Introduction
Brothers and sisters, good morning. The topic I will be sharing with you today is The Key to Management (5): Building a Knowledge System! Why am I speaking on this topic? I deeply desire for our brothers and sisters to become wise. Researching how to make brothers and sisters wiser has troubled me for many years. Later, I discovered a particularly good word: system.
Why do many people often feel dazed? Because there is no system within them. Why do some people, as they believe in the Lord, either become religious fanatics or Pharisees? Because as they believe, they ultimately do not know what they believe in; there is no system. Have you noticed that system is a word I often use? Knowledge requires a system; anything that is not systematic cannot be considered knowledge. If a person is not systematic and lacks knowledge, they are ignorant. Things that are not systematic are of little use, and management is the same.
Whether you are managing yourself or managing others, being able to manage your own feelings and then manage the feelings of others is knowledge. If you can manage your time, you can also manage other people's time well. Managing a team is knowledge; it must have a system. Talking nonsense is not acceptable. How to manage is what we are talking about today—how to construct systematic knowledge.
The faith of Christ Jesus is a systematic faith, and you must agree with this statement. Why is it called a systematic faith? Because from Genesis to Revelation, it is all speaking of one thing. Do not separate the Old Testament and the New Testament. If you have believed for some time and are confused—that the God in the Old Testament is different from the God in the New Testament; that the God in the Old Testament is full of violence, while the God in the New Testament is full of love—that is not the case. In fact, the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are the same God, do you understand? The God of the Old Testament was not voted out, and then a new God was chosen in the New Testament. That is not the case at all.
The faith of Christ Jesus, the God we trust, has never changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It is just that some people do not understand the Old Testament enough and therefore speak nonsense. If you understand the Old Testament well enough, you will find that the Old Testament is also the Word of God. From Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David, from David to Jesus, and from Jesus to Paul, it is all a continuous line. Our Chinese Mingding Destiny is a Christian faith that inherits the system of the Apostle Paul, which is more in line with the Bible.
We have had a very significant breakthrough since Martin Luther because of the word system. We have established a system of shepherding, a system of healing and deliverance, and a system of church planting. Many things are systematic. The Bible study of the Gospel of Matthew that I wrote, called Two Kingdoms, Two Pursuits, clearly explains the two logical systems of blessing and curse. It is a system; the curses and blessings in the New Testament are no different from the curses and blessings in the Old Testament.
A few days ago, I met a pastor who had a very interesting viewpoint, which he called memorizing the Bible. I am not against memorizing the Bible, but I am against people who memorize the Bible but still do not have a system. There are countless stories like this. About ten years ago, there was a pastor's wife (师母is a name of Chinese origin; there is no such word in English). She had more than twenty canker sores in her mouth. Has anyone seen anything like that? If we have one canker sore in our mouth, it is white and very painful. Imagine having more than twenty, some even merging together. Opening her mouth was a scary sight, and her legs had arthritis and could not bend, which looked very painful.
I told her to pray diligently with me, and two months later, she was healed. During these two months, a sister with severe depression came from a traditional church. We are a praying church, so we arranged for both of them to come to prayer meetings. During the prayer meeting, the pastor's wife whispered to the sister. I asked them what they were whispering about. She said, I told the sister that I can memorize the entire Book of Romans and encouraged her to memorize the Book of Romans as well. Actually, the other sister had a very good memory and had almost memorized it as well. But someone who can memorize the Book of Romans had a mouth full of canker sores. Don't you think it is strange? In fact, this has little to do with memorizing the Book of Romans; it has to do with the lack of a system.
What is the use of memorizing that stuff? Maybe you are very good at memorizing. One has severe depression, and the other has canker sores. I told you to forget about it! Northeastern dialect is like this. Some people say this is mouth cannon. What does that mean? It means relying on speaking. Speaking of mouth cannon, the most skilled in the Three Kingdoms period was Zhuge Liang, who could talk people to death. Today, I am telling you that memorizing the Bible is not a problem, but rigidly memorizing the Bible is useless.
When have you ever seen Jesus teach you to memorize the Bible in the Bible? Is there such a thing? I told her to forget about it. You have a mouth full of canker sores and your legs cannot bend. Follow me and learn diligently, and change! So the problem lies here. Why is this the case? I tell you, they are all confused because their faith lacks a system; it is a mess. What is the use of something that is all over the place? Not only in the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Bible and the teachings of the Apostle Paul, but also in many things, there is no such thing.
Today, some people teach Bible guidance, reading a passage of the Bible back and forth. I used to do that too, but later I found that it was not very useful. The other day, I met that pastor, and he told me that he memorized the Bible, repeating it over and over and chewing on it. Is this the main axis of the Bible? Is this the main axis of our faith in Jesus Christ? How important is this matter? A system is about reversing the most important things and the secondary things, which is chaos. If you put the cart before the horse, it will be troublesome. So all these people have these problems.
Our brothers and sisters come from different churches and have definitely done many things. I am not against memorizing the Bible, but this is not the main axis of the Bible, because my faith is a faith with a system. What is most important? I must tell everyone. What is the New Testament about? The theme of the New Testament is building a victorious and glorious church. The letters of the Apostle Paul are all about building a victorious church. The Apostle Paul was not talking about personal cultivation.
Everyone must understand this. Not only is believing in the Lord like this, but so are the students among us, those doing doctoral studies, those doing master's degrees, and those in university. I want to encourage you to develop the habit of building a system. Some people start memorizing from elementary school, and some, with good memories, memorize up to middle school. Their grades are also good in middle school, and they memorize up to university. Their grades are still passable in university, but if you rely on memorizing things when you are doing a doctorate, how can you manage? It is very difficult to graduate with a doctorate. So the problem is that memorizing things is not very useful. Why? Because memorizing things cannot build a system. In the end, you still have to build the entire knowledge system. The Bible is a complete knowledge system, a knowledge system for building a glorious church. It is wisdom and intelligence from God.
Today, our Chinese Mingding Destiny—some people think I am boasting, just consider it boasting! But what I am saying is true. We have really built up a knowledge system for the entire Bible. We call it Chinese Mingding Destiny. If you have not built a system after studying, I will explain it to you today. After you learn the word system today, think about it slowly. Do not confuse yourself, that is not good.
If you are not good at studying and cannot build a knowledge system, you will not be able to understand the truth for a long time, and ignorance is very upsetting. No matter what you are learning, it must be like this. Business management is a knowledge system. In the future, I will also write a book on business management; I am doing exploration and research in this area. I think our church is a place to teach people to learn, a place to build a knowledge system, a place to enable people to live prosperously, and a place to enable people to become knowledgeable, capable, reverent to God, and doing what is right in God's eyes, not becoming a burden to society but becoming an asset to society.
Christ Jesus is the wisdom and power of God. Only by having a system can you obtain this wisdom and power. Without forming a system, it is of no use. This is why many people read the Bible with zeal but without true knowledge, and they become Pharisees. You say, how can reading the Bible make you a Pharisee? Can you understand? Don't you find it strange? Do you know how the Pharisees came about? The Pharisees came about by reading the Bible. Everyone must know this.
So we must pull everyone out of the Pharisaical errors. The teachings of Jesus Christ are very powerful: Woe to you, hypocrites! What does woe to you mean? It means reversing the important things and the secondary things, putting the cart before the horse. Our era is also like this. New Pharisees are everywhere, and that stuff is very harmful! The roots of this kind of thing are very deep.
One of the brothers among us shared a viewpoint with us one day, and I am bringing it up for discussion. He said, Different translations of the Bible cannot be used indiscriminately. Look, this chapter and this verse are omitted, and that chapter and that verse have the wrong word. If you want to read it, you must read it in Hebrew, you must read it in Greek, you must read the original text. What kind of teaching is this? I tell you, this brother actually did not get it right, but he thought he did. Where did he get this bad habit from? It was taught in the original church.
The original church taught these things: when studying the Bible and preaching, it was always What does the Hebrew say, what does the Greek say, nitpicking over words. Do you find me nitpicking over words? I do not have this bad habit. What I preach is the same thing that is constantly repeated in the Bible. This brings a very serious problem. In our era, believing in the Lord was illegal, and many families' Bibles were not only tattered but also handwritten copies. Handwritten copies often had extra sentences or missing sentences. What could be done? Those people believed in the Lord better than those in the churches today who shout about reading Hebrew and reading Greek.
What was the matter? I tell you, the Bible is actually a very interesting book because the Bible wrote many things with much redundancy. Do you know what redundancy is? It is not the fish you eat, but it is many extra redundancies. What is redundancy? It is many repetitions, many repeated emphases. In fact, even if you lose one or two books, you can still read.
Why? When you read Isaiah and Ezekiel, there is a lot of repetitive content. 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and Kings have so much repetitive redundancy. Redundancy, in English, is called redundancy. We who work with computer systems know that if the data in this system is redundant, if one hard drive fails, it does not affect the data in the system; if two hard drives fail, it does not affect the data in the system. But do not let all the hard drives fail, that would be troublesome. So how well is this system designed? If you pull out one hard drive, the system still runs. So today, can brothers and sisters develop this habit, and say, Ah, it is like this, how important it is to build a system.
God is a God of revelation. As long as people thirst and seek, how can they not know? You say I cannot read, I have no ability, I am not good enough. It does not matter, as long as you are thirsty, you will definitely find it. There are no very difficult words in the Bible, and our God is a God of revelation. So God sits on His throne and looks down to earth to see if there are any who seek, if there are any who understand. What does understanding mean? Being very clear in the heart; if it becomes a system, can he not understand?
Our God is a God of revelation, so we must know that it is the Holy Spirit who guides us into the truth, not this translation or that translation that guides us into the truth. I just used a few examples because of such a thing, so today, brothers and sisters, never be self-righteous. The Holy Spirit cannot guide self-righteous people. If a person has nothing and thinks he has something, he deceives himself. Never think you have got it right.
What kind of person am I? Everyone must understand. I am someone who often thinks I have not got it right, but I do not just think I have not got it right and let it go. I am constantly seeking to this day. I often joke with everyone, saying that I am smarter than yesterday, and I am smarter than I was ten years ago. Think about it, I studied from the age of ten to twenty, from twenty to thirty, from thirty to forty, from forty to fifty, and from fifty to sixty. If I could live to nine hundred years old, I would have nine hundred years to study. Would I not become a wise old man after nine hundred years of continuous growth? I have more than eight hundred years of work experience; that is becoming an expert. So what I seek is for everyone to work hard, study hard, and become experts. What are experts? They are the best among people, very noble and glorious, not ignorant people.
How do I want to make everyone become such people? It is very simple, just thirst. What is so difficult about it? What I am talking about today is how to build a knowledge system. Although the words are a bit difficult, there is actually nothing difficult about it. Just get used to hearing it. Among us, those doing doctorates, master's degrees, university degrees, middle school, elementary school—if you often hear me speak, your studies cannot be bad. God is faithful. Start desiring to be the best among people, start desiring to be a brand-name person, start knowing that God wants to make your name great, God wants to make you a great nation, God wants to make you a blessing to many people!
We talked about managing time before. What is managing time for? It is for using time to build our knowledge system so that we can know God. Knowing God is endless. Then you say, Ah, the Bible does not have the word 'system.' I tell you, the Bible does not indeed have the word system. That English word is not very good. The English word is system. Compared with system, 体系(tǐ xì) is much more grand. As for “命定 (Mingding)” and Destiny, I think “命定 (Mingding)” is better; it can have that flavour, do you understand? Our Chinese words are quite grand.
Let's look at today's scripture, Revelation chapter 22. Have you opened your Bible? I tell you, my mom loves to listen to me preach. She says, Son, I can understand your preaching; I cannot understand other people's preaching. I said, That's right, you are my mom. In fact, I preach simply. Someone said, The Bible has sixty-six books, with different authors and different styles, giving the impression that there seems to be no relationship between them. What you said is very good. Actually, in this system, if someone inserts a wrong book, we can also detect it because we have a system.
Scripture
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:17-21)
Prayer
God, You are the God of revelation. We brothers and sisters come before You with a thirsty heart. May You personally reveal Yourself to us, and may Your Holy Spirit guide us into the truth, so that we may know God and fear God. God, today, may You do a wonderful work in us, let us know what we have added, what we have deleted, so that we can have a comprehensive understanding of You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
The theme that this passage wants to highlight
When I read Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32, and Revelation 22:17-21, I was filled with confusion because I was not very clear about what it was saying. Moses wrote Deuteronomy, and nothing could be added or subtracted. Later, Samuel wrote 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. Was this an addition or not? Was it a subtraction or not? When it came to Revelation, it came again, nothing could be added, nothing could be deleted.
Today, you say, am I adding or subtracting? How serious is this statement! If I add anything, God will add to me the plagues written in this book. How do disasters come about? They come from adding. That was how I added in the past; I added roasted chicken, roasted duck, and sliced beef to the gospel. At that time, I was building a church, a Happy Cell Group. I thought, can Jesus attract people? Everyone is familiar with this voice, right? No, let's not do Jesus, let's do sliced beef, roasted chicken, roasted duck, and ham sausage, that would be great. Today, I tell you that the Happy Cell Groups I did in those years were better than today. I was very happy back then.
But after I was done, I was cursed. Before I built the church, everything went smoothly. My career had been very good all along because I could work and study, but I had not learned the word of God. I could not blame the church at that time; it was my own responsibility. Later, I was besieged on all sides at work! What does besieged on all sides mean? The English is “face the music all around.” I even thought I was Job! Look, I served wholeheartedly: I contributed money, effort, and people. But, think about it, what a disgrace this was to God! Jesus was not good enough, but sliced beef, roasted chicken, and roasted duck were better.
Where does the Bible say to raise roasted chicken to attract all people to it? When did it say to raise sliced beef to attract all people to it? Would that not be a joke? It is when Jesus is lifted up that He attracts all people to Him. What I did attracted a group of rice buckets and foodies. Later, with this sharp question, I did not understand very well, so I sought. I am a seeker. I tell you, blessed are those who seek! The high-paying job was gone, no money, no nothing, only time.
Very good! I used to have money but no time. Now I have time but no money. I knelt down to pray, reading one book after another, praying and seeking for one book after another. One day, God gave me a revelation, saying that what is called adding and what is called subtracting: within a system, it is not called adding or subtracting; outside a system, it is adding or subtracting. What is adding? It is adding the things of the world to the word of God. The kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God are completely two kinds of systems. Everyone think about it carefully.
Some time ago, I went to a church. The pastor of that church talked boastfully to me. He used to be a senior manager outside; he was a professional manager. He was preparing to use the set of corporate management skills of a professional manager to manage the church, setting up a large pile of KPIs, which are those standards for performance assessment. Later, I found that this secular management system cannot be used to manage the church.
The secular management system manages companies, and companies are used to make money. What is the church for? If it is also for making money, it will be troublesome. The church is a place for distributing blessings, a place for letting the presence of God come in. How good was the song we sang just now, Can we always stay in the presence of God? Without the presence of God, what is secular management managing? Today, I do not like this management system either. My management that comes from God manages very well!
Today, brothers and sisters, gradually understand, what is called adding, what is called subtracting? What is not in a system is called adding or subtracting. I have done this before; I have experience. If something that does not belong to your body grows on your body, what is that called? That is called adding. Why is it adding? You have added to the word of God, will God not add to you? The book says, If anyone adds to the words of the prophecy of this book, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. Must we not repent? Is it okay to have more things on the body? It is also troublesome to have fewer things on the body! Can you live with less liver and lungs? Not to mention anything else, it is troublesome to have less mind!
Today, the theme of this passage is not actually talking about anything else, but about building a complete, Godly system. That is good! Building a Godly system, I am not just talking nonsense myself. At that time, I had no money, no people, only one person, there was time to pray, and after praying, the revelations God gave me were very good, until today. The theme of this passage is adding and subtracting. You add something to God, and God will add something to you; you subtract something from God, and God will subtract something from you. How fair is that!
Cannot add or subtract, this is a system
Everyone slowly, carefully observe.
You say that the pastor of that church got cancer. That was God adding it. Who told you to add? I added in the past, and it was troublesome after I added. Today, brothers and sisters, we develop a habit of asking, is this thing within a system? Within a system, it is neither adding nor subtracting. What is not in a system is adding and subtracting.
Not building a faith system is a very serious matter! Reading the Bible without a system can turn you into a Pharisee! Building a project, looking for people to invest, studying keeping the Sabbath—if you take keeping the Sabbath out of the system, you will study it over and over again. After studying it, God will hate it. Later, Jesus came, and Jesus hated the Sabbath. They kept the Sabbath but forgot the most important thing. Later, Jesus criticized them for putting the cart before the horse. Without a system, they just messed around.
What exactly is a system? A system first has a foundation, and the foundation is the most important. You cannot use it if the foundation is not strong. Then there are the pillars. What is key are the load-bearing pillars and the load-bearing beams. These things are the foundation that cannot be moved. Building a house is the best example of a system! Lay a good foundation, make the pillars strong, and put the beams right. A building collapsed and killed many people. If you pryed off the beams and the load-bearing pillars, how could the house not collapse? They are the pillars, the foundation, the beams. These things cannot be compared with the paintings hung in the house. If you put all your energy into that painting in your house, you cannot build a house. You worry about where to hang the painting? Your house has not been built yet!
Building a system is like building a house. What is a system? A system is like a truth. Truths are big and small, major and minor, and connecting them together establishes a complete system. Why is the key to management (5) a knowledge system? With a knowledge system, you know what is most important. Connect all these truths together. There is a word called key. What is 关(guān)? Is it the Gates of Hell (鬼门关) or the Jade Gate Pass (玉门关)? It is the pass, very important! The pass for entering and leaving is very important! What is 键(jiàn)? A “键(jiàn)” is a key. So the key to management is to build a system of knowledge!
Without a system, it is a mess, and the brain is in a state of mush.
Therefore, cannot add or subtract, tell of a complete system.
Grasp the Key Points, Grasp the Concepts, Grasp the Relationships Between Concepts
Grasp the key points, grasp the concepts, and grasp the relationships between concepts. If you build up the entire Bible like this, it becomes incredibly clear. What is the New Testament about, you ask? The New Testament is about building a glorious church, building a victorious church. This is the most crucial thing! If you ask me what the Book of Exodus is about, it is about the army of Jehovah coming out of Egypt! What is the Book of Numbers about? It is about those who can fight are counted! Those who cannot fight are all dead. Am I grasping the concepts accurately? How come many people don't get it after reading it?
Put the most crucial things in the most crucial positions. I have invented a set of principles called Project Management. Are you familiar with project management? I can confidently boast about the project management principles I grasp. No matter what project is in my hands, I will definitely do it right. Why? Because I list the most critical issues of the project, then the second most critical, and then the third most critical. This is a bit of a boast! But it doesn't matter! I have really done it.
A brother said I was boasting, but I have indeed done it, I am not bluffing you. If you don't grasp the key points, and always focus on unimportant things, will you have the energy to manage the crucial things? Many people think I am amazing and envy me. Actually, there is no difference in our IQ. The problem is that I only grasp the key points, while you spend all day not grasping the key points. Can it be the same? The results are completely different, so today everyone needs to grasp the key points.
Get the most crucial things in the Bible right. The New Testament is about building a glorious church, so we follow Mingding Destiny. My Mingding Destiny is to build God's glorious church. I have solved many problems that cannot be solved by human beings, because God is with us. Why do I say this? From the four Gospels to the Book of Revelation, it begins by talking about the victorious church. The victorious ones can do this and that, and the non-victorious ones cannot. Those who are victorious can do this and that, and those who are not victorious cannot. If you want to do this and that, then you must be victorious. If you don't want to do anything, then don't be victorious.
Brothers and sisters, don't blindly operate. I often see people who like to play minor roles, busy with this and that, busy for a long time but it's all in vain. Today, no one in our church is doing the cooking. I have a neighbor who is also a believer. I asked her how many years she had been a believer and whether she had done any service work in the church. She said she had service in the church, and her service was cooking in the church. I said the church should cook spiritual food for you! Is the church a place for cooking? When I asked her, she hadn't even read the Gospels or Genesis, she knew nothing.
Turning the gospel of Jesus Christ into a cooking gospel, isn't this playing a minor role? Not grasping the key points, cooking for people to eat, and thinking that you are serving. Can this bring blessings? Can you clarify the concepts? Clarify the most important, second most important, third most important, and fourth most important. I tell you, there are many things I don't do. They think I am arrogant and conceited. When something happens in their church, they dispatch five buses to the construction site to bring the workers over, one boxed meal per person. What is this for?
I will tell you how I implement things. My way of implementing things is very simple: I do what Jesus did. The result is that I do better than many people. The key is that I don't do things blindly. I put effort into thinking, and I don't try to achieve things overnight. I hate trying to achieve things overnight. I clarify the concepts, and I clarify the relationships between the concepts. What is salvation? I have clarified it clearly.
A few days ago, I met a pastor. I asked him what the concept of salvation was, and he was completely stumped. Today, many Christians talk nonsense about the concept of salvation, without any scriptural support. They say salvation is going to heaven. Some people like to send people to heaven, but sending people to heaven costs money. We don't send people to heaven here. We make people smarter. I put in more effort than ordinary people. Whether I am in school, at work, or building a church, I put in much more effort than others. I have written almost eighty books. Everything I do has a framework and a system. It's not tiring to do things with a system! I don't like to achieve things overnight. All my service is service that persists to victory.
So today, brothers and sisters, you need to know that expelling demons, healing the sick, the gospel, salvation, these are all important. Many people look at these things in isolation. Look at how I see it. I will give you a few simple examples: the kingdom of God is a concept. The kingdom of God comes, how does the kingdom of God come? By expelling demons through the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God comes. Do you think expelling demons is important! Many people are singing Please let the kingdom of God come, singing very loudly, but they don't know how the kingdom of God comes! Expel demons? It's good enough if they are not expelled by demons. If you are expelled by demons, can the kingdom of God come?
After Jesus came, one of the things he did was to train twelve disciples to preach the gospel of the coming of the kingdom of God, healing the sick and expelling demons. Is a church that does not expel demons a church? Later, Jesus trained seventy more disciples to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and expel demons. That is the coming of the kingdom of God. Is expelling demons a battle when the kingdom of God comes? Expelling demons is a battle, and the most important foundation for expelling demons is a victorious church. A victorious church must be built according to the word of God, not grace or gifts, not these! The most important foundation for healing and deliverance is a victorious church. Why do we expel demons? Because we want to obtain salvation! Can we not obtain salvation if we don't expel demons? Can we not obtain God's promise if we don't expel demons? Salvation is God's promise. What is salvation? Salvation is restoring the glorious image of God when he created us.
Today, the Chinese Mingding Destiny that we preach will have a profound promise for this era and the future era, so everyone is very blessed, and I am also very blessed. Our God is the God of the living. When we are alive, we can live out the glorious image of God. Where can we find such a good gospel? So we must be thirsty and seek it, and seek it endlessly.
Be Thirsty, Seek, This is Endless
As you gradually understand, you will find that after listening to my sermons for a long time, you can no longer listen to others. After listening, you don't know what they are talking about. Why? If you have a system, can they fool you? If they can fool you, it means you have not yet established a system. If you have established a system, you will know that they are talking nonsense if they want to fool you.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)
Know that in this generation, God is constantly seeking those who seek him on his throne. I am a seeker. Not many people seek the word of God like I do! I am really very thirsty. I know God is my treasure, and I don't know him enough. I want to know him more. Until today, tomorrow will be better than today, and today will definitely be stronger than yesterday. Why? Because yesterday I was preparing for today's sermon, so today is stronger than yesterday. I never use old drafts to preach. You must be thirsty, gentle and humble in your heart, knowing that you still don't know enough. Then strive to pursue. Strive to pursue, and God will definitely reveal it to you. God will reveal it to me, and he will also reveal it to you.
Some people get cancer, and they don't seek. Once, a brother brought a cancer patient. He got cancer ten years ago, and later he was dying. He had a tube inserted into his body to inject liquid food. Although he was still alive after ten years, it was very hard. Ten years later, his wife also got cancer. She is also a Christian, and the children are still young, so people sympathize with him.
In this world, there are not many who are willing to pay the price to serve. Try it, if you get sick, you go to the pastor and see how he serves you. But among us, we will definitely serve well. All the brothers and sisters I have brought out serve like this. As a result, he came to me. What should I do? I have to tell him the truth. Cancer is definitely a curse. I have scripture, and the scripture says this:
Also every sickness and every plague that is not written in this Book of the Law, the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:61)
Why? Because you don't carefully obey. As a result, when I said this, he had already been cursed, but he didn't care. You can't say the word curse. What kind of brain is this? He hasn't established any system in the past few years. He doesn't know God at all, and he doesn't know God. Then he told me that he was Job. Actually, he doesn't know either. He just puts Job on himself. Do you know Job? I don't know either. Then talk about what happened to Job? He can't say it clearly either. Can he say it clearly? He hasn't put in this effort!
Job has heard of God! Job is self-righteous to the extreme! Job is a person who is very self-righteous to a certain degree, and his friends don't want to listen to him! Do you think Job is a saint? You can forget it! Job has heard of God. Later, did you read the Book of Job clearly? I definitely read it clearly. Later, God asked Job some things, and he didn't know anything. You don't know many things, you can forget it! In the end, Job still thinks he is good! Actually, he is not good! Later, Job repented.
So don't always compare yourself to Job. If I had compared myself to Job back then, it would have been troublesome! You would have thought I was Job, but I don't think I am. The smartest thing about me is that I am not self-righteous. I seek everything! God is a God who is gracious to me.
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. (Psalm 14:2)
If there are those who seek, isn't it easy? Why seek? Be gentle and humble in your heart, knowing that you are not good enough, we know that we have not done it right. Until today, I still know that I have not done it right. Then what are you talking about? Am I not telling everyone my understanding! Maybe ten years later, some people will say, why do you speak differently than you did ten years ago? Isn't that growth! It's not the same level! In that era, ten years later, we don't know if the iPhone will exist. If it exists, it won't be iPhone 13, it will be 23. Are you still stuck at 13? Today, is it embarrassing to take out an iPhone 4? It has become an antique! Be gentle and humble in your heart, be rigorous, sort things out, and think.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:10)
So I encourage everyone to be a seeker! Be a searcher. I know a pastor who has severe depression. That's not fun! If you like to suffer for no reason, that's depression. That's my definition of depression. If he has depression, how much does he know about the word of God? He knows it very superficially! It's not that I say he is superficial, depression has already proved that he is that kind of person. Why? Because he specifically brings some garbage into the church.
He even took one of my garbage over there! It's a couple. After he took them over, he even made them coworkers. As a result, he almost ruined his church. Can he not be depressed? He thought he had found a treasure, and I also thought he had found a treasure, but the church became more and more desolate, and later he became depressed. Do you know how we should build a church? We put the good things into the vessels and throw away the bad things; not put the bad things into the vessels and throw away the good things.
During the New Year, a brother among us was very interesting. He loved his former pastor very much. He said, Let me draw a card for him! As a result, he drew a sermon I gave, and the title of the sermon was God Regretted Making Saul King! I hope you don't draw such a card! As a result, our brother said, Is it so accurate? It's so accurate! It's too accurate.
So brothers and sisters, do you understand? If you are not serious about the word of God all day long and don't put in effort, how can you establish a system? Without a system, you will mess things up, and God will add the disasters written in this book to you. Didn't there be another car accident some time ago! There will be a car accident every once in a while. One day, a car accident may be the end. How can you stand frequent car accidents?
What is the Foundation?
The foundation is very important. What are we talking about when we establish a system without a foundation? The concepts mentioned earlier are all pillars and beams, so what is the foundation? What is the foundation of our church? Think about it:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24)
We hear the word of God and put it into practice, that is the foundation. Remember, Chinese Mingding Destiny opposes speculation. If you push it back and forth, isn't it still in your head! It counts when you do it! If you are a smart person, you go and do it. After doing it, you see that it is not right. If our understanding is not right, can it be right? Because when you do it, you find that it is not right, and later you know that we didn't understand it right. If we understand it right, the result of doing it will be right; if we understand it right, the result of doing it is the same as Jesus' result, isn't it like Jesus?
So you need to know that the foundation is: The wise man reads the word of God and puts it into practice, and then he will really understand. If you don't put it into practice, you will never be able to build a system. When the result is wrong, it means you don't understand. Some people say that they do the same as me, how can the result be different? Can it be the same? Building a church, I have gained the most benefits, far exceeding what I think and imagine. Because I build God's glorious church well, I have grown a lot. My understanding of the word of God in my mind is much more than when I was a Christian in those years, it is not the same at all.
Brothers and sisters must know: You have to put it into practice! If the concept is not clear, you can't put it into practice; if the concept is clear, you can put it into practice, and you can continue to strengthen our concept. Everyone should write down this sentence: When we understand the concept, and then do it, we will strengthen our understanding of the concept through practice. What I just said was all gradually developed from my past practice. This is the thinking of an engineer: It counts when you do it.
Some time ago, I went to a place. They knew that I had the ability to heal and deliver, but it is not right to only know that I have the ability to heal and deliver. They have to know that I have a whole set of Jesus Christ's logical system in my head. They brought a pastor with hydrocephalus to me, and I asked him, You are a big pastor of a big church, and I am a small, unknown pastor of a small church. Can you tell me how hydrocephalus came about? Actually, whether it is a big church or a small church, the important thing is whether God is with you and whether God's glory is there. I didn't tell him this directly.
This pastor told me that when he built the church, the cell group leaders were replaced every two or three years because they were all burned out. I asked him how they were burned out? He said that because they had to lead cell groups every week, come to the church for training, and come to the church on Sundays. Everyone, calculate this time. This is how they get burned out. I said, Pastor! Can I tell you something? Any ordinary member of our church spends more time than your cell group leaders, and they are not burned out. Do you all agree? It is far worse than our brothers and sisters. Everyone has to do some homework, take notes, and do homework, like a full-time coworker. The brothers and sisters in our church put in more effort than many full-time coworkers in many churches!
That pastor continued, You see! Every time I replace a cell group leader, I have to train a new one, and I have to be busy. I only rest one day a week! How can I not get this disease? I said, How many days do you want to rest? What kind of brain is this? It would be unfair to him if God didn't add a tumor or hydrocephalus to him. He still feels a little wronged and feels it is reasonable. I said, Pastor! You still rest one day a week! I haven't rested a single day from the age of twenty-eight to today, and I haven't gotten sick! I am still jumping around today and doing well. It has nothing to do with those things. People have a wrong understanding of God. In their hearts, they feel that serving God is a hard job, that's what is fatal.
Later, he got hydrocephalus, but he was not willing to repent. Of course, after I served him until his strength recovered, I gave him my contact information. I told him that this problem has not been resolved, and it will definitely continue to toss back and forth. He can contact me to continue to serve him. Later, he never contacted me again, maybe because my mouth is too harsh. I said this thing is a curse. What is it if it is not a curse? If you think it is a blessing, then ask for more, I don't want it.
Do we have a sense of excitement when we serve God? Is it an enjoyable thing? Can we see the glory of God? Are we willing to dedicate our lives to God? That's what I think. This is what I was born for, what I live for, and even what I die for. I want to serve God like this, and nothing, nothing can stop me. I know clearly that the things on earth will pass away, and only the word of God will last forever. I want to live out the glory of God according to the word of God, how good it is to live like Jesus! How good it is to live like the Apostle Paul! Rest when you are tired, and get up and continue to serve God. Because that is my life. Without serving God, where does my life come from!
Summary
Brothers and sisters, manage yourselves. Manage our time well; manage our feelings well; manage the renewal and innovation within us well; manage the knowledge system within us well; manage the feelings within us well; use our time to establish and understand God's logical system. I will use a passage from the Apostle Paul to encourage everyone:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. (Philippians 3:12-15)
This is not a light word! Today, are brothers and sisters willing to clean themselves up and manage themselves? It is not that we have already obtained it. If you think we have already been saved and are already perfect, then forget it! I am striving to pursue, or perhaps I can obtain Christ Jesus, so obtain me. Strive to pursue! Constantly know God, let the knowledge of knowing God fill the ocean like seawater. May God's glory fill us more and make us a blessing to all nations and peoples on this earth! Amen!
Discussion Questions
Why is it important to establish a system of faith? What happens if a Christian does not have a system of faith?
How to build a system of faith?
Deuteronomy 4:2 says that you must not add to or subtract from the word of God. What does it mean to add or subtract? After the Pentateuch, many books were written. Are those additions? Why or why not?
What is the key to management?
a. Building a knowledge system
b. Making the people below listen
c. Leaders lead by example and work hard
d. Getting along well with subordinates