Introduction

Good morning everyone, especially to those people who live in North America. Let us review what we have gone through in the past few weeks. We have been talking about the reality of the spiritual world and the spiritual world dominating the physical world. If you want to live well, you will need to figure out the basic elements of the spiritual world. This is what I have shared with you. When I put it into practice, I realized that whether people live well or not is determined by the spiritual world.

What are we going to do? We need God! How can we gain access to the promise of God and the power from the spiritual world? There are many paths, you can see that there are some fortune-tellers who rely on the spiritual world. But for us, we rely on God as we are Christians. We have figured out the reason why people cannot believe in God because they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Today, we will look at another two key elements: blessings and curses, which are the most fundamental concepts in human life. If you observe people around you, you will find that they are smart and knowledgeable, but cannot live well.

Blessing and Curses Come with Reasons

What do you think about "Living well"? Probably a good health condition or possess wealth. It is always bad for people who live in poverty and sickness. Living with disasters happening in our life is not a good thing. Blessings and curses are the two key elements in life. If you observe people around you, then you will know. For example, my mom lived to the age of 85 and she was blessed. My auntie, my father's sister, came to my house and visited my mom. My auntie talked to my mom: "You have a good son in your family! A filial child who studies well and can make money. Look at my son! Gambling, hanging around, and doing nothing." My auntie was wondering the reason why.

When I was young, I was told by my mom about the last stage of my grandfather's life. I had never met my grandfather. He passed away before I was born. My mom was telling me a story about my auntie. In the 1960s, people could not make a telephone call, they could only do the telegraph which would cost them a dollar for sending one Chinese word. If you send 20 Chinese words to tell my grandfather was about to die and missed them so much, it would be one-half of my mom's monthly salary. My grandfather was about to die and he missed his daughters so much. My mom sent the telegraph and she was the one who looked after my grandfather. Today, you can hardly see a daughter-in-law who treats her father-in-law faithfully.

My mom took six months' leave to look after my grandfather, and fortunately, her company still kept the job for her. My mom borrowed about 100 dollars from her monthly salary to provide medical treatment to my grandfather. Today, it is very difficult to look for a daughter-in-law like this. My mom had sent multiple telegraphs to my aunties and no one responded because they did not want to share the medical bill with her. So, my mom bore it all. When I was young, my mom kept telling me about those old stories and I still remember them today. I know my mom was a filial child and a good daughter-in-law with filial piety. She looked after my grandfather until he passed away.

Do you know what happened? The year my grandfather passed away; I was born the following year. Fortunately, my mom had a son like me, I tried to give everything I could to my mom when she was in her old age. My mom loved me and I loved my mom! My auntie was wondering: "How come you are blessed?" We need to know that the blessing and the curse don't happen for no reason. So today, we need to study and understand the blessing and curse because they are spiritual matters. Why my auntie did not respond to the telegraph despite the many telegraphs sent by my mom? My grandfather was using his fingernails to scratch the wall and floor which caused bleeding, the blood came from his fingers and stained the wall. That was all because my grandfather missed his daughter so much.

Many years later, my auntie came to my house and my mom asked her: "Why didn't you answer my telegraph? We are not asking you to pay for the medical bill, we just want you to come for the last visit." My auntie kept her mouth shut and did not know how to answer. But the blessing and curse still fall on people. There is always a reason for people to get blessed or cursed. Let me ask you, what is your decision-making factor? Do you think about the blessing and the curse?

Blessing and curse are all about obeying or disobeying the word of God

Lesson 5: "Blessing and curse" is a part of the 101 Course. Whether it is in the Old Testament or the New Testament, the blessing and the curse exist throughout the Bible. Many Christians do not know there are curses mentioned in the New Testament and a lot of people do not know that God is the eternal God and it has never changed; God is the God in both Old Testament and New Testament. Both Testaments are talking about blessings and curses, but the problem is do you understand the blessing and curse? If you do not understand, when you are trying to make a decision, you will only count one factor which is the money, just like my auntie, then you will miss the key elements.

Today, I would like to share with you the blessings and curses, you better get it right and know what they are. During that period, my mom was the age 26 and she was looking after her father-in-law. Can you imagine this for someone who was at the age of 26? She did not know that was not something she was supposed to do, but that brought about a blessing. If you ask me, I do not know why my mom made such a decision. What she thought in her mind was natural. I also do not understand why my auntie made such a decision. But obviously, the decision-making factor is making a difference in future life.

God remembered my mom! When I was born, I did not cry or made any noise, and I did not get my mom into trouble. My mom was a leader. When she was holding a meeting in the house, many people did not know there was a baby in the place. I was told by my mom how I grew up and she was telling me: "My son, you are a special kid." Today, I can still remember all these things and I want to highlight them to you. Probably it was just speculation and I might not have solid evidence to prove it, but it came in this way. I called it "blessing and curse" with my interpretation.

Where does blessing or curse come from? Who is the one opened the path of the blessing and curse? Man lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God. If you obey the word of God, then you get the blessing. If you obey the word of God unintentionally, you will be blessed as well. But if you disobey the word of God unintentionally or intentionally, then you will get cursed regardless of who you are. Whether you are a Christian or not a Christian, you are living under the spiritual law or principle. When I see some people, who are not filial to their parents, I have some concerns about that. I said: "Oh my God! The curse will surely come upon them."

If you still remember the Ten Commandments, one of them is talking about the relationship between children and parents. You need to be filial and look after your father and mother because that's what you are supposed to do which is the basic fundamental. Man lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God. You might say: "Oh, I do not know the word of God, so I disobey." Never mind, you will get it eventually. But if you were to say: "Oh, I obey the word of God, but I do not know." Yes, you will sow the seed of blessing.

So, I encourage all of you to watch out for the word of God, especially Christians. I know you are a Christian, but how much do you obey the word of God? To be honest, I know a lot of Christians know the word of God, but they just disobey. How horrible can that be? Blessings and curses are all about obeying or disobeying the word of God. There are only two different kinds of Christians: Those who obey the word of God and those who do not obey the word of God. Remember all the words from the mouth of God. Are you with me? We need to pay attention to blessings and curses, your choice can build your future life. If you open the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 28, you will know when you read it. Let me read it for you.

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands, I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. You better understand the word of God.

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands, I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him.

Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you.

The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them (Deuteronomy 28: 1-14)

Are you with me? Do you want all these blessings? The blessing comes with fundamental requirements of obeying the Word of God. If you disobey the Word of God, there is a huge risk associated with it. You can try it!

Curses and Blessings Take Time to Show

One thing I have to highlight to you: if you do something wrong, if you disobey the Word of God, you may wake up tomorrow and think, "Nothing has happened, what's the problem!" The curse is like a seed you sow into the ground, it is not yet the time you have yielded the fruit. When the fruit of the curses is produced, you have to swallow it already. That is why it takes time. This is the duration from the moment you sow the seed of the curse to yield the fruit of the curse. The time you sow the seed of blessing to the time you yield the result, the fruit of the blessing. It takes time. Remember that. If you sow a seed, and this fruit is so special that it takes years to bear fruit, you would not know it. If another seed yields very fast - today you sow the seed and tomorrow it will come out - you will know it immediately. The curses are not that great! It is not that obvious! Curses take years to grow, and by the time you harvest the fruits of the curses, it will be too late.

It is the same thing for faith. It takes faith to sow the seed of the blessing. If you sow the Word of God, you won't harvest tomorrow, it will take you years to harvest. The righteous people live by faith. So we have to know that, we have to fear God. God is so special.

Some people are unlucky, when it is time to be unlucky, it is also the time to yield the fruit of the curse. If you read from Deuteronomy Verse 15 onwards, until 68, verses 1 to 14 are blessings. Verses 15 to 68 are all about curses. I will read a few for you.

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand (Deuteronomy 28:49 NIV)

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name -the LORD your God-, the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:58-61 NIV)

Blessings and Curses Come with A Reason

How horrible! The young people among us, you'd better pay attention to the two key concepts: blessing and curses. These are spiritual, they are all associated. The blessing will not come upon you for no reason. The curses will not come on to you for no reason. Everything comes with a reason. You can say, "God loves me, God loves the people, God loves every one of us." Yes, God loves you and me, but the blessing and curses come with conditions. Blessings and curses come with conditions: obey and disobey. Yes, God loves people with no condition. There are no conditions attached to the love of God. Anyone who loves God, God loves you. Anyone who hates God, God will curse you, that's about it.

Every time I see people suffering from various diseases, do you know what I think? Especially the long, lasting, and lingering diseases and illnesses, they are curses. Let me tell you: If a lot of unlucky things come upon you, and people are speaking in languages you don't even understand, they come and attack you, and rob you, you will know you are living under a curse.

God Is The One in Control

So there are a lot of Christians who do not understand blessings and curses. Many of them even left the church and they ask me, "Pastor, can I have a very simple request from you?" I said yes, can you tell me straightforwardly? They said, "Can you not curse me behind my back? Please don't curse me!" Oh my God, they do not understand blessings and curses. Do you know who is the one who curses people? God! Who is the one who blesses? God! God is the one in control. It looks very silly.

Every time I use these examples to share in the sermon, I use them as an example, and people say, "How come you are talking about me?" Am I talking about you? I'm not interested in talking about you, I am interested in talking about the word of God! The word of God will curse you and bless you. And that is it. I am not the one who curses or blesses, God is the one who curses and blesses. Either you obey or disobey, you will swallow your result.

The doctrine of Ming Ding, or destiny, is talking about obeying and disobeying. A lot of people don't understand this. They are so shortsighted. When people are shortsighted, when the time comes, the fruit will already be grown. The fruit of the curse has yielded, too late. A lot of people ask me, are there curses in the New Testament? Oh yes. If you believe in the wrong gospel, you are cursed; if you preach the wrong gospel you will be cursed. You can look into the book of Galatians. Then you will know what I am saying is true.

Carefully follow the word. It is very spiritual. If you read the Bible carefully, if you love the Lord your God, he will love you. And he will bless you. If you hate God, he will preserve your sin into the fourth and fifth generations. Are you with me? Read the ten commandments from Moses. Old Testament, New Testament, God has never changed. God has never changed.

The Standard in The New Testament Is Higher than The Old Testament

If you talk about the New Testament, the condition and the requirement is much, much higher. The standard is higher. The Old Testament is very fundamental and basic. In the New Testament, believers must lay off everything to follow Christ. In the New Testament, people put themselves as a living sacrifice on an altar to God. In the Old Testament, they sacrifice animals, lambs, and blood. But in the New Testament, God is demanding us to be put on the sacrifice, an altar for God. And not just for God, but as a burnt offering. Fully belong to God. We are supposed to be set apart to be holy people. A holy nation. To be a priest of the Almighty God. We will become a blessing to many others. God is the God of eternity.

Do you believe in what I say, or not? I encourage you to make observations. Observe the people around you. One day, a Christian walked into my office, and my friend brought him in. My eyes were opened, and I saw a chain of devils following him. About 10, 20 of them, from large size to small sizes. A long tail, the small ones like mice. All ugly devils, very ugly. The eyes are cunning and sly. I blinked my eyes and saw that it was only a vision. When the fellow sat on the chair, I saw the devils line up, like a long tail. And they also sat down. Then I asked my friend, who is this guy you brought into my office? They start to introduce him, "You know, he is a Christian, you are brothers in Christ." Oh my God. I said this guy might be very unlucky. If other people do things, they make money, if this person lays hand on anything, there would be problems. I didn't tell him, but I saw a vision of this guy.

Love God and Listen to His Word

You are a Christian. If you purposely disobey the word of God, the devil will cling to you. If the devil doesn't even want to cling to you, God will send a devil to cling to you. You can try. Somehow, if you learn your lesson today, if you watch the word of God carefully, and follow it carefully, now you can understand why pastors suffer all those diseases, long, severe, and prolonged disasters, and lingering illnesses.

Don't ever say you are Job. The kind of suffering that Job suffered was about six months, that is my speculation. It is not that long. But if you believe that you are Job, you are wrong, because the kinds of problems that came on Job were not because he was a righteous man, no. It was because Job did not know the Word of God. Job is not a standard representing God. He had a dialogue with God, and God told him off. How much do you know about God? Job does not know. He said, "Last time I only heard of God." But now, I see God with my own eyes. Do not believe that.

Following the word of God is very important. In the New Testament, if you do not love God you will be cursed. Paul's letter has this message. Do you want to be blessed in the city? In the country? Do you want to be blessed with your womb, your child, your young cattle and your newborn livestock? Obey the word of God. This condition never changed, throughout the New and Old Testaments. God never said, throughout both the Old and New Testaments, "Oh, you can disobey my words, and I will bless you without any conditions attached." There is no such thing. Somehow, the concepts of blessing and curses are misunderstood. Some people think the New Testament has lower standards. No. You got it wrong, the New Testament has higher standards.

Abraham Opened the Path to Blessings

The path of blessing was opened by this guy called Abraham. I need to share a concept with you. If you want to follow the word of God, you have to start from the point where Abraham started. Abraham was a wealthy guy but he watched people come and go. One generation comes, and another generation goes, and one comes, and goes. Abraham started to wonder about the meaning of life.

Many of my classmates already passed away. About 10% of my classmates are not able to attend a reunion, if they do, we will see ghosts already. This is the case. One day I was having a meal with my classmates. We were told that one of my primary school classmates (We studied together in the same class, over 40 years ago) was sent into the ICU. He got stomach cancer, and the diagnosis was in the early stage, and he went through surgery. After his surgery, the doctor said it was very successful. But a day later, the wound did not seal up. So the liquid in the stomach flew up from the stomach and polluted the whole thing. You know that was a very serious situation. So he was sent into the ICU and on the day we visited him, they did not allow us to go in. We had to visit the hospital only. Then the next day we visited the cemetery. He was now lying in the coffin, already passed away.

So as you are watching a lot of people come and go, what do you think about that? When I was young, about 17 or 18 years old, I watched people come and go. Young people were born and old men were gone. Some people come and some people go. And then I said, why? Why are we here? I was wondering why we are living here. What am I doing over here when people will pass away? You know at the age of 17 or 18 years old, if you think about this question, you might be someone very different, right? Yes, I'm someone quite different. So I was thinking about this. Then years later when I read the Bible Genesis Chapter 12, that Abraham was watching people come and go, I knew what he was thinking: "This makes no sense, man! Even if I'm a wealthy man, one day I will also pass away. I need to search for eternal life!" That's why in the opening of Chapter 12 of Genesis, the Lord said to Abraham:

Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:1-3)

"All people on Earth will be blessed through you!" Abraham was searching for the meaning of life, and Abraham concluded that life is meaningless. That's why he was searching for the meaning of life. That is the starting point, my brother! If you are young, or probably you are a teenager, or probably you are studying in primary school or secondary school, you may think you still have many years to come. You never even bother about life and death matters. But you need to observe. You need to think about that. You need to think about that. If you can think about that, you are standing at the doorstep of where Abraham was ever standing!

It Is More Blessed to Give than to Receive

This is the door. Without searching for this, you probably will only live with your own kind of theory of life. But we live by the theory developed by Abraham and this Abraham was looking for the meaning of life. You see, this is the question. This is the question. Then all people will be blessed through Abraham. Are you with me? Abraham said: "Yeah! I will become a blessing to many people. All the people on the earth will be blessed through me!" It's a very powerful statement!

You know, from then onwards, these few verses become the cornerstone of the life of Abraham. And this is exactly what Abraham was searching for. God never responds to a person for B if the person requests for A. God will never respond to people in this way, right?

You see, this is a very interesting statement. One day I was talking to one of my coworkers who seemed to be reading a lot of philosophy books. Then he quoted a question: "Do you want to live with someone you love, or do you want to live with someone who loves you?" Wow, that is a good question! What do you think? Can anyone share your view? Do you want to live with someone who loves you or do you want to live with someone who you love? What do you think? That is a very important question. That is a very good measurement. Oh, I see someone who said he wants both! OK, you want both. Wow, that's good.

But do you know why God demands us to love Him? Is God short of love? Why does God demand that we need to love God? If you want both, then you're a smart man. Now let me tell you my answer: No I do not want both. I choose to live with someone I love.

If you live with someone you love, you are devoting yourself. If you want to live with someone who loves you, basically you carry a little bit of that kind of selfish thinking. If you live with someone you love, you know, the moment you love him or her, you start to have a good feeling! The moment you demand someone to love you, you may not have a good feeling at all. Do you know that? If you love someone, every day you will miss that fellow, miss the girl or miss the boy, right? Every day your imagination is working in your mind. Then every time you think about him or her, you will have a lot of good feelings. You know that kind of feeling, right?

If you love someone, you actually have a good feeling. If you demand someone to love you, you may not have that good feeling at all. So then if you want to become a blessing to people, do you know what happened? You start to have good feelings if you want to become a blessing. If you just want to be blessed, then you got problems, man!

The Meaning of Life Is to Become A Blessing to Many People

So this is called destiny. You have the meaning of life. You are searching for something you are living for. And Abraham found it and was ever standing at the doorstep of this path. Abraham opened a new path which we call the doctrine of destiny or the doctrine of Ming Ding. It is to be a blessing to other people. It's not taking advantage of other people. It is to want to give out something to the people because you want to be the blessing.

You know, in our church, we want to be a blessing to many people. Why? Because we do not want to get anything from them and we just want to give them something. We do not have selfish motivations. For example, you're attending a church and your pastor is demanding your donation. You know (even the dog on the street also knows. Are you with me?) that your pastor is actually eyeing for the donation. But we are eyeing for blessing you. You may ask: "Are you really serious about this? Pastor, can you please bless me now?" Yes, I will bless you. I'm so determined to do so! But I want you to know that you got to follow the path of Abraham. You got to understand that as people come and go, a lot of things have no meaning. Only becoming a blessing to people is meaningful.

If you are this kind of person, do you know what will happen? You will obey the word of God, either intentionally or unintentionally. You will obey all the words of God because the words of God are telling us to be a blessing to others. This is a spiritual law. How risky can that be to you? So then when you become a person like Abraham, anyone who curses you will be cursed because God will curse them. If you're Abraham, no one can curse you because the moment they curse you, they will be cursed! And somehow, if someone blesses you, then they will be blessed! Wow! That is the spiritual law. That is the spiritual law working in life.

So I encourage all of you to not eye for only blessings. Don't always ask: "Oh, Pastor! Can you bless me?" No, you should say: "Oh Pastor! I want to join you to be a blessing to many others!"

If you observe, if you look at how I minister to people, you would know how determined I am because ever since I was 17 years old, I already concluded that life got no meaning. When I was 27, I turned to Christ and I finally figured out what I am living for. Because there was no meaning to live! You keep on living and then you pass away. What is this for, man? Yeah, I was a top student. So what? So what? No meaning at all! So I was wondering why I'm here and what is really going on. When my parents gave birth to me, they never get my permission. I was born without my permission. I don't have the right to determine whether I come to this world or not. No! But somehow I was born. I was born just because of my father and my mother. And some people say they got nothing to do and that's why you were born, right?

OK, now I figured it out and then I started to know how important that is. Today I want to share with you this road of blessing. This is the road of the blessing because you want to follow the path of Abraham. And obeying the word of God is no longer a painful path. Obeying the word of God is no longer something suffering. It's what we want to live for. And God will bless us! God is looking for a person who carries the destiny and has the Ming Ding in life.

Do you want to come with me to be someone God is looking for? God finally found this person called Abraham and today, in this time, in this age, in the 21st century, God finally finds you: "Oh, you are the one I'm looking for!" If I ask you again: do you want to live with someone you love or do you want to live with someone who loves you? Do you want both anymore? Probably you don't want both anymore. Do not live for yourself, not even only 50% living for yourself. Living for yourself makes no sense at all. I am just a useless servant. I'm doing what I am supposed to do. That is my duty. That is what I am supposed to do.

So I come to the world, although without my permission, I do not regret it. I do not regret it because I have found the meaning of life. Probably you are young, you are a teenager, a primary school kid, or a secondary school kid. You may not understand what I'm sharing with you, but you need to observe. You need to figure out: "Where is my meaning. Why am I living?" No, it's not because you keep on asking to be blessed then can you be blessed. You can't just keep on saying: "Oh, I want to be blessed! Bless me, Pastor! Please bless me!" No, that's not going to work. Most pastors will say: "Oh! I will lay hands on you. May God bless you! Oh, God, please give him blessings!" No, I'm not the agent of the blessing. I'm not the reseller of the blessing. But I'm the reseller of the destiny of Abraham. If you want to live under blessing, then that's the only path that was opened by Abraham.

And then the curse from generations is no longer an issue! The moment you love God, all the curses will no longer count. Do you follow what I'm saying? What are the curses of three to four generations? If the person loves God, God will bless you for thousands of generations! That's not the key. And the moment you carry the destiny and you know what to live for, you will have the power and the authority in the spiritual world so that you can cast out the devil. You can cast out the devil, then you become a blessing to the people! A lot of people are living under the bondage of the devil. The moment you cast out the devil and set the person free, that person may turn to Christ or he may turn to something else. But never mind. Anyway, there will be a small percentage of people who will turn to Christ and want to put their life in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all right. We are living for that purpose. The Kingdom of God will come upon.

There Is No Blessing without Ming Ding

So I want to summarize: whichever God does not allow you to do - He says: "Pay attention! Don't do this." Then don't do it. If you do it, you will swallow your result. If God says you must do this, you better do it. Otherwise, the blessing will flow out of your hand. So we are no longer living with a myth of the blessing and curse. The blessing and curse now come with a clearer definition. We make a clear definition of blessing and curse. That's why it is so important for you and me to know that outside the destiny, outside Ming Ding, there is no blessing. So somehow if you are an English-speaking person, then you would somehow you will know the word of Ming Ding.

So as you enter the door opened by Abraham, you will know the blessing will follow you. It's not the same as what you supposed that you should follow the blessing. When you search for the blessing, then you will want the word of God and follow the path of Abraham. Then the blessing will follow you.

I will end over here and I hope I have made it very clear about the blessing and the curse. If you still do not know, you can associate the path of Abraham and Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, then you will know what I'm saying. I hope that the two important factors will become your decision-making factors. The blessing and curse are about obeying or disobeying and these are the two key decision-making factors. If you think there are a lot of important things in your life, then you are not able to follow the path of Abraham. If you think that a lot of things have no meaning at all, then you are able to stand at the doorstep of this door opened by Abraham.

May the Lord bless you. Thank you very much for listening to what I'm sharing. We see you next week.