Introduction

Today, I want to share a wonderful topic with you, one that can definitely be applied in your life. I believe I am qualified to share this topic because I am such a person myself. The topic is Continuous Growth. Let us close our eyes for a moment and reflect on whether we have grown in the past week, month, or quarter. The issue of growth is of utmost importance.

If one day a person is about to die, ask yourself, what have you done in this lifetime? If you've done nothing but manufactured fertilizer, eating and excreting, with no growth in your life, what a tragedy! The reason for senile dementia is the lack of growth over a long period. A vibrant person is unlikely to suffer from dementia because they are constantly growing and renewing.

Growth is crucial! I wish everyone would remind themselves to grow every day. The faith in Christ Jesus is one of continuous renewal and growth, and our faith is very practical. There is no end to knowing God! If you do not grow today, you will lose the feeling of being alive and lose your ability. One must advance or retreat! Some people work frantically after hearing this. Later, I discovered that the growth of spiritual life is even more important!

In the last days, we shall ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the house of the God of Jacob. I studied the history of the church and found that it is a history of the loss and restoration of the ability to believe. Therefore, we must know how the church loses its ability to believe. Even today, we read the same Bible, and many churches are fully capable; they still believe, but they do not know what they believe in. Romans speaks of the Gospel as the power of God. 1 Corinthians also says:

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Some churches have lost their ability, but they think their gospel is pure, which is very strange. Everyone reads the same Bible, but the results are different. This is the problem; the root of human problems is unbelief. Today, we must know that ascending the mountain of the Lord and entering the house of the God of Jacob has a deeper meaning than we imagine.

I have a characteristic: I am always doing new things. If I don't do new things, I feel uncomfortable. Doing new things is a constant growth; if you always do the same thing, it's a tragedy. Then I will tell you that you have only done one thing in your life, which is to make fertilizer, and after death, you are also fertilizer.

It is hard to do new things, but those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy! If one keeps growing, they will always enjoy the joy that comes from growth! Living is a kind of feeling; feeling entangled means being entangled for a lifetime, and feeling joyful means being joyful for a lifetime. Joy comes from growth. I minister to some people who have not been joyful for a long time, and the reason is that they do not grow; without growth, joy will be lost. Today, let us ask ourselves, are we like Jesus? If not, there is still much room for growth!

We must know that people grow in giving. We constantly give and solve problems, and then we grow. It is more blessed to give than to receive! Because you solve other people's problems, you will grow, and other people's problems will bring your growth. Isn't this a good thing? Some people solve their own problems and bring their own growth, isn't that painful?

Today, let us read Isaiah again; this book is good, and many words in the book refer to us today.

Scripture

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

Ascending the mountain of the Lord is called growth; the problem of people is the problem of height. Height does not refer to physical height. For example, Deng Xiaoping was not tall, but he was the chief architect of our New China's reform. Height is growth! Let us pray together.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we long to grow! There are still many ways we are not like you; let you be the master, king, and pruner in us. Lord, I invite you into my life, use your great love to inspire me, so that I can run towards your temple. Today, I will ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the house of the God of Jacob. I ask you to let me make a decision, relying on the strength that the Lord Jesus has given me, to continue running forward, growing forward, and climbing forward! I am determined to live out the likeness of Jesus Christ! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Continuous Renewal

Chinese Mingding Destiny is constantly being updated, and currently, there are the 2011 version, the 2012 version, the 2013 version, and so on. Everything needs to be constantly improved. Like mobile networks, which have now entered the 5G era, also come from continuous improvement from 2G, 3G, and 4G.

Why does Chinese Mingding Destiny need to be constantly updated? Because the understanding of God is becoming clearer. As we constantly climb the mountain of the Lord, our understanding of God becomes clearer. I do not object to the Nicene Creed, nor do I object to the Apostles' Creed; I used to recite them. But I found that reciting these cannot empower the church, and the problems cannot be solved.

Some people have believed in the Lord for a lifetime, and in the end, they can only recite the Apostles' Creed and say that I am saved, but that is not the case. The Chinese Mingding Destiny system is a theological system that is constantly growing in the knowledge of God. In the past, there were many rules in the church, such as: the church must buy an organ, there must be a cross, these are not the most important, and they are not written in the Bible.

The most important thing is that people's hearts must be constantly renewed. Some cathedrals are very magnificent, but they do not see the presence of God. Why? Because it has become a rule, and constant stagnation will lose its ability. Therefore, our God has set a rule, which is to be determined to climb the mountain of the Lord, and the mountain of the Lord is composed of layers of truth.

The foundation of the mountain of the Lord is faith and salvation. Salvation is a very low level. That is to say, people live at the level of salvation, and then climb up, salvation, prayer, sanctification, these are very low levels. Where should we climb the mountain of the Lord? To the point where it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Before reaching this level, there is a level called brotherly unity. In other words, climbing the mountain of the Lord is a constant knowing of God's truth. If you do not understand God's truth in your understanding, you cannot climb the mountain, just like, you know every word in the Bible, but it is useless if you do not know God's truth.

Today, we must constantly grow, constantly explore, and constantly know God. If you feel that you do not need to grow, then try it for a while, and you will find it uncomfortable, because it is very uncomfortable for people not to grow.

In my growing experience, my parents did not have much education, they could not guide me, but they forced me to study. Over the past many years, I have been self-taught, and I have studied very hard. In the early years, I did network work, but I had never studied networking. I found a book about networking, with English and Chinese versions. When I read it, it was like reading a heavenly book; I could not understand it, and I did not know what it was talking about at all.

But I knew that this network book was very important, and this matter could not stump me, so I read it again and again, again and again, many, many times. Later, I finally understood it one day. When I encountered campus network problems again, I solved them accurately, sweeping through everything, and later, my understanding of the network was more professional than my subordinates. Through this matter, I have grown a lot not only in networking but also in software, corporate management, financial management, marketing, and so on.

I still remember when I first believed in the Lord, I read the Bible desperately. I thought it was a treasure. Why? Because I felt I needed it. Every growth brings great joy, although it is hard, it is very joyful. From that time on, I deeply knew the importance of growth. I am in IT, and this industry updates very quickly. What I learned 3 years ago is basically eliminated. To survive in this industry, you must learn to constantly update.

Therefore, over the past many years, I have basically not rested for a day. Even on holidays, I have not stopped growing and learning. Looking back on the path I have walked over the years, there are tears and sweat, but there is one thing for sure, there is growth. Later, building a church also brought great growth.

There must be growth, and later, forming a church, that is also very interesting. By the way, let me boast a little. Generally, people don't have as high a output as I do in building churches. How many of the world's famous pastors have written 50 books? Writing 50 books is a big deal, isn't it?

Every week I am preaching, you know what I am most worried about, I am most worried that you will get tired of listening to my preaching. I always think, what if one day you get tired of listening to me? You always repeat the same old tune. Later I was not worried, why? Because I am constantly growing. In fact, many times, I will turn my latest research results, reading the Bible, reading God's word, praying, and seeking, into my sermon manuscripts. So you see my sermon manuscripts are consistent, all climbing the mountain of the Lord, and then discovering a treasure. It turns out that is what it means, that is what it means, and clarifying it one by one.

Knowing God is Endless

Then I found that the more I clarify, the more I don't know. Knowing God is truly endless. So this person is really interesting. So, I give my employees, whether in the company or whatever, all the things I do are to create a growth environment for my employees. It is a very good environment, but if I create a very good environment for him and he does not grow, I tell you, sometimes, in the past one or two weeks, I have cried several times. Why?

Because I created a very good growth environment for them, and they are talking nonsense, talking nonsense when they have nothing to do. Oh my God, I tell you, I feel very uncomfortable in my heart, very uncomfortable, but this cannot change the kind of heart in me that constantly motivates everyone to know God. Some of us feel that there are many things, she has many confusions, many myths.

For example, some people say: Ten years to forge a sword, a thousand years to forge a sword, this ten and a thousand only differ by one stroke, this stroke differs by 1000, 100 times, she thought that only one sword was forged in 10 years, this is a problem, this is a myth, then I solved a lot of myths, then I carefully observed the people who worked, that is not ten years to forge a sword, that is to say, what can be forged if one sword is forged?

In fact, thousands of swords, hundreds of swords have been forged in these 10 years, and finally one sword finally successfully became a sword that cuts iron like mud, that is called ten years to forge a sword, not one sword was forged, it is finally one sword was forged, so brothers and sisters you need to know where there is no quantity, where does the quality come from, isn't it?

So today's Internet era is to rush the quantity, you see I have learned a lot of these words, right? No quantity, where does the quality come from. So I think, today our brothers and sisters must know, there must be quantity, if you don't have quantity, where does the quality come from? Every growth must have the quantity of growth, right? So we must grow to be full of the stature of Jesus Christ. This is the core system of our Chinese Mingding Destiny.

Maybe you will see the 2011 version, 2012 version, 2013 version of Chinese Mingding Destiny, and it will continue to grow. How much we know God, we will say how much, so everyone will not get tired of it, don't make an Apostles' Creed and keep reciting it, reciting it for thousands of years, it is useless, then someone says, you don't believe in the Apostles' Creed. I said, Apostles' Creed, I believe it, but the problem is, Apostles' Creed, I finished believing it, then what, it's nothing, why is it nothing? Because the Bible far exceeds the Apostles' Creed, our knowledge of God cannot stay in the Apostles' Creed, nor can it stay in the Nicene Creed, that thing cannot replace the Bible, understand?

That is what lazy people do, lazy people believe in the Lord, then the Apostles' Creed is their belief, then what do you believe in? I believe in the Apostles' Creed.
In the end, the problem is not there, the problem is whether you are like Jesus? You believe in the Apostles' Creed, and look like a devil? Speak like a devil, look like a devil. We must begin to know today that in this spiritual world, we must constantly renew and know God.

Investing in Your Own Growth

That is to say, worldly matters are contradictory to the things of God. A characteristic of worldly affairs is the hope that finding a secret formula will lead to continuous wealth. But is making money the key? No. Our growth is the key. If you ask me what the best investment is, it is investing in yourself. That’s the best investment.

Some say there are only two things in this world: have more children and buy more property. So some people buy more houses and have more children, claiming they will never lose money. I don’t know where they learned that; I certainly didn’t. I heard people say that later, but I found it’s not the case at all. There is only one thing in this world: to climb the mountain of the Lord and continuously grow in spiritual truth, investing in yourself.

Invest in your own growth. Not only should you invest in your own growth, but I also hope to invest in your growth. You know, I have a whole host of reasons to argue for this. You might ask, how do you argue for this? Well, I have ways.

A master was about to leave home—not run away, but leave on a journey far from home. He called his servants and gave them 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 pieces of silver, then left, entrusting it to their management. This is interesting; he entrusted it to their management without telling them how to manage it. They had to figure it out themselves.

Why does the Bible say this? Later, the master returned. One person came up with a lot of ideas and earned another 5,000 from the 5,000. Another earned another 2,000 from the 2,000. The one with 1,000 still had 1,000. The master said, Well done, good and faithful servant. Turning 2,000 into 2,000, and 5,000 into 5,000, that’s what it means to be a good and faithful servant.

What about the one with the 1,000 that was still 1,000? Throw him into outer darkness! Take the 1,000 and give it to the one with 5,000 plus 5,000. Don’t think that God took the 10,000 back; no. The 10,000 became 10,000, didn't it?

Where did the 2,000 come from? 2,000 came from taking 1,000 and earning 1,000, didn’t it? 2,000 earning 2,000 becomes 4,000, and 4,000 earning 4,000 becomes 8,000, right? And then a little more is added to you. Why does God talk about this? Because the 2,000 earning 2,000 was not because the 2,000 was important, but because taking the 2,000 and doing something with it made your own growth very important. Do you understand?

Jesus wants to invest in us, but we don’t even realize it. We think money is important, but it's not. If you want to invest, invest in yourself and grow. The 2,000 is just a medium to enable your growth, nothing more. Some people get addicted to making money. For example, Wang Jianlin is impressive. I think he speaks very well.

Paying the Price for Goals

Wang Jianlin is very impressive. He has a lot of dreams. When he started his business, he didn’t have much money. He said, Let's set a small goal, to earn one hundred million. That was in the 1980s and 90s; one hundred million was a lot of money! As a result, a section chief jumped out to oppose his idea of earning one hundred million. But what are you opposing? It’s just a goal. Why oppose a goal? Is it bad to have dreams?

Wang Jianlin later said in an interview, Some people want to become the richest person in the world, but they don’t know how to do it. Then set a small goal first, to earn one hundred million. Some people opposed him. Isn’t it strange that people oppose setting a goal? Even if it’s not one hundred million, eighty million or fifty million is also good. As a result, Wang Jianlin really earned hundreds of millions in three years.

When you set a goal and are willing to pay the price for that goal, you will definitely see growth. This is the result I hope to see. In fact, God also hopes to see this result. Whether you earn one hundred million or not is not the point; God just wants to test whether you have a heart for growth.

If we have very poor brothers and sisters among us, what you lack most is dreams and a heart to constantly pursue those dreams. Actually, God really wants to invest in us, but we are unwilling. Why do I use making money to argue for investing in ourselves? Because as long as you have the ability, making money is not a problem. As long as you are willing to pay the price, how can there be no return? You must know that the rewards of God’s kingdom are extremely generous! Don’t be foolish; cherish the time; don’t waste time on nonsense. Know what God’s will is; don’t be foolish. Do you understand?

I have created such good conditions for you, constantly saying, Grow! Grow! But you are gossiping. How can you grow like this? Actually, I’m very hurt inside. No one created a very good environment for me in the past. How good it would have been if they had. The past cannot be relived, but now set a goal, grow with vision and dreams, and constantly climb the mountain of the Lord. You will be like the Bible says: Above, not beneath; the head, not the tail. This theory is definitely better than the chicken leg theory! Being above, not beneath; being the head, not the tail is a remarkable theory!

Learning to Be Like Jesus

The dream inside us is to be like Jesus. We want to promote a movement to be like Jesus. Now go out and start promoting everyone to be more like Jesus. When posting on social media, don’t post a bunch of eating, drinking, and playing. These things are not very useful. We just ask ourselves, Am I like Jesus today? When we start climbing the mountain of the Lord and entering the temple of the God of Jacob, this is what it means to be like Jesus. If one day, when we enter the temple of God and see the glory of God, that will be remarkable!

Some people say, Can this glory be spent like money? Can it be eaten? Yes! It’s much better than chicken legs! I may not have fully seen the glory of God, but I have been running and building on this road. We gradually see a lot of God’s glory. The movement to be like Jesus starts with me; I will definitely pursue this. At first, we pursued being like Jesus only through outward imitation, such as saliva and mud, and the blind see. But in the process of constant pursuit, we become more and more capable, and many problems are instantly killed. Have you seen the glory of God? This is it!

Where we cast out demons by the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God has come; where we heal the sick and release those who are captive and oppressed, God’s name is glorified there. In the Bible, some people argued endlessly about where the blind man’s sin came from, but Jesus said, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Some people say that getting sick is to display God’s glory. I asked this person, What glory did you display by getting sick? In fact, getting sick is not glory, but when the Lord Jesus opened the man’s eyes, the glory of God was displayed. We must be the Lord Jesus who can set people free, not the blind man who is healed.

Some people look at me and think I’m not like Jesus. Can’t I have a goal? I want to be like Jesus; can’t I set a goal? If I can’t be 100% like Him, 80% is fine.

Some people say I’m strange; why would I pursue being like Jesus? I said, What’s wrong with me setting a goal? Why are you arguing with me about setting a goal? What's there to disagree with? Being eighty percent like Jesus is better than not being like Him at all! Brothers and sisters, start telling yourselves that I can definitely be like Jesus, and by faith, say that God will accomplish what we believe!

Some people are just foolish; they don’t know how good it is to be like Jesus. If we restore the glorious image of God, how great it will be to work! As we become more and more like Jesus, making money becomes a very small matter.

In the past week, I have been training my co-workers to write programs. I taught for a week, learning and teaching at the same time. Would you say that making money is still a problem? The training I did in five days exceeded what others do in three months! After a person is like Jesus, making money is really not a problem. As long as you are willing to pursue growth, God will definitely give you more! If you are very poor, then set a small goal for yourself, invest in your own growth, invest in climbing the mountain of the Lord, and running to the temple of the God of Jacob. When the blessing comes, there won’t be enough room to hold it!

The character of Jacob must enter your bones. You must constantly pursue and hold on tightly to God. You must obtain your Mingding Destiny; there is no blessing outside of Mingding Destiny! It is the desire to see the glorious temple of God, to which all nations will come running. Don’t bury your heads in money; bury your heads in the temple of God, and everything else will be added to you!

All of a person's problems are spiritual problems. Start by setting a small goal, start pursuing being like Jesus. We must start promoting the movement to be like Jesus, obtain the word of God, preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons. Nothing can stop us from being above, not beneath; the head, not the tail. People are all educated. Brothers and sisters among us will be constantly taught and trained, constantly investing in their own growth. Our shepherding is a shepherding that makes people grow.

Brothers and sisters, we must change our inner aspirations. Whether you like it or not, the age of robots has arrived, and educational robots will surpass many terrible teachers. That’s very powerful!

We Are a Training and Education Institution

Recently, I received a video from my former boss, which showed a student’s parents and teachers questioning the child about his future. The video content is as follows:

Teacher: Your son is a failure. Look at his grades; with these grades, what future does he have?

Mother: Son, can you say something? With these grades, what future do you have?

Child: Don’t call me a failure! Failure is just an event, not a person! Can you listen to my opinion?

Teacher: Okay, I’ll listen to what you have to say.

Student: For a person to succeed in the future, he needs to have curiosity, innovation, and the ability to solve problems.

Teacher: What’s your point?

Student: Schools only focus on exams, but in today’s world, innovation and creativity are the most important leadership skills. You may not believe me, but you must believe the 1,500 executives who shared their vision of the future world. Schools only focus on memorization, but memorization should be left to Google and Baidu. Today, we need to train students to solve problems, not to answer questions on exam papers. Schools are training people to do the work of robots and should stop implementing some of the policies in schools.

We must begin to have human intelligence, not artificial intelligence. Jack Ma of Alibaba said, People cannot be trained to be robots. Grades in school don’t mean anything. Top companies don’t value them. Although this exam paper accounts for 70% of my grade, it only has a 0.001% impact on my future.

Teacher: I have never heard you say this before. I will talk to the school administration about how to change this.

Mother: I have never heard you say this before, but I think what you said is very good.

This is the content of the video. We must know that we are not a religious group; we are an educational institution! We must not only train everyone to be elite soldiers in the kingdom of God but also make them among the top ten thousand names in the world. When serving and shepherding, although you may be hurt and shed tears, and although you may create a good environment for growth that others don’t cherish, what does it matter? Nothing can stop us from entering God’s good will.

God's Glory Far Exceeds Everything in the World

We must not stop pursuing, nor stay at one level for too long. We must rise up and run forward. Today, we are building a glorious church of God, which will make us grow more like the Lord Jesus! When we start building the glorious church of God, the glory of God will fill this temple. God’s glory far exceeds everything in the world. Worldly glory is nothing!

Today, many people are in debt, and many are in a very desolate state. The answer to your problem is not money, but the glory of God. When the glory of God fills us, all problems will be solved easily, and God will make us above, not beneath; the head, not the tail. As Isaiah wrote:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah; and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple. (Isaiah 60:1-7)

Today, fulfilling God's promises far exceeds the business and work we care about. When God's glory fills us, our God will wipe away our tears, and God will become our comfort. We must no longer live in the worldly logical system, but start by setting a goal and resolving to build God's glorious church. God can hold the entire universe in His almighty hands. What are your problems and mine in God's hands?

We must begin to understand what it really means for a person to live, and begin to come out of traditional bondage. We must know that God wants to give us new visions, new directions, and new dreams, so that we can begin to tell new stories. In this generation, we will display God's glory. No longer a life of fertilizer, but a life of displaying God's glory. We no longer worship Mammon, but become a blessing to all nations and names on earth. How can such people not be above, not beneath? We will surely surpass all the ten thousand names in the world and become a people set apart by God!

May God bless you all!