement, all because God was with him. God only used a humble person before Him; listen to him, someone like Moses did exactly what God told him to do. Many people liked to twist God's words and could not carry out what the Lord asked them to do. It is very tough to find a person like Moses. If you can follow the footsteps of Moses, God will use you, and your life will be colorful and exciting. God is searching high and low for those people who obey and listen to Him and accomplish what He commanded them to do.

Our God is a Healer

How many people follow what Jesus told them to do when building a church? We know countless preachers are trying to share God's words, and I had come across one believer who visited me after her church service. I called it "interesting" with open and closed inverted commas. Her story had begun with her urgency of going to the toilet very often; I do not know what this infection called in her discharge systems? She had to go to the toilet many times, which was challenging for her. The church pastor shared a message titled "If God does not heal you, do you still believe in God?" Did I say to her what kind of title this was? I could not figure out and could not find anywhere in the Bible that God could not heal anyone even though people did not trust God and did not have a so-called doctrine.

God never speaks like this, even never trusting in the Lord, never even understanding what's going on, but they come because they hear "Jesus heals." They don't come for Jesus, not eternal life, but they come to seek healing. But Jesus healed them all! That is why I am preaching, "Jesus healed them all." And a lot of people came to me and asked: "Are you sure, pastor? Are they all healed?" And I reply: "Yes, but there is one who is not healed.." "And who is that?" they asked. "It's you." I am wondering if people read the same Bible? I am reading the same Bible they read, and inside, it says: "Jesus healed them all." Did they do what Jesus told them to do? No. When I challenged many people, whether they were pastors or believers, a lot of them could not answer. Through the topic of miracles, I can get (trip) tons of Christians. But trust me, I can reply to them all with the Word of God because that is what the Bible says.

Do things according to the Word of God

Moses did exactly what God told him; the glory of the Almighty God was with Moses. The glory, the power, and the miracles followed Moses his whole life until he passed away. And Moses is a wonderful person in the Bible. Why? Because he listened to what God said, and he executed things according to what God told him. And God needs these kinds of people. So never tweak the Word of God. You see, sometimes people go by their own experiences. For example, "If I did not experience 100 percent healing, then God did not heal them all." They go by their own experiences. But I go by the word of God. Moses goes by the Word of God. Jesus goes by the Word of God, and Apostle Paul went according to the Word of God because the Bible says so.

In the early days, probably only ten percent of people were healed through my hand. And if I believed Jesus could heal them all, how come I can only heal ten percent? But I kept on believing, and ten percent grew to twenty, twenty to eighty, eighty to ninety. And I can defeat the demons, one after another. Because I trusted in the Word of God, that is why the percentage of miracles went all the way to 100 percent. Have I reached 100 percent? Not yet, but I still believe Jesus heals all. That is what Jesus did.

Do Not Compromise God

Along the way, Moses faced a great challenge. What was the challenge? His wife. Because his sons belonged to him and his wife, he wanted to circumcise his sons, and his wife probably disagreed. And you know what the Bible said? God wanted to kill Moses. God wanted to kill him. It was probably very difficult for Moses to describe it in detail. He wrote this:

At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. So the Lord let him alone. (Exodus 4:24-26 NIV)

Very challenging. Do you understand this paragraph? Because Moses probably felt a little embarrassed to tell more details. And with this short sentence, you can get a rough idea whether Moses listened to his wife or God. It was probably very difficult for Moses to convince his wife to cut off their foreskin. You know, the foreskin on the male organ. It is surgery. In the lodging place, in the journey to Egypt. Can you understand the problem? What if, after a surgery like this, they got an infection? They have no antibiotics, no clinics, and a lodging place. It is probably very dirty; in the old days, probably 3500 years ago. It was so long ago, and with that kind of medical environment.

And the wife disagreed. And that is why Moses gave in. This kind of story is just speculation, but I think it is quite close to the actual situation. You will have to trust what I say, but you can try to figure out the background of the short paragraph.

People do not understand how to deal with a wife. If you are a married man, you know what I am saying. Human beings, especially husbands, do not want to have a quarrelsome family. That is why very often, they give in. The wife, however, uses quarreling as an approach to make the husband compromise. When Moses tried to compromise, God tried to kill him. It is a path to be used by the Lord. To be used by the Lord, you cannot listen to other people, but only to God, to execute what God tells you to do. That is very common.

Why did I study this paragraph in such detail? It is a crucial topic. I met a lot of pastors who listened to their wives rather than God. And they have tons and tons of excuses to explain why they listened to their wife. "Listening to my wife is listening to the Lord." Is there something like that in the Bible? No, it contradicts the Bible.

And after this short paragraph, Moses finally reached Egypt and performed his miracles. And the people believed in him. They knew the Lord saw them, they knew he was concerned about their misery, and they bowed down and worshiped the Lord. Without the miracles, how can Moses tell the people, "God sent me here."? No, that is not the approach God takes. The approach God takes is miracles.

Conclusion

Let me summarize chapter 4, the whole of Exodus 4. After that, I will do something lengthier, like this. "God will give you the power to do miracles, but you must follow the instruction of the mighty God." If you follow your wife's instruction, you cannot follow God's instruction. If you follow God's, you cannot follow your wife's instructions. I can try to make it a little shorter. God will give you miracles, but you must follow his instruction. This is such a topic to conclude what I have shared. Even when the person is close to you and can influence you with their kind of power, you must follow the instruction of the mighty God.

Thank you very much. I hope God is with you, and then you can perform miracles.