Introduction

Good morning! I am sharing with you a topic, one that challenges your enthusiasm for pursuing worldly dreams, titled Acknowledging Ourselves as Sojourners and Pilgrims. We must recognize that we are merely sojourners, pilgrims in this world. In the previous sermon, I spoke on a topic called Thinking, and thinking can be deadly.

For example, I think I am smart, I think I am capable, I think my investments will make money. Once a person thinks, they do not know what pit they will fall into. A major misconception people have in this world is thinking that you can live very authentically here. Today your salary increases, tomorrow you make money, the day after the property value rises; we tend to believe that these things are very real. Therefore, today I want to pour some cold water on you to wake you up, to remind you that you are but sojourners, pilgrims in this world.

I once bought a freehold property. In some countries, properties are freehold, meaning that once you buy the land, it belongs to you forever. Can you live that long? You simply cannot. Later, I discovered that the price difference between a 99-year leasehold and a freehold property in Singapore is negligible. In reality, people live only for seventy to eighty years, and some do not even reach that. Therefore, the topic I am speaking on now is Acknowledging Ourselves as Sojourners and Pilgrims, which is key to solving your problems.

Why do some people constantly encounter problems, requiring me to pray for them? It is because they place too much importance on these trivial matters of the world, resulting in distress when things do not go their way. You become upset when you look at your children, your work, your husband, or your wife; your children's grades are not satisfactory, your wife is not as beautiful as others. You perceive these things as important, but what can you decide? Can you decide your children's future? You cannot. You cannot even decide when you will be born or when you will die. In fact, people desperately need God; do not presume that you can decide anything. If you attempt to control things, the ultimate outcome will be a lifetime of entanglement and illness. Or, the decision you make will be as good as not making one at all.

A few days ago, I heard a very famous saying, which may have been around for a long time: calamity and tomorrow, no one knows which will come first. Of course, if calamity comes first, then tomorrow is irrelevant to you, which is why people desperately need God. Recently in the news, an unbelievable incident occurred; surveillance video recorded a car speeding off and hitting pedestrians crossing the road, resulting in five deaths and five injuries. No one knows whether calamity or tomorrow will come first. The injured may survive, but for the deceased, their lives have come to an end.

Who knows what they were thinking when they left home? Perhaps before the accident, they made many plans for this world. After completing their plans, their lives were cut short. Do not assume you will do well in this world; sooner or later, your life will also come to an end. Your love, hate, and everything else will disappear into the blue sky. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must know that we are sojourners, pilgrims on this earth. Not knowing this leads to tragedy.

Sometimes, I struggle to understand certain things. Some brothers and sisters become my co-workers because they need help. Once they become co-workers, they have no job, and then I give them some subsidies to start serving. I retrain them, hoping they can return to the workforce and find employment. Then, I instruct them to grade assignments, some 102 assignments, some 103 assignments. However, they do not do it properly; they slack off. I truly do not understand what they are thinking. They receive subsidies and then slack off. When asked what they were doing, they say they were on Douyin.

Having received so much grace from God, do we not know that we need God in this world? Do we not know that we are indebted to God? If you are not indebted to God, are you not indebted to me? Why cannot you serve wholeheartedly? What could be better than serving God? We who are co-workers with God must not receive God’s grace in vain. One of the key points of God's presence with us is that we must admit that we have no hope on earth, that we are merely sojourners, pilgrims in this world. Our lives on this earth are fleeting; we do not know when they will end.

Why do I serve more diligently than many others? Sometimes I serve until I am exhausted, my heart pounding, but that is okay. I long to leave this world and meet my God as soon as possible. As long as I am in this world, I will tell God: God, I love you, I love you forever. To this day, I dare not neglect God, but I am astonished that so many people dare to neglect God. Therefore, I want to pour a bucket of cold water on you again. Regardless of how well you are doing in this world, whether you are a senior executive in the company, you are merely a sojourner, a pilgrim in this world.

If you are willing to continue listening, follow me as we examine what the Bible says. Therefore, brothers and sisters, if people do not know they are sojourners in this world, they cannot serve God. You diligently strive in this world; let us see what you can achieve. May you strive to become a real person!

Scripture

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them from afar, and having welcomed them, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Prayer

God, open our minds today, let us know that our days in this world are short, let us be able to see clearly with spiritual eyes that our days in this world are but sojourns, pilgrimages. God, be present in our hearts and minds today. Lord, grant us wisdom and understanding, open our spiritual eyes, let us see that everything in this world is but vanity.

We ask you to personally destroy worldly dreams within us, so that we may despise everything in this world, and imitate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those who with faith, saw from afar, welcomed, and confessed that they were sojourners and pilgrims in this world. God, open our minds today, let each of us begin to seek a heavenly homeland, let us know that you are our everything. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Scripture Background

From Hebrews chapter 1 to chapter 11, it speaks of a very miraculous thing, which is faith. It lists the names of all those in the Old Testament who ran forward with hope, relying on faith. From Abel to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, all the way to Joseph, as well as Joshua, Caleb, and Moses in the Old Testament. Today, we must know that all these listed people have a common characteristic, which is faith. But what kind of faith did they have, let us examine closely. What did they believe in? They believed that in this world, they were merely sojourners, pilgrims, and would one day leave this world. In fact, people do not live long in this world, only about a hundred years.

What exactly is faith? What is its foundation? We must understand this clearly so that our reactions to the things of this world may be different. These people believed that people live and then die, that everything is vanity of vanities, especially Abraham, who was a great figure who opened the path of faith.

Abraham saw that people live and then die in that generation, just as we do today, and we are truly shocked. Therefore, today we can easily understand the figures in the Bible. For example, when Isaac dug a well and it was taken away, he dug another well, and it was also taken away, and he did not think it was a big deal. If a person thinks that the things of this world are not important, that they are merely sojourns, merely pilgrimages, then it does not matter if a well is taken away. We can also easily understand why Abraham offered Isaac as a burnt offering to God.

What was the faith of these people? It was believing that living in this world is not important at all. The way these people conducted themselves was entirely based on the fact that they were merely sojourners, pilgrims in this world. Then, these people are listed, and their lives are all depicted, which becomes clear when reading the Old Testament. What exactly is our problem today? The core of our problem is that we do not know we are sojourners, we do not know we are pilgrims. Some people get dizzy reading accounting books, and become confused as soon as they start reading. Is this important? Why do people not know that they are sojourners, pilgrims, and that everything in this world is vanity? It is because they do not know that their priority should first be God.

Without God, what can a person do? Without such faith, without knowing that we are sojourners, pilgrims on earth, how can we have God's presence? It is because God is not with us that we lack wisdom and understanding in doing many things, because God is our wisdom. Some people often ask me to pray for them, now it's stomach pain, now it's a headache, now it's dizziness, and then they cannot walk, it's all these things. Some people worry about work and life, a lot of it is these things. Why? Because there are demons present. When people do not have God’s presence, they are with demons. Why are they with demons? Is it not because you invited them in? Because you do not know that the things of this world are meaningless.

However, people live in this world and see these things as very important, and then they call it glorifying God's name. Is that really the case? Actually, I often feel sad. If I say it too strongly, I am afraid of hurting you; if I say it too lightly, I am afraid you will not take it seriously at all. Why does God say here that he is not ashamed? Because there are some people who God is ashamed of. Some people are not ashamed because they think they are sojourners, pilgrims in this world. If you think it is very real to live in this world, to live a good life, and you say that God is your God, God will feel ashamed. In the spiritual world, you say that God is your God, God will say NO. Your belly, your business, your work, your children, Prince Charming are your gods.

Brothers and sisters, today I really want to tell you that this passage is about God being called our God, and he is not ashamed. Because we, who clearly know that we are sojourners, pilgrims on earth. We do not set our minds on earthly things, we only set our minds on God's things. We do not serve God in order to receive God's blessings in front of God, this is our Mingding Destiny. Therefore, although I can help you read accounting books, I can help you become a lawyer, but I do not do these things to be a good person. All that I do is to closely examine whether people love God, whether they want to find a heavenly homeland, whether they regard God as their God, whether you are truly building the church, whether you are a treasure in God's eyes, and then God is not ashamed.

Many people do not think that living in this world is a sojourn, a pilgrimage, and then they think that living is very important, but is that really the case? What surprises me the most is that people put God aside while living, everything is important, but God is not important. I do not have the courage of these people, because I know that in this world I am merely a sojourner, a pilgrim, I want to find a heavenly homeland, I want to return to God, I want to see God's presence, I want to build God's glorious church.

Therefore, I want to follow the figures mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, and like them, see from afar, welcome with joy, and confess that I am a sojourner, a pilgrim in this world. It does not matter if someone takes advantage of me, it does not matter if I suffer a little loss, it does not matter if people take my things, no one can take away the joy within me, because I have my God within me, no one can deprive me of the blessings in God.

No matter how hard it is, sometimes people call and I am not asleep yet. Then after I pray with you and you get better, I feel uncomfortable. It's hard work, but it doesn't matter, I serve to serve my God, serving God is my Mingding Destiny, what could be better than this? The background of this passage lists all such people, acknowledging that they are sojourners, pilgrims, seeking a better home. Although they have not yet seen it, they just use the eyes of faith to see it from afar, welcome it with joy, endure all kinds of sufferings in the world, so that this momentary and light suffering can achieve an eternal glory beyond all comparison.

If you want to imitate such people today, your problem can be completely solved, because this is the foundation of all problems. If your faith is not built on the fact that people are vanity of vanities in this world, you cannot move forward at all. Today everyone must know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and the ancients obtained a good testimony through it. If you see what God has done in us, you will also see that we have obtained a good testimony in this faith, God is clearly with us. But what kind of faith is this? This faith is believing that we are sojourners, pilgrims in this world, that's all.

It Is Important to Acknowledge That We Are Sojourners and Pilgrims in This World

When I first believed in the Lord, I encountered a few things that shocked me. At that time, I was in the local church, and a young pastor really liked cars, and later I learned that liking cars is the spirit of the old horse. One day, a large truck was sprinkling water on the side of the road, and he drove the car under the water truck, resulting in the car being destroyed and the person being killed. His children should be in their twenties now, and that happened over twenty years ago.

I went to attend the funeral that day, and my pastor presided over the memorial service, and I saw the dead person lying in the coffin. I knew him and knew a few things about him. I told myself that I will love God forever, I will love the Lord my God wholeheartedly, all my life. To this day, I still keep this vow before God: God, let me love you wholeheartedly, all my life, and not love the world or the things in the world.

Not long after, another family of three who loved cars had a car accident, and they were also from our church. It is very expensive to buy a car in Singapore, because you need a Certificate of Entitlement to buy a car. As a result, they bought a Mercedes-Benz, and then had a car accident in their brand new car. No matter how strong the metal was, the car was smashed to pieces, and the family of three was killed in the car. Our pastor presided over the memorial service, and I also went to attend it, I quite liked attending funerals, because it is very sobering. I stood in front of the coffin, and through the glass window, I saw that the inside was all from the car accident, and the faces were all stitched up with needles. I told myself that I will love God forever, and not love the world or the things in the world. God, you are my only hope, I will love you forever and ever.

I thank God that I am free from confusion and delusion. From that moment on, I have looked lightly upon everything. Work, life, family – nothing can hinder me from loving God. For I know that I am but a sojourner and an alien on this earth. One day I will leave this world, and there is nothing in it that I can grasp. I do not like to grasp at worldly things. Do not think that I do well in my career because I love the world; in fact, I love God very much. Nothing has ever made me put down my love for God. I always place my God in the most important position in my life. That is why I serve God so sacrificially today. Work, money, fame, family – all that is in the world cannot compare with my God.

My joy comes from heaven. God is my hope, because I know that I am but a sojourner and an alien on this earth. Man lives for a few decades, which pass in the blink of an eye, and this is indeed the truth. Whether you think this fact is important or not, the important thing is that it is indeed a fact. Anyone who examines it carefully can come to the conclusion that everyone in the world, without exception, will die. The people you see on the street today may disappear one day. Therefore, deep in my heart there is a hope, a hope in Jesus Christ, in the glory of eternity, because there is not much meaning in this world.

Whether I have a job or not, whether I am promoted or demoted, whether I buy a house or not, these things are no longer my boast. My hope is in heaven, so you rarely hear me boast about money or such things. I do not think that is my boast; I think God is my only boast. If you want to find a home in this world, I tell you, that home is the coffin. Today, when I examine my co-workers, I will try to understand what their hope and core interests are. Some people put God aside when they get busy, with children first, husband second, work and business third, themselves fourth, God ninth, the church tenth, and me eleventh, just a servant.

To put it bluntly, I am just his chamber pot, to be used in times of emergency, so how can you have God's presence? Do not forget that our hope is not in this world at all. If our hope is built on this world, we really do not know which will come first, disaster or tomorrow. Because I acknowledge that I am a sojourner and an alien in this world, I have no great interest in worldly things, and I do not care about life and death. I only care about my God, and I live only for God.

For many years, I used to commute to work alone, which was very hard, and I did not know when it would end. One day, a brother and a sister told me that they wanted to serve God full-time. I really did not know where they got such great faith. I was very moved at the time. When they came to work with me and serve God, I felt that it all came too suddenly, and I wept bitterly. I thank God that God remembers me.

Later, two or three more people gave up everything to serve with me. At that time, the church's savings could only pay a few months’ salary. Later, I learned from them that they really had great faith in their hearts. They said: Teacher, you are so good at releasing faith, so good at releasing vision, so good at releasing dreams. We all came to serve God with vision and dreams. To this day, I still clearly remember the emotion in my heart that some people are willing to give up their good jobs and come to serve this God with me. You have received healing and grace in our midst because there is a group of people who are willing to give up worldly pursuits for God and serve Him.

When I serve the brothers and sisters, I often say: Today, how we serve you, so you will serve others in the future. This is just a good hope. Where would I have the courage to ask you to do that? It is just an encouragement. If a person does not know that there is no future and no hope in this world, but is only a sojourner and an alien, he will cling to worldly things, and this world will pierce him with sorrow.

How many diseases today are closely related to worldly dreams? Some people come to pray, and I know that their problem is all about their children. Some people say to me: Try having a child and see if you can put down everything, school, grades, going to school, homework, assignments. Serving God can be put down, but children cannot. As I said, children first, husband second, work and business third, God ninth, church tenth, and the pastor eleventh. I am just a chamber pot. Every time I finish serving, I feel deep pain in my heart, lamenting why people are so confused and ignorant. Why do they build their hope on this world? What hope can the world give you? Nothing but sorrow.

If you are often uncomfortable today, you should ask yourself if you deserve it. I wish I could say that, so that you would put God first. It does not matter if you put me in ninth or tenth place, because I am just a servant. But can you put God in the first place in your life, because you really need God. I testify to the brothers and sisters with a loud voice, making a choice between blessing and disaster, life and death; making a choice between a void and a heavenly hope. Are you willing to seek a better homeland, a heavenly homeland, an eternal homeland?

Seeking a Better Heavenly Homeland

If we acknowledge that we are sojourners and aliens, that everything in this world is vanity of vanities, and if we have really seen the world, it is no more than that, then we will go to seek, and in fact God has been waiting for us there for a long time. In those years, Abraham was looking for the meaning of life, looking for a better heavenly homeland, and he looked lightly upon all the suffering in the world. Later, what God said to Abraham was wonderful! God said:

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 12:2-3)

Unfortunately, in the days of Abraham, there was only one Abraham who sought God, and he barely took his nephew Lot with him, and Lot ran to Sodom. God sat on His throne and looked down to see if there was anyone who sought Him, if there was anyone who understood. Not one, they had all become corrupt. God's great plan, God's great mystery, is an eternal city and place, full of God's glory, that is, God's church, the new holy city Jerusalem.

Today, we see from afar with the eyes of faith, joyfully welcoming the complete union of man and God, and God's glory will fill us. We look lightly upon everything in the world, which is only temporary. This light and momentary suffering is but to inherit an eternal glory that is beyond all comparison, unless we think the world is empty, otherwise there is no way to run this road. Unless we are really people who have seen the world and know that there is no meaning in this world, we can only have hope in Jesus Christ.

If you have read enough books, you will see that some Nobel Prize winners eventually committed suicide. In our time, there was a very great writer who also committed suicide. If I had not met God, I would not be in this world today. I had no hope, I did not know what to do in this world, and it was superfluous to live another day.

Today, I see people in the world who are full of hope, pursuing education, taking certificates, and after they are done, they are not as good as me, all because I found God and found hope in eternity. If you live in the world and have had a close brush with death, will you still have hope in the world? Will you still regard worldly things as your dreams and pursuits? If you have received God's grace and healing, especially through my hands and the hands of my co-workers, have you received grace in vain? Or do you not know that you need to seek a better, heavenly homeland?

Today, the miracles I have experienced, of course, the miracles God has performed through my hands, far exceed the miracles I experienced when I first believed in God. When I first believed in God, God merely gave me a job, but I met God. I often shed tears when I sing, and I say in my heart: God, I want to gain more of You! Our brothers and sisters created a very beautiful song, which seems to be written for me, called Gain More of You. I especially like this song, and I will cry every time I sing it.

In times of trouble, I have looked up to You, in despair, I have relied on You, O Lord, I still want to know You more and more, my heart longs for You more and more~

Now You have given me a new life and clothed me with a robe of honor. O Lord, I still want to know You more and more, my heart longs for You more and more

O Lord, please draw me, and I will run quickly to follow You. You are the only passion of my life. O Lord, I want to dedicate my whole life to You, only to gain more and more of You

Today, God has given you and me a new life, and God has clothed you and me with a robe of honor. Are you willing to know Him more and more like me, and to long for Him more and more, to come out of emptiness and delusion. I often say: God! Please draw me, and I will run quickly to follow You. I want to dedicate my whole life to You, only to gain more and more of You. You are the better homeland that I seek, that I pursue and seek bitterly.

In fact, today I encourage the brothers and sisters to start seeking, to start knowing God, to come out of emptiness, to come out of delusion, to remove the lies among us, and to stop saying that I must use work to glorify God. If you are not seeking a better, eternal homeland, you cannot glorify God at all. If you do not think that the world is but a sojourn, but an alien existence, you cannot glorify God at all.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”— before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;

when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of the grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of the birds, but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights, and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets. Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8)

Brothers and sisters, do not wait for the days of decline, start seeking God.

God Is Not Ashamed of You

Today, if you do not know that you are a sojourner and an alien in this world, and you do not seek a better heavenly homeland, God will be ashamed of you. What we seek bitterly in this world is but a void, but a delusion, and then we still feel very real.

God sits on the eternal throne and looks down, and when He sees such people, He will say, foolish people, ignorant people, senseless people. You say, God is my God! NO, NO, NO, God does not think He is your God. If you call God your God, God will feel very ashamed. But if you feel that you are but a sojourner and an alien in this world, like Abraham, seeking a better, eternal heavenly homeland on earth, God will be proud of you.

When you regard God as your own God, God will be with you. If God is with you, what can prevent you from being blessed? God will say:

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 12:2-3)

You are a treasure in God's eyes, you are a very precious and great prince in God's eyes. Many people put God aside when something happens, put God in the corner, either give God a holiday, or God gives him a holiday. What are you in God's eyes? You are shameful in God's eyes. You say that God is your own God, and God feels ashamed, because in the spiritual world, the devil knows what you are thinking in your heart, and God also knows what you are thinking in your heart.

Today, in the spiritual world, God's presence is more precious than gold, more important than everything, and serving God is what we can boast about. Again, ask yourself, what are your core interests? If your core interests are only these things in the world, is it in vain that you suffer so much? Is the reality of the spiritual world not painted before your eyes? Is Jesus' crucifixion not painted before your eyes? Do you really love God? What do you boast about?

If you love God, I am willing to do anything for you. If you do not love God, I will stay far away. Brothers and sisters, today I wish that we could all be people who love God, who love the Lord your God with all our heart, soul, and strength, and serve Him alone.

Summary

God is my only hope. If you lack understanding, I can teach you, but I cannot make choices for you. Do not be abominable in God's eyes, but be a treasure in God's eyes, and love God wholeheartedly all your life. Reorganize your priorities and receive grace for the rest of your life. What I said may sound a bit harsh to you, but if you think you love God enough, then just think so. If you examine your priorities a little, can you come to the conclusion that I am a person who loves God wholeheartedly?

He is our only hope in eternity. Our hope is that God will build a city for us, which is His glorious church. In the future, a New Jerusalem will descend from heaven. The entire holy city will be filled with God's glory, and God will live among us. What a wonderful hope that is. Today, you and I are sojourners in this world, but in eternity, God has prepared a city full of glory for us, and we will enter into a perfect union with God, and God will enter into a perfect union with us.

Today, we are building God's glorious church and seeing God's manifest presence with us, His presence in eternity, far exceeding what we can see. This is my hope, and I hope this will also become your hope. May God bless everyone!