Introduction

Good morning, everyone. The topic I will be speaking on today is: Do you love Me more than these? This question, found in John chapter 21, was asked by Jesus to Peter, and it carries profound significance. Today, God is also asking us: Do you love Me more than these? In reality, whatever a person loves will be expressed fully.

For example, in Singapore, some might ask: What is indispensable during Christmas? The common answer is: Chicken, especially turkey. But the truth is, Christmas cannot be without the Lord Jesus. People are renaming the festival, not as Christmas, but as Chicken Mass.

People love what they pursue. For example, for a company that pursues technology, technology is their core strength, allowing them to list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. There are also companies that may not have strong technology, but they have good business models related to technology. These business models can be profitable, enabling them to also list on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

The key issue is what you are pursuing. If you love technology, you will invest heavily in technological research and development. If you love money, you will focus on business models, including various ways to make money. In our generation, if someone really liked making money, they could become a speculator, buying and selling goods for profit.

There are also people with ideals who will pay the price for their ideals. In China over the past century, many great figures have emerged, including Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong. They wore simple clothes, but they were not relying on their clothes for prestige. Instead, they relied on their inner ideals and paid a heavy price for them.

Our Lord Jesus is calling His church and building His church. The crucial question is: what core technology does building the church require? The most important thing in building a church is to love God, and then God will dwell among us. That is our core technology! If we build a church without God dwelling among us, what are we doing? If the brothers and sisters do not love God and are unwilling to pay the price for God, and only talk about grace and going to heaven, or even about going to hell.

The question is, what do you truly love? If loving God and building the church is not more important than other things, is that not a tragedy? Loving God is a topic worth exploring in the Bible. We can fool people, even fool spirits, but we cannot fool God. If we love God, we will willingly and joyfully keep His commandments and follow them.

Of course, you can choose not to keep and follow them, but there is a price to pay for not keeping and following them, just as there is a price to pay for keeping and following them. For example, I often see preachers who love to fish. When they go somewhere to preach, fishing is indispensable. There are also those who love to play mahjong, chess, or travel. But I have none of these hobbies; I only love God!

When I was a child, I didn't have much affinity for ball games. I would often play a game with my classmates and not even touch the ball. Later, they said: Your feet aren't working well. You can't even kick the ball. When you kick, it goes between your legs. Everyone laughed, and I found it funny myself. Later, they made me the goalkeeper, but I still couldn't catch the ball. I thought: Why are so many people fighting over one ball? Why not give everyone one? That way, I wouldn't end up playing a whole game without even touching the ball. Later, they assigned me to pick up balls outside the field. How could someone who can't even touch the ball love playing ball?

It's the same with my singing. By the time I start singing, others have finished. When others sing high, I lower the tone; when others sing low, I raise the tone. Later, they stopped letting me participate. At the time, I had a good attitude and wasn't hurt. All of this achieved one goal: I really didn't know what I loved. I felt like nothing was interesting.

I believe some of the brothers and sisters here may have a misconception about me: Teacher, you are great at everything you do! But that's not true. From childhood to adulthood, I only achieved one goal: getting into university. I don't seem to have much interest in other things. For example, playing video games makes me feel very tired.

Later, I finally came to know God, and I only loved God. God has never asked me: Do you love Me more than these? Do you love Me more than playing soccer, fishing, or hunting? Once God asks you: Do you love Me more than these? what does that mean? You need to be careful!

Once, I attended an evangelistic meeting in a stadium with tens of thousands of people. Someone passed a note to the famous pastors asking: Pastor, what are your personal hobbies? Some said: I love to hunt. Others said: I love to drive sports cars. A colleague next to me asked: What are your hobbies? I said: I just love God and love to serve. So brothers and sisters, if God asks you, you are in big trouble. You have to choose carefully!

I believe I was chosen by God from my mother's womb. Today, our core strength is loving God. Because we love God, God dwells among us. If you don't have core strengths, the devil won't even bother with you. So today, because we have this core strength—our Lord Jesus—the devil often wants to sanction us. It doesn't matter; we often sanction the devil as well. We are not afraid of anyone. We speak based on strength, which is casting out demons, preaching the word of God, and studying the Bible.

Can discernment of good and evil let it succeed? Can the losers let it succeed? No! Today, we must know that we will pay the price for what we love! Those who are chosen from the womb will especially love God. Those who are chosen later and have many hobbies within them will struggle a bit and have a hard time. So we must begin to rethink: if one day Jesus really asks you, what should you do?

Scripture

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15)

Prayer

Lord Jesus, may you be in our midst, examining our thoughts and intentions. Let our hearts that love you love without regret. Let our love for you be genuine, and let us come before you in spirit and truth. God, may you once again inspire us through your love, that we may be awakened by your great love, and because of our love for you, become your disciples and pay the price for you.

God, inspire us, let us know what a high calling this is, what a glorious destiny this is. God, inspire our brothers and sisters in our midst, let this sentence pierce our hearts again, let our hearts be awakened, let us know that we should love you alone. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!

Scripture Background

After Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, reportedly twice. The disciples' feeling at the time was: to take on our destiny, to serve God well, and to begin to enter into God's heart. But Peter's reaction was quite interesting. One day, feeling bored, he said: Come on! Let's go back to fishing! Then he got on the boat and led everyone to fish, but they couldn't catch any fish. Because he had deviated from the destiny God had called him to, he went back to catching fish.

When they were catching fish, Peter was actually running naked, without clothes, wanting nothing. This scene is quite interesting. Unable to catch fish, a person standing on the shore said: Cast your net on that side. Peter did as he said, and as a result, there were so many fish. Peter came from a fishing background, yet he couldn't catch any fish. Someone who wasn't a fisherman told him, and he caught a lot of fish, more professional than a professional fisherman.

After bringing the fish up, they looked closely and realized that the person who had just spoken was the Lord Jesus. Peter counted the fish, a total of one hundred and fifty-three. Jesus then baked bread and fish with them on the shore. After baking, He ate with them, and after eating, He asked Peter: Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? This is where this question comes from.

Reading further, why did only John record this passage? Because John was present when these things happened. And why weren't others written about? Because Peter's influence was still very great at the time, for fear that writing about others would create trouble. John was very old when he wrote the Gospel of John, and Peter had already died.

Some people may ask: How do you know? Because it is written later in the Gospel of John. After Peter died, John began to think about the problems of the entire church, so he wrote the Gospel of John after reflecting deeply. You will find that this Gospel of John is different from the other Gospels. We need to know why it is different. The other three Gospels were written while Peter was alive, while the Gospel of John was written by John long after Peter died.

When writing the Gospel of John, John was fascinated by the word shepherding. In fact, the church cannot be separated from shepherding. If we think about it, it is difficult to find Peter's contribution to shepherding the church in the Bible, because Peter's shepherding was far inferior to that of the Apostle Paul.

I think John is quite interesting. He revealed the old secrets of his senior brother, such as Peter denying the Lord three times. Only John recorded this, and the words expressed that God was very concerned about this matter. The Lord said to Peter: Do you love me more than these things? What are those things? Maybe his wife, maybe his parents, or maybe his more valuable things, etc. Peter's answer to the Lord was: Yes, Lord, I love you.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus said to him a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)

If Jesus knew that Peter really loved Him, would He need to ask? Why would He ask? It was because of the things inside Peter. This is worth pondering. Why ask three times? What is worth asking three times, or even thirty or three hundred times? First, this matter is very important; second, the Lord Jesus is skeptical of him.

So we brothers and sisters must know that when I point out your problem, say it three, four, or even five or six times, and often remind you, it means that your problem has not changed. A co-worker among us often does things without thinking, so I told him to think before doing things. So don't let Jesus chase after us every day asking: Do you love me? Do you love me? It sounds like Jesus needs your love. Actually, it is not. It is we who need to love God.

The background of this passage brings out a very important concept, which is the concept of shepherding. The concept of shepherding comes from the Gospel of John. The entire Gospel of John speaks of the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.

I don't doubt that the pastors among us are all good shepherds, but the things in their bones must be dealt with. If the Lord Jesus knew that Peter really loved Him, would He need to ask three times? If Peter really loved the Lord, would he need to go fishing? Would he need to be busy there all day without catching anything? There would be nothing for the Lord Jesus to argue with him about.

Wasn't Peter fishing when he was first called by God? At that time, he was called to catch people like catching fish. Why is he still catching fish now? Moreover, Jesus Christ has appeared to everyone twice since His resurrection from the dead. What is Peter doing now? Brothers and sisters, today we must know that our perception of things is very different from God's perception of us.

If God knew that Peter loved Him, He wouldn't have asked. The Lord Jesus asked anyway, but Peter still thought that he loved the Lord very much. Today, we will slightly mention Peter, not for anything else, but because this matter is very important. How many of us are like Peter, with a gap in our understanding of things? If the Lord Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him in order to solve Peter's psychological obstacles, then the Lord Jesus should have solved it the first time He resurrected, instead of waiting until Peter took people to fish and forgot God's calling.

Today I am talking about the background of this passage to remind everyone: do we still love the Lord? How many of us have become veteran Christians? These people think that they can go to heaven after they die, but have you shepherded God's flock? Jesus' prayer before being crucified is only recorded in the Gospel of John. The other three Gospels do not record it. Because many years later, John saw how the church in Jerusalem had become like this, and after a painful reflection, he compiled and wrote the Gospel of John.

Jesus' command before being crucified was to love one another and be united, and then God would dwell among us. Today, there are many co-workers, including some pastors, who are very good at discerning good and evil, not to mention unity. If I am gone, I guess the devil will really give you a hard time. So we really have to ask ourselves often: do I love these things more than the Lord Jesus?

If you really have the heart to love the Lord Jesus, love the Lord madly, then I don't have this worry, what else am I worried about? Brothers and sisters among us, pat your hearts and ask yourselves: do I love these things more than the Lord Jesus? Don't be like Peter, feeling good about yourself, but actually far from it.

I am saying this to wake you up, to let you understand that there is still a big difference between your perception of yourself and God's perception of you. Ghosts will not mistake people. Ghosts know what kind of person you are. When ghosts come to attack you, what do you use to resist? How can you resist without the strong shield of loving the Lord Jesus?

The Gospel of John finally records that Peter was still comparing himself. When Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, Peter's answer was affirmative, and God told Peter to shepherd God's flock. How well did Peter do it? If we examine the Bible, we will find that Peter only wrote 1 Peter and 2 Peter. The numerous records about loving God and building the church actually came from the Apostle Paul.

Why is this? Because Peter lost his way by doing what God entrusted to him. Originally, God entrusted Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but in the end, Peter became the apostle to the Jews.

When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” (John 21:21-22)

The words reveal the Lord Jesus' earnest teachings. Brothers and sisters, this is worth thinking about!

Why Did Jesus Ask This?

Peter loves to fish in his bones. The feeling of being able to catch fish as soon as the net is cast is very exciting, and this feeling is easy to be addictive. Fishing is not Peter's calling. No matter how good you are at fishing, no matter how well you do your work, no matter how good you are at technology, it is useless. People easily forget what we came into this world to do.

Everyone must know that each of us who is called out of the world by Jesus Christ must serve God, not to be called out of the world to love the world more and enjoy the world more. That is not the case. People like me who don't have any hobbies are easier to come out of the world and serve God. Paul is the same. But those who have a lot of hobbies are more difficult.

Peter deviated from the calling of Jesus Christ. God called him to be a fisher of men, but he ended up going back to fishing. He saw Jesus resurrected from the dead twice, but he forgot after seeing Him. Many of our brothers and sisters have also experienced the grace of Jesus Christ, perhaps more than just twice. The reason Jesus asked this question is that people have strayed from the right path.

I often lament how our brothers and sisters, in the midst of it all, forget God's calling. This is something we should really ponder. Today, Jesus might also ask you: Do you love Me more than these? Maybe you would say: I love You more than these, but you still can't help but go fishing. I tell you, that's just busywork. Working hard for a day is useless, working hard for a year is useless. We must ask ourselves, what exactly are we doing?

Among us, there was a junior high school teacher who taught a rather bad class, full of teenagers who were quite mischievous. One of the ringleaders swaggered into the classroom, wanting to give the new teacher a hard time, and asked the teacher in a provocative tone what he was doing. After this incident, the teacher came to me and asked for advice on how to handle such a situation.

Following my advice, this teacher had a conversation with the bad student, telling him that the question he asked was very interesting, a question for philosophers. Later, they even established a relatively good relationship. So, it all depends on how one handles things. Brothers and sisters, we can also often ask ourselves: What exactly am I doing?

We must never forget that we are still far from loving the Lord enough. What you think is enough is not enough in the eyes of the Lord Jesus. You must constantly improve and run forward on the path of loving the Lord. Do we have evidence that we love Jesus? What have you done for the Lord Jesus? This is very important. We must serve God joyfully, although each time we serve may not be according to our own preferences, but we will certainly follow God's preferences, pleasing God alone.

Seeing some brothers and sisters running on the wrong path makes me sad. This is not the way! I am anxious! With much knowledge comes much grief; seeing people doing these foolish things makes me sad. But there is nothing I can do but to deal with it, because this office has been entrusted to us. God has called us out of the world. God has made it clear to us that our goal is to be fishers of men. Let us do it well.

Brothers and sisters who come among us will find that there is great unity here. This is because our co-workers are all brought up by me, serving them with my heart. That is winning people! If building a church cannot win people but is just superficial, what are you getting? Everyone must know that building a church is not a fishing business, but a business of winning people.

Our boss is our God. Today, what we are doing is a glorious calling from God, a glorious Mingding Destiny! Everyone must know that people are the most precious! So, those fish you see are just to fill your stomach, only to be sold in the market for some money, nothing more! Are fish more valuable or people? People are valuable!

So, in my heart, there is a very simple idea: if you are worth one thousand when you come among us, you will be worth two thousand in the future, two thousand will be worth four thousand in the future, and four thousand will be worth eight thousand in the future. Until today, brothers and sisters can testify for me that it is difficult not to grow among us! Why? Because this is a place to be fishers of men!

The Lord Jesus Calls Us to Be Fishers of Men

After the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, everything Peter had done in the past was listed out, and it didn't look very good. I remind everyone not to go down that path! For example, Peter was with the Gentile believers. Shouldn't he be pastoring and sharing the word of God with them? No! When he saw people from James coming, he was afraid, and he separated himself from them, acting hypocritically. Barnabas also followed Peter in acting hypocritically. If he didn't act hypocritically with Peter and left Peter there, wouldn't that embarrass Peter? He had to give his boss Peter face.

Peter did a good job at first on being a fisher of men, but as he went on, he forgot. So, brothers and sisters, when we are doing this, will we one day forget that we love God more than these? God gives you a job, God gives you an opportunity to buy a house, and God gives you children, but did God call you into this world just to do these things? Did God bless you just for these purposes? No! Brothers and sisters must know that every one of us Christians, released by Jesus Christ from the world, is to serve God! It's all for the sake of being fishers of men!

We are to do the work of being fishers of men! For the sake of Jesus Christ, bring the treasures in God's eyes into God's kingdom and let them grow continuously in the church. What do we do after we win people? At first, we win little lambs and feed them milk. Later, when they grow a little, we feed them solid food. When they grow older, we can't feed them solid food anymore; they need to work, so they need to be pastored.

Pastoring God's Sheep Is Our Calling

Maybe you are still a little lamb, and you don't need to pastor God's sheep. Maybe you have believed in the Lord for one year, two years, or three years, but what exactly are you doing today? If you are a little lamb, you have the grace and the qualification to drink milk slowly, and even the qualification to wear diapers, because you are still a spiritual child and need your parents to help you. But isn't it embarrassing to wet the bed when you are a teenager? Is it okay to still wear diapers when you are a teenager? That's not okay!

So, when you reach the age to buy soy sauce, you should buy soy sauce; when you reach the age to help your mother look after the children, you should help your mother look after the children; when you reach the age to wash clothes, you should wash clothes; when you can do housework, you should do housework. Isn't that how you all grew up? So, many people say that children who can do housework are smart in the process of growing up! So, pastoring God's sheep is our calling! Why is it called Mingding Destiny? Mingding Destiny is what God calls us to do.

Among our brothers and sisters, if you have believed in the Lord for a long time, I will ask you when I see you: Have you pastored? If you haven't pastored, what have you been doing? Isn't that just eating for nothing? Don't think you are still very reasonable.

Pastoring is our most important calling! We pastor according to the size of our sheep. We feed the little lambs milk, the medium-sized sheep some solid food, and the old sheep start to be the head sheep, the second sheep, the third sheep... You pastor him, build him up, and help him grow, and the sheep will follow you. This is called being fishers of men! After winning people, we pastor them well and pay the price for it. We pastor well those who we have won.

I am very surprised by pastoring! Many churches, including our own in the past, have neither understood nor done well in the matter of pastoring. So, John had a deep understanding of pastoring! He summarized the past lessons, called the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep! But in fact, the lives they laid down didn't seem to be for the sheep.

If a person does not love God, then pastoring becomes quite reluctant. But today, I want to call on everyone, this is the best calling! It doesn't matter if you can't kick the ball on the field or sing out of tune in the choir, because I didn't come into this world to play football or sing. I came into this world because there is a better calling!

Brothers and sisters must know that you have a better calling—to shepherd God's flock! And you need to know that when you pastor God's flock, the sheep will follow you. Why are the sheep willing to follow you? Because they feel safe with you, and you are willing to lay down your life for the sheep!

So, brothers and sisters, let me give a little introduction here. We have summarized a series of pastoring principles in the matter of pastoring. In the future, we will put the pastoring principles and spiritual principles into artificial intelligence, develop artificial intelligence robots to pastor together with people, and make the efficiency of pastoring increase exponentially! We can more deeply summarize the law of pastoring, go deeper into summarizing people's problems, and overcome them one by one!

Our brothers and sisters must know, what is pastoring God's sheep for? Because if we don't pastor, we can't grow! If we live to be thirty, forty, or fifty years old and are still one meter tall, would you want to be such a person? No one wants to be such a person, because that is unhealthy, spiritually sick! It looks healthy on the surface, but it is a spiritual dwarfism, spiritually underdeveloped.

So, we must grow in pastoring! Why does God say to pastor His sheep? We will grow in the process of pastoring. Who gains when we grow in pastoring? We gain ourselves! Then you will constantly explore new problems in pastoring. So, until today, we are still constantly exploring new problems in pastoring and constantly updating.

Recently, I heard a testimony that a sister used to have difficulty reading, and she couldn't understand what she read, but now she understands. When we do this, not only do we please the Lord Jesus before the Lord Jesus, but we also make a huge contribution to this society.

A co-worker told me a few days ago that the children nowadays are so stupid. He didn't quite understand what I was doing before, but now he feels that society needs what I do: to train people to be smart and to cultivate people's character! So, after I do this, don't think that I'm at a disadvantage! Because of pastoring, I have grown rapidly in the past few years. Why? Because problems keep arising!

I was thinking, if I don't do pastoring, and I don't solve your problems, and I don't solve my own problems, and I get up every morning and have a cup of coffee in a coffee shop, and then have another cup of coffee in the evening, how can I live such a life? Such a life is so boring! Maybe I won't be seen in the coffee shop again after a while, because I'm dead! Many times, people are like this. People can't live their lives like this!

So, brothers and sisters, know that we must grow in pastoring. Then someone will say: You have to give me a sheep to pastor! But if you don't know how to pastor, you can only mess things up, so you have to learn first! I ask you, if a child hasn't gone to elementary school, hasn't gone to middle school, and hasn't gone to college, and then comes to work, what can he do? He can't do anything!

If you want to do this, you have to be trained, grow step by step, and be trained step by step. At first, if you can't do it independently, then first learn and explore together with your pastor, and tell your pastor that you want to see how he pastors. How can your pastor reject you? So, brothers and sisters, be proactive and start to improve constantly, and learn how to pastor from your pastor.

When you have learned enough, start pastoring. Your pastor does 50%, and you do 50%. Later, your pastor does 20%, and you do 80%. That's how you grow! The pastor guides you step by step, helps you grow step by step, and then you will experience God in pastoring and become more and more joyful in pastoring!

You cast a rod and catch a fish; isn't that joyful! You cast a rod and catch a person, and then start building this person up! After building him up, you will find that his potential is constantly released because of your pastoring, his bad habits are constantly dealt with, the devil's control over him is broken one by one, the things that are unclear in his understanding are unlocked one by one, and he will become smarter and more valuable!

Look who did that? That was God doing it through your hands! That's much more enjoyable than casting a rod and catching a fish! This is the glorious calling, the glorious Mingding Destiny!

Constantly Remind Yourself, Do I Love the Lord More Than These?

I often remind myself, so my service is genuine. Brothers and sisters can also examine me. Some brothers examined me for two years because his wife was among us. After two years of examination, he told me that my service was genuine! What's the point of serving without sincerity, playing around all day long? Deceiving God there, isn't the result deceiving yourself?

So, I often remind myself, do I love the Lord more than these? I want to love the Lord more than these! I will take on the responsibility that God has entrusted to me and shepherd God's flock well. It can be said that I have paid a huge price behind all the work we are doing today. Every place in the software we use today, whether it is the front-end or the back-end, has my fingerprints and my efforts!

Why do I often remind myself? I am afraid that I will forget that pastoring is God's calling to me. Smart people will build up the body of Jesus Christ and bring God's people into God's kingdom. So, the word love is very deep, and the word love cannot deceive people. A person who loves playing games will definitely know what it means to love playing games. Why? Because he loves playing games, he will play day and night, without fatigue. You love God and serve God, even though it seems very tiring, but you don't feel tired!

So, brothers and sisters, today we must constantly remind ourselves that this is a smart person! If we are a fisher of men and a pastor, we don't deceive, nor do we reluctantly do these pastoral works. If we really go to catch fish, a net cast down will be broken by the fish.

The problem today is: have we done what is in God's heart, and does God still need to remind us again and again, Do you love me? No need! Do we need God to remind us to pastor my sheep? No need! I encourage everyone to have a determination, since you have become a Christian, since you have been called by God, today decide to embark on the path of pastoring! Even though you are not qualified to pastor today, it doesn't matter. Start with a desire and determination to pastor: I want to grow, and I want to share God's love!

If you love the Lord Jesus to a deeper level, everything you do will prosper, because God is with you! No matter what you do, God is with you, and you cannot but prosper! You can easily cast a net into the river, and one hundred and fifty-three fish will come up, almost breaking the net. This is a glorious choice, this is a smart choice!

Summary

Do you have an experience like mine, kicking a ball and the ball going between your legs, not being able to kick it; or running the whole game on the field, not touching the ball once; or people not liking you, arranging you to guard the goal, and not catching the ball with your hands? It doesn't matter! If you have an experience like mine, who knows that you are called by God! You are not called to do that, you are called to do pastoring, that is your destiny!

Do you have an experience like mine, feeling that you can't do anything? But today you must know that when we have God, we go to pastor God's flock, constantly dealing with the garbage in our thoughts and intentions, and constantly growing in pastoring, you will definitely become a person with God!

Perhaps you say that you were born like me, without any hobbies, and have been wondering why you are alive. But there is one thing you must be like me, to love God, to pastor God's flock, to release the captives from the hands of the devil, and to bring them into the kingdom of God!

We may have work and business, but that is not our calling. Our calling is to be fishers of men! After winning people, we pastor them, so that they may shine like treasures in the kingdom of God! In this way, we will be like the stars in the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars!

This is what God will do among us in the last days! Do we love the Lord Jesus more than these? May God bless everyone!