Introduction

Good day, everyone. Let us delve into Exodus Chapter 38. The glory of God filling the temple, this is my lifelong aspiration. I was not present when God's glory filled the tabernacle built by Moses; nor was I there when God's glory filled the temple built by David and Solomon. This is my regret. Years ago, after attending a local church service, I was filled with confusion upon seeing the disparity between what was done and said and what was recorded in the Bible. I truly could not see the glory of God. But we are merely ordinary Christians, relegated to sitting and listening.

Thus, deep within my heart, there is a profound longing: O God, I yearn to witness Your glory! O God, I long to see Your glorious temple erected. I have harbored this desire for a long time and have been preparing myself. I have observed much slothfulness within the church, and what perplexes me most is the busyness of the pastors. Having previously served as a senior manager in a corporation, I understand that managers are to manage people and affairs effectively. Therefore, I find myself somewhat helpless when I observe the practices of these pastors.

What are these pastors busy with? Some are rehearsing for Christmas programs; others spend Friday and Saturday rehearsing for a mere half-hour of worship and praise on Sunday; some even quarrel over singers hitting the wrong notes. And I lament, this is such inefficient work! I am highly efficient in my work. For instance, novices require years of practice to perform on drums and guitars, but we bypass this by installing software on an iPhone, enabling instant use with a single press. This is far quicker than learning an instrument. Why do I do this? To save time, so we can engage in worthwhile endeavors. But they deem learning to play the drums as the most important thing in life.

In reality, many spend their entire lives busily engaged without achieving significant results. As we study Exodus Chapter 38, nearing Chapter 40, the glory of God is about to descend, yet there is no band, no drummer, no guitarist. The Israelites are preoccupied with lines, wood, curtains, bronze, gold, and silver – all engaged in construction. Three thousand five hundred years ago, one had to be skilled in casting and firing, melting bronze and silver. The Israelites were entirely occupied with construction in building the tabernacle.

Today, as we build a glorious temple, we too are engaged in construction, such as: software engineering, servers, data centers, computers, tracing the origin of every click, writing software, and training people. I contemplate: O God, may Your glory fill us! With increasing hope, we anticipate God's glory filling the cloud, utilizing cloud computing. Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not fear or worry. I will certainly train everyone to be skilled and dexterous. One day, like in Exodus Chapter 40, a multitude of skilled and dexterous individuals will build the tabernacle together, allowing God's glory to fill us.

In fact, today, if we look closely, we can also see God's glory. How wonderful it is to be filled with hope! It is my sincere hope that God will be among us, enabling our brothers and sisters to not only become intelligent but also skilled artisans, grounded in their work. I truly do not wish for anyone to become someone who speaks of ethereal matters, standing amidst a pile of gold, bronze, and silver, and with a mere breath, conjures bronze bases, silver bases, mortises, and tenons. If I were to rely on such individuals, I would rather not! I would prefer that they perform a somersault and travel one hundred and eight thousand miles to the West, far away from me.

What we must do is enable every brother and sister to become intelligent and grounded. To create mortises one by one, tenons one by one, to write code line by line, becoming intelligent in the process – how wonderful that would be! Later, I discovered that making people intelligent is God's good intention! I particularly detest lazy Christians. I detest all lazy individuals. When people are lazy, they become dull; when they are dull, they perceive the work as overwhelming; when they perceive the work as overwhelming, they become unwilling to work, becoming even lazier and dumber. Such individuals are a mortise, a tenon, one called laziness, and the other called dullness, and when assembled together, they are particularly secure.

What is the inevitable path to our sanctification? You must understand that the previous two chapters discussed the construction of an exquisite tabernacle and the creation of noble and glorious vessels. But how do we reach that stage? Christians must diligently read the Bible. In fact, I believe you should diligently read "Journey to the West," for even the monkey in "Journey to the West" is more diligent than you! It is difficult for us to comprehend why it is so difficult for Sun Wukong to travel to India with a single somersault. Why must he endure eighty-one tribulations, crossing rivers and mountains, encountering various demons and countries? It is so tedious!

I pondered: Is the Buddha of "Journey to the West" so foolish that he could not have Sun Wukong retrieve the scriptures for his master with a single somersault, and then return to the Tang Dynasty? But that is not how the story is written. It is not that they are foolish, but that we do not fully understand! We must understand that this is the inevitable path to sanctification. Even Sun Wukong understands this and does not find it troublesome. It is Pigsy who finds it troublesome. So, brothers and sisters, are you Pigsy or the Great Sage?

Therefore, those among us who are lazy must readjust. If you are lazy among us, you will be disciplined. If you are disciplined by me, it is still manageable, but if you are disciplined by God, you are in trouble! All the cancer patients I have ministered to exhibit laziness. They are exceedingly lazy. When assigned tasks, they perceive them as overwhelming! But the tasks are not that numerous! It is merely laziness! If I encounter such individuals again, I will call them Pigsy!

The golden lampstand, table, and altar of incense in the Most Holy Place are all made of gold, which is excellent, but we must reach that place first. If we are still loitering outside the courtyard, that is problematic! We must know that the Bible reveals many spiritual truths. In fact, we should at least surpass Sun Wukong. Surely we can do that. Sun Wukong has an urgent pursuit of eternal life, but we Christians are as lazy as Pigsy, which is unacceptable!

The Attitude of Offering

Christians must begin with the offering of money. The offering of money is very important! If you value money too much, you should not enter this gate, for you cannot enter, because the offering of money is very important on this path to eternal life that we are walking.

All the gold that was used for the work in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, 603,550 men. The 100 talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; 100 bases for the 100 talents, a talent for a base. And from the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. The bronze that was contributed was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. (Exodus 38:24-29)

The total amount of gold, silver, and bronze offered is approximately two tons. It is not that these items are worthless; they are all genuine gold and silver. It is not merely wool; the materials used are many valuable items. What is constructed is called the tabernacle, and the tabernacle has the presence of God. So why build this? To allow us to see a shadow of a Christian's path to sanctification. Therefore, we need to adjust our mindset regarding offering.

It is not that money is unimportant to us, but that God is more important to us. Selfish individuals cannot walk this path. I call selfishness a poverty mentality. If one has a poverty mentality, one cannot become wealthy by relying on God. If you have a mindset of offering, this is called needing God's presence. Brothers and sisters must know that when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away much gold and silver from the Egyptians. At that time, every Egyptian household had lost someone. Suddenly, the most important person in the family died, the pillar of the family died, and the hearts of the living collapsed. In their despair, they would give anything.

Of course, I am not teaching you how to make money; I am analyzing this event. At that time, money was particularly easy to earn. People were dying, thinking of preparing a better urn for them. They would give as much money as you asked for. If you asked for ten thousand, they would give ten thousand; if you asked for three thousand, they would give three thousand. For a wooden box costing tens or hundreds of dollars, they would give as much as you asked for, because people were dying. In a few days, the Egyptians' grief would pass, and they would remember that the gold and silver had been taken away. Who gave it? God gave it. So, do you rely on God or on gold and silver? If someone dies in our family and others come to extort money, we cannot control life and death, but we must not be extorted and must not be saddened. When they come to your house, rummaging through boxes and taking whatever they want, that would be terrible! It would be too late when you wake up.

Therefore, brothers and sisters must know that God has a desire that we do not have a poverty mentality. A poverty mentality is terrible. By offering these gold and silver, God can immediately transform them into mortises, nails, hooks, and everything else with a breath. In Genesis, God said, "Let there be," and there was. But why does He not say that at this time? In fact, it is Bezalel and Oholiab, these skilled craftsmen, who do the work. This gives us a great revelation that in addition to having a mindset of offering, we must also have a steadfast commitment to doing things. Bezalel and Oholiab certainly did not take shortcuts. They were sculptors and craftsmen. They did the work correctly, not hastily. Sculptors and craftsmen, as long as they are craftsmen, are very skilled.

Cultivate the Habit of Being Grounded

Some people ask: Why are there so many lazy Christians? Because they are not Oholiab or Bezalel, they do not like to do things in a grounded manner, they just like these things to suddenly appear. In fact, that thing that appears has nothing to do with you. Bezalel and Oholiab are all about one knife, one axe, one hammer; making tenons, making mortises, making hooks, making everything else, all carved out one by one. Why are skilled artisans so powerful? They are powerful because their minds work well in the process of doing. In fact, God lets us do these things, not to let us take shortcuts, but to train our minds to be sharp.

Christians like to be healed with a touch when they are sick. If they are not healed, they do not want to persevere. Similarly, when it comes to learning, they want to learn everything at once, always wanting to take shortcuts. I hate this kind of person the most. I am now studying how to pastor and train lazy people. Lazy people do not enjoy doing things, doing things is difficult, and as they do, they become reluctant to do things right, always eager for quick success.

Some lazy people are thinking about someone sending him a message: If you invest one thousand in this project, you can get back one thousand and two hundred the next day; if you invest three thousand more, you can get back three thousand and six hundred; if you invest five hundred thousand, you can get back six hundred thousand. How come these people do not think about whether the five hundred thousand invested can be returned? The result is that just after investing five thousand, 110 calls, and you are scammed! Lazy people think about speed, if it is not fast, they will not do it.

Bezalel and Oholiab both understand and clarify things one by one. So, people must not develop the habit of taking shortcuts and being lazy, always wanting to solve problems quickly, and not wanting to spend effort. In the Bible, we see Bezalel and Oholiab, they are all about embroidering stitch by stitch, weaving thread by thread. Everyone must come out of the bad habit of laziness, and do things one by one.

Someone opens a spicy hot pot shop, and now this new retail is a combination of online and offline, and the online retail must take good photos and short videos. She set the standard very high, but her ability is very poor, and she cannot reach the standard, so she simply does not do it. In the blink of an eye, two years have passed, and she is still standing still and doing poorly. Later, her pastor taught her to adjust her mentality and not always think about getting it right all at once. Her pastor taught her how to do online retail, how to take photos of finished products, how to find angles to shoot videos and photos. In fact, this is not difficult, doing it in a grounded manner, the progress is not slow, doing it without touching the ground, it will not be fast. See Bezalel and Oholiab not blowing air there, nor praying in tongues there, but doing it in a grounded manner. So, brothers and sisters, learn to develop the habit of doing things in a grounded manner.

The Gate to the Courtyard

The sanctuary made by God has a courtyard, and you have to enter this gate of the courtyard, you cannot just stroll in casually. When you enter this place, you have to enter this gate, and that gate has a curtain, and there are curtains all around. So you cannot climb over the wall, nor can you ride the wall, you have to enter this gate. All those who do not enter through this gate are thieves, are they not thieves if they do not go through the main gate?

Before entering this courtyard, if you are a lazy person, you cannot enter this courtyard. You say, where does the Bible say that lazy people cannot enter? If you read the Book of Proverbs with me, you will know that God hates lazy people! In fact, you have to enter this courtyard, you have to go through a laver, and also go through a burnt offering altar, and then come to the gate of the sanctuary; after entering the sanctuary, there is also a golden altar of incense, and a table made of acacia wood, and then there is a golden lampstand, and you have to operate the lamp, and then you can enter the Most Holy Place once a year.

This thing has to be done this way, you have to accept Jesus Christ, accept God, and then you can enter that courtyard, otherwise you will be outside the courtyard. When you enter the gate of the courtyard, do not mess around, some people say: This is so troublesome, set up a slingshot in the far distance, pull the rubber band hard, how creative! Then I sit in the pocket of the slingshot, and I am shot to the Most Holy Place. When you are shot to the Most Holy Place, you are bounced out with a bang, you enter the Most Holy Place quickly, but you die quickly too! When you come back, you find that you are charred and have a burnt smell.

That place cannot be entered like this, brothers and sisters, it is not like some of our Christians say, I have been saved by grace. When we walk this inevitable path to sanctification, the gate of the courtyard is not easy to enter! The Bible has long told us that in the last days, people will ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the house of the God of Jacob, I am saying this to make everyone listen to it as fun. But until now, no one dares to make this slingshot, yes, it can be shot out, but whether it can come back is not known.

So we have to know that this is the inevitable path to sanctification that God has prepared for us! I know you have that heart, wanting to become a holy, noble, and glorious vessel, but you have to be grounded, do not rush, and move forward step by step. When you enter the courtyard, wash yourself clean; after washing yourself clean, when you arrive at the burnt offering altar, you have to offer sacrifices; after offering sacrifices, you have to have the office of a priest to enter the sanctuary; and in the sanctuary, you can only enter the Most Holy Place once a year. That is such a solemn thing.

Later, fire came out from the Lord and burned Aaron's two sons to death because they offered strange fire. In Leviticus and Numbers, there are records of Aaron's sons dying. So we cannot make our own set, we do what God says. Chinese Mingding Destiny speaks of being grounded, clarifying things one by one, and inching forward little by little, do not take shortcuts.

Some people say: Teacher, I have been in Chinese Mingding for so long, why am I still distinguishing good from evil? I also want to ask you, why are you still like this? After a sister distinguished good from evil with her husband, she came to me with this saying. What does she mean? I did not teach you well, I am very guilty, I am very sad. I said: Why do you not want to deal with it little by little in a grounded manner? The road is walked this way, maybe you are still at the foot of the mountain, and have not climbed this mountain yet. Who are you asking? I think you should ask yourself well.

We have to learn, the journey is very long. Sun Wukong knows that he has to go through eighty-one tribulations, how can the road to sanctification be so easy? The Bodhisattva that Sun Wukong believes in is fake, but the Jesus we believe in is the true God. We must know that this thing has to be done step by step, even if you enter the courtyard, you still have to solve problems.

I have a hope, I wish that brothers and sisters can learn to study in a grounded manner, and move forward in a grounded manner. If you have not learned elementary one well, you start to learn elementary two; if you are still confused about elementary two, you start to learn elementary three; you are so confused until elementary six, and middle one, all become a mess. In the blink of an eye, you are in your thirties, and you remember that you did not read elementary one well, you did not read middle one well, you did not read college one well, and you are confused for a lifetime. This is not a Christian? It is confused, you should go and worship Huli Hutu. Can we be grounded? Do not be afraid of being slow, no longer confused, just afraid of being confused day after day, confused year after year, in the blink of an eye ten years have passed, and in the blink of an eye another ten years, and you are so confused and old, and you just live like this, anyway, many people live like this.

Cleansing Oneself

As God's people, we must not be ignorant. Therefore, upon entering the courtyard, we must cleanse ourselves with water. God desires us to be holy. If we cannot even manage cleansing, how can we speak of holiness? Know that you must cleanse yourself, and you will find that to cleanse oneself, one must cleanse one's thoughts and intentions, removing all lazy concepts. It's not difficult to achieve; with God, how could it be difficult?

If you interact with me, you will find that I am a very disciplined person. In engineering, I adhere to engineering regulations; I never skip steps, understanding each matter thoroughly. When I began building the church, I was also very disciplined, learning little by little until today. Looking back now, many pastors are always in a hurry. Many pastors started building churches before me, always rushing, wanting to build quickly. As a result, ten years passed, and they remained stagnant; another ten years passed, and they were still stagnant. You might say they didn't really remain stagnant, they did do a little, but it was arduous. Walking the right path is arduous, walking the path of sanctification is arduous, but not walking the path of sanctification is even more arduous. It is troublesome to painstakingly enter a temple that is not God's temple.

Offering Burnt Offerings

Arriving at the altar for burnt offerings, I read it in reverse, from back to front. I discovered that this is how it is: during construction, it starts from the Holy of Holies, then the Holy Place, then the Tabernacle, the courtyard, and finally the outer altar of burnt offerings and the laver. But when you walk inward, you walk in reverse, coming from afar. Therefore, brothers and sisters, starting today, be grounded. Our God requires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Do we worship our God with spirit and in truth?

Brothers and sisters, starting now, be grounded. If you didn't learn primary one well, make it up today; if you didn't learn primary two well, make it up today. As you make it up, you will make up for all the debts you owed in the past. You might say, "That's too slow." I tell you, that's not slow, that's fast. You say, "No, I want to be faster." That's it, there is no root, no foundation, and then as you build, it collapses. Chinese Mingding Destiny never believes in magic. Instantly killing demons is not the best pursuit; the best pursuit is to walk this path of sanctification, and this path of sanctification lies in removing our sins.

In the past, Israelites came to the altar of burnt offerings to offer cattle and sheep as sacrifices for sin. Today, we offer ourselves, cleanse ourselves, and present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. A burnt offering is a complete dedication, without reservation. Only after offering a burnt offering can one enter the Holy Place. If you still retain something of yourself, reserving yourself, that is not offering a burnt offering. Offering a burnt offering is offering oneself without reservation, entering the Holy Place, becoming a vessel of honor and glory, and then being qualified to enter the Holy of Holies for complete communion with God.

Conclusion

Israel is the army of Jehovah God, and the army of Jehovah God most needs the path of sanctification. The path to victory for the army of Jehovah God is the path of sanctification. If you want to come among us and become a victorious people, you must walk this path. I cannot walk it for you, nor can you walk it for me. Coming to our victorious church does not mean you can avoid these paths; we must all move forward. This is your responsibility.

When you completely offer yourself, the god of this world has nothing in you. You trample on the devil and the enemy, plunder the enemy, and you can be victorious. How wonderful that is. Prepare yourselves and see the glory of God descend. May God bless everyone!