The Theme of the New Testament: Building a Victorious Church

Today, I want to share with you a topic: Building God's Temple Requires Utmost Faithfulness. However, this chapter does not focus on the temple of God. Instead, it introduces many concepts, such as rest, the household of God... it feels a bit chaotic. When we read the Bible, we must grasp the central theme and have an overall concept. As the Chinese saying goes, seeing trees but not the forest, meaning that we must grasp the overall concept. If we do not have an overall concept, it is because we have not built an overall system. The theme of the New Testament is building a victorious church.

From the previous chapter, we saw that all things will be unified, and this salvation is to bring us into a state of unity with God, which is to build a victorious church. Similarly, the previous chapter also talked about being united with God, putting all things under our feet, and overcoming death and temptation. If you see a church that has not put all things under its feet and has not overcome death and temptation, then it is not a victorious church. It may bear the name of a church, but it is filled with the doctrines of demons.

For example, the Old Testament records that the Pharisees who served in the temple of God were the brood of vipers that God spoke of. Do not think that because a place has the name of a church and a church building, it is necessarily the church of God. That may not be the church of God.

Some brothers and sisters have told me that when they went to Europe and saw very large churches, they felt a sense of solemnity and reverence, and they thought that was the temple of God. But that is not the temple of God. If you lived in the Qing Dynasty and walked through Tiananmen Square, passed Duanmen Gate and Meridian Gate, you would feel the same when you reached the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but that is not God. So, do not pursue feelings, but pursue how God reveals His church.

Building the Church Requires Utmost Faithfulness

God puts all things under His feet, overcomes death and temptation, is united with God, and is filled with the glory of God. This is the church, the house of God, and the temple of God. The glory of God fills it, and then you have a share in Jesus Christ. This is called rest. The Book of Hebrews combines the house, the household, and rest together, which can only be summarized into one theme. The theme of the New Testament is building a glorious church. Similarly, Hebrews Chapter 3 also speaks of building the temple of God, which requires utmost faithfulness.

But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house, whose house we are if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. (Hebrews 3:6)

This house is the temple of God, the church of God.

We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. (Hebrews 3:14)

Building God's church requires utmost faithfulness, it requires holding on to the very end! The author was facing a situation where many people did not persevere in building the church; many were enthusiastic today but indifferent tomorrow; many had faith and hope in building God's temple today, but tomorrow these ideas would disappear, and then they would say, I was baptized and saved xx years ago, and I can return to my heavenly home after I die.

Is that really the case? The most important thing is to be faithful to the end. I often see many Christians with the appearance of demons, gossiping and undermining people's faith, and then they say, I was baptized and saved. But I see nothing of Jesus in them.

When the author saw this situation, he wrote a long passage to tell us: To build God's temple, we must be faithful to the end! Brothers and sisters, do not think that once saved, always saved. That is not the case. On the road we are running, there is a danger of falling at any time and anywhere, and we must learn how to avoid such dangers. Some say this is God's sovereignty, but it is actually your choice.

People's choices are very important. If your purpose in being with us is not to build God's glorious church, you will not be able to walk with us, because we are all laying down our lives for this. If you do not lay down your life, it is not called having Mingding Destiny; if you do not regard building God's glorious church as the most important thing in your life, how can you walk with us? As you walk, you will feel tired.

Mingding Destiny is why people live! We are born for this, we live for this, and we are willing to pay the price for this when we come into this world. If your purpose in coming among us is to gain some benefit, you will walk very tired and will not be able to continue. I encourage brothers and sisters to ask yourselves, are you really people with Mingding Destiny? If you do not have Mingding Destiny, we can see it, and you yourself know it, because people will not do things they do not agree with.

If your purpose is for work and making money, you will not be able to continue among us either. Because we look down on work and have seen through the affairs of a person's life, we are faithful to God to the end. Brothers and sisters, do not think that you can gain something by following us, or that you can just barely get by; do not have your hearts set on the world while wanting to walk the heavenly path.

The author of Hebrews did not compromise with the situation at that time. He said, Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity. If brothers and sisters are content with barely getting by, and are out of breath trying to keep up with us, how can you walk with us? If some of us do not have Mingding Destiny, I will pour some cold water on you, you really will not be able to continue.

The Bible says that you are always going astray and will never enter my rest, which means you cannot be in my temple, you cannot continue. Only in the temple of God can you find rest. If you do not have Mingding Destiny, where does rest come from? If you do not have Mingding Destiny, how can you be in the temple of God? The temple of God is built by a group of people with Mingding Destiny; if you do not have Mingding Destiny, if you are not born for this and live for this, and are not willing to offer yourself completely as a living sacrifice, you will not be able to walk this path.

Finding Rest in God's Church

We must know that rest is the key to solving our problems. Rest is building the temple of God and living in the temple of God. We must all be people with Mingding Destiny in the depths of our hearts. The church built by this group of people with Mingding Destiny has the presence of God, which is walking with God. The church is the body of God. To have a share in Jesus Christ is to find rest in the church.

Why is our church so strict? Because our church is built by a group of people with Mingding Destiny, it is definitely not a church made up of people who just sit in church. So, I encourage the brothers and sisters of our church to walk with God, be with God, build God's glorious church, and be faithful to the end, no matter how much we suffer or how tired we are, it is worth it. Because a person's life is vanity of vanities, only building God's glorious church is the meaning of our lives. If this is not the meaning of your life, the following content is not relevant to you. My words are a bit heavy, but the author of Hebrews said it even more strongly than I did.

Rest is not the solution to the problem. A pastor had hydrocephalus and could not sleep even if he wanted to. He felt weak when he worked and did not know how to live. Someone recommended me to serve him. To be honest, serving such a pastor was a big obstacle for me, and I needed a lot of courage.

I asked him: Can you explain how your illness came about? He said to me: Pastors only have one day off on Saturday, and they are busy from morning till night at other times. If you serve God every day, won't you get sick and die? He complained in his heart, how could he not get sick? I said to him: I have believed in the Lord for more than twenty years, and I have never missed a Sunday. After becoming a pastor, I have served God with all my heart and soul, day and night, without ever resting. Although my flesh is in hardship, my heart has rest.

I am focused on building a glorious church. When they see me, they ask me why I am so healthy, with a body as strong as an ox. I do renovations and do more than my colleagues and young people. Why is this? Because I live in rest. If I lived in rest, I would also get hydrocephalus, cancer, and this pain and that pain, and these diseases would come to me. So, rest is not the solution to the problem, only rest is.

Rest is building God's glorious church and walking with God. Building God's glorious church is the most noble goal of our lives. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and entered the wilderness, they did not regard herding sheep as the most important thing, nor did they regard farming as the most important thing, but they regarded building God's tabernacle as the most important thing. They thought, let's do this first, and then do other things.

When David became king of Israel, the most important thing he thought about was building the temple of God. Later, God told David that you do not need to build the temple for me, your son Solomon will build the temple for me. This is the most incomprehensible thing. David committed adultery and then married Bathsheba, and Solomon, the son born to him by the adulterous Bathsheba, built the temple.

Why was it Solomon who became king and built the temple, and not David's other sons? I think it was because David was so focused on building the temple that he always mentioned it in front of his children. None of the other children were interested, only little Solomon was interested in this matter, and often discussed with David how to build the temple. Building God's temple is a glorious Mingding Destiny. Why did God choose Solomon to be king? Because Solomon had a heart to build the temple for God. If Solomon's brothers had a heart to build the temple for God, they would have been kings long ago, but they were not interested.

You should know that if a person comes into this world with the building of God's glorious temple and the establishment of God's glorious church in his heart, then you cannot but have rest. Because rest is the key to solving many problems in our lives, but many people do not know it. What a pity not to know! The rest I am talking about here may be a little different from the rest you imagine, but you see the line of thinking I have come up with, it seems more reliable.

The way I read the Bible is: I like to have a higher theme, and then unfold it to correspond to each chapter and verse. We must see the trees and also see the forest; we must see the big picture, the big theme, and then see what each chapter and each verse is talking about. Today I think our church is doing very well, because that is what God has done through my hands.

The Foundation of Healing and Deliverance: A Victorious Church

We have found the foundation for healing and deliverance. It is fundamentally not some anointing or spiritual gift, but rather the establishment of a victorious church. God will build His church on the rock of truth, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This means that our diseases and the powers of hell are closely related. God gives us the keys of heaven, and what we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We must remember this statement.

If we are not in a victorious church, we cannot be healed. Receiving healing is not because you have a glorious Mingding Destiny, but simply because you have received grace. Do not remain at the level of your faith has saved you, but begin to enter into your destiny – that is key . So you see that the twelve disciples Jesus chose did not follow Jesus because He healed them. Therefore, brothers and sisters, your minds must be clear on this; it is very important.

The foundation of healing and deliverance is the establishment of a victorious church. When we establish a victorious church, healing and deliverance save us a lot of money and a lot of trouble. Without a victorious church, nothing can be done. Today, a Singaporean I ministered to was punched in the chest, and the resulting rib fracture had persisted for almost a month. He sought out a brother in his church, an orthopedic doctor, who told him that his fracture would take one and a half months to heal, similar to the Chinese concept of one hundred days for bone injuries. But this is not the word of God.

After I prayed for him, his pain was greatly reduced. Then I said to him, Think about why their prayers for you were not effective, and why my prayers for you were effective. After hearing this, especially those listening online, please do not say, Only you are capable. I have heard this many times, and I do not care if you say it again. The question is, whether I am capable or not is not the point. What matters is that I have a resolution and a will to build God's glorious church. I have paid an extremely heavy price for this; saying more would only bring tears, but it does not matter.

Today, I want to tell everyone that I was born for this, and I live for this. Nothing and no one can stop me from building God's glorious church. I have no thought of living a small-minded life. Building God's glorious temple is my passion. Therefore, everyone must know today that in God's temple, you will surely find rest.

Do Not Be Deceived by Sin, Lest Your Hearts Be Hardened

Let us review the points we discussed earlier: First, the theme of the New Testament is to build a victorious church. Second, building God's church requires lifelong faithfulness to the end. Third, rest can only be found in God's church, which is the body of Jesus Christ. Fourth, do not be deceived by sin, lest your hearts be hardened.

Do you know that today, there are countless people who hear the word of God and see His actions?

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? (Hebrews 3:16).

Today, many people pray, I want to hear the word of God. All the Israelites who died in the wilderness had heard the word of God. Hearing the word of God and doing the word of God are completely different things.

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. (Hebrews 3:7-9).

Today, brothers and sisters, seeing miracles does not count, and hearing God speak to you does not count. Only those who are faithful to the end count. Those Israelites who died in the wilderness were always in a state of confusion.

That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ (Hebrews 3:10-11).

Do not think that seeing is enough. There were many who saw Jesus perform miracles, but it was of no use. Only those who see God's actions, hear God's word, and then go and do it are truly believers. If we hold firmly to our original conviction until the very end, we will share in Christ. Today, we must not harden our hearts as we did in the rebellion. Do you want to be like the Israelites who died in the wilderness? I tell you today that the road to pursuing rest is littered with corpses. God is a God who strikes down.

Those who are unwilling to enter His promised land, those who hear His word and see His actions, yet remain confused and hardened in their hearts, God strikes them all down in the wilderness. You do not need to defend God, saying that our God is not that kind of God, that our God in the New Testament is Santa Claus, that times have changed. God has never changed.

If today our brothers and sisters cannot enter into God's rest, and their hearts remain hardened, not taking God's plan as your plan, not taking God's goal as your goal, even though you have seen God's actions and heard His word, yet your hearts remain hardened, God will strike you down. Do you think that the God of the New Testament does not strike down people? God strikes down just the same. The words spoken in the Bible are still valid.

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. (Deuteronomy 28:58-59).

If you think this sentence is outdated, I can tell you that it is not outdated.

A few days ago, a pastor with cancer came to me and asked me how to be healed. I did not want to address him directly, so I spoke about myself. I said, If I myself got cancer, I would deserve it because I have not revered the glorious and awesome name of the Lord God. If I got a long and lingering illness, a great and severe disaster, you do not need to sigh for me, nor do you need to sing my praises, nor do you need to hold a memorial service for me. Just wrap me in a sack; no coffin is needed because I have violated the words of the Lord God.

Every time I stand beside a coffin, looking at the person inside, whether they died of cancer or in a car accident, I tell myself, God, have mercy on me. May I carefully follow your words throughout my life, walk in your ways, and build your victorious and glorious church. Let me live for this and die for this throughout my life. Let me live in your destiny, and let me carefully follow your words.

Do not think that being on the road to rest means you have entered the Promised Land. No. More than 600,000 people died in the wilderness; that entire generation died out. Only Joshua and Caleb entered. Later, another 600,000 people were counted; these were the ones born later. The Israelites walked for forty years. It is tragic to see the Promised Land right before your eyes and be unable to enter, to see yourself come out of Egypt and enter the wilderness, to see the blessed days about to arrive, only to have them slip through your fingers. All because they were deceived by sin. Therefore, do not be deceived by sin, lest your hearts be hardened.

Today, everyone must still know:

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4:7).

How many Christians today are deceived by sin? Those who live small-minded lives, those who fear battle, those who are unwilling to pay the price, those who like to eat, drink, and be merry, those who indulge the flesh, those who have their own set of rules, those who are often confused, those who do not understand God's actions—there are far too many. Imagine someone whose sternum has been fractured, yet his mind is still full of garbage. Yesterday, when I was praying for him, I saw a pile of garbage in his head. I saw a demon following him. How can he get better? Today, he came to me again, and the garbage in his head came out as soon as he opened his mouth. He is still unwilling to turn back.

A few days ago, I met someone who owed someone else 400,000 but was talking at length about doing charity. I thought to myself, Then go do it. May God have mercy. That is called having a hardened heart, having your own set of rules. I asked, When did you see Jesus do charity? Never. When did you see Jesus do things that people think are good? People do not do what they think is wrong; they do what they think is right. But whether you think you are right or wrong is not the key. Whether Jesus thinks you are right or wrong is the key.

Today, when we read the Bible, many people do not understand why God struck down so many people and try to defend God. You do not need to defend God. As soon as you defend Him, you will confuse yourself. You feel that God should not strike down people, that God should be Santa Claus. Then let us see what the Bible says:

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16-19).

They would rather believe doctors than believe God. They would rather believe reasonable logic than believe in God's miracles. They believe in many things and are willing to pay the price for many things, but they are unwilling to pay the price for God. This is so sad. Do not think that just because you are called a Christian, you are a Christian. Do not think that just because you sit in church, listen to worship songs, and listen to sermons online, you are a Christian.

A Christian is someone who lays down their life for God. If you cannot lay down your life for God, you are actually just a Christian who dies in the wilderness. You may say, I heard God's Word, I saw God's deeds, and I was blessed by God, but these are not the key. These do not prove anything.

A few days ago, a Christian came to me and said she wanted to share her testimony. She said that after she prayed, her child got better, and after she prayed, her child's job got better. These were all testimonies of God's mercy and grace. I thought to myself, Can you share a testimony about building God's glorious church?

Today, can we, brothers and sisters, become people with a Mingding Destiny, come out of this kind of Christian who does not pay the price, and become a Christian who pays the price? We are to build God's glorious church. The body of Jesus Christ is built by a group of people with a Mingding Destiny, not by a rabble.

Conclusion

Therefore, we, brothers and sisters, must know that God is building His church, and God is also cleansing His house, so that His church can be holy and manifest His glory. God's temple is built with treasures, not with garbage. You and I must be treasures in God's eyes. What kind of person is a treasure? It is someone who holds firmly to their original conviction until the very end, who continues to hold on and persist no matter how great the price, and who never retreats, to build God's glorious church together and enter into God's rest. This is our lifelong pursuit, Amen!