Those with Faith are Treasures

Good day to all! Let us turn to Matthew 14. Firstly, let's recap the theme of Chapter 13: God is gathering treasures into the Kingdom of Heaven. So, what constitutes a treasure? What is considered refuse? Am I a treasure or refuse? These questions trouble many. God clearly states that He will gather treasures into the Kingdom and keep the good in vessels, yet many are unaware of what a treasure is.

How can one become a treasure? In the Bible, especially within the Four Gospels, God most clearly speaks about faith. The Scriptures unequivocally tell us that those with faith are treasures! The Chinese are well-versed in the story of The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains; we require faith in business, faith in labor, faith in all that we do!

The Chinese have a deep understanding of faith, as exemplified by the Foolish Old Man who declared: My descendants will continue to dig, generation after generation. If I do not finish in my lifetime, my sons will dig; if my sons do not finish, my grandsons will dig, until these two mountains are removed. Did the Foolish Old Man truly know that his sons would continue the task? He could not be certain even in his lifetime, much less after his death.

Yet, the Foolish Old Man was a man of faith. Though he knew not what the future held, he proclaimed it nonetheless. God, moved by his faith, dispatched two mighty angels to cast the mountains into the sea. This narrative closely mirrors the teachings in the Bible: If you have faith like a mustard seed, you can cast this mountain into the sea.

It is not that you can cause the mountain to be cast into the sea, but that your faith can move God to send two mighty angels to do so. If we are people of faith, that is of immense significance! Over the years, I have most enjoyed preaching the doctrine of faith. I preach with fervor, and others listen with enthusiasm! How did I come to recognize the importance of faith?

When I first came to the Lord, I attended an English-speaking church. My English was poor, and my understanding of the Bible was limited. I learned English while embracing the Lord, eventually comprehending about 10% to 20% of the sermons. I witnessed many miracles and wonders in the church, gradually realizing the profound power of faith.

At that time, I knew that faith was a treasure. In the final section of Matthew 13, the people of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, questioned, Isn't this Jesus, the carpenter's son? Aren't his brothers named James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

These people, having watched Jesus grow up, could not bring themselves to believe in Him. Because of their unbelief, they could not receive the grace that came from Jesus. They could not receive healing, deliverance, or the grace of being cured of diseases. Those destined to be sick would remain so, and those destined to suffer would continue to endure.

Did Jesus lose anything because of their unbelief? Jesus lost nothing; they were the ones who suffered the loss! Therefore, I often correct the statement, Oh, I am indebted to God! I say, No! You are not indebted to God! God hardly needs you; you are indebted to yourself!

Consider the offering for building a church; many people go to great lengths to give, which can be very difficult. Sometimes, in a household, the wife wants to give but the husband disagrees, or vice versa. It can even lead to arguments, making it a challenging endeavor! Whether you give or not, who is the one losing out? It is yourself! Some say, If I don't give, I am indebted to God; if I give, I am depriving myself. How confusing!

In fact, giving is an act of kindness towards oneself, while not giving is depriving oneself. This logic may be difficult to grasp. Not long ago, a sister who runs a small shop noticed that since she started contributing to the church building fund, customers have been flocking to her store. Previously, she could only handle a few dozen orders a day, but now she can handle over a hundred. When she made the offering, she persuaded her husband to agree. As a result, she pointed to the business in the store and said to her husband, Have you seen God's blessing?

Why would this sister contribute to the church building fund? Because she knew it was a good thing, and she would see God's miraculous work. What kind of people does God consider treasures? Those with faith are treasures; it is difficult for someone without faith to become a treasure! In the previous chapter, Matthew spoke of God gathering good treasures into vessels, selling all that He has to buy this treasure. What kind of people are treasures? Those with faith are treasures.

Therefore, it is a tragedy for someone to lack faith, because without faith, one cannot become a treasure in God's eyes! We must not only have faith, but also know what we believe in! We believe in the Word of God! So, I title this chapter: Jesus is the Paradigm of Faith!

Faith Must Be Built on the Foundation of Eternal Life

Jesus is the paradigm of faith, because He can release the power of God. What this generation lacks most is the power that comes from faith. In the Bible, Jesus often criticized people for unbelief or little faith. In Chinese, it is said to be little faith, but actually it is not just a little but rotten! People's faith is not afraid of being small, your faith can be like a grain of mustard seed, but it must be a living faith.

If your faith is like a grain of rice, like cooked rice, can it grow when planted in the ground? After many years, it will rot and disappear. But if it is a seed, it will grow when planted in the ground, growing into a towering tree.

Scripture:

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)

Faith must be alive, if faith is dead, it is useless! It's like cooked rice, you plant it and nothing will grow; but if you plant a mustard seed, it will grow into a towering tree.

In this generation, if Jesus comes again, He will say: You people with rotten faith! What does it mean to have rotten faith? It means you are watching yourself miss the treasure. You could have been a treasure, but because your faith is rotten, you lost the opportunity to be a treasure. So if Jesus comes again today, or speaks to us today, He probably will say the same: You people with rotten faith, how long do we have to stay with you?

Jesus always criticizes people for not having faith, but rarely criticizes people for not respecting God's sovereignty. For example: you call this presumption, when have you ever heard Jesus say presumption? So today we must return to the Bible, dig out the word of God from the Bible, and engrave it in our bones, so that our bones can radiate the living faith that God wants.

The other day, a sister hosted her friend, whose friend's brother-in-law's cancer had spread throughout his body, and he was at home waiting to die. He was lying in bed every day, screaming in pain, and the people around him were horrified to hear it, and even painkillers didn't work. Then our sister began to pray with the patient, and as a result, the pain disappeared after the first prayer. Her friend said, this is really a treasure!

A person without faith cannot solve the problem even with the best medicine and the best doctor. A person with faith can release the power of God through prayer, even if they are in the terminal stage of cancer and in excruciating pain. I do this kind of thing often, for example, I lead prayer meetings, and one person gets healed of an illness, and another person gets healed of another illness. Today we must learn to be people of faith, whether in the time of Jesus or in today's generation, God wishes we could all be people of faith.

At that time, Herod was a tetrarch in the region of Judea, and he could collect taxes, and others had to pay taxes to him. Herod said to his servants: Is Jesus John raised from the dead? How can these miraculous powers come from within him? Herod believed in the spirit world. He heard about the miraculous things Jesus did, such as lepers being cleansed, the blind seeing, and the lame walking... He was surprised. Who is this man? Is this John the Baptist raised from the dead?

King Herod took his brother's wife to be his own wife, and John the Baptist said that it was not appropriate for Herod to marry his brother's wife, so King Herod was angry and arrested John the Baptist and put him in prison, and John was killed.

John thought that Jesus would come and save him, but Jesus did not come to save him, and John was very disappointed. John sent his disciples to find Jesus, and Jesus did not mention whether to save John or not. Jesus said: Go back and tell John what you have seen. What John's disciples saw was that the lame walked, the blind saw, the lepers were cleansed, and people were raised from the dead.

Jesus said these things to remove the confusion in John's heart. What was John's confusion? John's confusion was, is Jesus really the one we are waiting for? John did not wait for Jesus to save him, but waited for Herod to cut off his head, and this result also cut off the faith of some Christians. Many Christians' faith is built on this life, and they regret that Jesus did not save John's life.

These Christians said that John paved the way for Jesus back then, isn't he the Lamb of God? John was in prison, and Jesus did not save him. John's head was cut off, and our hearts could not bear this shock, and our faith disappeared all of a sudden. Everyone must know that Jesus did the right thing, and we may not be doing the right thing. Let's think about why Jesus did this. Could Jesus not have blown a breath to make the wall collapse and save John? Isn't this a piece of cake for Jesus?

Why didn't Jesus do this? Jesus thought: I don't care about my own death, why would I care about your death? I often say this too. Once my mother said to me: Mom is going to die. I said: You are going to die, why are you telling me this? I don't care about my own death, why would I care about your death? Many people think that I am an unfilial son who is rebellious, but that is not the case. This is my inner logical system. My logical system is that I don't care about this life.

Some people say, you tell us not to care about this life, but you also say that we should live out God's glorious image in this life, isn't this a contradiction? Actually, it is not a contradiction. This life is about living in faith, releasing the captives, and releasing the oppressed. Some people say, wasn't John a captive and oppressed? This sounds reasonable at first, but in reality, the people Jesus said He would release are those who are spiritually controlled and oppressed by demons.

A person may be locked up in prison, but his heart may not be taken captive by demons; a person may be a slave, but his spirit may not be oppressed by demons. You may not be able to understand this logic for a while, but you must understand it, otherwise it will be very sad. Faith is a spiritual operation, faith is a spiritual thing, faith allows us to push the mighty arm of God.

We must know for sure that faith is definitely not built on the foundation of this life. Some time ago, I listened to some sermons by famous pastors and felt that something was not right. He said: Esau and Jacob, Esau lived a good life at home, but Jacob ran away from home. This is the logical system of this life! Others say: Jacob, until his mother died, he could not come back to see her. This is still the logical system of this life.

Someone asked me, do you care about these things? My answer is, I don't care about my own death, why would I care about other people's deaths? What I care about is the blessing in eternal life; what I care about is that God's good will for me will be accomplished, because Jesus cares about this.

After John's head was cut off, Herod began to focus his attention on Jesus. Herod was thinking, is Jesus John raised from the dead? Will he come and cause me trouble? Someday I will have to kill this Jesus too.

We must establish a logical system that belongs to Jesus and begin to come out of the logical system of this life. Some of the things that some pastors say are already good enough if they don't corrupt people, and if they continue to say them, it will be very deadly. He said: Jacob lied to his father, and as a result, he ran away from home, and then his uncle Laban cheated him 10 times. This is purely human reasoning.

If you use human reasoning to read the Bible, you will not be able to understand God's will at all. Today I will challenge these pastors' teachings. If God is not pleased with Jacob, why did Jacob dream at Bethel, dreaming that God was on the ladder and declaring blessings to him? If God revealed to him in a dream: Jacob, you cheated your father, today I will curse you. If the Bible says this, we will accept it.

God not only did not say this, but God said: Jacob, I will bless you, and I will bring you back to this place in peace. God gave the blessings promised to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob. At the same time, Jacob paid a heavy price in order to obtain destiny and blessings from God. But if we use the logical system of this life to look at the Bible, we will become more and more confused.

John the Baptist's head was cut off, and many people's faith was also cut off. Jesus said, blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus, but some people blame Jesus because John was killed: Jesus, you can perform the miracle of resurrection from the dead, why don't you resurrect John? This is a piece of cake for you, why don't you save John? If you have such thoughts, it seems like you have become God's strategist, God, you should do this, do that... You are in trouble! Are you more powerful than God?

God's view is that it is the same whether you die at 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100. If you think that it is different whether people die early or late, then you need to adjust your view, because your view is different from God's view. If we want to be wise people, we should put God's view in us. Jesus' view is this: three years later, Jesus Himself was also crucified, so He bore our sorrows and carried our diseases.

We come to this world, and it is only right and proper to pay the price for destiny and the price for Jesus. There is nothing in this world that we love. In heaven, whom else do we have? There is nothing on earth that we love. This is our lifelong declaration. What else do we care about? We only care about faith, and faith must be built on the foundation of eternal life.

Someone asked: Didn't you say that you wanted to manifest God's glory before? Yes, to manifest God's glory, but that is built on the foundation of eternal life and is to please God. A person who is afraid of death and wants to live has his faith built on the logical system of this life, which is very deadly.

Faith Can Create Something Out of Nothing

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:13-14)

Many people followed Jesus, and Jesus healed those who were sick. The wilderness is far from the city, and there were five thousand men following Jesus, not counting the women and children, who were even more numerous than the men. As evening approached, the disciples asked Jesus if they should send them home, since they were following them all the time, and they had nothing to give so many people to eat. As a result, Jesus said to give them something to eat, and the disciples took out five loaves of bread and two fish, which is the most famous miracle of the five loaves and two fish.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (Matthew 14:20)

Where did the five loaves and two fish come from? They came from faith! Faith is a treasure that can release God's power, and our God is the God who can create something out of nothing! The five loaves and two fish fed five thousand people, not counting the women and children, which would be about eighteen thousand people. Isn't this a miracle? If the five loaves and two fish can feed so many people, what else do you have to worry about? As a Christian, would you still have any worries about this life?

The other day, I called a brother again and mentioned a past event that he didn't like. Many years ago, his wife was pregnant, and because they were living in poverty, he cried for 3 days and came to me. I said that your wife is pregnant, which is a good thing, it's not like someone died, why are you crying? I speak very harshly, but this harshness releases faith, and after I finished speaking, he agreed.

I said: You have a child, why are you crying? He said: How will I raise the child in the future? I can't even support myself! I said: The child comes with his own rations. I ask you, is this child raised by heaven?

Today, everyone can rest assured that children are raised by heaven, they are raised by God Himself, and they come with their own rations, so you don't have to worry. As a result, so many years have passed, and the child has grown so tall and is very talkative. I shared with him the issue of the child's education, so why mention the past? It is to help him build faith in God.

Some people have no faith, they are about to lose their jobs, they are about to lose their lives, and they still have to face a lot of things, and they are worried to death all day long. What is there to worry about? It is very easy to live, because God feeds us.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)

Faith can create something out of nothing, and God can use five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people, so what are you worried about? Brothers and sisters, if you are a person without faith, you are depriving yourself. My greatest strength is that I can create something out of nothing. From the day I started building the church, it didn't look very good, and I had nothing, but I had faith!

The other day, a pastor came to me. Why did he come to me? He is very tired, because the church cannot meet due to the epidemic. If the physical church cannot meet, they will meet online. Originally, this church had no sticking power, the stickiness was very poor, and the church was struggling to maintain itself online. May passed, and they hoped that June would be unsealed, but they were still not allowed to meet.

A few years ago, this church built a temple. Their temple building was just buying a house, but is buying a house for the church called building a temple? In fact, God lives in the relationship of love between people. They didn't do the important things, but they bought a house. Buying a house requires a loan, and loans require debt, and some pastors owe a lot of personal money, which is really sad!

Many years ago, God gave me a revelation, which was to establish an online church. Some people say that your online church won't work, only the physical church will work, and God's will is in the physical church. So now is God's will in the physical church? Definitely not. As a result, he sent me a message asking how our church was doing?

I said: Our church is getting better and better, and a large number of people are pouring in! We still have to pick and choose. Why? Because we want to pick God's treasures and put them in God's vessels! After I finished speaking, I asked him, how is your place doing? He didn't reply, because he didn't know how to reply. He should be envious, jealous, and hateful!

People must have faith and believe in God's word. I don't dare to boast about anything else, but our church values God's word very much, and we value the original word of God. What God says is what we believe! God is the God who can use five loaves and two fish to feed thousands of people! Until today, God has blessed me and my co-workers through my hands, and we really lack nothing.

The miracle of five loaves and two fish feeding five thousand people, how was it done? It was done by Jesus with faith. Jesus' faith is different from some people's faith. John the Baptist's head was cut off, but Jesus thought it didn't matter, because Jesus' faith is built on the foundation of eternal life.

Jesus can create a lot of bread and fish on the basis of five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people, plus women and children, which is about eighteen thousand people! How did He do it? Because Jesus is a person of faith, He is the paradigm of faith!

If Jesus had no faith in His heart, the five loaves and two fish would not be enough to feed the twelve disciples! But Jesus had faith in His heart, and the five loaves and two fish fed five thousand people, and there were twelve baskets left over. The Lord Jesus gave us a very beautiful example. His faith is the faith that can create something out of nothing.

If He continued to break the bread, could He feed fifty thousand people? Yes! Could He feed five hundred thousand people? Yes! Could He feed fifty million people? Yes! Everyone must have faith, and don't deprive yourselves anymore, because depriving yourselves is very deadly!

Jacob has many commendable problems, but Jacob is a man of faith. Today, many pastors like to criticize Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. They can pick out flaws in anyone. I just can't understand it. They are the paradigm of faith, so what if they have some commendable problems? David is the paradigm of faith, and we shouldn't be glad when we see that he has some problems? Fortunately, he is not a perfect person, so we have a chance today!

If David were a perfect person, would we imperfect people still have the opportunity to become God's treasures? Imperfect people have the opportunity to become Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David, so let's follow this path of faith, and we will definitely become treasures in God's eyes! Many people say: Jesus is the Son of God, and I am not the Son of God. How many Jesus are there? There is only one Jesus. These words don't sound like they are spoken by a person of faith.

If God does this in front of us, it is to tell us: You can do this too! You have faith in you, and you can also use five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people, do you understand?

Today we must know that faith can create something out of nothing, and from now on we will no longer worry or be anxious. We only worry about one thing, which is why am I not a person of faith? I must put this faith into practice and push it up. It's like a power switch. When you push it up, the whole person lights up; when you pull it down, the whole person goes out. Faith is also like this. It's like a switch. Once you push it up, the whole person lights up.

If a city has a power outage, all the lights are off, and all the houses are dark, how scary would it be! A person without faith is like living in darkness. A person with faith is like pushing a power switch, and the whole person lights up. If the whole person is lit up, we will be filled with the hope of eternal life, and the future is in our faith.

Faith Transcends Natural Laws

Jesus could walk on water. What would you think if you could do that? Today, many pastors dare not do such a thing, feeling it would be presumptuous faith. But Jesus did it; would you call it presumptuous faith or faith?

I get so excited when I talk about faith, incredibly excited. Jesus could walk on water, and I truly feel it's wonderful to walk on water! Some say only Jesus could do it, but in fact, Jesus did it to show us, to give us the faith to walk on this water. Jesus did this to let us know that we can also do what He did.

Jesus is the epitome of our faith, the role model we emulate. As long as we have faith, we can walk on water. But isn't walking on water against the laws of nature? Our God transcends the laws of nature! There is only one law under heaven: that there is nothing our God cannot do.

As a result, the disciples on the boat, seeing Jesus walking from afar, cried out, It's a ghost! They were terrified.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a phantom; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. (Matthew 14:26-27)

Peter thought, This is good! Lord, I also want to walk on water. Today, many people would say he had presumptuous faith, but Jesus never said he had presumptuous faith; Jesus said he had little faith.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the boat, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the boat, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. (Matthew 14:28-33)

In reality, we are also sons of God. If Jesus could do such things, so should we. Are we Christians who transcend natural laws? Christians should live under God's laws, not under the laws of nature.

Some say, Natural laws are also created by God. Since they are created by God, why did Jesus violate these natural laws? In fact, Jesus violated natural laws many times. Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus walked on water... Aren't these all violations of natural laws? Today, people truly do not live by natural laws, but by God's laws, by God's Word.

God's Word is full of power. My brothers and sisters, do you have faith in God's Word in your heart? I tell you, if you are a person of faith, you are a treasure. Today, if you lead a company, your company will be blessed. If you lead a team, your team will be blessed. Today, if you lead a pastoral district, a small group, your pastoral district, your small group will be blessed, because you are a treasure, you are a person of faith.

Your faith is not a faith based on circumstances and natural laws. Because our God is not based on natural laws, nor conforms to natural laws, but transcends natural laws.

For example, an elderly person has a steel plate in their leg that aches every day. They feel that the leg pain is related to the steel plate, and they think this is a natural law. I said, Pray and you will be healed. But they felt it wouldn't work. If they were my co-worker, I would definitely scold them harshly, Why are you so lacking in faith? Can't our God overcome that steel plate? Yes, He can! Later, I prayed with him, and his leg was healed!

Their whole family released God's grace because of the faith within me. Today, they truly owe me a great debt of gratitude, because in God's eyes, I am truly a treasure. All who come near me and touch me are blessed. I am a great treasure in God's eyes, I transcend natural laws.

For example, terminal cancer, pain, there is no such thing in my presence. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the spirit of pain to depart, and then they are healed. Before I prepared my manuscript, a sister called me and said, I have a terrible headache. I led her in prayer. She said, Then aren't you going to prepare your manuscript? I said, I have faith, so I will preach the Word of faith.

Today, we must transcend natural laws. Some people say, I only have 24 hours in a day. Then buy a 25-hour clock. Where did that extra hour come from? That extra hour came from faith. Can I make 24 hours become 48 hours? Yes, I can! If you double your efficiency, isn't that the end of it? Can I make 24 hours become 72 hours? Then you increase your efficiency threefold.

Today, let us no longer live under the natural laws of man, but live under God's laws. Today, we do not live by the words of men, but by the Word of God. We ourselves must become a model of faith, acting like Jesus in this generation.

Emulate the Lord Jesus, Become a Model of Faith

I've been so excited these past few days, unusually excited! God is so gracious to allow us to participate in His great plan in this last generation. God wants to build a glorious church in this last generation. I said, I will do just that, according to Your will. Everything in this world has no place in my heart, only God is in my heart, God is my only love. Sometimes I think, May I become a treasure in God's eyes!

Brothers and sisters must know very clearly that a person of faith is extremely powerful. If you are a person of faith, you are a person living in heaven, you are a person who transcends the natural laws of this world, you can bless many people like Jesus.

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14)

They brought the sick, some carried, some limped behind, and Jesus healed them all. Came with crutches, went home jumping and leaping, it's so refreshing to see!

And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. (Matthew 14:34-36)

If a person can touch Jesus in their life, all their diseases will be healed. If a person can touch the heart of God in their life, how precious that is! Therefore, I encourage our brothers and sisters to know clearly that faith can release God's power. Today, you and I must touch the heart of God.

God's heart in this generation is to build His glorious church. God's heart in this generation is to make each of us like the Apostle Paul. God's purpose in this generation is to make everyone like Jesus. God's heart in this generation is to make the church we build today surpass any previous generation, even the church built by the Apostle Paul's generation. The glory of this last church will be greater than the glory of the previous church, because this last church will joyfully welcome the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

Today, can you and I willingly and gladly lay down our lives and dedicate them to God, to pave the way for the day of Jesus Christ's return? John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus' first coming. Today, are you and I willing to pave the way for Jesus Christ's second coming like John the Baptist, even if it means sacrificing everything? If you have such a resolve, you will surely be a blessing to many people. God's heart is to make everyone like Him!

Everyone, pray with me: Lord Jesus, I want to be like You, I want to emulate You, to become a model of faith, to be a person of faith. In this last generation, become a vessel that manifests Your glory. Lord Jesus, I am here, please use me, let me be able to act according to Your will. May Your will be done in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

May God bless everyone!