I. Introduction

Good day to all! Today, I will be addressing a topic that I particularly enjoy discussing. Why do I relish it? Because I am such a person. Joy is good, isn't it? What could be better than joy? Many do not realise that joy is a valuable asset. Joy, even with money, you may not necessarily be able to acquire it. Joy is indeed precious. While joy is valuable, it is nonetheless free. One does not really need money to purchase it. Anyone using money to buy it is truly foolish. Previously, we discussed vessels of wrath displaying God's anger. Today, let us switch to a different topic: Chinese Mingding Destiny Series 1: Joy.

Some time ago, I convened our pastors, instructing them to actively promote the character of Chinese Mingding Destiny. I am uncertain of their progress. I began to feel a sense of concern. What was I worried about? I worried that in promoting the character of Chinese Mingding Destiny, everyone would be all about persistence! Absolute persistence! Endurance! Utter endurance! Then I see their faces contorted, looking anguished. Teacher, I cannot hold on any longer! Teacher, I can barely endure it! Then there are those who shout, Persist! Keep going! Keep up! Ah, I cannot, I cannot. Is that the case? Upon reflection, if that is indeed so, then I must apologise, things have been completely misunderstood. No matter, let us correct it. Correct it to what? Correct it to joy. Good? Is joy foolish? Of course, joy is good. Yet it is difficult for people to embrace joy. This challenge has been around since the creation of mankind. Today, I will resolve it in theory, but practical implementation requires everyone's cooperation.

A few days prior, I inquired of my colleagues, Next, I intend to discuss the Chinese Mingding Destiny character series. What do you think is the most important Chinese Mingding Destiny character? Everyone looked at each other, afraid of giving the wrong answer. I said, It is alright, mistakes are acceptable. Some suggested, Teacher, is it to never give up? No. Then is it to never look back? I looked at them without reaction. I told them, Guess again. After several guesses, no one seemed to guess correctly. Because recently, I had provided them with a clue. What clue was it? All I was doing was relating to 《Tao Te Ching》, 《Lao Tzu》. Actually, I want to tell you, the most important character of Chinese Mingding Destiny is joy! One cannot truly achieve joy without wisdom. This is the most advanced and sophisticated aspect of our Chinese Mingding Destiny.

Some people are not joyful when they are not playing, and are still not joyful after playing. What kind of mind is that? Playing video games since childhood, yet still playing them terribly. Then when they attend school and study, every part of them aches except their hair. So uncomfortable! Yet they have to go to school every day, feeling miserable. I think this is truly dreadful. Some people suffer whilst working. Doing work feels like slaughtering a pig. This is not to say they are working as a butcher, but that they are like the pig being slaughtered, screaming in agony! They anticipate the end of the day when they can finally knock off and run home. Yet even at home, they are still not pleased. Or, they eagerly await holidays, hoping to buy plane tickets. But they are unavailable. Why? The pandemic. You can only go for nucleic acid tests, not buy tickets to go on trips. The agony of staying cooped up! Outings and spending money. With great effort, they spend a lot of money to acquire a bit of joy, yet that joy vanishes in an instant. How is this not hardship? Unhappy at school, unhappy at work, spending their entire lives longing to not be unhappy, only to be met with unhappiness. I think you might as well change your name. If your surname is Lee, I'll name you Lee Unhappy; if your surname is Wang, I'll name you Wang Unhappy. Western names are more meaningful. You would be King Unhappy! Not joyful!

Why are people not joyful? Later, I understood. I would change my name. I would not be called Unhappy; I would be called Joy. Later, I realised that changing my name was of no use either. I slowly came to realise that, especially amongst us, those named Joy are the least joyful. How strange! Why are they named Joy? Because they desperately want to be joyful. They are people who are not joyful, so they name themselves Joy. Or, they wish to be like David, so they name themselves David, but they are not quite David. Desiring to be like Hannah, but in truth, not Hannah, so they name themselves Hannah. All beautiful hopes are placed in the name! If placing hopes in names worked, then we would name ourselves willy-nilly, how simple that would be. But it is not the case, you are still who you are. After changing your name, you are still the same. One cannot be joyful without some wisdom, it is not so easily acquired. Packaging is useless.

After seeing many such cases, I thought that I should engage in research. I would start a project, apply for funding, and study how people can live joyfully. Ah, I thought, this topic is excellent. This topic should be called life science. Later, I looked online and found that life science was already taken, used for the study of cells, biology, genes, etc. They call that life science. I said that is not life science at all. My stuff is life science. This matter never found another name. I wanted to study the science of how to make people joyful; that is what is truly life science.

So, I have not been idle these past few years. Although no one sponsored me, and there was no funding—what money does one need to study joy—I have been studying joy all this while. Later, I discovered that the most important thing in a person's life is this feeling of joy. If I am joyful from birth till death, ah, a joyful life! If one is filled with worry and suffering from birth to death, a life of worry and suffering it is. Added with much pain and illness, alas! Later, I realized what it means to live well. To live joyfully is to live well! How can one achieve joy? That is worthy of a Nobel Prize. But if they do not award me this Nobel Prize, do you think I will be concerned? Of course not. I specialise in the study of this matter. How could I be concerned?

I have been joyful since childhood. Later, I discovered that I am rather suited to research this. Did you know I have been joyful since childhood? Later, my mother often told me, Since you were born, you never cried nor made trouble. Everyone loved to see you smile and be happy. I was born with my destiny! What is my destiny? My destiny is to study life science, to study destiny science, to study joy. How great it is to study joy! Later, my mother said, Your sister carried you and tripped, dropping you into a muddy pit, yet you did not cry. We just picked you up and wiped you clean. Sometimes you fell off the bed, but you did not cry. This child does not like to cry. It is very good. I thought that this was created by God. No one taught me from birth. No one taught me joy; I was the one teaching others. I really know how to live.

What shall I do now? Now, I will introduce my way of living to everyone. How good is this way of living! I was troubled as to how to present it to everyone. After much consideration, have you noticed that you get a little bit of that feeling? No matter if I meet you in person or online, as you listen, you become joyful. Later, I discovered that many people tell me this. If you find that this is the case, you would say, This fellow is pretty good. How is it that I become happy as he speaks? That is right; I specialise in studying this stuff. It is what I do; it is my bread and butter. Later, I discovered that this is great! I feel that this is such a good way to live an entire lifetime. Later, I told people one sentence, I said, to make me unhappy, to rob me of the joy within me, you can win a Nobel Prize if you can do that.

I feel that my employees are truly blessed to work with me. Consider encountering a boss who specialises in making them joyful and pays a decent salary. Meeting a boss who specializes in the study of joy, constantly making the employees joyful, where can you find this? My dream is not to earn money. After hearing this, some people may think, what is this? Is he starting to show off? This is not showing off. My dream is not to earn money; my dream is to earn joy. Alright, this is too good.

When you come to me, I think that when I preach again, I should preach like a stand-up comedian, a solo crosstalk performer. Look, aren't there many people lining up outside, waiting to be my employees? But there are not so many openings. I can only say I am sorry! Line up there, and learn joy while lining up. It is not acceptable to not know joy. How can you pass the probation period if you do not know joy? You cannot even pass the interview! Not joyful, with a dark look the whole day, are you spreading the gospel of a dark countenance? I do not need to play the dark face. There are many people in this world who like to make trouble out of nothing. What kind of people are these? They do not live the days of joy well, always able to find things to be unhappy about. Have I hit the mark? You must admit it! I find these people quite interesting.

I once encountered a person who was unhappy when they scored sixty marks. I asked him, Why are you unhappy? He said, Only sixty marks, why not seventy? Later, when he got seventy marks, he was still unhappy. I asked him, Why are you still unhappy? He said, Why not eighty? I said, Then let us aim for eighty! Later, when he reached eighty, he was still unhappy! I asked, Why are you still unhappy? He said, Why not ninety? Alas! I really wanted to punch him. Later, when he actually got ninety, he was still unhappy! I said, What is wrong with your mind? He said, Why not ninety-eight? I said, You must have the fate for ninety-eight! Later, when he actually got ninety-eight, he said, Why did I lose those two points? I said, is this not making trouble out of nothing? It is easy to be unhappy! Just do it this way, do it to the death, you fool!

I have also seen people with food and drink, houses and cars, still liking to make trouble out of nothing, liking to quarrel. Today, I will give my research results to everyone for free; everyone take it and use them well. The most important thing in life is joy. To be joyful in your toil is what pleases God. God gives wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him. Whatever is outside this pleases God less, inviting His wrath. Those without wisdom, knowledge, or joy, always making trouble out of nothing, are outside of this. That is what God dislikes, inviting His wrath. If you suddenly discover that you are inviting God's wrath, who can you reason with? I advise everyone, the only thing you can do is to start changing from now on, be a wise, knowledgeable person who pleases God, and God will give you joy. Joy and happiness are so good!

Some people must buy tickets to the Deyun She performances. The tickets are quite expensive, also divided into different classes. Then they go in to listen to crosstalk. Why does Guo Degang and Deyun She earn so much money? Because there are many unhappy people in this world! How do unhappy people find happiness? Either go to the Liu Laogen Grand Stage or go to Deyun She to listen to crosstalk. They laugh and return home to continue their life of sorrow. Alas, I am thinking I should also set up some sort of society, a joy society? I wonder, can people become joyful? Joy is not built upon what you own. To be joyful only when you own something is not called joy. Actually, you are still not joyful after owning it. I find some people are like this. They worry once they buy a house. Why is it a small house? Later, they changed to a big house, but I still did not see him being joyful! People are quite interesting.

I saw a joke: a person was riding a two-wheeled bicycle, pedalling with all his might, sweating profusely. Later, he saw a person riding a motorcycle next to him. That thing starts with just a spark, ah, he was incredibly envious. Later, he actually bought one. After buying it, he saw people driving small cars. Look, our vehicle has no awning, exposed to the wind and sun, with no air conditioning. Later, he bought a four-wheeled vehicle with an awning and air conditioning. Later, he saw people driving a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW. What kind of mind is this? So, it is possible to be happy with what one has or does not have. That is what a clever person does. Living happily throughout their lives, doing things happily, learning happily, those who are always troubled get annoyed when they see you. What kind of person are these? Riding a two-wheeled bicycle without electricity or fuel, just very environmentally friendly, why are you so happy? Why cannot I be happy? I ask everyone, which is better, doing things happily or doing things in worry and anguish? Of course, it is better to do it happily.

In a person's life, they start schooling and learning after they stop breastfeeding. After deducting work, study, and sleep time, there is not much time left in their life. Then most of time learning or working are unhappy. What does that mean? Dreaming nightmares even when asleep, waking up still upset because they dreamt that their girlfriend eloped. They ended up with mental illness. So tragic, suffering even in dreams! I have a characteristic. Did you know? I enjoyed studying when I was in school. How do you reason with that? Why not study happily? After I started working, I liked to work happily. Do you think that I would not be happy in my life? Later, I discovered that this pleases God.

II. Scripture

To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

III. Prayer

God! Give us wisdom and intelligence today, let us know Your good will for us, and let us be wise people before You, people who please You. God! Our life is just to please You. May You give us wisdom, give us knowledge, give us joy! You are the God of our joy, when we come before You, we will be full of joy. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke all ignorance. May all foolishness depart completely! In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke all suffering to leave me. I choose to be someone who pleases God, a joyful person! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

IV. The Background of This Scripture

The background of this scripture is very interesting to discuss! There was a man called Solomon, who had many resources. God used all of Solomon’s resources to do an experiment. What kind of experiment did he do? It was on joy and enjoyment! It’s good that he did this experiment but don’t feel bad when you see the results, because God gave him a lot and they were what you possibly dreamed of. God selected Solomon to do an amazing experiment. He drank the best wines and ate the best meats. Doesn’t it sound amazing? Unlike me, I can only afford to drink Erguotou, at most a bottle of Jiangxiaobai. Then a can of beer, a plate of peanuts, that would be satisfying. But Solomon’s experiment was different, he drank the best wines, using the wine to make the body comfortable. He has the resources and the money!

The second thing was that he built the big houses, planted vineyards, planted all kinds of fruit trees. In Singapore, owning a landed property with a yard of 10 meters in front and behind is an astronomical number. Solomon built these gardens, planted these fruits, and he had irrigation because he had the resources. He was the king, so it all counted, the land licenses were issued by him and the houses he built was beautiful! Doesn’t it sounds like what you all dreamed of? After seeing this, do you envy it? Don’t envy it, why would I? Does that count as joy? Then he bought a lot of servants, so many servants, what did he use them for? They also gave birth to servants at home. Oh my, that’s quite impressive! Some were in charge to massage legs, some to massage the head and some to massage the waist. It was so comfortable. Unlike now, we cannot afford it, only buying the electrical one. He also had a lot of cattle and flock of sheep. No one can count them, wow! Who wouldn’t envy them? Driving Lamborghini, stepping on the accelerator, the whole street could hear. He also painted it with a gem blue, so shiny. He saved a lot of gold and silver in his warehouse, that he could not spend in his lifetime. Who are you going to leave them to?

The most amazing thing was that he had a lot of male and female singers. The best singers would go to his house and sing, and they were the original singers. All he had to do was called and they would come. There were also a lot of brothers and sisters, but I don’t envy him. I don’t have the strength. Solomon had a lot of concubines. Take a look at what experiments he did. Why did God choose him? Do not be anxious. After seeing Solomon's study results you realized that it was actually meaninglessness! Does someone say they should send some Liuwei Dihuang Pills to Solomon to replenish his kidneys? My meaning is that, Solomon did not deny anything that he can see in his eyes, and he allowed himself to enjoy anything that gave him pleasure in my heart. He could do anything that he want, just that he did not have the stamina; he could eat anything that he want, just that he may not have a big enough stomach for it; he can see whatever he wanted to see, it was just so cool.

As a result it was pointless! After all the experiments it was meaningless. So his conclusion, everything was meaningless and it was like chasing after the wind. He had a lot of concubines, servants and houses. But how he will manage them? Then he had to study. And after everything, he was hopeless because he discovered everything was meaningless. Oh, this is the point of this section. It is pointless because he realized everything was so trivial. Then he started to ponder which was better, to be wise or be foolish. Discovering he was troubled, he hated the life. He had so many concubines and he does not have enough strength, there was so much good foods and he can’t eat. Let talk about myself, I can only eat a cheap of bowl of noodles, I will feel sick if I eat too much. Sometimes, others come to me and I need to host them. And after I host them, I suffer myself in turns. I do not have the appetite and I envy those that have big appetite. Since they came from afar, I can't bear not to host them.

In the end, Solomon began to hate life, you feel that it is strange, then all these things under the sun is a burden. Managing two is enough, how is one to manage hundreds of them? Solomon then hated his labor! All the effort he spent making houses, gardens, all these things will belong to others in the end and he does not know who they will belong to. In the very depths of despair! Can you understand this despair?

Thinking that everything that he has worked for to be gone and to be with a stupid people is like he has worked for nothing! What can I get! Experiments revealed that there was no meaning to them. In the end, it will just come down to joy, why make things difficult? I can find joy even without these things. Later, he discovered that joy has nothing to do with these things, so what else is there to do?

People should find joy in working, that is it. God is pleased with who and He will give them wisdom, knowledge and joy. But sinful people are made to work and it is laborious. The person who seeks all that is laborious. I am very good at observing this through the different things people look up to!

A sister was terminally ill, but after praying, she was healed and lived. However, things became more complicated. It was simpler when she was dying, but now that she's alive, it's more complex. Living requires money, and if she can't earn it, she needs to marry. After marriage, she needs to have children, and then another. It becomes increasingly complicated... Let's take it slow; that's how people are in this world. The problem is that they cry and feel conflicted. I have to do ideological work and apply my research findings to her situation.

## V. Joy as a Key Indicator of Life

The previous experimental results show that joy is actually a simple thing. There's no need to make a big detour and make it so complicated and tangled, which only leads to despair. Joy is joy; how difficult is that? If you open a joy bank account, open it with me, and I'll top it up if you don't have enough. **Don't get it backwards; we don't need money as much as we need joy.** Money brings a lot of conflict and competition, leading to arguments, especially with your husband. If he has an ex-wife and children, oh boy! If he has four wives, like that gambling tycoon, the household will be a mess. Don't get it backwards; **joy is a key indicator of life, but it doesn't need much money; joy is simple.**

**Indeed, God made mankind upright, but men have sought out many devices. These devices have robbed them of joy.** Powerful, isn't it? I can't do that. I'm Peter the Great, conquering east and west. To the west, I go to Western Europe, to the east, I go to East Asia. In the end, I'm exhausted! I can handle joy, but I can't handle that. But many people envy that life, which is full of infighting. Constantly arguing and fighting. So, brothers and sisters, we must know that we Chinese are quite wise; we are not particularly combative. Why? Many years ago, there was a Laozi who made it clear. Many years later, Wang Yangming also made it clear: be happy. Joy is the essence of wisdom; joy is key. Foolish people like to be unhappy. They can always find reasons to be unhappy, acting like fighting cocks. Strange? Yes, it is. Does this describe you? Yes, it does.

Ponder my words. Understand that joy is a key indicator of life. Why? Isn't it enough to be joyful while learning? If someone gets first place, why compete with them? Be happy that they scored higher than you. If you can't be happy, what do you want to do? Can they control whether you're unhappy? They scored high, and you scored low. You always like to be unhappy. Why? You can live with that score or without that score. Eventually, you'll realize that having that score doesn't make much of a difference.

You know, those of us who went to the science and technology university's gifted youth program in those years, what happened later? Nothing much happened. Many didn't amount to much. Some are upset because they can't beat others in video games; others are upset because they can't outlearn others. Someone is number one in Hong Kong, and you're last, so you're upset. What are you doing? The problem is the world invented a word called involution. You just get caught up in it. After you're caught up, you feel bad. Why?

Why did I study well? I wasn't miserable; I was happy. Why be miserable? I'll work slowly in the back; I'm not in a hurry. Joy is a key indicator of life, and I've understood this since I was young. How did you understand it since you were young? Isn't that the grace of God? It's not too late for you to understand it today. Why do people have money? They're doing well. **Why are you not doing well? You're always competing with others, and getting caught up in involution. How can you succeed if your brain doesn't work? If you don't understand today, you really need to learn some *Tao Te Ching*.** Even if you want to be joyful, but don't know how, I'm telling you today. Be joyful in learning and working. This is God's will!

## VI. Joy in Learning and Work

I'm telling you, the only time that truly counts in a person's life is spent working and learning. When you get Alzheimer's, you won't know anything. So, forget about it. The majority of a person's life is spent working and learning. Basically, a person's education includes pre-school, elementary school, junior high, high school, plus two years of early childhood education, totaling fourteen years. Add four years of college, making eighteen years, plus two or three years of graduate school, totaling twenty years. These twenty years, the most beautiful years of your life, are spent learning.

Then, after graduating from college or graduate school, you start working. You realize you don't know many things, so you have to learn, you have to organize, you have to work. It's all about learning and working, working and learning. Then you become unhappy; isn't that brainless? I'm telling you, where does a person's wisdom come from? It doesn't come from sitting cross-legged, hands clasped, eyes closed, chanting Ma de, ma de, and then knowing nothing. It doesn't come that way. Wisdom and knowledge come from working and learning.

So, today, I give you a suggestion: why do we learn so many useless things? We should learn useful things. So, my entire educational philosophy is to learn useful things. If you're learning useless things, I'll learn useful things. Ten or twenty years later, let's compare; there's no comparison. Because I'm learning useful things. You know if you're learning right or wrong as soon as you use it.

If a person is joyful while learning and working, they will be joyful most of the time. How can you be joyful while working and learning? Actually, the reason is simple: because when you're joyful, you can learn well; when you're joyful, you can do your work well; because when you're joyful, you can learn well. That's why I'm so outstanding! Why am I so outstanding? Because I don't compare myself to others, and I don't get caught up in involution. When others do well, I thank God. Even when I didn't know God, I still thanked God. There's no use in competing and comparing.

**A person's life is mainly spent learning and working, so just focus on doing things well. There's no need to be miserable; misery definitely prevents you from doing things well.** So some people don't know that someone recently passed away, an old man who lived to be over ninety years old. He was Ren Zhengfei's teacher, Kazuo Inamori. He wrote several books, one of which is called *How to Live*. This person is very impressive. But then I found out someone gave him a nickname: Southeast Asian Vol-King.

I thought, what kind of brain is this? They call him Vol-King. He hasn't involuted anyone; he's just involuted others. Why? He's good at everything. Why? He has wisdom and intelligence. He's joyful. He does things happily. Unlike today's millennials, who find working very difficult. Of course, I can't generalize. They give people nicknames like Vol-King. Is he involuting you? He's really doing his job well; he enjoys working. But they give him a nickname: called PUA (Psychological Abuse).

Controlling people mentally. Controlling what? Brainwashing you? Letting you learn to live, letting you live clearly. Is that so difficult? If that's PUA, you really need PUA. How dirty is your brain if you don't wash it! How dirty? Dirty to the point of being unhappy. You can't do anything well, except eat. Doesn't it need to be washed? Your brain really needs to be washed. So, brothers and sisters, you need to know why I agree with this? Because it's a key thing for a person to be joyful.

Except for the days of senility, people spend their whole lives learning and working. So, before the days of our decline come, let us remember our Creator. Let us live joyfully. So, don't be happy when you're traveling, and miserable when you're back at work. That's such a low level! Happy eating, drinking, and playing, but miserable working. Isn't that too low? So, we need to avoid some traps of unhappiness. Don't get caught up in other words, involution of the people you are with.

Know that what Solomon concluded after his experiments had little to do with money. Actually, after you're joyful, money will be lining up at your door. Don't compete in that. **You work for joy. You don't work for the money. Don't get the goal wrong. You work for the joy of working. You learn for the joy of learning; this is our portion from God.**

Don't compete; don't make trouble. So, I think it's foolish to think that you'll be happy only after you possess something. Listen to my advice: **It's not that I'm happy because I possess something, but that I possess something because I'm happy.** Happily working to solve people's problems, how can you not have money? You know I like to solve problems. I solve problems every day, racking my brains to find problems. When I finally find a problem, I have a chance to be joyful. Solving one person's problem makes me joyful. Solving problems every day, aren't you joyful every day? Eating, drinking, and playing, I don't think that's very interesting.

## VII. Only Those Pleasing to God Can Obtain This

So, know today that I'm writing this book of Ecclesiastes study. I'm calling it *Recognizing the Vanity of Life*. Because this and that we pursue, possessing this and that, doesn't have much to do with joy; it's all vanity of vanities. What am I doing? It turns out that joy is real. How can you be joyful? You can be joyful only by pleasing God! So, through the book of Ecclesiastes written by men, you'll notice that only those who please God can obtain joy!

Know that those whom God pleases in the Bible are not particularly combative. For example, Abraham's wife was taken away. He didn't fight with them. Is that faith? Yes, that's faith. Later, they obediently returned his wife. Why? Because he trusted in God! Pleasing God doesn't mean fighting today and fighting tomorrow; what's that? See through it. **How can you please God? How can you obtain intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge? How can you obtain joy? See through life and you'll be joyful. This is a key part of Chinese Mingding Destiny.**

Don't live like a dog's life, don't live like an animal's life. Don't live like a honey badger's life. It's trouble if you live like a wolf's life, a dog's life, an animal's life, or an insect's life. When we see through this world and grasp God's will for us, it's hard not to be joyful! See, things go well when you do it. Your eyes are on solving people's problems, doing things well, and seeing through the things of this world. This is what Solomon concluded after his experiments, that many things in this world are vanity of vanities, so he concluded:

> To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26 NIV)

What kind of person do you want to be? You can't do it if you don't see through it. People who don't see through it go for chemotherapy and radiation therapy. So, we need to know in our minds, what kind of people does God please? God pleases those He pleases. So we begin to study this, and after studying it, we imitate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because these people saw through these things of this life. They were very powerful! So, they were joyful, joyful in everything they encountered.

## VIII. No Matter What Happens, No Matter the Circumstances, Our Joy Cannot Be Taken Away

Know that many of the things that happen to us are not things you and I can control, because God controls them. Don't say: God, I want to be a Solomon too, let me do an experiment too. Sorry, the experiment is over, and the funds are spent.

Know that **what happens to us is not important, what's important is our reaction to what happened.** Understood? I'll repeat it again: We can't control what happens to us, but we can control our reaction to what happens. **Control it to what extent? Nothing can control our joy. Know one thing: God controls everything!**

Our reaction to these things is important. As you read the Bible, especially Genesis, you'll find that Jacob was traveling from his uncle Laban's place in Paddan Aram to the land of Canaan. The first challenge was that his brother was coming to kill him. After finally surviving the first challenge, his brother didn't kill him, so he went to Shechem, where his daughter was raped by the prince of Shechem. Then they came to Jacob to propose marriage because they liked Jacob's daughter, Dinah. Is that unlucky? Yes, it is. But Jacob was very impressive. Jacob didn't like to use swords and guns. Actually, God's people should be like that. But Jacob's two sons, Simeon and Levi, first tricked them and then killed them.

Do you know Jacob didn't like that? Later, the birthright fell on Judah. That's why our Lord Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. Why? Simeon and Levi killed people; that's not God's way of doing things. So, what's the reaction to things? If you get excited at the slightest thing, if you like to be angry, you're a fool. That's not the kind of person God pleases.

Actually, many uncontrollable things happen in a person's life. But no matter what happens, don't let those things take away your joy, because God is testing you. So Joseph was sold into Egypt to be killed by Simeon. But he didn't die, he was sold into Egypt as a slave. The purpose of that was to overturn all of Joseph's dreams, but Joseph happily became a slave. Can you understand that? The important thing is our reaction to these things. Unlike some of us, we want to argue with others at the slightest thing. We haven't even done anything, just a little thing, and we argue with them endlessly. Isn't that foolish?

**Why don't we care about these things? Because we have Mingding Destiny! Mingding Destiny is like a ship with an anchor. You react to what you value.** If you value God and see all things in this world as vanity of vanities, will you freak out? You won't freak out at all. So Jacob took these things lightly. Raped, so be it. Humiliated, ok. If people want to marry, so be it. It's your core interests that are closely related to your emotions. **If your core interest is God, it's hard not to be joyful. If your core interest is the things of this world, you'll freak out when someone touches them. That's why we can't please God.**

Without Mingding Destiny, without knowing these things about life, even if Solomon's experiment is demonstrated to you over and over again, you may not understand it. If they tell you it's vanity of vanities, can you hear it? People have already told you it's vanity of vanities, it will turn into a pile of ashes in the future, so what are you entangled in? God's good will for us is in eternity, so we take these things lightly, and then our core interest becomes our God, and we become those who please God. We have pleased God, and God begins to give us wisdom and intelligence, so that you can understand, so that you know that joy is really important. If you become a joyful person, will you get cancer? Will you go for radiation therapy, chemotherapy? Will you do these things? Miserable people become like that.

## IX. Conclusion

**This is called Mingding Destiny character, Chinese Mingding Destiny character is joy. If you are not joyful, then you have not yet Mingding Destiny.** You say: I have not yet Mingding Destiny? If you don't see through these little things in life, what Mingding Destiny can you get? Your destiny may be a cow's life, a horse's life, a dog's life, but it doesn't seem like a human life, let alone a God's life. If it's an animal life, that's even more troublesome. **What is the foundation of Mingding Destiny character? The foundation is God.** If we understand this principle, we don't stop here, we observe carefully, we understand, we learn. You will say: Ah, I understand! If you understand, you will at least continue a week of joy. For your joy for the next week, cheer yourself on! May God bless you all!

Let's sing a hymn and prepare to receive today's offering. If you don't understand the meaning of offering, please don't offer. After the offering, we will prepare to share today's testimony. **Why do we ask people to offer? Because offering brings joy. Joy is not bought by offering, but because offering is God's good will for us.** Because a person who is unwilling to offer even money, how can they offer their life? The will of our God is to test God with a tithe, to see God's good will for you. After testing, like Solomon after completing the experiment, what you get is: I will offer myself completely to God!

What a wonderful thing it is to offer ourselves completely to God today! Grasp God's heart, brothers and sisters! What can a person get in a lifetime? Just vanity! Today, in this vain life, let's grasp God's good will for us and become people who please God! Not for what we can get in this life, but to enter into eternal glory!

Please God, and God will give you joy, give you wisdom! You know that if you're a student, you should get Mingding Destiny from a young age. Your grades will improve, and you will become a very powerful person. If you're a worker, a professional, if you grasp God's heart from now on, God will make you joyful, God will give you wisdom, give you intelligence, so that you are above all the nations of the world!

Raise your hands and pray with me: In the name of Jesus Christ, I want to define myself as a person who pleases God. I define to obtain wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence! God! In this vain life, let me put down what I used to cling to, let me put down my past labors, and today I will be a person who pleases You, obtaining the wisdom, knowledge, and joy that You have given me! God! Be with me today, lead me, and don't let anything take away the joy within me. I just want to be a joyful person! I want to grasp Your Mingding Destiny for me! I declare in the name of Jesus Christ: I want to be a joyful person! In the name of Jesus Christ! Amen!

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen!